Heretic

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

Gamemode in rotation

"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.
Path of Mind	Precipice Of Enlightenment	Mind is the principle of knowing, a path aimed at confusion and deceit. The ranged grasp allows for a much easier time, and is less punishing as the other paths. Your Mansus grasp will work at a range, only able to hit living targets, blurring their vision and knocking them down. Once upgraded, it will blind them in addition. Your blade once upgraded will inject mute toxin into it's victims, not allowing any organic to speak until it has left their system. Your ascension grants you immunity to all projectiles, along with near total immunity to space. Additionally, you will gain 9 points of knowledge to spend.
Path of Void	Glimmer of Winter	Void is the principle of the endless frozen expanse. A feast-or-famine path, your Mansus grasp will mute your victims, and lower their body temperature. The freezing and silence will ensure your victims have a tough time fighting back, if they are unprepared. Your blade, once upgraded, will inject freezing venom into your targets, ensuring their cold demise. Your ascension calls forth an endless storm, heavy snow from the endless void will rain down upon the area you ascend in, and a lighter storm will blanket the station. Additionally, your body will become immune to space and time, and you will freeze everywhere you walk.

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.

AshFleshRustMindVoidMinorLore

Progression	Path of Ash
LORE	Nightwatcher's Secret
	Pledge yourself to Ash. Transmute a knife with a pile of ash for an ashen blade. Gain 40% heat resistance.
PATH GRASP	Grasp of Ash
	Empowers your Mansus grasp to throw enemies away from you.
TIER ONE	Ashen Shift
	A very short-range jaunt that can help you escape from bad situations or navigate past obstacles. Range is about 5-6 tiles.
GRASP MARK	Touch of the Spark
	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.
TIER TWO	Mask of Madness
	Transmute a mask, and a raw liver to create a Mask of Madness It causes passive stamina damage and hallucinations to everyone around the wearer.
BLADE UPGRADE	Blade of the City Guard
	Your ashen blade will now ignite targets, adding two firestacks as well.
TIER THREE	Flame Birth
	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.
ASCENSION RITE	Amgala's Ruin
	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.

Progression	Path of Flesh
LORE	Principle of Hunger
	Pledge yourself to Flesh. Transmute a knife and a pool of blood into a flesh blade.
PATH GRASP	Grasp of Flesh
	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.
TIER ONE	Imperfect Ritual
	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.
GRASP MARK	Lover's Exsanguination
	Your Mansus grasp now applies a mark on hit. Use your flesh blade to detonate the mark, which causes significant bleeding on the target.
TIER TWO	Raw Ritual
	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.
BLADE UPGRADE	Talons of the Sworn
	Your flesh blade will now cause additional bleeding on hit.
TIER THREE	Lonely Ritual
	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.
ASCENSION RITE	Priest’s Final Hymn
	Transmute three corpses to ascend by metamorphisizing as a Thirstly Serpent, or ascend instead by summoning a Lavish Serpent. This will triple your ghoul maximum, and you will become incredibly resilient to damage.

Progression	Path of Rust
LORE	Blacksmith's Tale
	Pledge yourself to Rust. Transmute a knife and a trash item into a rusty blade.
PATH GRASP	Grasp of Rust
	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.
TIER ONE	Leeching Walk
	Passively heals you when you are on rusted tiles.
GRASP MARK	Ruin of Welfare
	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.
TIER TWO	Aggressive Spread
	An instant spell that spreads rust onto nearby tiles, destroying any already rusted.
BLADE UPGRADE	Memento of Decay
	Your rusted blade now injects eldritch essence on hit.
TIER THREE	Entropic Plume
	A cone spell that expels a befuddling plume that rusts tiles, then blinds, poisons, and forces targets to strike each other.
ASCENSION RITE	Fallen Empress' Pathology
	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.

Progression	Path of Mind
LORE	Precipice Of Enlightenment
	Pledge yourself to Mind. Transmute a knife and a book into a cerebral blade.
PATH GRASP	Grasp of Mind
	Your Mansus grasp now works from a range, blurring the vision of those you use it on and knocking them down.
TIER ONE	Mental Obfuscation
	Allows you to teleport a short distance to a targeted destination.
GRASP MARK	Occipital Oblivion
	Your Mansus grasp now works at an increased range, and will temporarily blind targets in addition to the original effects.
TIER TWO	Amygdala Assault
	Shoot a single bolt of condensed mental power in front of you, dealing large amounts of brute damage to any targets hit.
BLADE UPGRADE	Spine of The Infinite Beast
	Your cerebral blade now injects mute toxin on hit.
TIER THREE	Full Cerebral Control
	Rewire your own brain to partially ignore damage slowdown.
ASCENSION RITE	Beyond All Knowledge Lies Despair
	Transmute three corpses to ascend as a Monarch of Knowledge, your advanced prowess in mental proficiency allows you to deflect all projectiles. Instantly gain 9 points of knowledge to use, you also gain additional immunity to pressure and no longer need to breathe.

Progression	Path of Void
LORE	Glimmer of Winter
	Pledge yourself to the Void. Transmute a knife and a shard of glass to create a Frozen Blade
PATH GRASP	Grasp of Void
	Your Mansus Grasp now applies the Mark of Void. The mark is triggered from an attack with your Void Blade. When triggered, further silences the victim and swiftly lowers the temperature of their body and the air around them.
TIER ONE	Void Phase
	A mid range targeted teleport spell. Additionally causes damage to heathens around your original and target destination.
GRASP MARK	Mark of The Void
	Your Mansus Grasp now applies the Mark of Void. The mark is triggered from an attack with your Void Blade. When triggered, further silences the victim and swiftly lowers the temperature of their body and the air around them.
TIER TWO	Aristocrat's Way
	Grants you immunity to cold temperatures, and removes your need to breathe. Gain immunity to slipping on ice. You can still take damage due to a lack of pressure.
BLADE UPGRADE	Shiva's Kiss
	Your cerebral blade now injects mute toxin on hit.
TIER THREE	Void Pull
	a spell that pulls all nearby heathens towards you, stunning them briefly.
ASCENSION RITE	Waltz at the End of Time
	Transmute three corpses to ascend and begin the Waltz at the End of Time. When completed, causes a violent storm of void snow to assault the station, freezing and damaging heathens. Additionally, you will become immune to the effects of space and take reduced damage

T1
TIER ONE	Eldritch Essense	Eldritch Medallion	Void Cloak	Eldritch Eye	Eldritch Armor
	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 transmute a glass shard, a bedsheet, and any outer clothing item (such as armor or a suit jacket) to create a Void Cloak. This cloak will make the wearer partially invisible over time, and allow them to temporarily dodge attacks."	Allows you to craft an eldritch eye by transmuting a flashlight and a pair of eyes. Grants the user a hud type of their choosing, additionally also grants night vision but it cannot be removed.	Allows you to craft a set of eldritch armor by transmuting a table and a gas mask. The robes significantly reduce most incoming damage.
T2
TIER TWO	Curse of Corrosion	Curse of Paralysis	Void Blast	Eldritch Bolt	Blood Siphon
	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.	Grants you Void Blast, a spell that shoots out a freezing blast in a cone in front of you, freezing the ground and any victims within.	A strong single target spell, shoot a target with raw energy from another dimension.	A touch spell that drains a target's health and restores yours.
T3
TIER THREE	Cleave	Ashen Ritual	Diamond Dust	Famished Roar	Rusted Ritual
	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.	A powerful spell that calls forth memories of ice, will create a large area of ice around you.	An AOE roar spell that freezes all nearby people with sheer terror.	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.

		Path Lore
LORE	The Nightwatcher	The Priest	The Empress
	He who reigns with the Ember Crown. He who hosts the damned. He who rose higher and higher, until there was no ceiling to push past. Once a spymaster, now a god. Forever shall he live.	The wielder of the Cup. The beloved tyrant, sought by many, feared by more. Charming and lecherous in ample portions, yet so many kneel before him and pledge their bodies. Forever shall he feast.	She ruled over a lost land damned by a bounty from beyond the stars. She could not have known what would become of her in the years to come. Forever shall she rot.
LORE	The Shrouded One	The Gravekeeper	The Vermin Duke
	It burrows in the hearts of all living things. Eternal cycles of time yield nothing more from it. We know not what it is, and know better than to ask when it reveals itself.	Forgotten to ages as the Priest's inspiration. They were decadent and deceiving, devouring the dead below the Glory, capturing them for themselves. We believe their autocannibalism will never abate.	A conniving, contemptuous creature. He cackled and cried as the meteor began to take his wits into its own usage. We know not if he still lives, though his servants do.
LORE	The Betrayed	The Lover	The Blacksmith
	The one who lived. She never recovered her eyes. It is less likely she will find justice. Yet she listens to us when we sing with pain and malice. There are some wrongs that can still be righted.	Some entity that takes a variety of forms, though she prefers a feminine visage. She finds those who dare wander the Mansus without proper care, though she has been instructive to us in passing.	A poor man who gave in to the whims of the Empress. He believed royal payments would cure the ails of his wife. We still offer thanks for the blades he gifted to us.
LORE	The City Guard	The Sworn	The Drifter
	They were stoic and loyal, unlike their superior. Amgala could not have asked for better protectors or better scholars. But now they are gone. Still they wither in their graves, where we sometimes offer condolences.	The Priest's loyal followers, bound to the Red Oath and enthralled with the Glorious Feast. Timeless cycles see their ranks replenished and drained with each coming Feast. We try to stray far.	He has gone where others cannot go. Seen what others cannot see. From land to land, place to place, he has seen much. We offer prayers when we travel far.
LORE	The Sanguine Horde	The Owl	The Harbringer
	A pact of demons and marauders from a world forgotten. Very few yet roam the planes. The secrets to their final defeat have been lost. We offer wardings to ensure they do not cross our path.	One of the oldest and sanest Sworn. Ebis, like the Lover, we believe to be a being of the Mansus itself. They commonly offer generous aid, but only if we succeed in one of their puzzling challenges.	We know it from the scribblings of those in the comet's wake. It is perhaps more a force than an individual. It is the star itself. And it hates all that built.

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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