Motif · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

The Syndicate

The interstellar government that owns Dungeon Crawler World and licenses seasons to corporations like Borant; the source of the rules, the common language everyone is suddenly speaking, and — according to a first-floor tutorial guide — the seeding of Earth's culture from outside long before the collapse.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 3 — A goose from the sky
• Chapter 8 — A yam from the pacifists
• Chapter 13 — Gerbils
• Chapter 15 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
• Chapter 18 — One
• Chapter 19 — Orren
• Chapter 26 — Lusca
• Chapter 28 — Emberus
• Chapter 33 — Phase three
• Chapter 34 — Seeding the pond
• Epilogue — Epilogue: the Walk-On List

Progression

A court that freezes the world over three items in an inventory and rules 'Lack of Standing for all plaintiffs' (ch. 26); a Liaison who is 'not quite a judge', a council that overrules him, and a rumour that his people take over after the next floor (ch. 19). Seven factions sue and lose seven times, and the AI hands Carl their mothers' photographs (ch. 28). A rule that NPCs cannot be replaced once a floor is made (ch. 34); an Indigenous Species Protection Act that scrambles the natives' implants and a Walk-On List it knows about and never punishes (epilogue). Macro AIs are lifeforms under its law (ch. 28).