Lore book

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Lore books are one of the main ways of getting lore in the game. To use a lore book, put it in the hotbar and press the use button and it will be added to your Journal.

There are 4 main categories of lore: Letters, Jonas, Tobias and Research, and each of those can consist of several different stories, and each story usually has several parts.

Letters

Part 1

Quartermaster's Ledger, Date unknown

Our food stocks are depleted. We've only the dried wolf and rabbit meat left. Largely, we're left to chewing leather now. Our vests, our belts, our boots. We draw our last breaths. The huntsmen corps managed to trap two healthy squirrels and a grey gosling, not more than ten hours ago, I'd wager. It was not nearly enough to feed all the workmen. The ones in the mines had to be prioritized, as expected of their labor. Despite the additional meal, their health is declining. We are running out of options. Furthermore, Joseph, Barda, and Jarin were taken this day. They did not go willingly. The others might still have a chance. I have to believe so, for my own sake.

Part 2

Quartermaster's Ledger, Date unknown

I had to tell Jarin's wife today. I had been gone from the shelters too long. We're losing them, as quickly as we lose everything else. The poor woman was half dead when I arrived. She will not last much longer. I stayed only long enough to convey my respect.

He was a good man. I would not be here this day without his aid. Nevertheless, I can do nothing for him or his kin. They are like so many of the others here.

Rest well, friend. I am sorry.

Part 3

I've stopped counting days. Stopped counting time. All I know is every moment is the same - dark, cold, filled with fear and uncertainty. The work is heavy, my whole body aches. Maybe it will give up first.

Part 4

We thought we knew what hunger was, yet nobody was prepared to face this merciless starvation. I could not dare wish this upon my greatest enemy. The feeling of emptiness is crushing me. I cannot tear it from my mind. With each passing day our strength wanes and our demise reaches closer.

Adelaide, my sunlight, I beg you forgive me. I have failed you.

Part 5

Nobody knows if it's day or night. How can we know if we haven't been up there for weeks, maybe months? The light of the torches are so dim, but then again, what if I'm losing my sight?

Part 6

Mark, my little brother, ever skeptical.

Our home above was lost long ago. Even if I wanted to, there is no clear path left for me to safely reach Maidentown. Infected don't last long out there, from what the hunters say. I had better take my chances here. As grim as it might look today, there is still hope for us. We must have faith. Trust in him and his deeds. He will succeed. He's the only one who can. Be patient and keep working as hard as you always do.

Love, Annie

Part 7

There was no mistake. It was the Rot. It is the Rot. And in the matter of days I will turn into Rot.

I told nobody. I simply left the shelter and walked out. The sun was just rising. It had been a heavy few months since the last time I saw the morning. But with the first rays of sunlight bleeding onto the earth, the gruesome sight of the land came into being. The horror I felt was beyond thought. What used to be a realm of withered plants and bare trees has sloughed into a putrid mass of horrid black sludge as far as my eyes can reach. The air was ripe with death. I can still taste it on my tongue. There were corpses in various stages of decay lying all over the ground. They made a nauseating sound, collapsing upon the weight of my footsteps.

But the worst part... the worst part of this nightmare was the total, unending silence. No trace of a breeze, no faint stirring of an insect. The Rot itself was dead, and thick static was all that remained. Extinction in its purest form was glaring into my deepest senses. I could take no more. Step by step I made my way back into the safety of the cave and collapsed onto the floor, sobbing, screaming, and ripping the skin away from my afflicted fingers. The vivid image of my body joining those tainted, rot-eaten remains was crippling me before the plague could. I wish I had never left these walls. No human should see what I saw.

Part 8

We can afford no compassion. If you suspect anyone of carrying the disease, steel yourself and lead them to the nearest gravesite. By force if necessary. One mistake and all is lost. We must be indomitable. We must be cruel beyond measure. Myself and your compatriots are no exception to this. If you should discover the rot upon you, do what is necessary. That is all.

Signed,

Marshal Durick Lawrence

Jonas

Confession

I led these people here, down to these hellish depths. Gave them up to darkness and starvation like lambs to the altar, and for what? This monstrous creation... I fear to recognize it as my child. The common people look upon it as though it were salvation. As though it were god itself. And they see me as the messiah. I walk amongst their halls and shelters, and I shudder at what remains of humanity.

They dwell in filth and hunger. Civil services have collapsed under the long, unbearable weight of the endeavor. These men and women have no means of rubbish disposal. Many of them have already been stricken by Rot. If any other soul should wander through their dwellings, they would tear him apart from the ligaments in search of food. And yet, they by some power withstand their hunger when they gaze upon me. They weep for joy and offer me what meager supplies they have.

Oh god, please help me. I am still your faithful servant.

Breakdown

Constant clamoring. People shouting. I'm worried. Things were quieter before. We had almost given up. Nobody spoke, we just desperately worked on the project. But now it's almost time to wake it and the people are excited. They're too excited.

They don't know. They don't understand. I don't even understand it.

What have we created? What greater doom have we wrought upon ourselves?

We should have all died. Maybe we should have all just died when the Rot came for us.

I've begun to see things, even when I'm not gazing through the Lens. Walking down the halls, looking at the prints, suddenly my vision shifts and I'm in a world I cannot comprehend. I am in the other world, and it is leaking into this one.

I've begun to notice its effect. My creations: cherished by the people and without which this project could never succeed. They are strange to me now. There is something wrong with them. It is the otherworldliness I have given to them. A golem was found two shifts ago with blood and mutilation splattered across its plates. The workmen, they wrote it off as an accident, but I know better.

Tobias

Return part 1

I woke up in the dark. Everything dark. Everything painful. Every breathe in agony.

Waiting changed nothing. I started crawling. I couldn't keep track of how long. Weeks, months maybe. All the tunnels had changed. Not that I could remember the way up anymore.

I'd feel my way forward, finding dead end after dead end. Digging with my hands when I could. Hearing other things down there with me.

Eventually I found my way out. Everything changed. Green again. Brown and red and blue again. Life returned.

I could finally look at myself. Everything still hurt. I was broken. Flesh half gone. Joints missing. No leg. I can't remember what happened after the black sick reached my head.

Return part 2

It took me many years to regain my focus. Around me, humanity started to adapt and flourish again.

Unaware of their danger. I have set myself to work these past centuries. Though I am no scholar, no alchemist, my mind is strong. I have deciphered and learned much of what Jonas and the others already knew.

I intend to use that knowledge shortly to turn the tide. Perhaps that is why I now reminisce on those dark, painful years after the awakening. May this endeavor be more gentle for you, my friends.

Reflection part 1

I am not the reflective type. I was taught from a young age that life is better treated as a task: there is work to be done, so do it and do not complain. Thinking seemed like a luxury.

I still follow that creed, but I have, in my time, come to see the power of thought.

Thought has lifted me out of despairing poverty. Thought has given my village the strength to survive the harsher seasons. Thought has seen my people raise their voices in hope for the first time in years. I am speaking, of course, of him. My friend and companion, Jonas Falx.

Our task here will be done in some few days. I wish to make record of the events that have transpired until this point. I do not know if any will live to read this, but I cannot leave it be. A madness compels me to write, though I am no learned master.

This task would be better set for Jonas, but he is in no condition to complete it.

I digress. Allow me to start from the beginning, and forgive me my shortcomings.

Reflection part 2

I stole into the Falx estate once, as a young man. I had intended to bring home a few pounds of our wheat and perhaps a handful of coins. I dared not take too much. The old Lord Falx mostly ignored our village in the shadow of his fiefdom, but he was harsh, stringent man who would not suffer the insult of a robbery. Nevertheless, I intended to rob him.

It was here in the shade of night that I came upon him: The lord's son, Jonas, stumbling in the dark towards the library. In truth, I presumed myself dead when he discovered me. No harm came to me, however.

The boy was also seeking to avoid his father's cruelty, and in me he saw an ally. I knew the forests and paths around this land, as well as the quiet places. In time, I would show them to him. My trespassing onto the estate became a common occurrence. I would teach him about the land and the yeoman's life, and in return he offered me lessons in writing, art, and the natural philosophies

This arrangement continued in secrecy until the day the old Falx died and I was able to walk through the front door as an honored guest. In the same manner, Jonas was welcomed and honored when he came to my village.

We were fast friends. Brothers. We were prepared for the coming storm.

Reflection part 3

Together, we rode for the university. Jonas, up to this point, had been the subject of much talk throughout high society. Those who had met him regarded him as something of a prodigy. A scientific genius. Coupled with his newly inherited lordship, he was expected to do great things. He enrolled at Caydehill to fulfill that potential. Seeking to make my own impact on this country, I accompanied him as a valet.

Jonas made great progress here. In a scant few years he was held in high prestige amongst the peerage and consulted for many natural and philosophical concerns. He found in himself a great propensity for invention, producing many valuable tools to ease the toils of the common folk. For this, I was very grateful.

For my own part, I had failed in irritable fashion to ignite any kind of social upheaval. The nobles of the university would pay me no mind, short of glares and outright threats. The workmen, drivers, and cooks treated my words as a fearful poison. Only Jonas would ever listen to my hopes for a peaceful, equitable world free of the chains of serfdom. At times, I suspected he simply humored me, but now I know better.

Reflection part 4

It was at this point, some years later, that a change occurred. Although he never deigned to speak of it, I believe Jonas had some kind of breakthrough. His inventions grew equally more wondrous and monstrous. The golem, the locusts, the things without which our endeavor would fail: these he created and shared freely with the world. The people, both common and titled, began to see him as a shining light here to guide them to a new era. In truth, perhaps that would have come to pass were it not for the great adversity we were soon confronted with.

Soon, the country would begin to understand its own fragility. Each day there were new reports. Refugees wandering from town to town. It felt as though we had all been sentenced to death. That helplessness returns to me still, when I close my eyes. When the emperor sent out the call for assembly, Jonas was among those compelled to find a solution.

I was there when he was told the news. I remember finding it strange when for a moment his face ran pale and he seemed to shake with fright. But there was nothing strange about that, I see now. He locked himself in his laboratory and bade me not to disturb him. For months he continued this way, leaving only to eat and drink. His youthful looks quickly deteriorated and it seemed as though a great weight bore down on him. He emerged in time for the Diet, with a heavy, unwieldy pile of schematics.

Reflection part 5

The rest, I have lost the will to speak of. I only wish to say that my friend, my brother, has done the best he could, and that I am not without hope. Our time down in these dark caverns has not drained me of life; it has convinced me of it. I have seen my dream of a better world come true in these depths. I have seen noble and commoner work, sing, weep, and die side by side. I have seen horrors, but I have seen humanity face them with hard eyes and clenched fists. I have struggled alongside the fiercest stars of our ruined land: scholars, engineers, soldiers, hunters, merchants, even beggars. All who found the strength to resist our doom. My countrymen.

Our greatest endeavour will come to life in a matter of minutes. I go now to meet my comrades and see the result of this: our last, finest gambit. May our work be not in vain.

Research

Diet of Kings

Scribe's notes, 1318:

Master Jonas Falx, please come forth.

The lords and ladies rose when he entered the room. Even the kings gave him small gestures of welcome. He walked to the center of the court, his attendant behind him bearing a great collection of drafts.

My lords, as I'm sure you're now aware of, we face a nightmarish threat.

This disease, or plague as it has been called, is not overly complex. Neither is it beyond our vision. It is, quite simply, desolation made manifest.

Here his attendant began laying out a number of medical diagrams upon the floor. Master Falx issued from one parchment to the next, gesturing as he went.

It rots the body in its entirety. It begins externally with numbness and darkened skin. Proceeding further into the ligaments, the victim may lose control of entire limbs. Eventually, the flesh sloughs off in small heaps. By this time, the victim has likely entered a cataleptic state. This may as well be a blessing for them; the rot will have overtaken their eyes and ears now, depriving them of their senses.

Arriving at the last parchment, he paused and gazed upon it. Many of the gathered assembly also leaned forward to see the image more clearly. From the scribe's desk it appeared only to be a drooping mass of charcoal smearings.

This is all that remains of the poor souls. In its final stages, the rot consumes the mind and body whole, leaving nothing left of distinction.

Here His Majesty, the King of Undland interjected, Is there truly no method of treating this malady? What preventions are available to Us?

No preventions, Your Grace, save total isolation from the populace. Even such a drastic method as that will only last until the food supply is infected. As for treatments, I have found none. Perhaps some of my betters from the academy have made progress, but judging by their silence I think not.

He paused again here and cleared his throat.

It is a certain death. However, I stand here now to offer you a better fate.

Dmetri's Notes part 1

These are the findings of Dmetri Arvo, regarding the natural philosophies of Caydehill University:

I cannot seem to make sense of it myself. It irks me terribly. Lord Chamberlain Folse will be here within the month; no doubt he will carry with him the end of my erudition if I fail to provide him his answers. My only consolation here is that the other scholars have failed more bitterly than I. One of them, the older, goutish fellow caught fire to his laboratory trying to incinerate the black filth.

As for me, I have been loathe to even approach it. This... excrement, whatever it may be, I catch myself on the edge of prudence whenever I investigate it. It seems to spread, regardless of condition. No procedure I have tried can halt it. I vacillate between fury and flight. How should I kill it? What can I do to stop this? And all the same, what can I do? Can it be stopped? What dreadful scourge is this?

But enough of this. The dark substance haunts my thoughts, but I will not suffer its rule. The Lord Chamberlain will be here soon, and I intend to have results.

Dmetri's Notes part 2

These are the findings of Dmetri Arvo, regarding the natural order of Caydehill University:

That Falx boy came to visit today. Troublesome. If it were my decision, I would have sent him on his way without even a glance into our library, but the rector would have none of it. It seems fear of the boy's father has spread throughout the academy. Unbelievable. To think that an upstart sellsword who butchered his way into the nobility could startle and cow his betters into submission. Perhaps I should not be surprised.

It is foolishness, however. The house of Ingmar Falx should never be welcomed into our institutions. We of the finer bloodlines should not give way to the masses. They may win the emperor's favor with conquered cities and burning fields, but we will always have his ear with our superior acumen and grace. It is a birthright we risk depriving ourselves of, should the lowborn be given proper education.

Dmetri's Notes part 3

These are the findings of Dmetri Arvo, regarding the natural habitat of Caydehill University (And its surrounding territories):

Despite my best efforts, I have been recruited for a sojourn into the fields and farmsteads of the neighbouring countrymen. For the last week, various planters and merchants have been flocking to the university in droves, bleating for our wisdom and assistance. Apparently there is some new blight threatening to ruin the year's harvest, and they cannot solve this affair on their own. Well, such is the responsibility of the learned class.

This expedition has taken myself and two colleagues a short carriage ride south to the village of Grolte. A miserable, muddy village to be sure. We've taken residence in the mayor's house, where I now write this entry. The mayor has sworn to take us to the infected fields as soon as daybreak tomorrow. I look forward to finishing this task decisively and returning to my studies. Perhaps a hot bath and a bit of delousing will be in order as well.

Dmetri's Notes part 4

These are the findings of Dmetri Arvo, regarding the proceedings of the Diet of Kings:

He's a genius. There, I admit it. I have hid from it too long. He's the only one who can save us at this point. Maybe he's always been the only hope.

The convention has come to an agreement. In light of the endless reports of devastation, and the collapse of two neighboring kingdoms, we have decided that Lord Falx's Grand Machine is our only viable option. We are to begin sending materials immediately.

Dmetri's Notes part 5

Put the beakers away. Pull the tools from the walls. Look not to the plans of great ambition and great purpose. Take only your pen in hand and write your last words. Give praise and thanks where it is deserved. Say farewell to those still here. Now go and stand in the city. Stand in the hills and valleys. Stand and witness the end coming for us all.

It was not always so grim, was it?

No, not always.

I remember brighter times. I remember running through the forest. I remember a foolish girl eying me from across the table. I remember the spiteful glare of a noblewoman.

A scourge came upon us. A scourge, indeed.