The world

Factions, mechanics, objects and running jokes.

Factions

• Borant from book 1 — The kua-tin corporation licensed to run this season of the crawl: the voice of the daily announcements and patch notes, the Admins who splash into the guild room, and the government behind them — the Bloom, the Party — that Mordecai says is bankrupt and needs the game over fast.
• The Blood Sultanate from book 1 — The faction Donut joined by putting on the Crown of the Sepsis Whore in chapter 7: a naga royal house that, Mordecai warns, holds its members on the ninth floor until every other member is dead — and that the Maestro says is almost always the first of the nine eliminated.
• The Krakaren from book 1 — A second-floor neighbourhood boss: a clone of a 'cosmic octopus collective' running a moonshine pyramid scheme, whose card says there are many of her and that a Prime births two for every one killed. Mordecai will not say her weakness.
• The Skull Empire from book 1 — One of the oldest and largest Syndicate governments, orcish, mawkish, and — through Prince Maestro's show and his boast that his family's Skull Clan has won six of the last ten Faction Wars — the first outside power to take a personal dislike to Carl. King Rust is in Earth orbit by the end of the book.
• The Syndicate from book 1 — 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.
• The Valtay Corporation from book 1 — A name Carl finds in his inventory's history tab attached to a pulse pistol, a personal shield and an illegal communications relay that passed through his hands inside Agatha's shopping cart. Odette says they are a parasitic corporate government with a fleet parked outside the Borant system, and the next season will be theirs.

Mechanics

• Achievements from book 1 — The system's running commentary on Carl's conduct, from Boss Babe to You Monster! to This Little Piggy Went to Market. Each one is a joke at the crawler's expense and, read together, a record of what the game wants him to become.
• Elites from book 1 — A kind of boss Mordecai sets apart from the six main types — 'There are also others, but those are called elites' — and tells Carl not to worry about yet. On the second floor the Laminak Rev-Up Consultants carry the word in their name.
• Faction Wars from book 1 — The ninth floor's war, named by Prince Maestro on his own show: nine factions, the Skull Clan victorious six times in the last ten, the Blood Sultanate almost always the first eliminated, and a War Leader's seat the prince intends to take.
• Loot boxes from book 1 — Bronze, silver, gold, platinum and legendary boxes awarded for achievements — mostly torches, potions and pet biscuits, occasionally a Nightgaunt Cloak, a war gauntlet or a pair of enchanted boxer shorts. Odette says it plainly: the boxes are not random, and complaining about pants is why there are no pants.
• Player-killer skulls from book 1 — The marks the AI hangs beside a crawler's name for each crawler killed — 'Crawler Killer X 3' on Frank Q, five skulls on Maggie My, one big skull and two small ones for Imani's twelve — and shown on the recap forming over Yolanda's head when she shoots Jack. The one achievement Carl wants to avoid: 'everyone else we meet won't know' it was deserved, so be wary of anyone who wears one.
• Quests from book 1 — Mentioned once in the first book: Mordecai says that from the fourth floor the stairwells will be guarded, and crawlers will 'have to complete quests or defeat bosses to get to them.'
• Sponsorship from book 1 — The patron system Mordecai explains in the tutorial guild — organisations that sponsor a crawler by buying boxes, and the Benefactor Boxes only patrons can send — changed by the AI as the second floor opens: three patron slots per crawler, each auctioned for one day as the fourth, fifth and sixth floors open, bids from one credit, and 'the more your patron pays for you, the more and higher-quality Benefactor Boxes you may receive.'
• The bestiary from book 1 — The system's » This is a… cards — a Kua-Tin, a Safe Zone, a Non-Combatant NPC, a Dungeon Admin, a pet-class mob — and the Crawler # dossiers it prints for people: the dungeon naming what a thing is, in the AI's voice.
• The chat from book 1 — The » Name: lines: where Carl talks to people who are not in the room. A handful of voices at first — Donut, Zev, Brandon from Meadow Lark — and the way a party becomes a network.
• The clock from book 1 — The countdown in the corner of every crawler's vision: 'Time to Level Collapse', five days on the first floor, read out by the system at the head of chapters and by Carl whenever he has to choose. On the second floor a second timer appears beneath it, counting down to the closing of the safe rooms an hour before collapse, and Carl waits for the level timer to reach six hours before he takes the stairs.
• The crawler count from book 1 — The number on the first safe-room screen: 4,322,395 when Carl first sees it, under a million by the middle of the second floor. He tries not to look at it and always does.
• The Entering notices from book 1 — The » Entering … notices: the dungeon's own itinerary, which in the first book announces a single arrival, 'Entering Safe Room', on the first floor.
• The gods from book 1 — 'There are no gods here. Just those who pay for the privilege.' A war gauntlet that warns it can transfigure a worshipper of the god Grull into the god himself, and Mordecai's solemn insistence that Grull is not real — nor is any god in this game. Zev, in passing, mentions that a hostile government could 'spring for a deity sponsorship.'
• The leaderboard from book 1 — The second of a safe room's screens, blank in the first book: 'Leaderboard will populate upon collapse of the third level.'
• The show from book 1 — Dungeon Crawler World: Earth is television first and a dungeon second. Views, followers and favorites appear in the interface after the first collapse and climb into the trillions; recap episodes air on the safe-room screens; loot is tailored to what plays well; Donut wants on that show and Carl learns that being expensive is a kind of armour.
• The tenth floor from book 1 — The floor where, the first announcement says, 'additional rules come into play.' Odette reached the thirteenth floor's stairwell and never went down: 'I'd struck a deal. That's a long story, and it's not for today.'
• Warnings from book 1 — The system's » Warning: lines, from 'level timers are still active' in the first tutorial guild to 'The cages will permanently close in thirty seconds' in Ralph's boss room on the second floor: the rules read out as they bite, and the AI's temper in them.

Objects

• Explosives from book 1 — Goblin dynamite that sweats, hobgoblin pus with a deodorant-stick detonator, a ton of funpowder, and eventually Carl's own entry in the Dungeon Codex. The skill tree the game keeps rewarding, and the reason a marine technician can drive a level-93 elemental into a stairwell.
• The Crown of the Sepsis Whore from book 1 — Donut's first legendary prize, a cat-sized tiara of smoky gems she puts on before anyone can read the warning: whoever wears it is placed permanently in the Blood Sultanate's royal line and must slay the Sultan and every other royal before leaving the ninth floor; fleeting, so that another crown appears elsewhere if it comes off. 'It's purple. Purple is my color.'

Running jokes

• 'Goddamnit, Donut' from book 1 — Carl's involuntary catchphrase, said at least fifteen times before Odette makes him say it on air. Marks the moments the cat has done exactly what she was going to do.
• Carl's bare feet from book 1 — Carl loses his borrowed Crocs in the first minutes and the AI notices: the Smush skill, the breathy item descriptions, the Enchanted Pedicure Kit of the Sylph, the Platinum Shoe Box. By the second floor his soles no longer feel the ground, his buffs require him barefoot, and the Maestro's parting gift of tactical boots is a taunt.