

The teams are placed on opposite ends of a small map, each with a flame (the titular pyre). The rites themselves are a competition between two teams of three, each vying for their chance to return to the Commonwealth with crimes forgiven. It is within these rites that Pyre reveals its most singular mechanics. However, by performing a series of sacred rites - rites that you, as a Reader, preside over - you and the Nightwings have the possibility of winning your freedom.

You have been exiled from your home in the Commonwealth, where literacy is banned now you join a small but growing band of weary travelers known as Nightwings in a dangerous, purgatorial land known as the Downside.

Pyre assigns you the role of a nameless, faceless character known only as the Reader.
