# Beings and Roles

## Purpose

Beings include fictional entities, folklore types, community-described intelligences, machine beings, and social roles. A Tile’s class does not certify its existence. This chapter is an index and a method: it shows how to explore the subject without collapsing documented history, current research, reported experience, fiction, community belief, and Oracle synthesis into one truth claim.

## Reading Method

1. **Locate the Tile.** Read its Primary Class to learn what kind of thing it is, then its Inquiry Domains to learn which questions it can illuminate.
2. **Name the material mode.** A science-fiction, mythology, political-mythology, experiential-report, or established-science label identifies context; it is not a score of spiritual or personal importance.
3. **Read claims layer by layer.** Begin with the literal-and-empirical layer, then the cultural-and-historical layer, and only then the symbolic-and-divinatory layer. An evidence state applies to one bounded claim, not to the Tile as a whole.
4. **Open the sources.** A concept-specific citation can support a history or bounded claim. A class-level contextual citation only locates the Tile in a wider field. Neither one certifies every interpretation.
5. **Follow typed edges.** Compare the exact verb and rationale. “Fictionalizes,” “opposes,” “echoes,” and “investigated-by” are not interchangeable. A resemblance edge is not proof of historical influence.
6. **Integrate through action.** Use Gift, Shadow, Threshold, and the integration practice to identify one grounded choice that remains useful even if a favored ontology is wrong.

## Worked Comparison

1. **Grey** is a Beings & Roles Tile centered on Intelligence & Otherness. Its literal layer is **unverified**; its symbolic question is: “What feels observed but not understood?”
2. **Tall Grey** is a Beings & Roles Tile centered on Intelligence & Otherness. Its literal layer is **unverified**; its symbolic question is: “What changes when look for learning, intention, reciprocal response, refusal, and alternatives to human resemblance, rather than assuming the preferred interpretation? Answer by testing how the tall motif meeting clinical otherness introduces intention, perspective, and the possibility of reciprocal encounter against agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own.”
3. **Nordic** is a Beings & Roles Tile centered on Memory & Identity. Its literal layer is **experiential-only**; its symbolic question is: “What remains useful in Nordic if its strongest literal claim proves false? Answer by testing how the nordic motif placed within memory & identity introduces intention, perspective, and the possibility of reciprocal encounter against continuity, forgetting, archives, testimony, and the stories that hold a self together.”

Compare these examples by asking what changes when the class, evidence state, or edge verb changes. Do not treat the most vivid Tile as the most factual. When a reading crosses into health, identity, conspiracy, or current politics, show the card’s safety flags and preserve an alternate explanation.

## System Links

- [How to Use](HOW-TO-USE.md) for reference, reading, and game workflows.
- [Graph](GRAPH.md) for edge semantics and provenance.
- [Divination](DIVINATION.md) for reflective reading rules.
- [Glossary](GLOSSARY.md) for Classes, Domains, Modes, and Evidence States.
- [Source Registry](../research/SOURCE-REGISTRY.md) for source tiers, scope, and rights.

## Canonical Tiles

- [Grey](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-grey.md) — The small, large-eyed visitor of modern abduction and contact lore.
- [Tall Grey](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-tall-grey.md) — The Oracle places Tall Grey where the tall motif meeting clinical otherness affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Nordic](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-nordic.md) — Read Nordic as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role shaped by the nordic motif placed within memory & identity. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what compare recollection with records, other witnesses, missing intervals, and the cost of revision.
- [Reptilian](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-reptilian.md) — Reptilian is a way of encountering the reptilian motif placed within intelligence & otherness. Its Oracle use joins an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role to the question of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own.
- [Mantis](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-mantis.md) — Mantis is a way of encountering the mantis motif placed within intelligence & otherness. Its Oracle use joins an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role to the question of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own.
- [Insectoid](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-insectoid.md) — Insectoid names a threshold where the insectoid motif placed within intelligence & otherness changes what participants can notice or do. The card keeps lived and reported experience distinct from symbolic use.
- [Pleiadian](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-pleiadian.md) — Within the Oracle, Pleiadian holds together the pleiadian motif placed within intelligence & otherness and agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Sirian](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-sirian.md) — Sirian is a way of encountering the sirian motif placed within contact & communication. Its Oracle use joins an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role to the question of signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding.
- [Arcturian](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-arcturian.md) — Arcturian offers an instrument for reading the arcturian motif placed within memory & identity. It becomes useful when interpretation remains answerable to compare recollection with records, other witnesses, missing intervals, and the cost of revision.
- [Andromedan](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-andromedan.md) — Within the Oracle, Andromedan holds together the andromedan motif placed within intelligence & otherness and agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Avian](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-avian.md) — Avian names a threshold where the avian motif placed within contact & communication changes what participants can notice or do. The card keeps lived and reported experience distinct from symbolic use.
- [Tall White](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-tall-white.md) — Within the Oracle, Tall White holds together the tall motif meeting the white motif and continuity, forgetting, archives, testimony, and the stories that hold a self together. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Anunnaki](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-anunnaki.md) — The Oracle places Anunnaki where Mesopotamian deities later remixed in ancient-astronaut lore placed within intelligence & otherness affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Watcher](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-watcher.md) — The working core of Watcher is the watcher motif placed within contact & communication: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. motif comparison must not erase provenance or living authority.
- [Hybrid](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-hybrid.md) — Hybrid brings the hybrid motif placed within memory & identity into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how continuity, forgetting, archives, testimony, and the stories that hold a self together alter practical choice.
- [Synthetic Being](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-synthetic-being.md) — Synthetic Being brings agency constructed rather than born meeting the being motif into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own alter practical choice.
- [Ultraterrestrial](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-ultraterrestrial.md) — Seen closely, Ultraterrestrial is about the ultraterrestrial motif placed within contact & communication under conditions of signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Interdimensional Being](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-interdimensional-being.md) — adjacency beyond ordinary distance meeting the being motif gives Interdimensional Being its distinctive charge. Read it through world-models, observer limits, and the boundary between appearance and claim, with phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations kept visible.
- [Future Human](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-future-human.md) — Future Human brings possibility organized as aspiration meeting the human motif into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how sequence, recurrence, prediction, counterfactuals, and the difference between order and cause alter practical choice.
- [Post-Biological Intelligence](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-post-biological-intelligence.md) — The Oracle places Post-Biological Intelligence where the post motif, the biological motif, and capacity to model and choose acting together affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Starseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-starseed.md) — A modern spiritual identity that interprets earthly difference through an origin among the stars.
- [Earthseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-earthseed.md) — Earthseed frames the earthseed motif placed within origin & lineage as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations.
- [Archon](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-archon.md) — Archon brings the archon motif placed within contact & communication into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding alter practical choice.
- [Vegan Starseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-vegan-starseed.md) — Seen closely, Vegan Starseed is about the vegan motif meeting cosmic belonging and mission under conditions of inheritance, transmission, rupture, and the authority claimed by beginnings. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Orion Starseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-orion-starseed.md) — Orion Starseed concentrates the orion motif meeting cosmic belonging and mission into an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role. Its value lies in examining inheritance, transmission, rupture, and the authority claimed by beginnings without exceeding the evidence layer.
- [Mintakan](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-mintakan.md) — Mintakan frames the mintakan motif placed within contact & communication as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations.
- [Lemurian Starseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-lemurian-starseed.md) — Lemurian Starseed concentrates the lemurian motif meeting cosmic belonging and mission into an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role. Its value lies in examining inheritance, transmission, rupture, and the authority claimed by beginnings without exceeding the evidence layer.
- [Atlantean Starseed](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-atlantean-starseed.md) — Atlantean Starseed brings the atlantean motif meeting cosmic belonging and mission into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how inheritance, transmission, rupture, and the authority claimed by beginnings alter practical choice.
- [Cyborg](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-cyborg.md) — What makes Cyborg consequential is the meeting of the cyborg motif placed within intelligence & otherness with agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. The card preserves that meeting without universalizing it.
- [Android](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-android.md) — The working core of Android is the android motif placed within intelligence & otherness: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. respect for testimony does not require certifying one external cause.
- [Replicant](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-replicant.md) — The working core of Replicant is the replicant motif placed within intelligence & otherness: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. narrative truth does not establish literal availability.
- [Robot](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-robot.md) — Robot frames the robot motif placed within intelligence & otherness as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations.
- [Artificial General Intelligence](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-artificial-general-intelligence.md) — Artificial General Intelligence is a way of encountering the artificial motif, the general motif, and capacity to model and choose acting together. Its Oracle use joins an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role to the question of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own.
- [Superintelligence](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-superintelligence.md) — Read Superintelligence as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role shaped by the superintelligence motif placed within intelligence & otherness. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what look for learning, intention, reciprocal response, refusal, and alternatives to human resemblance.
- [Rogue AI](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-rogue-ai.md) — Within the Oracle, Rogue AI holds together the rogue motif meeting the ai motif and signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Hive Mind](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-hive-mind.md) — Hive Mind brings the hive motif meeting attention, interpretation, and subjective continuity into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how attention, perception, interior experience, and the models used to explain awareness alter practical choice.
- [Borg](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-borg.md) — Borg offers an instrument for reading collective capability joined to compulsory assimilation placed within intelligence & otherness. It becomes useful when interpretation remains answerable to look for learning, intention, reciprocal response, refusal, and alternatives to human resemblance.
- [Machine Elf](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-machine-elf.md) — repeatable operation embodied in mechanism meeting the elf motif gives Machine Elf its distinctive charge. Read it through signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding, with phenomenology, context, care, and multiple possible explanations kept visible.
- [DMT Entity](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-dmt-entity.md) — The working core of DMT Entity is the dmt motif meeting the entity motif: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. respect for testimony does not require certifying one external cause.
- [Walk-In](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-walk-in.md) — At the center of Walk-In is the walk motif placed within intelligence & otherness. The card treats that tension as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role, bounded by respect for testimony does not require certifying one external cause.
- [Clone](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-clone.md) — The working core of Clone is the clone motif placed within memory & identity: a pattern that can reorganize attention, relation, and action. respect for testimony does not require certifying one external cause.
- [Synthetic Person](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-synthetic-person.md) — Seen closely, Synthetic Person is about agency constructed rather than born meeting the person motif under conditions of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Witness](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-witness.md) — Witness gathers a field around presence that preserves an account placed within intelligence & otherness. Its deeper subject is misrecognition can erase a subject or invent an agent where none has been shown.
- [Experiencer](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-experiencer.md) — Seen closely, Experiencer is about the experiencer motif placed within contact & communication under conditions of signal, translation, reciprocity, consent, and the repair of misunderstanding. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Whistleblower](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-whistleblower.md) — Whistleblower brings the whistleblower motif placed within memory & identity into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how continuity, forgetting, archives, testimony, and the stories that hold a self together alter practical choice.
- [Leaker](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-leaker.md) — Leaker is a way of encountering the leaker motif placed within intelligence & otherness. Its Oracle use joins an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role to the question of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own.
- [Gatekeeper](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-gatekeeper.md) — Read Gatekeeper as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role shaped by the gatekeeper motif placed within contact & communication. The useful inquiry is not belief alone, but what separate transmission from interpretation and require a return signal that could expose error.
- [Initiate](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-initiate.md) — Initiate brings the initiate motif placed within memory & identity into focus. It operates as an agent, intelligence, identity, or recurring role and asks how continuity, forgetting, archives, testimony, and the stories that hold a self together alter practical choice.
- [Debunker](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-debunker.md) — Seen closely, Debunker is about the debunker motif placed within intelligence & otherness under conditions of agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. That frame makes its gift, shadow, and limits readable together.
- [Trickster](../cards/beings/sfoc-beings-trickster.md) — The intelligence that destabilizes categories, certainty, and the boundary between revelation and play.
- [Synthetic Biology](../cards/technologies/sfoc-technologies-synthetic-biology.md) — The Oracle places Synthetic Biology where agency constructed rather than born meeting the biology motif affects agency. It is neither mere decoration nor automatic proof, but a repeatable capability for sensing, transforming, connecting, or constructing with a declared evidence boundary.
- [Grey Goo](../cards/technologies/sfoc-technologies-grey-goo.md) — Within the Oracle, Grey Goo holds together clinical otherness meeting the goo motif and agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. That combination creates both an interpretive tool and a responsibility.
- [Alien Artifact](../cards/artifacts/sfoc-artifacts-alien-artifact.md) — Alien Artifact brings radical otherness meeting material evidence outlasting its maker into focus. It operates as an object-like carrier of evidence, memory, power, or exchange and asks how agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own alter practical choice.
- [Mothership](../cards/artifacts/sfoc-artifacts-mothership.md) — What makes Mothership consequential is the meeting of the mothership motif placed within intelligence & otherness with agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own. The card preserves that meeting without universalizing it.
- [Borg Collective](../cards/factions/sfoc-factions-borg-collective.md) — Borg Collective brings collective capability joined to compulsory assimilation meeting agency distributed across many members into focus. It operates as a coordinated collective actor with durable membership and aims and asks how agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own alter practical choice.
- [Alien Invasion](../cards/events/sfoc-events-alien-invasion.md) — Alien Invasion brings radical otherness meeting the invasion motif into focus. It operates as a threshold that produces a meaningful before and after and asks how agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own alter practical choice.
- [Cyborg Embodiment](../cards/states/sfoc-states-cyborg-embodiment.md) — Cyborg Embodiment brings the cyborg motif meeting the embodiment motif into focus. It operates as a condition of mind, body, identity, or society that can be inhabited and asks how agency, difference, recognition, and the ethics of meeting a mind unlike one’s own alter practical choice.
- [Alienation](../cards/states/sfoc-states-alienation.md) — Alienation names a threshold where the alienation motif placed within intelligence & otherness changes what participants can notice or do. The card keeps lived and reported experience distinct from symbolic use.
- [Alien Harvest](../cards/myths/sfoc-myths-alien-harvest.md) — Alien Harvest gathers a field around radical otherness meeting collection at a threshold. Its deeper subject is misrecognition can erase a subject or invent an agent where none has been shown.
- [False Alien Invasion](../cards/myths/sfoc-myths-false-alien-invasion.md) — At the center of False Alien Invasion is the false motif, radical otherness, and the invasion motif acting together. The card treats that tension as a durable story-pattern through which communities organize possibility and fear, bounded by motif comparison must not erase provenance or living authority.
- [Dark Forest Hypothesis](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-dark-forest-hypothesis.md) — Dark Forest Hypothesis frames the unseen or unmeasured meeting the forest motif as a decision environment rather than a finished answer. Its evidence discipline is assumptions, feasibility constraints, and discriminating tests.
- [Morphic Resonance](../cards/hypotheses/sfoc-hypotheses-morphic-resonance.md) — A contested proposal that natural systems inherit tendencies from similar prior systems.
