Plot

the casting of forces

A plot file is the casting of forces before a word is spoken. It does not describe what will happen; it loads the specific system cargo that makes a collision inevitable the moment the plot starts.

Cue

The framework's whisper. The atmospheric condition: the sediment of history, the chill of the geopolitical climate, the angle of the light. It establishes the baseline Place and the ambient pressure before any element is activated.

Action

The visible engine. The public vectors. This codifies the Process and official stance each Persona must openly drive toward, mapping exactly where those trajectories collide.

Stage

The assets and arrangement. The physical deployment of Personas and the Pieces they carry across the threshold: documents, resources, technical infrastructure.

Tension

The invisible engine. The contraband reality. What a Persona carries alone that makes the Action impossible to complete cleanly: the knowledge, the lie, the inertia.

Cue and Stage are the setup; the conditions and the deployment. Action and Tension are the twin pistons of the engine. One operates in the light; one operates in the dark. A plot file succeeds when the Action forces the system to move, but the Tension prevents it from moving smoothly.