History — The Bleed
Until the Blight Tide ran high, the corruption was a thing of the deep. No longer. Once the Tide climbs past its thresholds, the deep bleeds up into the overworld: a share of ordinary spawns rise Blight-touched — stronger, darker, and named so you see them coming. A Blight-touched foe wears a violet card on your tile; you cannot miss it.
When it rises
The Bleed keys off the live Tide band. The higher the Tide, the more of the realm turns Blight-touched and the stronger each one is:
| Tide band | Blight-touched spawns | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Below 60% (Held / Rising) | None — the Bleed is inert | — |
| Bleed — 60% | ~1 in 8 | +15% |
| Siege — 80% | ~1 in 5 | +30% |
| Fall — 95% | ~1 in 3 | +45% |
The reward for the kill
Felling a Blight-touched foe is fighting the war on the surface. Each kill pays a gold bounty (scaling with the foe's level and the Tide band), a chance at Dark Crystal shards, and drives the Blight Tide back — the same currency of contribution as cleansing a Purification Node below. When the whole realm pushes the Tide down across a band boundary, everyone who fought that season shares a recession reward.