A Record is an object whose primary purpose is the storage and transmission of information. It is knowledge given physical or digital form, a fragment of the universe’s memory made portable and persistent.

Within ATET, Records are the currency of truth and the agents of propaganda. They are the vessels for Fact, the carriers of Fiction, and the holy texts of Faith. To control the Records is to control the past, and to control the past is to shape the future.

Philosophy of Inscribed Knowledge

A Record represents humanity’s (and non-humanity’s) attempt to defeat the impermanence of memory. It is a bulwark against forgetting, a way to project a thought across time and space. But this act of preservation is not neutral. Every Record is an act of editing. What is included is as important as what is left out. A “historical” text is a curated narrative, a “scientific” paper is a specific interpretation of data, and a personal journal is a subjective account of events. A Record is never the truth itself; it is only a version of it.

Mechanics of Information

Records function as keys that unlock knowledge, skills, or narrative pathways. Their primary function is to directly interact with an agent’s AgentMemoryStore and AgentBeliefStore.

• Containing Facts: A Starmap is a Record containing geographic data. A Scientific Survey contains verifiable data about a planet’s flora or fauna. Successfully studying these Records can add new, high-confidence Facts to an agent’s AgentBeliefStore, unlocking new Exploration or Craft opportunities.
• Transmitting Fictions and Faiths: A Book of Myths or a Holy Text is a Record designed to propagate a specific worldview. Reading it can introduce new Fictions or directly challenge or reinforce an agent’s existing Faiths. A powerful piece of propaganda can be as effective as a weapon in a social Conflict.
• Granting Knowledge (Blueprints): A Schematic or Blueprint is a specialized Record that functions as a Tool for Crafting. Studying it teaches the agent the “recipe” for an item, adding it to their known crafting repertoire.
• Revealing Memories: A Personal Log or Datachron contains the Memory fragments of another agent. Accessing it can provide a direct window into another’s subjective experience, revealing secrets, quest clues, or deep personal truths that would otherwise be hidden.

The Subjective Interpretation

Information is never raw. The act of reading a Record is an act of interpretation, and the Subjective Interface reflects this.

• Perception by Belief: When reading a text, an agent’s own Beliefs will color the information. The UI might highlight passages that confirm the agent’s biases in a reassuring light, while “heretical” or contradictory passages might appear faded, distorted, or automatically annotated with skeptical internal monologue: “[This cannot be right…]”
• Perception by Skill: An agent’s Skills determine how much they can understand. To an agent with low Literacy, a text is just incomprehensible symbols. To an agent with high Cryptography, an encrypted datachip is an open book. An agent with Xeno-linguistics can decipher an alien text that is gibberish to others.

A Record that is believed by millions, like a founding scripture, transcends its physical form. It becomes an Artifact, its text imbued with the power of the Faith it created, capable of performing miracles or inspiring unshakable conviction in those who read it.