The Linker
The Linker is a wrist-worn device that forms and maintains resonance bonds between a Linkee and their Faerals. It is powered by the Living Lines.
Why it's better than the old paradigm
In older monster-collectors, a creature lives in a consumable item thrown at it. The full roster is locked in a remote storage system accessible only at specific locations. Managing your team means interrupting exploration to interact with a terminal.
The Linker inverts this:
- Your Faerals are always with you — there is no remote storage
- Swapping between your active team and the rest is instantaneous, anywhere, anytime
- The constraint is energy, not logistics — the Linker can only sustain bonds with Faerals up to a certain power level
- That power level grows naturally as the Living Lines are restored (Sanctuaries freed)
The Unchained's Resonator is a forced version of the same concept — it creates a bond without the Faeral's participation. The Linker creates a willing bond. The vocabulary encodes the game's moral: a Linkee is linked to their Faerals, not the other way around.
Team management
| Slot | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Active team | 4 | In battle, available for immediate swap |
| Storage | Unlimited | Hotswappable anywhere — no Pokémon Center equivalent |
Faerals in storage are still bonded. The Linker maintains all bonds simultaneously. Only the active 4 are combat-ready without a swap action.
Level cap system
The Linker cannot form a stable bond with a Faeral whose power level exceeds the current cap. This means:
- Wild Faerals above the cap cannot be captured — the bond dissolves
- The cap increases linearly with each Sanctuary restored
- Specific cap values are to be decided by community testing during balance phases
| Sanctuaries restored | Effect |
|---|---|
| 0 | Starting cap (low-level Faerals only) |
| 1–9 | Cap increases with each restoration |
| 10 | Full cap — all Faerals capturable |
The Codex feature
Unlocked at the Sanctuary of Archives. See Codex.