A History of Worldshapers

Foundational Lore

Map of the first available World Zone. Technical Demo mock up.

The world of Echoes of Cryptalia is one scarred by millennia of conflicts between a pantheon of divine beings with personal agendas and mortal kingdoms, in ever changing, circumstantial alliances that have deeply shaped their cultures and History. The first great war, known as The First Hybris, sparked when Tazano, the Friend, gifted the mortal realms with the knowledge and techniques for the manipulation of the Four Strings, the four fundamental aspects that shape the Universe: Gravity, Light, Will and Vacuum.

The Chant, the ability to impose the vibration of two or more of the Four Strings, creates dissonances that alter the natural course of the world and triggers a manipulation of reality with the most disparate effects, ranging from supernatural use of the elements to securing the completion of pacts between unfriendly parties. Since the mortal kingdoms acquired this knowledge, a series of wars and conflicts have sparked for a myriad of reasons, some selfish, some heroic and some on simple, vain whims. Whatever the initial motivations, these fights have left their mark in the world by creating Cryptalia, zones of perpetually modified, unnatural characteristics caused by the exposure to Fractures, high level Chants only accessible to gods that force the vibration of all strings at the same time.

In a world where myth is real history and rite is supernatural technique, valiant Heroes, commanded by Master Tacticians – the role that players will take on –, dedicate their lives to the purification and cleansing of the lands, by nullifying the horrendous, unnatural effects of the Cryptalia and neutralizing the many dangerous creatures or Shrieks that stem from their supernatural power. From this cleansing process, Heroes bring back to their societies $ECHO, an incredibly strong source of power that helps the mortal kingdoms to face the struggles of everyday life and to build stronger foundations for a possible conflict, as a new Hybris might always be closer than the horizon.

Our game and narrative design team is shaping an intriguing and expanding world, filled with adventures, perils, and detailed worldbuilding and storytelling. Places of mesmerizing beauty and sorrow, like Agonitas, Fertile Death, an old rural agronomic compound that saw the final clash of the First Hybris, leaving behind an ever-fertile, weeping soil where tens of thousands of souls lay. Solemn, perennial places, like Hilare, the Stone Witness, where The Almighty Great Arbiter ordered the halt of the First Hybris and both sides swore peace in Their temple to the West. And places of loss and regret, as the artificial canyon of Zandemyr, Shattered Axe, where two powerful Fractures clashed, scarring the Earth with the formation of a canyon and killing Zandemyr, Martyr, as well as Tazano’s wife. She who was buried in ascension into the Æther by the Great Arbiter.

Players are destined to take an active role in the events of the world and shape its History by taking part of our community-oriented storytelling, using their strategic wits, their inner convictions and the large number of game variants that our design team generated as possible avenues for players to walk this old world full of possibilities.