Secrets, Leverage, and Scandal

Heartline separates three kinds of social power.

A Secret is private truth. It records what is true, what people are meant to believe, who knows, and what revelation threatens. Suspicion is not knowledge.

Leverage is a concrete advantage one person can use with a specific target: proof, a favor, access, a debt, a promise, compromising knowledge, or some other pressure. If fitting Leverage is used before a Scene Roll, it grants one bonus die and is normally marked Spent. Stronger Leverage supports a larger plausible request, not more dice. Leverage cannot override consent or a boundary.

A Scandal is a public or semi-public story. The allegation can be true, false, mixed, or unknown. Reach tells you who has heard it; Intensity tells you how much pressure it creates now. A Scandal spreads when witnesses, evidence, repetition, authority, or public action carry the story farther—not because the GM needs a complication.

Scandals create concrete social consequences: invitations disappear, employers react, families interfere, rivals exploit the story, allies arrive, status changes, or people demand public answers. A false rumor can still become socially real without becoming objectively true.