TIMEFRAGMENT — The Codex

The prize loop

Fixed prizes, locked on-chain before anyone plays

The Lydian Gambit never puts players' money against each other. You pay one fixed entry fee for your seat — that is the price of the service, and it is all you can ever spend. Every prize is a fixed amount owed by the house, published in advance and locked in an XRPL escrow before the match reveals. Nothing depends on how much anyone else paid. Win, and the ledger itself releases your prize — no claim, no delay, no discretion.

One entry fee, known in advance

A seat costs 150 $TFC — duel or tournament alike. Signed from your own wallet, on the XRP Ledger, before the match starts. That is the only transaction you will ever sign to compete.

The prize is escrowed before the reveal

Before a prized duel begins, the house locks the full 250 $TFC prize in conditional XRPL escrows — one per player, each releasable only by that player's victory. The funds leave the house's hands before the first move. You can verify the escrow on any XRPL explorer.

Tournaments confirm before they charge

Registration is free. When the bracket fills, a confirmation window opens and every player signs their entry fee. Only when all seats are confirmed does the tournament lock — if the window expires, every fee already paid is refunded in full, automatically. Nobody ever pays for a tournament that doesn't launch.

Proof of reserve, then the bracket

The moment a tournament locks, the house escrows the entire prize pool on-chain — a public proof that the reserve exists before a single match is played. Seeding follows the Elo ladder. Semi-final and final prizes are paid the instant each result is sealed.

Instant settlement · burn after every match

The winner's escrow is finished on-chain the moment the match ends; the loser's returns to the house. After each settled match, part of the house's revenue is burned — sent to the issuer, permanently out of supply. Match after match.

Format	Entry fee	Prizes (fixed, from the house)	Burned
Duel	150	250 to the winner	25
Tournament · 4	150	400 gold · 150 silver	25
Tournament · 8	150	600 gold · 250 silver · 100 × 2 semi	75
Tournament · 16	150	1200 gold · 500 silver · 200 × 2 semi	150

register (free) → bracket full → confirmation window — every seat signs its fee ├─ all confirmed → house escrows the full prize pool on-chain → Elo seeding → matches └─ window expires → every paid fee refunded, seats kept for the next bracket match sealed → winner's escrow finished on-chain → burn from house revenue

All flows settle on XRPL mainnet · every escrow verifiable on-ledger

The board

A deterministic war on eleven hexes a side

No dice, no hidden rolls. The engine is pure and deterministic — the same moves always produce the same battle, which is why every finished match ships with a hash-verified replay anyone can check move by move.

The terrain

A symmetric hex board, radius 5. A river cuts the middle with two fords; hills slow movement and shelter defenders; two mines per side feed the treasury of whoever holds them; each power fights from its own capital.

The turn

Two action points per turn: move, strike, recruit, promote. A fresh recruit stands inactive until the next turn — plan a tempo ahead. Forty turns maximum before the ledger closes the war.

Three roads to victory

Fell the enemy general. Or out-earn the war itself — hoard 120 in the treasury for an economic victory. Or hold the stronger position when the final turn ends.

The treasury

Income flows each turn from your capital and every mine you hold; each soldier beyond your means costs upkeep. Caravans carry wealth but cannot fight — escort them or lose them.

Veterans

Units that survive their battles can be promoted. A veteran hits harder and holds longer — losing one hurts more than losing coin.

The ladder

Every prized match moves your Elo. Twelve milestones mark the climb, struck like coins — from the first blood to the summit of the leaderboard. Practice mode is free, three difficulties, no fees anywhere near it.

The muster

Seven ways to spend a coin

Every unit is priced in $TFC fragments at the recruiting table. Spearmen anchor, archers reach, cavalry flanks, hoplites break lines — and the caravan wins wars without drawing a blade.

Unit	Cost	HP	Attack	Defense	Range	Move	Doctrine
Spearman	3/5	10	3	1	1	2	+2 attack against horse · braces beside a brother spear
Archer	4/6	8	3	0	2	2	Strikes at two hexes · dies up close
Caravan	5/7	6	—	0	—	2	Carries the economy · defenseless · escort it
Cavalry	6/8	12	4	1	1	4/3	Four hexes of reach · the flank-breaker
Horse Archer	6/8	8	2	0	2	4	Shoots and rides away · never stands still
Hoplite	8/10	16/18	5	2	1	1	The wall that walks · slowest, strongest
General	—	10/12	2	2	1	2	Lose him, lose the war

Two values means the powers differ: gold = Lydia · silver = Greek Poleis. Greek recruits carry the +2 citizen tax; the Greek hoplite musters harder; the Lydian king rides lighter.

Costs and stats from rules engine v0.7 · identical in every client, sealed in every replay

The powers

Two civilizations already field their armies

Six powers will answer the call. Two stand ready on the sand — the kingdom that minted the first coin, and the cities that answered in silver.

Lydia

Electrum · Mercenaries

The kingdom of Croesus pays for loyalty by the coin, and the coin arrives faster than the enemy.

Electrum flows — +2 income every turn, and the first four soldiers cost no upkeep at all.
Mercenaries answer anywhere — Lydia alone recruits directly onto the field, next to her fighting lines; the further from the capital, the steeper the mercenary's price.
A merchant king — the general rides with 10 HP instead of 12. Lydia protects the man by never needing him at the front.

Greek Poleis

Silver · Hoplites

The cities argue about everything except the phalanx. When the shields lock, the argument is over.

The phalanx holds — hoplites muster at 18 HP instead of 16, and Greek lines earn defense from up to three adjacent brothers, not two.
Silver runs deep — every mine yields 3 to a Greek treasury instead of 2.
Citizens, not sellswords — every recruit costs 2 more, and Greek cavalry rides at 3, not 4. The poleis buy quality, slowly.

Persia, Babylon, Egypt and the Scythians are already carved. They enter when the war widens.

Everything the arena owes you, in writing