Setting and Lore
The fictional world in which World of SkaldSong is set is called The Tapestry, which is made up of few continents with the largest being the focus of the RP narrative. Magic exists in moderate fashion with some incredible feats performed, but none greater than that given to hand-picked disciples of The Great Skald, the world's creator. These beings were known as the Maestros and were charged with the foundation of the known kingdom and settling of the surrounding landscape.
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Contents
OOC Timeline
This is a general overview of the history of the world, where large scale events and changes will be recorded as they happen through RP. This way, new members can effectively create characters that are native and have access to all information they may need for that character's knowledge at a glance.
For a more detailed timeline for a region, see that region's page.
2020 - The Hounding retreats once again, making the nights safer again. It is a temporary gift, to allow the people of the Tapestry to hold up their end of a deal made for them by the crown.
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2019 - Havelock free, the spectral hounds and hunters that usually arrive once a year are now a nightly occurrence with a bright blood moon low in the sky.
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2018 - Meizarae challenged, and failed to be defeated. Havelock stirs.
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2017 - Meizarae released. Prima Uomo and Prima Donna are killed.
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1967 - Artificial Limbs using Copper Heart's puppetry mechanics first use.
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1717 - Virtuosos defeated. Monarchy established.
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1700 - Maestros become corrupted, 'Virtuoso' coined. Chanson Isole'e breaks ground.
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1050 - First Skaldborne appear.
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1000 - The Skald visits future site of Inizio D'Oro, selects Maestros, who found the first Guilds.
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0 - The Tapestry is brought to life
Magic
Magic is easily available in The Tapestry, a natural product of its creation. It is accessed by a number of means, each unique and coming with its own limitations. For some that limitation may be their own focus or willpower, enhanced with practice and rooted in potential. For others its their ability to pay the price of use. One thing remains constant in that very few, if anyone at all, can combine these methods, making it impossible for a ritualist to suddenly command at-will.
This follows into some of the Tapestry's unique races, where elemental-based beings known as Hyfenblut are unable to command or mix-and-match any element beyond their own.
Despite its ease of access, there can be those who lack affinity and cannot perceive it. For some this comes as no shock, for others its the sad realization that they have truly been cut off within this new world as Skaldborne that used to get their magic or powers as a gift of their deity or another avenue that is restricted from The Tapestry's reach will no longer have access to those specific abilities.
Planes of Existance
Many of you may come from chat rooms where travelling between different planes of existence is the norm, or is at least possible to the right people. While the people spirited away by the Skald are by necessity, from other planes of existence/ worlds, that is where their impact on the Tapestry ends. The Skald chooses people to bring to the tapestry for a purpose - it has no time or inclination for people just packing up bags and planar jumping to elsewhere. The Tapestry is a one-way door - you can get in, but there is no way out if the Skald does not wish it.
As such it should be assumed that travel to or from another plane is generally not possible, and if your character requires a connection to a certain plane, or an influence there that grants them power (a godly patron, for instance) it should be assumed that they are barred from that connection too.
Lore
The religious text of The Tapestry is called the Oratorio, a series of chants that explain the very basics of the world's functions and has been around since early creation. While other religions can and do exist across the land, The Oratorio is 'true', whether its people really believe it or not. It is hard to prove what only a handful have seen many years ago.
The Skald, Maestros, and Virtuosos WIP
The maestros were gifted with a greater range of power and insights that left them linked to the Great Skald in ways that tormented them. Coupled with an immortal life, the ability to see every string that intertwined in the bundle, no longer bemused with the excited desparation of seeking a needle in a haystack. When they were regular painted citizens of the Tapestry there was a facination and thrill of the future, the unknown, but that was gone now.
Their duties were both guidance and strife-making, which as time passed their colors bled and muddled until they saw little point to guide. The players on stage were weak and unmotivated, their ends were all the same. Cycled, returning to do much of the same in another shape. The Skald granted them the freedom to push harder, to change the key of the performance and so each of the maestros shifted, some abruptly without warning and some seemingly descending into a madness they controlled.
It was time for the world to make their own coveted heroes, and it did, ending their reigns 300 years ago. Or, so the world thought.
Meizarae - Havelock - Bjarke the Grizzled - Berenice Terrazzo - Cecily -
Skaldic Artifacts WIP
A full suit of armor and an array of weaponry possessing fragmented power believed to have been directly from The Great Skald. Scattered after the initial battle as a memorial gift from the newly instituted monarchy to the guilds that took part in vanquishing the Virtuosos. The knowledge about these artifacts is very slim, with assumption being that they are powerful and noble in nature in any book mentioning them. This may not be the case in reality.
Most of the items are rudimentary, named as a part of one skaldborne or another's tradition to do so, and it is not clear when the items that have gained power did.