The Narrator

The Narrator smiled an uneven toothy smile, watching the familiars and Taldur react to the unforeseen changes in Taldur's body, many other eyes watching alongside his own single one.

Lescar looked concerned, Dwayne was trying to take back the words that being small was bad, Dewey was shaking his eyestalk back and forth, just happy to be there, and Roulette was holding the now smaller and struggling Taldur to her ratty chest, cheerfully exclaiming how she still thought "Daddy was cool!"

Taldur did not appear to be enjoying being so small as Roulette held him to her furry white body, his struggles to escape without hurting Roulette, completely useless.

Watching the scene with the other onlookers, the Narrator sighed in appreciation and satisfaction before he tore a hole in reality and discretely faded into it.

Releasing his hold on the world Taldur inhabited, the Narrator returned to his self made reality, the watching eyes that had accompanied him, grudgingly following him back, still hungry for more story.

Chuckling to himself and the audience he had gathered, the flowing pitch body of the Narrator relaxed into a more casual position, the recording of another world put on hold for a bit.

Leaning back in the air while levitating off the star-strewn endless floor, the Narrator stretched, his inky form extending unnaturally like a rubber band before springing suddenly back into his normal shape.

"Mmmm..." the Narrator grunted, content, it had been quite the exhausting session of recording, the cockroach was an interesting, if draining fellow.

The Narrator would want to keep his eye trained on that golden apple.

Yawning and patting his massive gaping maw, black void-like teeth glistening, the Narrator blinked once before reaching up to his single green eye and popping it out like a socketed ball joint.

He had earned a little break.

Polishing the now uncontained green spere, the Narrator worked on making the emerald gleam of his lone occipital orb even brighter.

Behind and around the shifting pitch black of the narrator, many other orbs trembled and floated languidly, each orb coming in pairs that focused together on the same thing, whether that be the Narrator himself or the world he had just finished observing for the time being.

These were eyes, eyes of every kind.

Every pair of eyes was different, unique in some way but each that still remained here had something in common, they wanted more, they wanted a good story to enchant and titillate their hearts and minds, despite just being eyes.

Hundreds of these orbs hovered in the Narrators realm, patiently waiting for more or frustratedly trying to hurry the Narrator up by shooting nasty glares at him.

None of it worked, the Narrator was finished for a time and the recording of Taldur and his rise to power was something to be held in reserve.

But that didn't stop some of the more rambunctious floating orbs from trying to hurry him along.

Ramming the busy narrator, these eyes wanted him to get up and get back to work.

The ramming attacks of the eyes were not very effective, only annoying and exasperating to the cosmic Narrator, but it was enough to get a response.

"Still, want more ey? Readers?" flicking away a particularly angsty pair of eyes with his long fingers the Narrator leaned back before placing his eye back inside his skull with a wet pop.

"Ahh... better," the Narrator crooned before turning to address his readers with a narrowed eye and a shrewd expression.

"Well I don't mind giving a little more," the Narrator said slowly before he added, "After all, I believe it is what humans have coined 'Christmas' on some worlds currently," The Narrator rubbed his single eye as if checking for something before he pulled a bright red hat with a white pom pom on it from nowhere, and slapped it on his head.

Wearing a festive hat the Narrator said in a ratifying voice, "There, now everything fits with this festive time of year," Stretchy, tar-black skin pulling into a wide toothy smile, the Narrator said in slightly plastic sounding cheer, "Now you voracious readers can have some more but only a little more, I have to save some for later or you lot won't be coming back."

The various floating eyes or the readers looked around at each other before jostling up and down doing their best to nod at the Narrator.

"Very well then," the Narrator chortled, "have some lore."

Some of the eyes looked disappointed at hearing the word 'lore' but others positively beamed with excitement.

With a sweeping motion of his inky black limbs, a previously unseen flow of written text sprang into view very different from the text of Taldur's system yet also similar.

The many eyes hurried to greedily swallow up the text with their gaze, hungrily devouring word after word.

Returning to sitting, relaxed in a leaning back position, the Narrator casually watched the eyes demolish and tear through the written word.

The words were as such.

Narrators Codex- your guide and repository for the knowledge of this world- version 1

Compendium of life

Sewer Cockroach/ Cuspid cockroach (Blattella Cloaca Octaalica)

Narrators insert (Not system data)

Taldur's original and beginner species, the sewer or cuspid cockroach is an insect found only in the sewers of Octaal and nowhere else, being a relatively new species to the sewers that only appeared in the last few years suddenly, the few researchers or entrepreneurs that went to catalog the critters found nothing particularly interesting despite the species sudden appearance.

Fading out of the minds of people the cuspid cockroach was largely ignored and left to its own devices having no use to the intelligent species, asserting itself quickly into its environment, the cockroaches adapted, being in no way under threat of going extinct having found a place as one of the bottom feeder specialists of the sewers.

The cuspid cockroach is a prodigious breeder and forms the base of many other creatures diets, the cockroach being both numerous and nutritious, as a direct result, few cuspid cockroaches ever get larger than a cat most being devoured long before that, (Our protag is a freak among his roach brethren as he actually achieves the pinnacle size and power of the species, likely owing to his higher than standard intelligence and the system).

Cuspid cockroaches are known to travel in large intrusions (the collective noun for cockroaches) for safety and opportunistic feeding, while the creatures are primarily scavengers when the intrusion is large enough the cockroaches become actively hostile and aggressive, attacking and feeding on creatures weak enough to be downed.

This swarming behavior is generally the only thing that makes the cockroaches dangerous as very few ever get large enough to be an individual threat (Taldur excluded), the citizens of Octaal rarely have to deal with the insects as they almost never come to the surface, as the surface is far too cold for the insects, the sewers always being an even 20 degrees.

Most if not all cuspid cockroaches have some form of camouflage in the shape of leaf-like crests or folds that help the creatures evade detection (this is how Taldur survived in the beginning).

Sharp fanged mouse (comedentis corpore parvam)

A small rodent attracted to places of violence or death, these tiny creatures feed primarily on the leftovers of other creatures making them scavengers, fanged mice, however, have been known to attack other creatures much larger than themselves when starved and have a fierce and venomous bite relative to their size.

Fanged mice usually, live in small communities but sometimes form very large mega groups called clusters when conditions are ideal.

Are considered by most sapient species to be a bad omen, are also believed to be the eyes of the rotted witch Haegla but no evidence has been found to support this.

Crest eared bat (ossium auris vespertilio )

Small bats that derive their name from their bony ears, crest eared bats feed primarily on cave-dwelling insects, considered useful pest control by intelligent species and rarely live in urban environments.

The bat is entirely blind relying purely on sound and sound alone for its navigation and hunting its sense of smell being, practically nonexistent.

This bat species is preyed upon by larger bat species frequently and web making spiders rarely ever achieving a higher state of being.

Vermillion slime (sanguinem gelata)

A rare evolved form of the common gunk slime, vermillion slimes are vastly more aggressive than their green counterparts evolving from copious digestion of corpses or tainted plant matter.

This slime is predatory unlike the common gunk slime and will hunt anything smaller or even twice as large as itself, it being able to engorge itself and swell to encompass large foreign bodies before melting said bodies down with powerful acids.

The vermillion slime is considered a threat to humanoids only if it launches a successful ambush, that being difficult considering the vivid shade of red it is, the slime otherwise being considered a minor obstacle by even novice parties of warriors.

Shade slime (umbra gelata)

The shade slime is a very rare slime that develops after significant dark energy has been absorbed without the slime's death, the dark power gathers and coalesces transforming the slime into the shade slime.

As a shade slime, this slime is surprisingly quick, especially when unseen in the darkness, this slime being one of the few slimes adventurers are actively wary of, these slimes carrying an infamous reputation as sleep killers, the slimes preferring to attack when their victims are deep in the thrall of dreams.

The shade slime attacks in one of two ways, it either smothers and chokes its victims or penetrates and pumps them full of harmful dark power with retractable tendrils.

Banded gutter pike (acri nasus clocoa piscis )

A water-dwelling fish related to the river carp, it is, however, a detritivore mostly eating decaying organic matter and plants only rarely preying on wayward insects.

The fish likes cool dimly lit places it having a delicate skin sensitive to strong light meaning it is rarely ever found outside of caves and underground water sources.

This fish often forms a solid base of many aquatic predators meals, it being a prominent link in the food web.

Pythonpedes (longa, serpens limbed)

Multi-legged and long, this arthropod stalks the undergrowths of many jungles and forests being an adaptable and flexible creature likely to persevere long beyond the rise and fall of continents.

The pythonpede is an omnivore that will happily eat just about anything from roots and berries to the hardtack of boots, it is very hardy.

The pythonpede is nonvenomous, relying on ambush and rush down tactics to bring down prey, rather than venom common to other arthropods.

Dribble back spider (quaternum oculorum exspuens araneae)

A round-bodied spider with an abdomen that resembles a melting ice cube hence the dribbling name, this spider is a web dweller that likes to make its webs close to light sources in caves and other dark places, using the light to catch creatures attracted to it.

The spider is highly venomous and lethal if not treated, but when diluted and processed the venom posses powerful narcotic properties.

As a result, the spider is often kept by assassins and drug dealers for its criminal uses.

Dire rats (Rodent Venandi)

Narrators insert (not system data)

The most prevalent hunter in the Octaal sewers, the dire rat is a very successful creature and can be found all over the world in varying conditions and breeds.

The dire rat is the primary hunter and predator of the sewers and dominates a large portion of it with its presence.

Too bad for the feral rats that this probably won't last.

Taldur has his beady eyes set on it.

Glow-worm (Arachnocampa luminosa)

Creatures that live purely by passively taking in ambient energies and turning a portion of those energies into a dim light at the front of its tubular head, the rest going into creating its minuscule body.

Being largely immobile and sedentary the glow-worm only stirs to breed and defecate.

The glow-worm is considered an invasive and destructive creature in many places and is very hard to truly eradicate due to its remarkable reproductive abilities.

Bone bore beetles and larvae (os curriculum Coleoptera)

A soft-shelled beetle species that produces young by laying its eggs in the marrow of bones or tender shoots when bones are scarce, it has a crucial role in the environment rapidly breaking bone matter down into plant-friendly powder ready to be cycled through the circle of life.

Has a unique defense technique for its natural lack of chitin armor, covering itself in a sort of glue-like mucus and rolling in bone dust forming a very hard yet light armor earning it the nickname shaman beetle from the belief that shamans rubbed themselves in bone dust.

Bog salamander (plana eμmarginali volutabro luti salamandra)

The largest non evolved amphibian to splash about, the bog salamander is oddly very populous despite its slow breeding rate likely owing to its disgusting taste and rank scent glands.

Some times called the sage toad even though it isn't a toad, it isn't known why the creature has this name, the original reason why this is so, lost to history.

The bog salamander has been around since the primordial era and is hailed as one of the oldest species to ever live, despite its otherwise unimpressive lifestyle, that of idling in wet places and waiting for things to fall in its mouth.

Blood grass (rex sanguinem)

An uncommon and selective strain of grass that lives in dark cold places, it will not grow in sunlight and will die if exposed to it, blood grass has received its name, not because of its color, but due to the legend that blood grass was born of the blood of the great lunar lord 'Salaar' when he fought the first demon king in the primordial era, however, some scholars argue that blood grass may have been born from the slain demon kings corpse rather than the luna lords blood, to this day neither theory has been proven and so the grass is also sometimes called kings blood.

blood grass is a highly sought after ingredient and reagent, often used in alchemy and enchanting and so it is swiftly harvested when found thus having a high value.

Common gunk slime (quisquiliae gelata)

Narrators insert (not system data)

A slime well known and despised by many, the gunk slime is perhaps the most abundant slime ever, numbering well into the billions in individual blobs.

Living everywhere from sewers to forests, the gunk slime feeds on almost anything organic, from leaves, grass, and roots to, meat, fat and even just dirt.

The gunk slime is largely ignored by most creatures and has few natural predators due to its foul taste and low nutritional value, the few creatures that will prey on the creatures simply cannot keep up with the rate of the slimes explosive reproduction.

While Gunk slimes may seem worthless they do perform a service for nature, Gunk slimes are natural water purifiers and any body of water a gunk slime dwells by is likely to be clean and free of disease.

Blue gunk slime (Caeruleum quisquiliae gelata)

An extremely rare subspecies of the common gunk slime that sometimes appears in slime populations spontaneously, the blue gunk slime differs very little from its green counterpart, sharing the same eating habits, nature, and overall threat to all but most feeble and helpless of people.

One of the few substantial differences is that the blue gunk slime is blue and slightly superior in all regards to a regular gunk slime. another is that the blue gunk slime can swell up to swallow things slightly larger than itself much like the Vermillion slime but far weaker and less drastic.

Two more differences exist that set the blue gunk slime apart from its more common cousins, one, the slime breeds far slower and at a lower rate, and two, the blue gunk slime is prone to growing primitive eyes.

Even though these slimes possess eyes, they still regularly fail to recognize danger, and are killed just the same as normal gunk slimes.

Outside of rudimentary knowledge, most people have not even heard of Blue gunk slimes as their rate of appearance and relevance are very low, overall.

Ur-rats, (gigas cristatus vermes) Also called Uber rats by our friend the cockroach.

Narrators insert (not system data)

An enormous species of rodent our insectoid protagonist had the misfortune of meeting, Ur-rats are among some of the largest and most powerful vermin to roam the sewers.

Typically evolving from very old, very successful dire rats these ratty behemoths tend to travel alone unlike their younger cousins and are entirely nomadic, not taking over territories but instead roaming constantly, searching for food and mates.

When an Ur-rat encounters another Ur-rat of the same gender, the two beasts will fight for dominance, in a violent display, while these conflicts are rarely ever fatal, the large creatures tend to be covered in scars from these scuffles.

The offspring of Ur-rats are almost always dire rats, albeit big ones, it being very rare for another Ur-rat to be born from a birthing, the chances being a thousand to one.

Ur-rats are considered to be a Steel rank threat, and depending on the age of the rat very rarely Illumanatium rank, often when encountered by adventurers, said adventurers will leave all their food behind in a bid to distract the creature long enough to escape, normally this works as the rats would rather take a meal they don't have to work for over one they have to chase.

Trolls (Cornea hominum) ahh yes, the horny bastards...

Narrators insert (not system data)

Trolls, a fairy tale classic, ugly ape-like beasts known for their great strength, endurance and vitality, trolls are always male and can only reproduce by coupling with other species.

Trolls are omnivorous, being able to consume flora and fauna alike, even so, trolls love eating meat, crave it all-day long in fact.

These large apes also have other... less wholesome desires, desires they must fulfill.

Trolls while often sapient (if barely) are very simple beings, they like to eat, they like to fight and they like to... ahem fornicate.

It just so happens that all three of these desires can be fulfilled by attacking adventurers or more specifically, adventuring women.

Times like that are when it really pays to either be a man or one hell of a woman.

Barreta hounds (turpi canis temperari)

Narrators insert (not system data)

First mentioned by Lescar just before she met the roach, these feral mutts resemble dogs, albeit dogs with no fur, larger teeth and a very foul temperament.

They roam the streets of Octaal ravenously searching for anything edible, usually in packs of three to seven mutts, chasing down and devouring anything that shows an obvious sign of weakness.

The population of these urban beasts is largely restricted to the slums and underside of the city and so any seen outside of these quarters are normally a sign of a surge in population or a lack of food.

Most denizens of the city are well versed in dealing with and chasing off these vicious creatures, but those that are not may find themselves singled out by the beasts, as the beasts have a very keen sense of intuition.

While the creatures are dangerous and violent, more often than not, the poor and starving of the slums eat them rather than the other way around, it is not uncommon to see Barret hounds being roasted on spits in the poorer quarters of the city.

Ghaists and Baneshears (incorpoream miser interii)

Narrator insert (not system data)

Ghaists and Baneshears are undead creatures that are sometimes spawned from the remains of spellcasters, usually when left unburied in or near places of power.

Ghaists are mindless incorporeal undead which can phase through solid objects and will directly attack and leech off the souls of living victims with a touch, after a long period of feeding a Ghaist may evolve or transform into a Baneshear.

Baneshears can do anything a ghaist can do, but also can take a corporeal form usually that of a beautiful woman (go figure), and will often begin to return to what they were doing when they were still alive.

Since most Baneshears were witches in life this means that most of them return to their precious gardens, once they awaken, if not, then the Baneshear will often go seeking its family or loved ones or if it had none, its enemies.

This often leads to problems as Baneshears are inherently antithetical to life, their mere presence spells slow or rapid death for the surrounding place and people unless that Banesheer is already bound by a higher power, in which case the curse is suppressed or nullified.

Baneshears are very powerful and retain all and any spellcasting ability they had in life, plus the massive boost being a Baneshear grants them, makes these beings popular servants among those with more exotic tastes and desires, meaning, Baneshears, when they do appear are often hunted immediately for the slave trade.

Even though Banshear are a desired slave commodity, the creatures often go on a rampage destroying many lives sometimes in the thousands, when disturbed in their undead gardens, thus slaver operations that fail often inspire the wrath of the offended Baneshear.

Thus Baneshears are considered a high priority threat and at the same time are sought by powerful dark magic users who wish to control and harness the power of these undead.

As witches always reanimate if left unchecked they are burned to prevent Ghaists and Baneshear from spawning, although some people deliberately kill witches in order to try spawning Baneshear in an attempt to enslave the attractive and dangerous creatures.

This is frequently referred to as 'Bitch hunting' by the more crass slavers.

Denge frog (Warty caro sacci)

Narrator insert (not system data)

Seen a few times over the course of the first volume, being the favored food of Taldur, this frog is more common in the flooded eastern sewers then the far west where our roachy protagonist dwells.

While Taldur enjoys eating them, he is simply lucky he never ran into any older individuals, the frogs he devoured only being months old at best, were not nearly as threating as full-grown Denge frogs which can grow to be over 12 feet long.

These massive amphibians are one of the more dominating creatures in the flooded eastern sewers and stay there because the larger bodies of water suit their amphibious nature better, giving the creatures an advantage against anything not born of the waters, being even able to subdue and take out Ur-rats in their watery homes.

Adventurers simply do not fight the frogs if they are near water and will only engage the creatures in battle away from water sources, likewise, the frogs will flee most confrontations unless they are near deep water sources.

Human (Homo sapiens)

A powerful and adaptable species that dominate this world, being the most numerous sapient to ever live.

Humankind once groveled and quivered at the mercy of powerful adversaries, but now those enemies are long dead or weakened and yet humanity still stands.

Humans are culturally diverse and prolific, often engaging in bloody wars over numerous things cutting down their own numbers only for them to quickly replenish said numbers in excess.

Many humans believe themselves to be children of the lunar lord Salaar but whether this is the case or not, is unconfirmed.

Jacouats (Homo felis sapiens)

Narrators insert (Not system data)

A sub-race of humanity, Jacouats are one of the few ab-human races to be accepted by the wider public, likely due to the fact that their mutation is minor and does not make them look particularly inhuman Jacouats enjoy the middle ground of being accepted by society but also being able to play up their situation and complain when they feel like it.

Jacouats are considered by most humans to be tolerable or even attractive (depending on the tastes of each individual) and are able to get work, unlike other abhumans.

We first see and hear about Jacouats in the 21st chapter when clairvoyance is being introduced, Ferra the pyre cleric being shown to be a Jacouat with both fame and money, she is even considered desirable to most human men.

Rattarvahn (longus dentatis proditor)

Narrator insert (Not system data)

Ratmen that dwell in the northern sewers, as of yet these cunning creatures have not yet made their appearance.

The Rattatvahn are a race of demihuman who have a simple, if messy hierarchy, the biggest, the smartest, and the stabbiest rise to the top, and then they rule over their ratty tribe as the new chief, the lower positions being taken in the same 'so long as its sneaky or stabby' manner.

Rattarvahn love shiny things, and love to collect odds and ends as trophies or souvenirs, the ratmen having an economy of sorts involving these odds and ends, the other part of their economy being paid with teeth, bones or claws, the teeth, and claws of more powerful beasts being worth more.

Living under the city of Octaal the Rattarvahn or the 'Shink Shink clan' often make nightly raids on the more unwary of the town's citizens, stealing and plundering all they can without being too obvious as to give away their whereabouts.

All Rattervahn dwell underground and rarely come to the surface at day, usually only daring to visit the surface at dark, Rattervahn do not fear light or the surface, in fact they crave it, always trying to gather sources of light to line their warren-like cities in the vain attempt to simulate the surface, The true reason the ratmen don't walk under the light of day is that their race is hated, despised and sometimes even feared, often rightfully so.

Many centuries ago the Rattervahn lead a great war against all the other races in a bid to dominate the world, the Rattervahn with their great numbers and merciless tactics forced an alliance to be temporarily created between the other sapient races in an effort to stop them, the second time in all of history the entire world had united against a common foe.

Fighting against a united force, eventually, the Rattervahn were driven back and forced underground, their numbers massively depleted and resources dwindling, no great ratmen civilization has ever risen since that time as every other race exterminates the Rattervahn on sight.

While the Rattervahn would definitely qualify as a sapient intelligent species of demihuman, the overall majority of races including other demihumans see them as a monster species that is best eradicated, this means that Rattervahn are attacked on sight by most sapients and the ratmen themselves don't fear lashing back, often kidnapping people for cheap labor, (slaves) sport. and just easy eating, (The Rattervahn are not mopey victims who take one-sided racism, but violent aggressors just as responsible for their position as their enemies).

While all Rattervahn are technically the same species, opposing or differing clans often don't see it as such and even among ratmen, racism is a thing.

All the various clans each have their own violent and murderous societies but each differs in some way, one thing that can be tied to all Ratervahn is their beliefs.

Rattervahn religion is convoluted and unclear, being warped and twisted in a Chinese whispers like fashion.

But the one thing that lines up in all the versions of these teachings and lessons is a prophecy, a prophecy about their savior, who will someday return...

The great crowned rat.

And on that wonderful day when the crowned rat returns to them, the Rattarvahn will rise, and the surface striders will fall.

Or so the Rattarvahns stories say, considering the high amounts of exaggeration that goes on, in their speech, it is more likely that the story of some rat craving attention simply spun out of control.

Although you never quite know...

Darkspawn/Demons (Reptans Obumbratio)

Narrators insert (Not system data)

First mentioned in passing by Kale as he discussed his adventures with Tomavin, darkspawn are creatures that come from the abscesses of the deep tunnels, all darkspawn tend to have a few traits in common, no eyes, no defined head and no mercy, all darkspawn kill sapients as soon as they register their presence and will destroy any evidence of sapients once no more live to bother them, the creatures having a seemingly unending hatred for intelligent life.

Darkspwn are rarely ever intelligent and are easily fooled by sounds and false smells into leaving people alone, thinking that their quarry is going in a different direction.

Darkspawn vary drastically in appearance but always look dark-skinned (Don't get triggered people, evil comes in all shades).

Curiously, unintelligent life is usually ignored by darkspawn.

Demons in this world are essentially any monster from the depths of the planet or ground that are intelligent, they don't have to be a darkspawn to qualify as a demon but most demons are.

Devils (Atra Manu Dei)

The most feared and abhorred of all monsters, most people have no clue what a devil actually is or what its desires are, they only know that it is evil and piles pain and death upon everyone, (Lescar is a good example of this as she frequently, ignorantly, calls Taldur a devil).

Devils are always very powerful and very dangerous, they tend to be very intelligent too, the demon Regent that the Paragon Harkon Jorburster fought being a good example, that particular devil managed to take over a country and twist it into a twisted parody of its former self with only persuasion.

Devils often lead and control large bands of darkspawn and demons.

Devils are usually destroyed by paragons when they appear, both having a convenient pattern of appearing around the same time to fight each other.

Dreamspawn (Cor pravum servis suis)

Narrators insert (Not system data)

Not to be confused with darkspawn, dreamspawn are the products of dungeons and usually cannot exist outside of said dungeon, dreamspawn vary so widely that it is impossible to keep track of their varieties and differences, but all dreamspawn, for the most part, will fade away and dissolve if they stray too far from their home/prison, as they are not made out of solid stable matter.

Dreamspawn are not inherently hostile necessarily, and can even be peaceful or friendly but mostly they tend to be predatory, hunting down and killing all intruders or even each other in an attempt to become more real, more solid.

It was a dreamspawn that attacked Naython in his flashback, a powerful one.

Adventurer ranking and terminology

metal ranking / rogue / mage / warrior /

- clay / fledgling /

- bronze / coyote / crow / monitor /

- iron / Wolf / Owl / alligator /

- steel / lion / Falcon / crocodile /

- Illuminatium / Chimera / Roc / wyvern /

- Chronaall Cerberus / phoenix / wyrm

One can be multiple rankings eg. wyvern ranked warrior who is also a lion ranked rogue.

An adventurer will always be ranked at their highest specialization of metal, eg. Wyvern ranked warrior who is also a Lion ranked rogue will be ranked at Iluminatium not steel.

Chronaal and Illuminatium are metals unique to this world and are considered very valuable.

The level below bronze is fledging, basically, noobs who are ranked as such and must proove themselves through often times menial tasks.

Miscellaneous information

The world- Guiettes

This world or planet is called Guiettes, a name given to it by the ancient dragons, sadly the ancient dragons are pretty much extinct, so no one knows what it actually means, the meaning of the name long since taken to the grave with the dragons.

Paragons (more commonly called heroes in most literature)

Narrators insert (Not system data)

People who have been blessed by the gods and chosen to carry out their divine will and justice, Paragons act to protect the people and shield them from evil, these people tend to be human but that doesn't stop the occasional demihuman or even abhuman from achieving such heights.

Paragons are the elite among the elite that are handpicked by the gods to become the chosen heroes and clenched fist of the gods.

There is a ton of things about Paragons, I, the Narrator could tell you, but for now, I think I'll keep that to myself.

Just know that the last Paragon Harkon Jordburster has not been seen in a few years...

Soulstones

Narrator insert (not system data)

Soulstones, the physical representation of a great entities influence and power, tiny pieces of a greater whole, these crystal formations tend to grow and form around places of high spiritual energy and flow, and are constantly desired by intelligent races.

Soulstones are among the most powerful enchantment reagents and have been used in the creation of some of the most legendary artifacts ever made or known to man, the femur crown of Dirahn being a prime example, it being infused heavily with soul stone prior to its creation, the crown being able to guide the perception of others at the wearers behest.

As a result, many wars have been fought over soul stone deposits, the great powers and potential resource the crystals representing, being just too great to pass up.

However, aside from the fact nations will go to war for this stuff, the substance itself tends to hide a perilous danger, often twisting the minds of those mining it in sinister ways...

After many years of experiencing the substance's mind-warping qualities, proper and safe mining techniques of this resource have developed, but are pricey and inefficient.

Thus even now to this day, many mining crews are sent in with no protection and no warnings and fall prey to the unpleasant fallout of the crystals, their superiors caring little so long as some Soulstone was recovered.

Life is cheap in this harsh world.

Illuminatium

Narrator insert (Not system data)

A metal that glows softly, and can hold magical charges extraordinarily well, is often favored by magic casters of all disciplines for its ability to store mana, and its easily enchanted nature.

It is a rare metal that costs more than gold per ounce and is only outdone in terms of expense by chronaal, an even more expensive metal.

Illuminatium deposits are usually found inside dungeons and sometimes deep within the planets subterranean corridors.

Chronaall

Narrator insert (Not system data)

A pitch-black metal only found in the very deepest recesses of the worlds underground landscape, Chronaall is harder than diamonds, lighter than steel and more malleable than copper, it also carries a magical current extremely well.

A material rivaling soulstone in its scarcity and value, deposits of this metal are jealously guarded and heavily fortified, only the most exorbitant of prices or prestigious of individuals are able to afford this material.

The material is usually only used in the best armor and weapons and a whole Chronaall sword could be worth more than a small kingdom in price.

Dungeons ( Dormiens Creatores (Now the name actually makes sense))

Narrator insert (Not system data)

The dungeons of the world of Guiettes differ from the traditional nonsensical dungeon of other stories in that dungeons are not sourced from machines, magical thinking rocks or reincarnated humans.

All dungeons in this world are unique and individual and each is more like a benign tumor waiting for the right time to grow out of control then a crystalline entity forced down some arbitrary path with limitations and inflexibility.

Basically dungeons are a bit like cancer, they spread and twist the land often in harmful ways for the native inhabitants, a little bit like a moving climate or biome, however, this is only in the case of an active dungeon, most dungeons are inactive and barely spread at all, sometimes even shrinking instead.

Dungeons are not limited to being underground and technically can be found anywhere, but normally they are located in places flowing with life.

As a dungeon grows it can access more resources and in turn can passively create more defenders.

These defenders are called dreamspawn and typically can only exist in the dungeon that spawned them.

Dreamspawn will always become hostile and aggressive if outsiders get too close to the source of the dungeon, as the dungeon is both their lifeline and prison.

Many people, adventurers mercenaries and other ambitious individuals often try their luck at delving into these dungeons looking for treasures, usually just for raw materials to sell, sometimes however they collect rare or unique items spawned in by the dungeon, these items are often organic in nature being living items, like swords, bows and other such things, most of these weapons dissolve when leaving the dungeon but sometimes they survive leading to a powerful item being obtained.

Even more rarely sometimes a live specimen is captured from the dungeon that survives the trip outside the dungeon, these creatures regardless of whether they are sapient, humanoid or innocent and peaceful, (which is even rarer) always sell for a high price.

As an obvious result the inhabitants (the smarter ones at least) of the dungeon, the dreamspawn, usually have bad impressions of outsiders, and will ferociously defend their home.

The source of a dungeon is always well guarded and few have ever laid eyes on a dungeon core, people not even knowing what the heart of a dungeon even looks like.

Slavery, Ab-humans, and Demihumans

Narrator insert (Not system data)

Slavery is a common part of almost all worlds, even the most civilized societies having some version of it.

Here in this world, slavery is particularly rampant, if you can't defend yourself and are not a well-liked or feared person and happen to run into the wrong gang, there is a good chance you will end up as a slave.

Even so, most slaves are usually ab-humans, rarely ever being demihumans or pure humans, ab-humans not being the same as demihumans.

Some would become confused at this, 'what's the difference between demihumans and ab-humans?'

The answer to that is simple, Ab-humans are a people or subspecies of humans that have mutated and taken on animal or exotic traits, they are always of human origin, Eg, Jacouats (your typical catgirls and catboys).

Whereas Demihumans are any other non-human species that is intelligent and did not originate from humanity, (your beastmen, your Rattarvahn etc).

Demihumans are often powerful and able to defend themselves, their respective nations also being formidable and so, are not often slaves.

Ab-humans, however, have no such protection and are normally weaker than demihumans, reviled and overall looked down upon by the more normal pure humans and even demihumans, being seen as weak or pests to society.

It is no wonder that Ab-humans are often slaves, people who can't defend themselves, are unorganized, weak and disfavoured, make for easy targets.

Gods, religion and magic...

A topic I sadly cannot touch upon much due to sensitive story information.

All kinds of deities are worshipped in this world from forest guardians of nature, to gods of commerce and trade.

Whether or not these deities actually exist is not something I shall address for now but the belief in them by itself alone is important.

Magic comes from three sources,

1. From a god, holy magic, clerics preists etc,

2. From another power, demons/devils spirits and fey creatures, soccerers witches and warlocks,

3. Thirdly and finally from one's own innate abilities, mages.

All three sources have their own benefits and downsides, that vary drastically.

Lescar is a mage and perhaps also a witch, she draws on two sources...

End of current compendium

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Having fallen asleep while the readers swallowed the info, the Narrator jerked awake as some of the floating eyes rammed him once more, santa hat hanging precariously on his head.

"Hmmm? oh, you hungry lot have finished ey?"

Some of the hovering eyes rolled up and down imitating nodding, confirming the narrator's words.

"Mmm well, that's nice," the Narrator said yawning again "But now I've got nothing left to show you."

The Narrator waved lazily towards the audience, an open door appearing behind the levitating eyes.

"It's probably best if you go and hang out with family or something now," the Narrator said, "It's not every day you get to celebrate Christmas"

The eyes looked at the Narrator quizzically before slowly trickling out of the reality that was the Narrator's home, heading back towards their bodies in the material world.

All the eyes now slowly leaving, the Narrator called out some parting words to his readers.

"Its been nice having you around my readers, I relished your emotions and reactions, they fed me well."

As the door closed and the last reader left the Narrator grabbed his forehead massaging his elastic temples.

His deadline had been met for now...