Ascenders

Ascenders are the player characters and major NPCs of the world. They are differentiated from Location-bound NPCs by their full state vector, participation in the opinion-table layer, and capacity for growth through The System.

The first design goal of the Simulation is to generate Ascenders with Skills and Gear, algorithmically determine their relative strength, and explore the gradient where Broken or Overpowered Builds emerge. The Ascender sheet exists to make that computation possible.

Attributes

Every Ascender has five core Attributes that govern mechanical capability:

Might — governs physical damage output, melee scaling, and the capacity to wield heavy Relics. It scales the magnitude of direct-damage Effects and determines threshold requirements for Might-locked equipment.

Finesse — governs precision, speed, dodge chance, and initiative ordering. It scales the trigger-rate of Reactive Skills and determines threshold requirements for Finesse-locked equipment.

Intellect — governs Skill potency, Charge pool size, and the complexity of interactions an Ascender can sustain. It scales the efficiency of Charge consumption.

Vigor — governs health pool, resistance to physical effects, and baseline survivability. It scales the magnitude of defensive modifiers and determines how much punishment an Ascender can absorb.

Resistance — governs defence against elemental and status effects, damage reduction from non-physical sources, and threshold requirements for Resistance-locked Relics.

Attributes are System-enforced stats. They are modified by Level, equipped Relics, active Buffs, and permanent transformations.

Archetypes

Archetypes are permanent starting conditions. They define an Ascender’s initial tendencies at creation and provide Starting Skills that are permanent and cannot be unlearned. An Archetype is locked from the start and cannot be changed.

However, an Archetype is not a destiny. While the Starting Skills remain part of the Ascender forever, the Archetype does not restrict what Skills, Relics, or Attributes the Ascender can acquire later. The Ascender can build in any direction — the Tower checks Build structure, not Archetype compliance.

The two axes

Every Archetype is defined by two axes:

Approach — how the Ascender engages with challenges:

• Striker — prioritises direct damage and aggressive positioning. Attribute Affinity: Might or Finesse.
• Warden — prioritises defence, control, and area denial. Attribute Affinity: Vigor or Resistance.
• Weaver — prioritises complex Skill interactions and modifier stacking. Attribute Affinity: Intellect.
• Stalker — prioritises precision, evasion, and opportunistic strikes. Attribute Affinity: Finesse or Resistance.

Role — what the Ascender contributes to a group or encounter:

• Combatant — contributes primarily through damage, control, or defence in direct confrontation.
• Service — contributes primarily through crafting, healing, buffing, or other non-combat capabilities.
• Hybrid — contributes through a mix of Combat and Service, typically via Relic-carried Utility Skills on a Combat-focused build.

System-opaque property

Archetypes are socially visible but System-opaque.

Other Ascenders can observe an Ascender’s tendencies and label them, but The System and The Tower do not enforce or check Archetype labels. The Tower checks Build structure — modifier legality, Charge sustainability, loop termination — not whether the Ascender’s Build matches their starting Archetype.

Archetype Affinity and Starting Skills

Each Archetype provides two permanent starting conditions:

1. Attribute Affinity — a primary Attribute that receives upgrade-boost incentives on Level-up. This naturally skews growth but does not restrict against-type investment.

2. Starting Skills — one or more Skills granted at creation that are permanent and cannot be unlearned. These Skills are source-agnostic (they behave exactly like System-granted or Relic-carried Skills) and contribute to the Build Signature like any other Skill.

For the Simulation, ArchetypeAffinity appears in two places:

• Ascender creation: determines Starting Skills and initial Attribute skew.
• ItemTemplate: affects Relic drop rates and equippability as an optional statistical skew, not a hard restriction.

Approach-Role combinations

The full combinatorial space is 4 Approaches × 3 Roles = 12 Archetypes. All 12 are equally available at creation.

Examples:

• Striker-Combatant: pure damage dealer
• Warden-Service: defensive support, healing and buffing from the front line
• Weaver-Hybrid: complex Build designer who also carries Utility Relics
• Stalker-Combatant: assassin, burst damage from evasion

Attribute progression

On Level-up, Ascenders choose which Attributes to upgrade. There is no automatic or predetermined allocation.

Each Archetype carries an Affinity toward a primary Attribute. This Affinity manifests as upgrade-boost incentives — not hard restrictions — that naturally skew Attribute growth toward the Archetype’s strengths. An Ascender may follow this skew for optimisation, or invest against-type for hybrid builds.

In practice, most Ascenders prioritise their Archetype Attribute while maintaining baseline Vigor for survivability thresholds and crossing specific Attribute minimums for desired Relics.

Relic requirements

Relics carry equippability constraints set at creation:

• Level lock: the most common requirement — an Ascender must be at or above a threshold Level.
• Archetype lock: some Relics are designed for specific Archetype Affinities and require that Affinity to activate.
• Attribute lock: some Relics require a minimum value in one or more Attributes (e.g., minimum Might to wield a heavy Relic, minimum Intellect to attune to a complex one).

These locks cannot be bypassed.

Build strength

The relative strength of an Ascender is an emergent function of:

• Base Attributes
• Known Skills (permanent and Relic-carried)
• Equipped Relics and their Modifiers
• Active Buffs/Debuffs
• Charge sustainability

The Tower does not assign a single power score. Instead, Verification Architecture checks structural validity (modifier stacking legality, Charge sustainability, reactive-loop termination) and the Simulation derives comparative strength from encounter outcomes.

Broken Builds

A Broken Build is one that fails the Tower’s structural verification. This is a purely structural determination — no Attribute gates whether an Ascender can attempt a given Build. If the Build graph contains an unsustainable loop, illegal modifier stack, or infinite Charge drain, the Tower flags it as Broken regardless of the Ascender’s Attributes.

What is on the sheet

The Ascender sheet records System-enforced, mechanically operative state:

• Attributes (Might, Finesse, Intellect, Vigor, Resistance)
• Level and accumulated XP
• Known Skills (permanent Skills acquired through System or Training)
• Equipped Relics and their carried Skills/Modifiers
• Active Buffs/Debuffs (temporary modifiers with duration)
• Charge pool (current and maximum)
• Health pool (current and maximum)