✦ INTERFACE & STATS (THE ALTAR GUI) ✦

„When you look into the transparent heart of the Altar, you don't see a simple inventory. You look into a cosmic grid, where Ley-Lines connect your runes with the stars.“

Once you have awakened a Runestone through the Ritual of Soul Binding, you can open the thaumaturgical interface with a simple, quick right-click. This window is your control center for managing bonuses, assigning abilities, and shaping your character's power.

1. The Tableau: A Unique Constellation

The first thing you will notice: The layout in the center of the screen is not a rigid box grid. The sockets are arranged in an organic Vogel-Spirale (Phyllotaxis Arrangement), surrounded in the background by a rotating nebula and sparkling stars.

Deterministic Structure: The appearance, the number of sockets, and the connections (Ley-Lines) are dependent on the specific Runestone. Every Altar ID mathematically generates a completely unique, immutable constellation. If you find a new stone in the world, its grid will be structured differently than that of your first Altar.

2. The Socket Rules: Class & Level Restrictions

The grid contains various nodes that serve as sockets for your runes and cluster jewels. Just like the items themselves, there are three different socket classes here, which follow strict hierarchies:

  • 💠 Minor Socket (Cyan): The simplest nodes. They can only hold Minor Runes (or Minor Cluster Jewels).
  • 💠 Major Socket (Purple): More flexible nodes. They accept both powerful Major Runes and standard Minor Runes.
  • 💠 Milestone Socket (Gold): The rarest and most powerful nodes. They are exclusively reserved for Milestone Runes, with which you unlock active abilities.

✦ The Level Restriction for Runes

Every single socket on the Tableau possesses a fixed Socket Level (e.g., Level 1, Level 11, or Level 47). If you want to place a rune into a socket, one iron rule applies:

The required level of the rune must be less than or equal to the level of the socket. This effectively prevents you from placing an extremely powerful endgame rune into the very first, easily accessible sockets in the center of the spiral.

3. Activation & The Level Limit (Cost)

Just because a rune fits perfectly into a socket does not mean you feel its effects. The Altar permanently measures your current Soul Strength (your Minecraft Experience Level).

  • The Condition: A socket (and thus the rune within it) only activates for you if your current XP Level is greater than or equal to the Socket Level and you are permanently bound to this Altar.
  • The Cost Restriction (Above Level 30): As long as your character is below Level 30, the Altar protects you: you can change your loadout completely for free, placing, moving, and testing runes. However, once you cross the magical boundary of Level 30, every interaction with the grid demands a tribute. Changing the Altar loadout (whether placing or removing a rune) costs you a permanent 1 XP Level from Level 30 onward as a sacrifice for disrupting the energy flow! Therefore, think carefully about your constellation in the endgame.

Tip: So that you never forget your current level in the Altar, the interface has its own fully functional Minecraft Experience Bar in the lower area!

4. The Effect Panel (The Right Screen Edge)

Thaumaturgical mathematics can be complicated, especially when stacking bonuses via Cluster Jewels. For this exact reason, the GUI has a dynamic Status Panel on the right screen edge.

This is where the system calculates all your placed, correctly leveled, and active runes in real-time. It clearly shows you which bonuses the Altar grants you at your current level:

  • 🟢 Green Values: Show your active, passive attribute bonuses (e.g., +4.5 Attack Damage or +15% Movement Speed).
  • 🟣 Purple Values: List all active Milestone abilities available to you in combat.