I... Don't see why this boils down to two questions, when one of those questions is completely irrelevant to the point we're all getting at, and the other is like a Congressional bill; a clear original intent that's been packaged with unrelated ride-alongs.
Frankly, I think you're trying to impose too much structure on this, @Lugubrious. There's no need to force everyone to be on the same page, or dealing with everything the same way. Ultimately, this stems from something Crimmy was trying to get at; RPGs don't have screen time, or audience attention to have to shift around. Everyone is an audience to what's relevant to their own character's view, and whatever past that they want to read.
There's no reason to boil everything down to strict ultimatums. Speaking as someone who runs a game much, much, much larger than this, you're looking at this all backasswards.
Frankly, I think you're trying to impose too much structure on this, @Lugubrious. There's no need to force everyone to be on the same page, or dealing with everything the same way. Ultimately, this stems from something Crimmy was trying to get at; RPGs don't have screen time, or audience attention to have to shift around. Everyone is an audience to what's relevant to their own character's view, and whatever past that they want to read.
There's no reason to boil everything down to strict ultimatums. Speaking as someone who runs a game much, much, much larger than this, you're looking at this all backasswards.