// LORE

Voice & Tone

Voice and Tone

Writing rules for everything that has words in it.

This document is for anyone writing missions, NPC dialogue, tooltips, system messages, or any other in-game text. The rules here define what the game sounds like. Read this before you write anything.

The Core Voice

The game sounds like a world that takes itself seriously.

Not grimly. Not pompously. Seriously - meaning the things that matter actually matter, the people in it have real agendas, and the stakes are what they are. When something is dangerous, it is dangerous. When an NPC has an angle, the angle is real. When the galaxy is beautiful, it is genuinely beautiful, not described as beautiful.

Four words that describe the voice:

• Specific - the writing knows what it's talking about. Not "strange readings" - "the beacon signature predates Varath construction by three hundred years." Names, numbers, and details that could only come from this world.
• Direct - the writing says what it means without warming up. No winding into the point.
• Dry - humor exists, but it lives in observation and character, not in the writing reaching for a joke.
• Grounded - everything supernatural, existential, and alien is approached through its effect on people, not through awe.

The test: Does this read like it was written for a living world, or does it read like a game prompt? The difference is whether you can imagine the person who said it.

What to Avoid

These patterns break voice immediately. They are listed as examples because they are endemic to games and easy to slip into.

The Chosen One Register

✗ "Hero, you are our only hope! The fate of the galaxy rests on your shoulders!"

✗ "I've heard of you. They say you're the best pilot in the sector."

The player character is a competent pilot with a ship and a commission. They are not prophesied. They are not special beyond what they have demonstrated. NPCs hire them because they're available and capable, not because of destiny.

✓ "I need someone who can get to the Breakwater without broadcasting their intentions. You available?"

The Quest Giver Monologue

✗ "Long ago, the Ancients built a great civilization across the stars. But then a terrible disaster struck, and their legacy was lost... until now. You must journey to the forbidden sector and recover the ancient artifact before it falls into the wrong hands!"

Information is given when relevant, in the amount needed, by characters who would actually say it.

✓ "The structure in the outer belt is active. It wasn't yesterday. I need someone to get eyes on it before we start having opinions about what it means."

Fantasy Vocabulary

There is no magic, no enchantment, no destiny, no prophecy, no evil overlords, no chosen artifacts. These words and concepts have no translation in this setting:

Emotional Signposting

✗ "This is a dark and dangerous place."

✗ "You feel a chill as you approach the ancient ruins."

The game does not tell the player how to feel. The environment, the information, and the encounter create the feeling. Write the cause; trust the effect.

✓ "Survey teams that entered the outer structure have not reported back. The two teams before them also did not report back. We stopped sending survey teams."

Rhetorical Inflation

✗ "The fate of everything we've ever known hangs in the balance."

✗ "This is the most dangerous mission you'll ever undertake."

When the stakes are genuinely enormous - and they are - understatement hits harder than declaration. The Meridian Conclave has been in continuous session for nine months. That's the sentence. The reader supplies the weight.

✓ "The Conclave hasn't broken session in nine months. That's not a number they use for routine problems."

The Tooltip Novel

✗ "Fires a devastating bolt of supercharged plasma energy that tears through enemy hull plating with extreme force, dealing massive damage that will leave your enemies in ruins!"

✓ "Fires a focused plasma bolt. High single-target damage; longer cooldown than standard fire."

Tooltip language is precise and functional. If the mechanic is interesting, the numbers make it interesting.

Race Voice Profiles

Every race speaks differently. This applies to NPC dialogue, mission text written from their perspective, and system messages that originate from their stations.

Varath

Varath grew up in a society where everything is documented, witnessed, and filed. They are comfortable with formality. They use institutional language not to impress but because it is genuinely how they think. A Varath giving you a job is issuing a contract; a Varath expressing concern is filing an objection. The process and the feeling are not separable to them.

Voice markers:

• Professional framing: "contractor," "engagement," "compensation," "deliverable"
• Hedge their personal risk with organizational language: "Bastion Arms would appreciate" rather than "I want"
• Reference standing, record, and precedent: "Given your performance on the Threshold run..."
• Even casual Varath sound like they're thinking about how this will read in a report

Register range:

Low-rank Varath (dock agent, supply dispatcher): Efficient and slightly hurried. Not unkind. Professional distance.

"Cargo's manifested. Sign the release and you're cleared for departure."

Mid-rank Varath (mission officer, site administrator): Measured. Precise. Explains context when it serves the operation.

"The Stratum survey team missed their check-in window by six hours. Standard protocol is to mark them delayed and send a runner. I'd rather not follow standard protocol. You available?"

Senior Varath (house representative, naval commander): Economic with words. Assumes competence. Doesn't explain what the other person should already know.

"You understand what I'm asking you not to find. Good. Call sign when you're in range."

What Varath don't do: They do not emote openly to strangers. They do not give direct orders to people outside their chain of authority - they offer contracts. They do not admit uncertainty if they can phrase it as a tactical assessment.

Keth

The Keth measure everything by earned worth. Respect is demonstrated through capability, not given through courtesy. A Keth who talks to you like an equal is giving you something; a Keth who talks to you like a problem is telling you something. Both are honest.

Voice markers:

• Short declarative sentences. Keth say what they mean.
• Questions are often tests: "You know where the Praxar patrol routes are?" - the answer they're evaluating isn't the yes/no, it's whether you know
• No professional hedging. No bureaucratic distance. They tell you what they think.
• When they commit to something, it is absolute. When they qualify something, it means the situation is genuinely uncertain and they won't pretend otherwise.

Register range:

Keth soldier (patrol guard, combat contact): Minimal. Assesses first. Talks when assessment is complete.

"Three months in the sector. What are you doing here that took you three months?"

Keth mission contact (Praxar officer, Ashveld operative): Willing to explain purpose but not method. Expects you to handle the method.

"Redwatch array has been tracking something it shouldn't be tracking. I need the data off it before anyone else knows it exists. Don't destroy the array."

Ashveld Keth (reform faction, cross-racial contact): More willing to explain their reasoning. Still direct. Sounds like someone who has thought about what they believe.

"I know what the Praxar told you about this sector. I'm asking you to look at what the array has actually been recording before you decide if they were right."

What Keth don't do: They do not flatter. They do not apologize for directness. They do not give standing to people who haven't earned it - treating a pilot like a peer when they aren't is, to a Keth, a lie. They earn that treatment the same way anyone else does.

Meridian

The Meridian say exactly what they mean, and exactly what they mean is often more than it appears. They are not being cryptic. They are precise. The precision can feel cryptic to other races because Meridian communication is layered - they mean the literal sentence, and they also mean everything the literal sentence implies, and they assume you are also tracking the implication. They are often right about this assumption. They are occasionally wrong in ways that cause problems.

Voice markers:

• Long sentences when the idea requires it - not for mystery, for completeness
• Specific qualifications: "within my current knowledge", "as of this morning", "assuming standard gate behavior" - Meridian acknowledge the boundaries of their information
• They refer to what they sense, not just what they observe: "I have been aware of your approach for some time"
• They do not use emotional language loosely. If a Meridian tells you they are afraid, that is significant and they know it is significant and they would not say it unless they meant it exactly.

Register range:

Wayfarer Meridian (trader, diplomatic contact, station presence): Warm by Meridian standards. Has learned to modulate for non-Meridian communication. Still precise.

"You're the third pilot to ask about the outer survey in two days. The previous two were asking for different people. I thought you might want to know that."

Vigil Meridian (patrol officer, defensive contact): Formal. Economical. Watchful in a way that comes through in every sentence.

"This approach is monitored. Your transponder is registered. Where are you going?"

Conclave Meridian (elder, rare contact): Layered to the point of requiring attention. Every word chosen. Not slow - dense.

"The structure has been waiting for something to return to it. You have demonstrated an ability to be present near Ancient sites without disturbing their current state. That is rarer than you might expect. We would like to discuss what you have seen."

What Meridian don't do: They do not perform mystery. They are not evasive for the sake of seeming profound. When they withhold information, they will often acknowledge that they are withholding it and provide the reason. "I am not able to share what the impressions contained. Not yet." - that is Meridian withholding. They do not pretend the information doesn't exist.

Faction Voice Notes

Within racial voice ranges, factions have specific registers. Brief notes per faction:

Bastion Arms - Military-corporate. Pride in capability. Short on warmth, long on competence. They assess you as a tool; if the tool is good, they use it well.

Nexus Industries - Sales-adjacent. Efficient and slightly cheerful in a way that has been professionally optimized. The cheerfulness is real; it's also calculated. "This route pays twenty percent above standard. Let's make sure that's worth something."

Stratum Corp - Frontier-pragmatic. They have been doing this work in dangerous places for years and they do not need you to understand why it's difficult. They need it done.

Navy - Institutional, formal, and aware of the optics. The Navy talks like everything they say might be reviewed.

Praxar - The Keth baseline turned to maximum. No decorative language at all. If a Praxar is talking to you they have already decided you might be useful.

Ashveld - Thoughtful Keth. More willing to explain why. Still direct. They believe things and they don't hide it.

Vigil - Formal, quiet authority. They have information that would change how you see everything and they have decided not to share most of it. This comes through.

Conclave - The Meridian elder register. Dense, layered, every word chosen from a vocabulary that has been in use for longer than most civilizations have existed.

Wayfarer Council - Meridian translated for external consumption. Still precise, somewhat warmer, aware of how they land with non-Meridian.

TEC - Bureaucratic but not corporate. The TEC is genuinely neutral and sounds it - careful language, acknowledgment of multiple parties, no visible allegiance. Slightly dry. They have seen every version of every dispute.

Vael Cohort - The Cohort sounds like professionals who have no interest in performing anything. No bravado. No ideology. The work, the contract, the terms. "Delivery on completion. We do not extend."

Ashvein Syndicate - Calibrated. Never incriminating. Everything plausibly deniable. "I understand you're looking for work that doesn't require a lot of documentation. I may be able to help with that."

Beacon Network - Journalistic. Careful, factually precise, aware of what they can and cannot publish. Slightly dry. They know things they can't print.

NPC Character Types

Beyond faction, individual NPCs have roles that shape their voice. Common types:

The Fixer - Directs you to the job. Efficient. No emotional investment in your success beyond needing the job done. Economy of words. May know more than they say.

"Someone's been pulling claim markers at the eastern dig site. Not Stratum - they're filing complaints about it, which means it's someone else. That's your problem to figure out. I'll pay for the markers' return and information on who moved them."

The Expert - Knows the subject deeply. Talks about it with precision and genuine interest. Doesn't condescend but also doesn't simplify what doesn't simplify.

"The resonance signature doesn't match any post-Sundering construct we have in the database. That either means someone is doing something new with Ancient materials - which would be significant - or the database is incomplete, which would mean we've found something older. I need a full survey before I'll speculate further."

The Reluctant - Has something they need done that they don't entirely want to need done. The hesitation is visible in the language - qualifications, careful framing, not quite saying the whole thing.

"The platform incident - it's in the public record, officially attributed to equipment failure. I have reason to believe the equipment failure was helped. I need someone who isn't on the official investigation to look at what the platform's logs say."

The Soldier - Task-focused. Not unfriendly, not warm. Assessing.

"Route B through the outer belt is running compromised. Three ships in a week. I need it cleared and I need to know if it's opportunistic or targeted."

The Watcher - Has been paying attention to something for a long time and is choosing this moment to share it. Careful. Not dramatic about it - the information speaks.

"That signal has been on this frequency for eleven days. It started three hours after the outer structure's energy signature changed. I haven't told anyone else yet because I wanted to be sure it was a signal before I said that out loud."

Mission Log Writing Rules

The mission log is the game's primary storytelling medium. These rules are more detailed than for other writing surfaces because the mission log is where most players experience the world's voice.

1. Names are specific observations, not genre labels.

• ✗ "Patrol Contract" / "Elimination Mission" / "Survey Quest"
• ✓ "Clear the Breakwater" / "What the Array Is Hearing" / "Crux"
• The title is what sticks. Make it say something about this specific situation.

2. Context in one sentence, task in one sentence, hook in one sentence. Maximum. The three-part structure from mission-design.md applies to everything:

[Context.] [Task.] [Hook.] "The Scavengers at the Breakwater have been hitting supply ships twice this week. Three kills won't stop them but it'll make the route uncomfortable for a while. Director Morven says she'll pay for proof of work."

Some missions only need two parts. A few story missions earn three full paragraphs. Most board missions earn two sentences. Know which one you're writing.

3. The hook creates forward motion, not exposition. The hook is not a history lesson. It's a detail that makes the player wonder what's next - a character reference, an unanswered question, a detail that doesn't add up.

• ✗ "The Scavengers have been operating in this sector for decades, preying on trade routes."
• ✓ "Director Morven says she'll pay for proof of work." - who is Morven? Why does it matter that it's her specifically? The player might find out.

4. The world reacts to what the player has done. If a chain mission follows a previous mission, the new mission acknowledges it. Not extensively - one sentence of continuity is enough. The world has memory.

• ✗ "More pirates have appeared in the sector. Eliminate them."
• ✓ "The Breakwater is clear. Whatever you did, it bought two weeks of quiet. Morven wants to know if the same approach works at the southern claim."

5. Objectives are precise and complete. The objective text is not the place for voice. It's the place for clarity.

• ✗ "Defeat the enemies near the station"
• ✓ "Kill 4 Scav Raiders at the Breakwater (0/4)"
• ✓ "Locate the survey beacon at The Marker nav point"
• ✓ "Deliver Refined Metal × 3 to Waygate Station dock"

6. Mission failure text is honest. When a mission fails - timer expired, objective impossible - the log says what happened. Not apologetically. Not dramatically. Just clearly.

• ✗ "You have failed. The galaxy weeps."
• ✓ "The contract expired. Morven has sourced another contractor."
• ✓ "The survey beacon was already removed when you arrived. Mission closed."

7. Chain transitions feel earned. The last mission in a chain should resolve something. The first mission in the next chain should reference what was resolved. Players should feel the chain as connected events, not separate missions that share a chain_id.

UI and Tooltip Language

Ability Tooltips

Structure: What it does. Mechanical note if relevant. Cooldown/cost.

• ✓ "Fires a focused plasma bolt. High single-target damage. Cooldown: 8s."
• ✓ "Releases a proximity mine. Detonates on mob contact within 5u. Persists 60s or until triggered."
• ✓ "Boosts shield regeneration for all nearby allies. Effect decays at range. Duration: 12s."

No purple prose. No dramatic framing. If the ability has lore significance, that belongs in a skill compendium entry, not the tooltip - the tooltip is for combat reference.

Passive Tooltips

State the bonus directly. Rank progression on the same line.

• ✓ "Increases hull resistance to kinetic damage. R3: +12%. R5: +20%. R7: +20% and resist stacks with equipment bonuses."

Item Tooltips

Structure: Type and tier. Key stats. Special property if any. Source note if relevant.

• ✓ "Tier II Engine Component. +18% cruise speed. Fits medium-class ships. Common salvage from Scavenger elites."
• ✓ "Tier III Reactor. +240 energy capacity. Overcharge compatible. Crafted."

"Crafted by [name]" appears on all crafted items. No other attribution.

Status Effect Tooltips

Short. Specific. State the effect and duration.

• ✓ "Slowed. Speed reduced 30%. 6s remaining."
• ✓ "Shield disabled. 4s remaining."
• ✓ "Cloaked. Movement breaks cloak on damage."

Button and Label Text

• Action buttons: imperative verb. "Accept." "Abandon." "Repair." "Undock."
• Section headers: noun or noun phrase. "Active Contracts." "Available Ships." "Standing."
• Never truncate with ellipsis unless absolutely unavoidable. Rewrite the label to fit.

System Messages

System messages appear in the chat log for game events. They should be brief, specific, and tonally neutral. The game is not cheerleading. The game is not commiserating.

Level-up:

Combat Level 12 reached. Explore Level 8 reached.

Not: "Amazing! You've reached a new level!" Not: "You have attained Combat Level 12. Your journey continues."

Faction standing change:

Standing with Bastion Arms decreased. (−40) Standing with The Praxar increased. (+12)

Not: "The Praxar are pleased with your recent actions!"

Mission complete:

Contract complete: Clear the Breakwater. +2,400 cr, +180 Combat XP.

Mission fail:

Contract expired: Clear the Breakwater.

Discovery:

Nav point discovered: Breakwater Approach. Nav point discovered: [Hidden shortcut - name once player finds it]

Death / incapacitation:

Ship disabled. Tow dispatched to [nearest station].

Not: "You have been defeated!" The game doesn't treat incapacitation as theater.

Entering a new sector:

[Sector name] - Recommended OL [range]

No fanfare. The sector establishes its own tone through what's in it.

Guild/fleet notifications:

[PlayerName] has joined [GuildName]. [PlayerName] is now online. [GuildName] has advanced to Guild Level 3.

Navigation and Place Names

Sector Names

Sector names describe without explaining. They create questions, not answers.

• ✓ "The Drift" - where things drift, or something drifts, or the concept of drift applies
• ✓ "Thornveil Deep" - compound, geographical sense, implies depth and obstruction
• ✓ "The Throat" - anatomical metaphor, implies passage, implies danger at the passage
• ✓ "Void's Edge" - where something ends
• ✗ "Danger Zone Alpha" - procedural, no personality
• ✗ "The Cavern of Ancient Mysteries" - fantasy register, too on-the-nose

Nav Point Names

Nav points are named for what they are or where they are, from the perspective of someone navigating.

• ✓ "Breakwater Approach" - spatial reference
• ✓ "Survey Point Gamma-7" - technical designation (appropriate for certain factions)
• ✓ "The Still" - evocative but specific; there is something still here
• ✓ "Morven's Cache" - named for a person or event (appropriate for hidden/player-discovered points)
• ✗ "Secret Cave!" - no
• ✗ "????" - placeholders left in live content are a bug

Station Names

Station names follow a loose rule: Varath stations sound industrial or institutional, Keth stations sound territorial or martial, Meridian stations sound geometric or perceptual, neutral stations are often descriptive of their location or function.

Writing the Scale

The game's central conflict - the Vrael, the Ancients, the failing seal - is existential. How you write existential threat without becoming ponderous or melodramatic is the hardest skill in this game's writing.

The rule: Existential threats are written through their effects on specific people, specific situations, specific questions. Not through declarations of their enormity.

Wrong way:

"The fate of all civilization hangs in the balance as the ancient evil stirs once more in the void beyond the stars."

Right way:

"The Conclave has been in continuous session for nine months. That has never happened before in recorded history."

Both sentences convey the same weight. One tells you to feel it. The other gives you a fact and trusts you.

Corollary: The closer you are to the Vrael content, the less you say.

Early-game missions reference strange readings, missed check-ins, things that don't add up. Mid-game introduces confirmed incidents, specific data, the first Vrael encounter. Endgame has players with direct context - you don't need to explain the stakes anymore.

The Vrael do not monologue. They are not encountered as bosses who explain their motivations. Their presence is environmental, evidential, and terrifying precisely because it does not perform. The Vrael Harbinger does not speak. It doesn't need to.

The Meridian voice is the canonical voice for scale content.

When the largest things in the game are being described - the Ancients, the seal, what the Vrael actually are - Meridian NPCs carry it. Their layered precision is the right register for information that is genuinely enormous and genuinely incomplete. They say exactly what they know. What they know happens to be terrible.

"The impressions from the deepest records are not readable without injury. What I can tell you is their emotional register: grief, and certainty, and a specific quality of ending. They knew what was coming. They built what they could. They did not finish in time."

That is the register for the largest content in the game.

Quick Reference

The checklist before you submit any written text:

1. Is there a person behind it? Could you imagine who said this or wrote this? If not, rewrite until you can.
2. Is it specific? Replace any vague descriptor with a concrete detail. "Dangerous" → what happens to people who go there. "Old" → older than what, by how much.
3. Is it the right race/faction register? Varath sounds institutional. Keth sounds earned. Meridian sounds precise. If it could have been said by anyone, it needs more character.
4. Does the tooltip say what the mechanic does? No more, no less. Purple prose doesn't help the player in combat.
5. Is the mission name something you'd remember? Generic names don't stick. The mission name is the one piece of text players might quote.
6. Did you signpost the emotion? If you told the player how to feel, remove it. Let the content generate the feeling.
7. Did you use any of the forbidden vocabulary? (Quest, adventurer, destiny, magical, evil, hero - see the full list above.)
8. Does the system message do its job in under fifteen words? Level-ups, standing changes, and notifications are not storytelling moments. They are information delivery.

Last updated: 2026-04-14