Custody

Custody is the third content pillar. Where Scene is what happens and World is what exists, Custody is what characters know - and when they learned it.

Do I need custody for this?

Custody is optional and most projects reach for it late. This is when it earns its keep.

Why it exists

A secret is not just a fact. It's a fact that some characters hold and others don't, that travels through the story along a specific route, and that creates tension because of the gap between who knows it and who doesn't.

Scene files capture what is written. World pages capture what is structurally true. Neither of them answers: at page 80, which characters know that Mara falsified the ledger? When does Delacroix first suspect? When does the reader know, versus when does a character know?

Custody pages track this explicitly, so the engine can:

• Check that a character doesn't act on information they haven't received yet
• Check that a reveal scene doesn't reveal something the reader already knows
• Surface the gap between reader knowledge and character knowledge for any given point

The structure of a Custody page

A Custody page describes a single secret or piece of information and maps its timeline.

---
id: falsified-cargo-custody
name: The Falsified Cargo - custody
kind: custody
linked_information: cargo-falsification   # the Information page this tracks
phase: draft
---

## Timeline

| Scene | Event | Character | Reader |
|---|---|---|---|
| s003 | Mara notices the ledger has been altered | Mara (knows she did it) | - |
| s012 | Delacroix mentions the shortfall to Voss | Mara, Delacroix | hears the mention |
| s019 | Voss finds the original figures | Voss suspects Mara | reader suspects Mara |
| s027 | Mara confesses to Voss | Mara, Voss | confirmed |

Custody vs Information

An Information page is the what - a declaration of what the secret is and why it matters. A Custody page is the when - the timeline of who has it and when the reader finds out. The two pages work together; link them via linked_information.