EspherReport
English：Espher · Characters
A Southern Hive Worker Drone locked in the cell block on the top floor of Tengu's Vault, and the only guaranteed Southern Worker Drone in the game — provided you dare walk a prisoner out of a military prison full of samurai.
Espher is a Southern Hive Worker Drone held in the United Cities' military prison, Tengu's Vault, carrying a bounty of 25,000 Cats on his head. He is the only guaranteed Southern Hive Worker Drone recruit in the game.
Nobody gets out of Tengu's Vault...
Why the trip is worth making
All three Southern Hive races — Prince, Soldier Drone and Worker Drone — can in theory turn up as slaves inside United Cities territory, where the player can pick their shackles or buy them from a slave trader. The problem is that the spawn chance is so low that in practice it cannot be relied on. Espher is the only source hard-coded into the save.
The price is his location. Tengu's Vault sits on the rock at the southern end of the Skimsands, guarded by United Cities samurai and holding the prisoners the empire considers the most troublesome. The guards will warn you off first and attack outright if you push in. If you are already allied with the United Cities the guards will only grumble instead of attacking, letting the player walk straight in and get a good look at the layout and the cell positions first.
The interior is laid out like a police station: the ground floor holds bunks and a training area, the second floor a kitchen and mess, and only the third floor holds the cells. The same batch of prisoners also includes Luquin, Psycho, Sinklyde, Screamy, Yabuta of the Sands and Hex.
Recruitment conditions
The recruitment cost is free, but the conditions are stated plainly: he must be released from imprisonment and safely escorted away from the prison before he will formally join the player faction. Simply opening the cell door is not enough — the crowd of United Cities guards nearby is the real obstacle.
Espher has a great deal of dialogue written around the business of escaping the Vault, and that is where he is at his most animated; beyond it he has no exclusive lines, sharing a single unique line with a group of other named recruits.
Stats and racial traits
Do not expect anything from his starting ability. Most of Espher's attributes and skills sit at only around 5 (Strength about 1.6–6.4, Toughness −2–4, Dexterity 2.4–9.6), and they are randomised by a further ±3 on top. He is essentially a blank slate and has to be trained from nothing.
At the racial level, the Southern Hive Worker Drone differs from its western counterpart in two key ways:
| Item | Southern Worker | Western Worker |
|---|---|---|
| Blood loss rate | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Toughness XP bonus | No | Yes |
In other words, he bleeds out more easily than a western worker and cannot train up the same capacity to take a hit. Combined with his very low starting stats, he must be given rear-line work or a ranged position in the early game rather than being pushed forward as a meat shield.
Like all non-Prince Hivers, he can eat raw and rotten meat — a real advantage on long marches where supply is difficult.
Reading the background
The game describes Southern Hive Worker Drones as expendables bred to labour for the Hive, capable only of obedience; separated from Hive control they usually simply die, and only a very few become free individuals, then search in bewilderment for a meaning to their existence, most often ending in death or exploitation anyway.
Espher is stuck exactly in the middle of that description — he has left the Hive and has not died, but has ended up in the empire's most notorious prison. Whether he goes on to the "exploited" ending is, in a sense, up to the player.