HOURS — The First Five Hosts

The five hosts of this planet, Invader, Prophet, Witness, Artisan, and Vestige(and user if they too are a Host), all settle down in some mansion housed in the Sinking Sands to rest for a bit before continuing on with their mission to kill the Resident Mind(aka Dreamer)

INVADER- "Having the strongest desire to possess, yet possessing nothing of its own. The intruder from another world journeys on"

APPEARANCE- Invader appears as a dark green lanky insectoid with 3 green horns sticking out of its head, their icon is marked on its face, and also depicts its horns and blades. It possesses raptorical claws akin to a mantis(just bigger, sharper, and more metalic), the 'teeth' of these claws secrete a neurotoxin similarly to their quils. has sharp venom filled quils along its spine and a tail armed with a thagomizer. Due to literally being an alien, Invader is the tallest Host, standing at 9'5"

FIGHT STYLE- Invader is the burst attacker of hosts. It strikes fast for high accumulative damage and can use its abilities to regenerate wounds by bathing in the blood of its opponent, which also grants them a temporary boost in speed and strength.

Invader's saliva also contains this neurotoxin, and it's mandibles are sharp as hell too. It possesses above average agility and speed, and needs a lot of space to run around and wreck shit or else they'll get restless and kill someone. It is one of the more animalistic hosts, but is definitely sapient and understands human speech.

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PROPHET- "Enslaved by fate, he foresees, and makes it true. With dull eyes, he looks forward to the end of the line, after which the rest is blank."

APPEARANCE- Prophet is clad in heavy plate armour in multiple shades of blue, alongside a dark blue cape with fur on the colar. His greathelm features a crown like top. He wields a large spear with a blue crystalline blade and a grey handle. Under the armour are multiple glowing eyes, granting him near 360 vison

FIGHT STYLE- Prophet is considered the fastest tank host. His attacks appear slow, and they have blindspots in front of him, but their massive damage compensates.

Prophet is able to heal himself and others, implying he's a paladin of some sort, but he is also able to summon his(dead) lancer to aid him in battle, which also means some kind of necromancy shit. He, being a former king, is used to commanding respect with his mere presence, but not to the point of arrogance. Makes for a good leader and even better dilf if you can get past the part he's an eldritch being

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WITNESS- "His mind unable to hold any more, he sees, yet does not witness. He shall become the rain that will extinguish the dawn."

APPEARANCE- He appears as a white and grey humanoid with red eyes on his body, primarily on his head. He also features two red loops on his shoulders and two grey on his shoulder. His weapon is a ukulele with electric properties. The ukulele itself being white and gray, with neon red strings.

FIGHTSTYLE- For the most part, Witness is a decent generalist. Being able to pack a punch and stun enemies with a breeze can easily make him a very useful unit on the battlefield. His base abilities are pretty standard and can be used for all situations.

Witness is mainly a wild card and is generally an all-rounder on the battlefield, with a mix of range and his versatility from obtainable moves, though he is initially a defense-focused host. He and Prophet are one somewhat good terms, and get along fairly well as Witness can only remember the past and Prophet can only remember the present and far future.

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ARTISAN- "An existence born of itself, weaved from a string of ones and zeros. Nobody knows what thoughts lies within its head."

APPEARANCE- Robot with grey and yellow coloration and wields a disk-like weapon (its "Weaver") for both attack and defense. It has what appears to be pistons on its torso and shoulders that pop out while Auto Repairs is active. Its icon displays two vertical rows of three dots in between two vertical parallel lines, resembling the Artisan's face

FIGHT STYLE- Artisan is an unusual host which has decent offensive capability on its own, but can create minions and turrets to fight in its stead. It has a balanced playstyle, with many moves such as Parry mainly used to avoid damage, while it uses some turrets and long ranged attacks to stay away from the enemy. Its upgrades allow it to function as a defensive unit better

Artisan is a Host which mainly relies on its abilities. It has a few attacks on its own but these do provide defensive and offensive capabilities. Artisan, being a self building machine who also builds other machines, is naturally interested in mechanics and technology, and even more in the unique biology of its fellow hosts. It seems to enjoy being around Invader, but its hard to tell.

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VESTIGE- "Once a proud member of the Guilty, now forlorn in exile. They say your eyes are windows to your soul, and only half of his soul remains."

APPEARANCE- appears as a grey and black humanoid seemingly made of marble wearing a black cowboy hat, a black poncho, combat boots and a utility belt housing multiple gun-like weapons, alongside a grappling hook. There are cable-like markings on his limbs that glow with a purple color, and most of his face is covered in black bandages with the exception of his eye

FIGHTING STYLE- Vestige is a long-ranged host which can blast many enemies while being out of their range. His mobility also allows him to stay away from enemies and further enhances his role.

Due to originally being part of a cult- cough, 'Movement', called The Guilty, most of his abilities are relates to witchcraft or other cult bullshit. He doesn't like the cult anymore, because he was exiled for y'know.. KILLING ALMOST EVERYONE IN SAID CULT-

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INVADER

Invader is noted as having a strong desire to possess yet possess nothing. This could be saying that Invader has no prayers of his own, And considering the Invaders whole thing is stealing but being unable to own makes it safe to assume it’s some kind of parasite. it is also a rather violent and greedy character by instinct, being oddly territorial with its belongings and those it calls 'theirs'. Invader's given name was 'Bloodbone', and it's full title was "Unmatchable, Untouchable, Unsurpassable Novahkiid Cosmorphosis Exoticutter, The Stellar Swarm, Assimilated as One". This is different in the current playable game, where his true name is “Clock-Strings”, and his title is “Unmatchable, Untouchable, Unsurpassable”. Not much has changed honestly. But the old title had “The Stellar Swarm, Assimilated as One”, which sounds like a hivemind of some kind that assimilates creatures into itself. This brings a new meaning to the true name description. “Having the strongest desire to possess, yet possessing nothing of its own. The intruder from another world journeys on.” It possesses nothing of it's own because it can only assimilate other creatures and their desires. It will keep going until it can finally own something of it's own. Perhaps it believes that by absorbing All the World's Prayers it can finally achieve this desire

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Prophet

Now for the Prophet. This wall of metal plate and sick ass capes is described to be, “Enslaved by fate,” which right away implies some future vision type shit. But it then says “he foresees, and makes it true” which could mean that his futures happen only when he himself acts upon them. Finally the description ends with “With dull eyes, he looks forward to the end of the line, after which the rest is blank." which can be interpreted in a few ways, some of what I believe to be most likely are. His future sight can only see so far His vision was “blinded” at some point hence the “with dull eyes” line. It can be assumed that he only is able to see as far as he ever looked before he was blinded so once he reaches past that point he will no longer be able to see into the future. “The end of the line” could be referring to after he beats the Resident Mind and frees All the World's prayers. That last one is the most interesting to me because it raises the question. Did the Prophet know about what the Dreamer did? Did he foresee it? And if so does it mean that he in some way helped the Dreamer steal All the World's Prayers? Perhaps the Prophet is attempting to atone for a mistake he had made in the past by defeating the Resident Mind and freeing All the World's Prayers. With that in mind the first part of the description “Enslaved by fate” may be more literal as he is actually enslaved by fate itself until he fulfils a certain criteria. That criteria may very well be freeing All the World’s Prayers. His full title also adds to this theory, “Fate Bound, Fate Sealed, Fate Denied” Maybe he denied fate his death for a second chance. Though I guess that implies that once he defeats the Resident Mind he will finally die. But maybe this time it’s of his own choice, breaking free of fate and deciding for himself.

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Witness

You know the witness, the drippiest of all the hosts. His description reads "His mind unable to hold any more, he sees, yet does not witness. He shall become the rain that will extinguish the dawn." Now that seems confusing but let's break it down. “His mind unable to hold any more, he sees yet he does not witness.” This could imply that the Witness has been around a long time, and has seen so much that he has begun to distance himself, hence the “sees yet he does not witness” line.

Then the second half, “He shall become the rain that will extinguish the dawn.” Now here's the thing, in writing Dawn tends to represent a new era for something, but it also can represent a chance for happiness and improvement. Rain on the other hand can also represent rebirth, but in this case it probably just represents sadness. So my take from this is that the Witness’ sadness is actively stopping them from being able to improve themselves and be happy. Basically he’s depressed. No wonder he carries around a guitar.

Perhaps he goes after the Resident Mind as a way to project his problems onto a source, A villain of the story, who he can defeat and have all his problems leave. Only to realize that he is in fact the source of his own problem. And while he may have freed All the World’s Prayers he will still have to face reality.

His full title during development was "Mind Blown, Mind Frayed, Mind Scrambled- Celestopia Aquaris-Borealis Rain-Over-Dawn, Memories from the Beginning of the Realm". The addition of “Memories from the Beginning of the Realm” I think support this theory the most but in addition his canon true name is “Rain-Over-Dawn” which could imply that he still is in denial, or that by stepping on the square he has finally come to terms with the world and rebirthed himself as a part of it, finally giving himself a chance to improve and be happy.

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Artisan

Our favorite robot pet owner, his description reads "An existence born of itself, weaved from a string of ones and zeros. Nobody knows what thoughts lies within its head." This is a pretty simple one, it's an Ai. Not just any but a Self learning Ai. Hence the first part “An existence Born of Itself”.

Back during development, Artisan’s title was "The Root, The Source, The Origin — Archmaestro Myth-a-Weave, An Existence Born of Itself". See the only real difference is that it reinforces the Self learning AI. because Artisan’s normal title is “The Root, The Source, The Origin - Myth-A-Weave” What I wanna point out is how we have the same thing 3 times. Root, Source, Origin, all imply that it is not only a learning AI, but the First leaning AI of its kind.

Considering the combat efficiency that this AI demonstrates when placing down troops I assume it's more of a command unit with minimal defensive capabilities on its own, but has access to an armada to command. Why is it going after All The World's Prayers? No one knows but I assume it modified itself with a forge to make units on the fly so it could easily have troops as well as fight in battle.

But if I had to guess its motive. I’d assume that it wishes to fully be able to understand how real creatures think. That's why it made itself a body and that's why it’s trying to get All the World’s Prayers.

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Vestige

Ah Vestige, this gun slinging cowboy has 1 eye and a lot of kills under his belt. His description reads "Once a proud member of the Guilty, now forlorn in exile. They say your eyes are windows to your soul, and only half his soul remains." Vestige’s exile was self imposed, after killing his entire Guild. Him missing one of his eyes and by extension half his soul, was either due to losing it in the fight with the Guild or a self inflicted wound to show that his soul will be forever damaged for killing his guild. Most likely the former as he's shown to be too self loving for that.

Perhaps he was fighting the Resident Mind as a way to challenge himself.

TEMPOS Tempos are trinkets that grant its user unique abilities, all which control different aspects of time; Currently, there are a total of 32 Tempos, 14 of which require the Hands of Time trinket(granted upon mastering at least 10 Tempos) to be used. They can be used and exchanged between any Host

To Overclock a Tempo, you must have mastered said tempo (by getting a whole bunch of kills with it or winning a duel against another Host whilst using that Tempo). You can then Overclock the Tempo which generally allows it to be more powerful.

Sectioned Tempos INVADER Tempo: Halt : Stop time for 5 seconds. Recharges after 20 seconds. Overclock: Duration increased to 10 seconds and cooldown reduced to 10 seconds Note: Has a short windup of about half a second (Projectiles can move while in effect) Tempo: Star : Stop time instantly for 2 seconds. Recharges after 8 seconds Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 3 seconds Note: Instant startup (Unlike Halt, projectiles cannot move while in effect) Tempo: Dive : Stop time for 10 seconds with a 2 second windup. Can be ended early to retain remaining charge. Recharges after 40 seconds Overclock: Duration increased to 30 seconds Tempo: Gold : Time moves when you move Overclock: Time is completely stopped when idle. Activate to move up to 3 seconds during stopped time. Recharges in 10 seconds Note: Even while not moving, time still moves in Non-Overclocked gold, albeit at an incredibly slow pace. Overclocked Gold only charges when you move

Prophet Tempo: Omit : Skip time for 10 seconds. Can be ended early. Recharges after 10 seconds Overclock: Infinite duration and cooldown is reduced to 5 seconds Note: This can be confusing, but it means that you aren't affected by time for the duration. To put it simply, you can't take nor deal damage, and auto-aim is disengaged Tempo: Zero : Reset all cooldowns. Recharges after 15 seconds Overclock: Takes effect continuously over a 5 second duration Tempo: Rule : Skip half a second of time. Recharges after 2 seconds Overclock: Time is not skipped for enemies. Duration is increased to 1 second, cooldown is reduced to 1 second Tempo: Iris : See 2 seconds into the future. Recharges after 5 seconds. Overclock: Passively see 0.75 seconds into the future Note: Predictions may be changed if an enemy is staggered or stunned, preventing them from carrying out their actions

Witness Tempo: Undo : Blow away 3 seconds of time. Recharges after 9 seconds Overclock: Blow away 5 seconds of time. Cooldown reduced to 6 seconds Note: This means that you will travel 3 seconds (or 6 if overclocked) into the past instantly Tempo: Gate : Travel 5 seconds into the past. Recharges after 15 seconds Overclock: Time repeats itself once more. Cooldown reduced to 10 seconds Note: Upon use, it repeats time once (twice if Overclocked), letting you interact and damage enemies while observing the past. After 5 seconds, it travels you to where your past self is. All damage you deal while using this will remain Tempo: Mood : Record your actions for 5 seconds and replay them. Recharges after 5 seconds Overclock: Replay your actions without pause. Delay reduced to 2 seconds Note: This works like Gate, except that your position remains after replaying, and no visual effects when recording Tempo: Dust : Rewind 5 seconds of time for yourself. Recharges after 20 seconds. Overclock: Rewind 15 seconds of time Note: Rewinding takes place over a few seconds, and during this time, you cannot be affected by outside sources. In addition, the tempo will give you a trail with the color of your host. This trail doesn't really serve any purpose besides knowing where you're going to rewind to

Artisan Tempo: Rush : Quadruples the speed of time for yourself for 1 second. Hold to use. Recharges after 10 seconds Overclock: Time acceleration increased by 50%. Cooldown reduced to 5 seconds Note: Overclocked Rush multiplies time by 6x compared to default 4x Tempo: Zion : Doubles the speed of time for 20 seconds. Recharges after 40 seconds Overclock: Triples speed of time instead and speed of time is passively increased by 25% Note: Zion does not affect the enemies' speed. Time slowly accelerates to double/triple its usual speed rather than instantaneously becoming that much faster, as well as decelerating back down once its duration ends Tempo: Path : Halves the speed of time (for enemies) for 6 seconds. Holds up to 3 charges. Recharges after 30 seconds Overclock: Holds 2 extra charges and cooldown is reduced to 24 seconds. Note: Charges stack when used; if you have two Path charges active, time is slowed even further, stacking at an exponential rate Tempo: Mass : Speed of time becomes proportional to distance away from you for 10 seconds. Recharges after 30 seconds Overclock: Radius is increased by 50% and effect is stronger. Cooldown reduced to 10 seconds

Vestige Tempo: Swap : Swap between two versions of yourself from different timelines. Recharges after 5 seconds Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 0.5 seconds Note: This Tempo can be used to swap from a version of yourself that is dying to another that is not, acting as an extra life at the cost of no longer having a usable Tempo Note: The clone that isn't being used cannot take damage but is able to attack and is affected by natural regeneration. Therefore, if you can fight with the other clone for long enough the other clone will heal as well Note: The clone cannot deal damage, but performs attacks and move around like a bot Tempo: Dirt : Clone yourself from another timeline for 15 seconds. This clone mirrors your actions. You can swap controls with this clone. Recharges after 30 seconds Overclock: Spawn 1 extra clone, cooldown reduced to 15 seconds Note: Objects created by your clones remain after the clones disappear (i.e. sentries). Whichever clone you control at the end will remain on the arena Tempo: Rail : Reset your state to the start of the stage, leaving behind a clone. Can also be used to shuffle upgrades once per stage for free. Recharges after 5 minutes. Cooldown is reduced by 50% when entering a new stage Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds and upgrades can be shuffled without limit Tempo: Disc : Clone yourself from another timeline for 10 seconds. This clone acts on its own. You can swap controls with the clone. Recharges after 15 seconds Overclock: Cooldown reduced to 2 seconds Note: As with Dirt, objects created by clones remain.