Civilization Shell

The civilization shell is the visible layer of a ruin — the part that tells the player who left this place. It projects that identity into clues, activation prompts, runtime pressure bias, and recovery direction. It doesn't replace survey, activation, runtime, resonance, or recovery; it rides on top of them.

Framework and shell split

Layer	Owns	Does not own
main-loop framework	survey, activation, runtime, resonance, recovery, identification	civilization identity by itself
civilization shell	outer traces, clue items, activation prompts, pressure presentation, recovery direction	rewriting the main-loop state machine

The shell must sit on top of the main loop rather than next to it. A civilization idea that contributes only art or lore terms without projecting into the rule layer isn't a shell definition yet. It's narrative material.

Preserved and trace-based civilizations

Civilization shells fall into two visibility types:

Type	Presentation traits	Design use
preserved civilization	more complete landmarks, denser traces, clearer signals	strongest fit for first samples and onboarding ruins
trace-based civilization	weaker signals, more fragmented materials, more distributed anomalies, stronger reliance on experience	stronger fit for later expansion and advanced survey targets

This is about information density, not power ranking. Preserved shells fit version one better because they make it easier to verify clueing, activation prompts, and recovery direction.

Version-one template

Version one should use one shell sample — singular, clear, and testable — rather than pursuing multiple civilizations at once.

Item	Version-one requirement
shell type	preserved
identity lean	mechanical sample
host environment	dry badlands edge or weathered plateau
host structure	tagged trail_ruins or a reused watch-post host
outer traces	brass stakes, broken survey pylons, collapsed watch platforms
clue items	inscribed tablet fragments, calibration plates, damaged filter parts
activation prompts	should express calibration, alignment, filtering, or verification semantics
pressure bias	mostly Contamination, with a smaller layer of Instability
recovery direction	filter relic fragments, corrosion samples, logistics record tablets

This first shell sample doesn't need to tell a complete civilization history. It just needs to prove that one shell can map consistently into location, identification, activation, runtime, and recovery.

Data projection points

At minimum, a civilization shell has to project into the following rule layers:

Layer	What belongs there
structure layer	structure tags or author markers that are more likely to host the shell
biome layer	biome tags where the shell's traces appear more often
clue layer	fragments, stakes, debris, tablets, and other readable signals before activation
activation layer	prompts, submit semantics, and common interaction objects
runtime layer	pressure distribution, guardian style, and presentation tone
recovery layer	record types, fragment types, and identification-text direction

A shell that can't project into all of these together won't stay coherent inside the main loop.

How TaCZ is used

The project keeps using TaCZ as its gun system. Civilization difference should not be expressed by separate weapon systems. It belongs in these parameters:

Dimension	Mechanical sample expression
pressure handling	emphasizes control, suppression, and site stabilization
activation semantics	emphasizes calibration, alignment, filtering, and verification
resonance tendency	leans toward stabilization, redirection, and suppression
failure form	leans toward leakage, breakdown, and structural collapse
recovery result	leans toward sortable parts, records, and contamination samples

Keeping one gun system keeps civilization difference inside the ruin loop instead of splitting the project into incompatible combat stacks.

Inspiration boundary

Allowed inspiration is limited to scale, doctrinal weight, dangerous machinery, and high-pressure combat atmosphere. Direct reuse of names, factions, emblems, or setting structures from existing IP is out.

If a civilization idea needs large structure art production, complete lore writing, and major exclusive assets before the loop becomes playable, it doesn't belong ahead of the first vertical slice.

Acceptance criteria

A shell is working when:

• outer clues improve ruin recognition and feed players toward formal survey,
• the same main loop presents readable activation, pressure, and recovery differences under different shells,
• shells can be authored through tags, clue items, and a small number of explicit nodes instead of large exclusive art pipelines,
• adding a new shell costs substantially less than the readability and gameplay difference it adds.