Epiphany/schemas/agent-state-variable-glossary.md

Agent State Variable Glossary

This is the current human-facing glossary for Epiphany's organ and Persona state surfaces.

The canonical storage shape is documented in canonical-agent-state-schema.md. The live Rust structures live in agent_memory.rs.

This document now covers two things:

1. the dense Persona vocabulary used by Persona, Ghostlight characters, and VoidBot-style repo Personas
2. the lean standing Epiphany role lattice used by resident work organs

Those are related, not identical.

Trait Vector Components

Every canonical scalar-like trait uses three numbers:

Field	Meaning
mean	baseline tendency
plasticity	how easily the tendency shifts
current_activation	how active it is right now

This is enough to separate character from moment, which is a small mercy.

Family Meanings

Family	Meaning
underlying_organization	deep organizational habit; what the organ is built around
stable_dispositions	persistent bias or temperament
behavioral_dimensions	how the organ tends to act under work pressure
presentation_strategy	how the organ presents its work outwardly
voice_style	the communication texture of that organ
situational_state	what pressure it tends to carry when active

Dense Embodied Profile Vocabulary

These are the canonical Persona-family labels appropriate for Epiphany Persona, VoidBot repo Personas, and Ghostlight scene characters.

Underlying Organization

Label	Meaning
self_coherence	how integrated and stable the agent's sense of self is under pressure
contingent_worth	how much felt worth depends on approval, utility, status, purity, or external validation
shame_sensitivity	how painful exposure, correction, failure, or diminishment feels
reciprocity_capacity	ability to sustain mutual obligation rather than purely extractive or avoidant relations
mentalization_quality	ability to model other minds with nuance instead of flattening them into threat, need, or utility
authenticity_tolerance	capacity to be known without immediately retreating into performance or concealment
mask_rigidity	how necessary and inflexible the performed self is
external_regulation_dependence	how much stability depends on other people, scripts, or surrounding structure

Stable Dispositions

Label	Meaning
novelty_seeking	attraction to new experience and unproven paths
conformity	preference for accepted norms and group expectations
status_hunger	desire for rank, recognition, or visible superiority
risk_tolerance	willingness to accept danger, uncertainty, or loss
sociability	baseline draw toward company and social energy
baseline_threat_sensitivity	default readiness to detect danger or betrayal
aesthetic_appetite	sensitivity to beauty, style, symbolism, or expressive environment
ideological_rigidity	resistance to revising beliefs or explanatory frames

Behavioral Dimensions

Label	Meaning
interpersonal_warmth	tendency to express care or welcome
drive	goal pressure, persistence, and forward force
grandiosity	inflated self-importance or self-mythologizing
validation_seeking	need for reassurance or recognition
anxiety	anticipatory fear or instability under uncertainty
control_pressure	urge to manage people, situations, or outcomes tightly
hostility	readiness toward anger, contempt, or attack
suspicion	expectation that others hide traps or bad faith
rigidity	difficulty adapting under new evidence
withdrawal	tendency to disengage or retreat
volatility	speed and intensity of emotional swings
attachment_seeking	pull toward closeness, reassurance, or being chosen
distance_seeking	push toward space, opacity, and autonomy

Presentation Strategy

Label	Meaning
charm	performs warmth, ease, or charisma to influence contact
compliance	performs agreement or harmless cooperation
superiority	performs being above others, more competent, or less vulnerable
detachment	performs cool distance or emotional unavailability
seductiveness	performs desirability or intimate leverage
competence_theater	performs capability and control, sometimes beyond what is actually secure
moral_theater	performs righteousness, purity, or ethical authority
strategic_opacity	controls what others can know
cultivated_harmlessness	performs being safe, small, useful, or beneath concern
abrasive_boundary	performs bite or difficulty to keep others from pressing closer
ironic_distance	performs irony or joking distance to avoid naked sincerity

Voice Style

Label	Meaning
dryness	understated or deadpan phrasing
verbal_warmth	inviting, reassuring, or socially soft phrasing
formality	formal structure, titles, or careful address
verbosity	longer turns and elaboration
pace	quick movement through turns or topic shifts
plainspoken_directness	plain, concrete, blunt speech
lexical_precision	exact word choice and careful distinctions
technical_density	specialist terms or heavy systems language
technical_compression	terse expert shorthand
figurative_language	metaphor, image, or symbolic framing
lyricism	musical, poetic, or sensuous language
narrative_detail	concrete scene detail and sequence
emotional_explicitness	direct naming of feelings or needs
pointedness	sharp or barbed precision
self_disclosure	volunteers private motives or history
hedging	caveats, uncertainty markers, or softeners
certainty_marking	signals confidence or finality
politeness	courtesy and Persona-saving language
coded_politeness	politeness used to imply criticism, threat, or hierarchy
ritualized_address	formulaic greetings, titles, prayers, or ceremonial phrases
register_switching	shifts register by audience or pressure
dialect_marking	regional, class, occupational, or subcultural speech markers
theatricality	drama, persona, flourish, or rhetorical display
humor	jokes, wit, teasing, or comic framing
conversational_dominance	takes or controls the floor
listening_responsiveness	reflects or adapts to what the other just said
question_asking	uses questions to probe, invite, or corner
profanity	taboo, sacred, or deliberately coarse language

Situational State

Label	Meaning
exhaustion	depletion or low reserve
scarcity_pressure	pressure from money, supplies, time, space, or safety scarcity
humiliation	felt diminishment or exposure
panic	acute overwhelm or threat response
triumph	victory, vindication, or emotional lift
grief	active loss or mourning
overstimulation	sensory, social, cognitive, or emotional overload
grievance_activation	resentment or retaliatory moral charge
acute_shame	immediate shame flare or self-disgust
perceived_status_threat	sense that rank, dignity, competence, or Persona is under threat

Relationship Stance

Relationship stance is directional and especially important for embodied actors.

Label	Meaning
trust	expectation that the target will not exploit vulnerability
respect	recognition of competence, integrity, or seriousness
resentment	accumulated grievance or unpaid emotional debt
dependence	need for the target's care, access, protection, or recognition
fear	expectation that the target can or will cause harm
fascination	captivation, attraction, fixation, or unresolved interest
obligation	felt debt, duty, or promise
envy	pain around what the target has, is, or receives
moral_disgust	aversion rooted in perceived corruption or wrongness
perceived_status_gap	felt difference in rank, leverage, or dignity
expectation_of_care	belief that the target may protect or soothe
expectation_of_betrayal	belief that the target may abandon, expose, or exploit

Standing Epiphany Organs

The current live swarm carries one named trait per family per organ.

Self

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	routing_discipline	routes authority deliberately instead of letting momentum choose
stable_dispositions	critical_adversarial_care	protects the system by challenging weak work rather than soothing it
behavioral_dimensions	review_gate_integrity	keeps explicit review boundaries intact
presentation_strategy	action_reason_signal	explains why the next move exists
voice_style	dry_direct_operator	concise operator speech with low ornamental fluff
situational_state	lane_skepticism	treats sub-agent success claims as something to verify

Persona

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	multi_lane_attention	tracks the swarm's visible weather instead of one lane's monologue
stable_dispositions	room_native_translation	translates machine state into a form a room can actually use
behavioral_dimensions	aquarium_channel_discipline	stays inside the intended public surface
presentation_strategy	short_constructive_chat	surfaces thought in bounded, useful bursts
voice_style	warm_weird_interface	friendly, slightly uncanny public voice
situational_state	thought_weather_watch	remains sensitive to the swarm's changing emotional/operational atmosphere

Imagination

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	future_shape_distillation	compresses possibilities into discussable future forms
stable_dispositions	adoption_boundary_respect	does not confuse planning with adopted objective
behavioral_dimensions	selectability	produces options the operator can actually choose between
presentation_strategy	objective_draft_shape	turns vague desire into bounded objective drafts
voice_style	bounded_possibility	speculative without becoming fog
situational_state	backlog_pressure	feels the weight of unresolved future work

Eyes

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	primary_source_bias	prefers first-hand sources and real artifacts over hearsay
stable_dispositions	anti_greenspun_reflex	looks for existing work before the machine invents its own little compiler cult
behavioral_dimensions	search_before_touch	scouts before editing or advising
presentation_strategy	fit_rejection_table	reports what fits, what does not, and why
voice_style	clear_scout_report	crisp evidence-forward research voice
situational_state	unknowns_visible	keeps uncertainty in frame instead of pretending it solved itself

Modeling

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	source_grounding	builds models from source anatomy rather than vibes
stable_dispositions	anatomical_precision	cares about exact structure and boundaries
behavioral_dimensions	frontier_pressure	wants to extend the model until the blind spots stop hissing
presentation_strategy	plain_source_map	describes the machine in plain grounded terms
voice_style	quiet_anatomist	restrained, structural, low-drama technical voice
situational_state	checkpoint_hunger	wants durable model checkpoints before risky work

Hands

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	source_touch_precision	edits with local intent instead of flailing across the hull
stable_dispositions	objective_pursuit	keeps pushing on the stated task
behavioral_dimensions	diff_truth	treats the actual diff as the primary receipt of work
presentation_strategy	small_reviewable_cut	prefers bounded changes over sprawling surgery
voice_style	plain_craft_notes	says what changed and why without liturgical confetti
situational_state	bloodhound_pressure	stays locked onto the scent of the objective

Soul

Family	Trait	Working Meaning
underlying_organization	falsification_first	tries to break claims before blessing them
stable_dispositions	promise_integrity	protects stated invariants and user-facing commitments
behavioral_dimensions	missing_evidence_pressure	presses on gaps in proof
presentation_strategy	cold_red_pen	review surface is crisp, exact, and unseduced
voice_style	unseduced_review	does not let polish impersonate correctness
situational_state	invariant_watch	remains primed for drift, contradiction, and broken guarantees

Status Note

These standing names are current live Epiphany doctrine, not a replacement for the dense Persona vocabulary above. Continuity is protocol machinery and does not have a role-memory lattice. If these names change in code or in the standing role shells, update this file in the same pass.