Symbolic Experience Encoding

Purpose

To model, store, distort, and propagate memory as symbolic, emotionally-charged fragments. Memories are not logs of events but meaning-bearing residues shaped by Faith, Fiction, and experience. This system underpins perception, belief, emergent narrative, and intergenerational Eidos inheritance.

Core Concepts

• Memory is Subjective: Memories are not factual records, but reconstructions shaped by internal states, symbolic frameworks, and emotional weight.
• Memories are Symbolically Tagged: All memory entries are attached to SymbolTags, representing their narrative or thematic resonance.
• Distortion and Forgetting Are Systemic: Memory may be altered or lost over time, according to pressure from trauma, belief, ritual, or metaphysical entropy.
• Memory Forms the Backbone of Eidos Accrual: Stored and interpreted memories are the primary source of meaningful Eidos fragments.

Data Structures

struct MemoryEvent {
    id: Uuid,
    timestamp: u64,
    subject: EntityId,
    object: Option<EntityId>,
    location: Option<WorldPosition>,
    tags: Vec<SymbolTagId>,
    valence: EmotionalValence,
    distortion: Option<DistortionProfile>,
    visibility: MemoryVisibility,
    origin: MemoryOrigin,
    notes: Option<String>,
}

enum MemoryOrigin {
    DirectExperience,
    Dream,
    Inherited(ThreadId),
    FictionalNarrative,
    RitualVision,
}

enum MemoryVisibility {
    Conscious,
    Subconscious,
    Forgotten,
}

struct DistortionProfile {
    skewed_tags: Vec<SymbolTagId>,
    altered_valence: Option<EmotionalValence>,
    source: DistortionSource,
}

enum DistortionSource {
    BeliefFilter,
    TraumaResponse,
    CulturalRepression,
    HallucinatoryState,
    MemoryCorruption,
}

Emotional Valence

MemoryEvents are ranked along a continuous emotional scale:

enum EmotionalValence {
    Despair(f32),
    Fear(f32),
    Shame(f32),
    Anger(f32),
    Curiosity(f32),
    Joy(f32),
    Awe(f32),
    Love(f32),
}

Valence can:

• Affect recall probability
• Shape memory distortion
• Influence Eidos flavor

System Functions

• StoreMemoryEvent(event: MemoryEvent)
  Insert a new symbolic experience into an agent’s memory bank.

• RecallMemory(agent: EntityId, filter: MemoryQuery)
  Retrieve accessible memories matching symbolic, emotional, or historical criteria.

• DistortMemory(agent: EntityId, event: MemoryEvent, cause: DistortionSource)
  Transform memory according to belief, trauma, or other interpretive frameworks.

• ForgetMemory(agent: EntityId, event: MemoryEvent)
  Mark memory as forgotten; optionally propagate symbolic drift into subconscious.

• PropagateMemory(thread: ThreadId, memory: MemoryEvent)
  Recast significant events as inherited or mythologized memory in new Incarnations.

Gameplay Integration

Notes

• Memories are not truth; they are narrative vectors.
• Repeated recall of the same memory may change its SymbolTags or valence.
• Some memories will only become visible or interpretable after death, during reflection.
• Forgotten memories may re-emerge in distorted form in dreams or visions.