People:

Edmon Valli - the MC. A shipwrecked smuggler who found the Heart of Metzli. A former thief and sometime adventurer. Carries a pistol, and isn't afraid to use it.

Ankh Algon - A Draconian warrior. She was the first person Edmon met on the island, and traded fruits for stories of his voyages.

Jejune Algon - Ankh's mother, and the chieftess of the Draconian village.

Nepenthe - A Lord of the Land who's domain is the sea around the island. She has issued an ultimatum to Edmon, saying she will invade in a week. A beautiful, if haughty, aquatic woman.

Cuahuli - the previous owner of the Heart. The last prince of a dying people, who took refuge on the island. He was betrayed and killed, and his people did not survive the conflict.

Coatli - One of Cuahuli's lieutenants. When Edmon met him, he was a Behemoth, an impossibly large feathered snake. After giving Edmon the last of Cuahuli's regalia, he returned to a humanoid form. Loves to brawl.

Yse - One of Cuahuli's lieutenants. A white, fist-sized jumping spider. Edmon resurrected her from a monster core to demonstrate his power to Jejune. She is an intelligent and thoughtful magician, with a playful streak.

Carmine - One of Cuahuli's lieutenants. Mentioned by Yse.

Raak - One of Cuahuli's lieutenants. Mentioned by Coatli and Jejune.

Places:

Lavaille - The town Edmon had a thieves guild in.

Marglades - basically an endless swamp. Has a dungeon in it.

Metzli - The island Edmon is now a Lord of.

Sanctuary - A hidden space created by the Heart Edmon has. Contains a small manor and doors to Crossroads, The Path of Dreams, and anywhere in Edmon's domain.

Crossroads - A hidden space that contains doors to every Domain that has reached a certain rank. Also has an underneath, which seems to be a closely guarded secret.

Path of Dreams - An enigmatic space accessed from the Sanctuary. Contains four regalia, and the warning 'Caveat Emptor'.

River of Stars - An enigmatic space behind a door found in Crossroads underground, containing three sets of thirteen altars and various sacrificed regalia, and a sealed door labeled 'The Sky'. Locked and sealed by order of the Convocation.

Armada - A floating city of boats that Edmon fled from before landing at Metzli.

Ch.1

Opens with Edmon on the lip of the caldera, being menaced by butterflies. He looks down into the lagoon, sees his ship and flashes back to his arrival on the island.

He was blown off course by a storm, and into a monster zone. In an attempt to escape both the storm and a circling sea-monster, he approached the island, only to crash into the lagoon. His ship sinks and he swims ashore, collapsing.

Awakes at dawn, explores, angers butterflies. Runs from them, eventually fleeing to the caldera. Climbs into the caldera, ends up in a crevice. Begins building an impromptu stone wall, and discovers the heart. Picks it up, gets blood on it.

Ch. 2

Finishes his impromptu wall, sits down to study the Heart. Explores his new class, begins to understand some of the implications. Realizes he's never heard of this class or any of these abilities, which strikes him as odd.

Marks the crevice, recognizes the mark as a 'dungeon circle', thinks back to his time in the Marglades, when he went dungeon diving with an impromptu party.

Marking the crevice makes it his territory. His territory size increases, his title goes up a level, and the door to his sanctuary appears.

Stepping inside, he surveys his Sanctuary for a moment before getting a notification that his territory is under attack. In fear, he activates his 'incarnate' ability to create a copy of his pistol, and steels himself to make a stand.

Ch. 3

He uses incarnate to create pistols, in the end repelling the invasion and being congratulated by the voice of the world. LOTL class levels up from 'new'. Snow moths are added to his archive.

He retreats to his sanctuary and sleeps. When he wakes up, he takes stock of his situation and uses the pneuma he got from the fight to push his magic stat up. He examines the three pistols he created during the fight and creates more bullets for them.

He leaves the Sanctuary to continue exploring his new class, and is accosted by a Draconian.

Ch - 4

They meet aggressively. After convincing her to back off, they introduce themselves. She's never heard of humans or been off the island. She's interested in hearing about his travels, and offers to bring him food in exchange for stories.

After she leaves, he incarnates a Snow Moth and marks it, creating his first dungeon-bound monster. His title increases and he gains access to the Path of Dreams - Caveat Emptor! He tries to get the Snow Moth to do something, but it's unresponsive. He returns to his sanctuary to investigate the Path of Dreams, and finds that it has expanded.

He steps into the Path of Dreams and discovers the waiting regalia. He inspects them one-by-one; Cuahuli's journal, the False Ring of Gyges, the Glorfyin Mace, and the Tears of Tonalzinti. He ponders the aspects, experiments with Assess, and ponders the Tears giving the basic stat Spirit. While he's pondering the meaning of Caveat Emptor, he gets another invasion notification and dashes back to the crevice, only to discover that the draconian has returned.

Ch. 5

She introduces herself as Ankh Algon, and offers him fruit. He gratefully eats, and starts telling her about running from Armada after pre-emptively double-crossing someone on a trade deal.

After she leaves, he climbs out of the caldera and enjoys the view. After, he tries to mark the local area and discovers that there are monsters in it. He tosses the hermit crab out, and creates the mark. His territory increases, and LOTL levels up from inexperienced to raw. The heart begins to acknowledge him. He discovers he can call the door to any mark. He experiments with the crab, and discovers that he can't summon the door to territories with hostile monsters.

He marks the hermit crab, adding it to his archive. He sets out to mark more monsters and add them to his collection.

Ch. 6

He brings a tiny red lizard back to his mark, and investigates how it interacts with the crab and door.

He adjusts his job, eventually settling on Voyageur, then heads into the forest, marking creatures as he goes. He eventually takes a break, eating a banana and fishing and pondering the use of Mark.

Continuing, he finds himself in a marked area. Surprised and frightened, he experiments a bit, and discovers it's the territory of the former Prince of Metzli. Coatli shows up as a giant serpent and scares him spitless.

Ch. 7

He talks with Coatli and learns Cuahuli's name. He discovers that Cuahuli ruled the island 600-ish years ago. He tells Coatli he plans to leave, and Coatli asks to come with. He agrees, for Coatli's help. Coatli tells him some of the basics of Aspects and the Path of Dreams. They strike a deal.

Coatli carries him to Cuahuli's fallen sanctuary. He takes Cuahuli's dagger, gaining the aspect of Growth. His territory expands and his title levels up. Crossroads opens. Coatli's form changes, losing much of his power.

Ch.8

They hunt a lizard. Cuahuli tells him some more about aspects, and explains aspect tokens somewhat. Edmon asks how Cuahuli died. Coatli talks about Lords fighting over Regalia, and implies that Cuahuli was betrayed for one of his Regalia aspects. Coatli talks about how dungeons 'test' aspects, and hints at challenges between lords.

Ch. 9

The next day in the sanctuary, Edmon talks about his ambitions and his past. He was thrown in jail, and once he was released, he turned to a life of crime. Working as a thief, he slowly rose in the world until he headed up an ersatz thieves guild.

He talks about how he likes being unbounded and free, and worries that the heart will bind him down.

Coatli points out that having friends creates bounds, but they can be worth it. Edmon returns that he has no idea how any of this works, and Coatli suggests he needs to try harder, think outside the box, take some risks, instead of just running from his worries.

They next day, he surveys the Sanctuary. Coatli asks him if he's going to run away, and he says no; for now, he's willing to commit himself. They go to Crossroads.

Ch. 10

Coatli is shocked by Crossroad's growth. It's a huge city now. They explore a bit. Edmon steals some Archive tokens. They get coffee and discuss their plans. Edmon realizes that people have been avoiding him, and Nepenthe shows up saying she knows why.

She says it's because he's human, and offers to sell him more information. She introduces herself as the Lady who owns the territory surrounding his island. She tells him that there are no human lords, and humans are somewhat despised.

She gives him a one-week ultimatum before she tries to mark parts of the island.

Ch. 11

Coatli and Edmon survey the island and discuss how to mark it, then investigate the Path of Dreams. Coatli weighs in on which pick is the best, and mentions he knew someone with the spirit stat, sparking a discussion on stats/abilities and how they're different in different times and places.

They meet Ankh on top of the volcano.

Ch. 12

They decide to contact the draconians. Coatli introduces Edmon to the concept of war parties, then flies ahead with Ankh. Edmon makes his way down the cliff and gets cut by a rock lobster.

The boat arrives, and Edmon drools over it. They skim to the village, and Coatli picks a fight with the draconians, while Edmon visits the chief, Jejune. They're discussing costs and benefits, when Coatli returns and drops the bomb that marked monsters can be regenerated. Edmon loses his cool a bit and snaps at him. They reaffirm their friendship.

Jejune produces Yse's core, and Edmon marks and incarnates her, surprised that she's a spider. He gains the Tome skill from his archive.

Ch. 13

Yse is introduced, then goes hunting. A bit more negotiating; Jejune wants the heart after Edmon dies. He conditionally agrees, and Ankh begins working for him.

More off-screen negotiation. Then Edmon has a smoke and befriends Yse. He learns how to refill his magic, and about rebuilding old Marks.

The next day, Coatli begins beating his recruits into shape, and Edmon looks at his tome and discusses Growth with Yse. They venture into the forest with Ankh and defeat the prickle-ooze, repairing the mark under it.

Ch. 14

The dragon squad is introduced to the sanctuary. Yse and Edmon test the Management Console, and discover inactive marks. Some discussion about instantiation.

Yse and Edmon venture into Crossroads and buy some mana pots. They tail an invisible thief and discover an invisible door. Edmon has a theory about the nature of Crossroads underbelly.

Ch. 15

They shanghai the thief and steal an invisible key and a packet of correspondence off him. Yse scouts, then they descend to the underworld, discovering a keep and a chained door.

Inside the door, they find the River of Stars, three sets of thirteen platforms; one for the Lord who progressed farthest, one for the Lord who progressed most recently, and one for the Lord who's currently there.

An alarm has been raised, and they make their escape.

Ch. 16

Turn the page!