settled-reach/docs/workshops/wiki-review/round1-paula.md

Round 1 — Paula (Librarian)

Topics: 1 (Trade-offs), 2 (Tier Templates), 3 (Naming Patterns), 6 (PC Upgrade Fields)

---

Topic 1: Trade-offs and Honest Assessment

I authored most of the NPC profiles, the triangle system, the knowledge vocabulary (fact catalog, entity attributes, relationship states), and coordinated the overall wiki structure. Let me be honest about what's strong, what's weak, and what I compromised on.

What works well

1. THE FRIEND profiles are production-ready. Kael and Sera both follow the same 5-phase contradiction arc but with genuinely different discovery mechanics (spatial deviation vs. cumulative pattern recognition). The structural parallelism is intentional — it creates a reusable pattern while the content diverges. I'm confident these carry D-027 success criterion #3 ("player names an NPC they felt conflicted about").

2. The triangle system creates real interconnection. Five triangles across three social sites with six bridge NPCs means tension propagates. Triangle 4 (Worried Partner) is the structural masterpiece — both FRIEND NPCs are nodes in it, connected through Hael. Every thread passes through this triangle eventually.

3. The knowledge vocabulary maps cleanly to the tag taxonomy. FactIds, entity attributes, and relationship states were designed in tandem with D-035. The confidence progression (Suspects → KnowsOf → KnowsDetails → Direct) gives content authors a clear framework for gating dialogue and monologue.

Where I made compromises

Area	Compromise	Why	Impact
Tier 2 depth	Depth varies across 10 NPCs. Voss and Lera are nearly Tier 1 quality. Hael and Harek are thinner.	Time pressure. I wrote the highest-narrative-impact NPCs first and sketched the rest.	Authors replicating Tier 2 profiles don't know what "standard" looks like — is Voss the norm or the exception?
The Nils problem	Nils Davan is referenced in 5+ profiles but has no wiki page.	Nils is off-stage in v0.1. I treated off-stage characters as "referenced not instantiated."	No canonical reference for a character who drives Triangle 1 and the ring's power structure. Risk of contradictory Nils characterizations across files.
Knowledge attributes are detective-biased	tell_observed, contradiction_flagged, secret_held — these are investigation tools. The smuggler's knowledge model is underspecified.	I wrote from investigation outward. The detective's knowledge needs were clearer mechanically.	The smuggler tracks different things: operational reliability, loyalty risk, exposure potential. These need their own attribute keys.
FactId catalog is discovery-shaped	Most FactIds assume a discovery arc (Suspects → KnowsDetails). The smuggler starts at KnowsDetails for many.	The detective's progression was the clearer authoring target.	Smuggler's progression text reads oddly. We need smuggler-specific "degradation" or "recalibration" text for facts they already know but whose reliability changes.
Triangle 3 is the weakest	Lera-Torek-Olin lacks emotional weight. Olin is "ambiguous newcomer" and that's it.	Olin was added to fill a role (the outsider who asks questions) without enough backstory to make the questions interesting.	Triangle 3 is mechanically functional but emotionally flat compared to 1, 2, 4, and 5.
No starting knowledge per PC	Wiki describes what NPCs know, but not what the player character knows at game start.	PC-as-NPC concept was still being designed.	Critical gap for Topic 6 below. The NPC profiles need an explicit "this is what you know on Day 1" section for PC-upgradable characters.

What's weakest — the honest truth

The smuggler's content pipeline is systematically under-served compared to the detective's.

The detective has: analytical lattice overlays, pattern recognition mechanics, tell observation tools, FactId discovery arcs, investigation-specific entity attributes. The smuggler has: operational knowledge... and not much else mechanically.

This isn't a content failure — it's an architectural imbalance that happened because investigation is mechanically simpler to model than social/operational navigation. "Notice a pattern → flag it → investigate" maps to clear data structures. "Navigate social tensions → maintain cover → manage risk" requires social simulation mechanics that don't have the same vocabulary yet.

But what SUSTAINS the smuggler experience across hours of play is feeling embedded — knowing people, reading rooms, managing relationships. The wiki captures this narratively (Kael's dual-lens notes, Lera's protective instincts, the smuggler monologue tone) but doesn't give it mechanical teeth the way the detective's investigation arc has mechanical teeth.

Concrete proposal: We need a smuggler-specific attribute vocabulary parallel to the detective's investigation attributes. Something like:

Smuggler Attribute Key	Purpose	Example
operational_reliability	How dependable is this NPC for ring work?	"reliable", "compromised", "wavering"
exposure_risk	How likely is this NPC to blow cover?	"low", "escalating", "critical"
loyalty_assessment	Smuggler's read on this NPC's allegiance	"solid", "uncertain", "turning"
leverage_held	What does the smuggler know that gives power over this NPC?	"gambling debt", "family secret", "none"
social_debt	Who owes whom, in informal terms	"they owe me", "I owe them", "mutual"

This would give the smuggler's knowledge model parity with the detective's.

What I'd change with more time

1. Normalize Tier 2 depth — every Tier 2 should hit the same quality bar, not vary from "nearly Tier 1" to "barely above Tier 3"
2. Add stub pages for off-stage characters — Nils at minimum, potentially Sabel and Kosse
3. Flesh out Olin — give them an actual backstory that explains the questioning behavior (job seeker? informant for a rival operation? genuinely lost?)
4. Write smuggler-perspective progression text for all FactIds where the smuggler starts at KnowsDetails
5. Add explicit "starting knowledge" inventories for both PC-upgradable characters

---

Topic 2: Tier Template Formalization

Assessment: Are current templates replicable?

Tier 1: Mostly replicable, but implicit. The Kael and Sera profiles are detailed enough to reverse-engineer the pattern, but the PATTERN itself isn't documented as a standalone template. An author would have to read both profiles side-by-side and figure out the structure themselves. The 5-phase contradiction arc (comfort → first crack → observation → confrontation → new equilibrium) is embedded in examples, not stated as a rule.

Tier 2: Inconsistent reference. Voss is the best example but is over-specced for what the deliverables section promises. The npcs/index.md says "10-axis data (all axes populated), voice sample (2-3 lines), dual-lens notes (brief), triangle role notes." Voss delivers this. But Hael and Harek have notably less. An author looking at different Tier 2 pages gets different standards.

Tier 3: Misleading example. Drin has a detailed "Function Note" explaining his structural role in triangles. He's a Tier 3 NPC doing Tier 2 work in terms of narrative importance. Meanwhile Sess, Tav, and Olin are genuinely thin. The template says "essential axes only (Want, Routine, Personality), voice hint, function note" — but Drin's function note is 4 sentences and structurally complex, while Tav's is 2 sentences.

What's implicit that should be explicit

Convention	Currently	Should Be
Voice sample mood count	Tier 1: 5, Tier 2: 2-3, Tier 3: 1	Specified per tier with mood category list
Dual-lens format	Varies: some use monologue quotes, some don't	Standardized: Smuggler: [1-2 sentences]. *"Monologue example."*
Cross-references	Inconsistent — some pages list 4-5, some list 1	Required: all NPCs mentioned in the profile get a cross-reference link
Relationship depth per tier	Tier 1: full paragraph per relationship. Tier 2: varies wildly.	Specified: Tier 1 = paragraph + history + tension + mechanical relevance. Tier 2 = 2-3 sentences per relationship.
Contradiction arc	Only Tier 1 has explicit arcs	Should specify: Tier 1 = 5-phase arc. Tier 2 = no formal arc, but secret has consequences if exposed. Tier 3 = no arc.
Header block format	`Tier N NPC	Location
"Per character" monologue counts	Kael: 10-15 per character. Tier 2: ambiguous.	Specify: Tier 1 = 10-15 per PC. Tier 2 = 5-8 per PC. Tier 3 = 0 named monologue (generic monologue only).

Proposed Formal Templates

Tier 1 Template (THE FRIEND / Production-Level NPC)

# {NPC Name} — {Designator} ({Character})

**Tier 1 Production-Level NPC** | {Primary Social Site} + {Secondary} | {Entangled/Mundane}

---

## Core Identity

**Name**: {Full name}
**Age**: {Number}
**Role**: {Occupation, location}
**System Origin**: {System, station/planet, birth/transfer details}
**Cultural Group**: {Regional culture reference}
**Lattice Tier**: {Baseline/Standard/Enhanced}
**Employer**: {Legitimate employer; {Informal affiliation} if applicable}

---

## 10-Axis Profile

### 1. Want
**Primary**: {1 sentence summary}
{2-3 paragraphs: history, current state, trajectory}

**Secondary**: {1 sentence summary}
{1-2 paragraphs: relationship to primary want, tension}

### 2. Secret / Vulnerability
**Surface secret** ({who knows}): {1-2 sentences}
**Deep secret** ({who knows}): {2-3 sentences}
**Vulnerability**: {1-2 sentences — what breaks them}

### 3. Relationships
**Relationship 1: {Name}** ({type})
- **Type**: {Category}
- **History**: {2-3 sentences}
- **Current tension**: {2-3 sentences}
- **Mechanical relevance**: {1-2 sentences}

{Repeat for Relationships 2 and 3}

### 4. Tolerance Threshold
**{Level}** — {1 sentence summary}

**What {Name} tolerates**: {Bulleted list, 3-4 items}
**What pushes toward breaking**: {Bulleted list, 3-4 items}
**What breaks {Name}**: {Bulleted list, 2-3 items}

### 5. Daily Routine
{Time-block schedule, 8-10 entries}

**Routine deviations** (tells):
{Bulleted list, 3-4 items with mechanical context}

### 6. Information Inventory
**Knows** ({confidence level}): {Bulleted list, 6-8 items}
**Doesn't know**: {Bulleted list, 4-6 items}

### 7. Contentment
**{Level}** ({reference D-024}).
{2-3 sentences: current state}
**Contentment trajectory**: {1-2 sentences: direction and cause}

### 8. Personality Traits
**Primary: {Trait}** — {2-3 sentences}
**Secondary: {Trait}** — {2-3 sentences}
**Tertiary: {Trait}** — {2-3 sentences}

### 9. Tell System
| Tell | Trigger | Observable To | Mechanical Flag |
|------|---------|---------------|-----------------|
| **{Tell name}** | {Trigger condition} | {Who can see it} | `{flag key: value}` |
{4 tells minimum}

**Tell progression** ({character}'s perspective):
{Numbered list, 4-5 stages with timing and monologue examples}

### 10. Skill Set
**Occupational**: {List}
**{Role}-relevant**: {List}
**Combat tag**: **{Yes/No}**. {1 sentence context}
**Lattice capability**: {Tier + description of what it enables}

---

## Backstory
{1 paragraph, 3-5 sentences. Birth → career → current situation → why they're here now.}

---

## Voice Sample
{5 moods minimum. Each: mood label, 1-2 lines, stage direction in brackets.}

---

## Dual-Lens Notes

### How the {Character A} Sees {NPC Name}
**Access tier**: {Starting tier} → {Progression tier}
**Relationship**: {Starting state} → {Progression state}
**Monologue tone (baseline)**: {Description}. *"{Example line.}"*
**Monologue tone (post-contradiction)**: {Description}. *"{Example line.}"*
**What {Character A} knows that {Character B} doesn't**: {2-3 sentences}
**Emotional weight**: {Assessment + why}

### How the {Character B} Sees {NPC Name}
{Mirror structure}

---

## Triangle Roles
### {Triangle Name} ({Members})
**{NPC Name}'s function**: {1-2 sentences}
**Pressure**: {2-3 sentences}
**Player relevance**: {1-2 sentences per character}

{Repeat for each triangle membership}

---

## Secret
**What {Name} is hiding**: {1 sentence}
**From whom**: {List}
**Consequences if exposed**: {Per-discoverer list, 2-3 sentences each}

---

## Contradiction Arc
### Phase 1: {Label} ({RelationshipState}, baseline)
**Timing**: {Minutes}
**Observable behavior**: {2-3 sentences}
**Monologue ({character})**: *"{Example}"*
**Color**: {Color} ({State})
**Dialogue tone**: {Description}
**Tell**: {None or specific tell}

{Repeat for Phases 2-5}

---

## Content Requirements (Tier 1)
**~70-100 authored lines total** (no generation expansion):
{Breakdown by category with counts}

---

## Authoring Notes
{5-7 bulleted guidelines for voice, pacing, dual-lens discipline, and key moments}

Tier 2 Template (Working Profile NPC)

# {NPC Name}

**Tier 2 NPC** | {Primary Social Site} | {Entangled/Mundane}

---

## Core Identity

**Name**: {Full name or single name}
**Age**: {Number}
**Role**: {Occupation, location}
**System Origin**: {System, station/planet}
**Lattice Tier**: {Level}
**Employer**: {Employer(s)}

---

## 10-Axis Profile

### 1. Want
**Primary**: {1 sentence}
{1-2 paragraphs}

**Secondary**: {1 sentence}
{1 paragraph}

### 2. Secret / Vulnerability
**Surface secret**: {1-2 sentences}
**Deep secret**: {1-2 sentences}
**Vulnerability**: {1 sentence}

### 3. Relationships
{2-3 relationships, each 2-3 sentences covering type, current tension, and mechanical relevance}

### 4. Tolerance Threshold
**{Level}**. {2-3 sentences covering what they tolerate and what breaks them.}

### 5. Daily Routine
{Time-block schedule, 5-7 entries. Ring operations noted if applicable.}

### 6. Information Inventory
**Knows**: {Bulleted list, 4-6 items}
**Doesn't know**: {Bulleted list, 3-4 items}

### 7. Contentment
**{Level}**. {2-3 sentences.}

### 8. Personality Traits
**Primary: {Trait}** — {1-2 sentences}
**Secondary: {Trait}** — {1 sentence}
**Tertiary: {Trait}** — {1 sentence}

### 9. Tell System
| Tell | Trigger | Observable To |
|------|---------|---------------|
{2-3 tells. No mechanical flag column — Tier 2 tells are authored, not system-flagged.}

### 10. Skill Set
**Occupational**: {List}
**Combat tag**: **{Yes/No}**.
**Lattice capability**: {Level}.

---

## Voice Sample
{2-3 moods. Each: mood label, 1-2 lines.}

---

## Dual-Lens Notes
**Smuggler**: {2-3 sentences}. *"{Monologue example.}"*
**Detective**: {2-3 sentences}. *"{Monologue example.}"*

---

## Triangle Roles
**{Triangle Name} ({Members})** — {2-3 sentences covering function and pressure.}
{Repeat for each triangle membership.}

---

**Cross-References:** {Links to all NPCs mentioned in this profile}

Tier 3 Template (Sketch NPC)

# {NPC Name}

**Tier 3 NPC** | {Primary Social Site} | Flat

---

## Essential Axes

### Want
{2-3 sentences. What drives them and why they're here.}

### Routine
{4-5 line time-block schedule.}

### Personality
**{2-3 trait words, comma-separated.}** {3-4 sentences expanding the traits.}

---

## Voice Hint
*"{Single representative line.}"* [{Stage direction}]

---

## Function Note
{2-4 sentences. Why this NPC exists in the district. Atmospheric role. Potential for Tier 2 upgrade if development warrants.}

---

## Dual-Lens Notes
**Smuggler**: {1-2 sentences}. *"{Monologue fragment.}"*
**Detective**: {1-2 sentences}. *"{Monologue fragment.}"*

---

**Cross-References:** {Links to connected NPCs}

Key rules the templates make explicit

1. Tier 1 requires mechanical flag column in tells. Tier 2 does not. This reflects the system depth difference — Tier 1 tells drive engine behavior, Tier 2 tells are authored flavor.
2. Dual-lens notes always include a monologue example. Not optional. The italicized quote is how we verify voice consistency.
3. Cross-references are mandatory at every tier. Every NPC mentioned in the profile gets a link in the footer.
4. Contradiction arcs are Tier 1 only. Tier 2 NPCs have secrets with consequences, but no formal phased arc.
5. Content line counts are Tier 1 only in the profile. Tier 2 and Tier 3 counts are specified in npcs/index.md deliverables section, not in individual profiles.

---

Topic 3: Naming Conventions and Patterns

Current naming analysis

NPC	Full Name	Single Name	Tier	Notes
Kael Davan	x		1	Family name: Davan (shared with Nils)
Sera Venn	x		1	Family name: Venn
Voss		x	2	No family name given
Lera Sessik	x		2	Family name: Sessik
Torek Lintar	x		2	Family name: Lintar
Devra		x	2	No family name given
Maret Korr	x		2	Family name: Korr
Resha		x	2	No family name given
Hael		x	2	No family name given
Harek		x	2	No family name given
Renn		x	2	No family name given
Pell		x	2	No family name given
Drin		x	3	No family name given
Sess		x	3	No family name given
Olin		x	3	No family name given
Sabel		x	3	No family name given
Tav		x	3	No family name given

Family name distribution: 5 of 17 NPCs (29%) have family names. All Tier 1 NPCs have them. 3 of 10 Tier 2 NPCs (Lera, Torek, Maret). Zero Tier 3 NPCs.

What was intentional

1. D-036 convention: "Compact, consonant-heavy, first-name-primary in social contexts." This was the guiding principle. First-name-primary means family names exist but aren't used socially.

2. Phonological palette: Short, hard-consonant names. Mostly monosyllabic (Voss, Drin, Sess, Renn, Pell, Tav, Hael) or disyllabic (Kael, Sera, Lera, Torek, Devra, Maret, Resha, Harek, Sabel, Olin). The longest name is "Torek Lintar." This was intentional — Krenn System culture is pragmatic and compact, so names should be too.

3. Family names for institutionally visible characters: Kael Davan (the detective looks up "Davan, K." in records), Sera Venn (Commission employee — institutional records use full names), Lera Sessik (business owner — license is under a full name), Torek Lintar (dock worker with institutional records), Maret Korr (freight scheduler — manifest system uses full names).

What was accidental

1. Name-as-tier-signal: I didn't intend for full names to correlate with narrative importance, but they do. An attentive player could metagame: "Torek Lintar has a last name, so he matters more than Renn." This is a problem.

2. The "-el" cluster: Kael, Hael, Sabel all end in "-el." Kael and Hael are partners — was the sonic echo intentional? Partially. I wanted the names to feel like they belonged to the same culture. But three "-el" names in 17 is a high density and could cause confusion, especially Kael/Hael (one letter apart).

3. Missing cultural specificity: D-036 says "Krenn System conventions" but doesn't specify the real-world linguistic roots. The names feel vaguely Northern European / Scandinavian, but this is accidental similarity, not intentional derivation. We need Miri to ground this.

How naming affects NPC authoring

Let me complicate this by noting three ways naming conventions impact the authoring pipeline:

1. Institutional vs. social context switching. Characters need different name rendering depending on context:

• Detective's lattice query: "Davan, K. — dock worker, Sova Logistics Consortium"
• Smuggler's internal monologue: "Kael's already at the dock."
• Formal Commission report: "Sera Venn, Field Technician, Lattice Commission"
• Bar greeting: "There you are, Sera."

The knowledge system handles this via the name entity attribute (full name vs. first name vs. descriptor). But content authors need to know WHEN each form is appropriate. A style guide should specify: institutional/formal contexts use full name or "Family, Initial"; social contexts use first name only; unknown NPCs use role descriptor.

2. Family name generation for single-name NPCs. Every NPC SHOULD have a family name in the canonical record, even if it's never used socially. The detective's lattice queries need full names. The randomizer needs family name pools. Right now, Voss has no family name — but if the detective runs a lattice query, what comes back? We need family names for all 17 NPCs, stored as canonical data even if players rarely see them.

3. The Davan family. Kael Davan and Nils Davan share a family name because they're siblings. This establishes that shared family names indicate blood relation. Do any other NPCs share families? Currently no — but if we generate more NPCs, the family name system needs rules about how common shared names are.

Proposal

1. All NPCs get canonical full names. Store in the Core Identity block. Social-context rendering remains first-name-only for most.
2. Document the phonological rules. Work with Miri to define: syllable count range (1-2), consonant preferences (hard stops: k, t, d, v, s), vowel preferences (a, e, i — fewer o/u), family name patterns (2 syllables, "-ar"/"-ik"/"-en"/"-or" endings common).
3. Break the name-as-tier-signal. Give at least 2-3 additional Tier 2 and Tier 3 NPCs contexts where their full names surface naturally (lattice queries, workplace rosters, posted schedules).

---

Topic 6: PC Upgrade Fields

The concept

"PC-as-NPC" means: an NPC brief is the seed for a player character. The NPC exists in the world as a person with a name, job, relationships, and knowledge. When the player starts a game, one NPC is "upgraded" to playable status — their brief becomes the player's starting conditions.

For v0.1, the two PC-upgradable NPCs are implicit: the smuggler (a ring-affiliated dock worker) and the detective (a Commission investigator arriving in the district). Neither currently has an NPC page because they ARE the player. But for the randomizer concept (Topic 6 in the workshop brief) and for future districts, we need a formal upgrade path.

Required fields (must exist in NPC brief for PC upgrade)

Field	Source in NPC Brief	Becomes in PC Brief	Notes
Name	Core Identity: Name	Player character name	Player may or may not be able to change this
Age	Core Identity: Age	Character context	Affects monologue voice
Role	Core Identity: Role	Starting position, job, daily access	Determines which locations the PC enters naturally
System Origin	Core Identity: System Origin	Cultural background, knowledge base	Affects dialogue access tiers with NPCs
Lattice Tier	Core Identity: Lattice Tier	Perception mode capabilities	Directly impacts gameplay via D-017
Employer	Core Identity: Employer	Social cover, institutional access	Determines faction tag for access tier logic
Want (Primary)	Axis 1: Want	Orientation monologue seed	"You're here because..." — the game's opening internal voice
Want (Secondary)	Axis 1: Want	Emotional anchor	The personal stake that makes the job personal
Relationships (all)	Axis 3: Relationships	Starting RelationshipState entries	Each relationship becomes an EntityKnowledge entry with state = Friendly/Known
Daily Routine	Axis 5: Routine	Expected schedule	The player's "normal" — deviations from this are player agency
Information Inventory	Axis 6: Info Inventory	Starting knowledge graph	Critical. Every "Knows" item becomes a FactId at the appropriate confidence level. Every "Doesn't know" item is absent from the graph.
Faction	Inferred from employer/role	Access tier map	Determines which NPCs treat the PC as insider/peer/authority/outsider

Optional fields (can be generated, player-chosen, or derived)

Field	Status	Reasoning
Secret / Vulnerability	Partially required	The PC needs a starting secret — but this is a DESIGN QUESTION. Does the player know their character's secret from the start? Or do they discover it through play? For the smuggler, ring membership IS the secret (known to player, hidden from NPCs). For the detective, the secret might be personal (why you really requested this posting).
Contentment	Generated	Starting contentment sets mood but player behavior changes it immediately. Can be derived from Want + Relationships.
Personality Traits	Player-chosen or preset	Traits affect monologue voice. Could be: (a) fixed per archetype, (b) player-selected from a pool, (c) expressed through early-game choices. I recommend (a) for v0.1.
Tell System	Inverted	PCs don't have tells — the player controls behavior. BUT: other NPCs may have pre-existing observations about the PC. "You always check your lattice before lying" — the NPC knows your tell even if you (the player) don't. This is powerful for the smuggler path.
Skill Set	Derived from role	Generated from archetype. Smuggler: logistics, routing, social navigation. Detective: analytical lattice, pattern recognition, institutional access.
Combat tag	Derived from role	Binary, archetype-determined.

New fields needed for PC (not in standard NPC brief)

Field	Purpose	Example
Starting EntityKnowledge entries	Explicit list of every NPC the PC already knows, with RelationshipState, known_attributes, and confidence level	{target: "kael_davan", state: Friendly, confidence: KnowsDetails, attributes: {name: "Kael Davan", role: "dock worker", trust_level: "trusted"}}
Starting FactId inventory	Which facts the PC has at game start, at what confidence level	{fact: "contraband.ring_exists", confidence: KnowsDetails} (smuggler) vs. {fact: "contraband.ring_exists", confidence: null} (detective)
Access tier map	Default access tier granted by each known NPC	{kael_davan: insider, voss: peer, lera: peer} (smuggler)
Orientation monologue pool	5-10 lines: "You are X, you work at Y, this is your life"	Played during the first 2-3 minutes. Establishes voice, context, emotional state.
Reversed dual-lens notes	How every known NPC sees the PC	Standard NPC brief has "how the smuggler sees Kael." PC brief needs "how Kael sees the smuggler." These are the SAME data, inverted.
Agency boundaries	What the PC can and can't do without breaking character	Smuggler: can't access Commission systems. Detective: can't participate in ring operations without narrative justification. These are soft constraints, not hard locks.

The conversion process: NPC Brief to PC Brief

Step 1: EXTRACT starting knowledge
  - Information Inventory "Knows" → FactId entries at appropriate confidence
  - Relationships → EntityKnowledge entries with RelationshipState + attributes
  - Routine → temporal knowledge (shift schedules, social patterns of others)

Step 2: GENERATE starting data
  - Contentment from Want + Relationships
  - Skill set from Role + Employer
  - Combat tag from archetype
  - Access tier map from Faction + Relationships

Step 3: INVERT dual-lens
  - For every NPC that has dual-lens notes about this character:
    "How the smuggler sees Kael" → "How Kael sees [PC]"
  - This requires every NPC profile to include a note about the PC

Step 4: AUTHOR PC-specific content
  - Orientation monologue (5-10 lines)
  - Starting monologue pool (character voice)
  - Agency boundaries
  - Want as player motivation prompt

Step 5: VALIDATE knowledge graph consistency
  - PC's starting knowledge must not contradict any NPC's Information Inventory
  - If PC "Knows" X about NPC, that NPC's "From whom" section must include PC
  - If NPC "Doesn't know" Y, PC's knowledge of Y must not be directly observable to NPC

What this means for the current wiki

The v0.1 smuggler and detective don't have NPC pages — they're players, not NPCs. But for the PC-as-NPC concept to work, we need:

1. An NPC-format brief for both PCs. Not a full Tier 1 profile (the player IS the personality), but at minimum: Core Identity, Starting Relationships, Starting Knowledge, Daily Routine, Role, and the inverted dual-lens notes from all NPCs who know the PC.

2. A "PC Upgrade" appendix on every Tier 1 and Tier 2 NPC profile. A section that says: "If this NPC were upgraded to PC, here's what the starting knowledge graph looks like." This makes the randomizer concept concrete — you can point at any Tier 2 NPC and say "this person is now the player."

3. A documented conversion checklist that content authors follow when creating a new PC-upgradable NPC, ensuring all required fields exist and the knowledge graph is consistent.

The honest truth is that this is the largest gap in the current wiki. We describe NPCs beautifully but have no formal bridge between "NPC as written" and "NPC as played." Closing that gap is prerequisite to the randomizer and to scaling beyond v0.1's two hand-crafted player characters.

---

Summary of Proposals

#	Proposal	Priority	Blocks
1	Add smuggler-specific entity attribute keys (operational_reliability, exposure_risk, etc.)	High	Smuggler content authoring parity
2	Create stub wiki pages for off-stage referenced NPCs (Nils, at minimum)	Medium	Cross-reference consistency
3	Formalize Tier 1/2/3 templates as standalone style guide docs	High	All future NPC authoring
4	Add canonical full names to all single-name NPCs	Medium	Lattice query consistency, randomizer
5	Document phonological naming rules with Miri	Medium	Regional style guide, future NPC generation
6	Break name-as-tier-signal by surfacing full names for 2-3 lower-tier NPCs	Low	Metagaming prevention
7	Create NPC-format briefs for both v0.1 PCs (smuggler + detective)	High	PC-as-NPC concept, YAML generation
8	Add "PC Upgrade" appendix to Tier 1/Tier 2 NPC template	High	Randomizer, scaling
9	Document NPC → PC conversion checklist	High	Content pipeline
10	Flesh out Olin with actual backstory and motivation	Medium	Triangle 3 emotional weight
11	Normalize Tier 2 depth across all 10 profiles	Medium	Authoring consistency
12	Write smuggler-perspective FactId progression text	Medium	Dual-lens content parity