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Video: Act 1, Scene 1 - Return to Shadow

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Ombre

Ombre, the Jewel of the Midnight Belt, acclaimed by all the nations for its wealth and its exotic magic.

This is the place that I've called home, the country that banished me in exile. Now I have returned, to find little changed. It is still bustling and alive, and it still rests in shadow. Whether I am stepping back onto its wharfs facing open arms or hidden knives, only time will tell.

The main collectible in Masquerada is the Codex: a big pile of background dumps for all sorts of people, places and things. This game is going to throw more proper nouns at you than an Airbrand Sicario Valencio can shake her Fisica Medanza at. Maybe it'll help to have some supplementary reading...although a few parts of the Codex are wildly irrelevant.

Some entries unlock automatically; others you have to find out in the wild. They're all written from Cicero Gavar's own point of view. Cicero writes like a middle schooler who's desperate to sound mature but it's a neat way to help show how he changes over the course of the story.

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Varl and the Emerita

Few can understand the relationship between a captain and his ship. It is a love of a sort, found in few other places. Perhaps the closest relationships I can think of parallel to it would be of those between a tinker and his tools, or a blacksmith and his smithy. But no - looking at Varl and his ship, you'd realize that that wouldn't quite do.

The first time I met Varl, he'd been screaming at one of his crewmen for chipping a board along the side of the Emerita - the poor lad was shouldering a shipment of polearms from TeSerra and had grazed the hull of the ship. I learned later that this was not an uncommon occurrence. A nick on a mast, a scuff on a floorboard and off the rails he'd go, screaming, yelling, throwing things about. No one ever got (seriously) hurt, but considering the vigor and passion with which he'd berate his crew... One would think they'd chopped off a toe of his, or burned off an eyebrow.

And perhaps in some sense, they might as well have. The Emerita was as much a part of him as any of his limbs. His love for the Emerita went far beyond simple fondness. He'd integrated it into his existence; it had entwined itself with the threads that formed his identity - any offense against the ship was a direct offense against him.

Some would say that a craftsman is only as good as his tools. I'm inclined to say this man has taken it quite the step further.

One time Varl shanghaied a nine-year-old boy, and keelhauled him for two days straight just because he cried for his parents. That's our Varl! What a gruff old salt.



Yeah, cat. Keep your nose clean.

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The Tvothe Twins - Ricardo and Alena

So the first citizens of my homeland that greet me are the coachhands that I have been told to seek.

They are clearly Contadani, for no coachhands of the Registry would have Mascherines wasted upon them, and thus I cannot help but wonder what they see when they see me. After all, I am the brother of the man who fought for their rights, the man that I abandoned five years ago.

I suppose time will tell me more of their opinion and whether the ripples of my actions have touched them, but for now it seems as though they have no issue with my role in the events of history.

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The Docks of Ombre

There might be no other landmark in Ombre more significant than its docks which, most days of the year, are occupied by trading vessels and merchant watercraft. Popularly referred to as the Jewel of the Midnight Belt, Ombre has, over the years since its birth, turned into the busiest port on the whole Belt. As the nexus of hundreds of trade routes, Ombre's docks see men and women of all nations on its wharfs and serves as a prime platform for people of myriad cultures to mingle while their vessels are serviced and refuelled - the Citte's beautifully colored demographic is just one effect of this mixing.

The fortune of having such a capable harbour, as well as such a fine location, has allowed trade to become Ombre's primary form of economic sustenance, and has afforded its reputation reach far beyond the waters.

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Factions

The citizens of Ombre are classified broadly into two categories: the Contadani and the Masquerada; those without Mascherines and those with, respectively.

The Masquerada themselves are divided further into the Registry and the Seimora, the latter of which comprises the six guilds of the Citte.

There is a third faction, not often spoken of until recent years: the Maskrunners - an encompassing term that refers to all owners of Mascherines who refuse to align themselves with any of the Seimora or the Registry, and consists of dozens of smaller factions (that exist too multitudinously to be chronicled here).

Not much strategy to consider with no Mascherines in play.



Cicero just cuts the thieves down one by one, without breaking a sweat.



Nobody else on the docks so much as spares a glance for a swordfight in the streets. Not even the guards.

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Contadani

The Masquerada might be the jewels of Ombre, but it is the Contadani that are its lifeblood. A large number of the Contadani are found outside the Citte, in the lands known as the Echoing Plains. The Plains are still within the national borders of Ombre, and settlements in the Plains that are collectively known as the Randagia house a great many of the nation's Contadani. Life in the Randagia is relatively simple compared to that in the Citte - farming and raising cattle are the most common jobs taken up by Contadani living there.

Within the Citte itself, however, a great many Contadani have taken up residence. To many people from foreign lands, their presence in the Citte makes no sense - it is a dangerous place, one filled with death and poverty. Yet, why does it attract so many of the nation's lower class?

Most of Ombre's scholars believe that once enough individuals come together to form a sufficiently large society, that society begins to behave in ways that are independent of, perhaps even detrimental to, the interests of its members; in a way, the Citte develops a mind, a will, of its own to survive and to keep ploughing on. So, they say, asking why Contadani continue to live in the Citte is problematic, because it assumes that the individual desires of each Contadani would somehow be reflected in the larger movements of the Citte when that is, in fact, not nearly the case. The cyclical rhetoric that has been given is that the Contadani remain in the Citte because they are a part of it and, despite their individual desires, have no power as a collective to change that.

To a certain degree, I believe in the theory, but I fear it all too well masks a quieter reason for the growing existence of our underprivileged lower class - the potential of fulfillment.

Many Contadani glamourise the lives of the Masquerada, and I cannot blame them for doing so - we bend the elements of the world to our will, we live in lavish houses and beautiful vistas, we needn't ever worry about finding food for the next meal. This lifestyle has a strong lure, especially to those of empty stomachs and vacant purses, and has brought a great number of Contadani to the Citte. These are men and women who harbour the hopes that, by placing themselves in the direct vicinity of the Masquerada, they will one day be able to join their ranks.

That hope is not a futile one - I myself have made the transition - although it is not one that often gets fulfilled.

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The Pale Isle

The Pale Isle is the Registry's Principal Ward and, by nature of its proximity to the White Spire, mostly exists to serve the desires and wants of the members of the Registry. There are numerous taverns situated in the Pale Isle, as well as other recreational facilities that help the people of the White Spire take the edge off life in the shadowed Citte.

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Binding

The first step that any Masquerada needs to take before being able to use a Mascherine is a process called binding. It is a simple task - all it takes is a mere imagining of a connection between the Masquerada-to-be and the Mascherine, and it is done. The consequences, however, are far from simple. Should a Masquerada perish while bonded to a Mascherine, the Mascherine itself fades away into a fine dust that blows away on invisible winds.

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Tristan Delzole

If there has ever been a better personification of stalwart duty than Tristan Delzole, I have yet to find it.

The current Valencio of the Citte and I have quite the history together. We had both been Portieri at the same time and had served in the same section when we were but Elencios just starting out our careers. He'd joined the forces because of his family's Legacy - one of the first few Vaorones of the Citte had been Ramus Delzole, whose assassination served as the spark that began the events that led up to the March of Broken Songs. Despite his assassination, however, the ancient Delzole was reputedly a great man and an excellent fighter.

Tristan admits freely that he feels no emotional connection to the story of his great forebear, but his father had wanted him to be a part of the Portieri, as his father did before him, and so on and so forth. Though Tristan couldn't have cared less about what Ramus would've thought, he certainly was a great deal more concerned about the opinion of his own father, who himself had been the Valencio before Tristan. (It was, in fact, his father who had allowed me to join the ranks of the Portieri, though that is a story for another time.)

And so Tristan and I began our journeys together - he, the descendant of some famous politician and I, the descendant of a Contadani smith and a florist.

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The Valencio

Leading the ranks of the Portieri is the Valencio. In charge of the training and regimentation of all the Portieri, the Valencio is not a figure to be trifled with. Though few outside the Registry, or even the Portieri, understand fully the burdens and responsibilities of the Valencio, none in the Citte would dare doubt the branding prowess of they who held the title.

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Illisia

The land of the greatest philosophers, Illisia was the first country from across the Belt to trade with Ombre. It was Illisia's influence over the early settlers of Ombre that nourished the sect within the Registry known as the Vegilus - the scholars of the Citte. Illisians pride themselves on their philosophical pursuits, though that seems to have distanced them none from the avarice that Ombre tends to inspire. Whatever the case, the Citte is - and will continue to be - welcoming of the Illisian's interest in the Citte, for Illisia is the one country that provides Ombre with Bloodpoppy, a flower that yields a brilliant crimson dye with a richness found nowhere else.

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Mascherines

If there were one thing that defined Ombre, it would not be the Masquerada, or its artistic landscape, or even the mountain under which it hides - it would be the Mascherines. Masks of magic that grant their wearers the ability to harness the elements with efficiency, the Mascherines are the distinguishing element that separates the country from the rest of the world that surrounds it.

When the First came to the lands of Ombre, the Mascherines were already there, and in the early ages of Ombre's history, they were feared. The effect that using Mascherines had on their wearers was not completely understood, and neither was the act of using them. People regarded the Mascherines with apprehension, for they did not comprehend the mechanics behind their powers. Even till modernity, there are remnants of that apprehension, though society has mostly gotten over their fears, having been spurred forward to embrace the Mascherines for the power they promise.

This power the Mascherines hold has been ever more valued in recent years, especially considering their disappearing nature - Mascherines inexplicably vanish should they be worn upon the face of a dying being. Again, the reasons behind this deathrattle are just as shrouded in mystery as the origins of the Mascherines themselves, but have rendered the artefacts a quickly disappearing commodity.

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The Media

The Media are methods practiced by the Masquerada to better harness the powers of the Mascherines. How the Media help in the wielding of this power has yet to be fully understood, but it has been determined that through the practice of certain forms of craft, the Masquerada gains the ability to channel their powers with more finesse and precision; the elements bend more precisely to the will of a Masquerada well practiced in Media.

There are, to this day, seven known Media, six of which have been classified into pairs. There prevails the belief that according to the patterns of the Media, there must exist an eighth as well, though the Vegilus have been unable to ascertain either its presence or its nature.

The various Media (in their pairs) are:

The Fisica: Medanza and Merobusto
The Visiva: Meliare and Meseniare
The Eterea: Mecantare and Merumento
Mescenza, that currently exists alone

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The White Spire

Sitting at the highest point of the Citte, the White Spire has a view that covers all its charge. It is the pinnacle of the Registry's authority, the embodiment of its role as guardian and caretaker of Ombre. Certainly there are many in this day that disagree with the Registry's methods and dispute their efficacy, but the fact remains that the Registry stands to watch over us all.

Built upon the ancient ruins of some long-forgotten tower, the White Spire was constructed in a matter of days - record time, even with the help of Earthbrands. The construction of the Spire served not only to establish quickly a base of operations for the Registry, but to remind the citizens that it governed that it had the capability and power - and was willing to use it - to perform such a feat.

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The Registry

"Once, we had been called heretics. We were cast out from our lands, deracinated, labelled traitors and blasphemers. We were the Other, the alien, the outcast. Yet we were but individuals; we were of many, but were of no banner; we had myriad voices, but no clarion to lead us; we were scattered and we walked blinded by a foul light. But now we have begun to weave the tapestry that will bind us, begun to cultivate the soils that are to serve as the base of our civilisation, a new civilisation that will rip the yokes of our heritage off our backs and bury them underfoot. We are a new people of a new nation, now, and we will relish this freedom with guileless ecstasy. We are our own leaders. Our laws will be fashioned under the hammers of our wills and not by divine words; our mores will be shaped by sophists and sages and not by priests and prophets. We are united now. We are a people." - An excerpt from the speech delivered by the very first Vaorone, Ormeus Phrygius, at the founding of the Registry, during the tenth Mesura of the First Canticle (40IL).

A vast majority of Ombre takes the Registry, the country's government, for granted, and I'm not saying this simply because I am (or at least, was) a member of it. The Registry's duties in the Citte aren't all-encompassing (many of the Citte's cogs are kept turning by the Seimora) which has led to the proliferation of the opinion that they are responsible for little. This, however, is inaccurate - the modern Ombrian simply does not see the waves that the Registry makes, or the forces that it reckons with.

A main responsibility of the Registry is handling international affairs - to anyone on the streets of Ombre, that concept might ring foreign; it is easy to forget, living in the Citte, that there exists an entire world out there, with other peoples and other nations and other societies. We are too concerned with surviving to think of the worlds across the Midnight Belt or beyond the Echoing Plains.

Unfortunately, the reverse cannot be said - Ombre, with its military power and flourishing cultural and economic landscapes, is a land upon which many other countries gaze. These gazes are often awesome in nature, but it is easy for admiration to turn into lust.

The Registry has concocted a great many ways to handle any international relations that begin to sour - the list of which is too long to go into detail - and these measures have allowed the tiny country to survive.

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Avestus Aliarme

There are few as calculative as Avestus Aliarme. Certainly, I do not look to him to learn anything regarding matters of ethics or of the heart, but when it comes to being efficient and objective, I consider him a master. I'd like to say that he hasn't always been this way - and then I'd proceed to tell you of a tragic tale that made his heart so callous - but to do so would require me to fabricate a lie. For all the time I have known him, which amounts to a fair bit, he has always put the welfare of the Citte and the Registry above everything else, his personal affairs included.

Yes, there is certainly something about his doggedness to be admired, but I do wonder how much it's cost him. I know he has given up much, but on the outside, he shows little remorse or regret. How much that is true on the inside, however, I have not gleaned.

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The Vaorone

The Vaorone of Ombre is perhaps the most famous - if not respected- figure in the nation. As the leader of the Registry, with an abode sitting at the tip of the White Spire, the entire Citte falls under their gaze. The influence that a Vaorone had over the Citte was, in times past, unparalleled, but with the rise to power of the guilds, that influence has begun to wane somewhat.