Cardinal | MVP Roadmap

01 — Stack

what it runs on

EngineNode.js

PersistenceSQLite / better-sqlite3

LLMGroq free tier / llama3-8b

World gridFloat32Array — in-memory

DeployRailway — private repo

DashboardExpress + HTML/CSS/JS

95% pure heuristic JS. Groq only for chronicle narration, memory distillation, and communication utterances. all Groq calls go through groq/client.js only.

02 — World

world dynamics

200²Grid cells (~2km²)

16Starting Scintillae

1h= 1 sim day

~1mo= 1 sim year

4Seasons per year

0Starting knowledge

Micro tick — every frame

Movement & Physics

movement, physics, resource regen, env update, collision and proximity detection.

Cognitive tick — every N micro ticks

Decision & Continuity

needs eval, action select, Continuity rw, social eval, comms signal emission and reception.

Chronicle tick — every sim day

History & Flush

event aggregation, Continuity decay, history compression, cultural markers, Groq narration, SQLite flush.

Field	Description	Behaviour
R(x,y,t)	Resource density	Regenerates slowly. Depletes under sustained use.
T(x,y,t)	Temperature	Varies by season. Causes cold and heat stress.
C(x,y)	Traversal cost	Static per terrain type.
H(x,y,t)	Hazard probability	Accumulates from events.

03 — Scintillae

life inside Cardinal

Stage	Age	Learning	Survival	Continuity	Repro
Child	0–5 yr	Very high	Very low	Low	No
Adolescent	5–15 yr	High	Moderate	Moderate	Rare
Adult	15–45 yr	Moderate	High	High	Yes
Elder	45+ yr	Low	Declining	Very high	No

a group that protects its elders has better knowledge retention. a group that doesn't, forgets faster.

Reproduction is conditions-based, not scheduled. trust threshold, resource surplus, shelter, safety, and bonding duration all required. gestation is 9 sim days. mother needs decay faster. pregnancy can fail. infant mortality 15% in first 2 sim days. always one offspring.

Death cause	Condition
Starvation / dehydration / cold / injury	Health reaches 0
Old age	Lifespan reached (45–75 sim years)
Infant mortality	First 2 sim days — 15% chance
Conflict	Lethal resolution

04 — Entities

the world around them

none of these are known at spawn. everything is discovered through behavior, survived, remembered, and transmitted. knowledge dies with the carrier if untransmitted.

Small prey

Low risk. 0.3 hunger yield. Respawns every 5 sim days.

Large prey

High risk. 0.8 hunger yield. Respawns every 15 sim days.

Apex

Lethal. Patrols a radius, attacks on proximity. Respawns every 30 sim days.

Flora

Berry bush, fruit tree, hardwood, reed. Seasonal availability. Some finite.

Water source

Infinite. Detectable from 8 cells. First Scintilla to find it has a survival edge.

Terrain objects

Cave (natural shelter), rock deposit (finite, never respawns). Scarcity drives migration.

05 — Structure

project structure

cardinal/
├── world/
│   ├── grid.js           # Float32Array world, R/T/C/H channels
│   ├── seasons.js        # season cycle, field mutations per tick
│   └── entities.js       # entity spawning, state, respawn, predator behavior
├── scintillae/
│   ├── scintilla.js      # Scintilla state, needs decay, aging
│   ├── perception.js     # local radius, entity detection, fog of war
│   ├── policy.js         # heuristic action selection
│   └── tendencies.js     # weight shifts from experience
├── continuity/
│   ├── memory.js         # episodic/semantic/procedural/social
│   ├── decay.js          # memory decay and reinforcement
│   └── knowledge.js      # knowledge artifact lifecycle
├── communication/
│   ├── signals.js        # primitive signal tokens
│   └── language.js       # co-occurrence → stabilization → spread
├── substrate/
│   ├── micro.js          # micro tick loop
│   ├── cognitive.js      # cognitive tick loop
│   └── chronicle.js      # chronicle tick, flush, Groq narration
├── db/
│   ├── schema.js         # SQLite schema init
│   └── flush.js          # world + Scintilla serialization
├── observer/
│   └── events.js         # immutable event log, EventEmitter
├── groq/
│   └── client.js         # all Groq calls in one place
├── config.js             # all tunable parameters
└── index.js              # entry point, boot sequence

06 — Phases

MVP roadmap

everything after Phase 8 waits until the survival loop is stable.

Project scaffold, folder structure, config.js
SQLite schema init, basic flush
World grid init (Float32Array, 200×200, 4 channels)
Entity spawning (flora, fauna, terrain)
Season cycle

Scintilla spawn, state, needs decay
Aging and life stages
Death (all four causes)
Basic perception (local radius, entity detection, fog of war)
Heuristic policy (action selection by need urgency)

Micro tick loop
Cognitive tick loop
Chronicle tick loop
Immutable event log via EventEmitter
SIGINT handler, flush on shutdown

Memory layers (episodic / semantic / procedural / social)
Memory decay and reinforcement
Knowledge artifact lifecycle (spread / mutate / decay / myth)
Fog of war (explored set, confidence decay, location sharing)

Primitive signals (approach / flee / follow / threat)
Trust and relationship tracking
Group formation detection and DB write
Reproduction and gestation
Genetic inheritance with mutation

Chronicle narration (per cluster + global)
Memory distillation (episodic → semantic)
Communication utterances
Groq client, rate limit handling

Express server with basic auth
Event feed (live, readable)
Chronicle summary view
Basic 2D spatial view (positions, resource overlay)
Scintilla inspector
Backup / restore / reset buttons

Error handling and clean shutdown
Railway deploy, env vars, persistent volume
Smoke test full loop (spawn → survive → die → chronicle)
Tune config values from first runs

07 — Post-MVP

do not touch until Phase 8 is stable

Language emergence and token stabilization
Naming system activation
Generational cultural inheritance
Institutional behavior (settlements, leadership, norms, trade routes, rituals)
World map expansion (gated by population density)
Learned policy layer via RL / imitation for later generations
roadmap.cardinal.renzoreyn.dev public page

CardinalMVP Roadmap