Abstract & Concrete

This is how one model serves both tempos. Every person always exists as a DB row with a current task.

• Abstract (default): a row with a planned-task sequence; tasks resolve statistically.
• Concrete: when a player loads a region, eligible people are promoted to ECS entities that physically execute tasks; their abstract sim halts; concrete events flow back to the DB.

The planned-task sequence is the interface between the two tempos. Concrete-eligibility is broader than screen position (home settlement loaded, faction ties, pending interactions).

Infrastructure: dedicated servers, a role-split between world-sim and concrete-sim, and the DB as shared mutable state.

The biggest technical risk

For the world to stay consistent as players phase regions in and out, abstract statistical resolution must be a faithful expectation of concrete execution — otherwise the two tempos drift and the error compounds. Whether abstract resolution is derived from the concrete rules or separately authored is the single highest-leverage thing to nail. Also open: a hard concrete- entity budget (eligibility via faction ties can balloon) and determinism for reproducibility. See Design Status.