The Writhen

Who are the Writhen

The Writhen are a nomadic tribe and the playable faction in Blight: Survival. They were cast out from their kingdom after being accused of causing the Blight, "or so the kingdom claims." That qualifier matters. Whether the Writhen actually had anything to do with the Blight's emergence or were simply a convenient scapegoat is part of the game's background lore. What's clear is that they were blamed and forced into exile.

Their mission

The Writhen roam the world hoping to rid it of the Blight so they can return home and reclaim their land. This puts them in an awkward position: the two warring kingdoms, paralyzed by their ceaseless conflict, turned to the Writhen as the only people willing to venture into No Man's Land and fight the infection. The same people who exiled them now need them. The Writhen are tasked to venture forth and eradicate the all-consuming Blight, a mission born from both desperation and the hope of redemption.

Visual identity

The 2025 developer updates mentioned "significant strides in worldbuilding and visual identity, refining the look and tone of the human factions like the Writhen." This suggests the Writhen have a distinct visual culture, separate from the two warring kingdoms, reflecting their nomadic lifestyle and their unique relationship with the Blight. As exiles surviving in the margins, their equipment and appearance likely show improvisation and practical adaptation rather than the formal military aesthetics of the kingdoms' armies.

Gameplay role

All player characters are Writhen. There are no character classes. Instead, each player builds their Writhen through equipment choices, attribute allocation (Skill, Endurance, Vitality), and playstyle preference. The hub camp is the Writhen's base of operations, where they craft gear, prepare for missions, and form parties for co-op runs. Every Writhen starts equal. How they develop is entirely up to the player.

Bloodline system

When a Writhen dies in the field, they're dead. The game uses permadeath. But not everything is lost. Through the bloodline system, some accumulated experience carries over to the player's next character, described as the fallen Writhen's "next of kin" who carries on the legacy of the bloodline. The new character inherits a fraction of what the old one learned but starts with no gear. This creates a sense of family legacy across multiple generations of Writhen, where each death isn't just a failure but a passage of hard-won knowledge to the next in line.

The Writhen and the world

The broader lore positions the Writhen as outsiders to the central conflict. They didn't start the war. They may not have started the Blight. But they're the ones dealing with the consequences while the two kingdoms continue their pointless conflict. This underdog positioning gives the player characters a motivation that's personal rather than heroic. The Writhen aren't saving the world out of nobility. They're doing it because it's the only way home.