Introduction II

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Intro | ?


Don’t you think it’s incredible, the way a mind works? It can believe just about anything in earnest, spin any lie into truth, any line of reasoning into heartfelt fact, any fantasy into reality. People can bring forth grand changes, astounding creations, cataclysmic results, all from the sheer power of cognition and faith.

To think, all the endless possibilities, the infinite potential that dwells within you all. Good or bad, ambiguous or clean-cut, the objectivity is just as boundless as the connotations you can weave, the meaning you can ascribe. Put enough into it and you can inspire great things, awful things: unconditional love, visceral hate, unending war, magnanimous empathy. Anything you can think to put into the world, you can and you do, no matter how big or small, likely or unlikely. Yes, in this way, and in so many others, belief has magic.

And oh, you are capable of such awful things because of it.


Ah, Earth. How has it been these past several months? Business as usual, or, well as usual as it can be. Why do you ask? If there’s been a shift in energy, some disturbance in the force, it hasn’t particularly concerned you. You’ve lived here your entire life, so you're at least a little naturally attuned to any irregularities that could occur.

Maybe it takes you by complete surprise then, when you look into your reflection. It’s just a mirror, a pool of water, a shop window, but as you peer into it, your visage shifts to that of a hooded stranger. And their voice speaks back, demanding.

“Do you sincerely possess the desire to live? Prove to me that you should.”

The same figure and voice, the same question and demand, concluded with curt instructions. Gather your things, and return to the same place you met this entity in a month’s time: on May 25th, 2019.


And what about that first set of humans, who embarked upon a journey to a distant land? Their disappearances prompted ripples in their communities nearly a year ago, but even the strangest things find their way towards ascribed explanations. Excuses, logical reasoning, whatever fills in the gaps. You know how things are with the mind.

The humans that found themselves in the floating garden of Eden, and then the starlit city of Astrum have been busy. In the midst of scorching fire and candlelight, in the den of a demon, they'd just recently discovered the power of oaths and contracts, the impossible made manifest through the conviction of a deal. They'd rearranged the tapestry of fate, altering the destiny a couple dead friends, amidst other successful and unsuccessful wagers. What mattered was that they'd done it. It felt like a nasty secret. Wrong, sure, yet so arcane and powerful.

Meanwhile, their tenuous lives passing as creatures of myth and concept in a world devoid of humans was met with stressful, antagonizing encounters. One deliberate attack in recent memory truly emphasized the lack of safety they truly had within the borders of Astrum, the list of suspects grew with every passing month, and the groups track record with kidnappings was already looking abysmal.

But for the time being, they'd been met with dead air, an uneasy silence. The only question is: for how long?



TA is currently nearing the end of Act 2. You can find the official Act 1 recap here (1.5 pages), and an unofficial up-to-date summary here (15 pages).
The official Act 2 recap will be released at the beginning of Act 3. These readings are not required, but encouraged!

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