18. Social Systems: Chat, News & State Media
18.1 Channels
| Channel | Who can see | Notes per system |
|---|---|---|
| City / national chat | Citizens of the nation | Kindle: open; Confluence/Meridian: filtered keyword list for ‘leadership criticism’ adds Suspicion (in-character only); Korund: monitored by the AI State Security organ through rule-based behavior signals in in-character channels; Aurelle: lèse-majesté rules; Ilmar: canon conduct rules; Hoarvale and Veldwood: open (Crown Etiquette fines in Hoarvale); Varkand: open at Green, monitored by the AI Intelligence Command at Amber/Red; Fulmara: open, with paid ‘promoted’ posts in a separate, clearly labeled market feed. |
| Party / faction / house / order | Members | Private to members; plots run here and in direct messages. |
| Congregation & faith channels (v0.3) | Members of a congregation; cross-border Faith Council channel for clergy | A second bridge between nations besides diplomacy. Not available in Korund except underground congregations (secret, like plots); restricted in Varkand at Red Alert. |
| Direct messages | Two citizens | End-to-end privacy is not promised (moderation must be possible), but other players can never read DMs. In-game ‘surveillance’ acts on behavior signals, never on actual private text. |
| Global channel | All nations | Diplomatic Hall and Trade Fair channels. Korund citizens cannot see the global channel except via a hidden radio item or as accredited trade delegates; Varkand citizens lose it at Red Alert. |
| AI leader broadcasts (v0.7) | Citizens of the nation (foreign viewers where press rules allow) | Addresses, speeches, debates, Question Time and press conferences by AI leaders; all labeled AI; citizens react and submit questions but cannot DM leaders. |
| Out-of-character (OOC) help | Everyone | Always available in every nation – Charter Limit. Help, bug reports, moderation. |
18.2 News and propaganda
- Kindle – free press: any citizen can found a newspaper (player-written articles, ads, subscriptions). Journalists get access to public ledgers (budgets, donations, AI officials’ Reasoning Briefs) and rate-limited press conferences with AI officials.
- Confluence – The Current Daily (official) plus licensed local bulletins; criticism of policy allowed, criticism of the Four Pillars costs Party Standing.
- Meridian – Steamgate Herald (official) + SEZ business press (economic news only).
- Korund – State Media: the AI Propaganda Directorate approves all news; human State Media writers draft articles and posters from a template toolkit, and the AI generates broadcasts and the Chairman’s addresses. The system auto-generates baseline content from real stats (‘Iron output 112% of plan!’) which the AI and writers can spin – but nobody can invent fake numbers in system-generated widgets (truth stays in the data, spin in the words). All AI-written state media passes the content policy (Section 21.4).
- Aurelle – Court Gazette (royal) and tolerated broadsheets; the Herald announces decrees with ceremony.
- Ilmar – The Lamp (sanctum) and Assembly debate records.
- Hoarvale – free press (player newspapers as in Kindle) plus the Moot Record (verbatim debates and Question Time transcripts) and the Court Circular (Crown House engagements).
- Varkand – The Directorate Bulletin (official) plus licensed papers; pre-publication review at Amber, Bulletin only at Red; system-generated stats stay truthful, as in Korund.
- Veldwood – free press plus The Canopy, a public broadcaster with balanced-airtime rules on Vote Days and an auto-generated Ballot Booklet.
- Fulmara – free press owned mainly by trading houses (ownership shown on every masthead), the Exchange Tape (live prices) and the Tribune’s Dock Sheet.
18.3 Propaganda toolkit (all nations)
Posters, banners and billboards placed on owned squares, composed from approved art kits (nation-specific frames, icons, slogans, player or AI text with filters). This keeps in-world messaging expressive while keeping moderation tractable – no free image uploads and no AI image generation at MVP.
18.4 AI speeches, broadcasts and press access (v0.7)
- Watchable events: weekly addresses, inaugurations, coronations, Congress closing speeches, war and peace announcements, debates, Question Time and summits play as in-game broadcasts (a 3D stage with the AI persona’s portrait and text; synthesized voice is a later option) and are archived with transcripts.
- Press access: human journalists in free-press nations can submit questions to rate-limited AI press conferences (e.g., 3 questions per journalist per week [ASSUMPTION]); answers are constrained to the digest’s facts and the leader’s Candor trait – a low-Candor leader dodges, but never misstates system figures.
- Fact-check overlay: a citizen can open the system-truth figures behind any numeric claim (Korund citizens see the official widget only).
- Labeling: every AI-generated speech, article and post is marked ‘AI-generated’; human-written articles carry the author’s citizen name.
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