# Glossary

In-world and project terms that come up while writing. World history, factions and the timeline
live in the Obsidian vault — `[[Lorebook]]`, `[[Timeline notes]]`,
`[[Divergence Point Analysis]]` — and this file deliberately does not duplicate them. It covers
the vocabulary you need to read a `.yarn` file and a design note without stopping.

## The project's own terms

**Voice** — one of the eleven skills. A character in the protagonist's head, not a stat. See `voices/`.

**Candidate** — one of three live readings of who the protagonist is: the Made Asset, the
Journalist, the Inheritor. They are not mutually exclusive and **never resolve**.

**Lean** — `$self_lean_<candidate>`. A counter of how far play has tilted toward one reading.
Tracks *belief*, not truth, which is why a wrong deduction still moves it.

**Clue** — a registry entry in `Assets/Candidates/candidates.json`. Each candidate has exactly
four: one object, one testimony, one document, one intuition.

**Trace channel** — where a clue physically comes from: physical, testimonial, behavioural,
documentary. Used to keep acquisition routes genuinely independent.

**Wrong Truth** — a failed check that yields a confident, coherent, false conclusion, stated
with no hedge in the prose. The workhorse failure of this game.

**Colour check / gate check** — a check written for texture versus one that controls access to
a route. 80–90% should be colour.

**Bottleneck** — a point every playthrough must pass. Clues required to pass one need multiple
independent routes.

**Detour / jump** — Yarn's two ways to move between nodes; the first returns, the second does not.

**Node group** — several nodes sharing a `title:`, with `when:` conditions selecting between them.

**Thread 2 / Thread 9** — two lore threads designed never to resolve. Do not map candidate
material onto them.

**Fugue** — the protagonist's amnesia. Dissociative, and specifically about their own identity
rather than an external event. The indeterminacy is the design, not a puzzle with a hidden answer.

## The cast so far

| Name | Where | Sheet |
|---|---|---|
| The Bartender | the bar, SC-101 | [`characters/bartender.md`](characters/bartender.md) |
| Chevalier Cassian Thal | the table, SC-101 | [`characters/chevalier-cassian-thal.md`](characters/chevalier-cassian-thal.md) |
| Bradford Kane | the table, SC-101 | [`characters/bradford-kane.md`](characters/bradford-kane.md) |
| Mr. Doss | referenced only, never seen | — |

## Scene ids

`SC101` — The Card at the Desk. The opening; playable end to end.
`SC102` — The figure at the head of the table stands up. A one-line stub.