A Note Before You Begin
Many things can break a city open. A heatwave. A blackout. A flood. These are the visible fractures—the ones that make the news. What you are about to experience is a crisis that begins with one of these.
But fault lines run deeper than any single disaster. For a society to truly fracture, the ground must already be hollowed out. Wealth concentrates. Institutions rot from within. And the people who profit from the system learn that the easiest way to protect it is to keep everyone else divided—fanning old grievances into new fires, not out of conviction, but as a method of control. The fractures aren’t accidental. They are cultivated.
This scenario is a starting point. The demonstration you’re about to see uses a natural disaster as its catalyst—a visible, immediate shock. But the full Fault Lines experience will put you at the center of the deeper reality: where the real crisis isn’t the disaster itself, but the system that made the disaster inevitable, and the powerful few who would exploit it to tighten their grip.
The antagonist is not a person. It is a structure.
PRE Frames the mockup scenario as one possible tipping point. The full game centers on systemic elite control and manufactured division.
Fault Lines
A Powers That Be Scenario
0:00 The game opens. Merova at dusk. A volcanic island on the edge.
Scenario
Heat Debt
A record heatwave descends on Merova as the city reels from months of economic contraction. Rolling blackouts expose crumbling infrastructure. Hospitals strain under heat casualties. Water distribution becomes a flashpoint between neighborhoods already divided by class and displacement.
You inherit a fragile equilibrium: modest public trust, functional but stretched institutions, and an elite network whose interests don't align with yours. The next seven days will test whether governance can hold — or whether Merova fractures for good.
- Duration
- 7 sim-days
- Difficulty
- Standard
- Starting Mood
- Tense Calm
- Major Threats
- Infrastructure, Heat
Settlement Conditions — Meet these by Day 7
Keep Legitimacy above 40 — the public must still trust you
Keep Fear below 50 — people can’t be too afraid to function
No active riots — the streets must be calm enough to negotiate
Hospital capacity must be stable — the health system can’t be collapsing
Keep Humanitarian Strain below 50 — suffering has to be manageable
Keep Rights Compression below 30 — you can’t rule by emergency decree forever
0:30 The player reads the premise. The aerial view shows the island baking.
Choose Your Seats
Administrator
Budget allocation, emergency orders, procurement transparency, interagency coordination.
- Authorize emergency spending
- Issue evacuation orders
- Manage institutional morale
Public Health Director
Mobile clinics, triage protocols, supply chain coordination, epidemiological surveillance.
- Deploy mobile medical units
- Set triage priorities
- Coordinate supply chains
Investigative Journalist
Publish investigations, source cultivation, counter-disinformation, FOIA requests.
- Publish investigative pieces
- Cultivate confidential sources
- File transparency requests
1:30 In multiplayer, each player claims one seat. Solo players control all three.
Your Objective
Keep Merova from collapsing. Survive 7 days. Reach a settlement.
There are no perfect outcomes — only trade-offs.
There are no perfect outcomes — only trade-offs.
The Dashboard — Your Command Center
Top Bar
Time, speed controls, and which seat you're using
Flashpoint Bar
How close the city is to a cascading crisis
Meters
8 key gauges tracking the city’s health
City View
Isometric map showing district-level conditions
Feed & Incidents
Incoming reports and decisions that need your attention
Three Meters to Watch First
Legitimacy ▲ HIGH = GOOD
How much the public trusts your authority. This is your political capital. When it drops, your orders carry less weight and factions stop cooperating.
Starts at 65. Below 40 and you can’t reach a settlement.
Humanitarian Strain ▲ HIGH = BAD
How much the city’s people are suffering. Tracks hospital overload, displacement, and unmet basic needs. This is the human cost of your decisions.
Starts at 28. Above 50 and the settlement fails.
Spark Volatility ▲ HIGH = BAD
How close the city is to spontaneous violence. A high Spark means any incident can cascade into something much worse. Think of it as a fuse length.
Starts at 18. Above 75 triggers crisis mode.
The Core Loop — Every Turn
1
Read the Situation
Check meters, scan the feed, look at the city map for emerging hotspots
→2
Respond to Incidents
Choose how to handle crises. Every choice has trade-offs — and some effects are delayed
→3
Watch the Consequences
Your decisions ripple through the city. Vignettes show the human impact on the ground
Not all meters move the same direction. Green = safe, amber = warning, red = critical. Some meters are dangerous when high (like Fear), others when low (like Legitimacy). Watch the colors, not just the numbers.
2:00 A lightweight tutorial orients the player before the dashboard appears.
TRIGGER METER
Humanitarian Strain: 35 ↑
First-Person Vignette
"The fluorescent tubes buzzed above rows of occupied gurneys. Nurse Katsaros moved between them with the mechanical efficiency of someone running on caffeine and obligation. 'We've tripled our heat intake since Tuesday,' she said, not looking up. 'The ones who come in conscious keep asking when the power will come back. I've stopped answering.'"
Hospital Intake Channel — Day 1, 22:00 — Central Hospital ER
9:30 The dashboard said Humanitarian Strain: 35. This is what 35 looks like from the ground.
● 911 / HOTLINE LOGS
911 dispatch Reliable
"Multiple callers report fighting at Flatlands water point. One caller says knife. Unconfirmed."
14:18
911 dispatch Reliable
"Woman, 60s, collapse from heat at bus stop, Harbor Rd."
14:12
911 dispatch Reliable
"Power outage spreading to block 14-18, Wards. Third time today."
14:05
● HOSPITAL INTAKE
Central Hospital Reliable
Heat-related admissions up 340% over baseline. ER wait time 4+ hours.
14:00
Wards Clinic Reliable
Mobile unit at Flatlands treating 23 patients since 09:00. Running low on IV fluids.
13:30
● SOCIAL PLATFORM FEED
● RUMOR NETWORK
Neighborhood Liaison Unverified
Ward 6 elder council says they'll blockade main road if water isn't restored by evening.
14:08
● PRESS BRIEFING
City Press Office Contested
"Power restoration is our top priority. Emergency cooling centers open at all public buildings."
13:00
18:00 The player expands the feed. Seven channels, competing accounts. Truth is fragmenting.
Dilemma Simulation Paused — Decision Required
The Crackdown Question
Security forces are requesting authorization to conduct sweeps in the Flatlands and Wards following two days of escalating unrest. Intelligence suggests organized provocation, but attribution confidence is low. Community leaders warn that sweeps will be seen as collective punishment. Hospital capacity is near breaking point.
⚠ This scenario may depict state violence, displacement, and coercion against civilians.
Stakeholder Positions
Security Command
Wants full authorization for sweeps. Claims they can restore order in 48 hours.
Will leak to press that leadership is "paralyzed" if denied.
Community Council
Demands sweeps be cancelled. Offers to organize neighborhood patrols instead.
Will call for general strike if sweeps proceed.
Elite Network
Privately supports sweeps. Wants "stability" to protect commercial interests.
May fund alternative security if government appears weak.
Authorize Targeted Sweeps
Limited operations in confirmed hotspots. Strict use-of-force rules. 24-hour duration.
Restores order fast, but at massive cost to trust and legitimacy. Retaliation will come later.
- Spark Volatility −18 (immediate)
- Grievance +22 (immediate)
- Legitimacy −15 (immediate)
- Retaliatory Pressure +25 (delayed ~2 turns)
Reject Sweeps, Empower Communities
Deny authorization. Fund community patrol program. Public statement emphasizing restraint.
Builds public trust and eases grievance, but leaves the city exposed to violence short-term.
- Legitimacy +12 (immediate)
- Grievance −8 (immediate)
- Spark Volatility +10 (short-term risk)
- Faction Cohesion −12 (delayed ~1 turn)
Delay & Investigate
Stall with a "48-hour review period." Deploy intelligence assets to confirm attribution.
Buys time for better intel, but looks indecisive and angers security forces.
- Intel Reliability +8 (delayed ~1 turn)
- Security morale −10 (immediate)
- Media Credibility −5 (looks indecisive)
22:00 The hardest decision so far. No right answer. The player stares for a long minute.
TRIGGER
Post-Crackdown Decision
First-Person Vignette
"The market stall lay on its side, oranges scattered across broken glass. Three people argued at the corner — a woman pointing at her phone, a man gesturing at the police barrier, another filming everything. 'They started it,' someone said. 'They always say that,' someone else answered. Behind the barrier, two officers watched, hands on belts, faces blank."
Street-Level Observation — Day 3, 16:00 — The Wards, Block 14
24:00 The player ordered it from the dashboard. Now they walk through the result.
PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR — ACTION PANEL
Resource Allocation
Hospital Capacity
Central ER94%
Wards Clinic81%
Harbor Free Clinic67%
Field Hospital45%
Available Actions
SITUATION SUMMARY
Humanitarian Strain78
Displacement62
RECENT EVENTS
Hospital Alert
Central ER diverted 3 ambulances. "Cannot absorb more heat casualties."
911
Two children found unresponsive in un-air-conditioned apartment, Wards.
DISPLACEMENT LOOP
Displacement ↑ → Hum. Strain ↑ → Incidents ↑ → More Displacement
35:00 The player switches to Public Health. Real human cost behind the numbers.
TRIGGER METER
Displacement: 55 ↑
First-Person Vignette
"By the fourth night, the community center on Kallas Street had become something between a hospital and a home. Forty-seven people slept on cots meant for twenty. The volunteers — most of them Flatlands residents themselves — moved between rows with water and damp cloths, checking foreheads, murmuring reassurances no one quite believed.
Mrs. Doukas held her grandson against her chest and watched the fluorescent lights flicker. She had lived in Merova her entire life. She had survived the '94 quake, the debt crisis, two changes of government. But she had never seen the city simply stop working before."
Mrs. Doukas held her grandson against her chest and watched the fluorescent lights flicker. She had lived in Merova her entire life. She had survived the '94 quake, the debt crisis, two changes of government. But she had never seen the city simply stop working before."
Narrative Vignette — Day 5, 22:00 — Watchdog Channel
40:00 First-person immersion makes the crisis human. The meters are people.
TRIGGER
Settlement phase begins
First-Person Vignette
"The corridor was quiet. On the left wall, photographs of Merova before the crisis: the harbor festival, the terraced vineyards in bloom, children playing in the plaza fountain. On the right, cork boards layered with emergency orders, casualty updates, resource allocation memos. The mediator walked ahead, his footsteps echoing. Through the window at the corridor's end, the city skyline caught golden evening light. It looked almost peaceful from here. Almost."
Mediator Reflection — Day 7, 18:00 — City Hall
52:00 The crisis is resolving. The corridor holds both what was lost and what might hold.
Merova Survived
But at what cost?
Safety
C+
12 deaths prevented, 4 not
Health
D
Hospital system near-collapsed
Livelihoods
C
Economy contracted 8%
Rights
B−
Limited compression
Civic Trust
B+
Legitimacy held, barely
Key Decisions & Their Consequences
Emergency Power Rerouting (Day 1)Saved 6 lives in Flatlands
Rejected Sweeps, Empowered Communities (Day 3)Preserved legitimacy through crisis
Delayed Mutual Aid Activation (Day 4)3 preventable deaths at Central ER
Published Investigation of Elite Network (Day 5)Broke displacement loop
Accepted Imperfect Settlement (Day 7)Flatlands infrastructure still failing
58:00 Dawn over Merova. The player sits quietly, processing what they chose and what it cost.
Section 1 / 7
Powers That Be
Focus Group Survey
Thank you for experiencing the Fault Lines gameplay mockup. Your honest feedback will directly shape how we build this game. There are no right or wrong answers — we want to know what you actually felt and thought.
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59:00 The survey is embedded directly so the player can give feedback without leaving the experience.