> **TRACEKEEPERS open documentation — complete English edition.** Translation of the canonical Spanish source under CC BY-SA 4.0, excluding cited third-party material. Read `licencia.md` for the full scope. # Prehistory campaign — ten main adventures **Starting place and date:** Sarımğara Çakmaktepe, around 9600 BCE; Göbekli Tepe is visited later. **Status:** narrative canon and design lock v3. Replaces the earlier proposal of 22 short tasks. **Format:** a 3D historical adventure for one person or a team of up to five. “Design lock” means that the order, problem, learning goal, historical limit, cooperation and ending of all ten adventures are fixed. The web alpha now includes a first written and playable version of their dialogue, objectives, cards, field tests and decisions. Detailed cinematic scripts, voices, several cooperative interactions, final assets and the high-fidelity staging are still pending. Section 7 explains the distinction. This campaign creates the First Record of Earth within [TRACEKEEPERS: The signal from Earth](historia-canon.md). Its international working title is *TRACEKEEPERS: BEFORE CITIES* and its Spanish title is *TRACEKEEPERS: ANTES DE LAS CIUDADES*. ## 1. Structural decision The season has **ten main missions** and one **short arrival mission**, not 22 small ones. Each main adventure has five to seven playable sequences, later grouped into four to six production acts. All include 3D exploration, meaningful collection and delivery, conversations, puzzles, a decision and a consequence. The production target is about **40–50 playable situations** across the ten stories, plus the bead tutorial. Initial duration estimates: - Missions 1.1, 1.4, 1.7 and 1.8: 30–40 minutes; - Missions 1.2, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.9: 40–50 minutes; - Missions 1.3 and 1.10: 50–65 minutes; - arrival mission 1.0: 10–15 minutes; - base season: about 7–9 hours, plus optional depth. These figures will be tested with a scene map and playtests. They are not a fixed commercial promise. ## 2. Narrative rule: teach, need and discover Each character relates to the player in three different ways. ### 2.1. Invitation to discover their world The character knows how to do their work. They point, compare and ask questions to teach observation. They do not depend on the player to remember something basic. > **Kael:** “Look at the two branches. Do not touch them yet. What does their surface tell you?” ### 2.2. Requesting objects with a purpose A character may ask for hide, stone, a sample or a tool. Every search must reveal a clue, present a cost or open a conversation. There are no errands merely to extend playtime. ### 2.3. Real help at the edge of discovery When a new problem appears, the character forms a possible idea using what can be known in that age. Only then do they ask the team to gather pieces, observe several places at once or test alternatives. The player does not deliver a modern solution. They help the character reach a conclusion available through their own materials and experience. The character is the person who understands and explains it. “Eureka moment” is an internal design term. Prehistory characters do not use that Greek word or claim to have invented something for all humanity. ### 2.4. Permanent Tracekeeper guide Before Mission 1.0, the player or team chooses **Veritas or Aletheia**. Both have adopted human field appearances to communicate without impersonating a real person. The chosen character accompanies the whole campaign, does not occupy a player place and keeps the same role in solo and cooperative play. The guide may help in four ways, always when asked: 1. recall the current objective; 2. summarise evidence already shared by the team; 3. indicate an area or person still available; 4. after several attempts, explain a relationship the mission itself has already shown. The guide does not collect or deliver objects, carry an inventory, vote, discover exclusive evidence or solve the problem. The unselected protagonist remains aboard Arca and appears in the prologue, returns and ending. Both remain the main faces without turning the adventure into a group of automated characters. ## 3. Season arc | Act | Missions | Change in the relationship with the group | |---|---|---| | Arrival. Earn a hearing | 1.0 | Lorn guides a short stone search and sees that the visitor can observe, return and deliver. | | I. Earning a place | 1.1–1.3 | Kael teaches observation; the player shows that they can listen and coordinate. | | II. Understanding daily life | 1.4–1.6 | Sira, Oru and Lorn introduce plants, food, colours and work. | | III. Applying what was learned | 1.7–1.9 | The player combines sky, tracks, wind and vessels without receiving a prepared answer. | | IV. Deciding together | 1.10 | The group faces disagreement over resources, fear and ritual. | The ending gives a provisional answer to the route question: as more people work together, they also need to share signs, divide tasks, care for resources and resolve disagreement. The present-day story does not interrupt the ancient adventures. It appears only in the prologue and at the end of each act: | Ending | Moment | Function | |---|---|---| | Prologue | Before 1.0 | An Avenyth beacon detects the space-time trace of the Arecibo message and alerts the central network almost immediately. Arca makes an incomplete scan, Veritas and Aletheia adopt human appearances, and the Atlas opens the first stable window. | | Return 1 | After 1.3 | The guide returns with the team; Veritas and Aletheia compare cooperation, risk and fear with a contradiction in the present-day scan. | | Return 2 | After 1.6 | The Atlas connects food, reserves and sharing with the human ability to organise larger groups. | | Return 3 | After 1.9 | Interference tries to erase doubt; Arca preserves the sources and their limits. | | First Record | After 1.10 | The Atlas gathers evidence, possibilities, reconstructions and questions before opening a future route. | Veritas and Aletheia do not give Kael future solutions or speak on his behalf. Arca and the past are connected through the Atlas and the Tracekeepers' decisions. ### 3.1. Cooperative matrix for five players Every mission contains five short routes. With five people, each starts on a different route. With two, three or four, some people complete two shorter routes. In solo play, the routes appear one after another. The learning does not change. | Mission | Route A | Route B | Route C | Route D | Route E | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1.0 | Cave entrance | Cut structure | Grinding area | Nearby outcrop | Return to Lorn and compare | | 1.1 | Wind | Fuel | Shelter | Group needs | Area around the fire | | 1.2 | Gaps in the garment | Bone tool | Binding material | Most exposed person | Shelter barrier | | 1.3 | Tracks | Air direction | Terrain and exit | State of Bora and the group | Resources and time | | 1.4 | Plant shapes | Growing place | Smell, only for a validated sample | Season and quantity | Separation and reserve | | 1.5 | Colour material | Surface type | Reconstructed mixture | Purpose of the mark | Cost of using the material | | 1.6 | Available resource | Distance | Tool | Preparation time | People's needs | | 1.7 | Horizon shapes | One part of the sky | Change while waiting | Memory of the route | Clouds, light and group condition | | 1.8 | Track shape | Order of marks | Branches and stems | Air direction | Retreat route | | 1.9 | Food to stir and serve | Stone bowl | Small serving tool | Hide, wood and basket | Failed clay test | | 1.10 | Oru's reason | Tala's objection | Fear and belonging | Cost of resources | Alternative gesture | Each route gives the leader an **explained piece**, not an object without context. Before the edge of discovery there is a first secret vote. The team then shares the pieces, performs a test or hears a new voice, and votes again. The leader presents the final decision with supporting evidence, a cost, a doubt and at least one contribution from every person. ### 3.2. Reconstructed setting, clothing and rites People wear clothing made only from irregular pieces of hide, pelt and leather. Braided plant fibres are used as cords, ties, belts, handles or baskets, but never as cloth or garment panels. A small fox pelt or another animal skin may hang at the waist when it has a practical or symbolic role. There is no visible linen, cotton, wool textile, tunic, shirt, trousers, metal fastener or modern cut. Men and women may wear small bone, tooth, stone or shell ornaments. These appear sparingly and do not indicate rank, religion or gender unless a mission documents that reading. Perishable materials rarely survive, so every outfit is presented as an artistic reconstruction. The cave of Sarımğara and the continuity of one tribe over millennia are narrative reconstructions. Homes and circular special spaces cut into bedrock stand beside the cave, some reaching 16 m in diameter. The reconstruction uses wooden posts, not T-shaped stone pillars. A night scene may include torches, rhythmic voices, simple percussion and gatherings, but this is plausible staging, not a recording of what occurred. As a dramatic hypothesis, some visiting groups may arrive with food, hide, pigment or stone to share and to support those preparing the gathering or cutting the structures. Dialogue calls this a **contribution** or **offering**, not a proved tax or tribute. No professional priestly class is fixed; Oru leads a rite in this fictional community, and craft workers perform visible work. The Atlas separates three layers: 1. **Established:** homes and special buildings cut into bedrock, flint tools, grinding and pounding tools, stone beads, small ritual objects, and deliberately placed aurochs and sheep skulls. 2. **Possible:** large gatherings, shared meals, torches, chanting, percussion, dance or offerings. 3. **Not demonstrated:** professional priests, a tribute system, the meaning of the skulls and ritual objects, or rites devoted to particular ancestors. Oru may believe that certain animals accompany ancestral memory or that an offering keeps the group together. He speaks only about the fictional custom of his community. The Tracekeeper guide reminds the player that archaeology does not allow that interpretation to become a general certainty. ## 4. Missions ## Mission 1.0 — The Beads of Sarımğara ### Promise Lorn is preparing a stone-bead ornament to renew a bond within the group. Four small pieces are missing, and he cannot leave both his work and the people raising posts beside the cave. ### Playable sequence 1. **The unfinished cord:** Lorn shows two finished beads and explains the size he needs without asking players to know minerals. 2. **Four map zones:** cave entrance, edge of a cut structure, grinding area and a nearby outcrop. 3. **Locate and collect:** each zone contains one small stone placed for the mission. Players do not gather random stones. 4. **Return to Lorn:** the inventory keeps the origin of each piece and delivery is shown physically. 5. **Compare:** Lorn observes colour, texture and visible hardness. He explains why he accepts some pieces and saves others for another task. 6. **Finish the ornament:** a shortened animation shows the result without teaching real drilling or cutting. ### Objective and help by age All three age ranges seek the same four stones, visit the same zones and receive the same graduated help. - **Children (10–14):** “Find four small stones. Look in one area at a time. Bring them to me.” The map highlights one remaining zone. - **Young people (15–25):** “Locate the four marked stones and take them to Lorn.” The map recalls the remaining zone. - **Adults (26+):** “Locate four small stone pieces in the marked areas and deliver them to Lorn.” The map offers the same reminder. ### Cooperative play Up to four people can explore one zone each; a fifth returns to Lorn and prepares the comparison. Smaller groups visit the zones in sequence. No player receives an exclusive stone needed to understand the request. ### Plain learning goal An ornament requires choosing materials, spending time and sharing an intention. It is not automatic evidence of wealth, rank, gender or religion. ### Optional depth and limit Lorn can explain what he sees in each stone and what the ornament means to his fictional group. He does not know modern mineralogy and cannot state what every archaeological bead meant. The Atlas saves: **“How can we tell whether an ornament marked memory, belonging, exchange or something else?”** ### Historical support Çakmaktepe preserves stone beads and other small ornaments. The particular ornament, recipient, search map and meaning are game reconstructions. --- ## Mission 1.1 — The Sacred Fire ### Promise A gust scatters ash and threatens the only ember prepared for the night gathering. Kael knows fire; the problem is protecting it while there are too few hands and some fuel is damp. The word “sacred” belongs to Oru's fictional story. It does not claim that we know the real religion of Çakmaktepe. ### Playable sequence 1. **Kael's welcome:** he compares materials and shows which signs he observes before taking them near the fire. 2. **The wet slope:** the player searches for fuel, a wind screen and a safe in-scene vessel for moving embers. 3. **Three tasks and too few hands:** a cover needs repair, the fire needs watching and an arriving group must be received. 4. **Edge of discovery:** Kael sees that too much cover weakens the ember and leaving it open exposes it. He asks the team to test several protections in a safe simulation. 5. **Night council:** the team decides on shifts and how much fuel to save for dawn. ### Objects with a purpose Thin dry material, a thick dry branch, damp wood, protective stones, a hide used as a screen and an ember-resistant vessel. The game does not provide real instructions for starting a fire by friction. ### Defensible decision - use more fuel now to secure the gathering; - preserve a reserve and reduce the fire; - divide the group between two small fires in protected areas. Each option protects one need while adding a cost in attention, fuel or shared warmth. ### Cooperative play One person watches the wind, another checks fuel, another speaks with Tala, another clears the area and another decides which task can wait. The leader cannot decide without receiving at least three signs. ### Simple learning Fire changes with material, air and attention. A good solution also depends on how tasks are shared. ### Optional depth and limit Kael can explain that damp wood hisses and an ember covered too heavily grows weak. He does not know oxygen, chemistry, thermometers or later kilns. The Atlas saves: **“How does fire change when we enclose heat more effectively?”** ### Historical support Çakmaktepe preserves homes and everyday activity spaces. The particular fire and its sacred meaning are reconstruction. --- ## Mission 1.2 — Clothing for Winter ### Promise One of Tala's garments lets in the wind, and another person needs protection before the cold night. Hide, sinew and bone tools are available, but there is not enough time to prepare everything. ### Historical correction included - Reindeer is not used because it is not part of the documented fauna at the site. Hide and sinew come from wild animals present in the region and already used by the group. - The game does not say that the needle was invented here. Eyed needles existed thousands of years earlier in other regions. - Bone tools are known in the early Neolithic region, but the particular needle and garment are possible reconstructions, not documented Çakmaktepe finds. ### Playable sequence 1. **Tala compares two garments:** she shows how she finds gaps that let air through. 2. **Prepare without waste:** the player gathers prepared hide, sinew, a bone point and material for layers. 3. **The difficult join:** making holes and then passing sinew through them one by one takes too long. 4. **Edge of discovery:** Lorn proposes a small opening in the tool so that the thread follows it. The player finds a suitable piece and helps test it on a sample, without a real manufacturing tutorial. 5. **Sharing the effort:** the group chooses between finishing one closely fitted garment, repairing several or devoting some work to the shelter. ### Main puzzle Arrange pieces in a virtual seam to reduce gaps without tearing the hide. The animation shows the principle; it does not teach how to make a sharp needle. ### Defensible decision - one better garment for the most exposed person; - several quick repairs to spread protection; - less sewing and a better wind barrier in the shelter. ### Simple learning Closing gaps and using layers helps keep warmth in. A tool can save time by joining two steps. ### Optional depth and limit Tala knows hides, layers, wind and comfort through experience. Lorn knows bone tools, but neither knows industrial fibres, modern heat measurements or the worldwide history of sewing. Saved question: **“How could we make many lengths of thread and cross them to form a surface?”** --- ## Mission 1.3 — The Aurochs of the Steppe ### Promise A huge aurochs crosses an area used by the group. Hunting it could feed many people, but Bora remembers an earlier accident and fears that the retreat could be cut off. ### Playable sequence 1. **The trail:** Bora introduces tracks, dung, disturbed earth and signs that may be of different ages. 2. **The wind:** the team discovers whether human scent will travel towards the animal. The visible explanation is: “If the air carries our smell towards it, it will notice us.” 3. **The terrain:** the team marks an exit, slope, vegetation and people who must not become isolated. 4. **Bora's fear:** the player does not force him to be brave. They listen to the sign that worries him and may give him a role that keeps an exit open. 5. **The decision:** observe for longer, attempt a collective action on favourable ground, or retreat. 6. **Afterwards:** if the story ends with a kill, it happens off screen. The player organises the use of meat, hide, bones and sinews without claiming that every exact practice is known. ### Defensible decision - act early before losing the opportunity, accepting incomplete information; - follow it to more open ground, spending time and energy; - abandon the hunt and protect the group, giving up the food. ### Cooperative play The five routes divide trail, wind, terrain, group condition and resources. None contains the whole decision. ### Simple learning Fear can warn of danger. Collective action needs signs, a way out and a clear point at which to stop. ### Optional depth and limit Bora can compare what he has seen in real animals. He does not know modern theories of behaviour, evolution or domestication. Saved question: **“Why do some animals eventually live close to people?”** ### Historical support The presence of aurochs at Çakmaktepe is supported by faunal remains and deliberately placed skulls. This does not prove this hunt or explain the placement of the skulls. Bora is not known. --- ## Mission 1.4 — Seeds of Change ### Promise Sira invites the player to recognise resources on the slope through several signs. A strong smell may help distinguish a plant, but does not prove that it is edible or medicinal. ### Choosing plants The core uses the documented activity of gathering and grinding wild plants. Particular species enter only after their presence, season and habitat are validated through a Çakmaktepe source or suitable regional context. Rosemary, thyme, tarragon and mustard do not enter the camp as facts without a specific Çakmaktepe source. The game does not teach players to identify or consume real plants. ### Playable sequence 1. **Look before touching:** Sira compares leaves, seeds, bark and growing place. 2. **The route of signs:** a virtual interaction compares texture, shell and smell. Rubbing is enabled only if the particular species has been validated for the scene. Nothing is tasted or applied to the body. 3. **Separate samples:** the team labels them by visible signs, not supposed healing properties. 4. **Edge of discovery:** one basket mixes similar seeds. Sira asks the team to design a way to store them and remember where they were gathered. 5. **The depleted area:** decide how much to take and how much to leave. ### Defensible decision - gather more nearby and finish early; - walk to another area to spread the impact; - gather less and save time to record places and seasons. ### Simple learning A plant is recognised through several signs. Smelling something is not enough to know whether it can be eaten. Gathering today changes what remains tomorrow. ### Optional depth and limit Sira can explain shape, smell, place and season through experience. She does not know scientific names, cells, genes or laboratory analysis. Saved question: **“What happens if we repeatedly save and sow the seeds that suit us best?”** --- ## Mission 1.5 — Oru's Colours ### Promise Oru wants a sign to remain visible during a gathering. The powder colours his hand but falls from the stone. He asks for help comparing mixtures on small test slabs. “Shaman” has been removed from the title because we do not know that such a role existed or that Oru represents a real figure. ### Materials Red or yellow ochre, charcoal and pale limestone. Water, animal fat and plant resin may appear as reconstructed tests. Egg white remains outside the core until there is specific support for that place and date. ### Playable sequence 1. **Find colour:** locate materials through colour and texture. 2. **Prepare a surface:** choose smooth, porous or damp stone. 3. **The test that rubs away:** dry pigment does not resist rubbing. 4. **Edge of discovery:** Oru suggests mixing the powder with something that holds it together. Each player tries a virtual combination on a slab. 5. **Wait and compare:** initial colour, adhesion and change while drying do not always favour the same mixture. 6. **Choose the purpose:** a temporary sign on the ground, colour on a practice slab, or keeping the material for another use. ### Defensible decision - use the strongest colour even though it falls away sooner; - choose the mixture that adheres best even though its tone changes; - do not colour the main stone until more is known, and use a temporary sign. ### Simple learning Coloured powder and paint are not exactly the same. Mixing changes how a material spreads, looks and remains. ### Optional depth and limit Oru knows results that he can see and touch. He does not know molecules, pigment chemistry or the future condition of the colours. Saved question: **“Why do some mixtures remain on a surface while others fall away?”** The Atlas separately keeps the archaeological question of how almost-erased colours can be studied; Oru does not answer it with future knowledge. ### Historical support Small ritual-art objects at Çakmaktepe support symbolic activity but do not prove this mural or its technique. Ochre, charcoal and limestone are plausible materials. Later pigment evidence at Göbekli Tepe is not moved backwards as if it proved this scene in 9600 BCE. --- ## Mission 1.6 — When Food Runs Short ### Promise A group expected to bring food is late, and more people arrive to work than planned. Sira knows where to search; the problem is obtaining, processing and sharing enough in time. ### Historical correction included The mission centres on gathered and ground wild plants. Each particular species requires a suitable source before production. It does not teach players to wash bitter roots to make them edible and does not present snails as food documented at Çakmaktepe without a specific source. ### Playable sequence 1. **Count mouths and hands:** the need changes when another group arrives. 2. **Search for resources:** each route has a different distance, estimated amount and preparation time. 3. **Grinding stones:** compare worn tools and organise processing shifts. 4. **Edge of discovery:** the team understands that finding food is not enough; some options require more work before they can be shared. 5. **Distribution:** choose between a quick unequal meal, slower preparation for everyone, or reducing the collective work. ### Defensible decision - serve first those who will make the greatest physical effort; - share a smaller amount immediately and prepare more afterwards; - postpone part of the work so more hands can prepare food. ### Simple learning Feeding a group requires searching, carrying, preparing and sharing. A great work also depends on these less visible tasks. ### Cooperative play Clues are divided between resource, distance, tool, time and people's needs. The shared board turns each finding into one part of the plan. ### Optional depth and limit Sira knows the seasons, and Lorn knows wear on stone. They do not know calories, protein, developed agriculture or exact population figures. Saved question: **“How does a large community keep track of what arrives, what is shared and what remains?”** ### Historical support Thousands of grinding tools and traces of cereal processing have been studied at the site. The emergency and distribution are fictional. --- ## Mission 1.7 — Signs in the Night ### Promise A party must return after the path is no longer visible. Bora recognises shapes on the horizon and certain groups of lights, but clouds have hidden several references. ### Historical correction included The player does not find the present-day Pole Star by using the Great Bear. Around 9600 BCE, Earth's axis pointed towards another part of the sky. Nor are Greek names given to figures these characters would not have known. Before producing the sky, an astronomical simulation must fix the date, coordinates, season and time. The game will not invent an alignment between the enclosures and stars: the archaeological team states that no secure relationship has been identified. ### Playable sequence 1. **Memory of the horizon:** Bora asks the team to reconstruct three landforms visible at dusk. 2. **Bora's sky:** the tracker draws a group of lights with its fictional local name. 3. **Wait for a clearing:** each player observes a part of the sky for a period. 4. **Edge of discovery:** by comparing drawings, the team finds which pattern keeps a useful relationship with the horizon during that time. 5. **Choose when to move:** leave, wait for the moon, or send a pair to the next reference. ### Defensible decision - leave with the available signs before conditions worsen; - wait for a clearer reference, spending time and warmth; - advance only to a nearby point and check again. ### Simple learning Finding direction does not always depend on one star. Sky, terrain, time and memory are combined. ### Optional depth and limit Bora can describe repetitions observed across nights and seasons. He does not know Greek constellations, modern star maps or why the sky changes slowly over thousands of years. Saved question: **“How can we carry those signs far away from the places we know?”** ### Future continuity A Phoenician navigator can compare routes across the sea. Claudius Ptolemy can later expand the records and models of his age. Neither jumps directly to modern astronomy. --- ## Mission 1.8 — Tracks Against the Wind ### Promise After rain, tracks from gazelle, aurochs and people cross in a passage area. Bora wants to locate the gazelle group without leading anyone towards the aurochs. This does not repeat Mission 1.3: there, the team decides whether to accept a dangerous hunt; here, it solves a mystery of overlapping signs. ### Playable sequence 1. **Three trails:** visually compare size, direction and depth without turning one footprint into automatic certainty. 2. **What happened first:** observe which mark cuts across or covers another. 3. **Signs away from the ground:** bent stems, caught hair, sounds and damp soil. 4. **Optional trail — the fox and the animals from the south:** a fox print provides a simple comparison of shapes. Bora then recalls travellers speaking of southern communities living beside animals resembling wolves. He has not seen them and makes clear that the fox print does not prove that story. 5. **Scent travels:** use light grass in a simulation to see which way the air moves. 6. **Edge of discovery:** the team combines order, freshness and wind; each player has a different piece. 7. **Choose a route:** a shortcut with older signs, a longer way with a better exit, or wait for another observation. ### Optional conversation — The small wolves from the south **Bora:** “Travellers from the south spoke of animals resembling wolves that did not flee their homes. They ate near the fire and some rested beside people.” **Player:** “Had they domesticated them?” **Bora:** “I do not know that word. They said the animals stayed. I do not know whether they obeyed, helped or simply shared food. I have not seen them.” **Atlas, basic explanation:** Natufian burials in the southern Levant place people and early dogs together. This supports a close relationship, but does not prove this conversation, a direct route to Çakmaktepe or exactly how they lived together. ### Defensible decision - follow the clearest trail even though it is older; - follow recent signs across less comfortable ground; - do not approach until the aurochs' location is confirmed. ### Simple learning One track tells one part. Several signs together support a better explanation, but doubt may remain. ### Optional depth and limit Bora can explain overlapping marks, dampness, wind and changes he has observed. He may also repeat the travellers' news, always as something he did not verify. He does not know modern wildlife studies, genetics or theories of domestication, and cannot know with certainty what an animal thought. Saved questions: **“What do we do when two groups of signs support different stories?”** and **“What changes when an animal begins to stay beside people?”** --- ## Mission 1.9 — Carving Stone Spoons and Bowls ### Promise The group needs to stir food and place the stew somewhere instead of losing it between their fingers. Lorn compares hide, baskets, stone, wood and clay. A stone bowl is heavy but contains the mixture; lighter materials fail in different ways. ### Historical correction included This adventure begins after a planned journey from Çakmaktepe to Göbekli Tepe, roughly eight hours on foot. It is not treated as a casual outing, and the two places are not claimed to form one community. More than six hundred stone vessels or vessel fragments have been found at Göbekli Tepe, including bowls and large basins. The bowl has direct support; the small spoon-like piece is a playable reconstruction and is not presented as one particular object found there. Lorn does not make a fired clay pot or smelt copper. Copper does not melt by accident among stones in an ordinary fire; that scene has been removed. He may shape and dry clay, but the test fails when wet. It does not end as a functional vessel or give real carving, firing or metallurgy instructions. ### Playable sequence 1. **Food between the fingers:** observe what happens when stirring and serving a thick mixture without a suitable vessel. 2. **Five materials:** compare hide, basketry, stone, wood and clay by weight, leakage, heat, visible strength and repair. 3. **The stone bowl:** choose a suitable piece and complete simplified, safe shaping inside the simulation. 4. **The serving tool:** compare a small stone piece with wooden or bone alternatives; the game calls it a “spoon” to make its function clear without claiming an exact find. 5. **The clay attempt:** a dried shape seems promising but softens or loses its form when wet. 6. **Edge of discovery:** Lorn asks the team to explain what works now, what fails and which question should be preserved. 7. **The shared meal:** the team brings the solution to the group and accepts its cost in weight, time or loss. ### Defensible decision - stone: heavy, durable and able to hold a wet mixture; - fibres: light and suitable for dry food; - tied hide: flexible but limited by heat and form; - wood or bone: useful for stirring or serving, with different strength and availability; - untransformed clay: easy to shape but fails again in water. The team may combine solutions by committing more hands to transport. ### Simple learning Every vessel works for some things and fails at others. A well-observed failure also leaves knowledge. ### Optional depth and limit Lorn knows stone, fibres, wood, hide and clay without developed firing. He can shape and dry clay, but does not know the wheel, pottery kilns, measured temperatures or molten metal. Saved question: **“How can clay keep its shape even when it becomes wet?”** ### Future continuity A potter in Uruk receives the exact checkpoint from the Atlas: Lorn has compared vessels, succeeded in working stone and seen dried clay fail. She can show how her workshop transforms clay through controlled firing, but she still does not know modern chemistry. --- ## Mission 1.10 — The Sacrifice: Tala's Crossroads ### Promise After an accident and a night of fear, Oru believes that the group needs an offering before work on the enclosure continues. Tala fears losing food and materials that are already scarce. Both are trying to protect the community in different ways. The gathering takes place at dusk beside one of Çakmaktepe's special spaces. Shared food, voices, simple percussion and torches create an intense scene. Light moves over wooden posts, placed skulls and small ritual objects. The effect helps the player imagine how a night gathering might have felt but does not claim that this particular ceremony occurred. ### Historical correction included - There is no domestic young goat “belonging to the tribe”: caprine herding is not presented as a fact about Çakmaktepe at this time. - No animal is killed on screen to resolve the mission. - A possible offering comes from a valuable part of an animal already hunted, pigment, food or another reconstructed object. - We do not know which rites were practised or what the symbols meant. The entire crossroads is visibly fictional. - Deliberately placed aurochs and sheep skulls prove an intentional act, not a particular cult or its meaning. - Oru connects these animals with memory inside the group's fictional belief. The game does not present that reading as a demonstrated meaning. - The game does not claim that Oru is a professional priest or that the community pays tribute. He may lead this ceremony and receive an offering without turning those functions into established historical institutions. ### Playable sequence 1. **Gathering in firelight:** the player hears voices and percussion, sees shared food and separates evidence from reconstruction. 2. **Oru's proposal:** he explains what the gesture means to him and how it remembers the dead, without making it a universal law. 3. **Tala's objection:** she shows which people and tasks need those resources. 4. **Voices of the group:** each player hears a different need: fear, food, belonging, time or safety. 5. **Objects with a cost:** gathering a symbolic piece means giving up another real use. 6. **First secret vote:** large offering, small gesture or postponement. 7. **Edge of discovery:** a new voice shows that the disagreement is not “belief against thought” but how to unite the group without hiding the cost. 8. **Second vote and rite:** the leader presents the decision, evidence, sacrifice and doubt. The consequence changes the group's willingness to act, not the weather or an illness. ### Defensible decision - **Large offering:** strengthens the commitment of those who consider it necessary but consumes valuable resources. - **Symbolic gesture and shared meal:** preserves more resources, but some people may feel that the rite loses force. - **Postpone and talk before continuing:** avoids the immediate cost but extends tension and delays the work. There is no “good person” score. The ending shows whom each choice helps and whom it worries. ### Simple learning A rite can help express fear, belonging or commitment. That does not prove it controls nature. Shared decisions also have material costs. ### Optional depth and limit Oru can explain what the offering, animals and memory of ancestors mean to him. Tala can explain what the group needs. Neither knows psychology, future religions or the archaeological meaning that later people will give the enclosures. The guide separates character belief from discovered evidence. Saved question: **“How can we know a belief when no one left a text?”** ### Season ending The Atlas requests an answer containing four pieces: 1. what the group has seen; 2. the explanation it considers strongest; 3. what remains reconstruction; 4. the question it will carry into another age. Kael does not congratulate the player for “civilising” the group. He recognises that the Tracekeeper now knows how to observe with them, and that a large work needs food, tools, safety, memory and agreements. Back aboard Arca, the arrival mission and ten main adventures come together in the **First Record of Earth**. The Atlas displays the established, possible, disputed and reconstructed layers separately. Veritas and Aletheia recognise that they still cannot answer the signal, but now understand one essential idea: > **ALETHEIA:** “Living together did not begin with a city.” > **VERITAS:** “And an honest answer does not hide what is still missing.” The Atlas lights three questions that may be continued in Sumer: controlling heat around clay, sowing again and again, and recording what arrives, what is shared and what remains. The route appears locked until that campaign is produced; it is not announced as a finished playable mission. ## 5. Historical accuracy matrix | Initially proposed element | Canonical decision | Reason | |---|---|---| | Searching for bead stones | Yes, as Mission 1.0 | Çakmaktepe preserves stone beads. The ornament, four zones and meaning are reconstructions. | | Occupied cave of Sarımğara | Yes, as narrative reconstruction | The game needs a readable home; it is not presented as an exact occupation demonstrated by excavation. | | Bedrock-cut structures over 15 m with wooden posts | Yes, with caution | Structures up to 16 m are documented. Posts are reconstructed; no T-shaped pillars appear. | | Inventing fire | No | Fire had been known for a very long time. The mission concerns preserving it and organising people. | | Eyed bone needle | Yes, as a reconstructed local improvement | Bone tools and earlier needles exist elsewhere; it is not presented as the first invention or an exact find. | | Reindeer sinew | No | Reindeer is not part of the documented local fauna. | | Aurochs hunt | Yes | Aurochs is documented and one bone contains a projectile injury. The particular scene is fictional. | | Rosemary, thyme and tarragon as confirmed plants | No | Specific evidence for the camp and date is missing. Wild cereals, almond and pistachio take priority. | | Medicinal properties of plants | No | Sira explains observed signs and uses, not health recommendations. | | Ochre, charcoal and pale colour | Yes, with caution | They are plausible materials; painting in the particular scene is not demonstrated. | | Egg white as a proved binder | Not at present | It needs a specific source. It may return as a production hypothesis after review. | | Washing bitter roots for food | No | This would be unsafe foraging instruction and is not documented for the mission. | | Snails as local emergency food | Not at present | The practice exists in other regions, but direct support for Çakmaktepe is missing. | | Polaris found from the Great Bear | No | It is anachronistic because Earth's axis slowly changes and it uses later cultural names. | | Tracks in snow | Not as a normal setting | Mud, dust and vegetation after rain are used; a snowy setting is not justified. | | Goats visible as local fauna | No | They are not presented as confirmed Çakmaktepe fauna. Aurochs and sheep have direct support; gazelles and foxes are regional reconstruction. | | Travellers' story about wolf-like animals living beside people in the south | Yes, as a labelled reconstruction | Early Natufian human-dog burials support a close relationship in the southern Levant. They do not prove the specific conversation, route or form of coexistence. | | Stone bowls and vessels | Yes | More than six hundred vessels or fragments have been studied; some large containers have uses compatible with preparing wet food. | | One particular stone spoon | Yes, as a playable reconstruction during the Göbekli Tepe stage | The mission needs a simple tool for stirring or serving but does not claim that the exact piece was excavated there. | | Coil-built pottery pot | Not as a success | The period is pre-pottery. The failure opens a thread for a later potter. | | Copper melted among hearth stones | No | The chronology and technical conditions do not fit. | | Sacrificed domestic young goat | No | Goat husbandry is not documented there in 9600 BCE. | | Fictional rite or offering | Yes, labelled | It can create a human dilemma but is not presented as demonstrated belief. | | Gathering or collective meal | Yes, with caution | Special spaces, processing tools and animal remains allow the scene; its details remain reconstruction. | | Chants, drums, dance and torches | Yes, as reconstructed atmosphere | They are plausible human activities, but the exact sound, light and ceremony do not survive. | | Aurochs or sheep connected with memory and ancestors | Only as Oru's belief | The skulls were deliberately placed, but their precise symbolic relationship cannot be demonstrated. | | Organised priests and tribute | Not as fact | The game may show someone leading a rite and receiving an offering, but does not claim a priestly class or compulsory tribute system. | | Hide, leather and braided plant fibres | Yes, as a cautious reconstruction | Visible clothing is limited to hide and leather; fibres form only cords, ties and baskets. Organic materials rarely survive. There is no woven cloth or buckle. | | Bone, tooth, stone or shell pendants | Yes, sparingly | Personal ornaments fit the period and beads and ornamental pieces are documented; the game gives them no fixed meaning. | ## 6. Starting sources - [Şahin and Miyake (2025): new evidence on settled hunter-gatherers at Çakmaktepe](https://doi.org/10.51493/egearkeoloji.1665758): homes, special structures up to 16 m and early sedentism. - [Taş Tepeler: Çakmaktepe](https://tastepeler.org/en/yerlesmeler/cakmaktepe): stone beads, tools, wild-plant grinding and deliberately placed animal skulls. - [Ishida and Şahin (2026): grinding and pounding tools from Çakmaktepe](http://hdl.handle.net/2241/0002021903): plant preparation and everyday work. - [UNESCO: Göbekli Tepe](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1572/): context for the route's later destination. - [German Archaeological Institute project FAQ](https://www.dainst.blog/the-tepe-telegrams/faq/): buildings, hearths, water, fauna, limits of ritual interpretation and the absence of an identified astronomical alignment. - [German Archaeological Institute 2015–2019 research summary](https://publications.dainst.org/journals/efb/article/view/2596): hearths, domestic buildings and bone tools in early contexts. - [Cereal processing at Göbekli Tepe](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6493732/): thousands of grinding tools and cereal work. - [Stone vessels at Göbekli Tepe](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X20304090): more than six hundred vessels and analysis of large stone basins. - [Tools for processing plant food](https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803270920): bowls, vessels, wear, residues and the preparation of wet meals. - [Cult and feasting in early Neolithic communities](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/role-of-cult-and-feasting-in-the-emergence-of-neolithic-communities-new-evidence-from-gobekli-tepe-southeastern-turkey/A1AA4FB20657599F859860D94CCD090E): archaeological interpretation of gatherings and collective meals; it does not prove a particular ceremony. - [Modified human skulls from Göbekli Tepe](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5489262/): post-mortem marks and limits on interpreting who they were or which rite they represented. - [Chipped stone and personal ornaments at Göbekli Tepe](https://www.dainst.blog/the-tepe-telegrams/2023/07/05/chipped-stones-what-they-are-and-how-they-can-help-understand-gobekli-tepe/): context for the later destination; it does not replace Çakmaktepe-specific bead evidence. - [Projectile injury in an aurochs](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104061821731296X): direct support for hunting large bovids. - [Animals in the symbolic world of Göbekli Tepe](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237785162_Animals_in_the_Symbolic_World_of_Pre-Pottery_Neolithic_Gobekli_Tepe_South-eastern_Turkey_A_Preliminary_Assessment): gazelle, aurochs, wild sheep and red fox in the assemblage; no identified goat. - [Gazelle behaviour and human presence](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00438243.2013.820648): predominance of Persian gazelle and evidence compatible with seasonal human presence. - [Human-fox burial and Natufian context](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3027631/): summarises early human-dog burials at ‘Ain Mallaha and Hayonim and the limits of interpretation. - [Early dogs and the difficulty of distinguishing them from wolves](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3287314/): supports cautious wording rather than claiming a known process of domestication. - [Plant environment of Göbekli Tepe](https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/4/72): steppe landscape, grasses, pistachio and almond. - [Pigment evidence on a later sculpture at Göbekli Tepe](https://www.dainst.blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/GobekliTepe-Saha.pdf): red, black and white around 8700–8200 BCE. - [NASA: the Pole Star has not always marked north](https://ciencia.nasa.gov/ciencias-terrestres/observacion-del-cielo/que-es-la-estrella-polar-y-como-la-podemos-encontrar/): change in the direction of Earth's axis over millennia. - [Palaeolithic eyed needles](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0119410EB5A9F56F06437DC1235B2B85/9781108470087c4_66-79.pdf/the-technology-of-paleolithic-clothes.pdf): demonstrates why the idea must not be presented as invented at Göbekli Tepe. - [Genomes of managed and hunted goats](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8237664/): evidence of goat management in the Zagros around 8000 BCE, considerably later and elsewhere. - [Metropolitan Museum: early metallurgy in Anatolia](https://www.metmuseum.org/-/media/files/learn/for-educators/publications-for-educators/art-of-the-ancient-near-east.pdf): places copper hammering and smelting in later Neolithic stages. Every script needs a claim sheet before production. A source that supports the setting does not prove a particular line, character or event. ## 7. Design lock and remaining production work ### 7.1. Locked elements These must not change without a new product and historical decision: - arrival mission 1.0, ten main adventures and their order; - four season acts; - Sarımğara Çakmaktepe around 9600 BCE as the starting point and Göbekli Tepe as a later destination; - Kael, Tala, Oru, Bora, Sira and Lorn as the main fictional cast; - the basic learning and limit of each mission; - five cooperative routes per mission; - invitation, useful request and collaborative discovery; - two votes whenever a defensible decision exists; - an Atlas ending with confidence level and open question; - the corrections in the historical matrix; - the First Record of Earth and the ending with Veritas and Aletheia; - Sumer locked until Prehistory has been produced. ### 7.2. Status by layer | Layer | Status | What remains | |---|---|---| | Story canon | Locked | Technical script and edit for the prologue and four Arca moments | | Arrival mission and ten-adventure arc | Locked | Adjust duration through real testing | | Idea and historical limit | Locked | Claim sheet and second review for each mission | | Cooperative concept | Locked | Test variants for one to five people and reconnection | | Playable sequences | Structured | Maps, dependencies, states and failure cases | | Dialogue | Partial | Complete script, tone variants, voice, subtitles and character knowledge limits | | Puzzles | Conceptual | Paper prototype, difficulty and graduated help | | Environments and assets | Pending | List, design, production, optimisation and licences | | Music and sound | Pending | Theme, ambience, effects, voices and accessible mix | | Implementation | Three web demonstrations and initial Unreal base | 3D vertical slice, multiplayer, conversation and nine remaining missions | | QA and pilots | Pending | History, language, accessibility, network, classroom and family testing | ### 7.3. When “Prehistory is finished” may be stated The season is genuinely finished when: 1. the arrival mission and all ten main adventures can be played from beginning to end; 2. they work solo and with two to five people; 3. every mission has reviewed sources, limits and labels; 4. options create real decisions rather than answers found by elimination; 5. no character anticipates future knowledge; 6. all three age tones explain the same idea in common words; 7. the prologue, three returns to Arca and ending are integrated; 8. disconnection, ties and absence do not block a game; 9. teachers, families and players can complete it without help from the creators; 10. the First Record is generated with the game's decisions and questions; 11. free conversations respect historical limits, have written fallbacks and can be disabled without blocking a mission. The internal production roadmap defines the sequence of work required to reach that point.