Link

Link connects the Ranger to an anchored Astrocyte through a socket in the floor. The astrocyte's process comes up through an opening, and the ground around it becomes Supported ground for the rest of the room.

How it works#

• Stand within reach of an astrocyte socket and use Link. It is an action, or a bonus action for a Warden with Attune.
• Every tile within 3 king's moves of the socket becomes supported (4 with Attune). Walls and holes block it.
• In the Gardens, a connection on supported ground leaves nothing lingering when a front strikes it.
• In Vessel Margins, linking a wall's endfoot astrocyte quiets a reactive wall and halves a leak. If the astrocyte is marked for Vessa (the pericyte), the weakest connection in its territory gains 5% a tick, two rounds after the link.
• Companions never Link.

In the brain#

Astrocytes are anchored and support their own territory. You go to where support already exists, rather than calling an astrocyte to you. The two-round delay before Vessa answers teaches that capillary tone changes slowly (Hall 2014).

Development#

Link replaced the real-time "attune" timer, in which links took several seconds. It is in the alpha engine and rooms. Its ground-opening look is shared with the Calming visit.

See also#

Supported ground · Attune · Care · Basic actions

Sources#

1. 215bfbf88:docs/game-balance/31-turn-based-encounters.mdcopy
2. b89f778c2:src/main-game/alpha/public/encounter/src/skills/turns/catalog.jscopy
3. e7656b980:docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-02-claude-a-expeditions-vessel-margins-rooms.mdcopy