A Thread is the narrative trace left by an Incarnation; the memory of its presence within a Tapestry, and the imprint it leaves upon the weave.

Within ATET, every lived moment creates a Thread. Some Threads are quiet and brief, others vast and world-shaping. Regardless of length or grandeur, each one subtly alters the world it passes through.

A Thread is not simply a record. It is a force of narrative gravity.

Nature of Thread

Threads arise through experience, decision, perception, and influence. Some are deeply personal: the path of a healer in a doomed colony, or the childhood of a prophet no one believed. Others are mythic: the martyrdom of a planetary revolutionary, or the betrayal that ended an age.

Not all Threads are lived directly by the player. As their mythic reach grows, players may acquire the ability to seed, inherit, or observe Threads that unfold independent of their current Incarnation.

Some Threads reappear across Tapestries, refracted through time and metaphor. Others vanish, leaving only the faintest ripple. Many evolve: a forgotten Fiction becomes a Faith; a lie told long ago becomes a prophecy fulfilled.

Philosophical Frame

In narrative and gameplay terms, the Thread reflects:

• From weaving traditions: each life as a strand in the cloth of the cosmos
• From narratology: the trace of a character’s arc, action, and significance
• From spiritual and historical memory: the idea that every life leaves behind a legacy—whether or not anyone remembers it

A Thread is both record and echo. It is what remains after the player moves on.

Gameplay Function

Generating Threads

Threads are created whenever an Incarnation engages with the world:

• Each choice, discovery, or transformation etches a Thread into the Tapestry
• The emotional weight or cultural impact of an action shapes the Thread’s intensity and persistence
• Threads vary in clarity and detail, depending on memory, perception, and narrative significance

Threads are not fully visible in real-time. Their shape is revealed in reflection—after an Incarnation ends, or when they ripple forward into future play.

Interacting with Threads

Players may:

• Reencounter their own past Threads across future Tapestries, changed or mythologized
• Perceive Threads left by other Incarnations (their own or otherwise) through omens, echoes, or historical records
• Shape the nature of emergent Threads through intentional choices, sacrifices, or patterns of behavior
• Unlock special narrative branches by recognizing or aligning with previously woven Threads

Advanced abilities may allow players to:

• Deliberately spin new Threads into the world, even beyond the life of the current Incarnation
• Trace the genealogy of certain Faiths or Fictions back to their originating Threads
• Recognize mythic signatures: repeated motifs or legacies formed across multiple playthroughs

Narrative Economy

Threads are the invisible structure behind the world’s memory:

• They determine how Facts, Fictions, and Faiths evolve over time
• They shape future procedural generation by influencing tone, culture, and recurring motifs
• They provide a soft continuity between runs: a narrative fingerprint of what the player has done

A Thread does not need to be legendary to matter. The smallest gesture may echo further than expected.

Design Intent

Why Threads exist:

• To preserve the emotional and narrative memory of the player’s choices across runs
• To tie together the systems of Eidos, Tapestry, and Incarnation into a cohesive, evolving narrative loop
• To reward reflection, pattern recognition, and symbolic thinking
• To create long-term narrative depth without requiring explicit world persistence

Key Design Notes

• Threads should never feel like static logs or achievements; they are evocative, ambiguous, and reinterpretable
• Some Threads should be recoverable and recognizable across runs, but others should only surface if relevant
• Players should be able to follow the resonance of their past selves without feeling beholden to them
• The Tapestry system can draw on prior Threads to introduce motifs or dilemmas with thematic continuity
• A Thread is not defined by its ending, but by the shape it weaves in the world around it