WARNING: Spoilers abound throughout this section.
In an age long past, two men saved Trojis from the Weird Ones, godlike entities who intended to warp the planet realm to suit their unknowable designs. The conflict is known as the Weird War. One of the men, Corsis, suffered a parting curse by the dying King of the Weird Ones that left him transformed into a bipedal Lizard. The second man, Bennet Burnhelt, was gifted with eternal vitality along with a select few of his elite warriors, while others ascended to godhood. He offered to help Corsis, but the Lizard refused, resentful that he had taken the Weird Ones’ parting ire, while Bennet reaped only the benefits of their ruin.
While Bennet rebuilt the world with his immortal allies and the new pantheon, Corsis quested in other realms to reclaim his Humanity and bring the rest of the hiding Weird Ones low. With the Dragon, Quandric, Corsis defeated the Weird Ones, and placed them in a mechmancical (techno-magical) prison in which he siphoned their vast power, becoming a god in his own right. He broke the curse that had made him hideous. He stood triumphant.
But subdued Weird Ones’ continued confinement came with a price. They would not stir so long as Corsis continued the Game. Their twisted form of entertainment where they embroiled the realms in perpetual stalemated strife, where no side ever gained the upper hand. Corsis became Master of the Game and it corrupted him all the more. The Weird Ones are no longer a threat, so long as his sadistic cruelty subtly guides the strife of the worlds. History has forgotten Corsis’s name. But there are those who know. The Players of the Game. Some who serve him. And others, like Bennet Burnhelt, who stand against him.
Their defiance is made even more difficult by the Rules of the Game, adapted from those of the Weird Ones. Rule 1: To know the name of Corsis is to play the Game. Rule 2: Only Corsis or those working for him can tell someone of the Game’s existence. Rule 3: None may seek to harm Corsis or hinder his enjoyment of the Game. Rule 4: Corsis may add or change Rules at his whim.
A fifth Rule exists. One that offers a sliver of hope. One made by Quandric after he parted ways on bad terms with Corsis. The Unsaid Rule. Its details are not known by anyone besides Quandric and Corsis. The Dragon leveraged something against Corsis to force the concession. Other Players know only that enduring trust must be established with those affected by the Game to invoke it. Once this is done, invoking the Unsaid Rule allows them to be told of Corsis and the Game without violating the second Rule.
But even with the Unsaid Rule’s loophole, breaking the other Rules offers Corsis an excuse to become even more vindictive. To ignite wars of reprisal waged by his surrogates. To inflict personal ruin on those who vex him. But the only way to best him is to break the Rules.
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