Gnosis Core Systems Spec

This document is the implementation-facing condensation of the broader Game Design Outline. The outline defines the full vision; this spec narrows that into rules and priorities for the current playable slice.

1. Pillars

The game is a terminal-first top-down roguelike about descending through an infinite prison-dungeon and repeatedly losing bodies without losing the soul. The tone is sparse and lonely, more Dark Souls or NetHack than dialogue-heavy narrative.

Core pillars:

1. Everything meaningful exists in world-space. Loot is on tiles, in chests, in furniture, or on actual enemies.
2. Each life is materially fragile. Bodies die, maim, starve, and break, while spirit progression persists.
3. The dungeon should feel spatial, looped, and revisit-friendly instead of like disconnected abstract floors.
4. Build identity is emergent. Stats, vessel traits, equipped gear, and two bound Aeons create a class-like role without locking the player into a class screen.
5. Death is setback, not reset. The player can rediscover old bodies, reclaim old gear, and return to earlier regions with new knowledge and small persistent advantages.

2. World Structure

• The dungeon is composed of regions. Each region contains multiple floors and can be revisited.
• Floor generation favors rooms, loops, shortcuts, side chambers, hidden doors, and at least one secret space.
• Floors contain claimable rooms, merchant space, combat space, furniture, chests, traps, and alternate routes.
• Stair traversal preserves a sense of place. Descending deeper raises danger; death returns the soul to weaker regions.
• Once the soul knows enough Noss true names, deep-tier descents can open the level-9999 final site: The Seventy-Two Seals.

3. Death, Soul, and Reincarnation

• A run is a vessel inhabited by an enduring soul.
• Vessel stats, body condition, gear loadout, and most material advantages are tied to the current body.
• The soul persists with:
  • discovered Aeons as knowledge
  • a small persistent echo bonus to starting stats
  • remembered markers tied to revisited regions
  • corpse anchors that can reinsert old possessions into later expeditions
• On death:
  • the current body becomes a corpse stash
  • the soul is dragged through an afterlife chain of Noss judges
  • the soul ascends
  • a new vessel is generated
  • the player restarts in a shallower region than the one they died in
• Repeated deaths reduce soul tether. If tether reaches zero, final death occurs and only the current postmortem record remains.

Afterlife

• After death, the player enters a short chain of Noss boss fights.
• Nosses have hidden true names.
• If the player has discovered a Noss's true name in the dungeon, speaking it in the afterlife instantly defeats that judge.
• Clearing the full chain grants a stronger return; failing it usually still permits reincarnation, unless it was the final trial.
• True names persist as soul knowledge and are part of long-term progression.
• The final site at level 9999 replaces the normal short chain with the grand trial: all 72 Noss rulers in sequence.
• The intended endgame rule is binary and legible: know a ruler's name and dismiss it, or fight it directly.
• The actual win condition is afterlife victory, not merely dungeon depth: the run is won only by clearing all Seventy-Two in that grand trial.

4. Vessel and Body State

• Each new life rolls a vessel archetype with stat biases and starter gear.
• Body state tracks health and part-specific condition.
• Supported body parts in the first playable version:
  • left arm
  • right arm
  • left leg
  • right leg
  • eye
• Parts may be healthy, wounded, missing, or replaced by a prosthetic.
• Missing limbs impose tangible penalties:
  • arm loss reduces melee and throw effectiveness
  • leg loss slows repositioning and retreat
  • eye loss reduces sight and ranged accuracy
• Prosthetics partially restore function and remain part of the long-term build fantasy.

5. Stats and Identity

Primary stats:

• Vigour: health and blunt aggression
• Grace: accuracy, evasion, thrown combat, sneaking
• Wit: search, trap sense, alchemy, utility
• Faith: warding, Aeon resonance, recovery

Class identity is inferred from dominant stats plus active Aeons and weapon bias. The UI can display a descriptor, but the rules remain build-driven.

6. Combat

• Combat is grid-based and turn-based.
• The player supports melee, thrown weapons, and Aeon abilities from the start.
• Enemy threat is readable in a Dragon Quest-like way: low ambiguity, clear ranges, legible damage pressure.
• Ranged units use Fire Emblem-like spacing logic:
  • advance when out of range
  • counter-fire when lines open
  • retreat when the player collapses into their preferred distance
• Traps, chokepoints, doors, and barricades matter.

7. Loot, Gear, and Economy

• All meaningful loot occupies tiles or inventories.
• Enemy deaths spill gear or currency onto the floor.
• Chests and furniture are scavenged in-world.
• Gear supports rarity tiers and procedural affixes. Rare artifacts can alter playstyle.
• Currency is obols.
• The merchant trades in obols and salvage. First-version economy is intentionally simple.

8. Aeons

• Major foes can yield capturable Aeons.
• The player can know many Aeons but bind only two at a time.
• Each Aeon grants:
  • passive stat and rule modifications while slotted
  • an invoke action with cooldown
• Aeon combinations materially alter identity. Two-slot binding is meant to create set/invoke build shifting rather than cosmetic summons only.
• First-version persistence rule: known Aeons persist across death as soul knowledge, while active bindings carry over only as remembered loadouts and must be re-attuned in the new life.

9. Rooms, Sanctums, and Intrusion

• Cleared rooms can be claimed as sanctums.
• Sanctums allow resting, crafting, loadout changes, and defensive play.
• Doors around sanctums can be barricaded.
• Monsters can intrude if routes remain open or barricades break.
• The first playable version treats sanctums as floor-local but remembers the claimed concept strongly enough to extend later.

10. Exploration Layer

• Fog of war and line of sight are core.
• Hidden doors, secret rooms, and traps are discoverable through search and high Wit.
• Players can place persistent route markers. These are diegetic cues rather than meta map pins.
• Corpses, notes, and markers should reward revisitation.

11. Skills and Craft Fantasy

The broader fantasy includes:

• sneaking
• pickpocketing
• blacksmithing
• alchemy
• scavenging

The first playable version prioritizes scavenging, simple crafting, and body repair while leaving room for stealth and theft expansion.

12. Enemy Families

First-line families:

• goblins: opportunists, thieves, knife pressure
• demons: heavy melee pressure and maiming hits
• sorcerers: fragile ranged casters
• necromancers: corpse interaction and reinforcement
• false angels: punishing sight-line pressure
• guardians: durable sentinels and door holders

13. Progression Pacing

• Danger, rewards, and key thresholds may follow Fibonacci-like pacing to create a feeling of compounding but legible escalation.
• The player should oscillate between pressure and moments of regained control rather than climb in a smooth linear curve.