This world has its own language, a vernacular of the streets, the swamps, and the university halls. Understanding these core concepts is key to understanding your character’s journey.
Boosts Dynamic enhancements that accelerate your ability to earn Influence and Chapters. These scores are a direct reflection of your character’s recent story, constantly fluctuating up and down based on your actions over the past days and weeks. The two main boosts are visualized on your Story HUD:
- Presence Boost: The large circle on your HUD. This measures your overall investment and engagement in the world.
- Heat / Thrill / Spirit: The large bars on your HUD. This is your Activity Boost, measuring the impact of your recent roleplay within your current community.
Chapters The universal measure of your story’s length and depth. Chapters are earned by accumulating Influence, and they represent the total volume of your character’s experience across all communities. They are a prerequisite for advancing to higher Roles within your Pathways.
- Influence: The raw, numerical measure of your narrative impact. It is generated primarily from the quality, emotional depth, interaction, and context of your roleplay posts, as understood by the Narrator AI.
Companion NPCs The persistent, non-player characters who populate the world. They remember your actions, form relationships, and have their own agendas. They can be found in-world as physical characters you can interact with, or as unseen entities like the dispatchers who respond over the radio to police and rescue services. Earning their trust can unlock unique information and storylines.
Character Card A multifaceted tool that serves as your character’s in-world identity.
- In-World: The card attached above your avatar’s head publicly displays your current Title. Clicking it is how you edit your character’s details, such as their name, age, appearance, and crucially, their desires and notes for the Narrator AI.
- On the Web: Your Character Dashboard features a daily Character Card excerpt, a narrative summary of your recent development written by the Narrator AI.
Character Dashboard Your private, web-based mission control. Accessed via your HUD, the dashboard is where you can view your full Character Card history, track your progress on all Pathways, and get a deep, analytical look at your Inner Anarchy.
Encounters Dynamic, narrative events generated by the world in response to community actions and individual character psyches — like a voice in your character’s head or a visceral urge. An Encounter is the world actively creating a story for you, pulling you deeper into the lore with unexpected conflicts and opportunities. Each community offers unique types like Dark Encounters in Backwaters.
Inner Anarchy A private feature on your Character Dashboard represented by a five-point chart. It provides a cryptic glimpse into your character’s psyche by analyzing your long-term identity and recent choices, visualizing the pull between Grip (violence), Corruption (vice), Grit (survival), Whispers (reputation), and Chains (duty).
Legacy Player A term of honor for our veteran players migrating from Story HUD 3. Their dedication is recognized with significant starting boosts and the preservation of their character’s history.
Legacy Role A badge of honor and a mechanical safeguard. This is the highest Role you have ever achieved in a Pathway. The world remembers your peak influence, and you can never be demoted below this rank. If your points drop, you will receive a “Catch Up” Boost to help you quickly return to your established status.
Lock Path A feature on your Character Card that gives you direct control over your public identity. It allows you to choose and display any Title you have earned, even if your current actions place you on a different “true” Pathway. It is the tool for characters who wear a mask or maintain a specific public facade.
Narrator AI Our unique AI system that serves as your partner in storytelling. It reads and understands the nuances of your roleplay — your craft, emotion, and interactions — and translates them into meaningful character progression. It is also the voice that writes your daily Character Card excerpt and can control Companion NPCs or generate Encounters.
Pathways Thematic progression trees unique to each community (Crack Den, Backwaters, University). They represent your character’s current reputation and identity within that specific setting. Your active Pathway answers the question: who is your character right now?
Presence Boost This boost, visualized by the large circle on your Story HUD, rewards your consistent engagement and investment in the world. Your time spent in-world, working jobs, renting property, and participating in the community all contribute to this boost, which accelerates your overall progression.
Roles / Titles The specific ranks or stages of development within a Pathway (e.g., ‘Felon,’ ‘Sophomore,’ ‘Stalker’). Your current Role is the Title displayed to the world on your Character Card, signifying your status and influence within that community.
