Terror: Endless Night News

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In this humble devlog we would lay before you but a single example of the grievous and soul-weighing choices that shall confront you in your role as captain of HMS Chione⚖️. Know that upon these darkened seas, scarcely any decision passes without consequence. The survival is riddled with moments and portents-some born of your own command and the manner in which you govern your ship and her crew, others arising unbidden, shaped by the merciless conditions into which fate has cast your vessel.[/p][p]Among these trials there exist what we have come to call  madness events dread manifestations born of the insidious perks of insanity that creep into the minds of sailors as lunacy slowly takes hold aboard the ship. These corrupted traits may awaken particular occurrences, grim and unnatural in character, and it shall fall to you, as captain, to determine how they are answered.[/p][p][/p][p]Choose well, for the sea remembers-and so do those depths that lie far beneath her blackened waves🌊[/p][p]
[/p][p][/p][p]These events are recounted in the first person✍️, as though torn from the private journal of the captain himself. Through them, the player is drawn directly into the burden of command, forced to weigh each decision not as a distant overseer, but as the very soul bound to the helm.[/p][p][/p][p]An example of such an occurrence and of the choices it demands, along with the consequences they inexorably unleash we shall now present in the form of the following event:

Howling Outisde 🌑

"For weeks now a certain sound has become our unseen companion. It is neither wind nor ice, but something deeper, more sinister a long, deathlike howl at the edge of hearing, seeming to resonate within a man’s very bones. It seeps into the ears, and tonight… it slipped out through the throat as a whisper of paranoia. One of the men, utterly broken by the sound, attacked the navigation station. With wild, frantic blows he shattered our remaining maps and smashed every instrument, shrieking that “the howling wants us lost,” that “it cannot enter while we know the way."👁️ [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As the captain, you find yourself set before a grievous and harrowing dilemma, compelled to decide what must be done when confronted with such a circumstance.  [/p][p][/p][p]You can choose to:  [/p]

• [p]Punish the sailor with imprisonment 🔒 "I ordered him shackled and thrown into solitary confinement in the brig. There he is to sit in absolute silence and darkness, hearing nothing but his own fear and the creaking of ice beyond the hull. He will receive nothing but bread and water. Let that silent tomb bear witness as his madness slowly withers"  Such choice, will bolster the loyalty of the remaining crew, who take grim comfort in the certainty of order and discipline. No further ill consequences shall arise from this act, save for the absence of the imprisoned man, who will remain unavailable to the ship and her labors for the duration of his captivity.   [/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Subject sailor to heavy flogging 🩸 "Treason - such as the destruction of our navigational tools—demands that blood be shed upon the deck. I had the sailor tied to the mast and ordered thirty lashes with a salt-soaked rope. Each blow reaped a part of his skin away until we all could see wet, red muscle fibres. His shrieks rose above even the howling outside. I saw fear and obedience-take hold of the crew as they watched this brutal public lesson."  This decision will greatly raise loyalty of the crew, for each man will know that every transgression is met with swift and merciless punishment. Yet such severity does not pass without its shadow: the collective madness of the crew will also deepen, for fear gnaws at the mind as relentlessly as the sea erodes stone. In time, this swelling lunacy may give birth to dire and unforeseen consequences among the men. The offender himself, shall in due course regain his strength and once more be fit for labor, returning to his duties one his body and wits have recovered. 🩹 [/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Punish the sailor with death ☠️ "The act of destruction was akin to mass suicide, and the punishment had to be absolute. I ordered him taken to the bow and, without a single unnecessary word, shot. His swift and brutal execution served as a clear message: madness may be a sickness, but disobedience is treasonand treason is punished by death." This decision shall instill a deep and abiding terror within the crew, binding them to obedience and ensuring that none shall dare to oppose your will. Yet such fear is a double-edged blade: madness will surge greatly in its wake, spreading like a silent contagion through the minds of the men. Though order may be preserved for a time, the price is steep, for terror-driven souls are ever closer to the brink of ruin, and what festers there may one day rise against you from within.
[/p][p]This is but a single example of the choices you must confront when faced with the events of madness 🧠. Such moments arise without mercy, testing not only your authority, but the very fabric of your resolve as captain. Each decision leaves its mark upon the ship and the souls bound to her, whether seen at once or revealed only after long nights upon the blackened sea.[/p][p]In the next devlog, we shall turn our gaze toward the decisions woven into the greater tapestry of the narrative itself—choices of story and destiny, wherein the course of the voyage, and perhaps your very sanity, shall be irrevocably shaped. ⚠️[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Happy 2026![/p][p][/p][p]The past year has been incredibly busy for us. Every single day, we’ve been working to make Terror: Endless Night the best possible game for its launch, and the finish line is getting closer.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We wish you an amazing 2026 and hope you’ll find some time to play our game, because this will be its release year 😉[/p][p][/p][p]All the best![/p]

[p]In yesterday’s devlog, we described how Christmas is celebrated at the end of the world 🌍❄️[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Today, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas 🎄 May this time be spent with your loved ones in happiness and love. Take some time to rest and recharge your energy, because the expedition to the Arctic is getting closer and closer 🧭❄️[/p]

[p]In the Arctic, Christmas was never just a holiday. For officers, it was a carefully engineered ritual-meant to fight depression, enforce discipline, and keep men imagining a life they might never return to. Decorations, theatre, feasts, and hymns transformed frozen ships into temporary illusions of home.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Officers explicitly used celebrations to:[/p]

• [p]prevent depression during the polar night[/p]
• [p]break monotony of rations[/p]
• [p]reinforce obedience without open brutality[/p]
• [p]distract men from fear of starvation or scurvy[/p]
• [p]keep sailors imagining a return to English life[/p]

[p]Edward Parry-Franklin’s predecessor and model called such amusements “as necessary as the provisions in our hold.”[/p][p]Franklin followed that philosophy.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]On the Arctic ships, men decorated the lower deck with:[/p]

• [p]colored bunting[/p]
• [p]flags[/p]
• [p]improvised greenery made from paper or cloth[/p]
• [p]chalk drawings[/p]
• [p]painted slogans[/p]

[p]These decorations transformed the ship into an artificial “English winter home.” Some officers worried that too much realism would worsen homesickness, so the focus was on comedy and spectacle.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Franklin and Parry each authorized a full amateur theatre—the most famous being the Royal Arctic Theatre, set up on the Hecla and Fury, and later imitated on Franklin’s own voyages.[/p][p]Features included:[/p]

• [p]printed or handwritten playbills[/p]
• [p]wigs, female costumes, and makeup[/p]
• [p]comic sketches mocking officers (carefully-never seditious)[/p]
• [p]farces and sentimental plays[/p]
• [p]naval bands supplying music[/p]

[p]The theatre opened a new season on 5 November (Guy Fawkes Night) and always staged a show on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. In the dark midwinter, when the sun vanished, these were the most anticipated evenings of the year.[/p][p]Rear-Admiral George Fisher, a chaplain on a Franklin expedition, told his fellow officers that theatre was “more valuable than sermons for preserving contentment.”[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Franklin-era banquets tried to manufacture extravagance from rations:[/p][p]Staples:[/p]

• [p]preserved beef or pork issued at double rations[/p]
• [p]potato concentrate or pea soup[/p]
• [p]preserved carrots and dried onions[/p]
• [p]plum duff (the signature Arctic festival food)[/p]
• [p]raisins saved for months[/p]
• [p]sugar carefully hoarded[/p]
• [p]sometimes port wine or sherry from the officers’ stores[/p]

[p]During Franklin’s first land expedition (1819–22) across the tundra, he could barely feed his men and Christmas became grim-but aboard ships in the 1845 expedition, food was plentiful early on, so the feast was generous.[/p][p]In Parry’s ships, and likely Franklin’s, menus were posted as though in a London tavern, another psychological trick.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Rum was issued freely, but Arctic commands viewed drunkenness as a threat. So the custom was:[/p]

• [p]an extra grog issue[/p]
• [p]supervised toasts[/p]
• [p]humorous speeches[/p]
• [p]then the casks locked away again[/p]

[p]Officers sometimes allowed men to stay up until midnight-an unusual relaxation of rules.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Religious observance was more prominent than on tropical stations, because it doubled as emotional management. Franklin, deeply evangelical-encouraged:[/p]

• [p]Christmas prayers[/p]
• [p]sermon on endurance and Providence[/p]
• [p]hymns sung collectively[/p]
• [p]candlelit readings[/p]

[p]Franklin believed that spiritual order balanced the psychological risks of total isolation.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In the Arctic, sailors used leisure time to carve objects from:[/p]

• [p]walrus or narwhal ivory[/p]
• [p]whalebone[/p]
• [p]wood from packing crates[/p]
• [p]metal scraps[/p]

[p]Christmas became a natural exchange point. Officers sometimes gave tobacco, mittens, or extra warm clothing.[/p][p]Handwritten comic “newspapers” were also created and read aloud Parry’s North Georgia Gazette (1819–20) is the prototype Franklin admired.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Where ice conditions allowed:[/p]

• [p]sledging races[/p]
• [p]foot races over the ice[/p]
• [p]mock athletic competitions[/p]
• [p]dancing on deck[/p]

[p]These were staged directly after the Christmas dinner to counter lethargy.[/p][p]Franklin’s 1845 ships also carried musical instruments, and dancing was considered exercise against scurvy.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Diaries from Franklin-era Arctic voyages show a pattern:[/p]

• [p]Christmas was described as “cheerful beyond expectation”[/p]
• [p]followed weeks later by depression when the novelty faded[/p]

[p]Men wrote about missing home, imagining family dinners, and fearing that they would never see England again. Officers tolerated sentimentality on Christmas, but suppressed it afterward.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]For a few hours:[/p]

• [p]punishments were suspended[/p]
• [p]officers joked with men[/p]
• [p]toasts unified the ranks[/p]

[p]But the relaxation was carefully staged. The purpose was to reinforce loyalty, not autonomy.[/p][p]By Boxing Day, full discipline returned.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]On the 1845 voyage of Erebus and Terror, the first Christmas (at Disko Bay or near the ice edge) was almost certainly festive-food was abundant, spirits high, and the men still believed the expedition technically easy.[/p][p]But:[/p]

• [p]no record survives of that or any later Christmas aboard the trapped ships[/p]
• [p]by the end of 1846 the ships were beset off King William Island[/p]
• [p]1847 likely passed in fear and uncertainty[/p]
• [p]1848 brought the abandonment and death march[/p]

[p]So the familiar rituals of plum duff, theatre, and jokes gave way to starvation, lead poisoning, scurvy, and fatal desperation. The holiday spirit that once supported morale could no longer counter physical collapse[/p]

[p]Greetings, sailors ⚓👋[/p][p][/p][p]In this devlog, we invite you to step once more upon the frozen decks of HMS Chione, where we shall recount the manner in which sickness and the ship’s infirmary shape the fate of our rescue expedition 🧭[/p][p][/p][p]Life aboard a vessel dispatched upon so hazardous an enterprise is perilous even in the best of seasons; yet when the ship becomes imprisoned in the merciless ice during the long polar night, and hope itself seems to withdraw from the hearts of the men, peril takes on a crueler form still ⚠️[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In such dire circumstances, ailments and injuries become constant companions - grim visitors with whom you, as captain of HMS Chione⚓, must contend.[/p][p][/p][p]We have previously spoken of the crew’s well - being, for in Terror: Endless Night the preservation of a sailor’s health stands among the foremost duties of command. Should a man’s strength decline to nothing, he perishes, leaving behind only the faint memory of his service among those who yet endure⏳[/p][p][/p][p]Yet misfortune seldom travels alone. A sailor may be stricken by specific maladies, scurvy foremost among them, its onset tied to the waning of his vitality. Others arise from the nature of his labour; those who tend the furnace may suffer grievous burns. Still others might be consequences of justice meted ou, should a man transgress, the lash may be employed, and with it the cruel wounds it inflicts 🩸[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]When sickness or injury 🤒 befalls a member of the company, he is marked with a “disease perk,” and in the ship’s Book of Afflictions one may peruse the dire effects associated with each misfortune. A broken limb, for instance, renders a man unfit for the heavy labours of the ship—such as the brutal work of cutting through the pack ice—yet he may still serve on watch or assist in the galley. But beware: untreated injuries fester. Should a wound be neglected, infection may take hold and, in time, demand the horror of amputation 🪚[/p][p][/p][p]As for the healing - HMS Chione ⚓ bears within her hull a modest hospital, overseen by the chief doctor. There, afflicted sailors may be conveyed, and after a span of days find their strength renewed. Some maladies require precious medicines, the ship’s stores of which are meagre indeed; others may be soothed more swiftly should the doctor employ such rare remedies. Yet the cots are few, and so the burden falls to you, Captain, to determine who shall be granted treatment, and when. You may choose to expend your medicine generously—or to hold it in reserve. Perhaps you may even abandon the sick to their fate, driving them to toil in bleak conditions until death claims them as surely as the ice 🧊[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thus the systems of health, sickness, and hospital are bound together like the rigging of the ship - each tug upon one thread echoing through the rest. Should you tend faithfully to the welfare of your men, maladies will remain few. But neglect their health, and suffering shall multiply: hands will grow too feeble to keep the vessel in order, or death shall stalk the decks, sowing disloyalty 🗡️ and madness 🌀 among those who remain.[/p][p][/p][p]We trust this system shall present you with many trials and decisions as weighty as the ice that hems you in ❄️[/p]