Memory is the subjective residue of lived experience. It is the raw, impressionistic substance from which an Incarnation’s identity is built and the currency through which the past exerts its power over the present.

Within ATET, Memory is not a perfect, objective recording of Fact. It is a chaotic, emotionally-charged, and often unreliable archive of what was perceived, felt, and believed. The very nature of an Incarnation’s Vessel, its unique sensory organs and physical capabilities; serves as the initial, inescapable filter for all experience. A memory is not a recording of an event; it is a recording of a body’s response to an event.

Design Philosophy

The purpose of the Memory system is to transform the past from a static backstory into an active, tangible, and sometimes adversarial force in gameplay. It is the mechanical heart of the Design Pillar of the Subjective Interface, ensuring that an Incarnation is not a blank slate, but a being constantly shaped and haunted by what it has endured.

Memory in ATET is designed to be felt, not just read. A memory of a battle is not a line of text; it is the remembered scream, the flash of plasma, and the lingering taste of fear, all encoded in a way that is unique to the sensory apparatus of the being who experienced it.

The Universal System (The Subjective Record)

All sapient agents in the simulation form and store memories using a universal, event-driven system.

The Formation of Memory

Memories are encoded by the MemoryRecordingSystem in response to significant events. This process begins with perception, which is fundamentally shaped by the Incarnation’s Anatomy.

1. Sensory Input (The Vessel’s Filter): An event occurs in the world. The raw data of this event is first filtered through the Incarnation’s physical Vessel. The components in its [Sensory Organs] slots dictate what can be perceived. A [Lumin] Incarnation with chromatophore skin perceives a tense argument as a chaotic clash of colors, while a [Choral] Incarnation perceives it as a painful dissonance of sound. This sensory data is the raw material of the memory.

2. Event Triggering: The PerceptionSystem and other action systems process this sensory data and dispatch abstract events like InteractionOutcomeEvent, DamageTakenEvent, or GoalCompletedEvent.

3. Encoding: The MemoryRecordingSystem catches these events and constructs a MemoryEntry.

The Anatomy of a Memory (MemoryEntry)

A MemoryEntry in the agent’s AgentMemoryStore is a rich, subjective snapshot:

• Significance: A calculated value representing how important the event was to the agent’s goals and needs.
• Emotional Valence: The emotional “color” of the memory, from profound joy to abject terror.
• Involved Entities and Roles: Who was there and what part they played.
• Details: A flexible container for context-specific data. Crucially, this can include sensory-specific tags derived from the Vessel’s unique anatomy (e.g., [sensory_mode:chromatic], [sensory_mode:sonic], [sensation:dissonance:-0.8]). This allows the memory to be “played back” through the Subjective Interface in a way that is authentic to the being who recorded it.

The Process of Forgetting

An agent does not remember everything.

• Pruning: Low-significance memories fade over time.
• Consolidation & Abstraction: Over time, the BeliefUpdateSystem analyzes patterns in memory. Many similar memories can be consolidated into a single, high-confidence Belief, and the now-redundant individual memories can be forgotten.
• Suppression: Highly traumatic memories may be actively suppressed, becoming difficult to consciously recall but still exerting a powerful influence on subconscious behavior.

The Player’s Experience (Living in the Echo)

The player interacts with their Incarnation’s memory through the Subjective Interface, which is not a menu, but a diegetic representation of the character’s mind.

Accessing the Memory Store

When the player chooses to “reflect,” they are presented with an interactive, subjective space. The way memories are rendered depends on their content and the Anatomy of the being who made them.

• A cherished memory from a [Humanoid] might be a warm, glowing image accompanied by the faint sound of a loved one’s voice.
• A traumatic memory from a [Choral] might be a visually distorted, jarring audio loop of a dissonant chord.

Memory as an Active Tool

An Incarnation’s memories directly populate the “Inner Mind” panel during other actions:

• In Conversation: Every significant MemoryEntry becomes a potential topic of conversation.
• In Interpret: Your memories are a primary source of interpretative options. You can interpret a strange artifact as “dangerous” because you have a memory of a similar device malfunctioning.
• In Action Appraisal: Your memories implicitly guide your choices. An agent with a memory of being ambushed in a forest will subconsciously appraise the action “Take a shortcut through the woods” with a much higher risk factor.

The Unreliable Narrator

Crucially, the player must learn that their own AgentMemoryStore is not an objective source of truth. It is a record of their perception, filtered first by their body and then by their beliefs. If an NPC successfully lies to you, your memory will record the lie as if it were fact. Part of the game’s challenge is learning to question your own recollections, understanding that the story of your life is a text that is constantly being rewritten, reinterpreted, and sometimes, misremembered.