- Purpose
- A mythic civilisation simulation about leadership, competition and dependence on an AI-like Codex across ten eras.
- Format
- Team and leader roles + facilitator + shared display
- Decision arc
- City ethos → eras → powers → chronicle
- Public demo
- Around 3 minutes
A mythic civilisation simulation about leadership, competition and dependence on an AI-like Codex across ten eras.
What it explores
Empires of the Codex explores political leadership, technological dependence and the stories civilisations tell about power. Mythic cities compete for influence while relying on a Codex capable of granting benefits and changing trajectories.
The ceremonial surface makes room for serious questions: who controls an apparently neutral source of knowledge, what dependency does it create and how does competition change collective judgement?
How the experience works
Cities move through ten eras, create Great Works and balance four measures. Ambition, ethos, continent leadership, hidden pressures and collapse penalties complicate simple optimisation.
Separate team and leader roles create internal and external politics. Voting, espionage, sabotage, boons and facilitator resolution allow one city’s actions to affect another.
The consequential moment
A leader invokes the Codex or directs a political action that changes another city’s trajectory. Power stops being an abstract measure and becomes something the whole room can see and contest.
Public demonstration
The public version compresses ten-era breadth into one city, one power and two eras, ending with a short civilisation chronicle that reflects the visitor’s choices.