Sector 4

"Welcome to Sector 4. The Custodian clocks in shortly. Please direct your attention to the lower-right corner of your screen, where Janitech's clock is keeping time."

The first floor of The Descent — and the first cut the Network installed when the Stack went live. Reclaimed by Apex Salvage Group from Sector 4, a power station that never stopped generating. The pumps still cycle. The fluorescent fixtures still come on at 0800. The workers are gone. One isn't.

What this floor is

A working power plant. A turbine hall, pipe galleries, workshops, storage warrens, a few back rooms the Network has dressed for camera angles. Industrial in texture — yellow hazard tape, concrete, exposed conduit, the smell of cleaning compound. The runners are expected to arrive disoriented. The audience is expected to find this charming.

The Network calls this floor Sector 4. The Programming Director has been heard calling it "the lobby." Both are correct.

What you'll meet here

New to the show? Start with Getting Started — your first hour, in order.

The six starter kits — every runner picks one of six loadouts at the Bay. Blunt, Trigger, Blade, Cyber, Survival, or Signal. (Fire and current are damage channels, and stealth is a build path — none are starting kits. Signal starts with no channel at all; it can be tuned to one later.) See Starter Kits.
Floor 1 weapons — the kit weapons, plus what loots from defeated hostiles. See Weapons & Gear.
Items — the materials, consumables, and tools the floor leaves lying around. See Items.
Status effects — what happens to a runner when something else is happening to them. See Status Effects.
Skills (Levels 1–19) — what training looks like on Floor 1, across the twenty trainable disciplines. See Skills.
Recipes — what the floor lets you build out of what it leaves lying around. See Recipes.
The bosses — the floor's five featured personnel, from the Custodian to the Pipe Bender. See Bosses.
Sully, Greg, and Max — the floor's permanent fixtures. See NPCs.
Sanctuary — the runner's workspace and rest area: one room, with a door to it on every floor. See Sanctuary.
Talking — the five chat channels, and which of them the cameras can see. See Talking.
The Glossary — the fixtures, tags, and reactions the floor names in passing. See Glossary.

What this floor isn't

Floor 1 is not a tutorial. Runners die on Floor 1. The Custodian has been known to clock in early. The Wet Floor signs are not decorative. The Programming Director encourages aspiring runners to take the floor seriously.

Sponsorship

Floor 1 broadcast brought to you by Janitech™ — "Trust the bristle." The Custodian's loadout, the Wet Floor signage, and Sully's requisitions are all Janitech-issue. The Network thanks Janitech for their continued partnership.

Next → Starter Kits — Which loadout did your runner draw?