Darkness and Collapse

Heroic XIV unlocks Collapse at 50,000,000,000 Essence. Collapse also requires a positive Dark Matter award and cannot be used in jail. It opens Dark Ascendancy and Darkness progression, then becomes the bridge to the Metaverse.

Collapse award

Let $E$ be current Essence and $x=E/(5\times10^{10})$. No award is available while $x<1$. Otherwise:

$$\operatorname{DM}=\left\lfloor x^{1.12}\left(1+0.15\log_{10}x\right)M_{\mathrm{DM}} \right\rfloor.$$

The base award is 1 at the threshold and 15 at ten times the threshold. $M_{\mathrm{DM}}$ multiplies Gravitational Hunger, an active Heart of the Abyss, Doctrine V, Darkness IV, and Darkness XII where applicable. The later Dark Matter Altar adds another factor during Metaverse progression. Extreme results saturate at the largest finite value.

The award increases three separate records:

• Current Dark Matter: the spendable balance.
• Lifetime Dark Matter: the permanent value used by milestones and unlocks.
• This run: gross Dark Matter earned across every Collapse since the last Metaverse entry.

Purchases reduce only current Dark Matter. They never lower lifetime or run earnings.

Collapse reset

Collapse clears age, death state, copper, Evil, Essence, the selected class, ability, and property, active miscellaneous possessions, every available normal and Great task’s level, maximum, and XP, ordinary requirement caches, and all Echo focuses and assignments. The fresh selections are Beggar, Concentration, and Homeless.

It keeps current, lifetime, and run Dark Matter; Collapse count; Dark Orbs; generator and Orb-upgrade ranks; doctrine choices; Great promotions and archived normal records; Great item conversions; Evil Perk Points and ranks; milestone completion; Mastery discoveries, worked peaks, and effects; Resonance memories; achievements; rebirth counters; settings; Shop Steward configuration; and Chronicle history. Coin-balance requirements for later possessions must be earned again, while their lifetime-Dark-Matter requirements remain satisfied.

Dark Ascendancy classes

Class	Lifetime Dark Matter	Base max XP	Base copper/day
Eclipse Heir	1	$10^{29}$	$10^{18}$
Null Regent	30	$10^{31}$	$5\times10^{19}$
Abyssal Imperator	300	$10^{33}$	$2.5\times10^{21}$
Sovereign Beyond Creation	3,000	$10^{35}$	$10^{23}$
The Last Authority	30,000	$10^{37}$	$5\times10^{24}$

These classes can become Great in order; each class after Eclipse Heir requires the preceding Great class at level 20. Their complete entries also appear in the class catalog.

Darkness abilities

Every Darkness effect uses $1+c\log_{10}(L+1)$ and a base max XP of 100.

Ability	Lifetime Dark Matter	Coefficient $c$	Effect
Shadow Discipline	3	1	All ability XP
Gravitational Hunger	10	$2/3$	Dark Matter gain
Deathless Momentum	25	$1/3$	All XP
Soul Eclipse	100	$2/3$	Essence gain
Arcana Unbound	1,000	$4/3$	Magic XP
Blinded By Darkness	10,000	$1/3$	All XP

Deathless Momentum unlocks independently at 25 lifetime Dark Matter rather than through a named milestone. Darkness IX doubles XP for this ability family. Great promotion follows the same within-family level-20 chain. See the ability catalog for the combined list.

Dark Orbs

Darkness III at 10 lifetime Dark Matter unlocks A Miracle and all four Orb upgrades. A Miracle has ten ranks. Buying rank $r+1$ costs $\lceil3^r\rceil$ Dark Matter: 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729, 2,187, 6,561, then 19,683.

$$\operatorname{Orbs/day}=0.01(2^r-1)\left(1+0.25\sqrt{D}\right)M_{11},$$

where $D$ is lifetime Dark Matter and $M_{11}=1.5$ after Darkness XI, otherwise $1$. Rank 0 produces nothing. Generation advances only during active, alive, unjailed play, is quoted per in-game day, and has no offline progress.

Each Orb upgrade has ten ranks and next-rank cost $B\times4^r$ Dark Orbs:

Upgrade	Base cost $B$	Effect per rank
Enchanted Orbs	10	+25% Magic XP
Essence Orbs	25	+20% Essence gain
Prosperity Orbs	50	+25% income
Warp Orbs	100	+5% warp

Dark Orbs, generator rank, and all four upgrade ranks survive Collapse.

Doctrines

Each doctrine unlocks from lifetime Dark Matter and charges spendable Dark Matter for its branch. Only one branch per doctrine can be owned. To switch, clear the current branch and repurchase; clearing never refunds its cost. Choices survive Collapse and all relevant effects multiply.

Doctrine	Unlock	Cost	Branch A	Branch B
I	1	10	×1.5 warp, ×0.9 Essence	×1.5 lifespan, ×0.9 Evil
II	100	30	×2 class XP, ×0.9 income	×2 ability XP, ×0.9 income
III	1,000	100	×1.5 Essence, ×0.9 Evil	×1.5 Evil, ×0.9 Essence
IV	10,000	300	×2 all XP, ×0.75 income	×2 income, ×0.75 all XP
V	300,000	1,000	×1.5 Dark Matter, ×0.9 Essence	×1.5 Essence, ×0.9 Dark Matter

Metaverse perks can later remove drawbacks, permit both branches, or restore doctrine selections between runs. See Chronicle for all thirteen permanent Darkness rewards.