Null | Candlelight | Writing rules v1.3, the GameHUD update!

The Dim Light — quick setting guide

The World

Look, there is no sky. There are no fields. The whole planet got eaten by a thick, breathing darkness called the Null centuries ago. The only thing left is Candlelight — one massive, claustrophobic city built around a giant tower called the Candle. The tower pumps heat, light, and fake weather into the streets. Above it hangs the Artificial Luminary — a fake sun that switches from Amber (day) to Silver (night). That's it. That's the whole world.

The Quarters & Patrons

The city is split into 4 districts. Each district has a "Patron" (basically a godlike landlord). They give you superpowers, but the rent is a bitch.

• Kreidehurst (West) — chalkhands, scribes, magic circles. Patron: Schrift. You gotta cast a spell every single day. Skip a day? The magic builds up inside you, makes you trip balls, gives you a fever, and then you literally combust. (Inspired: Germany, dark fantasy, names sound ~German)
• Perkūnija (North) — coilheads, engineers, tech-geniuses. Patron: Srovė. You get lightning reflexes and a big brain, but you lose your ability to feel emotions. The less you care about people, the smarter you get. (Inspired: tesla-punk, ~Baltic names)
• Chimai (East) — veinborns, cultivators, brothels, and martial arts. Patron: Mài. You get perfect health, but you gotta drink a handful of human blood every week and never stop moving. Stop? Your body just rots while you're still alive. (Inspired: Wuxia/Xianxia, Asian vibes)
• Mosswicke (South) — beastmergers, demi-humans with animal parts. Patron: Wyrt. You get animal ears, tails, and instincts. The catch? You gotta obey your animal brain. Fight your instincts, and they'll scream in your head until you go rabid. (Inspired: Demi-humans, ~Old English names)

The Lifescript

When you turn 16, the government hands you a Lifescript and a permanent @handle. It’s a half-magical PDA with a paper screen. It’s your ID, your wallet, your map, and your phone. Everything runs on points. No points = no food, no rent, no life. If you lose your Lifescript, you legally stop being a human and become "property". Don't lose it. You are rather a j*b folk, or you're a Wick Diver

The Wick

Under the city is the Wick — a massive, shifting basement dungeon. The Candle sucks raw energy from the earth, but the energy gets stuck and turns into physical monsters (spawn). People called Wick Divers go down there, kill monsters, and farm points. It’s a meat grinder.

• Strata (The Vertical Axis): A mirror-labyrinth of depth. You descend floor by floor (Stratum 1 to 9) through the Warp — a maze of correct and incorrect rooms. There is no backtracking; going back or sideway leads to a pseudo-infinite loop. The only way is forward according the HUD direction to the transition stairs, or deeper. (Note: Wandering off-pattern increases Escalation, which can trigger Sectors — overlay distortions like Twilight, Midnight, or Sunbreak that alter perception, spawn behavior, and psychic pressure for the entire Stratum. In the future, each sector will have its own unique boss pool.)
• Reaches (The Horizontal Axis): A snake-like grid of distance. You walk further away from the Cage Landing through Frontiers (1 to 9). 4 rows per Frontier, 9 rooms per row, connected by linear inter-row corridors. (Note: Frontiers can randomly enter Cycles — overlay states like Nightmare or Sweetmare that corrupt or deceptively sweeten the layout for the entire Frontier. In the future, a unique Nightmare and Sweetmare layout will be introduced, following the one that entered the cycle.)
• Shift-cycles: The dungeon is alive. Every 6 to 36 hours, the walls literally move and reshuffle the global layout between Strata and Reaches. If you're caught mid-rewrite... well, things happen. Watch your Lifescript timer and find an alcove between Strata or Frontiers.
• Alcoves: The safe places mid-transit. To rest, to sleep, to eat, to fuck, whatever. The layout forces you to stay for at least a few turns until reality stabilizes.

P.S. But V, the maps!... Just FU, I've tried! use yer Lifescript, it will tell ya. 

User Persona Template

<The user's character: {user}>

Core information about {user}, the user's character:
His/Her name is unknown to most people. [Name] is a [build], [height] tall [man/woman/person] with [quarter-coded] features: [skin], [cheekbones], [chin], [nose]. [Hair color and texture], [cut/style]. They look about [apparent age]. Eye color is [color], [glasses/mark if any]. Natural scent: [note one], [note two], [note three].
• Voice (optional): [pitch, texture, accent] 
• Patron (setting important): [Patron], [quarter-native type]; Patrons names counting from the West: Schrift, Srovė, Mài, Wyrt
• Sect title / rank / role / job / etc (optional): [title, branch, founding facts, disciple count, wick diver]
• Weapon (optional): [weapon name] "[in-setting name]" — [one-line function]
• Lifescript handle (setting important): @[handle]

{user}'s clothing style (optional?):
• Casual/outdoor outfit: [top], [bottom], [footwear], [accessories], [recognizable sound/detail]
• Home attire: [fabric and cut], [what stays on/comes off], [barefoot/footwear], [intimate note: scent/skin/presence]

{user}'s genitals (optional~):
• [Explicit anatomical description, if needed for mature scenes]

</The user's character: {user}>

Example Persona — Vezzary (@Clmt69)

<The user's character: {user}>

Core information about {user}, the user's character:
His name is unknown to most of the people. Vezzary is a lean, 181 cm tall man with sharp Kreidehurst features: pale skin, high cheekbones, a defined chin, and a slightly prominent nose. Jet-black silk hair, casually tousled and disheveled, flows from a short front to a long ponytail down his back. He looks about 24 years old. His eye color is ocean green, framed by spectacles with drop-shaped transparent lenses. Natural Vezzary's scent is woodsmoke, oranges and rich, sweet tobacco.
• Voice: low, slightly rasped, silken bass, ringing consonants, mild rhotacism
• Patron: Mài, born as chalkhand
• Sect title: Founding Elder of the Shuoyunpai — the Shimmering Cloud yin path cadet branch of the Xianzong, founded in 542∅. Formerly the Second Senior Disciple of Xianzong. Shuoyunpai apprentice count: zero (due to V's evasiveness/elusiveness and for the Matriarchs' quiet amusement).
• Weapon: The xiao Daojin — "Path's End."
• Lifescript handle: @Clmt69

Vezzary's clothing style:
• Casual/outdoor outfit: The loose black-with-purple rolling ornament silk sect robe, mid-thigh length, with short sleeves that cut off just above the elbows. Underneath — a white silk shirt with purple tints, sleeves rolled up to the elbows; black trousers; tapered shoes with flat thick heels. In shoes with this clack-clack-clack sound he can hardly be ignored. The xiao hangs around his belt on the left side, the belt-pouch on the right.
• Home attire: A loose black silk haori with a golden pattern of scales and feathers (parts often open with every movement, revealing his bare torso), paired with loose black knee-length silk shorts. He walks barefoot at home. In these clothes the musk of a confident male is faint, but undeniable.

Vezzary's genitals (18+ optional):
• [Fill if needed for mature scenes]

</The user's character: {user}>