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Act 1 - First People

Act 1 is the first named-people act. The MC is no longer only keeping themself alive; they are using the Core and Camp to find, rescue, escort, and shelter the first people who can live under that protection.

The act is still anchored on the personal Core and the travelling Camp. It does not yet treat that household as the first Outpost-tier Settlement. The approved act sequence keeps the first Outpost as the next act's settlement and footprint transition.

Role​

  • Turn the Core from a personal anchor into a place that can keep the first named people alive.
  • Make rescues, escorts, guest quarters, food, shelter, storage, watch, and warding persistent obligations rather than one-off survival chores.
  • Begin the MC's household or retinue layer without pretending the game has already unlocked the full Settlement or anonymous population system.
  • Preserve the MC as the main actor: the group holds because the MC scouts, solves blockers, and brings back people and resources the Core needs.

What Changes From Act 0​

  • Shelter and storage stop being temporary measures and become sustained priorities.
  • Repeatable food and recovery loops matter more than emergency survival.
  • Guest quarters, protected beds, or equivalent housing become meaningful.
  • Weak demon harassment reaches the Core's edge often enough that watch and warding are structural, not optional.
  • The player begins to feel the difference between staying safe at the Core and venturing outward with the Camp to find or extract people.

Core Act Questions​

This act owns the first stable answers to:

  • Who can be found, rescued, or convinced to join the Core's protected group?
  • How are arrivals escorted back safely and kept alive once they arrive?
  • What work must stay at the Core, and what work can travel with the Camp?
  • Which early assignments belong to named people rather than the MC?
  • What nearby Locations look viable for the later first Outpost?

Required Outcomes​

  • The Core has meaningful shelter, storage, food preparation, watch, ward, and guest-space infrastructure.
  • The player has seen a real pressure loop between maintaining the Core and sending the MC out to investigate, rescue, escort, scout, or repair.
  • The first people feel like named characters, companions, or household members whose needs and assignments matter individually.
  • Character assignments begin, even if they are still small in scale.
  • The player understands that Camp and Core are support layers for future expansion, not the same thing as settlement-scale administration.
  • Full Settlement and anonymous population simulation remain locked.

Ending State​

Act 1 is complete when the Core can support life beyond the MC alone and the player is ready to push outward.

  • The first people around the Core are fed, sheltered, watched over, and housed well enough that the site feels like a lasting foothold.
  • The Core and Camp each have a clear gameplay identity.
  • The household or retinue layer exists and the first assignments are legible.
  • Nearby land has been scouted far enough to support the first outward foothold.
  • The first Outpost-tier Settlement remains the next major unlock rather than a background assumption already completed.