"Only in the darkest nights can the stars shine the brightest." - Underdog description
Every Legend begins not in victory or certainty, but in the devastating silence of loss. It's in that Motif Awakening, broken, that their first note is struck. And from that instant, they become a bearer of a Soul Leitmotif.
Every Soul-Key is a potential symphony. A Legend is one whose origin wound cracks them open, whose will chooses the melody, and whose weight gives the music its depth. Thus, Legend Traits are the system that records the score of their identity and, it's too, the first act of composition — the forging of a singular Consciousness whose life will write a bar into The Eternal Symphony.
For every Legend it is their journey at their lowest that allows Spellweaving to exist, for every leader of Civilization, and for the Constellations they look up to in the night sky.
All Legends have access to all magic types: Resonance, Luminance, Flux, Void, Cindergale, Crystal, Strand. However, the proficiency they have on each heavily depends on their Legend Traits and represents their expertise. Based on said expertise they can perform actions while using the element as either a Minor Note in accompanying chords or as the Major Note root.
The binding score can range from 1 (Terrible) to 30+ (Master Level) and the score ranges in the following scale:
| Score | Proficiency | Spellweaving Capability |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | Terrible | Struggles to cast even Minor Note spells of that element; The binding is largely dormant. |
| 5–12 | Apprentice | Basic magic, can cast Minor Notes of various rhythms and Major Notes of staccato spells (Unison) |
| 13–20 | Average | Reliably casts Major Note of Unison spells and can create simple combinations of rhythms (Dyads) |
| 21–27 | Skilled | Reliably creating Dyads on certain rhythms, can start doing Triad Chords with a Major Note of this binding. |
| 28-32 | Advanced | Reliable advanced spells and expert combinations of Triad Chords. Complete mastery of regular rhythms. |
| 33–41 | Expert | Master-level magic which introduced polyrhythms, yet proves hard to maintain Tetrad Chords in sync. |
| 42+ | Master | Legendary spells with complete mastery of the binding, where reality begins to bends to their will. Being able to unleash Hyper Chords only limited by its nature. |
This being said, it's important to distinguish that the Soul Leitmotif primary binding and the Ornaments tend to be the core of a Legend. It is possible to learn spells using other bindings, but they're much more prone to causing Discordant Interference. Since a Legend's lifetime is limited too, a character is prone and more effective while specializing in only mastering the elements of their Soul Leitmotif, with the occasional introduction of a fourth binding on situational scenarios or to achieve specific conditional spells.
1. The Wish - Origin and Physical Legend Traits
Every Legend begins in the friction of their own Fundamental Frequency against the encroaching static. The origin Legend Traits represent the specific conditions and wish that will define their journey. These origins are not yet personality choices but rather the existential facts of every character's past. It is synchronized with their Soul Leitmotif and create narrative "goals" of overcoming certain weaknesses and fears. The origin traits aren't only backstories but also conditions which the character has to adapt to, from intelligence, to beauty, to family legacy. Certain traits are beneficial while others are negative. The whole point of a Legend is to overcome and utilize these traits to drive their growth and narrative.
There are three types of origin Legend Traits which can be either advantages or disadvantages at birth, they include physical traits such as beauty, intelligence, or constitution, and also family legacies and ties to a backstory. This provides the framework of how the Legend is born and the obstacles they have to overcome, a naturally intelligent character will have an easier time learning, while a slow character will have to learn to deal with their lack of intelligence. Thus, the interplay of these Legend Traits appears as the following framework:
- Dissonance Origins: Includes traits that actively harm the character start but pose a bonus of Lyrical Fragments when dealing with core issues such as Orphan, which receives Fragment of Meaning and Resonance bonus when finding belonging, Sickly, which receives Fragment of Defiance and Cindergale bonus when resisting frailty, Exiled, which receives Fragment of Rebirth and Strand bonus when reclaiming a place in society. Other traits like Lunatic give a negative to two random elements but it also helps for polyrhythms and chaotic spells, giving a bonus to this specific advanced magic.
- Classical Origins: Includes regular traits that are mostly benign or come with a few drawbacks like Ascetic which increases Fragment of Acceptances from Essence Sacrifice or Healer which increases Flux and Strand but it places a Weight of Potential for serving the community. Similarly, unique traits like Leylines drifter work by increasing one type of stat in a binding while decreasing the other.
- Consonance Origins: Includes the good type of origins, which are advantages the character starts with such as Prodigy which gives a +3 bonus to all bindings, Brilliant which makes Luminance come naturally due to high intelligence or traits like aristocracy such as Born in the Purple which increases Strand and Resonance to being born into power. Most of these traits are net goods with few drawbacks but often come with a high Legend Trait cost.
Dissonance origins, physical disadvantages, and negative Legend Traits however do have a hidden mechanic called the Underdog meter. Which upon reaching a certain threshold of negative Legend Traits it increases the overall Lyrical Fragments they receive. This creates a high-risk, high-reward scenario for trying to make the best Constellations out of the hardest Legends. While they are much more likely to fail, they have a greater growth curve. These are the two core values:
- Underdog Benefit: You already gain ×2 Lyrical Fragments when you "punch above your station." And this bonus is stackable with personal origins, such as a peasant defeating a knight, a forsaken bastard earning noble standing, a poverty-stricken character amassing wealth. With this specific action, you generate up to ×3 Lyrical Fragments from that action (×2 from Underdog and ×1 extra for being the Origin condition). This makes much more impactful having an Orphan finding belonging than a noble although it's much harder to execute.
- The Underdog Cost: Underdog Legends start with lower binding scores and face higher failure thresholds, but their growth curve is exponential. By the time they become Constellations, they are the most powerful figures in the Stellar Legacy Score. This also helps to align both roleplaying and min-maxing towards the same goal. The most narrative drama-rich and tragedy stories are also the ones generating the most amount of Lyrical Fragments and Magnum Opuss.
Finally, this combination of elements creates the final piece of the Soul Leitmotif. The "Wish" that every Legend has. This appears from the first Motif Awakening that made the Legend a Spellweaver. In this sense, wishes connect to the crystallization of the primary binding and it's the binding Soul-Key that every Spellweaver "unconsciously choose." While the player explicitly finds a Motif Awakening according to the character they are roleplaying, these depend on The Principles of Magic and the seven bindings.
— This article is abridged. The full record runs longer in the archive.