
However, when the SVG file is rendered by common browsers (Chrome, Mozilla) or exported as PDF or PNG, it looses z-order. The lower "S" is supposed to be behind the upper "S". The fore-ground overlap is a clipped copy of the lower "S".

Using copy-paste to a new document within Inkscape, the Z-order breaks. Which is to say, even Inkscape can't seem to render these paths consistently.
I can't decipher the SVG paths, way too complicated for me. Any suggestions how to resolve this are appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff