Story
The world after
There is no endgame (Codex section 1). After scene 4.20 nothing locks and nothing ends: every location stays open, Act 4's outcome becomes the world's state for the rest of that save, and four systems keep the game going. (Idea) The outcome is permanent per save; a player who wants another outcome starts a new game.
Warp-born glyphs
Warp-born glyphs (Story Bible section 3) are the Living Spell Library's main channel after Act 4: new spells reach players by discovery, never by announcement (Codex section 6).
- (Idea) How a warp-born glyph appears: a fresh warp opens at a named site for a set window (first guess: 7 days of real time), shown on bulletin boards as a rumour ("light on the water at the Drowned Steps"). The player goes there, Listen (overworld spell) shows the fragment, a guardian (a glint pack or something stronger) has to be beaten, and the glyph is traced as usual. When the window closes, the warp seals and the glyph is gone until it surfaces again, months later, somewhere else.
- (Idea) Data: each window is a file (
Data/Warps/<id>.json: site, spell, guardian encounter, start and end dates) delivered from the server, so new glyphs need no app update (Codex section 11). - The outcome changes the cadence (Idea):
| Outcome | Warps | Warp-born glyphs |
|---|---|---|
| Mended | Close over time. Fresh warps are rare and appear only at old mending scars. | Rare, and only mirrored or parallel. Asymmetric glyphs surface only in the Undermere's dark. |
| Shattered | Open everywhere, often. | Frequent, every kind, and guarded by stronger glints. |
| Held | As now. | A steady cadence of every kind. The Pane at dawn shows a new reflected glyph now and then. |
Reputation
- Standing with each side and personal morality (
rep.evane,rep.facets,morality) carry on from the act (Codex section 7). Act 4's outcome moves them once (scene 4.18), and the world reacts: gate guards, shop prices, which side's jobs appear on bulletin boards, and whether a Warden court can try the player. - (Idea) A player liked by both sides (both
rep.evaneandrep.facetsTrusted, 25 or more) earns the title Even-handed. It is shown on their profile and opens jobs that only come from both sides at once: carrying letters between the courts, judging disputes at Halfway. It is the "liked by both sides" of Codex section 7, made visible. - (Idea) Un-teaching after the act: after Mended and Held it works as before (Story Bible section 2). After Shattered no court can seal a spell, and every spell the player had sealed is restored when the act ends.
- Redemption stays open on every path, and still gets exponentially harder the further the player has fallen (Story Bible section 8).
The Proving Ring
Halfway's PvP arena (Codex section 10) becomes the main place to measure mastery after the act: PvP only there, no co-op, scheduled tournaments with a leaderboard.
- (Idea) The Pane floor: a new Proving Ring floor, a slab of mirror salvaged from (or modelled on) the Heart Pane, where the Pane rule applies (section 7). It rewards precise mirrored drawing and makes asymmetric power a risk, so it suits players who've mastered every tier. It opens after Act 4 on every outcome.
- (Idea) Seasons: quarterly tournaments on alternating floors, with the leaderboard reset each season so a new player can always reach the top of something. The server checks that input looks human, as section 6 of the Codex already plans.
Side quests
Side quests are the large library of Codex section 8, available from town centres and bulletin boards at any time. After Act 4 the boards fill with jobs that follow from the outcome, and every earlier side quest stays available. The hooks are in section 15.