The Forge

The forge is irreversible. Once a turtle has been through it, the path is set forever.

Two turtles enter. One survives. The fire decides what is kept.

Why forge?

Forging is the fast lane. A patient Pristine holder takes ~13 weeks to reach the 10.0 cap. A burner can hit the 9.0 Forged cap in a single transaction — if they have the fuel.

The trade-off is permanent. A Forged turtle:

• caps at 9.0 (vs. 10.0 for Pristine)
• can never return to Pristine
• in exchange, its share is permanent across transfers — no reset on sale

You give up the top share. You gain instant value and tradability.

The ritual

1. Select two turtles you own: a survivor and a sacrifice.
2. Call forge(survivorId, sacrificeId).
3. The sacrifice is destroyed — gone from the supply, forever.
4. The survivor receives 50% of the sacrifice's current share as a boost.
5. If the survivor was Pristine, it becomes Forged — permanently.

The math

function forge(uint256 survivorId, uint256 sacrificeId) external nonReentrant {
    if (survivorId == sacrificeId) revert SelfForgeForbidden();
    if (ownerOf(survivorId)  != msg.sender) revert NotTokenOwner();
    if (ownerOf(sacrificeId) != msg.sender) revert NotTokenOwner();
 
    GlyphState storage sur = _state[survivorId];
    if (sur.path == Path.Legendary) revert LegendaryCannotForge();
    if (_state[sacrificeId].path == Path.Legendary) revert LegendaryCannotForge();
    if (sur.path == Path.Forged && sur.isMaxed) revert ForgedAndMaxed();
 
    _consolidate(survivorId);
    _consolidate(sacrificeId);
 
    uint32 sacShare = _state[sacrificeId].shareScaled;
    uint32 boost    = uint32((uint256(sacShare) * FORGE_TRANSFER_BPS) / 10_000);
 
    if (sur.path == Path.Pristine) {
        sur.path    = Path.Forged;     // ← irreversible
        sur.isMaxed = false;
    }
 
    uint256 newShare = uint256(sur.shareScaled) + boost;
    if (newShare > FORGE_CAP) newShare = FORGE_CAP;
    // ...
    _burn(sacrificeId);
}

Worked example

Alice owns turtle #142 (Pristine, 4.0 shares) and turtle #837 (Pristine, 2.0 shares). (Public mint tokens — IDs 1–7 are Legendaries and can never be in a forge.)

She calls forge(142, 837):

Alice now has a single turtle with 5.0 shares, marked Forged. Cap from here is 9.0 — she can keep forging fuel into it to reach the cap faster.

What happens to totalShares

Caps and limits

• A turtle's cap drops to 9.0 the moment it becomes Forged.
• Excess share beyond 9.0 is destroyed, not refunded. If your survivor is at 8.5 and you burn a 5.0-share turtle, the boost would be +2.5 → clamped to +0.5, the rest evaporates.
• A Forged turtle that hits 9.0 is Maxed — further forge calls revert with ForgedAndMaxed. The contract refuses to waste your sacrifice.

The visual record

Forging is not just a number change. The art tracks every burn — up to 9 cumulative marks visible on the shell. A turtle with 9 forge marks is a relic. Everyone who sees it knows what it survived.

Strategy — when forging is worth it

Forge early, forge often — if you're going to forge, do it before your fuel turtles grow. Burning a 1.0-share sacrifice gives a +0.5 boost. Burning a 5.0-share sacrifice gives +2.5. But each sacrifice costs you a slot — you traded its growth potential for an instant boost.

Don't forge a near-Maxed Pristine — if your survivor is at 9.0+ Pristine, forging will flip its cap to 9.0 and destroy the excess. The path transition is the most expensive operation in the system if you mistime it.

Don't forge into a Maxed Forged — the contract refuses with ForgedAndMaxed. The sacrifice would be wasted. The contract protects you here automatically.

→ The Vault