Keep faction consequences thin and explicit

785. Lesson identity

Module

2.9 — Faction systems

Lesson

Keep faction consequences thin and explicit

Academic type

Systems

Schema type

Text

Order

Lesson 2 in the module

Estimated time

30–40 minutes, including practice

786. Learning objective

After this lesson, you can create a deterministic faction-impact map for one choice or mission. The map will name the approved input, relationship mutation, complete threshold partition, response mode, allowed consumers, explicit non-effects, and owner of every response.

787. Why this matters

Reputation becomes difficult to reason about when every action silently changes quests, prices, dialogue, combat, access, and progression. A thin consequence system limits each choice to effects with a defined owner and a visible reason.

Determinism also depends on when a response occurs. A system that continuously reflects the current relationship classification behaves differently from one that reacts once when a threshold is crossed. If a contract does not distinguish those modes, loading a saved state, moving downward across a boundary, or receiving the same event twice can produce inconsistent results.

788. Prior knowledge

You should already have completed A faction owns relationships, not the whole world. You should be able to distinguish faction relationship state from the systems that consume it and describe a choice as an explicit event rather than a vague intention.

789. Core concept

A consequence contract is a bounded agreement between a producer of a faction-related event, the faction relationship system, and the systems permitted to respond.

A complete contract answers these questions:

1. What happened? Name one approved event and its eligibility rule.
2. Which relationship changes? Identify the faction and relationship value.
3. How is the value calculated? State the initial value, exact delta, resulting value, valid domain, and clamping rule.
4. How is the value classified? Provide a complete, ordered, non-overlapping band map.
5. What response mode applies? Declare each response as state-derived or transition-triggered.
6. Who owns the response? Assign every response to one named receiving system.
7. What does not happen? Record explicit non-effects for unrelated systems.

The faction relationship system is the sole mutation authority. Producers submit approved events; they do not write reputation directly. Consumers may read a classification or receive a declared transition, but they may not mutate the relationship or invent uncontracted effects.

790. Numeric and boundary convention

For this lesson, reputation is a bounded integer in [-100, 100].

For an eligible event:

postValue = clamp(preValue + delta, -100, 100)

All band boundaries are inclusive and must partition every integer in the domain exactly once. For example:

An event with preValue = 95 and delta = +10 produces postValue = 100, not 105. Classification occurs after clamping.

791. Two response modes

Every response in an impact map must declare one of these modes.

State-derived response

A state-derived response must agree with the current classification whenever the consuming system evaluates or reconciles state.

Example: vendor access is available while the relationship is Trusted. It becomes unavailable if the relationship later falls below Trusted. Loading a saved Trusted state also restores the access because the response is derived from current state.

Current classification = Trusted
→ Vendor access system exposes the Trusted category

Transition-triggered response

A transition-triggered response occurs once when an accepted mutation crosses a declared boundary in a declared direction.

Example: show a one-time notification when the value moves upward from below 50 to 50 or above.

Upward crossing of 50: preValue < 50 and postValue >= 50
Downward crossing of 50: preValue >= 50 and postValue < 50

A transition contract must state whether it responds to the upward crossing, downward crossing, or both. Remaining in the same band is not a crossing. Restoring a saved value classifies and reconciles state-derived responses but does not replay transition-triggered responses unless a separate restoration policy explicitly requires replay.

Do not describe one response as both continuously available in a band and issued only on a crossing. If both behaviors are needed, define two responses with separate owners or separate responsibilities—for example, persistent vendor access and a one-time notification.

792. Mental model

Use the bounded consequence chain:

Eligible approved event
    ↓
Faction-owned, clamped mutation
    ↓
Complete relationship classification
    ↓
Declared response mode
    ↓
Named response owner
    ↓
Bounded player-visible consequence

The input boundary prevents unauthorized mutation. The output boundary prevents unrelated systems from treating reputation as a global broadcast signal.

793. Concrete example

Suppose an eligible mission outcome returns cargo to the Dock Union.

The responses are deliberately separate:

Explicit non-effects:

• the dialogue system does not add a branch automatically;
• the combat system does not change hostility automatically;
• the economy system does not change prices automatically; and
• none of these consumers may mutate Dock Union reputation.

Deterministic examples

The duplicate example assumes the original event ID was already consumed before the shown pre-state was restored or reconstructed. The eligibility ledger, not the consumer, prevents a second mutation.

794. AI-native workflow

Use AI as a specification checker, not as the owner of design scope.

1. Write the event, eligibility rule, domain, clamping rule, full band map, delta, response modes, and owners yourself.
2. Ask AI to detect gaps, overlapping bands, ambiguous boundary directions, duplicate ownership, and uncontracted effects.
3. Require it to test upward crossing, downward crossing, unchanged-band, restoration, and duplicate-event cases.
4. Reject suggestions that add consequences merely because they appear plausible.
5. Preserve the accepted contract as the source of truth during implementation or review.

A useful prompt is: “Audit this faction-impact map for incomplete state data, band gaps or overlaps, ambiguous response modes, unauthorized mutators, duplicate owners, and effects outside the contract. Test upward crossing, downward crossing, unchanged-band, restoration, and duplicate delivery. Do not propose new features.”

795. Common mistakes

• Treating reputation as a signal every system may interpret independently.
• Calling persistent access a threshold-crossing effect without explaining restoration or downward movement.
• Declaring a threshold without its numeric type, inclusive boundaries, or clamping rule.
• Listing only the relevant band instead of the complete partition.
• Letting a consumer mutate reputation in response to its own output.
• Assuming duplicate events, save restoration, or boundary direction will be handled implicitly.

796. Guided practice

Create a faction-impact map for one fictional mission outcome. It may mutate one faction relationship and define no more than two player-visible responses.

Complete the contract table:

Then provide five test cases. Each case must record event eligibility, pre-state, input or restoration action, post-state, classification, response mode, and allowed responses:

1. an eligible upward crossing of one selected boundary;
2. an eligible downward crossing of that same boundary;
3. a change that remains within one band;
4. restoration directly into a saved classification; and
5. duplicate delivery of the same event ID.

Testing the selected boundary in both directions is required. Do not substitute a crossing of either the lower or upper boundary without direction.

797. Validation / evidence

Your evidence is the completed impact map and all five test cases. It passes when:

• one approved event is the only mutation input;
• event eligibility and duplicate handling are explicit;
• initial value, exact delta, clamped resulting value, and classifications are shown;
• the complete band map covers every integer in [-100, 100] exactly once;
• upward and downward crossing conditions are unambiguous;
• every response declares a state-derived or transition-triggered mode;
• restoration reconciles state-derived responses without accidentally replaying transitions;
• the faction system remains the sole mutation authority;
• each consequence has one named owner and all consumers are read-only;
• all five cases produce deterministic results; and
• at least one explicit non-effect prevents accidental global coupling.

798. Key takeaways

• A consequence contract bounds both mutation inputs and permitted outputs.
• State-derived responses reflect the current classification; transition-triggered responses occur on declared directional crossings.
• Numeric domains, clamping, and complete band partitions make boundary behavior testable.
• Named owners and explicit non-effects prevent hidden global coupling.
• Restoration, downward movement, unchanged bands, and duplicate events must be specified rather than assumed.

799. Next lesson

Next: 2.10 — Living world. Carry forward the same discipline into changing world behavior: identify the state owner, authorized mutations, invariants, response modes, and systems permitted to consume the result.

800. Knowledge check