World & map progression

◆The land of Zoen

Zoen is a land of a thousand caravan roads. Oasis kingdoms sit between deserts, salt flats and mountains. The ancient Jade Seal that kept the roads safe shattered, and its fragments woke bell-shelled beasts and ash-cursed caravans. The MVP covers the first region, Amber Basin (levels 1–40). Four more regions are already placed on the world map and locked behind levels 41–100.

◆Amber Basin (4,096 × 4,096 m)

Zone IDs and relative positions match the accepted painted map, so map art and data always line up. Terrain streams in 256 m chunks (16 × 16 = 256 chunks). Roads are safe: monsters leash before roads and town.

Amber Basin progression map (drag your level)

Your level 18

HUNTING · L17–20

Cinder Kilns

Brick kilns, smoking chimneys and ash pits. Readable ember circles contrast against grey ground.

♪ environment sound only (ADR-026) · ☀ Red ember glow, smoke shafts

Emberhorn Viper L17

Kilnback Scarab L19

4 main quests here: Ember Road, Banked Embers, Scarab Furnace, Kiln Depths

Waypoint at the area entrance · centre 2138, 2586 m

● cleared● current band (ring = progress)📍 you are here● locked-- arena spur (Kharuun)

◆How the map shows progress (reworked)

The old map was a static painting. The new world map is a progression board:

• Route spine: a golden road connects the areas in level order (1 → 10), with the Arena as a side spur. Areas you have out-levelled glow gold, your current band pulses, and future bands are desaturated with their level badge visible.
• Per-area progress ring: main quests done, Hunting Log milestones (100/300/500 kills) and elite bounties, shown as a three-segment ring around the area marker.
• Pins: waypoints (bronze plinth), quest givers (gold ! / ?), bosses (skull), dungeon (door), your party (jade dots).
• World view: Amber Basin unlocked. Saffron Route (41–60), Cinnabar Coast (61–80), Jade Peaks (81–100) and Pearl Isles (endgame) sit under fog with a bronze lock seal and their level band.
• New painted region art at the 4 km scale is requested as ART-MAP-030, and the fog/locks as ART-MAP-031.

◆Travel

• On foot: 6.2 m/s, so town → Jade Seal Ruins (~3.7 km by road) takes about 10 minutes.
• Mounts (key T, 1 s out of combat): Reedback Strider at level 10 (quest Q1.11, 9.0 m/s) up to the Mirage Drake (11.2 m/s). Mounted characters can't attack, and most hits dismount (Mounts).
• Waypoints: one at every area entrance, discovered by walking within 15 m. Teleporting costs a little gold (a sink) and is free to town.
• Click-to-travel: click a point on the map or minimap and the character walks there, auto-mounting for trips over 40 m (rules and preview).
• Return scroll: consumable on a quick slot, 4 s channel back to the last town visited (consumables.json).

◆Monster placement rules

• Spawn camps sit 25+ m from roads. Elites (★) sit 25+ m from roads and town, with one per area alive at a time.
• Hostile aggro radius 8–14 m by level band; neutral monsters only retaliate.
• Density targets per area at 1,000 players: about 300–400 monsters per area, respawn 30–60 s, with dynamic respawn speed-up when local player density is high (capped) so crowded bands still feel alive.
• Monster names are coloured by level difference against the viewer and show the signed difference .

◆Environment storytelling per area

Each area has a sound mood and a lighting key in world.json (mood). Only towns (and the GM room) play music; outside a town the music line stays in the data as a mood note but is no longer played or shown on the map, and the area is carried by an environment bed and a landmark emitter (Audio). Environment production explains how they are built and tested.