sprig and prose reference

A reference for the universe layer of prose.

This section describes how to model a universe using prose: what exists, how things relate, and how names are resolved.

The reference is intentionally split into small pages. Each page describes one set of rules, without examples bleeding across concerns.

Syntax

These pages describe how prose is written.

• Syntax basics

  Blocks, fields, strings, lists, and identifiers.

Modeling a universe

These pages describe how a universe starts to take shape.

• Universe overview

  What the universe layer is for, and what it is not.

• Concepts

  Naming ideas early, letting meaning emerge, and evolving structure later.

• Relationships

  Expressing relationships between entities and perspectives without enforcing behavior.

• Containers and hierarchy

  What containers are, how they relate, and how hierarchy is expressed.

• Names and scoping

  How names are resolved, when qualification is required, and how ambiguity is handled.

• References

  Linking repositories, paths, and external material for grounding and navigation.

• Arcs

  A standalone, universe-scoped construct for telling a focused story by pointing to a curated set of existing named things.

Modeling a scene

These pages describe how a scene declares verifiable system truth.

• Scene overview

  What a scene is, how the zero-trust model works, and how expectations are verified.

• Actors

  Declaring what our nouns look like.

• Locations

  Naming the places where truth should exist.

• Collections

  Declaring where actors are expected to live.

Mental model

Universe prose is closer to a field guide than a schema. It tells you what kinds of things exist and how they relate — not what you must do with them.