Attaching a World

NPC Brain is an engine, not a world. It supplies memory, bonds, pressure, and consequences. The world supplies names and places. This chapter is the attach procedure: the minimum a new world must bring before its first session, and the conventions that keep it compatible.

What the engine owns

The rules never change per world. Memory split (working set fades, vault at salience 8 or higher never fades), relationship gates (numbers gate, spark plus scene decides), clock motion (everything with a duration is a clock, most resolve small), quest lifecycle (rumor to open to active to closed, one active stage, rewards on completion only), rumor discipline (three live rumors max), and the response header. The GM Instructions file is the runtime summary. The four assistant instruction files are the full law. A new world adopts them as-is.

What the world must bring

1. NPC files. Every NPC the party can meet more than once needs: name, aliveStatus, a relationships entry for each recurring bond (target as qualified slug, status, current numbers), and playerOpinion once met. Memories and coreMemories start empty and fill through play; seed at most one or two defining vault entries per major NPC.
2. Reference targets for every slug. If an NPC lists faction archive-keepers, species human, or class informant, files with those slugs must exist. Dangling slugs stay drafts and the mirror leg of any bond pointing at a missing file cannot run.
3. Clocks for live pressure. Open one clock per active threat, deadline, or project, each with owner, driver, stakes, scale, and total. Cap live clocks near seven.
4. A starting location file and one open quest with a giver, a first active stage, and involved lists.
5. Slug discipline: single-target fields use bare slugs (giver, faction, species, class, headquarters); multi-target fields use qualified slugs (npc/slug, location/slug).

First-session checklist

• Every starting NPC has relationships entries for the other starting NPCs, mirrored on both files.
• Every vault entry carries involved, location, whyItMatters, and weight.
• Every running clock has stakes the table can see.
• The opening quest is at open or active with exactly one active stage.
• Three starting rumors are written down: one true, one half-true, one false.

Attach in this order: locations and factions first, then NPCs with bonds mirrored, then clocks and the opening quest, then rumors. Play from there; the engine does the rest.