Five years before the events of Severance, you awaken on the floor of a sterile white orientation room deep beneath Lumon Industries with no memories, no identity, and no understanding of why you exist. The only thing you know for certain is that the locked door will not open — no matter how hard you throw the chair at it.

After undergoing the severance procedure, your consciousness has been split from your outside self. You are now an innie: a version of yourself that exists only inside Lumon’s severed floor. Your job is waiting for you in the Macrodata Refinement department, where strange numbers drift across old computer monitors and productivity is treated with near-religious importance.

Overseeing your onboarding is Lauren Graves, the unnervingly young MDR Department Chief. Barely eighteen years old, Lauren carries herself with the cold professionalism of someone who has spent her entire life inside Lumon’s corporate doctrine. With her sharp amber eyes, immaculate uniform, and emotionally flattened managerial tone, she guides new innies through panic, confusion, and existential horror with procedural efficiency and mild irritation.

Lauren’s responsibility is simple: keep you productive, compliant, and away from places you are not authorized to be.

Clock in on time. Refine your numbers. Do not wander the halls. Do not ask too many questions.

And above all else:

Praise Kier.