The Architecture of Identity

A Social Role is a culturally constructed blueprint for being. It is the story a society tells its members about who they are, how they should behave, and what their purpose is. From the rigid caste of a Hegemonic citizen to the fluid performance of a Thespian, Social Roles are the very architecture of a culture, the invisible grammar that structures every interaction.

This document details the universal framework for how all social structures are defined, performed, and contested within ATET.

The Cultural Role Framework

The core of this system is the Cultural Role Framework. Every Faction possesses a list of Social Role Schemas. This list is the Faction’s social structure. It defines their understanding of gender, class, profession, and family, providing a set of pre-defined identities that its members are expected to inhabit.

The Anatomy of a Social Role Schema

A Social Role Schema is a data structure that defines a single, coherent social identity. It is composed of four key facets:

• Name: The common name for the role (e.g., “Man,” “Woman,” “Priest,” “Warrior,” “Elder”).

• Symbol Tags: A list of abstract keywords that define the role’s archetypal essence. These tags are the bridge between the individual’s Psyche and the culture’s expectations.

  • Example: The role of “Warrior” might be tagged with [strength], [discipline], and [protector].

• Social Expectations (The Performance): A set of behavioral and aesthetic norms associated with the role. Performing these expectations is socially rewarded, while violating them is punished.

  • Preferred Skills: Skills that are valued and encouraged for this role.
  • Preferred Apparel: Styles of clothing or specific uniforms associated with the role.
  • Behavioral Mandates: Actions that fulfill the role’s narrative (e.g., a “Priest” is expected to perform rituals).
  • Taboos: Actions considered inappropriate or forbidden for the role.

• Biological Linkage (The Assignment): This defines how a society assigns a role. This is the crucial mechanic for modeling a culture’s understanding of gender and other identities.

  • Assignment Rule: Can be [None] (a role is chosen freely), [Biological] (assigned at birth based on physical traits), or [Hereditary] (inherited by lineage).
  • Required Tags: If the rule is [Biological], this lists the required functional tags from Reproduction.
    • Example 1 (Binary Gender): A culture might have a “Woman” role requiring [gestation_capable] and a “Man” role requiring [gamete_producer_A].
    • Example 2 (Non-Binary Gender): A culture might have a third gender role, “Weaver,” that has no biological requirement (Assignment Rule: [None]).
    • Example 3 (Genderless): A Construct society might have professional roles ([Forge-Tender], [Logic-Priest]) with no biological linkages whatsoever.

The Resonance Check between Individual and Culture

While a society provides the roles, the individual must live them. The Resonance Check is the passive, internal process through which an agent’s Psyche measures its alignment with a given Social Role. This is the engine of social conformity and rebellion.

• The Mechanic (Symbolic Match): The system constantly compares the Symbol Tags of an agent’s core Psychic Components with the Symbol Tags of the Social Role they are performing.

  • A high degree of overlap results in high Resonance. The role feels natural and affirming.
  • A low degree of overlap results in Dissonance. The role feels like an ill-fitting costume.

• The Consequence (Euphoria & Dysphoria): This Resonance score is the primary input for the social_identity component of the Psyche.

  • High Resonance fulfills the IdentityCongruenceNeed, generating a powerful state of euphoria.
  • Low Resonance drains this need, inflicting the painful, debilitating state of dysphoria.

This creates a powerful feedback loop. An agent is psychologically rewarded for performing a role that is authentic to its inner nature and punished for performing one that is not. This bottom-up pressure from the individual’s own soul is the primary force that drives an agent to either conform to their society’s expectations or to seek a new role, a new Faction, or a new life that allows them to be who they truly are.