Content Warning: Mistwrought is a Gothic Horror setting in a world on the brink of collapse, incorporating themes of body horror, cosmic horror, violence, nihilism, existential dread, persecution/mistrust, and more (list will be expanded closer to project completion). It is intended for mature audiences.
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This page is a placeholder for future expansion, and the content is all very "first-draft."
Mistwrought will be a Houndsong Games produced setting utilizing the Relict RPG system, provided here for free.
You may prefer to build your own world (or expand on one of ours) using the Worldbuilding Tools in the menu above, or check out our Community Spotlight page for non-Houndsong, Relict-compatible settings.
Mistwrought will be a Houndsong Games produced setting utilizing the Relict RPG system, provided here for free.
You may prefer to build your own world (or expand on one of ours) using the Worldbuilding Tools in the menu above, or check out our Community Spotlight page for non-Houndsong, Relict-compatible settings.
The Age of Exodus
Land of Plenty
In times long past, civilization spanned the length and breadth of Duskfallow. Lords ruled over mighty nations, heroes and villains clashed, artisans forged mighty relics, and mages pushed their practice of magic and science to their limits. Holy leaders sung the praises of their pantheons; some benevolent, others cruel, but all willing to shower their favored mortals with gifts and boons and send them out to do their will.
Then came the Umbra Obscruis--the creeping doom, the killing mists, the horror-in-darkness--and all was lost.
Then came the Umbra Obscruis--the creeping doom, the killing mists, the horror-in-darkness--and all was lost.
Death in Darkness
A cataclysm befell the world, implacable and unforgiving: the Umbra Obscruis, an otherworldly fog that brought with it death and damnation. It came each night; a twisting of reality, an affliction that seemed to corrupt the very land and air. Along its borders the vile mists killed most, but changed others; mutating them into abhorrent things that craved the flesh and blood of their neighbors, or remaking them into vessels for otherworldly powers that disdained the material world and scoffed at the sanity of its inhabitants.
Deeper into the core of the Obscuris, soothsayers and diviners claimed to catch glimpses of impossible things, of towering monstrosities from other worlds, legions of never-born horrors that rent and tore and laughed as they marched, of landscapes so beautiful and terrible to behold that it left one weeping tears of blood to try and recount them.
Those who ventured into Umbra-scarred lands by the light of day found them nearly uninhabitable, stalked by strange creatures or wracked by unnatural disasters at every turn. Those who dared them in the night did not return.
Deeper into the core of the Obscuris, soothsayers and diviners claimed to catch glimpses of impossible things, of towering monstrosities from other worlds, legions of never-born horrors that rent and tore and laughed as they marched, of landscapes so beautiful and terrible to behold that it left one weeping tears of blood to try and recount them.
Those who ventured into Umbra-scarred lands by the light of day found them nearly uninhabitable, stalked by strange creatures or wracked by unnatural disasters at every turn. Those who dared them in the night did not return.
Fall and Exodus
No one knows where the Umbra first appeared--if they did, none survived to pass the tale on--only that by the time the world at large had recognized the threat, entire nations had been lost to the deadly shadow that roiled across the land. It is agreed that these events coincided with a waning of magic in the world, and the chilling silence of the gods. As the Umbra grew, it seemed to sap and twist the world's connection to the Ether, until only the mightiest wielders of these fundamental forces could still summon forth their magics. In time, these holdouts were joined by those few that had brushed with the Umbra and survived, some finding themselves newly empowered by the experience.
This new generation of mages, the Mistwrought or Night-Touched, were viewed with suspicion and fear, but few were in a position to argue against putting their talents to use. One by one, the forces of the age chose to stand or flee as the Umbra reached their borders. Of those that stayed, who clung to their ancestral homes and hoped to weather the storm through luck or will, nothing is known today.
The rest marched, month after month, year after year, ever trying to stay ahead of the creeping doom, hoping for a miracle. At times groups of survivors clashed, desperate for dwindling resources or unable to forget long-held animosities. Yet more often there was a coming together, in defiance of a mutual threat, as arcanist and priest and shaman and scholar worked to save their peoples by any means. Entire nations became nomads, kingdoms of the road, taking on any who might help to find the key or slow the tide.
This new generation of mages, the Mistwrought or Night-Touched, were viewed with suspicion and fear, but few were in a position to argue against putting their talents to use. One by one, the forces of the age chose to stand or flee as the Umbra reached their borders. Of those that stayed, who clung to their ancestral homes and hoped to weather the storm through luck or will, nothing is known today.
The rest marched, month after month, year after year, ever trying to stay ahead of the creeping doom, hoping for a miracle. At times groups of survivors clashed, desperate for dwindling resources or unable to forget long-held animosities. Yet more often there was a coming together, in defiance of a mutual threat, as arcanist and priest and shaman and scholar worked to save their peoples by any means. Entire nations became nomads, kingdoms of the road, taking on any who might help to find the key or slow the tide.
The Age of Foundings
Kindled Hope
It was Cordena, a half-elven wizard, whose breakthrough would prevent the total destruction of Duskfallow. She developed a technique that harnessed small pieces of a caster’s own life force to augment the fading arcane energies of the world. Cordena used this process to fuel spells that would hold the Umbra at bay, traveling far and wide to teach the techniques to as many as she could.
These Heartfire spells, as she called them, were taxing, but by then there was little choice. The lands untouched by the Umbra Obscruis were dwindling, and the survivors had nowhere left to run. And so night fell on the encampments of the great caravans--but, for the first time in a decade, the greater dark within it was kept at bay.
These Heartfire spells, as she called them, were taxing, but by then there was little choice. The lands untouched by the Umbra Obscruis were dwindling, and the survivors had nowhere left to run. And so night fell on the encampments of the great caravans--but, for the first time in a decade, the greater dark within it was kept at bay.
Bastions of Life
Cordena would go on to found a new home for her nation-in-exile: Everfast, the city of light, thought at its height to be the largest city ever built. Freed from the constant need to flee from the Umbra, for the first time in a generation her people were able to build; to live, to marshal their resources and keep a constant vigil against the terrors that would slink out of the night beyond. Other caravan nations, scattered to the last unblemished corners of the world, would do the same.
Thus were the Last Cities born, the new face of civilization. How many have survived to the modern era is unknown.
Cordena, known now as the Witch-Queen and worshiped as a savior, knew that her work was unfinished. Heartfire kept the mists at bay, but would consume its wielders faster than they could be replaced. Thus began her second great work, and her final gift to her people: the Sundrops, and the Eternity Hearth to
power them.
Thus were the Last Cities born, the new face of civilization. How many have survived to the modern era is unknown.
Cordena, known now as the Witch-Queen and worshiped as a savior, knew that her work was unfinished. Heartfire kept the mists at bay, but would consume its wielders faster than they could be replaced. Thus began her second great work, and her final gift to her people: the Sundrops, and the Eternity Hearth to
power them.
One Thousand Lights
The Sundrop Lanterns are large, intricate magical constructions of the Witch-Queen’s own design, each capable of fending off the Umbra Obscuris for miles around. Cordena fashioned a thousand such artifacts, and multitude lesser devices that could siphon their power, and ordered them spread across
Everfast. It was not as many as she wished, but the materials required were vanishingly rare, as was the talent to assist in their construction, and so it would have to do.
The Witch-Queen copied her notes on their design and maintenance, distributing them among the most trusted and capable minds of her city, and made efforts to send such knowledge to what other survivor cities she knew. This would prove a needed lifeline for some, while other naesceant nations found their own solutions to the problem of Heartfire, but such are tales for another time.
She told none of the final steps, only that a great ritual was required to activate the Sundrops, and that preparations were well in hand. Within her inner sanctum, she had constructed a great engine, the Eternity Hearth, that was tethered to every Sundrop. When the last lantern was positioned and her final
instructions given, Cordena activated the Hearth by immolating her own soul, becoming a blazing source of energy that would power the Sundrops for all time, a last act of love to shield her people from the dark.
Everfast. It was not as many as she wished, but the materials required were vanishingly rare, as was the talent to assist in their construction, and so it would have to do.
The Witch-Queen copied her notes on their design and maintenance, distributing them among the most trusted and capable minds of her city, and made efforts to send such knowledge to what other survivor cities she knew. This would prove a needed lifeline for some, while other naesceant nations found their own solutions to the problem of Heartfire, but such are tales for another time.
She told none of the final steps, only that a great ritual was required to activate the Sundrops, and that preparations were well in hand. Within her inner sanctum, she had constructed a great engine, the Eternity Hearth, that was tethered to every Sundrop. When the last lantern was positioned and her final
instructions given, Cordena activated the Hearth by immolating her own soul, becoming a blazing source of energy that would power the Sundrops for all time, a last act of love to shield her people from the dark.
The Age of Dusk
The Weight of Eons
More than a thousand years have passed since the Witch-Queen’s final sacrifice, and Everfast has persisted in the light of the Sundrops...but not without loss. The city-state has always teetered on a knife-edge, vulnerable to disaster, famine, disease, and strife even when the Umbra is kept at bay. Crises have come and gone throughout the centuries, each leaving a little less behind, and the attrition on Everfast’s inhabitants has taken its toll.
Waning Salvation
Even the Sundrops themselves have faltered at times, leading to disastrous incursions of the Umbra that have doomed entire swaths of once-safe territory.
Each lantern requires a rekindling ritual once a year, reinforcing their connection with the Eternity Hearth--a simple process, but not an inevitable one.
Rekindlings have been prevented through accident or machination, and at times the lanterns themselves have been been lost or destroyed. Of the Queen’s original thousand, only a few hundred persist into the modern day, and thus have the islands of light in Everfast’s night grown smaller with each generation. Now dubbed the Shattered City by more cynical observers, much of Everfast has been abandoned, left to return to nature, shunned and avoided by all but the most desperate and foolhardy as incursions of Umbra in once-safe lands.
The largest city of all time has been reduced to islands of lantern light, separated by the perilous bones of fallen districts and townships, infested by lurking horrors only too eager to pounce when another lantern falters, or a traveler strays too far from the path. Citizens rush to tend their fields at first light, retreating to the safety of the Sundrops as the sun fades, praying to long-lost gods that their crops are not too badly ravaged by the dark. The brave and foolish delve into lost districts in search of treasure, glory, or even necessities lost when regions fell to the Umbra.
Of the lands beyond Everfast's outermost wall, little is known, though whispers and legends speak of strangers who have learned to walk among the mists. This are dismissed by any with sense, or the misfortune to have witnessed the Umbra first hand.
Each lantern requires a rekindling ritual once a year, reinforcing their connection with the Eternity Hearth--a simple process, but not an inevitable one.
Rekindlings have been prevented through accident or machination, and at times the lanterns themselves have been been lost or destroyed. Of the Queen’s original thousand, only a few hundred persist into the modern day, and thus have the islands of light in Everfast’s night grown smaller with each generation. Now dubbed the Shattered City by more cynical observers, much of Everfast has been abandoned, left to return to nature, shunned and avoided by all but the most desperate and foolhardy as incursions of Umbra in once-safe lands.
The largest city of all time has been reduced to islands of lantern light, separated by the perilous bones of fallen districts and townships, infested by lurking horrors only too eager to pounce when another lantern falters, or a traveler strays too far from the path. Citizens rush to tend their fields at first light, retreating to the safety of the Sundrops as the sun fades, praying to long-lost gods that their crops are not too badly ravaged by the dark. The brave and foolish delve into lost districts in search of treasure, glory, or even necessities lost when regions fell to the Umbra.
Of the lands beyond Everfast's outermost wall, little is known, though whispers and legends speak of strangers who have learned to walk among the mists. This are dismissed by any with sense, or the misfortune to have witnessed the Umbra first hand.
Rebirth and Resurrection
The people of Everfast face this modern era with a mix of outlooks. Some believe that the world is sliding toward its final end, while some find hope in the city’s lights and await the next breakthrough, or the return of long-lost gods. Still others look to the dark mysteries of the Umbra Obscuris, and wonder if there isn’t power and salvation to be found within their depths. Who will be proven right, and what the coming years might hold for the world, remains to be seen.
