CYCLE
Seven phases. Same structure every session. What changes is the state you carry into it.
Review Stray status and available Fractures. Behavioral flags determine viability. Assign roles.
Optionally run the Calling. Candidates carry partial profiles. You learn what was hidden once they are in a Fracture.
Before dispatch, each Stray's drift, morale, fatigue, and complacency are captured as simulation inputs.
The Fracture initializes. Partial intel returns. The deployment window closes.
Cardinal Engine runs. No input from you. The log fills. You wait.
Outcomes distribute. Resources, XP, narrative fragments, state changes per Stray.
Strays return to Bastion. Facilities determine what heals and what compounds into the next cycle.
Four Variables. One Decision Function.
How far a Stray has diverged from their assigned baseline. High drift restructures the decision tree. Role assignments deprioritize.
Psychological state. Below 30, retreat thresholds rise and aggressive actions deprioritize. Above 80, a performance multiplier applies.
Accumulates each Fracture. Does not clear without Bastion rest. High fatigue degrades reaction scoring — the timing heuristic.
Builds from repetition. Complacent Strays apply cached evaluations. They fail systematically against novel compositions.
"Systems first. Content second. No dice in the critical path. No language model deciding outcomes. The engine is honest. What you build into it is what you get back."