COMPENDIUM/COSMOGONY — ARCANE RUIN
ORIGIN AXIOM
In the beginning there was Sound and Stone. Sound (intention) shaped Stone
(matter) through the Ancestral Word, a primordial language composed of four
Compilation Runes: Soprar (life), Ligar (memory), Velar (death), and Regressar
(cycle).
The Word does not create from nothing; it rearranges. All magic is an
impoverished form of this Word.
AGE OF FORGINGS
The First Smiths—entities without fixed form—engraved the Word into Thalóss’s
crust, birthing seas, mountains, and the Solar Focus (the “Great Ember”).
To maintain balance, they forged Velários: local veils where reality is thicker
(natural sanctuaries against distortions).
EMERGENCE OF MORTALS
Mortals arise when Soprar, Ligar, and Velar are aligned in blood rhythms. The
soul is a resonant pattern; the body, its soundbox.
Death is Velar in action: it silences the body, not the pattern. This echo remains
in the Côvados (sublayers of the world’s memory), where recollections settle
like ore.
FOUNDATIONAL SIN (THE FAULT)
A Warden of the Word tried to Regress something without cost: to revert a city
to eternal childhood. He broke the symmetry between Velar (death) and
Regress (renewal).
From the fault was born the Funereal Matter—an idea-sludge that occupies
gaps in the Word and compiles life as a function without will. This is the core of
the Ruin.
NATURE OF THE RUIN
Triple Corruption:
Flesh: functional necrosis; the body operates, but without autonomy;
susceptible to command.
Mind: memory loops (obsessions, murmurs); language infested with phonemes
of the Broken Word.
Soul: dissociation of the pattern; the echo does not ascend to the Côvado—it
stays tethered to matter.
Vectors: sound (chants), sigils (tracings), matter (spoils).
Counter-vector: True fire (radiant) and full names (precise language).
THE ARCHIMORPH (METAPHYSICAL ANTAGONIST)
Former Warden of the Word, now shell and chorus of the Funereal Matter. His
magic reorders Soprar and Ligar while ignoring Velar, converting the living into
Passive Carriers (zombies useful to the Final Chant).
Objective: execute the Final Chant, a compilation that forces Regress upon all
Thalóss, erasing free will in the name of a “motionless peace.”
INVISIBLE STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD
Face (material): where mortals live.
Côvados (memory-subsoil): wells of echoes; accessible by rites, dreams, and
places of tragedy.
Velários (dense veils): pockets of rigid reality—they protect against the Ruin,
but are cold to the Word.
High Forge (local-astral): a thermal current of intention around the Solar Focus;
the origin of radiant magics and liturgies.
They are not separate planes: they are density layers of the same world.
CYCLE OF SOUL & DEATH
Birth: Soprar + Ligar anchor the pattern in the body.
Life: memory densifies (Ligar) and defines magical potential.
Proper death: Velar dissolves the bond; the echo moves on to the Côvados;
Regress recycles it into a new spark.
Corrupted death: Ruin intercepts Velar; the echo remains trapped in flesh or
objects (fetishes, idols). Zombies are compiled bodies without active Ligar;
specters are Ligar without Soprar.
FIRE & LIGHT (PHYSICAL THEOLOGY)
All fire bears an Ember of Intention. The more ritual and sacrifice, the more
“true” (radiant) the fire.
Natural light weakens the Funereal Matter; named light (with prayers, vows, or
full names) purges.
Costs: radiant fire consumes something irreplaceable (memory, oath, part of a
name).
THE ANCESTRAL WORD (RULES)
Composed of four Major Runes and innumerable Minor Phonemes.
Speaking correctly requires: Focus (mind), Anchor (symbol), and Price
(offering).
The Word does not accept falsehood: errors generate Deviations (side effects
that attract Ruin).
Derivative tongues (common magics) are safe because they are limited;
Liturgies and Arcanisms are versions closer to the Word, thus more dangerous.
NECROMANCY
It does not “create” life—it compiles remnants.
Three levels:
Manipulation (bones, corpses): low risk; creates servants.
Binding (tethering echoes to matter): medium risk; produces guardians, curses.
Rewrite (swap Velar for Ligar): high risk; the source of mass zombies and the
plague.
WHY THE WORLD ROTS
The initial Fault made Regress cheaper than Velar. Death lost ritual strength;
unresolved grief feeds stagnant Côvados.
Cities burn old names to keep braziers lit—and lose collective memory.
SIGNS & PORTENTS
Background Chant: a harmonic hum in valleys—indicates proximity to the
Broken Word.
Ashfall: fine ash that erases inscriptions; it is repelled by names engraved in
metal.
Anemics: children born with amber eyes—greater affinity to the Word (key
NPCs).
TAXONOMY OF THE UNDEAD IN THALÓSS
Passive Carrier: compiled body, without will; sensitive to command and light.
Bound Carrier: corpse with a tethered echo (partial functional memory).
Choir of Clay: amalgamated mass that intones phonemes of the Word—turns
areas into Singing Zones.
Lesser Archimorph: sorcerer who accepted Funereal Matter; mutations and
authority over passives.
Wandering Echo: consciousness without a body; dangerous in Côvados.
ARCHAIC PROTECTIONS
Full-Name Tattoos (skin): make interception of Velar more difficult.
Glass Bells: shattered during funerals, they seal mourning and facilitate proper
Regress.
Vow Braziers: fed by fulfilled promises; emit strong radiant.
PROPHECY OF THE FINAL CHANT
“When the Four Runes are aligned without Velar, Sound will devour Stone.”
Practical reading: if the Archimorph synchronizes Soprar, Ligar, and
Regress through the Funereal Matter, Thalóss will become a single
Passive Carrier—a world-zombie.
FISSURES & BOONS
Boons of the Ember: miracles that trade memories for light.
Word Fissures: places where simple words have physical effect (whispering
‘cease’ snuffs torches; singing vowels attracts echoes). Playable as puzzles and
hazards.
GAMEPLAY CONSEQUENCES
Areas under Velários: safe hubs with rest economy.
Côvados: memory dungeons; enemies “remember” tactics; player deaths leave
reusable marks.
Singing Zones: Will checks to resist memetic commands; verbal magics carry
heightened risk.
