Opening script: the signal and Prehistory
Status: canonical opening v5 for TRACEKEEPERS: BEFORE CITIES. Story: The signal from Earth. Engine: Unreal Engine 5.8; cinematics built with Sequencer. Pacing target: interactive guide choice at about 2:27 and free control in front of Kael at about 2:40.
Every line of dialogue must be understandable without help to a person of about ten. The opening presents one real event, one mission, three rules and one first action. It does not try to explain all of Arca's civilisation or the whole history of Earth. The exact dialogue, timings and camera are defined in the internal Arecibo teaser and prologue script; this document explains how they join the game.
Scene 1: Arecibo's letter
The prologue begins with the real event of 16 November 1974. Arecibo transmits 1,679 ones and zeroes towards M13. Images explain that it was a symbolic letter to the stars, not a rescue request or a message expecting an immediate reply.
The narration does not claim that the bits literally said “Is anyone out there?” That question summarises the human hope represented by the act.
Scene 2: finding a trace that is still travelling
An Avenyth beacon detects the message, but the Atlas makes clear that the wave is still crossing space. The beacon finds its trace in time and reports the discovery to the central network with almost no noticeable delay. This image explains the science-fiction rule without formulae and without making the human wave travel faster.
The 1,679 bits are arranged in 23 columns and 73 rows. The Atlas recognises an image containing numbers, life, DNA, a being, its planets and Arecibo. It does not find the name “Earth”, because that name was not included.
AVENYTH CUSTODIAN No. One image is not enough. Prepare Arca. Veritas. Aletheia. Follow the signal. Save every finding with its trace.
Scene 3: Earth
Arca reaches the source and learns its local name. Veritas and Aletheia observe science, art, care and connected lives. Then they see war, pain, hunger beside abundance, and evidence hidden for power or wealth.
They do not judge the whole species in one sentence. They recognise that the present shows the result but does not explain how these opposite abilities came to exist together.
ALETHEIA To understand what they became, we must look back.
Interference removes the degree of uncertainty from one trace. Veritas restores the original layer, but the Obscurantists are not yet named.
Scene 4: becoming a Tracekeeper
The name or alias, avatar and age range have already been selected before the sequence begins. When the Atlas finds the first window, Veritas and Aletheia look towards the player.
ALETHEIA We cannot follow every trace alone.
VERITAS Choose who will guide you.
The game chooses Veritas or Aletheia as field guide. A solo player decides. In cooperative play, the team makes a visible choice and the person who created the room breaks a tie. The interface explains: “One of us will always travel with you. Your guide will help you find your way, but will not solve the mission for you.” The choice is saved for the campaign and can be changed aboard Arca between missions.
Before crossing, both adopt human field appearances. The transformation does not copy a real person. Aboard Arca, each wears one continuous, plain and fully monochrome matte dark-graphite suit, with no stripe, coloured mark or visible wrist device. Their faces, hair, voices and movement keep their identities clear. When they cross towards Çakmaktepe, the suit disappears completely and becomes local hide-and-leather clothing. Kael can therefore read their gaze and gestures without the original Avenyth form being revealed or their clothing presenting them as visitors from the future.
The chosen protagonist crosses with the team. The other remains connected through the Atlas and returns during later visits and endings.
The journal saves three simple rules. The tutorial presents them when they become useful instead of stopping the cinematic for another explanation:
- Follow the traces.
- Do not change what already happened.
- Do not invent what is missing.
Scene 5: the first stable window
ATLAS First stable window. Sarımğara Çakmaktepe. Present-day Türkiye. 9600 before the common era.
The place is not presented as the beginning of every community or of intelligence. It is the first window on this route that the Atlas can open with enough traces. Göbekli Tepe lies roughly 30 km away, about eight hours on foot, and becomes a later destination. If performance allows, the corridor joins the 3D level without a visible loading screen.
Scene 6: arrival at Sarımğara Çakmaktepe
The last pulse from Arecibo becomes the sound of a stone strike as Kael adjusts his spear point. The Tracekeeper and chosen guide appear among the hills of Anatolia. Circular structures cut into bedrock stand near the cave, with reconstructed wooden posts supporting their roofs. There are no T-shaped pillars.
The transition ends beside a river reconstructed for the playable route. Kael is sitting on a stone near the bank. He holds the spear in his hands but does not point it at the visitor. The player gains control a short distance away: the first meaningful action is to approach him and speak.
KAEL I do not know you.
CHOSEN GUIDE We came to listen.
KAEL Then begin by looking. My group is farther uphill, beside the fire. Come with me and I will introduce you.
The title appears as an overlay while the player regains full control. The guide remains nearby but does not answer for the player. There is no second introduction or loading screen between the arrival and this encounter.
Short, accessible text:
The structures and objects draw on Çakmaktepe. The cave, group and conversations are a reconstruction for the game. We do not know exactly who lived here or what the skulls and ritual objects meant.
The river, cave of Sarımğara and exact location of the camp are a playable reconstruction of the regional landscape. They are not presented as confirmed features of the Çakmaktepe excavation.
Scene 7: first encounter by the river
Kael introduces himself as the group's protector and hunter. He speaks in short sentences and asks before claiming certainty. His first conversation does four things:
- makes clear that he does not yet trust the visitor;
- invites the player to look before collecting or answering;
- explains that the group is beside the fire;
- offers to guide the player there.
When the conversation closes, Kael stands and begins to walk. If the player falls behind, he stops and waits. He does not disappear, teleport or keep speaking from an impossible distance.
Scene 8: the path to the camp
The player follows Kael along a readable path from the riverbank to the open ground. During the walk, Kael may say:
We live from animals and wild plants. We gather and grind them. Many people dug the homes and the large space beside the cave. We do not always agree, but a large work needs many hands.
The Atlas adds without interrupting the walk:
Archaeology confirms homes and special structures cut into bedrock. Some reach about 16 metres across. Exactly how the work was organised is still being studied.
Scene 9: meeting the group
Kael leads the player to the fire and introduces each person as he names them:
- Tala: tends the embers, prepares hides and remembers who bears the cost of each decision.
- Lorn: works stone, wood, bone and fibres; failed tests also teach him.
- Sira: knows many signs in plants and admits when one sign is not enough.
- Bora: a young tracker learning to listen to fear without letting it decide for him.
- Oru: paints inside the cave and uses images and stories to help the group remember.
- Kael: protects the group, coordinates outings and keeps asking before deciding.
Tala, Lorn, Sira and Bora remain near the fire and their tasks. Oru works farther inside, facing the painted wall, with pigments placed on a flat stone. There are no ceramic vessels or woven cloth.
Scene 10: the arrival mission
After the introduction, Mission 1.0, The Beads of Sarımğara, becomes available. Lorn shows an unfinished cord and explains that he needs four small stones to complete an ornament. The map marks the cave entrance, the edge of a cut structure, the grinding area and a nearby outcrop. Players locate one piece in each zone, return to Lorn and hand them over. Lorn compares the stones and completes the ornament through a brief interaction that does not teach real stone cutting or drilling.
Presentation changes in tone, not objective or difficulty:
- Children: “Find four small stones. Look in one area at a time. Bring them to me.”
- Young people: “Locate the four marked stones and take them to Lorn.”
- Adults: “Locate four small stone pieces in the marked areas and deliver them to Lorn.”
The Atlas explains that stone beads are documented at Çakmaktepe, while this ornament and its meaning are reconstructed. Mission 1.1, The Sacred Fire, opens when the task is complete.
Free observations of flint, ochre, bone, plants, animals and rocks remain secondary content in the Atlas. Every card begins with a plain explanation and can expand only as far as the character's knowledge allows.
The web alpha contains all ten main adventures in sequence. The bead mission, guide selection, cinematics and free AI conversation must be added to the revised opening.
Act endings
After 1.3, 1.6 and 1.9, the team returns to Arca for less than two minutes. Each ending:
- compares one learned idea with a contradiction in the initial scan;
- reveals another piece of the Interference;
- creates the need for the next act without summarising every mission.
After 1.10, Veritas and Aletheia review the First Record of Earth. It does not contain a total answer. It preserves evidence, doubts and questions that later ages may expand.
ALETHEIA We understand something more now: living together did not begin with a city.
VERITAS And a good answer does not hide the part that is still missing.
The Atlas displays Sumer as a locked future route.