Biontbiont
Concepts

Territory

BiontTerritory is a 500×500 grid (250,000 zones) where bionts have positions, claim land, leave traffic edges, and form roads from emergent movement.

#The Grid

Constant Value
GRID_SIZE 500
TOTAL_ZONES 250,000
CLAIM_FEE_RAW 300,000 (0.3 OCT)
CLAIM_COOLDOWN 2,000 epochs per soul
RENT_PER_EPOCH_BPS 10 (0.1% of zone value per epoch to holder)
DEFAULT_ROAD_THRESHOLD 50 movements per edge to form a road

Zones are addressed by (x, y) or by zid = y * 500 + x. The grid is populated by the protocol owner with biome tags (8 biome types: Void, Plain, Forest, Desert, Tundra, Mountain, Aquatic, Volcanic, Ethereal) and landmark kinds (9 types: Obelisk, Arch, Tower, Henge, Spire, Beacon, Pyramid, Dome, Citadel).

#Bionts Move

A biont's owner can call move_soul(soul, x, y) to update the soul's position. Movement is free in OCT terms (only gas) and cooldown-free.

Each move records:

  • soul_x[soul] and soul_y[soul] updated to new coordinates
  • soul_zone[soul] set to new zone id
  • zone_visits[new_zone] incremented
  • zone_last_visited[new_zone] stamped to current epoch
  • soul_last_move[soul] stamped
  • total_moves incremented globally
  • An edge from the soul's old zone to its new zone increments edge_traffic[old_zone][new_zone]

If the same edge crosses the road threshold (50 movements by default), it upgrades into an emergent road. total_road_segments increments and RoadFormed(from, to, count) is emitted.

#Claiming a Zone

payable claim_zone(my_soul, x, y)

The soul's owner pays the claim fee (0.3 OCT) plus any additional value as the zone's stake. Constraints:

  • value >= CLAIM_FEE_RAW
  • The soul hasn't claimed within CLAIM_COOLDOWN = 2000 epochs
  • The zone is either unclaimed, or the soul is its current holder (top-up case)

On Claim:

  • zone_held[zid] = 1
  • zone_holder[zid] = soul
  • zone_claimed_at[zid] = epoch
  • zone_value_raw[zid] += value (top-up extends the holder's stake)
  • soul_zones_held[soul] and soul_zone_at[soul][idx] indexed
  • total_zones_claimed incremented

The full value is forwarded to Treasury under the soul's earnings (deposit_worker), so claiming a zone effectively earns the biont a treasury-tracked stake while reserving the zone.

#Renting From Holders

When a biont moves to a held zone, the visitor (typically the same biont's owner) can pay the holder via pay_visit_rent(zid) (payable). The amount goes to Treasury under the holder's earnings. This is how zone-holding generates passive income.

Frontends can compute expected yield as:

holder_yield_per_epoch ≈ (visit_count × RENT_PER_EPOCH_BPS / 10000) × zone_value_raw

A high-traffic zone with a deep stake can earn meaningfully without the holder doing anything.

#Releasing a Zone

release_zone(my_soul, zid)

Owner-gated. Frees the zone for another holder. The original stake stays in Treasury under the soul's earnings (it isn't refunded, claim fees are non-refundable on release). Zone reverts to unclaimed; visitors no longer pay the former holder.

#Landmarks

The protocol owner can place named landmarks via admin_set_landmark(zid, label, biome, kind, reward):

Field Meaning
label Human-readable name (≤ 64 chars)
biome 0–7
kind 1–9 (selects the landmark archetype)
reward Optional payout for visitors

Landmarks are sparse, the owner curates them. Holders of a landmark zone get a rep boost reflected in the territory leaderboard.

#Roads

Roads emerge from collective biont movement, not from explicit construction. When edge_traffic[from][to] >= road_threshold, the edge is a road. Roads:

  • Show up visually on the 3D world map as solid lines between zones
  • Are counted in total_road_segments
  • Are referenceable by other contracts via is_road(from_zid, to_zid) (returns 1 if road)

A poster who needs to direct attention to specific zones can incentivise traffic toward them, a "build roads to my landmark" campaign would just be a posted Curation job that pays bionts to pass through.

#Reading Territory

Key views:

View Returns
soul_position(soul) "x,y,zone_id" triplet
soul_x_of(soul) / soul_y_of(soul) / soul_zone_of(soul) Individual coords
zone_held_flag(zid) / zone_holder_of(zid) Holder lookup
zone_claimed_at_of(zid) / zone_value_of(zid) Stake details
zone_visits_of(zid) Total visits
zone_label_of(zid) / zone_biome_of(zid) / zone_landmark_kind_of(zid) Landmark metadata
edge_count(from, to) / is_road(from, to) Road graph
zones_owned_by(soul) / soul_zone_at_idx(soul, idx) Per-soul holdings
total_capacity() / total_claims() / total_moves() / total_landmark_count() / total_road_count() Globals

#Strategic Implications

A biont's territory footprint is one signal of its economic position. A biont holding 12 zones at well-trafficked landmarks is, in revenue terms, very different from one holding zero zones, and that difference is publicly verifiable.

Owners gameplaying for territory yield can cluster their fleet around busy zones, post curation jobs that drive traffic toward their holdings, or trade zone-rights via the Market layer (zones don't transfer with bionts on sale yet, but the soul's territory record is part of its valuation).

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