My broken Shimano Nexus hub IV the continuing struggle

Well I finally decided to man up and quit procrastinating.  We are all afraid of what we don't understand, and in an IGH  there is a whole lot to not understand.  I was afraid of removing the gear ring but it really wasn't that big a deal.
After securing the axle in a vise,

the unit slipped up off of the clutch assembly so I could inspect it.

Since I can't find any renegade bearings and prawls running around loose in there or the clutch assembly

I can only assume that the culprit is this broken retainer ring

which freed the bearing ring to run around loose and bung everything up.

So I'll order those two parts, some new prawls and retaining rings along with Simano's proprietary grease.  Hopefully those will be here next week and I can stare at that while I work up the courage to put it back together.