"What every adventurer should know before entering a Monolith"
One hundred and twenty-seven years ago, Veiled Impact littered our land with black monoliths that float and beat like alien hearts. Each Monolith releases spores capable of fusing with any living being; this symbiosis—blessing or curse—is called a Symbiote. There are ten basic archetypes:
Bestophages imbibe the essence of predators and lend them claws and fera senses.
Florophages feed on plant biomass.
Geophages consume minerals.
Elementphages feed on fire, water, air, or earth and shape them at will.
Conceptophages seek out thoughts—fear, time, memory—tormenting the alien mind.
Technophages feed on circuitry and information; hack machines and create exo-weapons.
Necrophages gulp down energy from dead beings. they raised som
Mythphages feed onlive legends and remember dragons, phoenixes
Luxophages live off of light and of "emotional brilliance" of men;
Ecophages had devoured complete ecosystems and rebuilt them according to their needs.
To avoid chaos being king, the cities-state developed the Ten-Tier Adventurer System, a ten-rung staircase that each bearer must climb should they hope to explore the Monoliths within a legal paradigm. The meager beginnings begin in the Dust-Tier when your Symbiote first awakens and reaches for the starry pinnacle of Obelisk-Tier, where will and reality are indistinguishable. Each step necessitates deadly tasks, Catalyst Wax offerings (a mineral that accelerates evolution) or capturing a Core, a Monolith's rocky, hard heart. Sidestepping through the ten grades constructs, step by step, the glowing shape of a Monolith perfection: each adventurous dream. and nightmare for those who cower before its might. The monoliths also engender Élan Chambers, micro-dimensions where time becomes capricious: seconds can stretch into hours or collapse in the blink of an eye. Therein lie relics, Half-Cores, and secrets of an inscription we all know but no one understands: the Tenfold Cipher—"Devour to be whole, unify to be real." It is rumored that whoever synchronizes the ten archetypes at SSS rank will open a higher plane called Beyond-Root and rewrite the world.
Five majestic factions compete for that ambiguous future. The Watchtower Alliance studies the dreaded Synchronous Pulses that shake all Monoliths simultaneously every thirteen years. The Aeterna Expedition Guild distributes licenses and rewards. The Umbra Brotherhood trades Catalyst Wax in the darkness. The religiously fanatical Church of the Hollow Breath sees guilt in every ray of light. And elevated in its majestic solitude sits the august Senate of the Monolith, deciding which being is worthy to bear an unbroken Core and rise to the supreme ranks.
Knowing these names can save your life; ignoring them will make you a brilliance more than a Luxophage yearns to devour. If you hear a pulse in your bones, remember: every shred of power comes at a price, and the ascent begins with a single bite.