Funny you should mention it, the next draft has a more chaotic/ variable doubt mechanic for each prompt to add uncertainty and speed up the game. You lost me a bit in your opening jargon but I agree the next step for the core system is to build in a bit more narrative flexibility.
Viewing post in The (Un)Naturalist: A Solo Journaling Expedition comments
Oh, in the beginning I was thinking about the Voynich manuscript, which is an artifact that's a book with weird text and weirder scientific (?) drawings. It is a real thing in a museum somewhere, and it might be an Unnaturalist kind of journal done back in the Middle Ages. Worth a Google if you like.