Lore bible index

This directory holds canonical game-design content for emergent-dungeon.

It is distinct from docs/adr/ (Architecture Decision Records, technical) and docs/development/ (pre-implementation design notes and research). Content here is sourced from direct user statements or from existing game-design documents that have been audited and confirmed. Agent-introduced content does not belong here unless the user has explicitly confirmed it.

When canon and a technical ADR overlap, this directory is the source of truth for game-design intent.

Scope of canon

The world has two distinct kinds of structure, and the canon treats them differently.

Tower/System Mechanics — the formal, structural game elements ratified by the Tower and The System. These require explicit canon: their mechanics, lifecycle, and interactions must be defined so the Simulation can implement them consistently. Examples include the Tower itself, the Infinite blocker, Tower Bounties, Masks, Parties, Levels, Skills, Loot, Relics, and the System’s own emergence mechanics.

Social Constructs — emergent structures that Inhabitants build using the tools the Tower and System provide. These do not require formal canon beyond establishing them as social constructs. Their internal mechanics are self-evident from the social-construct space — Ascenders form them, maintain them, transform them, and dissolve them through their own choices. Examples include Factions, Settlements, Faction Bounties, Ascender Bounties, fines, prisons, guards, courts, and any justice norms specific to particular communities.

The design intent is to provide the Simulation with tools to form Hierarchies, not to pre-specify those Hierarchies. A Party is a Tower/System mechanic (the invite, the membership boundary, the treasury); a Faction is a Social Construct (whatever Ascenders agree to call themselves, with whatever internal rules they choose).

This distinction has practical consequences for the canon-audit process:

• Tower/System mechanics in existing ADRs that go beyond ratified canon are extrapolation requiring HIL ratification.
• Social Construct material in existing ADRs that attempts to formalize emergent dynamics is generally over-specification — the ADRs may need to retract or quarantine such material in favor of leaving the social space open.

Substrate primitives ratified outside per-topic files

Some ratified canon shapes the substrate without yet warranting a dedicated file in the “Files” index below. These additions are recorded here so the lore-bible remains the source of truth for game-design intent even when the formal commitment lives in an ADR.

NPC abstraction

NPCs are a Location-bound abstraction, not individually simulated agents. Each Localized Space carries an NPC population density that gates the spawn rate of Ascenders within that space; the substrate maintains no per-NPC state vector and no NPC participation in the opinion-table layer. There is no ontological transition from NPC to Ascender — an Ascender that spawns into a Localized Space is a freshly-instantiated agent, not a promoted NPC. The substrate names population density at a place; the narrator may describe the resulting Inhabitants in evolving vocabulary. Ratified at docs/notes/audits/audit-tower-cluster.md:358 (Q8 — NPC class status) and committed at the substrate tier in ADR-027 §Decision #2.

Localized Spaces: Persistent ↔ Ephemeral spectrum

Localized Spaces — the substrate primitive that scopes “where an interaction happens” — span a Persistent ↔ Ephemeral spectrum rather than a discrete enumeration of Location types. Persistent spaces carry indefinite state across ticks; Ephemeral spaces are encounter-scoped, with state allocated when the encounter begins and released when it ends. Ephemeral spaces support a thin persistent overlay sized for two specific needs: Loot drops that outlive the encounter and Body retrieval (the corpse and any unrecovered effects of a fallen agent remain locatable after the Ephemeral space dissolves). The substrate names the spectrum; the narrator names specific Location types along it, and that narrator vocabulary may evolve without ADR amendment. Committed at the substrate tier in ADR-027 §Decision #1; related audit framing at docs/notes/audits/audit-tower-cluster.md:358 (same anchor as the session-Q3 “NPC abstraction” question, which surfaced the Location-bound treatment that both items share).

Files

• tower.md — The Tower: passive balancing topography, hands-off justice, Infinite blocker, Broken Build theme.
• the-system.md — The System: distinct from the Tower; governs Leveling, Monster emergence, Skills, Loot, and Relics.
• bounties.md — Three-tier Bounty taxonomy: Tower Bounties (structural), Faction and Ascender Bounties (social constructs).
• masks.md — Masks: identity concealment, registration-versus-Proclamation, ally/non-ally Un-Masking, Party-invite circumvention.
• parties.md — Parties: the formal Tower/System hierarchy mechanic; invite circumvents Mask, treasury attribute, Bounty status not auto-shared.
• relics.md — Relic durability, repair, crafting, Artificers, and the Combat-versus-Service tradeoff.

Additional files will be added as canon expands. Files specifically for Social Constructs (Factions, Settlements, etc.) will be minimal where they exist — describing the boundary at which the Social Construct touches a Tower/System mechanic, not formalizing the Social Construct’s internal dynamics.