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Chapter 0 — The Hidden Codex: A Beginner’s Guide to the Broken World (gets updated with time)

"If you're reading this, you're either already dead… or worse, about to awaken."— Graffiti in Vandral's 6th Sector

The World – Zorion & The Age of Chains

The world as it is known is ruled by the Zorionian Empire, a totalitarian, industrial superpower whose influence spans continents. Its capital, Vandral, is a smog-choked labyrinth of towers, rails, factories, and fear.

Beyond Vandral, much of the world is fragmented — Outer Territories are ruled by client regimes or left to rot in lawless collapse. Religion, history, even memory itself has been rewritten by the Empire's ruling body: the Tribunalist Order.

The resistance is real… but fractured. Most movements have already been swallowed, silenced, or subverted.

The Power System: Aith – The Will Made Real ( could spoil a bit, but helps to understand)

Aith is not magic. It is not energy.

It is your will, torn from your mind and set aflame by pain, purpose, or loss.

Every person has Aith, but only a rare few awaken it.

Awakening requires intense emotional resonance — often trauma, sacrifice, or obsessive belief. Once awakened, the user's Aith manifests along one of five known Paths.

The stronger the emotional anchor, the stronger the Aith.

The 5 Paths of Aith

1. Exsor – "Become the blade."

Focus: Body & Self

Enhances physical traits: strength, speed, reflexes, regeneration

Advanced users embody aspects of their will 

Stable, close-quarters, resilient

2. Myra – "Shape what sleeps inside you."

Focus: Creation

Aith is used to forge weapons, tools, constructs, even temporary allies

Strength depends on complexity and the concept's symbolic meaning

Ideal for tacticians and artists of war

3. Veyla – "Change what surrounds you."

Focus: Influence & Manipulation

Alters senses, emotions, physics in subtle ways

Especially effective in interrogation, stealth, or deception

Dangerous but fragile in direct combat

4. Khaon – "Ruin the laws."

Focus: Distortion

Bends natural laws: space folding, gravity shifts, light refraction

Inherently unstable and difficult to control

Powerful, but often warps user's mind or body over time

5. Edras – "Bind what you cannot keep."

Focus: Contracts & Sacrifice

Power gained by offering something personal

Users form "Pacts" with ideals, objects, even dead loved ones

Most dangerous path: highest risk, highest power potential

Narrative Note to the Reader

Not everything is as it seems.The Empire lies.The resistance fractures.

The only truth that matters is the one you're willing to burn for.

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