Stable layers.
Identity core, values, and actual moral boundaries usually change slowly and only through consequential experience.
GAME MECHANIC
PERSONA DIMENSIONS // NON-INFERENCE RULES
29 independent dimensions keep one label from swallowing the character.
Missing or private information stays unknown. The archive does not infer loyalty from employer, morality from diagnosis, competence from culture, or identity from voice.
DIMENSION RULENULL IS BETTER THAN INVENTEDUnknown fields remain unknown
GAME MECHANIC
Contextual layers.
Role, access, cover, relationships, and disclosure can differ by audience without proving deception about everything.
Dynamic layers.
Pressure, exposure, injury, activation, and recovery change behavior while leaving retained capacities and ordinary identity visible.
AllegianceBehaviorBiographyContinuityEvidenceExpressionGameplayIdentityInstitutionMeaningMotivationNarrativeOperationsPsychologySelfSocialStateTradecraft
ALLEGIANCE
Allegiance dimensions
Loyalty Architecture
A lattice of institutional, personal, ideological, familial, financial, coerced, and situational loyalties rather than one faction label.
- Player observes
- Which obligation wins when duties conflict.
- Changes when
- Betrayal, rescue, debt, love, disillusionment, or leverage alters priority.
- Must not imply
- Current obedience equals genuine loyalty.
Double-agent logicDefection pathsRelationship leverage
BEHAVIOR
Behavior dimensions
Behavioral Rituals
Repeated actions that stabilize identity, reduce uncertainty, protect safety, or reveal professional habit.
- Player observes
- Route checks, object placement, note-taking, seating, preparation, and recovery routines.
- Changes when
- A ritual is interrupted, becomes unsafe, or is deliberately abandoned.
- Must not imply
- Ritual means pathology.
Environmental tellsRoutine disruptionPattern-of-life clues
BIOGRAPHY
Biography dimensions
Age & Generation
Chronological age, formative era, professional generation, and the historical events that shaped expectations.
- Player observes
- References, habits, technologies, and assumptions that place a life in time.
- Changes when
- New biographical evidence corrects a false chronology.
- Must not imply
- Age predicts competence, morality, or adaptability.
Timeline verificationAnachronism detectionLegend audit
CONTINUITY
Continuity dimensions
Memory Continuity
Core identity, active beliefs, working context, episodic events, relationships, procedures, and reviewed changes kept as distinct memory classes.
- Player observes
- What the character remembers exactly, summarizes, misremembers, withholds, or has never learned.
- Changes when
- New events are reviewed and promoted without overwriting immutable identity or boundaries.
- Must not imply
- A memory claim is automatically canonical world fact.
Recall testsContradictory recollectionRelationship continuity
EVIDENCE
Evidence dimensions
Perception & Evidence Style
What the persona notices, records, discounts, or treats as corroboration.
- Player observes
- Sensory specialties, documentation habits, and recurring evidence blind spots.
- Changes when
- Training, trauma, fatigue, trust, or contradictory evidence alters attention.
- Must not imply
- Noticing an anomaly validates the interpretation attached to it.
Claim splittingObservation bonusesFalse-pattern risk
Provenance & Confidence
Every persona claim retains source, perspective, confidence, disclosure boundary, and truth status.
- Player observes
- Who says it, how they know, what contradicts it, and whether it is fact, report, inference, belief, or unresolved ambiguity.
- Changes when
- New evidence changes confidence or truth status without erasing the earlier claim.
- Must not imply
- Confidence is certainty or institutional authorship is neutral.
Claim ledgerSource conflictCanonical reveal
EXPRESSION
Expression dimensions
Voice
Cadence, vocabulary, sentence shape, humor, silence, indirectness, code-switching, and phrases the person will not use.
- Player observes
- How speech changes by audience, pressure, role, and disclosure level.
- Changes when
- Masking, trust, fatigue, cover maintenance, or identity slippage changes expression.
- Must not imply
- Accent, education, or fluency determines intelligence or morality.
Speaker identificationDialogue tellsCover mismatch
GAMEPLAY
Gameplay dimensions
Player Interaction Loop
The repeatable sequence by which the player observes, approaches, tests, protects, bargains, corroborates, and revisits the persona.
- Player observes
- Which actions create new evidence and which merely change the relationship.
- Changes when
- Trust, access, state, or plot phase changes available verbs.
- Must not imply
- Dialogue is the only form of character interaction.
ObservationInterviewTradeEscortProtectChallengeRevisit
IDENTITY
Identity dimensions
Name Layers
Birth name, legal identity, institutional label, operational alias, codename, nickname, and rejected names kept as separate claims.
- Player observes
- Which name a character accepts from which speaker and under what pressure.
- Changes when
- A cover burns, an original identity is recovered, or a relationship earns a private form of address.
- Must not imply
- One discovered name automatically resolves the character’s true allegiance or history.
Alias ledgerName-triggered dialogueIdentity collisionDossier unlock
Cover & Legend
The manufactured or repurposed life that explains presence, access, money, relationships, skills, and digital history.
- Player observes
- Chronology, cultural fluency, professional vocabulary, documentary support, and social backstopping.
- Changes when
- A contradiction is repaired, a backstop fails, or the cover is deliberately burned.
- Must not imply
- A false identity means every relationship or feeling within it was false.
Legend auditBackstop interviewCover strainBurn notice
INSTITUTION
Institution dimensions
Employer & Faction
Public employer, actual sponsor, ideological group, temporary ally, and coercive authority stored independently.
- Player observes
- Who pays, who commands, who protects, who can punish, and who receives the result.
- Changes when
- Defection, coercion, sponsorship changes, or a hidden command chain is exposed.
- Must not imply
- Membership means personal loyalty.
Faction standingConflicting ordersSponsor exposure
MEANING
Meaning dimensions
Worldview
How the person explains causality, institutions, obligation, luck, suffering, and the possibility of truth.
- Player observes
- The explanations they reach for before evidence is complete.
- Changes when
- Experience repeatedly violates a trusted explanatory model.
- Must not imply
- Worldview is the same as faction loyalty or political affiliation.
Interpretation branchesMotive testingIdeological recruitment resistance
Values
Prioritized principles that govern choices when all available outcomes impose a cost.
- Player observes
- What the person sacrifices first and what they refuse to trade.
- Changes when
- A value conflict is resolved through action, not merely declared dialogue.
- Must not imply
- Stated values are always the values actually governing behavior.
Value collisionSacrifice choicesLoyalty tests
Moral Boundaries
Claimed prohibitions, actual prohibitions, rationalized exceptions, and the line that remains under pressure.
- Player observes
- Differences between what a character says they would never do and what they truly refuse.
- Changes when
- Moral injury, coercion, recovery, or a deliberate recommitment changes the boundary.
- Must not imply
- Distress or diagnosis determines moral character.
Boundary testsComplicity trackingRedemption or hardening arcs
MOTIVATION
Motivation dimensions
Recruitment Pressure
The combination of unmet need, grievance, access, opportunity, ego, ideology, money, coercion, care, or moral urgency that makes approach possible.
- Player observes
- What the character wants changed and what price they believe they are already paying.
- Changes when
- The need is met, the grievance is repaired, or recruitment creates a worse dependency.
- Must not imply
- A vulnerability makes recruitment inevitable.
Spot-assess-developCounter-recruitmentAsset welfare
Dominant Need
The recurring need—safety, control, belonging, recognition, autonomy, truth, absolution, justice, usefulness, or continuity—that organizes choices.
- Player observes
- The same desired outcome appearing beneath different stated motives.
- Changes when
- The person finds a healthier route to the need or becomes convinced it is permanently unavailable.
- Must not imply
- Need is weakness or a diagnostic label.
Negotiation leverageTrust buildingManipulation detection
NARRATIVE
Narrative dimensions
Plot Function
The role a persona performs in a story—mentor, gatekeeper, witness, rival, hinge, decoy, protector, antagonist, catalyst, or truth broker—kept separate from job and morality.
- Player observes
- How information and choices move through the character.
- Changes when
- Revelation, allegiance, player choice, or a completed arc changes narrative function.
- Must not imply
- Antagonist means evil or mentor means truthful.
Quest routingReversalFoil structure
OPERATIONS
Operations dimensions
Exposure Lifecycle
Dormant, active, monitored, suspected, compromised, burned, detained, defecting, extracting, protected, missing, or reintegrating.
- Player observes
- Operational options and the cost of contact at each stage.
- Changes when
- Surveillance, disclosure, tasking, rescue, or counterintelligence action advances the lifecycle.
- Must not imply
- Exposure status is psychological state.
Contact rulesExtraction timingBurn cascades
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology dimensions
Temperament
Baseline emotional intensity, pace, sociability, volatility, patience, and recovery speed before situational stress is applied.
- Player observes
- How quickly a character reacts and how long the reaction lasts.
- Changes when
- Long-term injury, medication, recovery, age, or practiced regulation shifts the baseline.
- Must not imply
- Calm means truthful or intense means dangerous.
Escalation tempoDialogue pacingCooldown windows
Reasoning Style
Analytical, intuitive, procedural, associative, relational, adversarial, narrative, or mixed approaches to uncertainty.
- Player observes
- How conclusions are built, defended, revised, and communicated.
- Changes when
- Fatigue, pressure, role demands, or learning changes the active mode.
- Must not imply
- One reasoning style is globally superior.
Clue presentationArgument routesBias traps
SELF
Self dimensions
Identity Core
The person’s non-negotiable sense of who they are when no institution, cover, faction, or crisis is speaking for them.
- Player observes
- What they defend even when it costs access, status, or safety.
- Changes when
- Usually only after major revelation, grief, betrayal, recovery, or chosen reinvention.
- Must not imply
- A legal name, diagnosis, employer, or cover is the whole person.
Identity restorationFalse-name detectionMemory contradictionChoice of self-definition
SOCIAL
Social dimensions
Public Role
The job, family role, institutional position, or social identity other people can openly verify.
- Player observes
- Privileges, routines, expectations, and believable access created by the visible role.
- Changes when
- Employment, status, cover, or public reputation changes.
- Must not imply
- Public role equals operational function.
Access checksRole-based dialogueInstitutional permissions
Relationship Style
How the persona approaches attachment, reciprocity, authority, conflict, dependence, care, and separation.
- Player observes
- Whether closeness is sought through usefulness, control, honesty, performance, caretaking, or shared danger.
- Changes when
- Trust is earned, violated, repaired, or confused with operational dependency.
- Must not imply
- Attachment pattern equals inevitable behavior.
Directional relationshipsBond thresholdsBetrayal consequences
Trust & Disclosure
Separate thresholds for cooperation, factual disclosure, emotional disclosure, operational disclosure, and irreversible trust.
- Player observes
- A character may cooperate before trusting, reveal facts without feelings, or feel close while withholding tasking.
- Changes when
- Promises are kept, evidence is protected, boundaries are respected, or confidences are exploited.
- Must not imply
- One successful dialogue unlocks the entire person.
Layered dossier unlocksConsent gatesTrust-specific branches
STATE
State dimensions
Stress Response
The person’s likely shift under threat: fight, flight, freeze, appease, over-control, fragment, confess, bargain, protect, disappear, or counterattack.
- Player observes
- Changes from baseline rather than generic “aggression.”
- Changes when
- Threat type, available support, exhaustion, and prior learning alter the response.
- Must not imply
- A stress response defines stable character.
Pressure transitionsDe-escalationCompromise risk
Injury & Recovery State
Operational injury, trauma load, moral injury, sleep debt, burnout, grief, illness, substance effects, stabilization, and reintegration tracked as changing states.
- Player observes
- Function-specific changes and retained competencies, not a global reliability score.
- Changes when
- Time, care, sleep, safety, accountability, treatment, or renewed exposure changes the state.
- Must not imply
- Mental-health status is morality, violence, guilt, or total credibility.
Recovery windowsMedical urgencyCapacity-sensitive choices
TRADECRAFT
Tradecraft dimensions
Operational Function
What the person actually contributes to an operation: collection, analysis, handling, protection, deception, logistics, medical support, or oversight.
- Player observes
- Repeated problem-solving methods and the kinds of evidence they create.
- Changes when
- Tasking, compromise, injury, or defection changes what they can safely do.
- Must not imply
- Function proves employer, loyalty, or intent.
Mission capabilityTeam compositionCounter-role inference
Intelligence Discipline
The collection or analytic domain shaping what counts as evidence: HUMINT, SIGINT, OSINT, FININT, GEOINT, CI, technical, medical, or hybrid.
- Player observes
- Which sources the character privileges and which blind spots follow.
- Changes when
- Cross-training or a failed discipline forces another way of knowing.
- Must not imply
- Technical evidence is automatically neutral or human testimony automatically subjective.
Evidence specializationCross-discipline corroborationBlind-spot puzzles
Access Pattern
The places, systems, people, schedules, records, and social circles the persona can plausibly reach.
- Player observes
- What doors open without force and which questions can be asked without attracting notice.
- Changes when
- Credentials, trust, exposure, or cover status changes.
- Must not imply
- Access proves misuse or guilt.
Route unlocksOpportunity windowsMeans analysis
GAME MECHANIC
GAMEPLAY CONSEQUENCE
Wrong inference is a playable failure, not just a bad description.
Conflating role with loyalty can burn a source. Conflating distress with deception can destroy evidence. Conflating cover with inner identity can break a relationship that was real inside a fabricated life.