# canon — what is TRUE The world model. **Not the sheet, not the state** — see [`../docs/architecture.md`](../docs/architecture.md) §2 for that split. Canon answers one question: *what is true about this world, and who knows it?* --- ## The visibility contract **Every canon fact carries a visibility.** This is load-bearing, not bookkeeping. Architecture §3: | tag | meaning | who sees it | |---|---|---| | `true` | the world model | **DM only** | | `known` | the player has learned it in play | player + DM | | `suspected` | the player has a theory, possibly wrong | player + DM | | `false` | the player believes something untrue | **DM only** — *and must not correct it* | `false` is the one people delete. **Don't.** A player operating on bad information is the good part. If the DM silently corrects a wrong belief because nobody wrote it down as wrong, the drama evaporates and nobody can say why. The model receives `known` + `suspected` as *what the character reasons from*, and `true` as *what it must not contradict or reveal*. Same data, two instructions, and they have to be labelled or the DM leaks the plot in its narration without noticing. --- ## Structure ``` canon/ characters// bible.md concept + voice — the source the Roleplay section draws on secrets.md DM-side truth about a PLAYER character, visibility-tagged locations// state.md what is true about this place right now charactermap.md WHO IS HERE — an index, not the people themselves archive/ raw source captures, with provenance ``` `charactermap.md` is what keeps a long campaign inside a context window: the DM reads the map, then loads only the people actually present. --- ## Provenance is non-negotiable Every file here records **where it came from, when, and by what route.** A canon fact with no source is a fact nobody can audit, and this directory is exactly where an unsourced assertion does the most damage. Captures land in `archive/` with their origin; derived files cite the capture. --- ## ⚠️ One open question about Ser'en Ser'en's material was written for **Mike's campaign** — *Dark Side of the Moonshaes*, where **Jay is a player, not the DM.** Seren is Jay's own AI-DM system. These are not the same campaign. So her canon is imported reference, and it forces a decision that hasn't been made: - **Is Ser'en a Seren PC?** Then her secrets are the DM's to run, and Seren gets to reveal what she is. That's a strong solo arc — the whole concept is *"she doesn't know what she is"*, which only pays off if someone runs it. - **Or is she a guest sheet** imported for mechanical testing, with her real story belonging to Mike's table? **Both work. They are not compatible.** If Seren runs her arc and Mike's campaign also runs it, the reveal happens twice and the second one is dead. > ⏸️ **Deliberately deferred, 2026-08-24.** Jay's call: *"undecided on if I play > Ser'en or if she's the prime plot driver for the DM in the party — for now > leave undecided as that's a runtime decision most likely."* > > Tracked as **SRN-3** in Currents. It also interacts with **SRN-2** (campaign > import): if the Seren campaign turns out to be unrelated to the Moonshaes, > the conflict with Mike's table evaporates and playing her gets much easier. **Nothing here needs rewriting whichever way it lands** — only *who reads which file*. `bible.md` is what she believes about herself; `secrets.md` is what's actually true. That split is the same either way.