What happens when you send a message, who answers, and what a character knows when they reply.
A turn
You send a message.
The game reads the scene: what's going on, and who you're talking to.
It gathers everything the character needs to know (see What they know).
The character replies with a mix of dialogue, actions and narration (scene description with no
speaker), and the reply plays out line by line.
While you wait, the input shows the character thinking. If a reply takes a while, it says they're "thinking very
hard". A slow or failed reply is retried automatically ("Retrying..."). If it still doesn't come back, you'll see
"Response timed out. Try again."
Who answers
The character whose portrait you chose answers, and keeps answering.
Speak to someone else by name to turn to them: "Mara, what do you think?" or "I turn to Joss."
These don't switch who you're talking to: "you" on its own, a pronoun, mentioning someone in passing, or talking
to a group ("you two").
If the person you turned to stays quiet for a couple of replies, the conversation drifts back to whoever you were
talking to before.
Scenes with several people
Anyone present can speak up, not just the person you're talking to. Once someone speaks, they're fully part of
the scene from then on.
Who's present means everyone in the building or room you're in, plus your party.
In a busy room, a handful of people at a time are "in view" for the scene. Anyone already talking, your party,
and anyone you mention stay in view. The rest rotate, so the background cast changes as the scene goes on.
Up to two portraits show on screen at once. Each speaker gets their own color.
Characters only speak for themselves. Lines for someone who isn't present, or lines written as your character,
are dropped.
Mentioning people
Name someone from the same settlement, and the character you're talking to is reminded who they are: their job,
where they're usually found, and how the two of them are related, if they are.
What a character knows when they reply
Every message, a character reads:
their own profile: personality, voice, behavior, motivations, history, relationships
today's mood, if the daily digest gave them one, and their notes from your last conversation
where they are: the world, region, settlement and district briefings, the building, and whether it's their
home, workplace or somewhere they're visiting (see Area profiles and NPC briefings)
lorebook entries that apply to the moment (see The Lorebook)
what they remember about you: pinned memories, their summary of your relationship, recent and relevant
memories, story threads, gossip
you: what they can see, and more if they've met you (see First meetings)
who else is here, and what they think of them
your avoidances from Journal → Preferences
the latest stretch of your conversation, plus a summary of anything older
Time in a conversation
The world clock pauses while you talk. Instead, each reply moves time forward by roughly how long it would take to
say, so a long conversation can carry you from morning into the afternoon, or past dawn into a new day. Pause the
world first (the pause button at the top of the screen) if you don't want time to move.
Picking up later
Come back to the same person within the same part of the day and you carry on in the same conversation.
Come back a part or two of the day later and the character remembers the earlier conversation and picks up where
you left off.
After that, a new conversation starts, and the character works from their memories.
Chat History (the clock button by the input) lists your past conversations with the character, to read back.
When you leave
Choose Leave (or press Esc). Everyone who took part forms a memory of the conversation, their feelings toward
you may shift, and they note anything they'll want to remember. See
Memory and the Journal.