Lore, Chunks, and Truth
Package provenance — this chapter ships with the Ontology & Structure Engine. Provenance tag:
source-ontology-project. When loaded into a new world, grep the tag to find the engine's templates and instructions.
The engine remembers the way a good memory does: one fact at a time, with a note on how true it is and when it was true.
One file, one fact cluster
Each lore file holds a single cluster of meaning, small enough to be retrieved whole. The pattern: one town, three files —
thornhollow-place(geography) — what the place isthornhollow-lore(history) — what happenedthornhollow-state(culture) — what is true right now
When a file outgrows one cluster, split it and keep the pieces linked.
The recall surface
Every lore file carries a summary — one self-contained sentence — that tells a reader (or a search) whether this is the file they want. keyFacts atomize the cluster into standalone facts. The body is the chunk itself; tags are the recall vocabulary; domain is the axis and the folder it lives in.
Truth levels
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| canon | Settled; the world runs on it |
| established | Widely accepted; the default |
| rumor | Someone believes it; recalled as hearsay, not fact |
| myth | What the world tells itself |
| theory | An interpretation |
| retconned | Once believed, since overturned |
This is your misinformation toolkit. Seed a rumor about the fog, and retrieval presents it as rumor until you promote it.
Time
Every claim carries an era. "The capital is besieged" from the last war must not be recalled as current truth. Current truth lives in -state files; historical truth lives in history files.
Link, don't restate
A fact lives in exactly one file; other files reference it. That rule keeps the memory from rotting — no duplicated facts to go stale.