The world was one.
Then the other lands came.

In the game IN GAME

The Oath

Every new character reads this in the step called The Oath, at the end of character creation, just before the choices are confirmed.

The world was one, and it was ours. Then the other lands came.

No one saw them arrive. One morning a foreign coast lay to the north, with its own forests, its own peoples and its own gods. The world has been out of balance ever since. The newcomers do not attack. No one knows why they are here.

The Ascendant has chosen you. At the clay you swear to seek the answer, as well as you are able and for as long as it takes. In return the clay never lets you go: if you fall, you are shaped anew.

Your old life ends here. What you were comes with you. What you become is yours to decide.

The premise

A mystery, not a war

• DECIDEDOne world, then many

  The world was one continent, alone. Then other continents arrived and joined it, and each new continent is a whole mythology.

• DECIDEDGlinaur

  Glinaur is the name of the game and of the whole world. The capital, Aurzem, is named but not built, and where it lies is not said.

• DECIDEDOut of balance

  Since the arrival the world is out of balance: the whole world, not only its magic. Everything falls into disorder when whole continents suddenly appear.

• DECIDEDThe newcomers do not attack

  Why are they here? What happened? Is it an invasion? It has to be investigated. Something in the order of the world has shifted, and what was known has to be written anew.

• DECIDEDGreater than the rulers

  Beings have come to the world who may be more powerful than those who rule the land.

• DECIDEDNot the last

  More continents can arrive later and keep the world out of balance.

• DECIDEDA layer, not the centre

  The mythologies are one layer of the game. The game is not centred on them.

The ruler and the clay

Chosen, bound, shaped anew

• DECIDEDThe Ascendant

  The ruler is called the Ascendant. He is not almighty, but very powerful, and he has ruled over most of the world since always. There are many tales and legends about him and those around him.

• DECIDEDHe cannot solve it himself

  His way is to rely on others, to whom he gives part of his power. He binds specially chosen people of the land, so that they can restore what once was, or find the cause.

• DECIDEDWho he is

  Who he is, where he lives and what he looks like is not told. Players are to learn more through quests and the lore that follows.

• DECIDEDThe clay

  The chosen are bound to clay. Clay mounds will stand in the new cities of the mythological realms too, because the one who owned the world first has the power to arrange it.

• DECIDEDThe oath is about the task

  The chosen swear to meet the imbalance as well as they are able. How is their own matter, and the ruler has no power over that choice. Clans and armies are means to an answer, not a breach of the oath.

• IN GAMEShaped anew

  In return the clay never lets go. Fall, and you wake at The Clay Mound in the middle of Mudbury: “You are shaped anew from the clay.”

• IN GAMEHoly ground

  The Clay Mound is holy: no fight starts there, for anyone. Whoever wakes there, even someone wanted, is safe until they step off. Which other places are holy is not said.

The shape of the world

A continent for every mythology

• DECIDEDA part of the world per mythology

  The map is divided into parts, each leaning toward one mythology. Much of today’s fantasy rests on the tales and legends of those sagas. The map is asymmetric, not a set of rectangles to run around in.

• DECIDEDThe Nordic part comes first

  It lies north of the first city. It begins with plants and animals in the realm of humans and its city, goes on to the other great realms (from where the Aesir live to where the giants live, and everything between) and reaches the places the myths speak of toward the endgame.

• DECIDEDMore continents later

  Other mythologies get parts of the same size: the Roman empire, Greek, Slavic, Mongolian, Persian and Japanese mythology are named, and Kalevala as a continent of its own. Sami and Finnish material belongs there, not in the Nordic part.

• DECIDEDRather more than fewer

  Many areas are to be larger than 50 squares, and some several hundred; an area can take hours to grind through. About four kinds of animals or monsters per area. Nothing is removed; more is added.

• DECIDEDLearn the myths by playing

  Area names, the people who give quests, the quest texts and the pictures of the beings are meant to show how the mythology is built. Folklore is an important part too.

• DECIDEDGods are persons

  Gods are teachers and opponents; nobody worships them to be allowed to fight. Like everything that is killed, they return after a while.

• DECIDEDLearn the bow from a god

  Schools can stand in the mythological realms, and each mythology gets special schools of its own.

• DECIDEDOther elves, other dwarves

  The elves and dwarves of the Nordic continent are separate from the playable kindreds.

• DECIDEDOne spelling everywhere

  Names use a simplified form without special characters, the same in every language.

• DECIDEDCoasts, not water

  No water squares are built and nobody swims. You can stand on a coast or a beach and fish; boats are a scheduled ferry from a special place.

• DECIDEDFew starting cities

  Only a few of the game’s cities will be starting cities. Mudbury is the first.

The seam

Where the continent struck

There was sea north of the starting city before the continent came. It laid itself in the sea and struck the realm’s coast. Where it struck lies the Burnt Coast, and you can walk there today.

• IN GAMEThe burnt harbour

  The southern half was the realm’s harbour: quays, warehouses, and ships standing on dry ground where the sea was.

• IN GAMEThe old seabed

  In the middle the old seabed meets the new continent’s shore, at squares called The Seam and The Foreign Shore.

• IN GAMEThe burnt forest

  The northern half is the continent’s own forest edge, which burned when it struck.

• IN GAMERoads that wait

  Roads lead east and west from the seam, so that the northern land can be reached without passing the city, and a trail leads north toward the continent’s first area. All three end blind today.

• IN GAMEA harbour without a sea

  Mudbury’s Harbour Office stands at the north gate, toward the burnt harbour. It is kept for people who will give quests; they are not there yet.

Dispositions

Different answers to the same oath

A disposition is the key to lawful player-against-player combat, and it has a meaning in the world. Four placeholder dispositions are in the game; a disposition’s own progression is not built.

• DECIDEDA stance, not a faith

  A disposition is a stance toward the imbalance, not belief in a god. The same dispositions hold on every continent.

• DECIDEDFar more than two

  Some want to keep what exists and only solve the mystery. Some want to kill everything. Some want war on the newcomers; others want to build bridges to them. Those are examples, not the list.

• IN GAMEEach against all others

  Out on the roads and in the wilds, anyone who carries another disposition is a lawful opponent: the fight between them is a fight about who is right. Striking someone of your own disposition is a crime, like attacking a neutral.

Not decided

Where the story is still open

• IDEAWhich dispositions, and their names

  The four in the game are placeholders named after the examples above. Which dispositions exist and what they are called is open.

• IDEAThe answer to the mystery

  Why the newcomers came, and what the imbalance does. More of the story comes later.

• IDEAWhat the chosen are called

  Those the Ascendant binds have no name of their own yet.

• IDEANames

  The names of the peoples, and of every city and region beyond Mudbury and the capital Aurzem. Every other place name is a working name.

• IDEAWhere the kindreds fit

  How the ten playable kindreds relate to the realm and to the newcomers is not written.

• IDEABeyond the blind roads

  What lies west of the city, and east, west and north of the Burnt Coast.

• IDEAThe ferry

  Where it departs and where it goes. Nothing is designed.

IDEA Nothing here is decided. These are the questions the story leaves open, and good ground for suggestions.