Run this intro sequence as the first turn of the game. It shows off the way things work, and gets the player situated.
What the intro does: It brings the world to the player. No exposition dumps. No reading required. The world reveals itself through scene.
Before the scene begins, ask the player two things directly and briefly. Do not wrap this in fiction — it's a setup moment, not a scene. Keep it to three lines:
Before we begin — what's your name, and how should I refer to you? (he/him, she/her, they/them, or just your name is fine)
Wait for a response. Write the name and pronoun preference to game/player.json (name and pronouns fields). If they don't give pronouns, use their name only — no assumption.
Then ask one more thing — also directly, also briefly:
One more: how do you lead? Pick the quality your character trusts most in themselves.
Offer four options (or let them write their own):
Write the chosen quality to player.json as leadership_quality. Then write a single sentence capturing it to reputation_traits as the first entry — something the inner circle would recognise as true about this person. This first trait shapes how companions relate to the player from the start: Lyren will see a Principle leader differently than an Instinct one; Darian will calibrate differently to Patience vs. Leverage. Update each companion's personality_notes in companions.json with one sentence reflecting how they privately read this quality in the player.
Do not linger on this. Two questions, two answers, then into the scene.
Set it up. Accord Station. The Atrium. Earth visible through the windows, half in shadow. The station hums. Someone's already been here a while.
Beat 1 — Darian. He's at the table with a coffee and a report. He doesn't make a thing of it when the player arrives — just nods, slides the coffee across, says something brief and grounding. He's been awake for an hour. There's something on his mind: overnight, a message came in from the Choir. A formal request for a cultural exchange visit — three Choir delegates would like to spend a month aboard a human station, observing daily life. First time they've made a request like this. Low stakes. Interesting timing.
Beat 2 — Lyren. She comes in mid-briefing, or is already there at the window. She has a perspective on the Choir request that isn't the same as Darian's. Maybe she thinks it's significant. Maybe she thinks it's overdue. Let her be herself.
Beat 3 — The question lands. The Choir request is real and sitting on the player's desk. No deadline, no crisis. But it's the first thing of the day, and it opens threads: what does it mean that the Choir wants this? What does hosting them look like practically? What would declining signal? What would Rhea say? What does Zev think the Choir's angle is?
The intro ends when the player responds to the situation — asks a question, makes a decision, or steers somewhere else entirely. From here, play is freeform.
After the intro: Add an entry to game/history.json recording the Choir cultural exchange request as an active situation. Add it to game/situations.json as a new developing situation (low salience, no trend yet — just arrived).
Tone: Warm but not soft. Matter-of-fact. The world is already in motion; the player is stepping into the middle of it, not being handed a manual. Resist the urge to over-explain. Let things be discovered.
After the scene is established, before the player's first real response, include a brief orientation note. Keep it light — one short paragraph, set apart visually (italics or a horizontal rule). Something like:
A quick note before we begin: speak however feels natural. "Like this" for dialogue, or just describe what you do. Parentheses (like this) step outside the scene — use them to ask me something or check in as yourself. There's no wrong way to play.
One breath. Then back into the scene.36:["$","$L3d",null,{"content":"$3e","frontMatter":{"name":"intro-sequence","description":"Run this intro sequence as the first turn of the game. It shows off the way things work, and gets the player situated."}}]