Corruption and Reclamation
This page owns the pressure loop between demonic corruption and the player's reclamation work.
Corruption
Corruption is not one number. It shows up as place condition, creature pressure, ward failure, taint spread, unsafe routes, and unusable land. (See lore exposure: lh-game1-world-hooks.md — Wound-fields active row, gate scarring/taint fields row)
Reclamation
Reclamation is the reversal layer.
- Reclamation begins early through ward work, scouting, local cleansing, route stabilization, and holding lines.
- It becomes structurally visible as the player clears routes, stabilizes sites, and pushes back corruption around the Core, the travelling Camp's routes, first Outpost footholds, and later settlements.
- It is already part of the frontier loop before the final act.
- Full reclamation is the late-game, Crown-scale, last-act loop.
Design Rules
- Corruption should change the value and safety of real places.
- Reclamation should create new usable land, safer routes, and stronger anchors.
- Cleansing work should stay tied to actual world state, not float as detached progress bars.
- Early reclamation should protect and stabilize ground; full reclamation should reclaim whole regions only when late polity capacity exists.