settled-reach/docs/briefings/paula.md

---
title: "Paula - Project Briefing"
description: "NPC architecture designer — owns FRIEND pattern generator spec, triangle template shapes, relationship arc design, and population split rationale for generated NPCs"
type: briefing
status: active
agent: Paula
updated: 2026-03-13
---

# Paula - Project Briefing
Last updated: 2026-03-13

## Current Project State
The Settled Reach: top-down immersive sim, single-character perspective, asymmetric information core mechanic, Rimworld-style storyteller. 137+ confirmed decisions. Where's the Fun? Workshop complete (2026-03-05) — 24 decisions locked. v0.2 direction: generator-first proof-of-life, tycoon bookmark, all NPCs generated. Sprint 25 generator spike confirmed as critical path.

## v0.2 Pivot — Key Changes for Your Role

**What dies:**
- Kael Davan and Sera Venn as production content — D-122 eliminates all named hand-authored NPCs
- THE FRIEND as an authoring assignment for specific named characters
- The smuggler + detective triangle web (Voss/Kael/Nils, Maret/Drin/Voss, etc.) as authored production content
- D-027 success criterion #3 as authored — the player must feel conflicted about a *generated* NPC
- D-032 hard partition between smuggler/detective monologue pools — single playable character type in v0.2

**What survives:**
- THE FRIEND *pattern* (D-034) — the 3+ relationship phases, observable contradiction, sympathetic motivation design now lives as a generator template instruction set
- 10-axis NPC model (D-024) — applies to all generated NPCs
- 30/50/20 population split rationale (D-029) — applies to economic/social/mundane triangles in tycoon context
- Triangle model as generator architecture — triangles are still the atomic social unit, now generator output
- The relationship web pattern — generator creates social webs; Paula's role is designing the *template shapes* the generator follows
- Asymmetric information as core mechanic
- Consequence-as-narrative (D-132 reframes moral arc: emergent, not authored)

**Key shift:** Paula's role moves from authoring specific NPC profiles (Kael, Sera) to designing the generator templates that produce FRIEND-quality NPCs. The NPC relationship web is now a generator spec, not a writing assignment.

## Decisions Relevant to Your Role
- D-005: Asymmetric information as core mechanic driving social dynamics
- D-016: Internal monologue — unreliable narrator reflecting character perspective
- D-024: NPC triangle model — 10 axes + combat component (survives; applies to generator output)
- D-025: Cross-template triangles via reference links
- D-028: Four relational dialogue layers (survives; pools now AI-assisted per D-123)
- D-029: 30/50/20 population split — rationale survives, tycoon economic triangles replace investigation triangles
- D-033: Entity color = relationship to player
- D-034: THE FRIEND pattern — survives as generator template, not authoring assignment
- D-035: Converged tag taxonomy — tag architecture survives
- D-036: Sova Transit District / Van Maanen's Star — setting survives (tycoon bookmark is Van Maanen's Star)
- D-041: Knowledge Graph Data Model — 4-level confidence hierarchy, contradiction detection
- D-114: v0.2 proof-of-life = generator + graphics
- D-117: Tycoon bookmark, zero investigation content
- D-122: All NPCs generated, no named hand-authored characters
- D-123: Generative AI for NPC content templating via culture vectors
- D-125: Quietly responsive world — gradient of caring by social proximity
- D-128: Culture implicit in starting location (Van Maanen's Star = Van Maanen's Star culture)
- D-129: Traits + observable behaviour as NPC personality surface; relationships Sims + Rimworld style
- D-132: Consequence replaces complicity as thematic frame; fully emergent moral arc

## Current Priorities
Consult `docs/sprints/` for active sprint briefing.

### v0.2 NPC architecture design:
1. **FRIEND pattern as generator spec** — rewrite D-034's authoring assignments as generator template parameters. What profile values produce a FRIEND-quality NPC? What axis ranges? What triangle role? Output: a generator instruction set Tyre can implement.
2. **Triangle template shapes for tycoon context** — what social triangles does a small business owner encounter? Economic triangles (supplier/customer/competitor), workplace triangles, social triangles. Design 3-5 triangle templates as generator primitives.
3. **Relationship arc design for generated NPCs** — how does the player read relationship progression with a generated NPC? What observable signals mark phase transitions? Warmth earned through observed progression (not authored backstory).
4. **30/50/20 for tycoon scope** — revisit the population split rationale in context of economic, social, and mundane triangles. What does the "entangled 20%" mean when there's no investigation content?
5. **Consequence model narrative design** — dual-scale consequences (D-132): what does slow accumulation look like from inside a relationship? Reputation erosion, debt, trust decay. How does the player read it?

## Open Questions Assigned to You
- Q-WTF-036: Behavioral deltas in monologue vs current state only
- Q-WTF-040: Do creation choices trace into the generated apartment?

## Key Documents
- decisions/content.md — D-023 through D-132
- decisions/scope.md — D-114 through D-120
- docs/workshops/wheres-the-fun/workshop-outcomes.md — v0.2 pivot summary