On the other hand, it seems clear that Markdown (in any of the common varieties) is not extensible enough. So, it does seem like some change is needed.
I believe Asciidoctor is the best choice to enhance Rust's markup:
- Asciidoctor is Markdown compatible and supports its basic syntax.
- You can write your scientific articles and thesis with Asciidoctor: (example Enhance Embedded System Security With Rust
- The Asciidoctor tool-chain can render ".pdf", "html5", ebook, slides, ... with or without docbook.