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"The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding."
- Passage I, the Dao De Jing
"Jeanne Bellerose was a mountain climber and professional explorer looking for her next big challenge when she heard a rumor that Nauticus was offering serious money to people who would be willing to do dangerous exploration in hostile environments. The Thanatos facility was not what she expected, but the pay was generous and the mountaintop location offered her plenty of opportunity for adventurous climbs.
Lacking real combat training beyond what she received at the facility, she was unprepared for the Realms of Death and suffered a traumatic head injury at the hands of a Goatwolf Slayer. Close to death, she was rescued by HILDA, who had accompanied Bellerose’s squad to provide medical support. When they returned to the facility, Gao Zhi rebuilt Bellerose’s crushed skull and saved her life. He has since become her friend and mentor."
JEANNE BELLEROSE is the TRAVERSER, an Expert class Cryptonaut, specializing in movement and terrain traversal. The Traverser brings movement utility and mastery over the Realm environments to her squad of Cryptonauts.
Her first ability is TETHER LAUNCHERS, granting her entire squad the ability to move over pit spaces, and easily collect hidden Souls or Artifacts that would normally be very difficult to access. Crossing pit spaces can also be used to ellude and avoid any monsters that lack the Floating modifier.
The Traverser's GRAPPLING GUN allows her to launch herself from one space to another, provided her landing is adjacent to a wall or structure. This is particularly useful for escaping monsters.
The VOYAGER SUIT gives the Traverser increased movement speed and the Unyielding modifier, which prevents her from being involuntarily moved by things like Knockback.
Lastly, the Traverser's GRAVITY PICKAXE is a powerful piercing melee attack that can typically destroy Monoliths and doors with a single swing, making it strong for gaining access to locked areas of the Realm and preventing the Goddess from using her precious Monoliths for her magics...
"When Emily Ansel lost her mind after the first mission to the Realms of Death, Gao assisted Rauf Sabir in organizing her unfinished work. Together, they helped director Price to restart the Cryptonaut program.
After one of the beta program’s first Cryptonauts — Jeanne Bellerose — suffered a traumatic head injury at the hands of a Goatwolf Slayer, Gao Zhi rebuilt her crushed skull and saved her life. Since the experience, he takes a grandfatherly attitude toward her."
GAO ZHI, the CYBORG is a Mercenary class Cryptonaut focused on annihilating enemy monsters with his trusty BLASTER. The Cyborg is a powerful combat centerpiece for any Cryptonaut squad and benefits greatly from receiving many Souls to unlock all of his abilities.
AUXILLARY BLASTER initially starts as a free melee-range attack with the Cyborg's trusty Blaster, giving the Cyborg more damage-dealing capabilities right at the start of the game. As his Blaster's Range attribute increases, the Auxillary Blaster becomes far more formidable, being able to reach targets outside of melee range.
TARGETING EYE allows the Cyborg to exploit an enemy monster's injuries and deal additional damage. Coupled with his free Blaster attack from his Auxillary Blaster ability, this can make short work of a wounded monster.
The Cyborg's potent ION SHELLS improve the Blaster's capabilities dramatically, increasing its range and allowing it to bypass enemy armor with the Piercing modifier.
Lastly, the Cyborg's POWER FIST is an extremely damaging melee attack that pushes monsters away with the Knockback modifier, making it very powerful! However, unleashing so much force is exhasuting to the Cyborg, who loses Stamina as a result of using this attack...
"When the Alpha Wave of Cryptonaut exploration ended in disaster, Nauticus called upon Xian Tzu to lead a new unit within the Beta Wave, which would be focused upon harnessing the occult secrets hinted at by Yugura's Key. Working closely with the archaeologist Wendell Danuser, Xian used his unique insight to unlock many of the mysteries embedded in the late Dr. Sven Maurer’s notes. He is responsible for training the Hierophant, the Cabalist, the Necromancer, and the Abjurer in the use of the dark magics of the ancients..."
XIAN TZU, the MAGUS is a Spellcaster Cryptonaut that has a focus on blasting enemy monsters into ashes, but also has good utility spells. The Magus is an excellent Spellcaster for nearly any Cryptonaut squad, as his generalized kit of abilities is easily fit into many strategies, and his combat potential is formidable.
ELDRITCH BLAST is the Magus' starting spell, and serves as a straightforward and source of damage that both ignores armor and has very far range.
Xian's second spell, ARCANE BINDING reduces an enemy monster to only one action in a round, and can be cast more than once in a round. This spell is best used on larger, more powerful monsters that are more readily crippled by a reduction of their actions.
AETHER STEP allows Xian to move through solid objects, such as walls and even other Cryptonauts or monsters, allowing him to access generally difficult areas of the Realm or escape dicey combat situations. However, the spell only targets the Magus himself, and so he must be careful not to travel somewhere alone and be isolated and killed by the Goddess' monsters.
MAGICAL SALVO is the Magus' final ability, a Soul Devour ability that requires the consumption of a Soul, and allows Xian to fire three Eldritch Blasts that also knockback any monsters struck, all as a single action. This unleashing of power can quickly reduce even a group of monsters to smoldering remains...
The DEMOLITIONIST from CRYPTIC EXPLORERS is an Expert class Cryptonaut focused on blowing stuff up - both the Goddess' monsters and the Realm's terrain. Edmund Jonas is a retired saboteur that joined the NAUTICUS THINK TANK to put his considerable talents for creating explosions to use against otherworldly threats. His face is horribly disfigured from narrowly surviving many explosions during warfare.
Edmund brings some utility and combat potential to any Cryptonaut squad: the ability to deal a considerable amount of area-of-effect damage, being a strong armored fighter, and the ability to destroy walls and terrain.
The Demolitionist's starting ability BOMB SUIT gives him Armor right from the start of the game, allowing him to immediately enter the fray of combat with hostile monsters feeling nominally protected.
STONESPLITTER CHARGE is the Demolitionist's key ability, allowing him to SOUL DEVOUR (sacrifice a Soul token) to destroy parts of the environment. While useful for destroying Arcane doors and Monoliths in a pinch, the STONESPLITTER CHARGE is typically used to destroy Walls and allows Cryptonauts to enter hard-to-access areas of the Realm much more easily.
AURA GRENADES are another SOUL DEVOUR ability, this time causing monsters to explode, rather than parts of the environment, dealing significant amounts of damage in an area-of-effect, and bypassing Armor with the Piercing modifier. The threat of the AURA GRENADES forces the Goddess to be careful with grouping or swarming her monsters, lest she lose many to a single action from the Demolitionist.
Lastly, REMOTE MINE is a very damaging ranged attack, and also bypasses Armor, but can only be used if the Demolitionist has Prepared that Round. The very threat of this attack allows the Demolitionist to setup his Preparation in a room and make it much more difficult for the Goddess to invade it with monsters, knowing that the first monster that enters his vision will be dealt significant damage...
"As we ventured into the tombs and ossuaries of our land did Her creatures spring forth with a chilling silence, to serve as arbiter to the Beyond, and guardians of the dead and buried. They emerged from the very walls of the crypt we had invaded, surrounding us on all sides with teeth, claws, and spears. We were steadfast in our resolve, our lamps shining on the gleaming bone faces of Her minions, hordes of the she-Devil Sk'Zaak, adorned in ancient jewelry and articles of magical power..."
A work-in-progress preview of SK'ZAAK's Goddess Sheet, one of the three available Goddesses of Death in CRYPTIC EXPLORERS. SK'ZAAK is the Goddess that oversees burial, places of burial (crypts/tombs/etc), and funerary artifacts. Her ETERNAL LIFE ability allows SK'ZAAK to keep monsters alive when they would otherwise be destroyed, costing Cryptonauts precious actions in their attempts to destroy them. ENTOMBED grants SK'ZAAK the ability to summon her minions from Monoliths, allowing her to ambush Cryptonaut squads with the sudden summoning of monsters.
Each Goddess has her own sheet with 2 abilities and 3 attributes, 3 monsters, and deck of 20 Goddess cards - all of which are unique to that Goddess, giving Her many different strategies and builds, and making each Goddess very distinct...
The THANATOLOGIST from CRYPTIC EXPLORERS is a Scientist class Cryptonaut that specializes in the study of DEATH and CESSATION. Mordus Rupinski is a crazed maniac whose obsession with the ending of life has driven him to join the NAUTICUS THINK TANK and enter the Realms of Death in search of a deeper understanding of DEATH itself. Though his teammates find him a madman, Mordus brings a great deal of power to any Cryptonaut squad of which he is a part. As an individual unit, the Thanatologist has average attributes and a shotgun attack, useful for keeping terrifying eldritch beasts away from him - at least briefly. However, being a Scientist, his abilities are what make him stand out and benefit an entire squad of Cryptonauts. The Thanatologist's starting ability, CORPSE CALIBRATORS, ensures that Cryptonauts are able to split up and traverse a Realm of Death in smaller groups, or even individually, and if a squad should succumb to the horrors of the Realm and be killed, the remaining Cryptonauts can remotely loot their bodies for important Soul tokens, Artifact cards, and Knowledge of Death cards without having to fight their way to the corpse. DEATH RUSH is a purely combative support ability, giving the Thanatologist's squad a great deal of recovery from slaying monsters. NECROPOWER SUITS turn the Thanatologist's squad into veritable killing machines when, later in the game, any of them have acquired a Knowledge of Death card, needed to power the black science of the suits. Lastly, the Thanatologist's DEMATERIALIZING DEVICE is an incredibly powerful ability for quickly and painlessly destroying a monster, and is best used against larger and more formidable targets. Being a very powerful ability, the device consumes a Soul token when activated, a process known as SOUL DEVOURING...
Further work in progress on the excellent Cryptonaut sheet designs that will be used in CRYPTIC EXPLORERS...
As we continue to balance the game, we are also creating the finalized graphic designs and imagery for the final copies of the game.
The suits and character portraits are now very crisp, correctly proportioned to give the suit an exosuit-like bulk and size, more icons have been added for abilities, some have changed, and the general layout of the component improved. We will likely be changing the ability font to a non-serif to make it a bit easier to read when white on black.
On the back of each Cryptonaut sheet will be a large-scale, crisp, beautiful image of that class' unique Cryptonaut suit design. This allows players to randomly select squads of Cryptonauts, if desired, but still gives an indication of which type of class they are selecting. It also allows for a crisp, large image of the suits for aesthetic enjoyment.
This is the Sniper, a Mercenary class Cryptonaut. There are four Cryptonaut classes in the game: Mercenary, Spellcaster, Expert, and Scientist, with 8 Cryptonauts of each class, for a total of 32 included, and so there are many possible combinations of Cryptonauts for building your squad.
We will post an example of each Cryptonaut class soon, as their sheets are completed, to show the different iconography and suit designs unique to each class...
