Monocyte

Monocytes are immune cells that circulate in the blood. In some rodent stress experiments, they are recruited to the brain's blood vessels. In Arborwake they appear only where a Vessel Margins room models that specific situation.

In the brain#

• In a severe male-mouse repeated social defeat model (McKim et al., 2018), microglia were linked to CCL2 signalling, recruited monocytes expressed IL-1β, and that IL-1β could act on the vessel lining.
• In a different defeat protocol (Lehmann et al., 2016), researchers found no evidence of blood macrophage entry.
• The project's review treats this contradiction as real: different protocols give different results. Stress does not always mean immune cells invade the brain.
• Adhering to a vessel wall, sitting beside a vessel and entering brain tissue are separate states.

In the game#

• Monocytes appear in Vessel Margins rooms, drifting in the vessel and sometimes adhering to its wall.
• Their presence depends on the room's modelled conditions. The game never assumes recruitment.
• The user said on 1 November that monocytes should appear only if they improve balance or education.
• Nothing lets the player order monocytes into or out of the brain.

Development#

• The lumen-scale monocyte was drawn on 2 November and the polished v2 was approved by the user ("Yes, it works"): a mid-lilac body, cream outline over a dark rim, a solid nucleus and a dark contact patch when adhered.
• In the alpha The Placeholder alpha's encounter package pins a Vessel Margins monocyte effect (vessel-monocyte.js). This wiki has not checked it in play.

See also#

• Stress-associated neurovascular relay
• Border-associated macrophage

Sources#

1. .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_STRESS_NEUROIMMUNE_RESEARCH_REVIEW_2026-10-29.md (working copy, not in Git)
2. .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_COMPLETE_GAME_PLAN_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
3. docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-01-claude-workstreams-todo.md (working copy, not in Git)
4. 16c9aab43:art/characters/vessel-cast/monocyte-v2-look.pngcopy
5. b89f778c2:src/main-game/alpha/public/encounter/src/skills/turns/.pinned/vfx/vessel-monocyte.jscopy