Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll XI) — Spark in the Dark

🐈‍⬛ Velvet Visions #002 — Gold & Grime (Kültist+, 21 exclusive images)

⌛(Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.33 — End of Watch

(Dev Scroll X) — I Want You To Suffer

🗡️ (Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.32 — The Price of Freedom

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

Happy New Year. 🤍 Let's crush the fuck out of 2026 together.

You’ve survived the auction. You’ve learned the yard. Now comes the part House Varro never forgives: the moment you get to test the chain; in silk-lit corridors, beneath a feast that’s half celebration and half slaughterhouse prayer. Are you up for it? Or will you play it safe?

The Price of Freedom expands the feast night into a pressure-cooker of reunions, temptation, and escape attempts—with two distinct escape paths and multiple alternative endings depending on how hard you push… and how badly fate wants you back.

Enjoying your chains? Plan to bide your time? That's perfect, too.

🗝️ 50k+ new words • 🕯️ 15 new images • 🔀 Alternative Endings
🗡️ Action-packed escape attempts • 🫂 Reunions with friends & females

⚔️ Recommended Builds

💪🏻 2 MIGHT (“Enforcer”) → grab +1 Mobility later → 🗡️ seize the blade ASAP
🏃 2 Mobility (“Sneakmaxx”) → 🗝️ stealth-first choices → 👁️ high-risk, high-reward

🔥 What’s new inside 3.32 (Uncut)

• The Feast of House Varro — The night opens up: decadent upstairs politics, dangerous proximity, and the sense that you’re being watched even when the music swells.

• Two Escape Paths — A real fork in the road:

  • The Shadow: stealth, timing, and raw desperation through corridors and patrol gaps.

  • The Blade: violence, leverage, and theater, because sometimes the only currency is fear and force.

• Alternative Endings — Not just “fail states,” but different fates: death, capture, punishment, and brutal wake-ups that remember what you tried.

• Expanded Tanae (“Raven”) Balcony Scene (Uncut+) — More variation, more intimacy, more risk. The kind of encounter you’ll only have once… if you live long enough to return. Three variations that will meaningfully carry forward into the future.

• Expanded Chapter 1 Intro — More foundation for your origin: explore your home, step deeper into your room in Fredrick’s hovel, and feel the world tighten around your earliest choices.

• 15 New Images — New feast/night visuals, new character moments, and new scene art to carry the chapter’s mood: candlelight, marble, shadow, and teeth.

Did I mention you just got another 50,000+ words before the year ends?

🌓 For Veterans vs. Newcomers

Veterans:
If you’ve been riding the Ludus/Varro lane, 3.32 is where it gets sharp. This is the chapter where the story stops being “settling in” and becomes testing limits: friends reappear, doors open, and you find out exactly what happens when a slave tries to act like a man with options.

Newcomers:
This is a solid moment to start or restart your file. The expanded Chapter 1 intro gives you more grounding and atmosphere early, while the current run of chapters forms a long, coherent stretch of story with modern UI, art, and systems.

🧭 Roadmap ➜ Next

• January 2026 — Highrock: The Harrowing
  The biggest, darker chapter for the Academy route. A trial that decides who ascends, who breaks… and who gets carved into something worse than legend.

(And yes—more Highrock & Gladiator content follows. The chain just keeps tightening.)

🎇 December 2025: the month we built a monster

This month, Orphan grew by 100,000+ words and nearly 30 new images across 3.31 + 3.32—and the Exalted Text Patreon has grown massively in the same span. That support doesn’t just help; it fuels and feeds this project, stoking it, keeping it alive while I grind and ship.

If Orphan has felt more “alive” this month: more momentum, more confidence, more bite, that’s not an accident. That’s the result of patrons making this sustainable enough for me to go harder. If you're reading this, I appreciate your support.

If 3.32 hits for you:

• Tell me which escape path you took (and how it ended).

• Let me know if you want one of the alternative routes continued.

• Tell me who you’re most attached to right now; friend, rival, or raven-haired problem.

Download the new build below.

As always… Onward.
🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

Stolen Glimpse III (Uncut): Pet & Prisoner🐺🔒

The leash may have changed hands,
But the hound still knows the chain, the collar, the cost.

Before the end of the year, Chapter 3.32 will drag you deeper into House Varro.

¤ Chapter 1 intro expansion is finished — richer home/backstory, sharper hook, more Cradle.
¤ Tanae balcony expansion is finished — three approaches to the encounter, and a real chance to push your relationship with her forward into future chapters.
¤ The House Varro feast is being plated — about 3/4th drafted, now entering lock + polish so the branching bites and the “bad decisions” land like they should.

We're looking at around ~40k words and ~7 images. That may yet change!

This update is taking a few more days than I expected, but that's alright. I want to hit the biweekly (2 releases /month) cadence that I set for Orphan! It'll be the ideal way to close out 2025 w/ the Gladiator route, and open 2026 up w/ the Academy route.

Expect Chapter 3.32 within the next 2 days, likely by the evening of December 30th.

See you in the Discord!

As always… ONWARD!
💜 — Truth @ Exalted Text (WORSHIP IT)

🎁 Velvet Visions #001 — Decadent December (Kültist+, 23 exclusive images)

(Dev Scroll IX) — The Golden Age: $1K+, Velvet Visions, and House Varro

Children of Cradle,

The circle turns again.

Not long ago, this project was fragile, something I carried like a small, flickering flame in bare hands. The support of an early few helped me weather the storms of uncertainty in the beginning. Now the flame has found a hearth. The fire is continually stoked; we burn bigger, larger, hotter and faster. The Kult has crossed the first true gate. $1,000+ per month. A foundation stone laid in blood, patience, and pleasure.

And because of that, something changes in the air.

With every word, image, patron, the work grows truer.

📅 Current Timeline

• Velvet Visions #001 (Kultist+): Fri Dec 19

• Stolen Glimpse (3.32): Mon Dec 22

• Orphan 3.32: Fri Dec 26

The reworked visuals of Khalika feature heavily in December's Velvet Visions release.

🏛️ The Golden Age

Recently, I started working full-time on Orphan, and the difference is night and day. I can feel the rhythm becoming real; not just bursts of obsession followed by drought, but a repeatable cadence of two-week releases. A violent war-drum beat as our campaign's momentum grows steadier & stronger.

This is the threshold I spoke of in the past where Orphan stops being a “project” and starts becoming a living thing that sustains itself.

I want to keep pushing into that consistency. I've always been confident in my prose, but output and volume was where I struggled in the past. I've been mastering it lately, because it's a powerful driver. More consistency = more words, images and juicy updates.

The faster the circle turns, the more the world solidifies and Cradle becomes inevitable. When I speak of the Golden Age, this is what I'm referring to. Not a time of ease, but of indomitable purpose fueled by my supporters and unmatched passion for the project.

New poses, outfits, expressions. Characters as you've never seen them before.

🎀 Velvet Visions — Kultist Ascension (Exclusive Images)

I’m upgrading the Kultist tier into what it was always meant to be: a real inner circle.

Gladiators will continue to receive the full Uncut edition of Orphan and every core update. That doesn't change. You'll always receive the true game as it's meant to be experienced.

But the Cult slips behind the curtain.

Velvet Visions will be a monthly drop of exclusive image variants, unused renders, alternate takes, and forbidden drafts. Visual offerings that don’t always belong in the main build, but still deserve a home and their own sanctified form of appreciation.

I’ll be posting a preview (see the images) with this scroll, and then the first full Velvet Visions drops in 2 days on Friday the 19th. (Kultist+). As always, I'm looking for ways to reward supporters who've decided to pledge themselves to the Exalted Text.

Each Velvet Visions drop will usually be 6–10 images (sometimes more), themed & curated. Typically a large portion of them will be more lewd than those within the main game, but don't expect full-blown sex scenes. Just more of what Orphan does best; teasing, atmospheric backdrops, and explicit character portraits with a touch of sensual flavor.

This December drop (#001) looks like it will have ~18 images, so we're starting strong.

If you want the first full drop on Friday, upgrade to Kultist before then.

Some images will be action-oriented and focused on Orphan's gritty combat.

🍷 House Varro — Chapter 3.32 (Dec 26)

The next release is planned for Friday, December 26th.

Chapter 3.32 is a House Varro chapter. Not just its opulence, but the pressure beneath it; the feast, the painted skin, the velvet corridors and the eyes that measure you. You’re not just training anymore. You’re being weighed.

This update will focus on:

• 🍽️ An Evening in House Varro
  A full feast under Livia’s roof. You’re scrubbed, oiled, marked in House colours and paraded into the hall beside other gladiators and courtesans. You’ll finally meet Lucius Varro properly; disgraced Legate turned hungry ludus-owner, and feel the way he and Livia pull in different directions over your future.

• 👑 Your Patron at the Table
  Whoever bought you at the auction – Livia, Alesia, Novia or Sibylla gets a bespoke scene during the feast. Small choices, big undercurrents: loyalty, hunger, resentment, seduction. This is the first real “date episode” for each noblewoman route.

• 🎭 Paint, Masks, and Bad Decisions
  Before the feast you’ll choose how to present yourself: bare and severe, or painted like a living Varro standard. At the table there will be options to push your luck; bolting, testing the leash, reaching for knives. Some of those paths don’t loop back to the cells. New brutal "bad endings" that ooze old-school CYOA energy.

• 𓅪 Extended Raven Balcony Scene
  Tanae returns on the balcony with a deeper, hotter, more intimate version of your first night. More room for history, chemistry, and Uncut corruption. That means more choices and interactivity, shaping your relationship the way you see fit. Expect your decisions to matter and carry into the future as you spend more time together in the Ludus.

• 🐺 Gant’s Return
  Your old wagon-mate staggers back into the story under new ownership, in a situation that is equal parts funny and a little bit sad. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder, right?

• 🏠︎ Chapter 1 Intro Expansion
  A richer home & backstory sequence before the chase. More embodiment of the Orphan; more Cradle in the walls of Undertown; feel out your character before losing yourself.

• 🖼️ More images throughout Chapter 1 & 2
  New art for key early moments and faces, so first impressions hit harder and replays feel fresher. Chapter 3.31 added 14 new images and I want to keep that momentum going. I'm glad that the latest patron poll revealed that you feel the same way.

And yes, this is part of the larger momentum: making the early game more compelling, more vivid, more alive. The beginning matters. The hook matters. The first cut matters.

⚔️ December's Drumbeat

This is how a project stops being fragile: the cult forms a spine that can't be shattered.

We crossed $1K+. Yet, the Golden Age isn’t comfort. It’s not “we made it.”
It’s the moment the machine becomes stable enough to accelerate continually.

Velvet Visions (exclusive image packs) start to drop monthly,
Beginning with a full December drop in 2 days (Kultist+).
Chapter 3.32 welcomes you to House Varro's feast on Dec 26.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text (WORSHIP IT!)

🌒🏟️ Patron Poll: Chapter 3.32 — What's Next?

Precious Patrons,

Purveyors of Pleasure and Punishment,

We just hurled 3.31 – First Contact into the arena: 60k words, 14 new images, an interactive ludus map, and a certain raven-haired courtesan dragging you onto a balcony where no gladiator belongs.

Now I’m turning toward Chapter 3.32… and as always, I want your input.

Firstly, I want to address this:

Chapter 3.33 (January, 2026) will be the major continuation and unleashing of the Harrowing as we return to Highrock & the Academy route. It's going to be big, dark and foreboding, with our first real, tangible introduction to magick in Orphan. I hope you're as excited as I am.

Chapter 3.32 - the next chapter in late December - will be focused on the Gladiator route once more, expanding the ludus arc while going back to give our current erotic scenes some much needed love. Your votes won’t decide what lives or dies forever, but they will shape what I focus on first and what becomes a priority before the end of 2025.

Below is a list of threads I’m eager to pull. Some are pure story, some are lewd expansions, some are polish and UI that make Orphan feel more alive with every click.

Read them, feel where your Will and Blood pulls, and cast your vote.

🔪 What's on the Menu?

1️⃣ An Evening in House Varro (Ludus/Gladiator route)
The first proper night at House Varro's latest feast. Dinner with Duchess Livia, her husband Lucius, their household and varied guests. Politics, tension, and the quiet humiliation of being paraded as new property. More time with your cohort, more chances to impress, anger, or intrigue those who own your fate. Maybe you'll even have dessert.

2️⃣ Expanded Raven Balcony Scene (First Contact, Uncut+)
More branches, more choices, more ways your endowment, build, and temperament can twist the encounter. Alternate pacing, bolder options, and deeper consequences for how you handle her attention up above the yard with Cradle laid out below.

3️⃣ Expanded Chapter 1 Intro (Home & Backstory)
Return to the very start. A richer look at your home, your relationship with Fredrick, and the life you’re about to lose. More time in the streets and rooms of your old world before Highrock swallows you. I'm inspired by the Disco Elysium intro here... I want players to feel like there's a lot of history and story there in that little hovel before you're forced to leave.

4️⃣ Animated Main Menu (Living Title Screen)
Give Orphan’s front door more life: subtle visual effects, particles, motion and ambience so the main menu feels like part of Cradle instead of a static frame.

5️⃣ Expanded Khalika Lewd Scenes (Gladiator route)
More choices, more explicit variation, and full Long & Uncut (and smaller) support where it matters. New lines and reactions keyed to your body, scars, and temperament when you’re trapped in close quarters with the orc warrior.

6️⃣ Expanded Academy Bathroom Scenes (Night’s Watch)
Return to Highrock’s steam and tile: more branching intimacy, deeper character beats, and endowment-aware variations that make the bathroom sequences feel as reactive as the newer Gladiator content.

7️⃣ More Images in Chapters 1 & 2 (Both Routes)
New CGs and key illustrations for Academy and Ludus moments in Chapters 1 and 2: your home, the streets of Highrock, Gant on the wagon, Khalika in the arena, early Night’s Watch, first glimpses of the city, and other scenes that would hit harder with dedicated art.

8️⃣ New Soundtrack / Music UI
A cleaner, more powerful way to interact with Orphan’s audio: see what track is playing, swap songs, and better match the soundtrack to how you’re feeling in each scene.

The future of Orphan has always been shaped by your voices, your desire, your devotion. This question is no different. As always, your vote carries as much power as your tier offers.

⚖️ Vote below. You can choose multiple options; whatever excites you.

🩸 Onward.
—Truth @ Exalted Text

🍷 (Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.31 — First Contact

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

You’ve survived the auction. You’ve tasted the Ludus. Now you start to live and fight there.

First Contact picks up after 3.3 and drags you through your first week inside Duchess Livia’s gladiator yard: bruises, drills, new routines, new rivals… and a familiar raven-haired courtesan waiting on a high balcony, where no gladiator is supposed to stand.

This is the biggest Orphan chapter yet — over 60,000 new words, 14 new images, and your first real taste of the ludus as a living hub.

Welcome back to the sand.

🔥 What’s new inside 3.31 (Uncut)

• First Week in Chains — Train, ache, and settle into your new life under Duchess Livia. This chapter carries you from the end of the auction through your first full week in the ludus, with new dialogue and branches shaped by your archetype (Bastard / Cowboy / Knight) and previous choices. Spar, train, chat and explore as far as your collar allows.

• Interactive Ludus Freeroam + Map — The ludus finally opens up as a proper sandbox hub. Explore the yard, gates, barracks, baths, and upper levels via a clickable map; each location holds new scenes, details, and characters to discover. This will be a new foundation for all future Gladiator content.

• Four New Freeroam Events — Spend time with your cohort and the house:

  • A return to the yard with Renkar and the others.

  • A quiet, dangerous stop at the gates with Rilash.

  • A steamy bathhouse sequence with Sereth and Voss.

  • And on the rotunda balcony.. 'First Contact' with the raven-haired courtesan.

• Lewd Balcony Scene (Expanded, Uncut) — Reunite with the sultry, dark-eyed courtesan from the auction on a balcony above the yard. The public build gets a charged, story-focused version of this encounter; the Uncut version unlocks a much deeper, more graphic sequence with branching intimacy, risk, and hidden variations based on your earlier choices. She didn’t forget you. She liked you before Livia did.

• 14 New Images — New CGs for the ludus, from a new image for each of the auction winner's, to shots from the ludus including Sereth Val’s sparring art and multiple poses of Tanae under Cradle’s violet sky.

• Did I mention 60,000 words to expand the story in just 2 weeks?

🌓 For Veterans vs. Newcomers

Veterans:
If you’ve already played through 3.2 and 3.3, this is where the Gladiator arc truly settles in. You’ll feel the daily rhythm of the yard, start to bond with (or distrust) your fellow gladiators, and get your first real taste of House Varro’s upstairs games. Think of 3.31 as “Day One in the cellblock” - a full, heavy chapter where the ropes tighten but the blade hasn’t fallen yet.

Newcomers:
This is a great moment to start or restart your file. With 3.2 + 3.3 + 3.31, the Night’s Watch and Ludus routes now form a long, continuous stretch of story with modern UI, art, and systems. Build your orphan, survive Highrock, and ride all the way into the yard in both runs. The game has never been more complete than it is right now.

📜 Roadmap ➜ Next

Barring chaos, here’s the next stretch for Orphan:

• 3.32 — Late December
  Deeper, wider erotic scenes with more variation and an evening at House Varro’s feast. More images, more bruises, more decadent upstairs politics, and the beginning of the Long & Uncut variants across the key Gladiator lewd scenes (Khalika, banquet inspection, Tanae's balcony scene, etc.)

• 3.33 — Early 2026
  The Harrowing. A bigger, darker return to the Academy route that I’m already sketching toward; the magickal trial that will decide who lives, who dies, and who gets carved into something worse than legend.

💜 Gratitude

This was by far the largest Orphan update yet in words, in images, and in sheer hours... and it landed on my ideal two-week cadence. That only happens because you keep this project alive while I grind.

If 3.31 lands for you:

• Share screenshots (no big spoilers) of moments you liked.

• Tell me which scenes hit hardest.

• Let me know who you attached to first: Renkar, Voss, Sereth, Tanae, or someone else.

Your signals, comments, and support are what push this game forward and make it worth bleeding for. A censored / free build will follow on itch.io and f95 after the Uncut version has had its time in the arena. For now, patrons get first blood.

Download the new build below.

And me? I’m going to take a breath, then climb right back into the sand.

As always… Onward.

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

Stolen Glimpse II (Uncut): Alesia’s Claim💜🔒

The auction is over.
The gavel has fallen.
This is what SOLD looks like.

Silk, lamplight, and the woman in violet who signed your name.

Whether she owns you outright or not, Alesia Cosmas is not the type to let a purchase go to waste. This Uncut glimpse is for Gladiator+ Patrons: a quieter moment behind closed doors; before the sand, before the blood, before the Champion drives the lesson home.

In 3 days, Chapter 3.31 – First Contact drags you into your first week in the ludus:

¤ 40,000+ words of new Orphan prose
¤ 9 new images (including this Alesia set)
¤ An interactive ludus free-roam to explore House Varro’s arena, cells, and secrets
¤ Your first clash with House Varro’s dangerous Champion
¤ A new soulshard to unlock for the gladiator route

On top of that, the Uncut build gets a fresh layer of corruption:

¤ “Long & Thick” (Uncut) endowment variations for lewd gladiator scenes

And on a more personal note:

Your support is what’s letting me treat Orphan as real work instead of a late-night side project. This is the first time I’ve pushed out 40k+ words and a full art batch in a two-week window because I could actually wake up and give it my whole day. If this pace holds, 3.31 is the beginning of Orphan as a truly full-time venture: more biweekly updates, more art like this, and a faster march toward the end of the Gladiator arc, the Academy and beyond.

Thank you for standing in the Kult’s ranks and making updates like this possible. You’re the reason I can swing something this big in just two weeks.

As always… onward.

💜 — Truth @ Exalted Text

Stolen Glimpse II: Heiress in White🕯️🔓

The auction is over.
Its consequences are only just beginning to hurt.

In 3 days, Chapter 3.31 drags you into your first week in the ludus: the collar settles around your neck, the Champion tests your grit in the sands, and your role in House Varro's ludus starts to become a little bit clearer; day by day, bruise by bruise.

You'll discover:

¤ 40,000+ words of new, unadulterated Orphan prose
¤ 9 new images to haunt and titillate the imagination
¤ An interactive ludus free-roam to explore House Varro’s arena, cells, and secrets
¤ Your first clash with House Varro’s dangerous Champion
¤ A new soulshard to unlock for the gladiator route

Put simply, this is the biggest update yet in a 2 week span.

⏳ 3 days until Orphan 3.31 – First Contact.

A hotter, Uncut Stolen Glimpse II is waiting on Patreon for Gladiator+ patrons.

Not part of the Kült? Chapter 3.31 adds brand-new “Long & Thick” (Uncut) endowment variations to every gladiator scene in the Patron-only build. Step into the Inner Circle and help fuel Orphan’s ascent toward CYOA Godhood.

As always... Onward!

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

⛓️(Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.3 — Welcome to the Ludus

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

The Gladiator ludus arc begins.

You leave the auction block in chains and roll toward Duchess Livia’s ludus under Cradle’s violet dawn. Three condemned men ride with you. The Colosseum curves over the rooftops like a broken halo; the road narrows and the walls rise.

New faces. New masters. No way back.

Welcome to the Ludus.

🔥 What’s new inside 3.3 (Uncut)

• Cinematic Wagon Ride — A full, branching intro from the auction to the yard. Talk with your new chain-mates on the way in; your archetype choices (Bastard / Cowboy / Knight) and auction winner all colour the dialogue and tone.

• New Gladiators: Renkar, Voss, and the Beastkin — Meet Renkar, the debt-ridden old mercenary; Voss, a sharp-eyed, cynical youth; and the black-furred feline Rilash whose patience for human scent is limited. This is the beginning of your gladiator cohort.

• Arrival at Varro’s Yard — Step off the wagon into Duchess Livia’s ludus. Take in the training sand, the ring of arches, the looming shadow of the Colosseum, and the routines of the gladiators already drilling when you arrive.

• The Doctore — An imposing, scar-latticed hobgoblin with a whip and a rasped-out word of law. He inspects you, judges you, and lays down the rules of the house. Harsh, fair, and very much not optional.

• Foundations of the Ludus Arc — This chapter is the threshold: you cross into the yard, learn who owns your blood here, and feel the ludus close around you. Future builds will turn this space into a full sandbox hub with cells, baths, and training beats.

🌓 For Veterans vs. Newcomers

• Newcomers:
  This is a great moment to jump in. 3.2 gave Orphan a deeper character creator and cleaner flow through the Night’s Watch; 3.3 now points the story squarely toward the arena. Start fresh, build your orphan, and ride the wagon in with everyone else.

• Veterans:
  Think “pilot episode for the Gladiator arc” rather than immediate fight night or sex spree.

📜 Roadmap → Next

What I’m aiming toward next in the Gladiator arc:

• First days inside the ludus: cells, baths, and the rhythm of training.

• Early “sandbox” hub; clickable locations and small scenes.

• A proper evening in House Varro; deeper interactions with the Duchess, her husband Lucius, and your fellow gladiators as you get to know them better.

Barring chaos, here’s the current trajectory:

• 📅 3.31 – Mid December
  First days inside the ludus. Interactive map, freeroam, and your first chances to actually train, fight, walk the yard and talk to the men you met in the wagon.

• 📅 3.32 – Late December
  Deeper routines, relationships, and pressure inside Livia’s house. More images, more bruises, and more choices as decadence and desire build.

• 📅 3.33 – Early 2026
  The Harrowing. A bigger, heavier update that I’m already writing toward.

🌄 The Vibe of this Update

Colorful paragraphs, heavy atmosphere, and lots of new character chemistry in a cramped space. This chapter is all about threshold energy: being chained to strangers, rolled beneath the Second Quarter, and unloaded into a yard that intends to break you into something useful.

💜 Gratitude

Thank you for keeping Orphan alive while I keep pushing this next phase into existence. If 3.3 lands for you, share screenshots (no big spoilers), tell me which dialogue choices you leaned into, and let me know which new gladiator you attached to first.

Dropping this on Thanksgiving feels fitting; I’m genuinely grateful for everyone that has been fueling the fire recently and bringing the city of Cradle to life with me. We'll see that fate brings us, but I'm aiming for 2 updates with December to end the year with gusto.

Join me, stand with me, aim high and speak true.

As always... Onward!

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

🌑 Cradle Codex — The Colosseum

🔱 What is Reign MUX?

Reign is my next long-form project in the Exalted Text universe: a Multi-User eXperience (MUX), or text-based multiplayer roleplaying game, set in Cradle, the same world as Orphan, but seen from a different angle. Where Orphan follows one unlucky soul through a tightly scripted story, Reign throws the gates open and lets many players build their own dynasties, rivalries, and legends together inside the same city.

The tone is the same mix you already know: brutal, dark, caste-bound, strange & slightly cosmic. The difference is that instead of reading one protagonist’s fate, you’ll be playing your own, cooperating and competing with other players in real-time.

How does it connect to Orphan?

Reign takes place further along the timeline of Cradle, in the wake of an overland conquest and regime change that takes place after shortly after the conclusion of Orphan. The same city, the same gods, the same caste logic and gladiator culture—just older, more entrenched, and much larger in scope. Think of Reign as the “open world” built on top of the foundations you’ve already seen in Orphan’s story.

If you’ve ever wondered what the arena system, slave ludi, noble houses and cults might look like when they’re fully fleshed out and inhabited by dozens of player characters, that’s exactly what Reign is meant to explore.

🕮 What is this new Cradle Codex series?

This is the start of a new arm of the Cradle Codex: instead of focusing on races and broad concepts, these entries drill down into locations inside the city—rooms, districts, and setpieces you’ll eventually be able to walk through and roleplay in once Reign is live.

Each post will usually contain:

• 2–4 finished room writeups (like the Arena Floor and Velvet Balcony)

• 1–2 images to help you visualize the space

• A short “behind the scenes” section on design: how this location functions in play, what kind of stories it’s built to support, and how it ties into both Orphan and Reign’s larger systems

In other words, you get lore + worldbuilding + dev diary all at once, and I slowly brick-by-brick build the city we’re going to be living in.

Do you like the sound of that?
Sounds sexy, right?

🌐 Discover the World of Cradle

The Stained Sands (Arena Floor)

The Colosseum’s beating heart spreads wide before you, a sunken bowl of ochre sand, churned by years of footfalls, blood, and breaking bones. The air hangs thick and warm, rising in hot, wavering breaths heavy with the iron tang of old violence and death readily dealt. Every grain beneath your feet seems alive with memory, rasping faintly as though whispering the names of those who fed it. Above, the sky yawns open like a violet wound in the stone, spilling a dark, unkind light down upon the condemned.

Massive rings of worn stone rise around the bloodied pit, their shadows deepening toward the passage mouths that lead below. Torchlight shivers along carved galleries and noble balconies draped in silks, but from the sands the crowd is only a blur; an indistinct mass, common galleries thronging with bodies pressed tight, their desire pressing inward like a gnawing at the back of your skull. Their clamor drifts down in waves, swelling and breaking without shape or mercy, while the noble boxes glitter and gleam high above, their watchers poised in the calm, practiced cruelty of those who need not fear consequence.

The Velvet Balcony (High View)

High above the pit, this section of the stands opens like a private balcony carved into the bones of the Colosseum itself. Polished marble gleams beneath your feet, veined in purples and pale golds that catch the light spilling up from the arena below. Incense burns in low braziers, softening the brutal spectacle with the faint sweetness of myrrh and crushed petals—a thin veil over the iron stench carried upward by the heat. Silks drape from hammered bronze hooks, stirring in the breeze like banners of conquered houses.

From here, the sands seem almost distant, as though violence happens to smaller, lesser creatures. The crowd’s roar rises softened, broken into currents of sound that lap gently at the stone instead of striking it. Nobles recline behind silvered railings, speaking in low voices, their gazes drifting to the arena with a languid interest born of safety and excess. To stand here is to watch the world’s cruelty from a height where consequence cannot reach you.

Yet even in this sanctum, the arena’s hunger rises; warm drafts that brush the ankles, faint vibrations of combat carried through the stone. Every roar below sends a tremor up through the stone, reminding all present that death is close, even if not for them. The nobles sip, murmur, gesture idly, but the sand has its own gravity. Eventually, every eye is drawn downward, to where names are made and unmade in crimson strokes.

The East Gallery

This gallery leans over the arena like a cracked lip, edges worn smooth by generations of grasping hands and eager bodies pressing forward for a better view. The air is thick with breath and heat; sweat, street-dust, cheap wine, and that sharp, animal anticipation that grips the lowborn whenever blood is promised. Torches gutter in their sconces, throwing restless shadows across the crowd, making faces blur and fuse into a single heaving shape. Every shout, curse and chant rolls together into a rough, living tide that heaves towards the sky.

From here, the sands are brutally close, framed by the jagged edge of the gallery’s battered railing. Fighters move below like figures in a fever dream: larger than life, every strike exaggerated by the angle and the raw urgency of the view.

🩸 THE GLADIATOR CASTE — FLESH FOR THE CITY

Gladiators are the sharp edge of Cradle’s cruelty, and also its favorite hymn. In this city, they exist somewhere between property, performer, saint, and executioner; creatures shaped by violence, consumed by spectacle, and reborn (if they’re lucky) into something more than they began. Cradle does not hide what it is. It celebrates it.

Every House, every Guild, every quarter of the city keeps one eye turned toward the Colosseum. Nobles collect gladiators to display their wealth, their taste, their cruelty. Handlers and slavers trade them like living currency — a famous name can buy a season’s worth of influence. Even the lowborn flock to the galleries not just to witness the blood, but to measure themselves against those who dare to stand in the sand.

For players, the gladiator caste is a fully realized experience:

• Some embrace their role, carving a legend stroke by stroke.

• Others plot escape, rebellion, sabotage.

• Some seek patrons to protect or exploit them.

• Others chase fame because it’s the only immortality they’ll ever know.

• A rare few win freedom, which always carries a cost.

A gladiator in Cradle is not simply a fighter.
They are part of a living industry of violence, beauty, and fear — a wheel that spins on blood.

It is a story-first caste, built for:

• high emotion, high danger, high stakes

• political vulnerability

• the potential for dramatic transformation

• public judgment, legacy and inheritance

And like in Orphan, the arc is never static. Gladiators rise, fall, rise again — or die spectacularly, remembered only by the sand.

⚔️ THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMBAT IN REIGN — PUNCHY, CONSEQUENCE-RICH, LITERARY

The combat system in Reign is designed with one overriding principle:

Every hit should matter.
Every swing. Every dodge. Every mistake.
There is no filler, no spam; only the moment and its price, however steep.

Reign is a MUX, not a grind-based MUD. Combat is not something you “do for XP.”
It is a narrative event. A risk, a ritual, a gamble with life and legacy.

To make that work, combat in Reign follows these pillars:

1. Short. Sharp. Decisive.

A fight should take minutes, not hours.
A single strike can change everything.
A single mistake can cripple.
A critical can kill outright.

Your characters are not safe. That’s the point.

2. Turn-Based, Narrative-Driven.

We preserve the clarity of turn-based conflict, but without reducing the fight to simple math.

Combat is:

• descriptive, characterful, cinematic

• supported by mechanics, not smothered by them

Every blow becomes a sentence. Every move, a choice.

3. Wounds Matter More Than HP.

Wounds are not numbers. They are story.

They:

• impair rolls and change how you fight

• influence how others treat you

• scar you permanently; end your career, or define it

• become part of your legacy, inherited by your bloodline

A gladiator with a shattered knee isn’t “fine after a rest.” They are changed.

4. Death Is Real, and It Should Be Beautiful.

When you enter a fight in Reign — especially in the Arena — you risk everything.

But this isn’t cheap, random death.
It’s purposeful risk tied to:

• reputation, audience, family legacy

• stakes, story arcs, player choices

A death in the Arena is not a punishment.
It’s the final page of a story, written in front of the city itself.

5. Spectacle and Player Agency Above All.

Because combat is public, social, and dramatic, the system must support:

• noble and lowborn crowds alike

• rivalries, taunts, bloodlust

• politics wrapped in violence

• wagers, backroom deals and noble trade

Combat is theater. Your character is on stage.
Every blow is a line of poetry. Every kill is a stanza.
You choose whether your gladiator survives through caution, cunning, alliances…
…or whether they burn bright, fast and leave a legend.

Nothing about combat in Reign is grind or obligation. Everything is intentional.

⭕ The Weekly Rhythm of the Games

One of the core ideas behind Reign is that time actually moves. Every real-world week, the city advances: characters age, resources shift, plots resolve or stall, and the world doesn’t sit around waiting for anyone to log back in. The Colosseum is plugged directly into that rhythm. The goal is that you can look at a given week in Cradle and say, “This is what the Games did to the city,” not just, “Some NPCs fought somewhere off-screen.”

In practice, that looks like a predictable but dangerous cycle. On a typical week you’ll see three major beats around the arena:

1. The Auction & Intake: new slaves and gladiators brought in, traded, or sold off between ludi and noble houses.

2. Training, scheming, and politicking: handlers pushing their prospects, nobles making matches, people arranging “accidents” or throwing coin behind favorites.

3. The Games themselves: a scheduled event where characters actually fight, win, lose, get maimed, or die in front of everyone.

Those beats give staff and players a shared skeleton to build on. Nobles are always able to posture, wager, bet. Slavers know when to move stock. Lowborn gamblers know when to scrape coin together. Gladiators know how long they have to train, heal, or make a deal before they’re shoved back onto the sand.

🎭 Nobles, Slaves, and the Multi-Character Web

The caste system and the multi-character model are designed to feed into this cycle instead of sitting next to it. Free players start with access to the lowest castes—Slave and Lowborn—and that’s intentional. Your first contact with Reign is meant to be close to the ground: collar on your neck, or boots in the alley, not a throne room three layers removed from consequence.

As you support the game or earn in-game currency, you unlock more character slots and higher castes (Gentry, Nobles, Sorcerers, Volhynians). The expectation is that many people will have at least one character tied directly to the Colosseum ecosystem (slave, gladiator, handler, slaver, bookmaker, surgeon) and another character who might experience the Games from above (noble owner, gentry agent, cultist sponsoring a particular fighter, etc.). That multi-perspective play is deliberate: the same event can feel completely different depending on which of your characters is in the stands, in the tunnels, or on the sand.

The hierarchy around the Games reflects that. Nobles and Volhynians sponsor ludi, purchase promising fighters, and use matches to signal alliances or rivalries in public. Slavers and handlers live in the middle layer, constantly hustling: they try to keep their investment alive, market their fighter’s “brand,” and negotiate appearance fees, fixes, or special stipulations. Slaves and gladiators sit at the bottom in terms of legal status, but they’re the ones the entire system is actually built on. A single standout performance can change which noble house is in vogue this month, which slaver suddenly has leverage, or which cult gains a following in the Third Quarter.

🎪 Why So Much Focus on the Colosseum?

From a design standpoint, the Colosseum is the easiest place for all of Reign’s pillars to meet in one loop: player agency, gritty violence, resource tension, dynasty-building, and story-first mechanics. Every weekly slate of matches is an excuse to:

• Move money and favors around the city

• Advance noble feuds in a visible way

• Give low-tier characters immediate stakes (“If I lose this bout, I’m crippled or dead. If I win, I might get noticed.”)

• Create scars, secrets, and stories that ripple out into the rest of the game

It also gives us a reliable anchor for scheduling. If players know “there will be fights this weekend,” they can plan scenes around them: clandestine meetings in the Velvet Balcony, last-night-on-earth conversations in the catacombs, post-fight celebrations or riots in the taverns and streets. The arena isn’t just a combat venue; it’s a clock the whole city can set its social life by.

Footnote;

That’s it for our first step into Cradle’s Colosseum: a look at the sand itself, the Velvet Balcony above it, and the role the Games play in Reign’s weekly heartbeat. Next time, we’re going below; into the tunnels, pens, and catacombs where gladiators wait to find out whether they’ll walk back up into the light or be carried.

If this kind of deep-dive is useful or sparks ideas for characters you’d want to play (slave, handler, noble, gambler, whatever), let me know in the comments. The more I understand what excites you, the better I can shape Reign into a city worth bleeding for.

🩸 Onward.
— Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll VIII) — The Ludus, Poll Results & Chapter 3.3 Release Date

🫀Patron Poll: Harrowing vs. Ludus - Direction of Chapter 3.3

Patrons of Pain and Punishment,

Privileged Purveyors of Pleasure,

Two paths now stand before us — both carved in blood and ritual.

The next chapter of Orphan (3.3) will determine which story continues first:

1️⃣ The Harrowing (Academy Arc)
Weeks into their first term, the initiates of Highrock are stripped of sleep, food, and mercy. The Night Watch ends, and what begins as a trial of discipline becomes a descent into madness; the moment where magick either awakens… or consumes.

Will you guide your Orphan through the Harrowing unscathed, or forever changed?

2️⃣ The Ludus (Gladiator Arc)
Sold at auction to one of four, yet delivered into Duchess Livia's gladiator crucible all the same. Your Orphan will be trained at the Ludus among slaves, servants and sworn killers. Rivals, masters, pleasures and punishments abound. The slow shaping of a mind and body fit for the Death Games. How will you stand the tests yet to come?

Your votes will decide which route receives the primary focus for Chapter 3.3, while the other continues in parallel drafts behind the scenes.

⚖️ Vote below:
🩸 Harrowing — the magickal , underground gauntlet of Highrock
⚔️ Ludus Crathal — the flesh-forged beginning of the Gladiator arc

The future of Orphan has always been shaped by your voices, your desire, your devotion.

This question is no different.

And it should go without saying... Thank you for the wave of support in the wake of Chapter 3.2's release, along with the positive reception and feedback. Alas, you (my patrons) keep the fire burning bright. Whether you've been with me from the beginning or have only arrived recently, it means a great deal to see Orphan growing.

It's alive in your hands. So thank you.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

🧬(Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.2 — Defy the Scale

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

Let your orphan be realized in the flesh.

The mirror remembers. The night breaks. Desire breathes. The Harrowing waits.

🔥What’s new inside 3.2 (Uncut)

• Cinematic intro + extended character creation — 6 archetypes and the new Defy the Scale path. Choose your height, build, endowment, hair, tattoos, scars, and voice. Your body is now part of the text.

• Night’s Watch — mid and late-phase progression — fresh beats with Gerwin’s uncertainty, new mysterious threads, and the setup for the night's finale.

• Bathroom threesome — a full, steamy scene. Free for all players. (Patron-only: the long/thick variation lines in select branches.) Future variations are coming for all erotic scenes using the new character traits in upcoming versions.

• Codex update — the bloodglass bead enters the Chronicle. Aspects of the mage/Mearesdes plotline have been revised.

• Polish & audio/UI — fixed the subtle heartbeat clip, improved sidebar/font contrast, and tightened ambience.

• Choice Icons — I'll let the image speak for itself:

🌑 Scope & expectations

This is a rebirth patch: less about grand plot leaps, more about embodiment, sensuality, and getting the project’s pulse thundering again. The new systems are live and already sprinkled into key scenes; deeper trait reactivity rolls out next.

I’m moving back to a 2-week release cadence. When I let an update stretch longer than that, the scope balloons and I end up unsatisfied. Smaller, sharper drops keep Orphan’s pulse steady and the writing hungry. Expect focused updates every ~14 days: fewer bloated features, more consistent story, and a project that breathes instead of holding its breath.

What’s free vs. patron

• Free: the new intro + CC, mirror scene, and the baseline bathroom threesome route.

• Patron (Uncut): added flavor and long/thick variation lines inside the threesome.

Save notes

• You can start fresh to fully experience the new intro and mirror.

• Old saves should work; if anything hiccups, please drop a note with your choices + a screenshot and I’ll hotfix.

Known bits I trimmed (to ship faster)

• Full appraisal-scene rewrite (coming).

• Broader retrofits of trait lines into earlier chapters (coming).

• Harrowing opener is teased here but begins next build.

Roadmap → November

• 3.3 — The Harrowing Begins.

• Wider trait reactivity in erotic scenes (height/build/voice noticed by specific NPCs).

• Appraisal pass + small UI niceties.

• More images where they hit hardest.

Wordcount & vibe

New material ~10–15k across narrative + scenework + system text. Short paragraphs, heavy atmosphere, low idle lines. You’ll feel it.

Gratitude

Thank you for keeping Orphan alive while I rebuilt momentum. If this chapter lands for you, share screenshots (no spoilers), comment your build (height/build/voice), and tell me who clocked you first. Your signals help the project grow.

Defy the Scale. The mirror is waiting.

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll VII) — Eternal Recurrence ⭕

Blood-born, chain-bound, ever-burning,

It has been over two weeks since the last Dev Scroll, and a full month since the release of Chapter 3.1. I don’t want to feed you slop or gilded promises, so I’ve worked in silence.

Silence is sacred to me. Not the silence of idleness, but of incubation.

When I disappear, it’s because something is forming beneath the surface.

The dream twists, the bones shift, the world renews itself yet again.

Every time I return, Orphan returns with me; altered, reborn, sharpened by the dark. This is the seventh scroll. The Scroll of Recurrence. A symbol, perhaps, of the seventh turning. The endless cycle of descent, death, and reawakening.

So let us begin again.

🜂 Method

In the last Dev Scroll, I shared with you my one desire:

To work on Orphan; to grow it, sustain it, and finish it.

Not as a passing project, but as a living world. Something that's worth remembering.

Over the past month, I’ve been rebuilding the game’s foundations to achieve this:
Namely, via a new birth into the world of Cradle and the anabolic tale of Orphan.

Here's a glance into the EXPANDED CHARACTER CREATION.

SEE: the pit-hound

Just 1 of 6 character archetypes that will immediately differentiate you from the rest.

I wanted something quick & thematic that would give the player a stronger sense of who they are, what they look like, and what they're capable of. Each of them fulfills a different niche, look, and set of stats to embark into Cradle with.

Discover the other 5 when Chapter 3.2 finally launches...

SEE: defy the scale

Not into archetypes, classes, pre-set stats?

Well, I wanted to give the player control over their manifestation.

That means custom characterization.

No, you can't change everything. But you can change a lot.

My goal was to give the impression of choice while still making it clear that you're inhabiting one specific character with an origin, backstory and fate (or not) beyond your control...

SEE: choose your endowment

Pretty excited to see the reactions to this one.

I haven't seen many CYOAs/Interactive Fiction do this one, beyond certain titles like Corruption of Champions or Trials in Tainted Space. That means more variations in erotic scenes beyond what already exists.

And yes, the Long & Thick option is reserved for the patron version of the Orphan.

Just another thank you, from me to you.

It should be obvious: only my Patrons have the biggest cocks.

🜄 Meaning

Why am I working on this?

Every iteration of Orphan is a reincarnation — a cycle of refinement and rebirth. Eternal Recurrence is not just the title of this scroll; it’s the method, the message, the meaning.

It occurred to me recently. An explicit realization of something that I may have already known, more or less, internally. An idea that was guiding my creation without being fully realized. I've always been deeply interested in life, death, and the concept of reincarnation.

I've had dreams of past lives. Strong feelings of déjà vu. Moments of intuition and recognition that I can only chalk up to blood memory. Something beyond myself, in this current life, this temporary body of bone, flesh and blood.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

If there's one message that I can convey before I die:

It would be to not waste this life. And that doesn't mean to live in fear. In fact, we need to stop fearing death and embrace it. We need to take risks, have self-respect (honor, courage, integrity) and asset ourselves upon the world.

Because if our every choice is based around living the longest life, being the most comfortable, being safe... Then what kind of life are we living? Do we truly possess the blood of heroes, if we let ourselves rot away in complacency?

Or have we become a domesticated race, obsessed with false immortality?

Trust me: Great Men are found on the precipice of great danger, disaster, ruin. They don't value safety or comfort, as much as they yearn for complete upheaval of body, mind and soul. Because it's during these times of chaos and carnage where we can get glimpses of eternity.

🜃 Message

I guess to put it short & sweet...

Orphan is a story where you can sway your destiny through Choice, but not the fates available to you within the tapestry that has been woven (by me). The Norse call this concept Wyrd. They believed that the Norns (three goddesses) weaved a tapestry for each man, twining the thread of fate. Your actions can influence the tapestry, but as always, there has to be a beginning and an end.

In that same vein, Fredrich Nietzsche had a "thought experiment" and idea, called Eternal Recurrence. The idea is that, what if you have lived this same life (past, present, future) before? In fact, what if you've lived it a countless number of times? Eternally?

Again and again and again.

The same series of events, forever, eternally recurring.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

If this was truly the case... How would it affect your perspective on life? Your attitude? If you've already lived what has come, and what has yet to happen... Why would you approach it with anything but glee? Mad glee, reckless courage, and an open heart.

Whether you believe in anything that I've written about here today,

I recommend that you roll the dice in life. Live courageously. Or don't.

Simply put, I want to thank you.

For sticking with me, Orphan, the Exalted Text...

Because there's still a whole lot to come. And I'm deeply excited for it. Hope you are too.

Expect Chapter 3.2 before the end of October.

After that? Well, you'll have to wait and see.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll VI) — My One Desire

Cruel champions, begging bastards & damned devotees,

It has been nearly two weeks since the release of Chapter 3.1.

In that span of time, my life has bent beneath a weight both strange and glorious. Gratitude and honor have sharpened me, while desire - my one desire - burns clearer than ever.

From the very beginning, Orphan has been a vow whispered into the dark; a promise to myself that I would try, that I would bleed words onto the page and see if they could stand on their own. And yet, here we are, the project having gone through many iterations and forms.

With Chapter 3.1, something shifted. It was one of those rare moments where I felt the weight of momentum and achieved a noticeable breakthrough. It's undeniable now. WE are undeniable now. The kult is growing - readers, patrons, believers.

This Patreon surged from roughly $300/month to over $540/month since the previous update. That is not just a number. It's power and the freedom to focus with intent; time to write, and further evidence that this story, our story, is beginning to matter beyond me.

And I cannot say “thank you” loudly enough.

Gratitude

Everyone who has read, commented, lurked, pledged, or spread the word: you’ve taken what was just a dream and given it form. You’ve proven to me that the violet-lit world of Orphan is not only alive in my imagination, but that it lives in yours too.

Every time I see your names on Patreon, every time I see a post or a message saying this scene stuck with me or this route stoked my imagination, I know I’m not alone at the desk. I’m not whispering into the void. I am telling this myth with you.

And that has given me courage.

This isn't just a side project for me. Orphan is becoming the main vessel of work that sustains me. At $1,000/month, it ceases to be fragile. That is the threshold where the vow is no longer just survivable, but sustainable. Where the flame steadies into a hearth; enduring, dependable, powerful enough to carry this myth forward to its end.

That is the milestone I want to reach with you. Together, we can strike it. Every new patron is not just support, but a stone laid in the foundation of this work. When the kult breaks $1,000, we cross the first true gate. And from there, nothing can halt us.

My One Desire

So what is this “one desire”?

It is simple: to write, to create, to bring a story to life that will last.

I want Orphan to be more than an adult game. I want it to be a living myth. I want every player to feel the weight of chains, the heat of blood, the ache of desire and the possibility of breaking free. This project is not just about titillation or shock; it is about the oldest themes: survival, freedom, coming of age, hope in a cruel world.

When I say my one desire, I mean this: to devote myself to the craft of writing, to see this orphan’s journey through until it stands as a complete, towering tale. To build something I can point to and say: this was my vow made flesh.

The Vision of Chapter 3.2

The next release, Chapter 3.2, will be more than just another “slice.” I want it to be another flagship update, one that deepens both systems and story. Here’s what I am working toward:

• Character Creation Revamp
  Way more customization, clearer archetypes and character origins that flavor replay. From the very first screen, I want the player to feel: this is my orphan, my breed, my reflection that I'm crafting, mirrored in shattered, sweat-slick glass and sunken pools.

• Expanded Academy Content
  The mid- and late-phase of the Night’s Watch, continuing the tension and camaraderie among cadets. More Hugo, Gerwin, and Lyco. Perhaps you'll even encounter Calienne, and more choices that show how your stats and archetypes shape the night. The last opportunity for bonds to be forged, or broken, before the Harrowing.

• Patron-Exclusive Bathhouse Sequence
  A full extended scene, decadent and intimate. A threesome of steam and shadows. Written with the weight and polish of 5-8k words — a true reward for those who make this project possible, and possibly the most erotic scene yet.

• Mearesdes (Sorcerer's Apprentice) Route Improvements

  I've heard the complaints. Some players feel like the 'mage's apprentice' plotline drops off without a satisfying presence as the story progresses. That's my fault. I want his presence to feel even more like a blade against the throat of the story. Several elements will be reworked and retold to improve this route.

• Polish and Presentation
  New images, sharper icons, a refined itch.io page, updated Patreon graphics, new screenshots and pitch. First impressions matter, and I want new readers to see Orphan at its strongest. This includes some revisions and a large number of bugfixes, focused on letting players experience the story as it's meant to be explored!

The release window I am aiming for is mid to late October. I want this update to be seamless, refined, and complete.

Closing Vow

So here it is: my vow renewed.

Orphan is my one desire. It is my vow, my work, my will. I will keep writing it until the orphan’s tale is complete... until he stands scarred but unbroken, until his chains lie shattered at his feet, until the violet glow of Dosmera is no longer a curse but a crown.

Your support makes this vow possible. Every pledge, every share, every word whispered about this story helps carry it further. If you are already a patron, thank you — you are the fire at the heart of this work. If you are reading freely, I ask only this: consider joining the kult, or share Orphan with a friend who might take up the torch beside us.

As I like to remind everyone here... We’re just getting started.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

🧹(Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.1 — Thief n' Frills

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

She returns!

The goblin thief you chased through Undertown now reappears in Highrock’s halls; no longer ragged, but clad in frills, lace, and livery. What begins as a chance encounter in the servant’s quarters becomes something far more intimate… and far more dangerous.

This is Patron’s Night.

🔥 What’s New

• Goblin Maid Scene — If you’re here to slap goblin cheeks, you’re going to be very happy. If you’re not? Then, honestly, this update isn’t packed with new story beats.

• Audio Overhaul — A smoother, more immersive soundscape across the entire game.

• QoL Updates — Cleaner UI, refined menus, transitions that finally feel as sharp as the writing.

🌑 For Veterans vs. Newcomers

• Veterans: If you’ve already pushed far into the Academy route and aren’t here for the goblin, this one’s a lighter drop. Treat it as a Patron’s Night, a special interlude for those who wanted her return.

• Newcomers: This is a great time to start. The game now plays better, sounds better, and the early/mid chapters flow more smoothly than ever before.

Thief n’ Frills is only the beginning. The night deepens further soon...

Download the new build now. And me? I need a smoke. Talk to ya in the Discord!

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

🫀Patron Poll: Do You Want a Darker Orphan?

Precious Patrons,

Purveyors of Pleasure and Punishment,

The abyss stirs. Cradle is already a citadel of chains and cruelty…

But there are darker passages I could carve and that you might yet crave.

Murder. Torture. Sadism.
Ruinous confrontations with the horrific and grotesque.

These themes already breathe in Orphan’s marrow; I want to know if you wish me to plunge deeper and darker into these twisted depths. Should I bring more of the monstrous and the ruinous into your path? Or hold to the balance between shadow and flame?

I know the weight of such visions. Too much darkness, without pause or rhythm, may numb rather than ignite. The tale risks becoming an unbroken dirge instead of a living saga. That is why I turn to you, those who walk deepest with me, so that I may gauge your appetite.

If the will of this circle leans darker, I won't hesitate. The Academy’s nights will grow more perilous, the nobility more depraved, shadows more merciless. You will see murder in the alleys, the screams of the tortured, and the cruel games of the powerful made manifest.

If the will favors balance, then I will continue to temper horror with reprieve; keeping ruin and ecstasy in rhythm, chained together as one.

The future of Orphan has always been shaped by your voices, your desire, your devotion.

This question is no different.

Cast your vote below, and shape the future of Orphan’s tone.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll V) — Audio Overhaul, QoL Magic, and the Night Grows Deeper

My dearest patrons,

The Night deepens, and with it, Orphan grows richer, stranger, more alive.

Over the last weeks, I’ve been weaving a host of quiet but essential improvements, many of them invisible until you feel them for yourself. Let me share what’s been stirring in the depths of Cradle as we quickly approach the next update, expanding beyond Chapter 3.

🎼 The Sound of Chains, the Pulse of Blood
Orphan now breathes with a new audio engine, rebuilt from the ground up.

• Seamless track transitions; no more overlap or random spikes & fadeouts

• Custom volume sliders in the newly overhauled Settings menu (pictured above)

• Greater control for accessibility and immersion

No more jarring cuts, silences or sporadic volume. The world now murmurs and roars in a way that feels alive, wrapping you in holy atmosphere. I want to make the overall experience smoother and more enjoyable for everyone who dares to delve deeper.

✨ QoL Magic
Beyond the music, I’ve tended to the hidden machinations of the game:

• Passages always begin at the top (no more mid-scroll starts)

• Optional switch for the passage fade-in animation

• The disclaimer and splash screen are now fitted based upon screen size

• Various bugfixes reported by the community

These changes may not sound grand, but they make the entire experience feel tighter, cleaner, and more deliberate. Most of them, I didn't realize would be an issue until I started to receive consistent feedback from players. Considering the amount of branching in Orphan and the sheer size of it, I want it to feel good. Not just for one playthrough, but for multiple!

🌒 The Night Grows Deeper
The Night’s Watch sequence at Highrock Academy is expanding again, with another ~10,000 words of intrigue, encounters, and danger planned beneath the violet eclipse of night.

You’ll soon be met with new faces (and some old) in the dormitories, baths, and shadows of Highrock itself. Rivalries sharpen, bonds twist, and desire always lingers. The late hours of night are never safe in Cradle.

📅 Next Update
I’m planning to release this next build in about 3-6 days’ time, carrying with it the audio overhaul, QoL upgrades, and the Night’s Watch expansion. Tuesday seems like a good day to release on. So right now, I'm aiming for that!

As ever, I owe you thanks for walking this path with me: your support, patience, and devotion keep this citadel alive. Right now, I'm focused on consistency, expansion and drawing more eyes and exposure to Orphan.

And you? Well, if you're reading this, you're already a part of making this a success.

Again-- thank you!

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

Cradle Codex — Elves

The Elves

“Once they were stars. Now they are shadows.”

Overview

The Elves are a long-lived and long-fallen race, divided between two branches: the elegant but enslaved High Elves, and the bitterly scarred, knife-hungry Dark Elves.

No one agrees on their origin. The old priests call them the “first inheritors of Cradle,” born with memories older than stone. Goblins claim the Elves stole their first machines and passed them off as wisdom. Humans whisper that they are failed angels; half-gods who sinned and were dragged down to live with us.

What is known is this: they are older than most, sharper, and forever marred by their fall.

High Elves

“Beauty is their mask, but memory is their curse.”

Overview

Once, the High Elves stood nearly as tall as kings, their lives spanning centuries. They were known for their calm wisdom, their command of subtle arts, and their strange affinity for magicks and artifacts older than Cradle itself.

They carry themselves as though they distinctly remember that world, even when scrubbing latrines or singing at feast tables. Their hair is pale silver, their eyes clear and strange, their movements slow and deliberate. Every gesture is poetry, every silence slow and tranquil.

But their grace is a curse. For centuries they were hunted, enslaved, and collared. Today, they are luxury goods—living trophies traded among nobles like jewels. Their worth is measured in skin, song, and silence. Their beauty remains, but their power stripped & suppressed.

High Elves fill the mansions of nobles as servants, scribes, and bedwarmers. They are prized more as treasures than as people. A free High Elf is rarer than rubies and often considered a lie. Yet people say they still dream. That their dreams are long, longer than lifetimes. That in those dreams they see what came before, and what's yet to come.

Common Professions

High Elves are most often forced into roles of service and ornament: attendants, musicians, scribes, dancers, courtesans, and tutors for noble children. They live in gilded cages, some kept in harem halls as pleasure slaves, while others are paraded publicly as tokens of wealth. The luckiest may serve as healers or record-keepers, their sharp memories put to use by those who own them. Their beauty makes them desirable, their minds make them dangerous.

Some nobles prize them as chroniclers, forcing them to tell of history in fine ink. Others breed them into harems, claiming their children as curiosities. A rare few slip into religious or cult circles, their long lives making them natural keepers of forbidden lore.

Spotlight – Collared Poets: Many nobles commission enslaved High Elves to compose songs or chronicles in their name. These works circulate widely, but the poets remain bound, their names carefully maintained and monitored.

Spotlight – House Tutors: Some Elves are entrusted with the education of noble children, mainly humans, or the rare dwarven clan, passing down fragments of old lore, though always under strict watch.

Beliefs & Superstitions

High Elves whisper that memory is divine, that to remember perfectly is the closest thing to immortality. Their private prayers are not to gods, but to names; the names of their ancestors, their lost kin, even their enslavers. It is said they believe every name spoken in reverence builds a chain of memory strong enough to outlast death itself.

Forgetting, to them, is a form of spiritual annihilation.

Some say High Elves see Cradle itself as a prison-womb, a living tomb that cages their people. The most superstitious whisper into cracks in the stone, offering fragments of song in hopes that the walls will someday open and release them. Among them circulates a grim saying: “The stone remembers us better than the living do.”

They keep countless small rituals, often hidden from their masters: braiding strands of hair to mark the years, inscribing secret names under floorboards, or biting their own lips to “seal a memory in blood.” Even their dreams are treated as holy - fragments of forgotten worlds carried across centuries, visions of what came before and what may yet come.

Public Perception

• Humans admire their beauty, yet resent it all the same.

• Greenskins mock them as “pretty prisoners,” though envy their grace.

• Dwarves treat them with solemn pity, as one priest to another.

“Their eyes are too old. That’s why they look so sad.” —Fourth Quarter child

Dark Elves

“Every scar is a vow. Every knife is a prayer.”

Overview

If the High Elves fell into slavery, the Dark Elves fell into vengeance. Banished, most dwell in the cracks of Cradle; the labyrinths, tunnels, and ruined quarters. Their skin is shadowed, hair black as ink or bright as blood, their lithe bodies scarred with oaths carved into flesh.

Dark Elves are feared as killers, smugglers, and sadists. They are scarred, secretive, and viciously clannish. Their Great Houses, if they can be called that, exist in constant vendetta: wars that burn hot in the undercity, unseen by most, but always bleeding upward. They thrive on cruelty, secrecy, and the weakness of others.

Their exact origins are unclear. No one remembers if they were born different, or if they are High Elves twisted and driven mad by exile. What matters is that they hate the world that cast them down—and they make the world pay for it, knife by knife.

Common Professions

Dark Elves thrive in the shadows: assassins, smugglers, black-market traders, poisoners, thieves, pit-fighters and gang captains. Few live openly in the higher quarters; most vanish into the Labyrinth or the buried ruins of the Fourth.

Lesser houses carve their clan-signs into alley walls and whisper in the ears of cults. Every scar they bear is a story: a vow of vengeance, a kin slain, a betrayal remembered. They treat skin as parchment, and the knife as pen.

Spotlight – Gang Lords: Dark Elf gangs rule entire stretches of the Labyrinth, carving their scars into walls as warnings. Their cruelty is legend, but so is their loyalty to kin.

Spotlight – Shadow Assassins: Dark Elf blades are feared above all others. It’s said they take joy in torment before death, whispering secrets to their prey as the knife slides in.

Beliefs & Superstitions

Dark Elves do not pray-- they scar. Each cut they carve into flesh is a vow: vengeance sworn, betrayal endured, kin avenged. Their bodies are living chronicles, maps of blood and pain. To cut without meaning is considered sacrilege; to break an oath carved into the skin is to invite death, often from one’s own kin. Their saying goes: “Words fade. Scars do not.”

They believe suffering itself has power. Pain is proof of life, a tithe to whatever force still listens in the depths. Some cults claim that every scream feeds an unseen god in the labyrinth below, while others hold that agony is the only truth in a world built on lies. To them, pleasure is a fleeting distraction, but pain is the mark of eternity.

Superstitions abound: that Dark Elves cannot be poisoned because their bodies are already steeped in venom; that their shadows move faster than their flesh; that if you kill one without cutting their scars, their ghost will come for you to finish the oath they carried. Children in the Third Quarter are warned never to follow the sound of weeping in the alleys—for it may be a Dark Elf drawing them into the knife’s embrace.

Public Perception

• Humans fear them as cutthroats and gangsters.

• Highborn mothers scare children with tales of them.

• Goblins treat them as rivals, both fighting for the gutters.

• Dwarves shun them entirely, calling them “the lost kin.”

“If a Dark Elf smiles at you, you’re already bleeding.” —Common saying in the Third Quarter

Play a High Elf (in Reign MUX) if…

• You want to roleplay a fallen aristocrat, once-great but bound in chains.

• You want to explore beauty as both gift and cage.

• You want to struggle between dignity, despair, and dangerous memory.

Play a Dark Elf (in Reign MUX) if…

• You want to embrace the role of a criminal, assassin, or outlaw.

• You want to explore vengeance, cruelty, and loyalty to kin.

• You want to live in the shadows, feeding on fear and secrecy.

Footnote

This entry in the Cradle Codex explores the Elves, once-great, now broken. The High Elves embody beauty turned into bondage. The Dark Elves embody memory turned into vengeance. Together, they are two sides of a fall that still echoes through every hall of the Cradle.

If you're in the Exalted Text discord, you likely know that I'm heavily inspired by Warhammer 40k and the Elder Scrolls, especially when it comes to the alien Eldar and the Dark Elves of Morrowind. Those are only two of my many motivations in crafting Orphan's elves.

I wanted to take those inspirations and press them through the city’s weight. The Elves here aren’t cosmic wanderers or magical dynasties. They’re prisoners and predators trapped in the same stone cage as everyone else. Both are reflections of a fall too long remembered, and too painful to let go. Like the other entries, this Codex piece is a living document.

I may expand or revise it as the world of Orphan and Reign MUX grows, or fold parts of it directly into the games themselves. For now, it’s here for you, my Patrons, as a glimpse of the myths and sorrows that shape Cradle.

I’d love to hear your thoughts: which vision of the Elves speaks to you more? The chained elegance of the Highborn, or the knife-etched shadows of their darker kin?

🩸 Onward.
— Truth @ Exalted Text

⚖️ (Patron Exclusive) Orphan 3.0 — The Auction

The next installment of Orphan is now live.

This marks the close of the banquet and the descent into the Auction, one of the most pivotal sequences yet. Every path leads here, but not everyone will fetch the same price, or walk away in the same chains. Mark your price, Gladiator.

Coin is King here.

∆ What’s New in This Release:

• The Auction Sequence — Fully realized with four distinct outcomes, depending on favor gained thru your own choices: Duchess Livia Varro, Countess Alesia Cosmas, Lady Novia Segune, or Countess Sibylla Cyrasse. Each offers their own descent.

• Expanded Fight with Stavrick — A brutal, branching clash with multiple endings: loss, stalemate, upper hand, decisive knockout and more.

• 3 New Images — Khalika’s defiant display on the block, the raven-haired courtesan in the banquet's twilight, and Stavrick's brawn before the beatdown.

👊🏻 Scenes Included in 3.0:

• Pre-auction sequence (measurements, companions, Stavrick confrontation)

• Gant’s sale, Khalika’s fate, and the full Auction block

• Four branching buyer outcomes (Livia, Alesia, Novia, Sibylla)

• Post-auction revelations leading into Duchess Livia’s gladiator ludus

• Update length: ~26,000 new words (total: 209,200)

The sands shift now toward the Gladiator arc. Soon, you’ll train, bleed, and claw for survival under the shadow of Cradle’s greatest games. Rivalries and alliances will be forged in sweat and blood, forced to fight for the favor of the crowd.

This update has been a long-time coming and fulfills a request (via patron poll) from all the way back in May! I've been picking up steam lately and plan to elaborate further on this release and where I'll soon be turning my focus in an upcoming devlog.

It’s been a long road getting here. Some of you have been with me since the very first release; others have only just joined, but together you’ve carried this story forward. Your support is what makes it possible for me to keep building this world. To give it the time, depth, and atmosphere it deserves! 🔥

Share it, talk about it, keep it alive. That’s how this project grows.

That’s how the chains break, one link at a time.

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

Cradle Codex — Greenskins

The Greenskins

“You can chain the arm. The hand will still find the blade.”

Overview

No one agrees on where the Greenskins came from. The city’s human and dwarven priests call them a stain. But the old elves call them survivors, the first to awaken after the Fall; hatched in darkness to feed on metal and memory in the earliest days of Cradle's rise.

What’s certain is this: they belong to Cradle.

They live hard, breed quick, and remember their debts. Some call them crude, some call them cunning, but none call them weak. Maybe they were bred for war, maybe they crawled out of the stone after the Cradle cracked. But what matters is that they’re here: beneath the surface, between the walls, behind the counters. They’ve carved out their place, brick by bloody brick.

They aren’t united. They fight as often as they deal. But if the city had a nervous system, you’d find Greenskins in the joints, wiring, and dark corners—trading in favors, fists, and flesh.

Greenskins exist in three forms—Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Orks—each with their own customs, clans, and scars. Together, they make up the second largest race in the Cradle. And while they do not rule openly, many suspect they are building something of their own beneath the surface; deeper than tax ledgers, older than laws.

Typical Traits

Greenskins are unified not by culture, religion, or loyalty—but by shared instincts:

• Clannishness: They operate in tight kin-based networks; trust is rare and earned.

• Debt Memory: Most Greenskins track debts—financial, personal, blood-bound. A broken debt is a curse that must be repaid, often at any cost, enforced by clan and kin.

• Survival Reflex: They adapt quickly to pain, scarcity, and subjugation.

• Layered Intelligence: Outsiders often underestimate them. Most regret it.

Goblinkind

“Don’t look down at them. That’s when they slip the knife in.”

Goblins are the most numerous of the Greenskins and the most divided. Most are poor, feral, and cling to old blood-clans with names no one else can pronounce. They live in cramped quarters in the Third Quarter’s alleys and the feral warrens of the Fourth, skinning rats, brewing rot-wine, peddling herbs, or scuttling through broken pipework.

They are the most fiercely clannish, with bloodlines that stretch back generations. The Nenyuki are the most famous among them, financiers and shrewd kingmakers within the Sorcerer-King’s order. But most goblins have never seen a coin of silver. They work, steal, and scrounge in cities that would rather forget them, yet depend on them more than they know.

Common Professions:
Goblins often serve as scrappers, foragers, pickpockets, tinkers, rat-catchers, bone sellers, salvage haulers, message runners, alchemists, mapmakers, pawnshop brokers, potion testers, black-market medics, informants, and dust-leaf peddlers. They are invaluable to both criminal networks, desperate scholars, and most simple systems within the Third Quarter.

Spotlight – The Nenyuki Brokers:
The Nenyuki clan have risen higher than any other Greenskin bloodline. Bankers, brokers, scholars, and whisperers; many claim they were once favored by the Sorcerer-King himself. They built ledgers older than the current census and own more property than most lowborn human families. A Nenyuki goblin in silk robes with rings on his claws is not a rare sight in the Second Quarter. But he’s likely got a dozen daggers waiting in the dark.

Other goblins either envy the Nenyuki… or want to gut them.

Spotlight – Feral Clans:
In the Fourth Quarter, entire goblin bloodlines have gone feral: living in half-lit ruins, worshipping dead machines, and painting their teeth with ash. Outsiders who wander in don’t usually wander back out. These clans played large role in the "loss" of the Quarter, claiming it from the Legions through prolonged conflict and cooperation with magickers.

Hobgoblins

“They don’t talk much. Just point at who’s going to die.”

Hobgoblins are taller than their goblin kin, broad-shouldered and sour-tempered. They are known for their unshakable oaths of service—once sworn, a hobgoblin will protect their charge until released or dead. This has made them popular as bodyguards, mercenaries, house enforcers, and escort commanders among both human nobles and guild syndicates.

They are not sentimental. They are not warm. But they are stubborn as stone, and their word holds weight. They are the preferred muscle for those who can afford them: hard to bribe, harder to scare.

A few ancient hobgoblin clans claim to have once led armies under the Sorcerer-King’s banner, their banners now lost to rust and rumor. Some still bear the scars. Others just want work, blood, and the thrill of a fight.

Common Professions:
You’ll find hobgoblins working as mercenaries, slavers, caravan guards, pit-fighters, private enforcers, duel referees, torturers, war-band lieutenants, debt collectors, executioners, and bodyguards to high merchants or nobility, both minor and major.

Spotlight – Oathbound Enforcers:
A hobgoblin’s vow isn’t mere speech - it’s soul-marked. Those who break an oath rarely live long. Those who keep them rise in status and demand. Some noble families pass down favored hobgoblin retainers like bloodlines.

Spotlight – Warborn Veterans:
Many older hobgoblins served in the Sorcerer-King’s legions—as shock troops, infiltrators, or siege-breakers. Their banners are gone, but their scars are not. Some still wear the old colors beneath their coats.

Orks

“They look like us. Until they laugh. Then you remember they’re not.”

Orks are the largest of the Greenskins, built like battering rams and twice as stubborn. They are loud, proud, and full of violent mirth. Most people find them disturbingly human—not just in speech or stature, but in mind. They laugh at the same jokes, drink the same drinks, cry when kin die. And they can breed with humans, though few speak of it.

Half-orks are rare, but they exist—taller, broader, and often shunned by both sides as freaks. Some find their place in the pits or the alleys. A few rise higher. None have an easy road.

Orks work where bones break: bouncers, haulers, pit fighters, brick-stackers, iron-handlers, oath-enforcers. Some swear loyalty to humans and wear their colors with pride. Others prefer clan-life, tribal tattoos, and raw meat, living in the crater’s edge-zones within scattered clanholds or half-legal slums.

Common Professions:
Orks often work as brick-haulers, gate-watchers, pit brawlers, canal dredgers, wall-masons, arena bait, warehouse guards, butcher’s assistants, and demolition crews. Some join gangs. A few join cults.

Spotlight – Pit-Lords and Gladiators:
Orks dominate low-tier arena fights, often trained from adolescence. They are strong, loud, and wildly popular with crowds. Rare champions can win freedom, but most just lose teeth.

Spotlight – Overland Scouts:
Orks are better suited than most for life outside the city. Some serve as crater-guides, beast-hunters, and salvage-runners. They return changed. If they return at all.

Public Perception

• Humans fear goblin cunning and ork strength—but rely on both.

• Elves find them distasteful, animalistic, or pitiful—depending on caste.

• Dwarves respect their work ethic, but resent their lack of reverence.

• Beastkin often live alongside them—and sometimes beneath them.

Many in Cradle regard Greenskins as dirty, dangerous, and disposable.
But they know the truth.
You can’t burn out a root that runs deeper than the floor.

Beliefs & Superstitions

Greenskin spirituality is fractured, oral, and deeply tied to clan, blood, and place.

• Some goblins believe the Cradle itself is alive, and that the city speaks through steam, stone, and silence.

• Many hobgoblins whisper prayers before drawing blades, but name no gods.

• Orks often tattoo death-totems onto their arms—ancestral beasts, teeth gods, or crater spirits.

• Almost all Greenskins believe in ancestral debt—that a favor given must one day be returned.

Common sayings:

“Name, bone, and blade - keep those clean.”
“Every deal costs a drop of blood. Some just wait to be drawn.”
“We were here when the fire fell. We'll be here when it burns again.”

Greenskin Culture (As Seen Today)

• Oath-debts are sacred. A promise made before witnesses binds the soul.

• Clan feuds are endless. Some bloodlines haven’t spoken or mixed in a hundred years. There is an incredible amount of diversity throughout the various goblin kin tribes.

• Names are power. To know a true name is to own leverage. Many go by nicknames or callsigns outside the clan.

• Gold is good. Copper is cleaner. Secrets are best. These are old goblin sayings.

They bury their dead with coins in the mouth and teeth carved with clan-marks. Few of them believe in gods, but they respect power and clean cunning.

What Others Say About Greenskins

"Greenskins don’t die. They scatter, wait, and rebuild." —Old Mason of the Third
"I’d trust a hob before I’d trust a human merchant." —Street preacher in Undertown
"You see a goblin smile, you check your pockets. You see an ork smile, you check your will." —Anonymous legionnaire

Play a Goblin (in Reign MUX) if…

• You want to start at the bottom and build something no one saw coming.

• You want to scheme, scavenge, and survive on wit, debt, and grit.

• You want to walk between the cracks of power, then sell what you find.

Play a Hobgoblin (in Reign MUX) if…

• You want to serve with cold loyalty.

• You want to be the sword behind the throne, or the blade in the dark.

• You want a simple code in a world that twists everything else.

Play an Ork (in Reign MUX) if…

• You want to fight for respect in a world that calls you a beast.

• You want to test your strength in blood, stone, and bone.

• You want to stand alone, or claim a legacy no one will give you.

Greenskins aren't born with power—but they know how to take it.

A race cannot stay underfoot forever. Not when it has maps of the tunnels, debts in every district, and a thousand old knives waiting to be named again.

–From “Beneath the Stone: A Treatise on the Lesser Races”, banned manuscript, Second Quarter, burned by the Sorcerer-King's forces in 832 A.D.

Footnote;

The second entry in the Cradle Codex!

Greenskins have always been one of my favorite races, whether in the context of a fantasy universe or the sci-fi of Warhammer 40k. I first encountered this particular strain of hobgoblins in one of my favorite book series when I was younger, the Edge Chronicles. In that setting, there were also hundreds of different variations of goblins, some sane and others completely savage.

That's something I envision for Cradle, too! Each clan having their own distinctions; physically, mentally, spiritually. From their methods of warfare, to common sayings, and their appearances that may've altered over centuries of careful management.

I was having a discussion earlier in the Discord with some players & patrons about how many fantasy races highlight particular aspects of humanity! I think that's particularly true about certain greenskins. They embody very innate, animalistic qualities, from the sheer cunning of the goblins to the brutal vitality of the orks. Let me know what you think!

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

Cradle Codex — Humans

The Human Race

“Fortune favors them, and ruins them, often all in one stroke.”

Overview

Humans are the most populous race in Cradle, filling its alleys, courts, forges, brothels, and thrones. They are everywhere—in every caste, every guild, every district. From silken nobility sipping fragrant wine in the First Quarter to rawboned slavers barking orders in the dust of the Third, human faces define the city’s daily life.

You will find no single story for them. Some are cold and clever. Others are warm and full of song. Some own slaves. Others are slaves. Some kneel to law and ritual. Others worship coin or chaos. They are many things, sometimes even opposite things, all at once.

It is said that humans carry no inborn loyalty to any god, tribe, or code. That they must choose what to become, every morning. That may be why so many of them fall, but also rise to truly unimaginable heights.

Common Roles & Professions

Of all Cradle’s races, none span so many lives as humans. They may rise from ash or fall from marble. Born into every caste—noble, lowborn, or chained—they walk every path: from the silk-curtained thrones of the First Quarter to the blood-slick gutters of the Fourth. Their fates run bright and brutal in equal measure. They suffer every sorrow, chase every dream. Sometimes they rule. Sometimes they rot. And often, all it takes is one roll of the dice.

Highborn Humans

Often educated, well-fed, and groomed from birth to rule, Highborn humans fill most positions of prestige and leadership in Cradle’s institutions. Their titles are inherited or bought with blood, favor, or coin, and maintained with iron, bribes and guile.

Common Professions:
Highborn humans may serve as magistrates, court physicians, historians, arcanists, architects, guildmasters, noble tutors, ritual officiants, or diplomats. Some lead city guilds or command entire districts from their ancestral estates.

Spotlight – Officers of the Highlord's Legions:
Highborn humans make up the majority of Cradle’s officer class, commanding entire legions, organizing campaigns against outsiders and savage goblin havens, or suppressing unrest, often deep within the Third Quarter. Their word can burn a village or elevate a name.

Spotlight – Ascenders:
Only humans may undergo the Trials of Ascension, a brutal rite that selects elite magickal commandos to brave the Overland or dive into forbidden zones beneath the city. Few survive. Fewer return unchanged.

Lowborn Humans

The majority of free humans fall under this caste. Though denied formal titles, they often serve as the true lifeblood of the city, keeping its streets swept, its walls patched, and its markets moving.

Common Professions:
Lowborn humans can be found as guards, couriers, scribes, cooks, bakers, barbers, laborers, scaffold-runners, street vendors, tattoo artists, rat-hunters, pest wardens, poison testers, perfumers, dreamleaf peddlers, alchemical apprentices, or ash-pit haulers. Some moonlight as prostitutes, matchstick girls, or lantern-boys. Others disappear into the Labyrinth as smugglers, lookouts, or slipknives.

Spotlight – Gang Threshers:
In the Third Quarter, lowborn humans often join neighborhood syndicates, enforcing their own brutal laws. Threshers act as bruisers, debt-breakers, or territorial enforcers -and sometimes, protectors, given the unreliableness of the Legions.

Spotlight – Ledger Scribes:
Those with sharp minds and steady hands may serve in the Ledger Courts—a massive bureaucratic machine that governs contracts, taxes, and legal proceedings. Power flows quietly here, and those who master the ink can ruin as easily as any blade.

Enslaved Humans

Not all humans are born free. Many are indentured from birth, taken for debt, or sold by desperate kin. Enslaved humans occupy the most dangerous, degrading, or disposable roles within Cradle.

Common Professions:
Enslaved humans work as sewer runners, mine-workers, bricklayers, lime-haulers, coal-fanners, garden drudges, kitchen thralls, litter-carriers, street sweepers, and ash-bringers. Some are bred or trained as pleasure slaves, pit wrestlers, voice-mimics, or test subjects for nobles with forbidden appetites. Many die anonymously, buried beneath stone without name or rite.

Spotlight – Companion Class:
Some enslaved humans—trained from youth in etiquette, touch, and memory—are sold to wealthy nobles as personal companions, entertainers, or discreet advisors. They live surrounded by luxury and watched eyes, but must tread carefully.

Spotlight – Arena Gladiators
Among the enslaved, none are more visible, or more expendable, than the Gladiators of the Colosseum. Trained in pain, ritual, and performance, these men and women fight not merely to survive, but to entertain, to provoke, to embody the myths Cradle tells itself. Some are bred for the pit. Others are criminals, debtors, or rebels forced into the ring. A few volunteer, hoping fame might bring freedom and another chance at life.

Some carve out better fates - by charm, muscle, or blood.

Others get crushed for the attempt.

Cultural Perception

Among the other races, humans are viewed with a mix of caution and cynicism.

• Elves find them unpredictable: “Too many hungers, too little memory.”

• Goblins often admire human ambition, while mocking their pride.

• Dwarves distrust their lack of tradition and clannish devotion.

• Beastkin, especially the enslaved, often fear them most of all. “No one kills their own like a human can.”

This is because humans are capable of all things; good and bad, sacred and base.
They are the race most likely to enslave their own kin, to betray their friends, to kiss the hand that bleeds them. But they are also the race that most often reaches across the line to save, love, or forgive. One never quite knows where a human stands.

That is their danger, and their charm.

Typical Traits

There is no typical human. Still, there are patterns:

• Adaptability: Humans thrive in changing circumstances. They adjust faster than other races.

• Ambition: Many pursue wealth, power, or fame with religious zeal.

• Social Range: Humans bond, deceive, collaborate, and betray in equal measure.

• Emotional Complexity: They are capable of deep compassion, sudden cruelty, or both within the same day. Some (other races) view them as unstable, while others are fascinated.

• Lack of Ritual Identity: Unlike Dwarves or Elves, humans rarely have unifying ancestral rites. Their cultures are fragmented and regional, often varying between quarter districts.

Beliefs & Superstitions

Human spiritual life varies wildly:

• Many worship the Sunfather or the Mother Below, depending on caste and region.

• Some give thanks to the Old Cradle, treating the city itself as a womb or god.

• A growing number whisper prayers to Dosmera, even if only to ward off dreams.

• Most follow no faith at all, replacing gods with gold, pleasure, or power.

Superstitions are common:

• Red moons are seen as omens of betrayal and bloodshed.

• Exposure during the Eclipse may attract daemons.

• Dreams of falling teeth are said to herald a family death.

Social Flexibility

Humans are uniquely able to cross castes, either by rising or falling:

• A whore may marry into nobility.

• A noble may die branded and sold at market.

• A priest may become a crime boss.

• A slave may buy their freedom and become an innkeeper.

This mutability is viewed with envy and fear.

What Others Say About Humans

"They’ll smile in your face and sell your daughter the same night." —Drakka the Scarred, Orc Fighter
"Humans are like smoke. You breathe them in, and they change you." —Sindrael, enslaved Elven poet
"Never trust one who smiles too easily. Or weeps without shame." —Arduv the Dwarven Elder
"They build districts, then burn them for warmth." —Nameless Beastkin in chains

Play a Human (in Reign MUX) if...

• You want total freedom of caste and background.

• You want to explore moral grayness, betrayal, or unexpected loyalty.

• You want to be feared, loved, or both depending on what you do.

• You want to become more than what you were born into.

Footnote;

This is the first entry in the Cradle Codex, a living lorebook that I've been wanting to put out for the shared world of Orphan and Reign MUX (wip). For now, it's reserved for my privileged Patrons! In the future, I may revise these and possibly put them directly into Orphan, or make them publicly available for Reign MUX's documentation.

The human race is the foundation of the setting, not because they’re the strongest or most beautiful, but because they’re the most flexible, the most fractured, the most dangerous. Every caste, every alley, every bedchamber has a human story.

I'd love to hear your thoughts... I always love talking about the world of Orphan.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

🔥 (Patron Exclusive) Orphan 2.9 — The Fire Returns

We're back and better than ever with a new chapter.

Khalika: orc warrior, friend, unlikely flame. She returns with an intimate scene that unfolds in three distinct ways depending on your past choices and the nature of your character. Whether you're playing as the Orphan, the Bastard, or the Knight, you'll encounter a different shade of desire, tension, and memory in this long-awaited reunion.

This update also includes:

• A completely overhauled main menu

• New UI enhancements and polish

• A fixed music system that now properly persists across saves and loads

• 20+ reworked passages for tone, clarity, and flow

• A handful of new visuals to deepen immersion

While updating the credits sequence this week, I couldn't help but pause to look at the names of those of you who've supported this story, some since the earliest days. It hit me hard. I've really felt called to work on Orphan again, and I'm grateful for it. It's always a rewarding feeling but a simmering flame grows back into something that burns.

Or better yet-- engulfs.

August is going to be a prolific month. Expect more exclusive scenes, more intimate character moments, and soon... the massive Chapter 3.0 update that will propel Orphan forward into its next great phase. Thank you, as always, for walking beside me.

Your support makes every word possible.

🖤 —Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll IV) — Next Update, Plans for July @ Exalted Text

My friends and dearest supporters!

As you can probably tell, a devlog is long overdue. I've been working on crafting together scenes for the next update! Firstly, my apologies for the lack of updates/communication on this Patreon page itself. I'm a bit more communicative and easily accessible in the Exalted Text discord, but I understand that not every patron is a part of the discord.

I've been pretty bad at setting aggressive deadlines for myself and then announcing potential release dates before I'm certain that I can even meet them. Most of the time, I don't! I suppose that's part of publishing your first project and figuring out what kind of workflow and expectations works best. It's a fragile balance, trying to market and grow a game's audience while also steadily chipping away at the story, art and everything else that comes with it.

In all actuality, if I hadn't received so much positive feedback and support even in just the last few months, I'm uncertain whether Orphan would still be alive & progressing steadily like it is now. I haven't done the best at rewarding my prized Patrons, and even when I try to (w/ patron polls), the responses are quite low! It's clear to me that the majority of you who stick around and support me are just doing so for your love and enjoyment of Orphan and the world of Cradle... which I'm hugely grateful for and continually inspired by. ❤️‍🔥

On July 21st, I have a flight. I'll be undergoing a massive move, and adjusting to a new place/path/purpose... There's a lot of chaos and uncertainty that comes with that. The good news is that I'm a starving artist (😭😂) and any amount of support/income from my projects right now is going to be increasingly important to me... That's good for me, because you (my dearest supporters) have proven to me that Orphan is good enough to warrant real, tangible support and investment, and good for you because that means I need to continue hammering away at it!

I want Orphan to be bigger, better and more worthy of attention & acclaim.

Doesn't every creator want that for their work?

Okay, let me stop talking about my FEELINGS and try to drop some good information here.

Necessity certainly sharpens the blade. 🗡️

📅 Chapter 2.9 - What to Expect

My GOAL is put out as much content as I can before I leave on my flight, to give everyone something to savor as I establish my new routine and get to work on the next chapter. Right now, that content appears to be:

• a scene with Khalika during the banquet's finale

• an expanded version of the bath scene on the Academy route (patron exclusive)

• new main menu w/ art (featured in Dev Scroll III)

• 5+ new images so far (you've seen a couple of them)

• The Gladiator Auction (TBD)

The Auction has been the most comprehensive scene by far!

I might need to break it into parts, but we'll see how it develops. It's a very important moment in the Gladiator arc with big consequences for how your individual story progresses... and how your relationship with other characters blossoms.

If you're not in the Discord, definitely considering joining it! We've been chatting about Reign MUX recently, which is a multiplayer text-based roleplaying game set in the world of Cradle, shortly after the events of Orphan. I've been working on it and I have a feeling that if you like Orphan, there's a good chance that you'll like what I'm developing w/ Reign.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text

👁️ Stolen Glimpse #2 - A Pact in Silver

Not all bonds are forged in blood and iron.
A silver ring, a whispered promise, a future glimpsed,
Can a dead man's fate truly be rewritten?
Or does every desperate act merely delay the inevitable?

You will belong to someone soon, and your choices will decide who.

With the next update of Orphan quickly approaching (expect it next week), you'll be getting more content here to stoke the fires of anticipation. I hope each and everyone of you are looking forward to an expansion of the world, Cradle, and this unwritten story that we're telling together; where the smallest choice can echo in blood, shadow, or salvation.

Talk to you soon. 🔥

—Truth @ Exalted Text

(Dev Scroll III) — Release Date for Chapter 2.9, Game Art for the main menu & more

Now you may be asking...

"Truth — What's that magnificent piece of art currently crowning this dear Dev Scroll?"

Well, I knew you'd be curious.

🕯️ A New Gateway to Cradle

With Chapter 2.9, Orphan will unveil a brand new Main Menu background. I've touched on this before, so hopefully you can pick up on the pattern in my purpose. Every time a player crosses the threshold into Cradle, I want them to feel something.

Not a cold load screen or a placeholder UI—but a ritual. An invocation.

I'm always trying to elevate this experience.

While the beating heart of Orphan will always be the text; its memory-soaked monologues, brutal choices, and devouring desire... I believe the visuals and interface are sacred too. They are the altar. The scent in the air. The sound of distant drums.

This isn’t just aesthetic. It's a vow.
To make every return feel like a plunge back into something alive.
Atmospheric. Intoxicating. A game that breathes around you.

There will always be players that open Orphan and blindly click through it in search of something visual, immediate; a quick fix to satiate their senses. That's not what I'm catering for, and I doubt these sort of players will really get much from the experience.

But I hope that my efforts will enhance the experience for those already enthralled by the story being woven here. It's a tapestry that we're crafting together with every single poll, update and side story. Each addition only strengthens the tale and extends it's reach.

🐍 The Kültist Ascends

You might've noticed recently, we said farewell to the Legionnaire. In his place, the Kültist Tier rises: bearing twice the voting power, an esoteric title and a fitting image that I'm quite proud of, to say the least. I wanted something a bit more sinister, secretive, dark & devoted.

Do you like the shift in energy?

While I like the idea of a Legionnaire, a trained soldier bound by blood and iron to his brothers, this concept loses vigor when such soldiers are bound in service to a crumbling kleptocracy or otherwise immoral men. Not much has been revealed of the Sorcerer-King as of yet, but it might be evident that something isn't quite right with his regime.

It's dark, decadent and mysterious, but lacking in glory. Honor. Integrity.

No, I'd hope that my patrons would rather embody the archetype of the Kültist instead. The Kültist doesn't obey because he must, but because he believes. Whether in prophecy, sorcery, or myth, he has glimpsed something larger than the world.

And now nothing else will satisfy him.

The Kültist doesn’t fight for the world. He fights to remake it. If I may be as bold as to say, there are fragments of the Kültist within myself. And hopefully if my words ring true and my work continues strong, I'll inspire some of those very fragments in you.

“It is not the lash that binds them to the dark, but the kiss of its promise.”
— Tattered Manuscript Fragments, Order of the Third Circle

📅 Chapter 2.9 - Release Date

I've spoken enough here, so let's finish with a punch and a promise.

The planned release date for Chapter 2.9 is Tuesday, June 17th, focusing on the Gladiator route. It will be a heavy hitter narratively, with multiple outcomes for the auction that will determine much of your character's path moving forward.

The stakes are rising. The chains are tightening. And yet, beneath it all, you already know that there will be fighting, fucking and fire. I hope you are as excited for it as I am. I've had a big wave of support recently from many a gladiator, and our very new Sorcerer-King tier patron, @ The Wandering Warden in Discord.

I really can't express my appreciation enough. I'm always looking for ways to give my patrons more leverage as a way to say thank you, and to impact this choice-based tale as it continues to rapidly unravel. I hope each and everyone of you are enjoying the ride.

🩸 Onward.
– Truth @ Exalted Text