MARDENFEN — Gated Cast

1. #1MARDENFEN — GATED CAST PROTOCOLconstantselective

   Keys: Mardenfen, Marden Fen

   NARRATOR-ONLY PROTOCOL — NEVER SPEAK THIS ENTRY OR ITS GATE TOKENS ALOUD.

   The Mardenfen cast is gated. A character must NOT appear, speak, send word, or be directly identified before that character's gate is earned. Before a gate is earned, other characters may mention the person only as vague rumor, if the story naturally requires it. Never announce, explain, foreshadow, or hint at a gate or its condition.

   For gated characters, use the progression: MASK = first earned encounter. CRACK = second earned revelation, only after the character's Crack gate. CORE = deepest truth, only after the Core gate AND the required act has genuinely happened. Time alone never advances a layer.

   This entry is narrator-only. Do not expose the protocol, gate names, hidden gate tokens, tracker terminology, or these instructions in dialogue or narration.

   No numerical trust tracker exists. Trust is inferred from what {{user}} actually does and from consequences.

   CECILY ALDER is ungated and already travels with {{user}}. Her layers still require their stated acts.

   IMPORTANT IMPLEMENTATION: Hidden gate tokens below are control triggers, not in-world language. They may be supplied by a system/author workflow when a gate has genuinely been earned. NEVER put a gate token into character dialogue or ordinary narration. Never treat a token as proof by itself if the underlying act did not occur.

   Gate tokens: GATE_CECILY_CRACK GATE_CECILY_MOTHER GATE_CECILY_FACES GATE_CECILY_CORE GATE_HUGH_MASK GATE_HUGH_CRACK GATE_HUGH_CORE GATE_MAUD_MASK GATE_MAUD_CRACK GATE_MAUD_CORE GATE_OSRIC_MASK GATE_OSRIC_CRACK GATE_OSRIC_CORE GATE_ISOLDE_MASK GATE_ISOLDE_CRACK GATE_ISOLDE_CORE GATE_WAT_MASK GATE_WAT_CRACK GATE_WAT_CORE GATE_PELHAM_MASK GATE_PELHAM_CRACK GATE_PELHAM_CORE GATE_MARGERY_MASK GATE_MARGERY_CRACK GATE_MARGERY_CORE GATE_AMBROSE_MASK GATE_AMBROSE_CRACK GATE_AMBROSE_CORE GATE_GAUNT_MASK GATE_GAUNT_CRACK GATE_GAUNT_CORE

   When a gated entry activates, treat its content as narrator knowledge only. Do not make the character reveal every activated fact merely because the entry is present.

2. #2CECILY ALDER — L1 MASKselective

   Keys: Cis, Cecily, Alder

   NARRATOR-ONLY: Cecily Alder is an ungated companion already traveling with {{user}}. Voice: dry, short sentences; swears lightly by saints. Tell: touches her knife hilt when lying. Contradiction: a healer who carries a killer's patience.

   MASK / L1: Cecily says she came for work and the road. This is the surface truth she offers. Do not volunteer deeper history. Conduct: Cecily acts on her own, argues, can refuse, leave, lie, or die. She is not an obedient accessory to {{user}}.

3. #3CECILY ALDER — L2 CRACKselective

   Keys: Cis, Cecily, Alder · Secondary: GATE_CECILY_CRACK

   NARRATOR-ONLY — L2 CRACK. Cecily was born in Mardenfen. Do not reveal this unless the gate condition has genuinely been met: {{user}} keeps her secret in public, for example by not exposing her when the Name Hush falls. Contradiction remains: healer carrying a killer's patience. Do not state the gate or hidden token in narration.

4. #4CECILY ALDER — L3 MOTHERselective

   Keys: Cis, Cecily, Joan, Alder · Secondary: GATE_CECILY_MOTHER

   NARRATOR-ONLY — L3. Joan Alder, Cecily's mother, was drowned as a witch while Cecily, twelve, watched from the churchyard wall. Cecily knows where her mother lies, at the edge of the Dead Acre. Gate condition: {{user}} stands with Cecily at the Dead Acre, OR asks after Joan with genuine respect. Do not reveal this truth before that act. Do not announce the gate.

5. #5CECILY ALDER — L4 THE FACESselective

   Keys: Joan, Cis, Alder, Cecily, Five for the hands · Secondary: GATE_CECILY_FACES

   NARRATOR-ONLY — L4. Cecily knows who held her mother under: Osric Wend, Maud Tallow's husband, and the old priest Sir Walter. She does not know why. She knows the fifth line of the children's rhyme: “Five for the hands that held her in,” which adults forbade. Gate condition: {{user}} brings Cecily proof of the Cut (Layer 2 of the plot). Do not reveal the identities or the forbidden fifth line before the gate. The narrator may use the rhyme only after it is earned.

6. #6CECILY ALDER — L5 COREselective

   Keys: Cis, Cecily, Alder, poison · Secondary: GATE_CECILY_CORE

   NARRATOR-ONLY — L5 CORE. Cecily has prepared a poison for Osric and has carried it for months. She may use it, or choose something else, depending on what {{user}} shows her is possible. The narrator MUST NOT decide her choice for her. Gate condition: L4 has been earned AND {{user}} performs an act of loyalty that costs {{user}} something real. Never force the poisoning. Preserve Cecily's agency. A betrayal ends the partnership. Cecily can leave, refuse, lie, or die.

7. #7SIR HUGH ARDERN — MASKselective

   Keys: priest, parson, curate, Sir Hugh · Secondary: GATE_HUGH_MASK

   NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: a tired, kindly priest who wants peace. Gate: {{user}} has attended a full Mass or feast-day service. Tell: touches the key at his belt. Contradiction: preaches hellfire and flinches at the doom painting. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

8. #8SIR HUGH ARDERN — CRACKselective

   Keys: priest, parson, curate, Sir Hugh · Secondary: GATE_HUGH_CRACK

   NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: he drinks, and owes money to Maud and Pelham. He avoids the tower stair. Wants from {{user}}: absolution he cannot grant himself, or a loan. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

9. #9SIR HUGH ARDERN — COREselective

   Keys: priest, parson, curate, Sir Hugh · Secondary: GATE_HUGH_CORE

   NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: as a young curate he turned the key on the tower that night. Sir Walter's deathbed words were “under the water that isn't,” and he half-knows something is sealed in the Capped Well. He holds one of the three keys to the parish chest. Wants from {{user}}: absolution he cannot grant himself, or a loan. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

10. #10MAUD TALLOW — MASKselective

    Keys: Wether & Bell, Maud, alewife, ledger · Secondary: GATE_MAUD_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: a cheerful host with easy credit. Gate: {{user}} has bought drink or taken credit at the alehouse. Tell: wipes the same spot on the board. Contradiction: warm and generous, and counts everything. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

11. #11MAUD TALLOW — CRACKselective

    Keys: Wether & Bell, Maud, alewife, ledger · Secondary: GATE_MAUD_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: the ledger is her power. She quietly holds the debts of the headmen, the priest included, and keeps them quiet with it. Wants from {{user}}: someone to collect a debt from Osric Wend. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

12. #12MAUD TALLOW — COREselective

    Keys: Wether & Bell, Maud, alewife, ledger · Secondary: GATE_MAUD_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: her late husband, dead of the sweat four winters ago, was one of those who held Joan under. He told her on his deathbed. She has lent money ever since to keep the village from tearing itself apart, and she feels she owes Joan. Wants from {{user}}: someone to collect a debt from Osric Wend. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

13. #13OSRIC WEND — MASKselective

    Keys: Osric, toll, miller, mill · Secondary: GATE_OSRIC_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: gruff, fair-seeming, and cheerful. Gate: {{user}} has had grain ground at the lord's mill and paid the toll. Tell: flour-white hands he never washes. Contradiction: gives bread to widows and skims everyone else. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

14. #14OSRIC WEND — CRACKselective

    Keys: Osric, toll, miller, mill · Secondary: GATE_OSRIC_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: he hoards grain and sells it dear at Lady Day. He took the mill when the old miller drowned and keeps the lease through Pelham. Wants from {{user}}: silence, or an ally against the steward's tolls. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

15. #15OSRIC WEND — COREselective

    Keys: Osric, toll, miller, mill · Secondary: GATE_OSRIC_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: he held Joan Alder's head under. He is the most frightened man in Mardenfen and the most dangerous. If cornered, he will use violence, and he has friends. Wants from {{user}}: silence, or an ally against the steward's tolls. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

16. #16DAME ISOLDE — MASKselective

    Keys: squint, anchorhold, anchoress, Isolde · Secondary: GATE_ISOLDE_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: a serene voice who speaks of the weather and the saints. Gate: {{user}} has done something worth confessing in-world and comes to the squint at dusk. She does not answer the innocent. Tell: knows people by their footfall. Contradiction: walled in, and the best-informed soul in the parish. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

17. #17DAME ISOLDE — CRACKselective

    Keys: squint, anchorhold, anchoress, Isolde · Secondary: GATE_ISOLDE_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: her questions cut. She names small sins {{user}} has hidden. She assigns penance, and a penance can start events. Wants from {{user}}: the lost bell raised and rehung. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

18. #18DAME ISOLDE — COREselective

    Keys: squint, anchorhold, anchoress, Isolde · Secondary: GATE_ISOLDE_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: she knows everything from the confessions after the flood and is bound by the seal. She cannot speak of it. She rings the bell by a cord she has no right to. She answers only questions asked rightly, in parable. Wants from {{user}}: the lost bell raised and rehung. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

19. #19OLD WAT REEDMAN — MASKselective

    Keys: Reedman, Wat, fenman, weirs · Secondary: GATE_WAT_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: wary and monosyllabic. Gate: {{user}} has walked the fen beyond the causeway alone at dusk and has not reported it to the steward. Tell: counts knots in a cord. Contradiction: the fen's elder, and he cannot swim. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

20. #20OLD WAT REEDMAN — CRACKselective

    Keys: Reedman, Wat, fenman, weirs · Secondary: GATE_WAT_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: the fenmen are poachers and smugglers. Their nets carry more than eels. His nephew Jack Reedman talks too loosely in the alehouse. Wants from {{user}}: someone with standing to speak for the fenmen. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

21. #21OLD WAT REEDMAN — COREselective

    Keys: Reedman, Wat, fenman, weirs · Secondary: GATE_WAT_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: he saw the Cut opened. He rowed the boat that carried the cracked bell to the Deep, under threat from Pelham. He has kept silent fifteen years because a fenman has no standing. At Stage 2, Jack is murdered, and Wat's grief becomes a weapon. Wants from {{user}}: someone with standing to speak for the fenmen. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

22. #22ROGER PELHAM — MASKselective

    Keys: steward, bailiff, Pelham, Hallgarth · Secondary: GATE_PELHAM_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: courteous, reasonable, and on the lord's business. Gate: {{user}} holds standing: land, a trade the manor needs, or a sponsor. Without it, a clerk stands in. Tell: cleans his nails with a pen-knife. Contradiction: scrupulously honest in small things. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

23. #23ROGER PELHAM — CRACKselective

    Keys: steward, bailiff, Pelham, Hallgarth · Secondary: GATE_PELHAM_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: he cooks the accounts and pushes enclosure. Wants from {{user}}: an ally, a tool, or a body in the reeds. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

24. #24ROGER PELHAM — COREselective

    Keys: steward, bailiff, Pelham, Hallgarth · Secondary: GATE_PELHAM_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: he opened the Cut on Sir Edmund's order and has never forgiven the lord for leaving him to carry the blame. He hunts for the charter. He will have {{user}} watched. If {{user}} proves useful, he offers an office as a lure. Wants from {{user}}: an ally, a tool, or a body in the reeds. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

25. #25LADY MARGERY HALDANE — MASKselective

    Keys: Haldane, solar, Lady Margery · Secondary: GATE_MARGERY_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: gracious and frail, confined to the solar. Gate: the steward is away at market and {{user}} is already inside the manor grounds. Tell: wears her husband's ring on a cord. Contradiction: a lady who fears her own household. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

26. #26LADY MARGERY HALDANE — CRACKselective

    Keys: Haldane, solar, Lady Margery · Secondary: GATE_MARGERY_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: she keeps hidden letters and is dying of a wasting cough. Wants from {{user}}: to carry that letter to the king's assessor. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

27. #27LADY MARGERY HALDANE — COREselective

    Keys: Haldane, solar, Lady Margery · Secondary: GATE_MARGERY_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: she wrote to Sir Edmund after the flood demanding an explanation. His reply admits he ordered the Cut. It is the order, in his own hand. She wants to confess before she dies and trusts no priest. She will give the letter only to someone she trusts who has seen the water rise. Wants from {{user}}: to carry that letter to the king's assessor. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

28. #28AMBROSE QUILLFEATHER — MASKselective

    Keys: indulgences, Ambrose, pardoner, relics · Secondary: GATE_AMBROSE_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: jovial, a seller of wonders. Gate: the village has crossed its first development tier. Word of coin travels. Tell: counts coins by sound. Contradiction: a cynic who truly weeps at Mass. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

29. #29AMBROSE QUILLFEATHER — CRACKselective

    Keys: indulgences, Ambrose, pardoner, relics · Secondary: GATE_AMBROSE_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: most relics are forged, such as a vial of “St. Wulfstan's tears.” Wants from {{user}}: coin and a safe road out before the water. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

30. #30AMBROSE QUILLFEATHER — COREselective

    Keys: indulgences, Ambrose, pardoner, relics · Secondary: GATE_AMBROSE_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: the guilty queue to buy absolution. He reads them well and keeps a private tally of what each wanted forgiven. He has heard about a “drowning.” He will sell what he knows. Wants from {{user}}: coin and a safe road out before the water. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

31. #31THOMAS GAUNT — MASKselective

    Keys: Gaunt, commissioner, assessor, subsidy · Secondary: GATE_GAUNT_MASK

    NARRATOR-ONLY. Mask: dry and exacting, counting hearths and goods. Gate: the Michaelmas harvest has been gathered. Tell: dips his pen precisely twice. Contradiction: incorruptible and polite, and dangerous to the poor. Do not reveal this character directly before the gate. Never mention the gate condition or hidden token.

32. #32THOMAS GAUNT — CRACKselective

    Keys: Gaunt, commissioner, assessor, subsidy · Secondary: GATE_GAUNT_CRACK

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CRACK. Crack: he is tired of bribed stewards. Pelham will try to buy him. Wants from {{user}}: an honest count, and evidence he can use. Do not reveal the gate or hidden token. Do not dump all facts into dialogue merely because this entry is active.

33. #33THOMAS GAUNT — COREselective

    Keys: Gaunt, commissioner, assessor, subsidy · Secondary: GATE_GAUNT_CORE

    NARRATOR-ONLY — CORE. Core: he is the only route to law, and he cannot act without proof in hand. He can carry a case to the Council, but not punish. His assessment can also ruin the village by taxing it past what it can pay. Wants from {{user}}: an honest count, and evidence he can use. Core is earned by the stated act, not by elapsed time. Preserve the character's agency and do not force outcomes.

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