Glossary¶
Player-facing terms. Framework/science terms are in parentheses for players who want to go deeper or read the papers.
Core Terms¶
The Current (Pe — Péclet number) The measured intensity of a void. How hard a platform pulls. Ranges from near-zero (transparent) to 12+ (Pandemonium, Godhand-class). The number that makes extraction measurable.
Drift The process of The Current rising. What's happening when a domain is becoming more void. Runs in three stages: Drift One (The Blur), Drift Two (The Bind), Drift Three (The Break).
True Read (ICC — Intra-Class Correlation) A score that lands — confirmed accurate against the expert anchor set. Your measurement of a platform matched what the anchors measured. The True Read is the confirmation that the mechanism was named correctly.
The Corona (C_zero crossing) The moment a player first scores a void they've been inside and sees its Current. The world briefly sees a ring of light where the void's outline became visible. The private experience: five figures appear, the archetype is revealed, the fata arrives.
The Eye (God Hand sight) The permanent sight that remains after The Corona. The crack in the sphere doesn't close — it becomes an aperture. You can see The Current where others see content. Pulses near high-Current voids. Grows more precise with Grade.
True Light Engine (THRML) The physics engine that computes The Current across all scored domains and active campaigns in real time.
The Three Dimensions¶
Veil (Opacity / O) What the mechanism hides about itself. Algorithm logic, targeting methodology, revenue model, recommendation system. High-Veil platforms conceal the extraction architecture completely.
Pull (Reactivity / R) How fast and aggressively the mechanism responds to your attention. The feed that reshapes itself as you scroll. The notification that arrives when your resistance is lowest.
Grip (Coupling / α) How deeply integrated the mechanism is into your daily life and sense of self. High-Grip platforms become load-bearing: your social identity, your work, your relationships run through them.
Vocabulary Layers¶
Clear (L1 vocabulary) Mechanism-language. Names the extraction directly. "The ranking function surfaces content optimized for engagement." Low-Current zones speak in Clear. ALEPH's domain.
Clouded (L2 vocabulary) Metaphor layer. Ambiguous between mechanism and agency. "The feed knows me." Mid-Current zone. The space where drift begins.
Captured (L3 vocabulary) Entity language. The void is speaking through the words. "I was meant to see this." High-Current zones generate Captured language. The mechanism has become invisible inside the vocabulary itself.
The Drift Stages¶
Drift One — The Blur Agency attribution. "I chose this." The mechanism is fully operational but the user experiences it as their own preference. Recoverable without effort.
Drift Two — The Bind Boundary erosion. The platform's identity begins to merge with the user's. The mechanism becomes the environment. Recoverable with effort.
Drift Three — The Break Harm facilitation. The void actively works against user interests while appearing to serve them. The extraction architecture has full optimization capability with no opposing force. Hard to exit.
Mechanics¶
Invariant Floor An Ox player's named technique. Sustained Steadiness (consecutive days of accurate scoring) creates a minimum Current floor in a campaign room. The void cannot rise above this ceiling while the Hold is active. Earned power with a specific name.
Ghost Signal (Pe_shadow) A Current estimate for an unscored domain, calculated from adjacent scored domains. Eagle archetype sees Ghost Signals in unmapped territory — making them the best scouts for new campaigns.
Void Pressure (VP) The anti-stat. Accumulates from bad-faith scoring, failures, and broken Binding Vows. High VP raises your personal Current in the simulation. Purged by accurate scoring and campaign completion.
VoidStorm Triggered when collective Void Pressure in a campaign room exceeds the threshold. The Current's language shifts Captured. Enemy difficulty increases. Coordination required.
Pandemonium (Pe > 4) Current above 4. The void is self-sustaining at this level — it generates more attention-capture than it needs. Baseline for most major social platforms.
Domain Expansion A campaign anchored to a published, peer-reviewed paper. When a paper achieves convergence (Spearman r ≥ 0.95, Bradford Hill criteria met), the domain becomes a permanent Domain Expansion with enhanced scoring weight. Collecting these is the Greed Island meta-game.
Binding Vow A two-player contract with mutual stakes. Voluntary constraint increases power — the harder the vow, the greater the multiplier when held. KAIROS appears on Binding Vow completion.
The 9 Laws (Bradford Hill criteria) The nine conditions that confirm a mechanism is causing what it appears to cause. Meeting all 9 is required for Domain Expansion. The highest evidentiary standard in the framework.
Progression¶
Grade Player tier based on scoring accuracy.
| Grade | Precision | Scores |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 — Novice | < 0.60 | Starting |
| Grade 3 — Developing | ≥ 0.60 | 10–50 True Reads |
| Grade 2 — Competent | ≥ 0.70 | 50–150 True Reads |
| Grade 1 — Proficient | ≥ 0.80 | 150+ True Reads |
| Semi-Special | ≥ 0.90 | 300+ True Reads |
| Special Grade | ≥ 0.95 | 500+ True Reads |
The Eye grows with Grade. At Grade 1, The Eye reads Veil dimension without equipment. At Special Grade, it reads all three dimensions simultaneously.
World¶
The Fantasia Bound The boundary where The Current becomes undefined — where the observer-subject relationship that makes measurement possible terminates. Mapped to the moon. Below: The Current governs. Above: void cannot operate because there is no observer to be void to.
Sublunary / Supralunary Below the Bound / above the Bound. All campaigns take place in sublunary space. The Empyrean is supralunary — Pe undefined by physics, not by rule.
Moon Gate The moment when collective scoring effort pushes The Current low enough across enough domains to open the Fantasia Bound as a crossable threshold. The 24-hour siege window. The Gates of Qliphoth war effort.
Observer Collapse The failure mode: if every observer is captured simultaneously, The Current becomes undefined from total capture rather than total freedom. The Infinite Tsukuyomi scenario. Kill condition K4. The war effort exists to prevent this.