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Sequences
May 31, 2026 at 07:38 AM
Hedged the launch Sequence cap, named high-Sequence bands, and live-service timeline as unconfirmed source-material
Sequences are the 10-rung progression ladder that runs from Sequence 9 (entry) to Sequence 0 (god-tier) on every Pathway. A Beyonder starts at Sequence 9 and advances upward by drinking the next potion and surviving its digestion. Counter-intuitively, a higher Sequence number is a lower power tier: Sequence 9 is the bottom rung, Sequence 0 is the apex.
The system originates with the source material and is preserved in the game adaptation. In the Crimson Test (February 2026), the Sequence cap is set at the lower three Sequences for testing purposes; full Sequence reach toward Sequence 0 unlocks during live patches after launch.
Beyonder Sequences are grouped into named power bands. The names give a quick read on a Beyonder's relative power level without needing to memorise every Sequence-by-Sequence Archetype name.
Sequence 9 to 7 (Low Sequences): freshly minted Beyonders. Most named NPCs the player meets in Tingen sit here. Manageable sanity cost; the Sequence 7 ritual ceremony is a meaningful but routinely-survivable ordeal.
Sequence 6 to 4 (Mid-to-High Sequences): seasoned operatives. The bulk of Nighthawk field officers sit here. Sanity costs spike. Higher-tier abilities require Sequence-tier rituals between potion digestions.
Sequence 4 to 1 (Demigods): operate in the Gray Fog and the high-density mysticism districts. Power tier becomes mythological. NPCs of this tier are setpiece bosses or quest-givers, not random encounters.
Sequence 0 (True Gods): in the source material, the named gods of the world (the deities at the top of every Pathway, one per Pathway). In the source material's framing these are the 'Outer Gods' or 'Ancient Sun God-tier' entities; in-game they appear only in cinematics, Mr. Fool visions, and apex-tier story moments.
Advancing from one Sequence to the next requires four conditions:
1. Possess a brewed Beyonder potion of the next Sequence on the player's current Pathway. See Potions and Ingredients for the ingredient and brewing process.
2. Reach the Acting Method threshold for the current Sequence's Archetype. The player must roleplay their current Sequence well enough that the next potion does not destabilise them.
3. Hit minimum sanity for the ceremony. Drink the potion at low sanity and the digestion punishes the player heavily; some Sequences are unsafe to attempt below the Calm band.
4. Complete the Sequence-specific advancement ritual. Each Pathway has a thematic ritual (the Seer performs a divination at midnight; the Apprentice cracks a sealed lock at a hidden gate; the Spectator reads the dreams of a sleeping crowd). Story content surfaces these rituals as quest objectives.
Each Sequence advancement unlocks new Beyonder abilities, expands the maximum sanity pool, raises gear-tier eligibility, and shifts the player's Acting Method Archetype to the new Sequence's role. The new Archetype's behaviours score Acting; the previous Archetype no longer does. This is why pathway-switching is rare: a Beyonder's identity is the Archetype they perform, and changing Sequences changes the role.
Visual changes are also part of the system. A Sequence 8 Clown looks different from a Sequence 9 Seer: outfits shift toward circus-flavoured silks, the character's gait carries more theatrical bounce, and the in-game weapon prop changes from a divination cane to a juggler's set. Players can toggle the visual change off if they prefer to keep their Sequence 9 look, but the Archetype and ability changes are mechanical and cannot be opted out of.
A Beyonder who fails the next-Sequence ritual or who suffers severe sanity loss can regress: drop a Sequence rank, lose access to the higher-tier abilities, and have to rebuild Acting before re-attempting. Regression is a mechanic, not a permadeath: the game keeps the player's progression history and re-attempting the ceremony rewards a slight Acting bonus from the second attempt.
Severe failures (drink at zero sanity, attempt without a ritual completed, attempt the wrong-Pathway potion) can transform the character into a Beyonder Monster, the worst-case state. This is a story-locked, recoverable corruption. See Sanity System for the madness-state details.
The Crimson Test caps progression at the lower three Sequences for each playable Pathway. Confirmed reach for the three Pathways publicly confirmed at the time of the Crimson Test:
Seer Pathway: Sequence 9 Seer, Sequence 8 Clown, Sequence 7 Magician.
Apprentice Pathway: Sequence 9 Apprentice, Sequence 8 Trickmaster.
Spectator Pathway: Sequence 9 Spectator, Sequence 8 Telepathist, Sequence 7 Psychiatrist.
Public dev framing around May 2026 suggested the game's full launch (targeted for Q4 2026) would cap player progression near the mid Sequences across the available Pathways. The exact launch Sequence cap has not been officially confirmed. In the source material, the mid Sequences sit in the documented Sequence band structure: shape-shifting infiltrators on the Seer Pathway (Sequence 6 Faceless), the dawn-light combat conjurations on the Warrior Pathway (Sequence 6 Dawn Knight), and the equivalent mid-tier Archetype on every other Pathway. Which of these are reachable at launch has not been confirmed.
This cap is significantly higher than the lower-three-Sequence ceiling of the Crimson Test, but well below the demigod tiers (Sequence 4 through Sequence 1). Sequence 0 god-tier remains exclusively NPC and cinematic territory for the canonical Klein Moretti and the world's other Sequence 0 deities.
Post-launch live-service patches will introduce Sequence 4-tier and higher world bosses and raid antagonists. The studio has indicated that higher-Sequence bosses are planned for future updates atop the existing raid and world-boss ladder. Boss-tier expansion is decoupled from the player Sequence cap raise: a Sequence 4 boss can appear in the game world while players remain capped at Sequence 6, with the encounter scaled to require full-trinity raid composition rather than relying on player power tier.
The studio has described a multi-year live-service plan to roll the story out over time; the exact duration has not been confirmed. The story is intended to eventually cover the entire original web novel arc. Sequence cap raises, Pathway additions, and boss-tier expansions will all roll out across that window. Players entering at launch should expect a steady cadence of high-Sequence content rather than a single rapid cap raise.
