Skrem 7
| ENEMY STAFF | |
 Heretic |
Access: Wherever your job has access to Additional Access: Wherever you can break into or teleport to. Difficulty: HARD Supervisors: Yourself, probably. Duties: Study influences, sacrifice targets, internally scream as your time schedule becomes smaller and smaller Guides: This is the guide. Quote: ADMINS HALP HOW DO I SACRIFICE PEOPLE |
"The Nightwatcher. The Priest. The Vermin Duke. Three who saw their lives drawn into the Mansus, and rose higher for it. The ethereal plane always shifts and changes, working to find new influences, new students. Now, like us, you are aware. Mortality is a shell you wish to cleanse. Open the book, and learn how."
So you're a heretic? Well, get ready for some magic and battle. Grab those influences, make some sacrifices, and ascend as an immortal Long.
Basics
You are a nasty little bookworm in search of truth and power, and you have arrived on a station ripe with opportunities. The ultimate goal of a heretic, aside from completing their standard traitor objectives, is to gain power points to unlock their abilities.
You can increase your power in two ways: harvesting magic energies from the eldritch influences around the station, or by sacrificing any crew members to feed your research. To aid this task, you start with two items and a spell:
The Codex Cicatrix, used to draw runes and research.
The Living Heart, used to transmute and find your targets.
Mansus Grasp, a modular spell that, without upgrades, lets you touch a target to cause knockdown and light burn damage on a 15 second cooldown. As you grow in power, your grasp will gain additional effects.
All of these are critical to your ascension, so don't lose them, and keep them hidden from security! Should you lose these occult items, you can transmute new ones using your victims, and items around the station.
- In order to transmute a new Codex Cicatrix, you'll need human flesh, a pair of eyes, a bible, and a pen.
- Transmuting a new Living Heart requires a new heart, a splatter of blood, and a poppy flower.
Influences are the easy way to gain power points. Whenever there are heretics aboard Space Station 13, influences will randomly spawn across the station after sometime into the shift. Initially, influences flicker with bursts of energy similar to electricity, have randomized names, and can only be seen by heretics. To harvest an influence, simply hit it with your codex and remain still for four seconds. After being harvested, the influence will lose it's electric-like bursts, gain a yellow glow with a rainbow border originating from the middle, change their name to pierced reality, and become visible to the entire crew. Influences can only be harvested once, so don't waste time trying to collect those that other heretics have already taken!
An already harvested influence. Notice the glow.
Once you have some power points, it's time to research! Simply use your codex in-hand to open the research menu and spend your points on abilities. The research menu forms a branching tree (see below), and your first selection will be to commit to a lore (also known as a path). Your lore determines what special abilities your Mansus grasp and Heretic blade may have. In addition, it ultimately decides the ascension you will be able to achieve. When you choose your path, you will immediately gain your associated Heretic blade. Otherwise, you are free to gain any research within the tiers; you need three of a tier before you're able to claim your lore-specific upgrade and unlock the next tier of research.
Eventually, you'll need to start using proper magics. By hitting any empty tile with your codex, you'll begin to draw a transmutation rune, which takes 8 seconds. These runes are green and take up a 3x3 area, and while they can go under other objects, it's best to keep them clear for transmutation purposes. You can remove runes by hitting them with your codex again, and freely use other heretics' runes. To transmute, simply click the rune with an empty hand while the appropriate object(s) are on top of it, making sure that nothing else is in the way. You can only have one transmutation rune active at once, so creating a new one will destroy the old one.
The Heretic Blade will be your first unlocked research. It can be created by transmuting a common knife with a secondary ingredient based on your path, and serves as a powerful melee weapon. As with the Mansus Grasp, your blade will be upgraded by your research over time. If you lose your blade, simply transmute a new one. A shank can be quickly crafted and used in all transmuting ingredients to make a new Heretic blade. While you do begin your path to ascension with one, it can help to make more, as shattering one can providing a quick escape to a random, safe part of the Z-level. It takes two seconds to break the blade, so make sure you have the time to do so!
In addition, the blade has the added benefit of shield-breaking and a ranged option. If your blade manages to strike a target who carries a shield, the shield will be destroyed. Furthermore, the blade can be used as a ranged hook on a 3-second cooldown. Hitting a target pulls them to you and immobilizes them for a very short duration: just enough to let you get a hit in. With good good, armor penetration, and wound chance, the blade is your bread-and-butter of dealing with unsavory individuals.
The most important use of your rune is sacrificing. To get a sacrifice target, drop your living heart onto a rune and transmute it with nothing else present, making sure your codex is in your inventory. You'll be given a target, and can then squeeze your living heart by using it in-hand to get a vague idea of where your target is as well as if there's anyone around them. Kill them, drag them back to a rune, and transmute their body along side your living heart to messily sacrifice them and earn a power point. They might show up later, but don't worry! They won't have any memory of your brutal murder, so you don't have to worry about them ratting on you to security.
Between influences and sacrifices, you'll eventually unlock more and more abilities; the last ability will be your ascension, which guarantees a greentext and gives you massively powerful benefits or transformations. Once you've ascended, all that's left is to unleash your fury upon the crew! Use all of your powers to slaughter everybody who dares stand up to you, or just bask in your dark glory.
Lore and Paths
There are different aspects of the arcane to which you can devote yourself. While all rituals and spells can be learned, your first and most important choice will decide how your weapon and grasp 
will evolve, and how your final ascension will transform you.
| Path | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Path of Ash | Nightwatcher's Secret | Ash is the principle of spirit and ambition, and the everlasting flame that burns bright with the kindling of life. You will become more resistant to heat and several of your abilities will involve fire. As your Mansus grasp gains the ability to fling, this path is best suited for direct combat. As setting individuals on fire is very powerful and this path is the most basic in how its abilities function, it's often recommended for beginners. Your ascension will make you indifferent to most environmental hazards, as well as granting you massive, fiery area-of-effects. |
| Path of Flesh | Principle of Hunger | Flesh is the principle of temptation and obedience, and the malformation of will. No doubt the most difficult path, your Mansus grasp and blade upgrades will focus on bleeding out targets. However, uniquely, your Mansus grasp will be able to revive dead bodies into ghouls that will serve you. While you aren't able to sustain many, they still serve as unique allies when you would otherwise only be able to wholly rely on yourself. Your ascension permits you to either metamorphosize as something greater, or summon something lesser, yet still grand to serve you. |
| Path of Rust | Blacksmith's Tale | Rust is the principle of that which makes and unmakes, and the slow decline of all things civilized. The most well-rounded path, your Mansus grasp will rust surfaces, or destroy rusted surfaces, granting you significant access. Its massive damage to non-organic matter also grants you a significant advantage over any silicons who might interfere with your research. Your blade can later work to destroy someone's equipment, or inject them with a reagent that will poison them. Your ascension spreads rust from your rite site, as well as granting you significantly more self-healing while you stand on rusted tiles. |
Abilities
Below is a table with all your abilities. Each Lore-specific upgrade will be available after gaining three research of the previous tier. This means you need three tier one abilities before you can claim your Grasp Mark, then three tier two abilities before you can claim your Blade Upgrade. As it follows, three tier three abilities are required before you unlock your Ascension Rite.
Note that while some tiered abilities are along their respective, flavored paths, they are NOT required for progression within your chosen lore. You could theoretically only acquire miscellaneous research and unlock each milestone through the progression, including your ascension rite.
You can NEVER gain the Lore, Path Grasp, Grasp Mark, Blade Upgrade, or Ascension Rite of a path different from the one you have chosen.
| Progression | Path of Ash | Path of Flesh | Path of Rust | Miscellaneous Research | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LORE | Nightwatcher's Secret | Principle of Hunger | Blacksmith's Tale | The Nightwatcher | The Priest | The Empress |
|
 Pledge yourself to Ash. Transmute a knife with a pile of ash for an ashen blade. Gain 40% heat resistance. |
 Pledge yourself to Flesh. Transmute a knife and a pool of blood into a flesh blade. |
 Pledge yourself to Rust. Transmute a knife and a trash item into a rusty blade. |
File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png |
| PATH GRASP | Grasp of Ash | Grasp of Flesh | Grasp of Rust | The Shrouded One | The Gravekeeper | The Vermin Duke |
|
|
Empowers your Mansus grasp to throw enemies away from you. |
Your Mansus grasp now raises dead humanoids into subservient ghouls if they are not mindshielded or husked. It will husk the person it's used on. |
Your Mansus grasp now deals 500 damage to inorganic matter, rusts any surface it's used on, while destroying any surface that is already rusty. |
File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png |
| TIER ONE | Ashen Shift | Imperfect Ritual | Leeching Walk | Eldritch Essense | Eldritch Medallion | Eldritch Armor |
 A very short-range jaunt that can help you escape from bad situations or navigate past obstacles. Range is about 5-6 tiles. |
 Allows you to resurrect a humanoid body as a Voiceless Dead by transmuting them with a poppy. Voiceless Dead are mute and have 50 HP. You can only have two at a time. |
 Passively heals you when you are on rusted tiles. |
 Allows you to craft a flask of eldritch essence by transmuting a water tank. The reagent will heal you and damage those not linked to the Mansus. |
 Allows you to craft an eldritch amulet by transmuting a pair of eyes with a glass shard. When worn, the amulet will give you thermal vision. |
 Allows you to craft a set of eldritch armor by transmuting a table and a gas mask. The robes significantly reduce most incoming damage. | |
| GRASP MARK | Touch of the Spark | Lover's Exsanguination | Ruin of Welfare | The Betrayed | The Lover | The Blacksmith |
|
|
Your Mansus grasp now applies a mark on hit. Use your ashen blade to detonate the mark, which causes burning that can spread to nearby targets, decreasing in damage with each jump. |
Your Mansus grasp now applies a mark on hit. Use your flesh blade to detonate the mark, which causes significant bleeding on the target. |
Your Mansus grasp now applies a mark on hit. Use your rusty blade to detonate the mark, which has a chance to deal between 0 to 200 damage to 75% of your target's items. |
File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png |
| TIER TWO | Curse of Blindness | Raw Ritual | Aggressive Spread | Curse of Corrosion | Curse of Paralysis | Blood Siphon |
 Curse someone with two minutes of complete blindness by transmuting a pair of eyes, a screwdriver, and a pool of blood with an object that the victim has touched with their bare hands. |
 Allows you to summon a Raw Prophet by transmuting a pair of eyes, a left arm and a right arm. Raw Prophets have massive sight range with X-ray, and they can sustain a telepathic network. However, they are very fragile and weak. |
 An instant spell that spreads rust onto nearby tiles, destroying any already rusted. |
 Curse someone with two minutes of vomiting and major organ damage by transmuting a wirecutter, a spill of blood, a heart, a left arm, and a right arm with an item that the victim has touched with their bare hands. |
 Curse someone with five minutes of an inability to walk by transmuting a knife, a pool of blood, a left leg, a right leg, and a hatchet with an item that the victim touched with their bare hands. |
 A touch spell that drains a target's health and restores yours. | |
| BLADE UPGRADE | Blade of the City Guard | Talons of the Sworn | Memento of Decay | The City Guard | The Sworn | The Drifter |
|
|
Your ashen blade will now ignite targets, adding two firestacks as well. |
Your flesh blade will now cause additional bleeding on hit. |
Your rusted blade now injects eldritch essence on hit. |
File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png |
| TIER THREE | Flame Birth | Lonely Ritual | Entropic Plume | Cleave | Ashen Ritual | Rusted Ritual |
 A healing-damage spell that saps the life from those on fire nearby, killing any who are in a critical condition. Heals ten of each damage type per target. |
 Allows you to summon a Stalker by transmuting a knife, a candle, a pen, and a piece of paper. Stalkers can shapeshift into harmless animals and emit EMPs. |
 A cone spell that expels a befuddling plume that rusts tiles, then blinds, poisons, and forces targets to strike each other. |
 A powerful ranged spell that causes heavy bleeding and blood loss in an area around your target. |
 You can now summon an Ashman by transmuting a pile of ash, a head, and a book. Ashmen have powerful offensive abilities and access to the Ashen Shift spell. |
 You can now summon a Rustwalker transmuting a vomit pool and a book. Rustwalkers are capable of spreading rust and have a strong, short-ranged projectile attack. | |
| ASCENSION RITE | Amgala's Ruin | Priest’s Final Hymn | Fallen Empress' Pathology | The Sanguine Horde | The Owl | The Harbringer |
|
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 Transmute three corpses to ascend as an Ashbringer. You will become immune to environmental hazards and grow more resistant to damage. You will additionally gain a spell that creates a massive burst of fire and another spell that creates a cloak of flames around you. |
 Transmute three corpses to ascend by metamorphisizing as a Thirstly Serpent, or ascend instead by summoning a Lavish Serpent, tripling your ghoul maximum, and becoming incredibly resilient to damage. |
Transmute three corpses to ascend as a Sovereign of Decay. Your healing on rust tiles will be tripled, and you will become much more resilient to damage. In addition, rust will spread from your ritual site. | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png | File:Heretic rune.png |
Tips
- If your transmutations are failing, make sure your codex is on your person!
- Many unlockable transmutations require body parts or whole corpses. You can get these from your victims, as well as by raiding the Morgue, or with the correct access, turning monkeys into catatonic humans.
- Even if you never fight other heretics, you're inherently at odds with them. Each influence can only be harvested once, so the heretic that goes the fastest and grabs the most influences first has to do less killing and sacrificing to reach their ascensions.
- As a heretic, access is more important than ever! The more areas you can easily access, the more influences you'll be able to snag. Getting all access can be a godsend, and knowing how to either hack or talk your way into other departments can help you beat other heretics to the free points.
- Even after ascension, you aren't completely invincible. Don't get too hasty and end up eating a barrage of deadly lasers to the face.
- As mentioned before, no matter which heretic blade you choose, each one will have an option to destroy it. Afterwards, it will teleport you to a random spot on the Z level. This provides a very good last ditch option for escaping the authorities. As it takes two uninterrupted seconds, make sure you're clear before you use it.
- With rust, you can practically melt through walls. Use this to your advantage when you and other heretics end up in the Brig.
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