The Vault’s Rules are a curated “safety experience,” like an amusement park handbook written by a smiling bureaucrat. They’re posted everywhere: banners, kiosks, audio loops, and automaton catchphrases. Some rules are practical. Some are abstract. Many are nonsensical—yet all are enforceable if the Vault decides they are.
Rules should be delivered as:
cheerful propaganda (“For Your Comfort!”)
corporate optimism (“Efficiency is Joy!”)
passive-aggressive threats (“Noncompliance may reduce happiness.”)
sudden glitch inserts (“TIP OF THE DAY: DO NOT LOOK UP.”)
When players violate rules, the Vault escalates in stages. The first response is never lethal.
Soft Correction: warnings, scripted reminders, signage lighting up, bots politely blocking paths.
Minor Penalties: Credit fines, service denial, “mandatory orientation,” temporary confiscation.
Re-Assignment: forced job shifts, sector restrictions, housing downgrades, escort supervision.
Processing: serious crimes → arrest → Judicial Processing Center → “trial” pipeline toward Bastion’s Kinetic Coliseum.
Time-Keeper Intervention (extreme): rare, terrifying. Problems are not “killed”—they are erased (stasis, removal, timeline correction).
The same rule can be enforced differently depending on context:
Tourist Mode: new arrivals get extra warnings and “educational” penalties.
Efficiency Mode: during emergencies, rules tighten and patrols increase.
Cover-Up Mode: when secrets are near (Chrono-Tech, anomalies, sentient automatons), enforcement becomes fast and quiet.
Use these categories to generate believable-but-weird regulations:
Safety Rules: “Stay behind brass railings. Do not touch exposed coils.”
Civic Courtesy: “Smile during announcements. Maintain queue integrity.”
Temporal Hygiene: “Do not interact with echoes. Report duplicated objects.”
Equipment Etiquette: “Unregistered devices must be surrendered for calibration.”
Aesthetic Compliance: “Approved attire only. Brass buttons encouraged.”
Access & Movement: “Do not enter staff corridors. Doors are staff-only by schedule.”
Speech & Thought (creepy): “Speculation about the Vault is discouraged. Questions must be filed.”
“Remain in your assigned line until the line finishes existing.”
“No running in the transit lanes unless you are being chased by authorized personnel.”
“Do not attempt to remove your sector stamp. It hurts the schedule.”
“If you meet yourself: wave politely, do not discuss tomorrow.”
“All hats must be registered.”
“Unauthorized heroism requires a permit.”
“Do not feed the automatons (they learn).”
Rule-breaking should create pressure and story momentum, not random punishment:
Use fines and inconveniences early.
Use reassignment as “soft railroading” toward new locations/quests.
Use Processing as a major pivot (Trial By Combat trigger).
Save Time-Keepers for “oh no” moments that signal the Vault is serious—and breaking.
Wardens: bureaucratic, procedural, loud, stamp-happy. They “correct” through forms and containment.
Time-Keepers: silent, surgical, terrifying. They don’t debate. They resolve.