The Population Protocol
The collectable, perfected.
A living population — one that never reprints.
Every trading-card game ends the same way: the next expansion set. The same beloved monster, a shinier border, a new number in the corner — and the card you treasured quietly becomes “the old one.” Scarcity that gets reprinted was never scarcity.
The populace never reprints. Each species lives as one living population, so a Mythic is never “a mythic from Set 4” — today it is one of only twenty in the entire world, and its birth order is written into the NFT forever. That number can rise only if the world itself grows, on a curve that flattens hard — never because someone decided this quarter needed a new set. The First Catch wears gold, the Second silver, the Third bronze — ye shall know the elders by their cards. That is a flex no reprint can ever take away.
And unlike a card in a sleeve, your pet works for a living: it is discovered in EF Hunt, fights beside you in EF MOBA, and answers your summons to mine, farm, build and march in Clash Front. These are the living, summonable creatures of EtherFantasy — their numbers follow ecological rules: species have capacity, populations grow with the world's health, and every loss matters. This is more than a collectable — it's a collectable with a job.
For parents
The free AR game is complete and stays free — every collector layer described on this page is optional. Pets are caught by playing: skill and effort, never bought. The DNA fragments used to forge them arrive through Ether Karma — a luck factor that grows the more you play (especially when you release pets back to the wild), and is spread fairly across regions so a child anywhere gets a real chance, not just those who can play the most. No purchase is ever required, and paying never improves your luck.
What we don't have is a sealed loot box — you can never pay money for a mystery box and hope. Everything sold in our stores is a known item at a posted price: you see exactly what you're buying before you buy it. A karma drop does ask a player to first spend a little of their earned CT or NPC — a fairness gate that stops bots and duplicate accounts from draining the wild — but those points are earned by playing, so money is never the price of a pet.
Our stores price everything in CT and NPC — redemption tokens you earn by playing. They are not investments and carry no promise of value. Real money only ever buys NPC, through an adult Pentagon Games account, and it goes one way: Pentagon Chain balances are platform credits, and for ordinary players there is no self-service route back out to cash (see the $PC tokenomics). Pets and tokens change hands only inside the Pentagon ecosystem — your child genuinely owns their pets and can trade them with other players there, but nothing here cashes out.
Scarcity here isn't a marketing claim. A pet can only exist if 100 of its DNA fragments exist, and the contract that hands out DNA can only give away what it was loaded with — it has no power to mint. Populations aren't fixed forever, but they don't move on a marketing calendar either: they grow only as the world genuinely grows, on a curve that flattens hard. Every population figure is published on this page, and the DNA supply behind it lives on a public blockchain anyone can audit.
Productivity = Base Skill × Experience × Species Affinity × Morale × Equipment
One formula across mining, farming, crafting, construction, research, transport, military and exploration. Species determine talent; experience determines mastery. Every pet can work any job — but each excels where its element belongs.
How the population grows
Migration claims
OG holders check in Ethereum & Polygon Ethermon, or attest Telegram PentaPets, and receive DNA at declining rates — earliest returnees earn the most. Claims run for a 2-year migration era; when it ends, checked-in originals become reclaimable heirlooms.
Ether Karma emission
DNA fragments are handed out only by the Reward Distributor, drawn from each species' wild pool by Ether Karma — a luck weight that rises the more you play and release, and is spread across regions for fairness so play, not geography or wallet size, decides. A drop asks only that you spend a little earned CT/NPC (a fairness gate against bots and sybils) — purchase is never required, and paying never raises your odds. The exact formula is internal and may change without notice.
Capacity growth
Each species has an ecological capacity set by the Capacity Oracle from ecosystem health (verified players, playtime, battles, marketplace activity). 10× more players ≈ 1.3× capacity — supply grows far slower than demand, by design.
How it shrinks
Burns with benefits
Duplicates burn into DNA. Multiple commons fuse toward rarer evolutions. Store buybacks retire abundant DNA. Players burn because they gain — the protocol never forces it.
Seasonal decay
If the ecosystem contracts for a sustained period, capacity drifts down — at most ±5% per season, never below what's already minted + reserved. Minted NFTs are never affected.
The store spread
Sell spare DNA to the store at 1× (rarity-weighted $CT); the store resells at 3× — only from real inventory. Abundant DNA recirculates; scarce DNA stays scarce.
The DNA marketplace — two stores, honest prices
DNA is soulbound — and that's what keeps the hunt honest: DNA is proof you played, not something a whale can vacuum up. So there are no player-to-player trades and no DEX listings. All DNA moves through two protocol stores, priced by code, not by mood:
The Primary shop — PC
Fresh, first-hand DNA from each species' one-time allocation (20% of its population), priced in native PC. Once a species sells out, it's gone — new stock is only “discovered” if the world's capacity significantly grows. Every PC of proceeds funds in-game ecosystem rewards.
Secondary — selling for $CT
The store always buys DNA at a posted $CT price per rarity — a guaranteed exit, available while the pool lasts. When a species is in hot demand, the store temporarily pays extra to attract restockers. Posted prices only ever move up.
Secondary — the player shelf
The store sells from its own inventory at a premium that rises with demand and rarity — the emptier a species' shelf, the higher its price. Rare DNA is priced for acquiring, not cashing out, so the store can't be farmed as an exit.
Converting — 3 : 1
Swap 3 DNA of one species into 1 of another within the same rarity. All three enter the store's spare DNA pool; one of the target species comes out. Every swap restocks the shelf — and fuller shelves mean cheaper buys for everyone.
| Rarity | Store buys DNA at | Store sells DNA at |
|---|
| Common | 1 CT | demand-based premium |
| Uncommon | 3 CT | demand-based premium |
| Rare | 6 CT | demand-based premium |
| Legendary | 15 CT | demand-based premium |
| Mythic | 30 CT | demand-based premium |
Secondary-store prices per 1.00 DNA in $CT (the Primary shop prices in PC). Buy-back floors only ever move up; sale prices adjust automatically with each species' demand, and the premium grows with rarity. A species at full population can trade above any DNA math — nothing forges into a full world.
Burning — every burn pays you back
Release a pet → 50 DNA
Burn a duplicate creature back into essence: you get half the forge cost back (50 DNA) and its population slot opens for the next summoner. Forge → release always costs net 50 DNA, so cycling is pointless — but clearing duplicates is rewarded.
Sell ≠ burn
DNA you sell or convert isn't destroyed — it all lands on the store shelf (the spare DNA pool) for others to buy at the scarcity price. The only true DNA burn is when the protocol retires unsellable flood stock for good.
Why burn at all?
Burns free population slots, refund DNA, and shrink supply — the protocol never forces them, it just makes them worth it. Buyback events can sweeten specific species when the ecosystem needs it.
Growth vs supply — why pets stay scarce
Demand grows with every player. Supply doesn't follow it — the Capacity Oracle expands the world's population on a curve that flattens hard. Even if the player base grows 10,000×, total capacity only reaches ~3× launch. Your creatures get more contested over time, not less.
Supply by rarity
These are today's numbers, not a print run. Twenty Mythics exist in the entire world right now — 10 species, 2 each. That population moves only with genuine adoption: 10× more players lifts capacity roughly 1.3×, and even a 10,000× player base reaches only ~3× launch. It is never lifted by a publisher deciding the quarter needs a new set — the world has to actually grow. (Fine print: each species carries a hard ceiling set at 150 — the theoretical cap if the entire world played. Live capacity sits far below it and only ever moves as the ecosystem does.)
Population FAQ
I have 100 DNA but the species is at capacity — can I still mint?
Not yet — you're in the capacity queue. Your DNA is safe and stays yours; the forge simply won't open until a slot exists. Slots open three ways: the Capacity Oracle grows the species (player base grew), someone releases/burns one of that species, or a reserve tranche unlocks. While you wait you can also convert 3→1 into a same-rarity species with open slots, or sell the DNA to the store for $CT.
When will a species' capacity increase?
Only when the verified player base grows. If the player base never grows — never. That's the deal, and it's what makes every pet worth holding. Capacity moves at most ±5% per 90-day season, and each species can never drop below what's already minted + reserved.
How is the "active player base" determined?
Each season the Health Score is published on-chain with its evidence, so anyone can audit it. It counts verified players only — Pentagon-linked accounts that pass anti-bot trust checks — weighted by real engagement: monthly actives, average playtime, battle participation, dungeon completion, and marketplace activity. Raw signups, bots and multi-accounts don't move it. The oracle turns that score into capacity, clamped by code (±5%/season, hard 0.8×–3.0× range).
How are DNA prices set — fixed or market-driven?
Both, by design. Selling to the store pays a posted price per rarity — always there, so you can always exit — and when a species is in hot demand the store temporarily pays extra. Buying from the store carries a demand premium that rises as a species' shelf empties, and grows with rarity. Prices adjust automatically by contract — no LPs, no order books, no manipulation. Rare DNA is priced for acquiring, not cashing out, so the store can't be farmed as an exit. And since the store is the only DNA source, its sale price effectively sets the reference value of a pet (100 DNA of replacement cost), while the posted buy-back guarantees a floor underneath. Species at full capacity can trade above any of it: no amount of DNA forges into a full population.
What do I get for burning (releasing) a pet?
50 DNA of its species — half the forge cost — and its population slot opens again. That makes clearing duplicates rational while keeping forge→release cycling pointless (each round trip costs a net 50 DNA). Selling or converting DNA is not a burn: both restock the store's spare pool for resale; only protocol retirement of flood stock destroys DNA permanently.
Can my minted pet be diluted later?
No. Capacity can never be set below minted + reserved — the floor is enforced by the registry contract, not by policy. Once your creature exists, no oracle reading, no season, and no admin can mint over it.
What if I never claim — do my legacy NFTs expire?
Claims run for the 2-year migration era at rates that decline monthly — earliest returnees earn the most. After the era ends no DNA can ever be claimed again, and anything you checked in becomes reclaimable: your original NFTs come home as heirlooms, and any DNA you claimed stays yours.
The contracts behind it
| Contract | Chain | Responsibility |
|---|
| PetCheckIn | Ethereum · Polygon | Heritage escrow: one claim per tokenId, forever. Claims open for the 2-year migration era; after it ends, original claimers can reclaim their genesis NFTs (which can never re-claim). |
| DNA1155 | Pentagon | Soulbound ERC-1155 — one token id per species. Moves only through approved EtherFantasy contracts. Never tradeable on exchanges. |
| PopulationRegistry | Pentagon | The census: capacity, minted, wild, burned, reserved per species. Gatekeeps every mint. |
| CapacityOracle | Pentagon | Turns ecosystem health into bounded capacity — ±5%/season max, floored at minted+reserved. |
| PetNFT | Pentagon | The canonical creature. Minted by burning 100 DNA + one open population slot. Freely tradeable. |
| DNAStore | Pentagon | Buys DNA at 1×, sells inventory at 3×, converts 3→1 within rarity. The only DNA marketplace. |
| RewardDistributor | Pentagon | Sole mint path for gameplay DNA. Backend-signed vouchers, per-species wild-pool draw, per-player caps. |
Guardrails: claim-once per tokenId · 2-year migration era, then originals reclaimable · soulbound DNA · per-species hard caps · oracle bounded by code, not trust · minted NFTs never diluted retroactively.
