COMPENDIUM/METAPHYSICAL RULES — ARCANE RUIN

BASE PRINCIPLES (HARD LAWS)

Conservation of the Word: magic does not create from nothing; it rearranges
intention and matter. Any effect requires an Anchor (symbol), Focus (mind),
and Price (something of value).
Four Runes, One World: all phenomena derive from Soprar (life), Ligar
(memory), Velar (death), Regressar (cycle). Nullifying Velar always generates
Ruin.
Name Defines Limit: anything with a Full Name resists the Broken Word;
truncated/false names make the target malleable.
Light is Burned Intention: only named fire (radiant) purges Ruin; common light
only pushes it back. Radiant consumes something irreplaceable (memory, vow,
relic).
Echo Persists: proper death = Velar releases the echo to the Côvados;
corrupted death = echo anchored to flesh/object/environment.
Sound Moves Stone: correct phonemes shift matter and will; wrong phonemes
create Deviations (hostile anomalies).
Velários Densify Reality: within them, the Broken Word falters; profane fails and
liturgies stabilize.
Corruption Is Vectorial: it affects Flesh, Mind, and Soul separately; purges must
target each vector.

SPEECH & RISK MECHANIC

Vocal Channel: casting verbal magic occupies 1 Channel per round; in Singing
Zones, concentration DC +2 and chance of Echo-Compelled when taking
damage.
Voiceless Magic (gestures/anchors): avoids sound risks but raises cost (Price +1
step).
True Silence (ritual): blocks Word and Ruin; also prevents verbal healing.

NAME RULES

Full Name = Three Lines: given name (life), lineage (memory), oath (future).
Reading a Full Name three times before the body: strengthens Velar
(advantage to release the echo).
Given-Name Sundering (legal punishment): −1 Anchor slot and vulnerability to
commands for 7 days.
Name Forging (craft): engraving 1 Name Line on an item grants affinity;
breaking the vow cracks the item (−quality).

LOGIC OF RUIN (ZOMBIFICATION)

Passive Carrier: Soprar suppressed, Ligar null; obeys Command Fields
(hook-words).
Bound Carrier: Ligar tethered; retains reflexes/habits; suffers upon hearing the
Full Name — test for release.
Clay Choir: mass of flesh + phonemes; creates a Singing Zone that amplifies
commands and Deviations.
Metaphysical Antidotes: radiant (named light), Bond-Break Bells, reading the
Full Name, Seal of Velar (funerary sigil).

CONSERVATIONS & EXCHANGES

Memory Balance: memories burned generate light proportional to their
emotional density; feigned memories fail and generate Deviation.
Cycle Tension: any nullification of Velar accumulates Regress Debt in the area
(raises chance of aberrant “revivals”).
Vow Weight: public vows create local radiant pressure; breaking them loosens
Velários and strengthens hordes.

DEVIATIONS (WORD FAILURES)

Triggers: phoneme error, insufficient cost, ritual falsehood.
Typical effects: Inverted Resonance (spell rebounds on caster), Hungry Sound
(pulls echoes from the Côvado), Living Ash (manifests hostile detritus).
Sanitation: ring Bell with correct timbre, offer equivalent memory, or leave the
area wordless for one cycle (mutates encounters).

LOGIC OF LIGHT

Levels: Bright (no effect), Amber (+disadvantage to stealthy undead), Aureal
(+Vulnerable Ruin), Greater Ember (continuous purge).
Aureal+ source requires Name + Offering (memory/relic).
Contractual Shadow: under named light, lying imposes a Liturgical Curse
(social/mystic penalty).

CÔVADOS (WORLD MEMORY)

Spaces where Ligar densifies; repeating a tactic raises enemy DCs
(environmental learning).
Testimonies (memory-objects) change local laws: display a Testimony of
betrayal to raise costs for Enchantment magic in that dungeon.
Exit Rites: reading the names of the dead of the place reduces aggressiveness
for one scene.

WEAKNESSES & IMMUNITIES (QUICK ONTOLOGY)

Undead: necrotic resist; radiant vulnerable; partial fear/psychic immunity varies
with bound echo.
Choirs: vulnerable to dissonance (correct bells, specific sonic damage).
Lesser Archimorphs: resistant to common light; lose benefits under the High
Forge (vigil liturgies).

CORRUPTION THRESHOLDS (PLAYER/NPC)

Each branch (Flesh/Mind/Soul) in 3 stages:
I: light boon + situational debuff;
II: visible mutation/compulsion;
III: severe social reaction + risk of involuntary command/brief loss of agency.
Aligned Purge: only works if the offered cost symbolizes the affected vector
(e.g., to purge Soul, offer a foundational memory; for Flesh, a physical
sacrifice).

RITUAL RULES

Three keys: correct Anchor, Time Step (moon/Solar Focus clock), and
Counterweight (sacrifice).
Profane Shortcuts remove the counterweight and add global Regress Debt
(advances the Rune Clock).

COMPILATION RUNES (META-LAW)

Each Rune can only be touched (activated/neutralized) within a Name Circle
made from materials of the opposite region (crosses the map).
Counterseal: technique that reintroduces Velar into the operation; without it,
any “synchronization” generates a tide of Ruin.
Dual Tuning (grey route): two Runes aligned, two broken → world saved with
scars (permanent environmental debuffs set in the campaign).

INTERFACE

Verbal components → interact with Vocal Channel/Singing Zones.
Material (Anchor) can be replaced by Vow/Relic (higher cost).
Divine (liturgy) requires Living Memory/Vow; healing conjurations are weak
radiant if without offering.

LAW OF THE NAME & SOCIETY (HARD EFFECTS)

Lying in a Velário = Liturgical Curse until reparative confession.
Name Theft: holding someone’s given name in writing grants advantage on
command magics only outside Velários.
Erased: nameless gain resistance to memetic commands, but suffer social
penalties and cannot operate Counterseals.

PHYSICS OF ASH

Living Ash reacts to long phonemes; useful as reagent, dangerous in excess
(risk of animating dust).
Ashfall erases Runar from porous surfaces; metal/glass preserve strokes.

FAILURES & PARADOXES (DELIBERATE)

Motionless Peace (Final Chant): resolves violence and lies at the cost of free
will; metaphysically consistent, ethically unacceptable.
Memory that Heals: radiant heals that burn memories cannot restore the
memory lost—permanence as a real cost.
Free Echo: freed echoes do not automatically obey the liberator; require
contract/ritual.

DESIGN GUARD-RAILS (ANTI-EXPLOIT)

Radiant spam limited by irreplaceable offering.
Profane in Velário: automatic failure + summons Silent Guard.
Horde Commands share a short world cooldown (prevents map “stunlock”).
Name Crafting demands proof of vow; fraud creates local Deviation.

CONSISTENCY CHECKLIST (AT TABLE)

Every magic: what is the Anchor, the Price, and the Risk?
Every interaction with undead: is Velar reintroduced? (Bell/Name/Radiant)
Every campaign decision: what Regress Debt does it create or pay?

COMPENDIUM/DRAMATIC_STRUCTURE — ARCANE
RUIN

MACRO OBJECTIVE

Prevent or redirect the Final Chant by neutralizing/tuning the Four Runes via
Counterseals before the Rune Clock advances; confront the Archimorph at the
climax.

GLOBAL RHYTHM (4 PHASES / 12 MILESTONES)

F1 — Kindling (Levels 1–3)

System tutorial in Kardhaz: Ember Post, Vocal Channel, Corruption.
First dynamic Ruin Tide in an urban district (Velário defense).
Election of Initial Regional Route (Coast / Ossaria / Marsh / Glassglow). Rune
Clock starts.

F2 — Cross of Runes (Levels 3–7) 4) Investigate local tuner and locate the
corresponding Rune (Soprar/Ligar/Velar/Regressar). 5) Obtain the Counterseal
from the opposing region (cross-map travel; “X-line” on the map). 6) First
decision to Tune vs. Neutralize (leaves a mechanical scar). 7) Return to hub →
Political repercussions (favor/distrust; laws). Rune Clock advances/recedes
according to successes/failures.

F3 — Pressure & Choices (Levels 7–10) 8) Two active Tuners trigger global
events (permanent hostile zones, embargoes). 9) Competing Brazier Mandate
quests (benefiting faction A harms B). 10) Major Côvado: dungeon that records
player tactics; demands rotation of styles (stealth, light, controlled profane).

F4 — Convergence (Levels 10–12) 11) Three Runes resolved (any combination)
unlock the climax route: Girdle Fortress in Tombaluz. 12) Climax: final field with
tides, choirs, and cost decisions (memories, named items, corruption). Adaptive
epilogue by factions/laws.

TENSION TRACKS (PARALLEL TO MACRO)

Law of the Whole Name: maintain legitimacy for liturgical bonuses vs.
high-impact profane tactics.
Memory as Resource: radiant buffs that cost memories; loss has mechanical
and narrative payoff.
Velários under Siege: cycles of defense/attack on a living map; protect hubs or
cut the enemy’s Girdle (mod production).
Useful Corruption: mutation tree opens shortcuts/boss skips at social/ritual cost.

MISSION AXES (PACKS)

SIGILS & SOUNDS (Glassglow/Kardhaz): recover timbres for the Bell of the
Proper End; decide to use/store/break it.

MOURNING & LAW (Ossaria): judge “humanitarian” necromancy; defines Silent
Guard spawns and healing cost.

CLAY & ASH (Marsh/Range): control Living Ash and steal Name Shards; risk of
reputation loss with the clergy.

COAST & CHOIR (Varelião): restore Silence Routes; defines mobility and trade.

BOSS LADDER

Intermediates (L5–7): themed Clay Choirs (littoral, lacrimal, ferrous).
Tuners (L7–10): each with Rune mechanics + specific “Hook-Word”;
counter-timbre puzzle.
Archimorph (L12): 3 phases — (i) Synchronized Horde; (ii) Name-Break; (iii)
Final Chant/Counterchant.

CLIMAX MECHANIC (LAYERED DECISION)

Layer 1: Light — activate Greater Ember by trading key memories (global buff
vs. permanent loss).
Layer 2: Name — read the Full Names of fallen allies to gain counterorder
windows (limits the horde).
Layer 3: Rune — apply the definitive Counterseal or Tune (profane route).
Layer 4: Final Cost — sacrifice a named item/part of your own name to prevent
the last compilation.

CAMPAIGN SCARS (PERSISTENT RESULTS)

Rune Neutralization: +local Velários; −efficiency for certain magics (e.g.,
Enchantment suffers in Ossaria).
Rune Tuning: powerful buffs, but permaruin areas (harder standard encounters,
rare loot).
Mandate Failures: prices rise, factions turn hostile, long rest restricted.

TIDES & TIME MARKERS

Rune Clock (4 segments): progresses through failures, profane use in a Velário,
deaths without funeral; regresses via counterseals, protecting processions,
rebuilding braziers.
High-Tide Events (timebox): special hordes, shops close, liturgies cost +1
memory.

DIFFICULTY CURVE

Phase 1: low lethality, teaching light/noise.
Phase 2: variety of resistances; introduces Echo-Compelled.
Phase 3: punishment for tactical repetition (Côvados); requirement for
Voiceless Magic.
Phase 4: hybrid encounters (choirs + elites); memory economy at the limit.

GATES & KEYS (LIGHT METROIDVANIA)

Soprar Counterseal → traverse winds/poisons.
Ligar Counterseal → read/open memory doors.
Velar Counterseal → pass through necropolises without aggro.
Regress Counterseal → reconfigure pathing (shortcuts, partial zone reset).

REPLAYABILITY HOOKS

Rune routes (different order and fate).
Faction alignment (Chiselers vs. Lacrimal Circle, etc.).
Corruption builds (Flesh/Mind/Soul) altering dialogue/loot.
Irreversible Decisions (sacrificed items and memories change future
encounters).

PROGRESS SIGNALS (FEEDBACK)

Kardhaz’s tones change according to tides and fulfilled vows.
Map shows active “silence lines”; expanded Velários visible.
UI records burned memories as empty slots with a tag (narrative echo).

POSSIBLE ENDINGS (NO SCRIPT, CONDITIONS)

Stable Ember: 4 counterseals + Archimorph defeated in a reinforced Velário;
high costs paid.
Grey Equilibrium: 2 tuned, 2 neutralized; playable world with environmental
debuffs.
Motionless Peace: 4 tuned; player assumes profane control (dominion mode).
Ember Twilight: Clock completes with active Tuners; survival epilogue.

COHERENCE CHECK (DRAMATIC GUARD-RAILS)

Every victory charges an explicit price (memory, vow, name, corruption).
Every region offers counterweight (attempting a profane shortcut imposes
risk/clock).
Antagonist reacts to player metrics (noise, radiant, laws).