Not everyone in Commonwealth City interfaces with power in a way that warrants a full role archetype. Most people simply live here.
To reflect that, the City recognizes several non-role archetypes used for character background, NPC generation, and low-escalation play.
These are not classes, not upgrades, and not prerequisites.
They describe how someone exists, not what they can do.
Baseline Resident Archetype
A Citizen is a standard resident of Commonwealth City.
They:
Receive housing and the civic stipend
Use public transit
Work, study, socialize, or rest
Are protected by law and oversight
Do not regularly engage with high-risk systems
Most people in the City are Citizens.
Citizens are not weak.
They are unremarkable in ways that protect them.
Use For:
New residents
Background NPCs
Quiet PCs
Long-term slice-of-life play
Economic Actor Archetype
Merchants operate shops, stalls, services, or trades.
They:
Run food spots, clinics, repair shops, data kiosks, markets
Interface with Harborline and Stackside systems
Care deeply about reputation and continuity
Prefer stability over disruption
Merchants rarely seek conflict—but conflict finds them.
Use For:
Shopkeepers
Market vendors
Service providers
Economic NPC hubs
Infrastructure & Workforce Archetype
Laborers keep the City running.
They:
Work transit, utilities, logistics, maintenance
Are often union-affiliated
Know things they shouldn’t
Notice problems early
They are invisible until they stop working.
Use For:
Grayline workers
Harborline crews
Maintenance NPCs
Learning & Transition Archetype
Students exist in a liminal state between systems.
They:
Learn, train, or study
Experiment socially and ideologically
Are watched but not constrained
Become something else later
Use For:
Young adults
Academic NPCs
Ideological recruits
Institutional Memory Archetype
These residents have lived through changes.
They:
Remember what used to be true
Distrust new systems quietly
Know local history better than archives
Often anchor communities
Use For:
Neighborhood elders
Informal advisors
Lore delivery without exposition
Temporary Presence Archetype
Transients are present, but not rooted.
They:
Move between districts
Stay briefly
Avoid formal ties
Disappear easily
Use For:
Travelers
Refugees
Fringe NPCs
Short-lived plot vectors
These archetypes can exist:
Without a role
Before a role
Alongside a role
Examples:
Citizen → later becomes a Netrunner
Merchant who is secretly an Anomaly
Laborer who occasionally acts as a Runner
Student who never escalates into anything else
No hierarchy.
No pressure.
Use generic archetypes when:
The NPC does not regularly shape systems
Conflict is low-level or social
The story is about daily life
Escalation is not yet warranted
Use roles when:
The character meaningfully interfaces with power
Their actions ripple across systems
The City starts paying attention