diff --git a/src/horde.lua b/src/horde.lua
index 2861e8f..cde5a2d 100644
--- a/src/horde.lua
+++ b/src/horde.lua
@@ -157,3 +157,88 @@ function Horde.countFor(wave)
   return count
 end
 
+function Horde.essenceFor(wave)
+  return wave * Horde.ESSENCE_PER_WAVE
+end
+
+-- Species eligible for wave `wave`, drawn from Monsters.forDepth at
+-- Horde.depthFor(wave) exactly like a real floor's population, minus the
+-- passive vend-behaviour shopkeeper - a wave the player can never provoke
+-- into fighting back would leave Horde.cleared permanently false.
+function Horde.pool(wave)
+  local eligible = {}
+  for _, spec in ipairs(Monsters.forDepth(Horde.depthFor(wave))) do
+    if spec.ai ~= "vend" then eligible[#eligible + 1] = spec end
+  end
+  return eligible
+end
+
+-- True once every hostile monster the arena has ever placed is dead -
+-- vacuously true against a still-empty arena too, which is exactly what
+-- lets Horde.tick reuse the same check to bootstrap wave 1 as it does to
+-- clear every wave after it (see Horde.tick's own comment). Filtered to
+-- entity.kind == "monster", the same "hostile" tag every other module
+-- (companions.lua/mercenaries.lua/reanimation.lua/abilities.lua...) uses:
+-- Game:startHorde can now carry a bonded companion/hireling/thrall into the
+-- arena, and an ally that never dies to the wave itself would otherwise
+-- keep this permanently false, freezing the arena on wave 0 forever.
+function Horde.cleared(level)
+  for _, entity in ipairs(level.entities) do
+    if entity.kind == "monster" and entity:isAlive() then return false end
+  end
+  return true
+end
+
+-- Populates `game.level` with wave `wave`'s monsters, drawn from
+-- Horde.pool and placed one to a cell along Horde.spawnPoints's queue -
+-- never doubling two monsters onto the same cell, the one-entity-per-cell
+-- invariant every other spawn path in game.lua already relies on. Every
+-- spawn is already hunting, exactly like Game:spawnMinion's own summons -
+-- an arena has no stealth approach to sneak past. Returns the spawned
+-- entities.
+function Horde.spawnWave(game, wave)
+  local level = game.level
+  local points = Horde.spawnPoints(level.map)
+  local pool = Horde.pool(wave)
+  local count = math.min(Horde.countFor(wave), #points)
+  local depth = Horde.depthFor(wave)
+  local spawned = {}
+  for i = 1, count do
+    local point = points[i]
+    local spec = game.rng:pick(pool)
+    local entity = Monsters.create(spec, game:nextMonsterId(), point.x, point.y, depth)
+    entity.awareness = Stealth.HUNTING
+    Elites.maybePromote(game.rng, entity, depth)
+    level.entities[#level.entities + 1] = entity
+    spawned[#spawned + 1] = entity
+  end
+  return spawned
+end
+
+-- Advances horde state by one player turn, called from Game:endPlayerTurn
+-- behind a `game.horde` check. A no-op while the current wave still has a
+-- living monster in it; the instant it does not - including the very first
+-- call, against the still-empty arena Game:startHorde just built, since
+-- Horde.cleared reads that the same way as a genuinely finished wave - it
+-- banks Horde.essenceFor(wave) essence (zero the first time, wave still
+-- being 0), heals Horde.REST_HEAL, advances the wave counter, and spawns
+-- the new wave outright, so the arena is never left standing empty for
+-- even a single turn. Returns a log line, or nil when nothing happened.
+function Horde.tick(game)
+  local horde = game.horde
+  if not horde then return nil end
+  if not Horde.cleared(game.level) then return nil end
+  local reward = Horde.essenceFor(horde.wave)
+  if reward > 0 then
+    game.player.essence = game.player.essence + reward
+  end
+  game.player.hp = math.min(game.player.maxHp, game.player.hp + Horde.REST_HEAL)
+  horde.wave = horde.wave + 1
+  Horde.spawnWave(game, horde.wave)
+  if horde.wave == 1 then
+    return "the horde arena falls silent - wave 1 begins"
+  end
+  return string.format("the arena falls silent - wave %d begins (+%d essence)", horde.wave, reward)
+end
+
+return Horde
diff --git a/src/hunger.lua b/src/hunger.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1ed56e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hunger.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+-- Named bands layered over the player's raw satiation counter, the same
+-- shape sanity.lua already gives its own slow-moving meter: a plain number
+-- that Game:hungerTorchTick drains by one every round (untouched here),
+-- classified into FED/HUNGRY/WEAK/STARVING tiers that a caller reads back
+-- instead of re-deriving the cutoffs itself. Falling into WEAK or worse
+-- costs real attack and defense - wired into entity.lua's effectiveAttack/
+-- effectiveDefense alongside Sanity's own penalty, so a gaunt fighter hits
+-- and blocks softer without combat.lua needing to know hunger exists at
+-- all - and blocks the passive mending hungerTorchTick already grants from
+-- a worn ring, an ironclad set or consecrated ground: a starving adventurer
+-- can still down a potion, just not coast on a ring of regeneration while
+-- fading. STARVING alone keeps hungerTorchTick's own flat hp drain, exactly
+-- as before.
+--
+-- Eating is the mirror case: Hunger.eat folds fresh nutrition into the same
+-- counter, capped at Hunger.CAP, but food eaten while already at that cap
+-- is entirely wasted and leaves the diner Status.SLOW for a few turns - the
+-- same overfull stumble a real glutton earns, reusing a status the engine
+-- already ticks, serializes and renders with no special handling of its own.
+
+local Status = require("status")
+
+local Hunger = {}
+
+Hunger.FED = "fed"
+Hunger.HUNGRY = "hungry"
+Hunger.WEAK = "weak"
+Hunger.STARVING = "starving"
+
+-- Starting ration for a fresh game (Game.new) and the ceiling Hunger.eat
+-- refuses to bank past. Comfortably above START so a couple of found
+-- rations can stack up before a long dive, without letting the pool grow
+-- without bound.
+Hunger.START = 1000
+Hunger.CAP = 1200
+
+-- Tier ceilings: a value at or below HUNGRY_MAX but above WEAK_MAX reads as
+-- HUNGRY, and so on downward. 0 itself is always STARVING regardless of
+-- where these ceilings sit.
+Hunger.HUNGRY_MAX = 300
+Hunger.WEAK_MAX = 100
+
+Hunger.BLOAT_DURATION = 4
+
+local ATTACK_PENALTY = {
+  [Hunger.FED] = 0, [Hunger.HUNGRY] = 0, [Hunger.WEAK] = -2, [Hunger.STARVING] = -4,
+}
+local DEFENSE_PENALTY = {
+  [Hunger.FED] = 0, [Hunger.HUNGRY] = 0, [Hunger.WEAK] = -1, [Hunger.STARVING] = -3,
+}
+
+-- A fresh entity - or a monster, which never accrues hunger of its own
+-- since nothing ever calls Hunger.tick for one - reads as fully fed.
+function Hunger.current(entity)
+  return entity.satiation or Hunger.CAP
+end
+
+function Hunger.tierOf(entity)
+  local value = Hunger.current(entity)
+  if value <= 0 then return Hunger.STARVING end
+  if value <= Hunger.WEAK_MAX then return Hunger.WEAK end
+  if value <= Hunger.HUNGRY_MAX then return Hunger.HUNGRY end
+  return Hunger.FED
+end
+
+function Hunger.attackPenalty(entity)
+  return ATTACK_PENALTY[Hunger.tierOf(entity)]
+end
+
+function Hunger.defensePenalty(entity)
+  return DEFENSE_PENALTY[Hunger.tierOf(entity)]
+end
+
+-- WEAK or worse blocks the passive regen hungerTorchTick otherwise grants
+-- from a ring, a set bonus or friendly weather - a fading body has nothing
+-- left over to spend on mending.
+function Hunger.suppressesRegen(entity)
+  local tier = Hunger.tierOf(entity)
+  return tier == Hunger.WEAK or tier == Hunger.STARVING
+end
+
+-- One round of drain. Returns a log line only when the tier actually
+-- changes, except STARVING which - matching the flat drain this replaces -
+-- reports and bites for 1 hp every single round it holds, not just on the
+-- turn it is first reached.
+function Hunger.tick(entity)
+  local before = Hunger.tierOf(entity)
+  entity.satiation = math.max(0, Hunger.current(entity) - 1)
+  local after = Hunger.tierOf(entity)
+  if after == Hunger.STARVING then
+    entity.hp = entity.hp - 1
+    return "you are starving"
+  end
+  if after ~= before then
+    return "you feel " .. after
+  end
+  return nil
+end
+
+-- Feeds `nutrition` in, clamped at Hunger.CAP. Returns true when the diner
+-- was already at the cap - all of it wasted, and left Status.SLOW for
+-- Hunger.BLOAT_DURATION turns - or false for an ordinary meal that landed.
+function Hunger.eat(entity, nutrition)
+  local wasFull = Hunger.current(entity) >= Hunger.CAP
+  entity.satiation = math.min(Hunger.CAP, Hunger.current(entity) + nutrition)
+  if wasFull then
+    Status.apply(entity, Status.SLOW, Hunger.BLOAT_DURATION, 1)
+  end
+  return wasFull
+end
+
+return Hunger
diff --git a/src/identify.lua b/src/identify.lua
index e6b2b55..1778b9b 100644
--- a/src/identify.lua
+++ b/src/identify.lua
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ local Items = require("items")
 local Identify = {}
 
 local potionLooks = {
-  "ruby", "azure", "cloudy", "fizzy", "smoky", "golden", "murky", "viscous",
+  "ruby", "azure", "cloudy", "fizzy", "smoky", "golden", "murky", "viscous", "inky", "frothy",
 }
 local scrollLooks = {
   "XYZZY", "ELBERETH", "ZELGO KAI", "JUYED AWK", "VE FORBRYDERNE",