Focus: The visceral costs of the system and the awakening of the key.
The Hook: Young Janus survives a violent raid on an Outlander camp where his parents are "lost." He is taken in by his grandfather, Aether.
CHANGE — this is currently not fully revealed until episode 4. His parents role can still be revealed later.
Inciting Incident (Craig Note - Aether’s Stakes): Years later, Aether is violently injured by Atlas drones while trying to keep Janus "offline." To save Aether’s life, Janus must bring him to Atlas City against his wishes. The cost of refusal is grandpa’s death. Grandpa warns Janus: "They don’t want you to be a citizen; they want you to be a node."
The Twist: During processing, STEM tech specialist Zara notices Janus’s brain scan shows impossible neural density—he interacts with the nanotech differently. Aether begs her to suppress the data. She marks Janus as "Clear".
The Turn: They move into the city and are separated. Aether, physically recovering but mentally tortured by the past. Aether has smuggled Yorik (a robot) in.
Janus meets peers, settles in, and readies for orientation.
The Setup: Janus begins orientation. He meets Quincy and Portun. He is introduced to the Omniverse—not just AR, but a curated reality.
The Visceral Stake (Craig Note - Show the Horror): During a history simulation of a nuclear test (Trinity), Erek and Hera freeze time to lecture the class. They show Janus a simulation of a future without Omni, humanity burns (Outlanders win sim). It is a graphic, terrifying sensory overload of war and suffering.
The Conflict: Janus clashes with his rival, Raz. The race is rigged by the system, but Janus instinctively "pushes" back against the code, causing a glitch that crashes them into the CIS (Citizen Identity Storage) building.
The Climax: Inside the crashed server room, Janus sees a team of Outlanders (DoAnna’s team) planting a virus. Only he can see them.
The Fall: When RAM arrives, the Outlanders are invisible to the system. Erek gaslights Janus, claiming he hallucinated. Janus realizes the system determines truth, regardless of what his eyes see.
The Setup: Janus is ostracized as "crazy." Raz, digging for dirt, finds Janus’s parents’ file: MISSING / TERRORIST AFFILIATION.
The Midpoint: During a mandatory "Empathy Link" combat session, Raz exposes Janus’s secret to the class. The neural load of the combat sim + the emotional trauma triggers a massive seizure in Janus.
The Reveal (Uniqueness): While seizing, Janus doesn't just pass out—he projects his trauma into the local network, knocking the other students offline. Nox watches from his tower. He confirms: Janus isn't just divergent; he is the Architect’s Heir. His mind can rewrite the simulation.
The Consequence: Janus wakes up in the hospital. He is alone. His friends fear him. He runs away and is picked up by Serena, who manipulates him by offering answers at the Vortex Church (a data-mining confession booth).