Mara was awake before the lights failed. She stated that the ventilation hum changed pitch twelve seconds before the outage and that someone was moving through the sealed corridor.
Open Mara Ellison dossier
FICTIONAL ROGUEINTELLIGENCE.ORG
INTERNAL / CLINICAL-SAFETY
East Stairwell Incident
A forty-one-second power interruption, an impossible badge event, and a patient waiting beside a door that architectural plans say does not exist.
StatusOpen
Incident2034-11-09 03:17
Visible entries4
Evidence items2
FICTIONAL ROGUEINTELLIGENCE.ORG
EVENT RECONSTRUCTION
Chronology by source.
Entry order is UTC. Reliability measures source integrity, not moral truth.
A credential with no active assignee authenticated at a reader removed during the 2031 renovation.
Rook entered Unit C before central dispatch transmitted the event. His report attributes this to an audible transformer fault in the east stairwell.
Open Caleb Rook dossierSayer documented that Mara's physiological arousal decreased after the outage ended, contrary to a simple panic escalation. She requested that maintenance preserve all raw logs.
Open Dr. Helena Sayer dossierSERVER-SIDE REDACTION
Additional event entries sealed
The current case is visible, but some source-specific entries require a higher compartment.
1 sealed record omitted from this response.
Open access terminal
GAME MECHANIC
HUMAN STAKES
A case conclusion changes people, not only records.
A forty-one-second power interruption, an impossible badge event, and a patient waiting beside a door that architectural plans say does not exist. The case changes people’s safety, credibility, relationships, work, care, and future choices; it is not only an evidence puzzle.
Dignity risk
Treating diagnosis or distress as proof of deception Treating access as proof of action
False-inference risk
Treating diagnosis or distress as proof of deception Treating access as proof of action Treating a confident institutional record as neutral fact Treating one mistaken claim as global unreliability Treating cooperation as loyalty or refusal as guilt
Immediate harm
That every memory she trusts was planted
Long-term cost
Wants a room whose lock she chose, a library card in a name she accepts, and one week in which nobody asks her to prove herself. Wants to practice medicine somewhere consent is not treated as a scheduling obstacle. Wants to leave security work without feeling that departure is another abandoned post. Keeps one name for herself that no employer has ever recorded. Wants to certify apprentices who understand that keeping people safe is more important than keeping a facility looking compliant.
Decision threshold
Act only at the consequence threshold supported by corroborated evidence; uncertainty is not permission to abandon the person or convert suspicion into a verdict.
Humane player options
- Separate observation from interpretation before escalating.
- Preserve the person’s ability to contest and correct the record.
- Use the least harmful reversible action consistent with immediate safety.
- Document uncertainty, counterevidence, and institutional incentives.
Debrief unresolved human questions
- Who was harmed by the investigation process itself?
- What information, choice, work, housing, care, or relationship must be restored?
- Which conclusion should remain provisional?
- Who can contest or correct the record?
GAME MECHANIC
EVIDENCE LAB
Methods for testing this case without collapsing uncertainty.
Each lens separates observations, claims, source quality, alternative explanations, and consequence thresholds. The exercises are fictional, untimed, and do not collect answers.
GAME MECHANIC
PERSONA CROSS-EXAMINATION
The case tests several different persona mechanisms.
These links explain how role, access, loyalty, current state, evidence behavior, and relationship function change the player’s reading of this file.
Clinical & InstitutionalInstitutional WitnessObserve routines, deviations, access, language, and harm from below the level allowed to define official truth.
Tactical & ProtectiveSurveillance Detection SpecialistDetermine whether a person or route is being watched and create safe separation without prematurely revealing awareness.
Evidence & Reliability PatternsAccurate Observation / Unsupported TheoryObserve a real anomaly but attach a broader causal explanation not established by the evidence.
Narrative & Relationship FunctionsProcedural AntagonistOppose the player through rules, custody, safety protocols, jurisdiction, or evidence standards rather than personal hatred.