THE FILAMENT
the city. One long ribbon of neon through permanent dark. Nobody remembers daylight; neon is the only light source anyone has ever painted it with. (This is why the game and all marketing are always night.)
FLUX
the energy in the crystals, and the name of the league that replaced the war. When something living takes too much flux, it changes. When something mechanical takes too much, it wakes up.
THE BROWNOUT WARS
the old wars over the crystal seams. They ended not in victory but in blackout: the city realised it was burning the very thing it was fighting for. (Champion dossiers already reference these wars — Moss "stood through four wars and got up during the fifth"; Lyra "ran a field hospital until the war moved on." That fifth war was the last Brownout War.)
THE FLUX ACCORD
the ceasefire that turned war into sport. Its three lines are carved over every arena gate: NO CHEATS. NO DISPUTES. ONLY THE OUTCOME. (This is why every ranked result in the game is server-certified — the Accord is literal.)
BLUE SIDE / RED SIDE
the two halves of the Filament, one on each bank of the old crystal seam. Every citizen is born, or signs, onto a Side. Their colours are the only flags left.
THE CORES
before each match, both Sides charge a crystal core with the stakes of the dispute. Cores are defended by towers and minions because they are worth defending: when a core shatters, the matter is settled, the shards are swept, and the next dispute is scheduled. The war that never has to happen again is fought every night.
THE CHARGED
the 56 fighters. Flux exposure changed them: furnace- tenders who walked out of fires carrying them (Pyra), capacitors that woke up angry (Volt), siege platforms that read their own decommission papers and disagreed (Vantar-9), a forest that got up (Moss), medics who got bored when the war ended (Lyra). Anyone — anyone — the flux has touched can register with the league, pick a Side, and fight. Half-human, half-machine, one glowing cyber-eye, a lit sigil on the chest: the sigil is their league registration, worn like a fighter's licence.
FRAGMENT REPRISE
Vaskir, the First Edge, carries what the academy's first sword left behind when it broke. His Backhand throws those fragments into whoever it strikes, and they burn there, amber and plainly visible, until his next cut calls them home. Coming back, they pass straight through the champion who holds them, and what they tear loose mends the one who threw them. Every Charged who has fought him learns the same lesson: when the shards are in you, stay out of reach.
CLOSE STEEL, LONG FIRE
the Charged fight with what the flux left in their hands. Those who carry a sword, claws or nothing but their own fists fight hand to hand: they have to cross the distance, and when they arrive they hit harder than anyone in the arena. Those who carry a staff, an orb, a blaster or a cannon — and every medic and mender — fight from range and never need to get close. Most nights are decided by who reaches whom.
THE LEAGUE LADDER
the league grades every fighter's licence: DRONE → CIRCUIT → NETRUNNER → SPECTER → OVERCLOCK → SYNTHETIC → APEX. (These are the ranked tiers in-game — in-world, they are licence grades. An Apex licence is the rarest object in the city.)
THE ARENA KEEPERS
the golems (rage, guard, gold, phase) are old war machines repurposed as arena groundskeepers. They patrol the jungle carrying prize-charges of flux; fighters who take them down take the charge. OMEGA is the oldest machine in the city — a relic of the Brownout Wars that sleeps under the Conquest arena and is woken, deliberately, mid-match, because the crowd demands it.
BATTLE PROTOCOLS
Accord-sanctioned combat subroutines a fighter may load before a match. One per fighter.
V-MONEY
the league's coin, paid out on victories, spent on the fighter's look. The whole city trades in it on fight nights.
SEASONS
the league runs in seasons. SEASON 1: NEON DAWN is the first season since the Accord was signed — the first fights ever broadcast to both Sides at once. (This is why "live match" feeds and spectate links exist: every match is broadcast.)
THE TAGLINE
"War became sport. The lights stayed on."