aetherbound-guild/docs/content/REGION_CATALOG.md

Region Catalog

Exact count: eight regions. Regions provide minimal world framing and a progression of encounter grammars. Narrative scope is environmental pressure, guild route work, and recoverable run consequences.

Shared Region Structure

Each region contains ordinary fights, one elite route, one hazard route, one shop-pressure route, and two bosses. A first-clear run confronts one boss per region; the alternate boss enters later runs and high-difficulty route pools. Enemy identity counts are not encounter counts: an encounter composes two to five identities under the region grammar.

Previews disclose enemy IDs, order, arrival rules, hazard tags, reward family, and retreat consequence. Variants may change level or palette but never hide a new mechanic. Region transitions expand counterfactuals instead of applying a universal stat step.

Region Matrix

ID	Region and minimal framing	New behavior and build pressure	Encounter grammar and progression	Content assignment	Production needs
RG-01	Windglass Verge; open grass terraces where suspended mineral panes redirect aether gusts. The guild charts a safe trade crossing.	Introduces front-to-rear reach, basic protection, visible projectile screens, and simple pushes. Pressures the player to field a front holder without making one profession mandatory.	Two-threat tutorials become three-unit compositions; glass-wind hazard telegraphs a push one cadence ahead. Shops emphasize EQ-001..EQ-040; first clear opens all base profession shop weights.	EN-R1-01..EN-R1-12; BO-R1-01..BO-R1-02; artifacts AR-001..AR-008.	E/P/A/V/S/M: bright terrace layers, wind direction shapes, 12 silhouette kits, two boss scale kits, calm-to-gale music stem.
RG-02	Siltwake Fens; reed channels carry luminous sediment between movable banks. The guild reopens seasonal ferry paths.	Introduces pulls, position-indexed hazards, hindrance expiry, and healing denial. Pressures stable order versus deliberate movement.	Tide markers shift the safe line index after a disclosed countdown; enemy pairs exploit whichever end the player leaves unsupported. Shops add EQ-041..EQ-080; route rewards add AR-009..AR-015.	EN-R2-01..EN-R2-12; BO-R2-01..BO-R2-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: layered reeds/waterline, non-color tide notches, wet movement family, low pulse/hazard events, reed-and-drum tension stem.
RG-03	Emberloom Works; communal kilns weave heat through old ceramic conduits. The guild prevents cascading pressure faults.	Introduces constructs, delayed bursts, item cooldown attacks, and Heat-like self-cost patterns. Pressures timing protection and device removal.	Every encounter declares one pressure valve position; occupying, vacating, or crossing it changes a known countdown. Shops add EQ-081..EQ-120; rewards add AR-016..AR-022.	EN-R3-01..EN-R3-12; BO-R3-01..BO-R3-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: kiln layers, pressure gauges readable without color, construct/hot-metal families, vent captions, struck-clay industrial stem.
RG-04	Quillroot Archive; living root shelves preserve route contracts as changing leaf patterns. The guild restores public navigation copies.	Introduces copied actions, target redirection, cleanse traps, and rule-text enemies. Pressures source diversity and inspection rather than raw output.	Encounters choose one disclosed archive clause: repeat, alternate, or preserve. Enemies reward obeying or deliberately breaking it. Shops add EQ-121..EQ-160; rewards add AR-023..AR-030.	EN-R4-01..EN-R4-12; BO-R4-01..BO-R4-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: root stacks and leaf-script shapes, copy/erase motion family, paper/wood events with captions, plucked-string puzzle stem.
RG-05	Tideglass Reach; salt flats hold mirror pools that repeat silhouettes out of sequence. The guild stabilizes rescue beacons.	Introduces decoys, delayed copies, rearmost intrusion, and identity-versus-footprint rules. Pressures legal target filters and rear recovery.	Preview distinguishes source from echo with shape and timing; some routes start with an empty rear arrival index. Shops add EQ-161..EQ-200; rewards add AR-031..AR-037.	EN-R5-01..EN-R5-13; BO-R5-01..BO-R5-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: high-contrast salt/mirror layers, source/echo silhouette treatment, reflection timing VFX, water-glass events, reversed motif stem.
RG-06	Skyrail Orchard; fruit terraces hang from slow freight rails crossing strong updrafts. The guild makes harvest routes dependable.	Introduces moving enemy order, airborne untargetability windows, falling arrivals, and contested center. Pressures flexible reach and action reservation.	Rail cars announce two future stops; enemies board or leave only at a shown stop. Rewards improve when the player preserves cargo footprints. Shops add EQ-201..EQ-240; rewards add AR-038..AR-045.	EN-R6-01..EN-R6-13; BO-R6-01..BO-R6-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: orchard/rail parallax, stop glyphs, board/leap/fall families, rail clack with haptic-safe caption, airy string/percussion stem.
RG-07	Nightcurrent Basin; dark water channels reveal only what luminous current touches. The guild maps safe night crossings.	Introduces forecast denial that must be actively revealed, resource theft, linked enemy circuits, and mixed-damage retaliation. Pressures scouting tools and diversified resource loops.	One visible current sweeps front to rear; it reveals a hidden action category before the action can become major. The player always has at least one non-item reveal route. Shops add EQ-241..EQ-280; rewards add AR-046..AR-052.	EN-R7-01..EN-R7-13; BO-R7-01..BO-R7-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: dark-but-readable basin layers, luminance-safe reveal shapes, current-link VFX, sonar-like captions, sparse bass-to-bright reveal stem.
RG-08	Crown of Morn; the high route nexus folds all prior currents through a ring of dawnlit stone. The guild completes a stable public circuit.	Synthesizes push/pull, expiry, constructs, copies, echoes, rail timing, and reveal without adding an undisclosed immunity. Pressures role redundancy, replacement depth, and adapting across consecutive fights.	Routes present two known grammars at once and one choice of recovery versus counter reward. Boss preview names every inherited rule source. Shops add EQ-281..EQ-320; rewards add AR-053..AR-060; clearing either boss completes the first-clear route and opens alternate-boss mastery paths.	EN-R8-01..EN-R8-13; BO-R8-01..BO-R8-02.	E/P/A/V/S/M: dawn nexus with eight readable current motifs, synthesis action families, motif-specific captions, layered reprise music with reduced-density mix.

Encounter Composition Rules

Region band	Ordinary composition	Elite composition	Anti-filler requirement
RG-01..RG-02	Two or three identities; at most one delayed arrival.	Three identities with one elite row and one readable synergy.	A composition must change which end, target, or timing the player protects.
RG-03..RG-04	Three or four identities; one region object or clause.	One elite plus two older identities whose rules interact with it.	At least two rational response tags appear in preview.
RG-05..RG-06	Three to five identities; source/footprint and arrival order explicit.	One elite, one region support, and one pressure identity from an earlier region.	Removing the elite must change target or order logic, not only durability.
RG-07..RG-08	Four or five identities; one disclosed synthesis pair.	One or two elites with a recovery or reward tradeoff.	No encounter may require a single profession or exact item ID.

Bosses use their own identity rows rather than scaled elite variants. No boss is a unique recruit, social gate, or source of individual voice content.

Progression And Revisit Rules

• First clear visits regions in numeric order so each grammar receives an isolated introduction before synthesis.
• Later runs may branch between two unlocked adjacent regions, with previewed shop band and enemy grammar. Route order never rerolls locked offers.
• Each region adds item and artifact breadth; it does not remove earlier legal counters.
• Ordinary enemies may recur outside their home region only when the encounter preview names the imported rule. Elites and bosses remain home-region identities.
• Difficulty layers shorten safe timing, alter compositions, or combine known rules. They may not hide telegraphs, add immunity by palette, or inflate a row into a new identity.
• Region completion records encountered IDs, defeated IDs, and counter tags used. It grants breadth and mastery routes, not compulsory flat power.