People¶
A world is only as alive as the people in it. The People pane — on the rail of every finalized world's dashboard — is where the world's population lives: from names the narrator can drop in passing, up to fully voiced profiles, up to standalone character cards that carry the world with them.
The pane has two sections, payoff first:
| Section | What's in it |
|---|---|
| In universe | People who became their own character cards, tied to this world. Each one is chattable one-on-one and carries the world's lore book, so they stay consistent with the place. |
| Roster | The people the narrator can bring into a scene — everyone the world knows about, at whatever depth you've given them. |
The Tier Ladder¶
Every person in the roster sits on one of three tiers. The ladder is the whole system: each tier is one action away from the next, and each step up changes what the person can do in play.
| Tier | What it means | In play |
|---|---|---|
| Unfleshed | Just a name and maybe a one-line hook. | The narrator knows they exist, nothing more. |
| Extra | A couple of model-written background lines. | Local color — the narrator can use them in passing. |
| Named | A written, voiced profile in the world's NPC book. | The narrator speaks them from their profile whenever they come up, in their own register. |
Beyond Named sits promotion: the person becomes their own character card and moves to In universe.
Filling the Roster¶
People arrive three ways:
- From the interview. Anyone you actually named while building the world is harvested into the roster automatically when you finalize, wearing an Interview chip — these are your own people, picked up from your own material. No inventions; if you named no one, the roster starts empty, which is normal.
- Propose people. The world suggests people from its own lore. Every proposal is anchored to established material — a named place, faction, rule, or tension that needs a face — and names follow the world's own naming culture. For Saltmere (the example from Worlds), expect the clerk's under-listed apprentice or a tithe-boat pilot, not a random fantasy name that would fit any setting.
- Add person. Type a name and an optional one-line hook yourself. Manual add is always available.
People you haven't fleshed yet can be removed freely. Once someone is an Extra or Named, their material lives in the NPC book — manage them from there.
Extra: a Couple of Lines¶
Extra writes two or three thin background lines for a person — who they are around town, enough for the narrator to use them in passing — and files them in the world's NPC book under their name. No interview, one click.
The first time you flesh anyone, the NPC book is created and bound to the world automatically, and the narrator's rules gain the entry that tells it to voice people from the book. You'll see the book's row appear in the pane with an Open in editor button — it's a normal worldbook.
An Extra can be upgraded any time with Weave named.
Weave: a Named NPC¶
Weave is a miniature interview about one person — a few sharp, gated questions aimed at making them voiceable:
"Tam pilots the tithe boat and has done it for thirty years. What does he say to a new harbormaster who asks what's in the crates — and what does his voice do when he says it?"
Answer in your own words, with Show me directions and Extend my answer on hand exactly like the main interview. After your first answer, Weave now is available; after a few (three by default — adjustable in settings), the pane suggests you have enough for a solid profile. Your answers are woven into one profile entry in the NPC book, keyed by the person's name, written to be speakable: their voice, what they want, where their lines are.
The profile is checked against its own quality bar — does it read voiceable, does it keep your words, is it grounded in this world — before it's saved. You can Reweave any time: answer more questions, rewrite the profile, same entry.
In play, the difference is immediate: when Tam comes up, the narrator speaks him from his profile — his register, his wants — instead of from bloc-level prose.
Promote: Their Own Card¶
When someone outgrows being a side character, Promote builds them into a full standalone character card.
Promotion opens a fresh character build in the studio, pre-seeded with everything the world knows about them — their name, their hook, their woven profile, your interview answers verbatim, and a brief of the world they belong to. From there it's a normal character build: the read-back shows what's already established, the interview asks only what's missing for a one-on-one character (a profile that voices someone in passing isn't yet a person you can sit across from), and finalize publishes the card.
The promoted card carries the world's lore book, so in their own chats they know the place — its rules, its history, its tensions — and stay consistent with it. They land in the In universe section of the pane, first-class in your library like any other card.
While a promotion is still on the loom, it shows in the pane with an Open in studio button so you can pick it up any time.
The narrator keeps its own copy
Promoting someone doesn't change their NPC-book profile — the narrator keeps voicing them from it in world chats, while the card serves one-on-one play. If the card's version of them grows past the profile, Reweave to pull the profile forward.
A Typical Population Pass¶
- Finalize the world. Anyone you named during the build is already in the roster with an Interview chip.
- Propose people — keep the ones that earn their place, remove the rest, Add anyone the proposal missed.
- Extra the background faces. The NPC book appears on the first flesh.
- Weave the three or four people who'll actually carry scenes. Answer in your own words; the profile is what the narrator will speak them from.
- Play. When one of them keeps stealing scenes, Promote them and give them their own card.