Komodo's Roost

Introduction

Welcome to Komodo's Roost, the Barren Court's first official limited time event. The event is hosted within the Wildlands, wherein participants can enter a region of the Sand playing as either one of their Forgotten Runes character tokens, or choosing from a selection of characters the Court has made available to anyone. As a result, a Forgotten Runes character token is not required to participate, but future events may include bonuses for holders of various Forgotten Runes or Barren Court collections. We plan to build on the Wildlands as actively as funding permits, eventually providing other Cult communities the chance to deploy character tokens into the Wildlands as NPCs, and eventually even host their own events via interaction with these NPCs.

At launch, Komodo's Roost will be the only area that players have access to. The long-abandoned fortress lies in the heart of the dunes and rumours have travelled across the desert that the fabled Gila Komodo, Beast of the Sand, lies slumbering within, guarding the many treasures scattered across the fortress. Until one day, out of nowhere, it awakens...

Links

• Wildlands: Head to https://wildlands.thebarrencourt.com/ to embark on the long journey to Komodo's Roost for the chance to claim and hatch a mythical Komodo Egg.
• Komodo's Roost Collection (OpenSea): https://opensea.io/collection/komodos-roost

Mechanics

• At the gates of Komodo's Roost, players can hire mercenaries of the Court to accompany them on their journey into the Roost in search of Komodo Eggs. The cost of hiring mercenaries (minting) will change over time using a VRGDA, such that the mint price decreases over time steadily if none are sold, but increases whenever eggs are minted.
  • The initial and target price for the mint is 0.015 ETH per Komodo Egg.
  • 1069 Komodo Eggs will be sold in total, and no more will ever be released after the sale finishes.
  • This supply is intended to be released over a period of several weeks, with the VRGDA ensuring that the mint price increases to reflect demand if they're being sold ahead of this schedule.
  • The Eggs will reveal instantly upon being minted. The Egg's traits provide some insight into the traits of the Komodo that hatches out of it, but the Court's ecologists have documented several examples of seemingly inexplicable mutations in Komodo genetics. Several different species of Komodo have been observed by the Court, and it's relatively easy to tell apart their eggs by species, given their unique physical appearances.
  • If the player chooses to mint multiple Komodo Eggs in a single transaction, the price will not update in between each mint, such that whatever mint price they end up paying will be the same across each Egg minted in that transaction.
  • As a result of the VRGDA mechanism, players must select a maximum allowed slippage value when minting their eggs. This protects the user against their transaction reverting if another player lands their mint ahead of them, increasing the mint price. Any ETH remaining after paying the mint price will be returned to the user, such that increasing the max allowed slippage reduces the likelihood of the transaction reverting, but should not increase the mint price paid unless other minters land their mint transactions ahead of the user's.
• Once you've minted or claimed your Eggs, players can take them to Nazim at the hatchery to be nested. When nesting one or more Eggs, players must choose what rank they would their Komodo to be (between 4 and 10). Hatched Komodo ranks are critical to the nesting and hatching mechanism, may also be utilised in future events and are present in the metadata as a trait.
  • When hatching an Egg after it has been nested, there is a small (10 - 20%) chance of the Egg being stolen by another Komodo before it can be hatched. When this occurs, the Egg remains unhatched and is transferred to the owner of the Komodo which steals it. If this occurs, higher rank Komodos have a better chance of being the Komodo which steals the Egg than lower rank Komodos.
  • The higher the desired rank, the longer the egg must be nested for before it can be hatched. A rank 4 Komodo only needs to be nested for a single day, whilst nesting a rank 10 Komodo takes 30 days.
  • The higher the desired rank, the lower the chance of the Egg being stolen by another Komodo. A rank 4 Komodo has a 20% chance of being stolen, whilst a rank 10 Komodo has a 10% chance of being stolen.
  • Higher rank Komodos have better odds of receiving each Komodo Egg which is stolen. Each hatched Komodo's chance of stealing an Egg is weighted by their rank, such that rank 10 Komodo's have a 2.5x better chance of stealing each egg than a rank 4 Komodo.
  • The Gila Komodo, as the apex predator of the Roost, has a rank of 150. Early on in the event, the Gila Komodo will likely receive the majority of stolen Eggs, but this chance diminishes quickly as more Komodos are hatched. For example once 135 rank 10 Komodos have been hatched, the Gila Komodo will only receive ~10% of stolen eggs.
  • Upon hatching, it will be instantly revealed whether Eggs have been hatched successfully. The traits of any hatched Komodos will also reveal and update immediately.
  • Nesting an Egg will transfer it from your wallet to the Nest contract for the duration of the nesting period. No other player can hatch an egg you have nested, so they will remain safe there until you return to hatch them.
• We look forward to seeing what strategies players employ in determining when to nest their eggs and how long they nest them for. As a general guide:
  • While waiting to mint can result in paying a lower mint price (because of the VRGDA referenced above), there is a major benefit to hatching Komodo's earlier than other players. As the rank of each hatched Komodo is used to decide which Komodo receives any eggs that are stolen, the very first Komodo hatched will have a chance of stealing every Komodo hatched after it, while the last Komodo to hatch won't be able to steal any Komodo Eggs. This effect is compounded by the fact that each hatched Komodo dilutes the chance of already hatched Komodos to steal each egg, similar to how the Gila Komodo's chance of receiving each stolen Egg declines as more Komodo's hatch.
  • To offset this benefit, the VRGDA ensures that the supply of Eggs won't be released into the wild too quickly by raising the mint price if Eggs are minted faster than expected. This also means that waiting to mint can result in having to pay a higher mint price if a large amount of players want to mint their eggs quickly to hatch them as soon as possible.
• After compensating the artists and developers who have contributed to the Roost for their work, any funds raised from the event are intended to be used to further the development of the Barren Court, building on their presence within the Runiverse and it's broader narrative. This may include projects such as the following:
  • Further events within the Wildlands, including those hosted by other community projects.
  • The establishment of a guild within the Forgotten Runiverse MMORPG. This would likely involve us seeding the guild with funds from the mint to be used for the land sale, which Komodo holders would then control a majority share as a voting bloc.
  • Expanding Wildlands into a full-featured web3-enabled roguelike game, taking inspiration from games such as Dead Cells, Noita and Terraria.

Guide

When you first enter the Wildlands, click the Golden Scarab to embark upon your journey.

At the Connect Wallet screen, click Metamask and connect your wallet. More connection options will be available soon.

At the Character Select screen, choose either one of your own Forgotten Runes character tokens, or one of the available Barren Court warriors. You can use the tabs provided to navigate between these sets of available characters. The selection of Barren Court characters available for all to use may rotate over time, but this option will always exists for those who do not own any Forgotten Runes character tokens. Anyone may enter the Wildlands, but few will ever return...

You'll find yourself on the southwestern outskirts of the Roost. You can walk around using either arrow keys or WASD. Let your eyes adjust to the blinding light of the desert sun, and take a moment to get your bearings.

As your approach an NPC who can be interacted with, a popup/hint will appear directing you to hit the F key to interact with them. You may also interact with them by clicking on them.

The NPC Dialogue menu provides you details of the character you're interacting with, and several options to continue the interaction. Some of these will bring up further additional menus, such as those used to mint, nest or hatch Komodo Eggs. Click the exclamation mark button to view that character's Forgotten Market page. We recommend you speak with Apocalypse of the Sacred Pillars, the Court's Poet Laureate, upon your arrival.

Follow the road to the North until you arrive at the gates of the Roost. Once you're arrive speak with Thorne, Slasher of the Desert to hire mercenaries of the Court to accompany you deep into the fortress in search of a Komodo Egg. Friends of the Court who've been granted a claim-list allocation of Komodo Eggs may also collect these from Thorne via Claim menu.

After receiving your Egg, you can take it to Nazim outside of the hatchery, the small building to the South where the Court's ecologists work to ensure the Eggs are nurtured in ideal conditions in preparation for their hatching. You'll have to choose a desired rank when nesting any eggs, which dictates both the time it will have to nested for (from 1 day for rank 4 up to 30 days for rank 10) and the chance of the Egg being stolen by another Komodo when you attempt to hatch it (from 20% for rank 4 down to 10% for rank 10). Speak to Nazim again after waiting for the required nesting period to hatch your Komodos.

Many others NPCs can be found wandering the outskirts of the Roost, drawn to the fortress from all corners of the Runiverse in the hope of claiming a Komodo for themselves. Some of them can be interacted with, and may offer quests, gifts or information. Both the set of NPCs found and the dialogue options available may change at any time, and can even change depending on information about the specific wallet or character token used, such as the tokens held by that wallet, or the events that wallet or character has participated in previously. Reach out to the Court via Discord if you're interested in seeing your character brought to life in the Wildlands as an NPC, whether to host your own event there or simply for lore- and world-building purposes.