World Truths

_{Design document §5}

Each game generates a set of World Truths at creation: the governing laws of that particular universe, which must be discovered through play rather than assumed. Players are never told which Truths are set — they infer them from what works and what doesn't. This is the single system behind every kind of world variation in the game; the older "World Flag" vocabulary used in earlier drafts is retained only as the identifier names of individual Truths (e.g. GUNPOWDER_ABSENT).

The design problem is combinatorial explosion: naive per-breakthrough randomisation would create thousands of world configurations, each needing bespoke content and balance. The World Truths system instead produces enormous variety from bounded content through six design principles (below), yielding some fifteen thousand distinct physics signatures from a few dozen authored outcomes.

The section proceeds from the general principle (what varies and what doesn't), through the taxonomy of Truth families, to the specific axes in each family — including worked examples of the Geological and Historical families, which were the first worlds designed — and finishes with the anti-explosion principles and how the player learns their universe's Truths.

What Varies and What Doesn't: Phenomena, Mechanisms, Frontiers

Phenomena and craft are fixed

Fire burns, metals smelt, crops grow, disease spreads, steam expands — in every game. The practical tree (tools, engines, agriculture, medicine-as-practice) depends on phenomena, not on why they happen, which is historically true: steam engines preceded thermodynamics, smelting preceded chemistry, quarantine preceded germ theory. Craft is craft everywhere.

Discovery reveals reality; it never rewrites it

A World Truth is a fact about the universe that holds from turn one, whether or not anyone has noticed. Discovering it changes what the civilisation knows and can exploit — never the underlying world. This has a strict authoring consequence: a breakthrough's effects must be framed as new knowledge, capability, or infrastructure, not as a change to terrain, resources, or the map that "switches on" at discovery. The clearest case is a resource reveal: the ore was always in the ground; Ore Identification lets you see and mine it, it does not place the ore. The same governs every Truth fork — caloric's conserved fluid, the vital force, and elemental transmutation were all true before their decisive experiments; the experiment only tells you which world you live in and lets you build on it. A subtle corollary the disease axis (FQ10) shows: a discovery must not become a diagnostic tell for the world's hidden Truth either. Because learning miasma theory only grants a new counter (drainage, ventilation) rather than changing how marshes behave, and because every disease world faces the same underlying pressure, a player cannot read the world's Truth off the map before the decisive experiment. When writing any breakthrough, prefer verbs like reveals, enables, lets you build, counters, exploits over makes, becomes, turns X dangerous/valuable — and check that its effects don't leak the value of an unresolved axis.

Mechanisms are sampled — and no mechanism is privileged

Why things happen — the deep explanation — varies per world, and becomes discoverable the moment a civilisation starts asking why (Natural Philosophy, Classical era). Is heat motion, or a fluid? Are elements emergent, or fundamental? Is disease carried by germs, by bad air, or by imbalance? These Foundational Questions resolve in the Classical through Early Modern eras and reshape the middle and late game.

The Symmetry Principle

Our own reality's answers — matter is atomic, heat is molecular motion, life is chemistry, disease is microbial — are not the game's default. They are simply the highest-probability value on each axis, and they are as contingent as any rival. This has a consequence the earlier drafts missed: every Truth value, including the orthodox one, gates its own exclusive cluster of breakthroughs and forecloses its rivals'. Atomic theory is not "the normal tree that alternatives fall away from"; it is one fork among several, and it only exists in atomic worlds. The Nuclear→Quantum spine, and with it the silicon age of Electronics and Computing, is predicated on matter being atomic — in an Elemental world that spine never forms, and a structurally equivalent one grows in its place (see Niche Equivalents, below); the shared craft of electronics and computing reaches it by other roads. A vitalist world lacks synthetic organic chemistry the way an atomic world lacks vital-essence engineering: each is blind to the other's cluster.

"Forks," not holes

On a foundational axis the losing theory dead-ends — its breakthrough yields its consolation and its report (§1.2) — but the civilisation does not: the decisive experiment routes it onto a genuinely different chain occupying the same structural niche (an energy pillar, a materials pillar, a computation substrate, a medicine paradigm). A genuine hole is reserved for frontier axes, where the honest answer is sometimes simply "this is impossible in your universe" (fusion won't ignite; exotic matter won't hold). Foundational axes fork; frontier axes may leave a hole. Both are real knowledge, and Guarantee Rule 2 ensures no hole ever blocks victory.

Frontiers are sampled

The questions even a Modern-era civilisation cannot settle — fusion, superconductivity ceilings, vacuum energy, FTL — resolve in the Atomic and Space eras. Here dead ends are legitimate: a frontier that closes teaches you what your universe forbids.

The uncertainty the player feels at every era's edge is the same uncertainty real natural philosophers felt at theirs — and there is no "correct" tech tree hiding behind the variation, only the tree this universe permits.

Niche Equivalents: Filling Truth-Dependent Pillars

When a Truth forecloses an entire structural pillar, an equivalent pillar must grow in its place so that no world is crippled and every world reaches the endgame. A niche equivalent occupies the same functional slot (early-energy, high-energy, advanced-materials, computation, mass-medicine) through the mechanism its Truth permits. Niche equivalents are disjoint clusters (Principle 1): a world runs exactly one fork per niche, so total authored content grows additively, not multiplicatively.

Niche (structural role)	Orthodox fork (our reality)	Alternative fork(s)	Governing axis
Deep theory of matter	NP02 Atomic Model → Nuclear + Quantum Physics	Elemental: Quintessic Theory (QM-E chain) — the fifth element/aether as substrate	FQ9
High-energy / endgame power	Nuclear Fission & Fusion (NP03/NP04)	Elemental: Quintessic Reactor (forced elemental transmutation releases bound energy)	FQ9 (+FQ2)
Computation substrate	Transistor → semiconductor → silicon (EN02+)	Elemental: Resonance Computing (harmonic elemental states); Process-Elemental: Cycle-Logic (wu xing state machines)	FQ9
The chemistry of life	Abiotic synthesis — Organic Chemistry (CH07) making life's compounds from dead matter	Vitalist: vital-essence engineering (GN12 Essence Reservoir → GN13 Vital Automaton → GN14 Animate Intelligence), while Organic Chemistry keeps refining but cannot create life's chemistry from dead matter	FQ11
Energy storage & transfer	Kinetic thermodynamics + batteries	Caloric: caloric reservoirs & heat-fluid transfer (TH11/TH12)	FQ12
Mass medicine / disease control	Germ theory → antibiotics, vaccines (MD05/MD06)	Miasma: environmental purification (MD16); Humoral: humoral pharmacology (MD18)	FQ10
Strategic deterrent	Nuclear Weapons (NP05)	Elemental: Quintessic Warhead (QM-E20) — bound-energy release made portable	FQ9
Deep-space signalling	Quantum Communication (QP14)	Elemental: Aether Telegraphy / Flow Signalling (QM-E18) — modulating the plenum; long-ranged but not unhackable	FQ9

The orthodox fork is not written as "the tree"; it is one column of this table, chosen ~55–70% of the time per axis. The alternative columns are the new content this revision adds or formalises. Deep Reconciliation (Principle 6) still applies: by the late Atomic/Space eras the forks converge on shared frontier physics (FTL, orbital engineering, the victory conditions), so the divergence is an era-spanning experience, not a set of permanent parallel games.

Truth Axes

Each open question is an axis with 2–5 mutually exclusive values, sampled independently at world creation (subject to consistency rules below). Four families — Geological, Historical, Foundational (Classical–Early Modern mechanisms, detailed above), and Frontier:

Geological Truths (Removal family): did this planet lay down fossil fuels? Does gunpowder chemistry work? These change what exists — a fossil-free world's geology is data (no seams, no wells), and breakthroughs whose premise it falsifies are absent (§1.2) — and they shape the whole industrial arc. Their worked examples are the No-Gunpowder and No-Fossil-Fuels worlds (below).

Historical Contingencies (Enabling family): did the Antikythera tradition flourish? Are mainsprings extraordinary? These remove nothing — they are different histories, made likelier by easing a RARE gateway to UNCOMMON difficulty. Their worked examples are the Early Steam, Enhanced Springs, and Antikythera worlds (below).

Frontier Physics: the sampled answers to the questions even a Modern-era civilisation cannot settle. Every affected breakthrough exists in every game; what varies is whether it validates or dead-ends:

Axis	Values (weights)	Content hooks
FQ1: FTL Method	One of the five candidates valid for this world's Matter value (FQ9), equal weights — the master axis; six methods exist in all	Section 4. Sampled after FQ9: Tunnelling is a candidate only in Corpuscular worlds, the Plenum Drive only in Elemental worlds. Sets derived truths — the deciding rows of §4's evidence map: the viable method's conditions hold, and every other condition holds or fails at even odds, subject to the exclusions and the guarantee in §4, Generation Rules. Every deciding row validates where its method is the world's, and dead-ends with a clear negative report everywhere else.
FQ2: Fusion Practicality	Attainable (60%) / Marginal (15%) / Impossible (25% → legacy FUSION_ABSENT)	Marginal: NP04 works but ES08 underperforms — deep fission (NP-F chain) stays competitive without removal. Moot in Elemental worlds (there are no nuclei to fuse).
FQ3: Superconductivity Ceiling	Room-temperature (35%) / Cryogenic-only (65%)	EL12 validates or dead-ends. Cryogenic-only worlds pay more for maglev, fusion containment, railguns.
FQ4: Vacuum Energy	Extractable (20%) / Trace-only (80%)	ES12 (Zero-Point Energy) validates or dead-ends — in elemental worlds QM-E07 (Aether Tension Engine) does the same; QP12 (Casimir Effect Amplification) and QM-E13 (Aetheric Vacuum) always work as science either way.
FQ5: Quantum Foundation	Orthodox (70%) / Deterministic (30%)	QP13 validates in Deterministic worlds — its Determinist Institute reveals each breakthrough as soon as the civilisation becomes eligible for it.
FQ6: Biological Depth	Quantum-coherent (40%) / Classical-only (60%)	GN10 validates or dead-ends; Classical-only worlds cap bio-computing at GN09 — no biological path to quantum computing or to Tunnelling. Moot in Elemental worlds (no quantum coherence exists to be biological); sampled only when FQ9 = Corpuscular.
FQ7: Gravitic Engineering	Possible (15%) / Impossible (85%)	RC08 (Gravitational Coupling Experiment) validates → opens RC09/RC10 chain; dead-ends otherwise.

The Six Anti-Explosion Principles

1. Disjoint clusters. Each axis touches its own set of breakthroughs. Combinations need no bespoke content — variety emerges from independent clusters interacting through the shared tree.
2. Shared content, variant outcomes — forks and dead ends. Foundational axes fork: each value routes the civilisation onto an exclusive cluster occupying a shared structural niche (Niche Equivalents, above). No value is a "consolation" — the orthodox and alternative forks are equally real, equally complete paths to the endgame. Frontier axes may instead dead-end: a breakthrough that validates grants full effects and may reveal follow-ups; one that dead-ends grants consolation Insight and a clear negative Science Advisor report (negative signals are always unambiguous). The distinction matters: a foundational fork never leaves a hole (the alternative pillar fills it), whereas a frontier dead end legitimately closes a door — and Guarantee Rule 2 ensures no closed door ever blocks victory. Either way, knowing what is true or impossible in this universe is real knowledge, never a wasted turn.
3. Master-axis derivation and cross-axis implication. Where clusters would overlap or where one Truth bears on another, axes are sampled in dependency order and earlier results derive or bias later ones, so no contradictory world is ever generated. Established links:
   • Matter (FQ9) is sampled first, then FTL (FQ1) as the master axis for the frontier. Because Tunnelling requires discreteness and the Plenum Drive requires a continuous plenum, the FTL candidate set depends on the Matter value: A/B/C/D/E in Corpuscular worlds, A/B/C/E/F in Elemental worlds. FQ1 is then drawn from those five and derives the rest: the viable method's conditions are made to hold and the rest are drawn at even odds, subject to the guarantee (§4, Generation Rules). An Elemental Matter value also renders FQ6 (Biological Depth) moot — Bio-Quantum Coherence (GN10) requires quantum coherence, which elemental worlds lack — so FQ6 is sampled only in Corpuscular worlds.
   • Elemental matter → computation & quantum substrate (FQ9). Elemental worlds never form the atomic→quantum spine; their Quintessic Theory instead biases FQ5 (Quantum Foundation) toward the Deterministic value (a continuous elemental substrate is naturally hidden-variable), and their computation niche is filled by Resonance/Cycle-Logic rather than semiconductors.
   • Caloric → energy frontiers (FQ12 → FQ4). A conserved-heat-fluid universe treats energy as a manipulable substance, so caloric worlds bias vacuum energy (FQ4) toward extractable.
   • Vitalist → biological frontiers (FQ11 → FQ6). A universe with a real vital force is one where biology reaches deeper: vitalist worlds bias FQ6 (Biological Depth) toward quantum-coherent, feeding the biological FTL route (Tunnelling via GN10). No contradictory world (e.g. a Warp world where exotic matter fails) can be sampled.
4. Bounded axis count. Eleven axes (7 Frontier + 4 Foundational), ~2.6 values each ≈ 15,000+ distinct physics signatures. The Symmetry Principle adds authored content for the alternative forks (niche equivalents) but additively: because forks are disjoint clusters filling shared niches, a world instantiates exactly one fork per niche. That is additive content producing multiplicative variety. Each future axis multiplies the signature count again.
5. Constraint-checked sampling. After sampling, the generator verifies all Guaranteed Path Integrity rules (Section 6); violating combinations are re-sampled. Victory is possible in every world that can exist.
6. Deep Reconciliation. Foundational alternatives never fork the late game: every mechanism, probed deeply enough, reconnects to shared Atomic-era physics while its exclusive unlocks persist. Divergence is an era-long experience, not a permanent tree split — which is why four foundational axes cost ~30 authored outcomes rather than four full alternate trees.

Frontier Questions: How the Player Learns the Truth

The FTL Science Advisor reports (Section 4) generalise to every axis. Each axis is a Frontier Question the game silently poses; specific experiment breakthroughs answer it:

• Foundational axes answer earlier, through their decisive experiments: FQ9 upon CH19 (matter decomposes into corpuscles, four elements, or five phases), FQ10 upon MD15 (the flask stays clear, the air sickens, or the humours imbalance), FQ11 upon CH25 (urea forms from inorganics — or stubbornly refuses), FQ12 upon TH10 (friction yields limitless heat, or a conserved fluid)
• FQ2 answers upon NP04 research maturity ("ignition sustained!" / "confinement losses persist beyond every prediction")
• FQ3 answers upon EL12 attempts ("resistance vanished at room temperature" / "the ceiling appears fundamental")
• FQ4 upon ES12; FQ5 upon QP13; FQ6 upon GN10; FQ7 upon RC08
• FQ1 answers through the accumulating FTL evidence system (Section 4)

The investigation now spans the whole game, not just the endgame: an Early Modern civilisation analysing its first elements, or boiling broth in a swan-necked flask, is already discovering the laws of its universe, and the answer reshapes its next ten eras.

The mid-to-late game thereby becomes a research investigation: the player is not just climbing a tree but interrogating their universe. Two games with identical starts diverge because the universes themselves differ — and the player who probes efficiently (cheap experiments first, reading negative signals correctly) gains real strategic advantage over one who assumes this world resembles the last one. Axis-specific reports must be worded distinctly enough that (for example) a gravitic-positive world is not mistaken for Warp-FTL evidence; mild thematic overlap is acceptable and even desirable, but definitive signals are always axis-specific.

Section 5 continues on Foundational Questions and Worked Example Worlds.