Introduction

Content Warnings

Much of the content in this setting includes depictions of mature topics, including but not limited to; discussion of and around human sexuality, depictions of persecution suffered by transgender & gender non-conforming individuals, religion & religious persecution, drug usage, addiction, trauma, and suicide. When reading through the site, articles that include only passing, non-in-depth mentions of these topics will not have any content warnings placed in them. A core component of Pretheya is the examination of topics like discrimination, and as such they are expected to make an at least minor appearance in a significant portion of articles. However, in the event that an article either pertains directly to one of these topics or features it in a significant capacity, then the article will be marked as NSFW. These articles require a reader to agree to view them, and will usually contain more detailed content warnings at the top of the page once opened. You will also need a WorldAnvil account to view these articles, which you can create for free.

Hello and welcome, dear reader! My name is Rue Marr, and I'm here to tell you a bit about this page. Libram of the Past is a novel conveyed through a series of Wikipedia-like historical articles, rather than traditional written prose. Rather than following the life of a single protagonist, it instead tells the story of the entire continent of Pretheya; beginning with the awakening of a race known as the Ormr, who spent the next many thousands of years terraforming the then-barren planet into a lush paradise; through to their extinction during a great catastrophe known as The War; and then into the age of mortals, which began in the year -863 AF and has continued all the way up to the present date of 997 AF. The story's contents consist of articles written from the perspective of a semi-omniscient narrator, a woman known as Alipheese the Esoteric, that are contained within a one-of-a-kind book; the eponymous Libram of the Past. You - the reader - take the role of an individual who has come into possession of this book, and now seek to plumb its contents in search of answers to a mysterious question. To this end, you start at the very beginning of Pretheya's history, embarking upon a journey to trace the chain of events that has lead the world to its state in the present day.

How to read

There are a number of ways in which you can choose to engage with the content on the site. There is no one 'single' reading order for the articles on the site, and they can be gone through in many different ways.

Paths

(Currently unimplemented) Paths refer to a series of planned-out reading orders for articles which cover major parts of the setting's history. Presently, there are two main paths; both of which can be viewed by clicking here. The first, Legacy of the Wyrms, takes the reader through the setting's beginning; starting with the enactment of the Law of Mortality and the path towards The War, then continuing on through the era of the Grannrormrlen and ending with the death of Forfir the Wyrm Lord. The second, The Firebird's Journey, follows the story of Rukhmar the Firebird; an immortal phoenix persecuted by the human inhabitants of her homeland, who eventually escapes with the help of a group known as the Band of the Phoenix, culminating in her departure from the continent in an event that would come to be known as the Flamesfall. More paths are planned for the future, but these are the first two that exist now.

Short Stories

(Currently unimplemented) There are also a number of short stories set in Pretheya, usually spanning around five to thirty thousand words in length, which commonly follow the stories of various important historical figures. These require little knowledge of the lore or prior history to read, although they can be enhanced by it, and are intended to be able to be read as standalone shorts. They can either be read on their own, or mid-way through whichever path their exploits feature within. Paths will occasionally spoil events in these novels, but commonly only their beginnings and ends along with certain particularly important events within them. Some longer stories, such as Saga of the Ofirar, bridge the time-span of multiple paths due to the long-lived natures of their focal characters. These can be a good way to get acquainted with the setting quickly, if you don't want to spend time going through articles in fully chronological order.

You can also just pick articles to read in any order that you'd like. The vast majority of articles don't require more than a basic understanding of the setting to make sense; things like who the Ormr were, what the Grannrormrlen was, what the Fyrstbairn and Leskeln are, and other central bits of lore. For convenience, I've compiled a list below of all of the articles for key parts of the setting. Some of them are quite long, and you definitely don't need to sit down and read all of them before venturing out to explore the rest of the setting: Instead, I recommend keeping this page open and navigating over to them when you find something that you're confused about. There is also the map and timeline of Pretheya, which you can use in order to get a feel for both the when and the where things take place. List of important articles:

Fyrstbairn
Thousandforms

Leskeln
Rukhmar

In addition, you may also want to consider keeping the glossary open in another tab if you're on PC. You can use it to look up any terms, names, locations, or other information that you might be unfamiliar with in order to get a quick run-down on the subject.

Supporter Content

Everything that you have seen mentioned up until now is publicly accessible and can be read completely free of charge. The following section contains information on content that is available to people who support Pretheya at the $10 tier or above on Ko-fi; who get access to a number of additional features and bits of content on the site.

The Mirror of Ages

By far the most substantial of these is access to the Mirror of Ages. Having the mirror enables you to read prose segments on articles that depict events in the setting's history as they actually occurred, as well as granting access to numerous supporter-exclusive articles that hold information on more hidden parts of the setting; such as the underlying mechanisms that power Pretheya's magic systems. Most of all, this also allows you to read the Mirror of Ages story; an interactive novel which follows the reader as they delve the mysteries of Alipheese the Esoteric's book and try to find out the secret that lies at the heart of the world. The first chapter of this story is available to read for free, and can be viewed here. Making your way through the Mirror of Ages storyline involves re-reading articles on the site for hidden information and clues revealed by the mirror, which you can eventually cobble together to create passwords that unlock the next chapters of the story. At present the story is not yet finished, but new chapters and articles that progress it are releasing frequently.