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PROTOCOL 09 // EXPLORATION

The arena now holds paths, zones, not only hordes.

POIs, continuous RPG zones, run-temporary items, permanent discoveries, field weapon finds, identity events, and narrated story beats turn all 12 arenas into an exploration campaign around the Zero Rupture.

EXPLORE // STORY-V1 // RPG-ZONES

Points of interest

12 ARENAS

Exploration spreads points of interest across the arenas, with challenges, rewards and discoveries that change the path of each run.

63 canonical POIs

StagePoiCatalog publishes 63 append-only points of interest: 59 entries tied to permanent discoveries/unlocks, including Expedition Compass #62, plus four repeatable run-only expeditions #58–#61.

Permanent discovery

ExplorationUnlockCatalog maps 59 permanent discoveries/unlocks. Completing a POI can unlock upgrades, special weapons, relics, cards, characters, character weapons, runes, evolutions, curses, modifiers, and Expedition mode.

Early waypoints for run-only content

POIs that exist only for the current run appear on compass/map surfaces from run start even without reveal. POIs that unlock permanent content still obey KNOWN/MYSTERY/PROXIMITY/SECRET so secrets and metaprogression are not spoiled.

Five baseline nodes with immediate reveal

Five permanent-tree POIs use IMMEDIATE_REVEAL_RADIUS to teach the baseline path from run start without turning every permanent secret into an early waypoint.

The challenge is part of discovery

A POI may require guardians, zone kills, a miniboss, carrying a weapon to the boss, a sequence, an ambush, or the new wave-defense/ritual-guardian challenges.

Distant objectives stay representable

Compass and tactical-map surfaces keep eligible waypoints visible outside the local view, including distance labels and physical-object anchoring when applicable.

Co-op keeps one authority

On current main, the Host remains authoritative for shared POI/field-pickup state; clients present authoritative snapshots instead of advancing a competing local exploration simulation.

Repeatable expeditions.

RUN-ONLY · POIs #58–#61

These encounters do not increase the permanent-discovery catalog. They return in new runs and keep personal per-player rewards in co-op.

POI	Stage	Encounter	Reward
#58	Forest	Watchers' Glade	HEALING
#59	Cemetery	Lantern Vigil	ESSENCE ×2
#60	Swamp	Blackwater Ritual	RUNE_CHOICE
#61	Cathedral	Broken Bell Siege	ESSENCE ×4

✓The four #58–#61 encounters repeat across runs and do not add ExplorationUnlockCatalog entries; with Compass #62, current main has 63 POIs and 59 permanent discoveries/unlocks.

✓DEFEND_WAVES/RITUAL_GUARDIAN only advance time while continuous checks keep the player inside the area; leaving pauses progress.

✓Each defense requests three assaults of 6, 8, and 10 enemies. RITUAL_GUARDIAN only completes after the timer and the dedicated guardian dies; killing another boss is insufficient.

✓Claims are personal per player in co-op. The shared physical POI should only disappear when no eligible profile still needs it.

✓Current source has a copy/runtime divergence: Lantern Vigil says 30 s but challengeGoal=900; Broken Bell Siege says 45 s but challengeGoal=2000. The wiki preserves executed values and flags the inconsistency.

ROUTE

Procedural Expedition.

6 COLUMNS · 18 NODES + BOSS

Expedition creates a complete seeded route, taking the run through different encounters before the final boss.

Seeded procedural route

Expedition generates a deterministic route with 6 columns of 3 nodes. After the 18 route nodes, a 19th node closes the journey with a boss.

Eight encounter types

The route combines Combat, Elite, Merchant, Sanctuary, Event, POI, Treasure, and Boss. The generator covers the route pool before filling remaining nodes.

The Compass unlocks the mode

POI #62, the Expedition Compass, is found in the Forgotten Dungeon. Carrying it through the Dungeon Lord victory permanently unlocks Expedition mode.

The arena remains canonical

Expedition chooses route transitions and encounter setup while reusing the existing arena, merchant, treasure, POI, elite, and boss systems instead of creating parallel runtimes.

Ascension, checkpoints, and co-op

The route accepts Ascension A0 through A14. Pressure modifiers stack cumulatively and also multiply node rewards; Elite complexity rises at its own A3–A14 thresholds. Between nodes, checkpoints preserve relative health, RPG inventory, loadout/fusions, level/XP, level-up resources, runes, curses, Transcendence/Echoes, and durable Merchant/Treasure effects. In co-op, the Host is authoritative and publishes route/build snapshots for reconnect.

UNLOCK. Find the Expedition Compass in the Forgotten Dungeon and defeat the Dungeon Lord while carrying it.

NODES

Each type has its own opening and completion contract.

8 TYPES · CURRENT RULES

Expedition injects an opening and objective target into the canonical arena; it does not create parallel merchant, chest, POI, Elite, or boss systems.

Node	Opening	Completion condition	Stage rule
Combat	Uses the stage's standard encounter with no Expedition-specific target.	Completes through the stage's normal canonical objective.	Any arena selected by the seed.
Elite	Spawns a reinforced canonical Elite 340 units from the player and stores its spawnId as the node target.	Completes when that exact Elite is no longer active.	Any arena selected by the seed.
Merchant	Forces a merchant 220 units from the starting point.	Requires visiting the merchant, remaining in PLAYING, and also completing the stage's canonical objective.	The generator selects only stages with merchant=true.
Sanctuary	Spawns a SANCTUARY chest 760 units from the player.	Requires resolving the chest and completing the stage's canonical objective.	Any arena selected by the seed.
Event	Spawns a special runic offer 760 units away; its pool is Runic, Sanctuary, Arsenal, or Experience.	Completes when the offer is fully resolved; if Runic creates a pending selection, that second step must also finish.	Any arena selected by the seed.
POI	Immediately reveals a repeatable Expedition POI challenge already present in the arena.	Completes when that exact POI is marked complete.	The generator selects only stages that contain a repeatable Expedition POI.
Treasure	Spawns a normal collect-all, non-special chest 760 units away with ARSENAL as the preferred reward.	Requires collecting/resolving the full bundle and completing the stage's canonical objective.	Any arena selected by the seed.
Boss	Spawns the stage boss at the starting point and forces advancedEncounter=true, including Expedition A0.	Completes when that exact boss is no longer active.	The final node selects a deterministic stage from the Expedition seed.

CHECKPOINT

Durable effects replay between nodes.

ORDER PRESERVED · SCALAR EFFECTS

Source	Effect	Persists?	Contract
Merchant Speed	moveSpeed ×1.12	YES	The Speed purchase costs 90 coins and multiplies movement speed by 1.12x. The effect is encoded in the Expedition checkpoint and replayed on the next node.
Merchant Damage	playerDamage ×1.18	YES	The Damage purchase costs 300 coins and multiplies player damage by 1.18x. The effect is encoded in the Expedition checkpoint and replayed on the next node.
Merchant Heal	heal 50% max HP	NO	The Heal purchase costs 50 coins and immediately heals 50% max HP. It is not encoded as a persistent effect event; only the resulting relative health carries through the lightweight checkpoint.
Sanctuary Vitality	maxHealth +30; health +30	YES	The Sanctuary vitality reward adds +30 max health and +30 current health. The effect event is replayed between nodes.
Arsenal Damage Fallback	playerDamage ×1.10	YES	When an Arsenal Chest can neither upgrade a weapon nor add an orbital, its fallback multiplies damage by 1.10x and that effect persists through Expedition.

HEAL IS DIFFERENT. Merchant Heal is not re-executed on the next node. What carries is the resulting relative health in the lightweight checkpoint; Speed, Damage, Sanctuary Vitality, and Arsenal Damage fallback are encoded in the ordered effect sequence.

A0–A14

Ascension stacks pressure and rewards.

RUN MODIFIERS · CUMULATIVE

Every active threshold multiplies the previous ones: enemy health, damage, speed, horde density, and Expedition rewards rise together with the selected Ascension.

Ascension	Modifier	Health	Damage	Speed	Spawn	Reward
A1	Hostile Vigor	1.10×	1.00×	1.00×	1.00×	1.05×
A2	Hostile Fury	1.00×	1.10×	1.00×	1.00×	1.05×
A3	Swift Hunt	1.00×	1.00×	1.07×	1.00×	1.08×
A5	Growing Dread	1.12×	1.08×	1.04×	1.00×	1.12×
A7	Dark Resilience	1.10×	1.00×	1.00×	1.00×	1.08×
A9	Horde Wrath	1.00×	1.07×	1.00×	1.04×	1.08×
A11	Relentless Pursuit	1.00×	1.00×	1.04×	1.04×	1.08×
A13	Ascending Onslaught	1.10×	1.08×	1.03×	1.08×	1.10×
A14	Apex	1.08×	1.05×	1.00×	1.05×	1.12×

PRESSURE

Carried build and idle play also drive difficulty.

EXPEDITION DIFFICULTY · DYNAMIC

Expedition adds pressure on top of the normal arena snapshot when the carried build is above the expected level or the player stays stationary. Both signals add their multiplicative reinforcement before global caps.

Build above curve

Pressure grows with level delta and reaches full strength at +18 levels above expected: spawn 1.30×, group 1.20×, HP 1.40×, and damage 1.20× over the normal snapshot.

Standing still

There is a 5 s grace period; pressure then ramps for 7 s and is full at 12 s. At maximum: spawn 1.40×, group 1.30×, HP 1.25×, damage 1.35×.

Combined signals

Before global caps, full carried-build + full stationary pressure can apply 1.70× spawn, 1.50× group, 1.65× HP, and 1.55× damage.

CAPSTONE

The final boss reads the restored real build.

CHECKPOINT → ONE-TIME REINFORCEMENT

After the inter-node checkpoint is restored, the Expedition final boss receives a one-time reinforcement based on the actual carried build. Health reads weapon levels, passives, evolutions, level, and modifier sequence; damage uses the same signals at smaller weights. Explicit Elite/Boss damage also increases capstone health, capped at 1.75x, to preserve encounter duration without erasing the player's reward.

Health

Base scale ranges from 2.0× to 9.8×; after anti-boss compensation the final cap is 12.0× and 10,000,000 HP.

Damage

Final range 1.15×–1.90×.

COINS

Node rewards scale by column and Ascension.

BASE + COLUMN · × ASCENSION

Type	Base formula	At A14
Combat	24 + column×8	×2.070
Elite	48 + column×12	×2.070
Merchant	no direct coin reward	—
Sanctuary	no direct coin reward	—
Event	no direct coin reward	—
POI	32 + column×9	×2.070
Treasure	60 + column×15	×2.070
Boss	120 + column×30	×2.070

The node column acts as the formula's act index. A14 uses a 2.070× reward multiplier from all nine active reward bonuses; the final coin value is rounded to the nearest integer.

ELITE

Affix complexity rises at fixed thresholds.

BUDGET · SEEDED DETERMINISM

From	Band	Budget	Affixes	Bonus chance
A0	Normal Elites	0	0–0	—
A3	1 simple affix	2	1–1	—
A6	1 full affix	3	1–1	—
A9	1–2 affixes	4	1–2	45%
A12	2 affixes	5	2–2	—
A14	2–3 affixes	7	2–3	45%

Affix	Budget	Effect
Vampiric	2	×1.08 health, ×1.05 damage; heals 30% of effective contact damage.
Explosive	2	×1.12 damage; on death creates a radius-154 fire zone with 0.85 s warning, 0.30 s duration, and 28 base damage.
Frenzied	1	×1.10 damage and ×1.18 speed.
Armored	2	×1.35 health and ×0.88 speed.
Summoner	3	×1.10 health, ×1.03 damage; after 2.5 s it summons 2 reinforcements every 5.5 s.
Tempestuous	3	×1.06 health, ×1.10 damage, ×1.04 speed; every 5.25 s it marks a target within 520 units and creates a radius-72 storm zone after 1 s.

CURVE READING. A0–A2 use no universal affixes; A3 introduces 1 simple affix; A6 unlocks expensive active affixes; A9 can roll a second (45%); A12 guarantees 2; A14 starts at 2 and has a 45% chance to reach 3 within budget 7.

MAP

How a POI works.

WAYPOINT → REACH → CHALLENGE → REWARD

Contract	Current values
Types	WEAPON_PEDESTAL · RUNE_MONOLITH · LOST_RELIC · CURSED_ALTAR · SANCTUARY · ESSENCE_VEIN · LOST_TOME · CORRUPTED_PORTAL · SEALED_WEAPON
Reveal	KNOWN · MYSTERY · PROXIMITY · SECRET
Challenges	NONE · KILL_GUARDIANS · KILL_IN_ZONE · DEFEAT_MINIBOSS · CARRY_TO_BOSS · ACTIVATE_SEQUENCE · SURVIVE_AMBUSH · DEFEND_WAVES · RITUAL_GUARDIAN
Rewards	RUN_WEAPON · RUNE_CHOICE · PERMANENT_DISCOVERY · RUN_BUFF · HEALING · ESSENCE · LORE · SPECIAL_WEAPON_TRIAL

WAYPOINTS. Run-only content can guide from run start even without reveal. Permanent-unlock POIs still respect discovery rules; 5 baseline nodes are the onboarding exception.

S1–S5

Permanent-tree onboarding.

PROXIMITY · RADIUS 100000

These five POIs are permanent content but explicitly revealed at run start. They do not depend on the run-only waypoint rule.

Stage	POI	Location	Permanent upgrade
S1	#51	Twin Mirror	Arsenal
S2	#48	Wind Passage	Swiftness
S3	#49	Arcane Observatory	Arcane Amplitude
S4	#50	Rift Carapace	Armor
S5	#52	Sage Archive	Magnetism

✓These five POIs are permanent content, not run-only, so they do not depend on the temporary-waypoint bypass.

✓ArenaPoiSystem explicitly reveals them during run reset to teach the permanent tree across stages 1–5.

✓All five use RevealMode.PROXIMITY with IMMEDIATE_REVEAL_RADIUS = 100,000, reinforcing immediate onboarding.

✓The route keeps four standard slots and reserves an independent fifth slot for the opening permanent POI, so it does not displace an existing narrative discovery.

✓The teaching order is Stage 1 Arsenal → Stage 2 Swiftness → Stage 3 Arcane Amplitude → Stage 4 Armor → Stage 5 Magnetism.

Weapons found in the field.

RUN-ONLY · NOT A POI

13 physical finds

FieldPickupCatalog distributes 13 weapons across specific stages. Some arenas intentionally have no free weapon find, and each run keeps at most 2 active field pickups.

Waypoint from run start

Weapon finds are stage exploration objectives: COMPASS_REVEAL_RANGE is infinite, so the icon stays available from run start regardless of distance.

Handoff to the visible weapon

Once a field pickup enters the local camera view, its waypoint leaves the screen edge and follows the item itself just above it. The peripheral marker remains only while the weapon is outside local view.

Intentionally farther away

With the waypoint persistent for the run, weapon finds now occupy routes of roughly 3,200 to 10,800 units depending on stage and weapon.

Short interaction range

Collection happens at 74 units. A find may equip the weapon, raise its level, apply a temporary overload, or open a replacement decision when the build is full.

Overload

Overload lasts 60 s and uses a 1.20× damage multiplier for the affected weapon; it is run-only and does not change permanent unlock state.

Recycle when the build is full

The decision can replace an existing weapon or recycle the find for XP + 10% healing. Field pickups remain outside the Archive and permanent tree.

WAYPOINT FROM RUN START. Compass range is unlimited. Weapons can sit roughly 3200 to 10800 units away without losing navigation guidance.

Continuous RPG zones.

POI-ANCHORED · NO LOADING

A zone gives spatial identity to the area around a POI; challenge, interaction, and reward still belong to the POI. Completing the objective does not remove the scenery.

Zone	Identity
Forgotten Ruins	ruins, columns, stonework, and old arsenal
Corrupted Grove	dead trees, roots, mist, and corruption
Runic Circle	runic stones, inscriptions, and an arcane circle
Arcane Sanctuary	ritual architecture and controlled energy
Guardian Arena	combat space for guardians/minibosses
Abandoned Camp	survivors, supplies, and records
Essence Grove	crystalline growth and condensed energy
Portal Scar	dimensional rupture and unstable matter

Continuous zones, intact POIs

ArenaZoneSystem anchors each important zone to an active POI. The objective still owns challenge/interaction/reward; the zone provides spatial identity and remains in the scenery after completion.

Runic Resonance

In eligible Runic Circles, 3 inscriptions can be activated by proximity in any order. Progress survives leaving/re-entering and does not compete with POIs that already use ACTIVATE_SEQUENCE.

Run-only inventory, persistent lifetime collection

There are 20 items: 8 materials (stack 99), 4 consumables (stack 9), 6 unique RPG relics, and 2 unique quest items. Inventory quantities reset between runs; separately, every acquisition increments a per-item lifetime counter in SaveProgress used by progression such as Rivet's unlock.

Mobile radial quick-use

On Android/mobile, a short release on the single button uses the selected consumable. Holding for 320 ms opens the wheel; drag and release over Health, Vigor, Ward, or XP changes the slot without consuming. Center/outside cancels the change; a new run resets to Health and pause/map/screen/layout changes cancel the gesture.

Responsive UI authority

Exact Revive, Shop, RankHistory, Treasure, Essence Shop, and notification contracts are centralized in data/current-release-v4.ts through currentMobileUiContracts and currentReleaseLayoutGates. Machine-readable consumers must use those current contracts instead of retaining the obsolete 0.25dp Essence Shop epsilon.

Spoiler-safe key

The Runic Key does not reveal secrets at long range. It enables one SECRET POI only when the player enters the physical 360-unit seal radius and is consumed when the route opens.

Expanded merchant

Each run adds 4 deterministic RPG offers: 3 distinct consumables and 1 of the 5 RPG relics in the Merchant pool; Fortune Talisman is not part of that pool. They complement rather than replace the historical offers.

Characters reuse the existing layer

Arena RPG does not add its own hero; the current roster has 23 heroes including Iris/Gemini and the eight veteran-unlock heroes. Zones and POIs may recognize the current roster through events/Storytelling; the lightweight-NPC phase remains roadmap rather than current runtime.

Audio, icons, and visual kit

All 8 zones have an ambient loop plus entry stinger and the runic event has 2 SFX. The first visual kit uses 16 modular PNGs and all 20 items have canonical assets; all 4 consumables have dedicated final icons. Asset presence/automated validation does not replace the manual device gate for touch, final mix, and visual readability.

RUNIC RESONANCE. 3 inscriptions → 60 XP + 3×2 coins + 12 healing + 1 Arcane Dust. It does not grant a rune directly.

LOOT

Every zone already grants a recognizable RPG item.

1 RPG REWARD PER POI

Zone	Initial reward
Forgotten Ruins	1× Ancient Bone
Corrupted Grove	1× Corrupted Root; a Cursed Altar grants 1× Cursed Ember
Runic Circle	1× Arcane Dust + 1× Runic Key if no key is already held
Arcane Sanctuary	1× Sanctuary Bloom
Guardian Arena	1× Guardian Sigil
Abandoned Camp	1× Camp Journal; if already held, 1× Vigor Tonic
Essence Grove	2× Essence Shard
Portal Scar	1× Portal Shard

NO DOUBLE REWARD. Each completed POI grants at most one RPG reward. Runic Resonance adds 1 Arcane Dust through the micro-event.

Run RPG inventory.

8 MATERIAL · 4 CONSUMABLE · 6 RELIC · 2 QUEST

This is a lightweight temporary inventory. It does not replace weapons, passives, Active Relics, permanent relics, or the main loadout.

Material	Rarity	Description	Stack
Essence Shard	COMMON	Condensed crystal used in upgrades and rituals.	99
Corrupted Root	UNCOMMON	A root infected by energy from a corrupted region.	99
Arcane Dust	UNCOMMON	Refined residue from inscriptions and runic structures.	99
Ancient Bone	COMMON	A remnant preserved among ruins of forgotten battles.	99
Guardian Sigil	RARE	A mark left behind by a defeated guardian.	99
Portal Shard	RARE	An unstable shard torn from a dimensional rupture.	99
Cursed Ember	RARE	An ember that still holds the energy of a curse.	99
Sanctuary Bloom	UNCOMMON	A rare plant associated with healing and purification.	99

Slot	Consumable	Effect	Desktop
1	Minor Healing Vial	Heals 35% max health; it is not spent when health is already full.	`4`
2	Vigor Tonic	40 s: +15% movement speed and +10% damage.	`5`
3	Ward Scroll	30 s: incoming damage ×0.65.	`6`
4	Experience Tome	Grants 25% of the XP remaining to the next level, minimum 40 raw XP.	`7`

RPG relic	Current effect
Crimson Amulet	+8% damage; heals 1.5% max health on guardian/boss defeat.
Watcher Ring	Incoming damage ×0.90.
Shadow Traveler Boots	+10% movement speed.
Explorer Lantern	+35% proximity discovery/secret-detection range.
Runic Compass	+15% secret-seal range. The ×1.50 orientation bonus exists in domain/telemetry but still has no real map consumer and is not treated as a player-facing benefit.
Fortune Talisman	+12% treasure coins; +15 pp extra-build chance; +15 pp RPG Chest relic chance; +30 pp extra-stack chance; +7 pp fusion chance.

Quest item	Rarity	Current function
Runic Key	RARE	A ritual key tied to ancient mechanisms and seals; reveals one SECRET only inside the eligible physical radius and is consumed when the route opens.
Camp Journal	RARE	A record left by survivors who crossed the region; it is unique within the run.

✓Inventory belongs to ArenaZoneRuntime and is cleared when a new route/run is created; it does not enter SaveProgress.

✓Materials stack to 99, consumables to 9, and RPG relics plus quest items are unique (cap 1).

✓Each acquisition increments a UI serial so the toast shows only new events; excess quantity saturates at the cap without overflow.

✓On a co-op client, snapshots rebuild presentation only; completed POIs received from the Host do not grant local loot or consume a Runic Key.

RUN-ONLY ≠ NO PROFILE PROGRESS. RPG inventory resets between runs, but every acquisition also increments a per-item lifetime counter in SaveProgress. Those counters are part of the cloud snapshot and may feed permanent unlocks; Rivet requires 75 Arcane Dust collected across the profile before the final Scout trial.

MATERIAL

Materials have live run effects.

8 BONUSES · INDIVIDUAL CAPS

Material	Effect during the run	Useful units
Essence Shard	+5 pp extra-stack chance per unit, up to +15 pp.	3
Corrupted Root	+2 s Vigor Tonic duration per unit, up to +10 s.	5
Arcane Dust	+2 pp fusion chance per unit, up to +10 pp.	5
Ancient Bone	+2% treasure-chest coins per unit, up to +10%.	5
Guardian Sigil	+5 pp normal-chest second-upgrade chance per unit, up to +10 pp.	2
Portal Shard	+4 pp RPG Chest rare chance per unit, up to +12 pp.	3
Cursed Ember	+3 pp RPG Chest rare chance per unit, up to +9 pp.	3
Sanctuary Bloom	+3% max-health healing on Minor Healing Vial per unit, up to +15%.	5

TREASURE

Normal Treasure is collect-all, not pick 1 of 3.

3 REWARDS TOGETHER

The first slot tries to improve an item already present in the build; the second always grants coins; the third tries a second upgrade and falls back to coins when needed. Everything revealed is collected together.

Coins

85–120 in the guaranteed slot; fallback ranges are 70–100 and 35–65 before multipliers.

Second upgrade

50% base, up to 85% with Fortune/Guardian Sigil.

Fusion

35% base + Fortune + Arcane Dust; current reachable maximum is 52% (95% hard cap). An eligible still-locked global discovery resolves before a build fusion.

RPG CHEST

RPG Chest grants three items together.

MATERIAL · CONSUMABLE · RARE

The bundle never contains quest items, weapons, special weapons, or main-build passives. The third slot tries an unowned relic and falls back to a rare material when needed. In co-op, every player gets a personal roll from their own inventory and Fortune state.

Rare relic

18% base; Fortune +15 pp; Portal Shards up to +12 pp; Embers up to +9 pp. Current maximum: 54%.

Double consumable

The effective chance starts at 10% and receives half of the available stack bonus.

RUNIC KEY. It never leaks a secret early: a SECRET POI is revealed only within the physical base radius of 360 units and the key is consumed when the route opens.

BUILD

Temporary buffs and RPG relics compose.

NO PERMANENT BASE-STAT MUTATION

Channel	Composition
Movement	Vigor × Botas do Viajante Sombrio
Outgoing damage	Vigor × Amuleto Carmesim
Incoming damage	Ward × Anel da Vigília

ArenaRpgRunModifiers centralizes composition. While an item/buff is absent from the run, its multiplier remains neutral.

Characters inside the RPG layer.

CURRENT ROSTER · NPCs STILL ROADMAP

Current RPG does not add a new playable character. It lets zones and POIs recognize existing heroes through events and Storytelling.

23 playable heroes

The current roster contains 23 IDs, including Iris/Gemini and the eight veteran unlocks. Arena RPG Zones does not add an extra hero of its own.

Hero identity

Events, dialogue, routes, and themed rewards reuse CharacterStageEventCatalog + Storytelling.

Lightweight NPCs

Wandering merchant, survivor, smith, chronicler, and hunter are Phase C direction, not functional NPCs in current main.

Discovery Codex.

COLLECTION TAB 6

Collection tab 6

Collection now includes the Discovery Archive/Codex as its sixth tab, organized by arena.

Anti-spoiler state

Before discovery, the entry appears as ??? with a hint; afterward, the card opens the expanded record.

Full detail

The record shows arena, character, event/challenge, lore, reward, and effect, with Previous/Next navigation inside the arena.

Responsive layout

CollectionArchiveDetailLayout keeps dedicated composition for landscape, phone portrait, and Fold/tablet.

SAVE

Persistence and cloud.

APPEND-ONLY · MONOTONIC MERGE

✓ExplorationUnlockProgress keeps permanent discoveries append-only.

✓The cloud payload includes exploration progress and merges monotonically: a discovery already earned cannot become locked again on another device.

✓ReleaseCohortProgress separates ALPHA/PRODUCTION, keeps ALPHA sticky for legacy saves, and prevents duplicate founder claims.

✓StarterCharacterWeaponNormalizer repairs STARTER-weapon compatibility in legacy saves without revoking previously unlocked content.

✓Cloud conflict resolution must not mutate the save before the user chooses an outcome.

RPG INVENTORY ≠ PERMANENT SAVE. Materials, consumables, RPG relics, and quest items belong to the current run and do not enter SaveProgress as metaprogression.

HEROES

Identity events.

STAGE · STREAK · HEALTH · POI · BOSS

✓CharacterStageEventCatalog + CharacterStageEventRuntime tie events to stage progress, kill streaks, low health, POIs, and boss windows.

✓Events reuse existing systems for mechanical effects; temporary healing/buff zones receive visual feedback.

✓The Scout's tracked elite only pays its reward after death.

✓Events enter the normal narrative queue and do not interrupt critical boss warnings.

4 ACTS

The Zero Rupture campaign.

12 ARENAS · CANON V1

ACT I · STAGES 1–4

Traces of the network

Forest, Cemetery, Dungeon, and Volcano prove that the Horde uses old Threshold Conclave infrastructure and that arena bosses are not the source of the network.

ACT II · STAGES 5–8

Stabilizers and the Thirteenth Toll

Peak, Swamp, Desert, and Cathedral reveal that fire, ice, water, and storm belonged to one network and that THRESHOLD-13 was opened deliberately.

ACT III · STAGES 9–11

The origin of Horde Zero

Cove, Abyss, and Rift connect micro-rifts, identity records, and the H-0 header to a self-replicating matrix received from the other side.

ACT IV · STAGES 12

Inheritance of the Void

The Citadel closes the base campaign: Malrec Voss authorized THRESHOLD-13; Vesper carries the C-13 biological credential; Nox, Runic Blade, and Runic Mime each complete a different part of the closing protocol.

SPOILERS. Malrec Voss opened THRESHOLD-13. The Void Sovereign is not Malrec transformed. Vesper inherits the Crimson Project C-13 biological credential.

STORY

Storytelling during a run.

HERO · POI · BOSS · EPILOGUE

✓The campaign spans all 12 arenas and four canonical acts.

✓StageStoryCatalog uses RUN_START, FIRST_POI_REVEALED, POI_REACHED, POI_COMPLETED, BOSS_APPROACH, and BOSS_DEFEATED.

✓Character-specific lines are canonical facts/revelations; ANY_CHARACTER entries are editorial structure and are not automatic lore fallbacks.

✓Winning the Citadel triggers the RUPTURE INTERRUPTED epilogue: the second synchronization is stopped, but the Void and H-0 fragments still exist.

✓Nox, Vesper, Runic Blade, and Runic Mime receive their own epilogue line when they win the Citadel.

Winning the Citadel prevents the second Rupture; it does not erase the Void or H-0 fragments.

VOICE

Story beats are narrated.

PT · EN · 6–20 s

♪Story V1 has PT/EN narration wired directly through story_stage_#, story_event_#, and story_citadel_# keys under assets/audio/story/<language>/<category>/<id>.ogg.

♪CoreVoiceBank lazy-loads clips, stops the previous voice before starting another line, and retries playback every 0.20 s for up to 10 attempts while the audio backend is still initializing.

♪STORY lines use a dynamic 6–20 s window based on the longer PT/EN text so long narration is not cut by the old short-dialogue timeout.

♪Orbital Blades, Patchwork Sigil, Crimson Tether, and Kinetic Trail use dedicated assets centralized by SharedWeaponVisualAssets; the primary world layer remains available for compatibility consumers.

♪Orbital Blades no longer uses a separate glow layer: the current loader reuses orbital_blades_icon_v1.png as its world layer and keeps orbital_blades_hit_fx_v1.png for impact.

♪Crimson Tether uses its v3 icon and origin/segment/tip/hit/return composition; Kinetic Trail uses its v2 icon and segment/overdrive/start/end/origin/aura/hit composition instead of the old procedural presentation.

♪PATCHLING still uses the canonical English display name 'Runic Mime' in CoreLocalization. Residual 'Moonpatch' copy does not replace the current public name.

ENGLISH NAME. PATCHLING appears as Runic Mime. An older unlock description may still appear in legacy content.