settled-reach/docs/design/flat-npc-trait-pass.md

Flat NPC Memorable Trait Pass

Ticket: #307 | Priority: High | Sprint: 12 Status: v0.1 Draft Owners: Paula (traits + design), Mellanie (line authoring) Decisions referenced: D-024 (NPC generation model), D-029 (30/50/20 population split)

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1. Purpose

The 30/50/20 population split (D-029) requires that 30% of NPCs are genuinely flat: routine + greeting, nothing more. But flat does not mean invisible. The problem this document solves is: how do you make a flat NPC memorable without making them entangled?

Without this, the investigation noise floor collapses. If every NPC the player encounters has depth, the player learns to treat them all as potential leads. The flat NPCs must be indistinguishable from signal at first glance — and remain background when investigated.

The answer is: one memorable observable trait, one plausible-but-meaningless line, one visible routine. Nothing more. The trait makes the NPC feel real. The line makes them feel briefly important. The routine reveals they were never a lead.

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2. The Three Flat NPCs (v0.1)

Pael — Maintenance Tech

Role in district: Technical maintenance worker. Repairs station systems, patches conduit runs, handles the small constant failures of a 40-year-old prefab-modular station.

Memorable observable trait: Pael always has a specific piece of mechanical debris in one hand — a loose coupling, a stripped calibration pin, a shim. Not working with it. Not throwing it away. Just carrying it, the way people carry things they've picked up without thinking. Changes every few days. Has been seen patting his pockets as if looking for it when it's not there.

Seems-important-but-isn't line (for Mellanie to author): Something that sounds like it could be about the ring but isn't. Possible directions:

• A complaint about recurring conduit failures in a specific corridor (a real maintenance problem, not a smuggling tell)
• A reference to "the same cargo coming through twice" that turns out to be a legitimate scheduling quirk
• A cryptic comment about "what goes on in Corridor B-7 at night" that turns out to mean: the ventilation cycles loudly and keeps him awake when he's doing late maintenance

Visible routine:

• Morning: arrives at maintenance depot, checks the day's work orders
• Mid-morning: visible in one of three locations (terminal catwalks, maintenance corridor access points, or near the span gate mechanism housing) — rotates daily
• Afternoon: back at depot, logging completed work
• Evening: does not go to The Last Shift — his social life is off-district

Design note: The rotation across three maintenance locations is important. It means a player who is watching Pael will see him in different places on different days, which can read as suspicious to an overly attentive detective. But the reason is just: different maintenance jobs. The rotation is the noise, not the signal.

Dual-lens flat NPC:

Smuggler: Pael is background. Known by sight, not by name unless prompted. "That's the maintenance tech — he's been patching conduit runs near corridor B-7 for weeks. Annoying. Have to check if he's gone before any runs."

Detective: Pael is a potential lead (maintenance tech → corridor access) who turns out to be nothing. The detective's monologue might flag him early ("Maintenance tech. Knows the corridors.") and unproductively file him as investigated-nothing later ("Pael's just doing maintenance. The B-7 visits are conduit issues. Nothing there.").

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Ren — Drifter

Role in district: Ren has no formal employment at Sova Transit. They appear to be between postings — the kind of person who stays at a transit hub while waiting for a berth on a freighter, or because the accommodation is cheap and they have no particular place to be. Has been here for about two months. Nobody knows much about them.

Memorable observable trait: Ren is always reading. Not a lattice — a physical reader, the kind that looks like it's been repaired three times and barely holds together. They read in the bar, in the terminal waiting area, in the corridor access lobby. But here's the notable thing: they never seem to be further along in the same book. Whatever they're reading, they're not making progress, or they keep starting over, or they're reading the same page. Hard to tell from a distance.

Seems-important-but-isn't line (for Mellanie to author): Something that sounds conspiratorial but is just evasive privacy. Possible directions:

• "I don't ask what goes in containers. Safer that way." (Said to anyone who asks what they do here — it's just a social habit, not self-incrimination)
• "I've seen a lot of stations. This one's quieter than most." (Sounds like they're watching something, but they're just making conversation with anyone who'll have it)
• References to "a package I'm waiting for" that turns out to be a personal delivery, not a criminal handoff

Visible routine:

• Mornings: bar, before it opens fully. Lera tolerates early arrivals. Ren nurses a hot drink and reads.
• Afternoons: terminal waiting area, near the departure board. Not going anywhere. Just watching.
• Evenings: bar again, stays late. Quiet, doesn't bother people, drinks slowly.

Design note: Ren's presence in the terminal waiting area watching the departure board is the designed mislead. They look like they're surveilling. They're just waiting for something — possibly a ship that hasn't arrived, possibly just habit. The departure board is the most interesting thing in their day.

Dual-lens flat NPC:

Smuggler: "Ren's been here two months and nobody knows who they are. If I were paranoid, that'd worry me. But if they were commission, they'd have introduced themselves. Probably just between postings." [Assessment: filed, not relevant.]

Detective: Ren is the most suspicious person in the district who has nothing to do with anything. "Unknown. Unaffiliated. Watching the departure board daily. Background check shows nothing — no warrants, no commission flags, three previous transit hub stays in the last year. Probably a drifter. But I'm keeping an eye." The detective may waste 10-15 minutes of investigation time on Ren before filing them as noise.

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Tev — Lookout

Role in district: Tev works at the The Last Shift as part-time bar support — cleaning tables, stacking deliveries, doing the small physical work that Lera doesn't want to do herself. Not a formal bartender. Present most evenings, some afternoons.

Memorable observable trait: Tev has a specific relationship with the bar entrance. Every time someone walks in, Tev notices — not obviously, not a full head-turn, but a brief flick of attention in that direction. It's trained behavior, or old habit. They check who's coming in. Every time. Including people they've seen every day for months. The tell is subtle but consistent, and the pattern becomes recognizable once noticed.

Seems-important-but-isn't line (for Mellanie to author): Something that sounds like a lookout's report but is just social awareness. Possible directions:

• "Commission's in again" (said to Lera, routine observation — they note the detective's presence the same way they'd note a regular who comes in after a long absence: as social texture, not operational intelligence)
• "Kael's running late." (Said to nobody in particular. Not a ring update — just someone who keeps track of who shows up)
• Overheard to a regular: "You hear about the new cargo schedule?" — turns out to be about legitimate freight delays, nothing to do with the ring

Visible routine:

• Afternoons: setting up for the evening shift, cleaning, stocking
• Evenings: working the floor. Tables cleaned, deliveries stacked, entrance watched
• Late evenings: last to leave after the bar closes, stacking chairs

Design note: Tev's entrance-watching is the primary mislead. In a bar where a ring operates peripherally, having someone who tracks everyone who comes in reads as a lookout. And functionally, Tev probably IS a lookout for Lera — but Lera's lookout, not the ring's. Lera likes to know who's in her bar before they're at the bar. Tev's habit is loyalty to Lera, not criminal coordination.

Dual-lens flat NPC:

Smuggler: "Tev sees everything that comes through that door. Lera's eyes. Not our problem as long as Lera's solid." [Tev is background, not a concern.]

Detective: "The bar worker — Tev. Watches the entrance. Consistent pattern. In a criminal-adjacent environment, that's potentially a lookout. But their behavior doesn't cluster with any other ring indicators. Social texture, not operational role. File under 'observed, not flagged.'" The detective may ask Lera about Tev — Lera's answer ("been here three years, good worker, minds their own business") is uninformative and accurate.

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3. Design Principles for Flat NPCs

Principle 1: The trait must be observable without interaction. The player should be able to recognize Pael (carrying something), Ren (reading), and Tev (watching the door) from a distance, through fog-of-war partial visibility, without ever having a conversation. The trait is a visual behavior, not a dialogue reveal.

Principle 2: The seems-important-but-isn't line is bait. Every flat NPC needs exactly one line that makes the player think "wait, is this person involved?" followed by a resolution that shows they're not. This is how the noise floor works: the player wastes attention on the noise and learns that not everything is a lead. This is both a design lesson and a realistic texture of investigation.

Principle 3: The routine must explain the suspicious-looking behavior. Pael is in Corridor B-7 because of maintenance. Ren watches the departure board because they're waiting for something. Tev watches the door because Lera wants them to. In every case, the explanation is boring and true. The mundane explanation is the design.

Principle 4: Dual-lens treatment for all three. Each flat NPC is perceived differently by the smuggler (background assessment, no anxiety) and the detective (potential lead, then filed as noise). The difference in perception is the same as for all other NPCs — but for flat NPCs, the detective's arc is: initial flag → investigation → nothing. That's the journey this population is designed to produce.

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4. Content Requirements Summary

NPC	Paula delivers	Mellanie delivers
Pael	Trait, dual-lens design, routine	1 seems-important line + 2-3 variants, 2 dialogue lines (greeting-level)
Ren	Trait, dual-lens design, routine	1 seems-important line + 2-3 variants, 2 dialogue lines
Tev	Trait, dual-lens design, routine	1 seems-important line + 2-3 variants, 2 dialogue lines

Mellanie note: The seems-important lines should feel like they could be something. They shouldn't feel like obviously random NPC chatter. The art is in the plausible misdirection — specific enough to be memorable, mundane enough to resolve as nothing. Voice for all three flat NPCs is brief, non-explanatory, station-working-class register.

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5. YAML Stub for Content Authoring

Each flat NPC needs a minimal NPC profile. Example for Pael:

canonical_id: "npc:pael"
display_name: "Pael"
tier: 3
pattern: "FLAT"
motivation: "WORKER"

description: >
  Maintenance tech. Handles station system repairs across the district.
  Observable: always carrying a piece of mechanical debris. Changes what
  it is every few days.

routine:
  summary: >
    Maintenance depot (morning arrival), one of three maintenance locations
    (mid-morning, rotates), back to depot (afternoon), off-district (evening).

trust_levels:
  surface: >
    Minimal. Complaints about current repair job, maintenance schedule.
    Never personal, always task-focused.
  real: "Not accessible — flat NPC."
  secret: "Not accessible — flat NPC."

notes: >
  FLAT NPC. No triangle membership. No ring connection. The B-7 corridor
  visits are conduit maintenance. The investigation dead-end is the point.

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Ticket #307 — Flat NPC memorable trait pass. 3 flat NPCs. Paula: traits. Mellanie: lines.