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Lore
The first World formed in the Endless Abyss and on this world the Beasts took their first shaky steps under the watchful eyes of the Dragons. Worlds rose in peace and safety. Until the Dark came. It seeped in under the cover of night and unseen it twisted the creations of the Worlds into monstrous things. The Dragons soon discovered this and drove out the Dark, but the damage was done and every new World that came to be from that day on carried corruption that twisted the creatures it created into horrible monsters. The Dragons fought to protect the Worlds from this corruption, but in time their numbers began to dwindle, many lost to battle and corruption until at last those that remained realized that soon there would be no more Dragons to protect the Worlds. To carry on after them they used their power to create people, those who could resist the corruption better than the Beasts of the Worlds. Though they were unable to create any who were entirely immune to corruption before they died out the Humans, Wild Folk, and Elementals were able to find ways to further defend against the Dark. They found cures and preventions, though even this could not entirely stop the corruption, life was able to find balance and a kind of peace. Time passed.
Worlds
That from which all life springs. Worlds are vast planets each with their own sun and moon that float in the Endless Abyss. They just pop into existence from time to time, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it. Certain Players can communicate with them on some level, but they aren't really thinking things, more like computers. If the chosen Players know the right tricks they can convince a World to do just about whatever they like short of interfering with other Players as Players aren't really of the Worlds and thus they have little influence over them beyond acceptance or rejection. Each World holds the Memory of everything that enters its sphere of influence which allows for things like respawning, however because their connection to Players isn't as strong the Memory of them degrades with each time they die. The number of times someone can die before the Memory of them is too degraded to recover vary based on species and class and are called Chances. Memory is shared between worlds as well so it's not possible to go to a new World and suddenly have fully replenished Chances. Such information is sent via the Threads, largely invisible and intangeable cables that run between the worlds. Much of how all this works is still mysterious, indeed there is much about the Worlds that remain a mystery. The full extent of their capabilities, their connection to the Abyss and each other, and even what lies at the center of each of them, rumor has it that if a Player were to break through to the center of a World they would find all the answers only to be destroyed by them. (Basically the Worlds are Old Ones)
Dominions
The legend goes that once the admin of a world drove away all other players in his World with his antics. In his ensuing loneliness he lost his mind and glitched his way into center of the planet and met The World itself, instead of being destroyed he was simply changed, thus the first Dominion came to be and the world he came from collapsed. After that the first Dominion went on to infect other players and destroy other worlds, secretly at first, but as their numbers grew they became bolder. At last when it seemed like the Dominions couldn't be stopped a single Thread Tracer, whose world was destroyed by Dominions, made it her mission to hunt down and destroy every single Dominion in existence. She created an order of Thread Tracers dedicated to her quest and soon it seemed as though Dominions were indeed driven to extinction. Most Players don't believe Dominions ever existed, they're just a legend used to warn Players against needlessly antagonizing each other. To some however that legend is very real.
Threads
Threads are the weblike filaments that connect the Worlds allowing information to travel between them uncorrupted by the Dark. They are invisible to most people and can be easily passed through if not touched with intention. Thread Tracers are the only people who can see them and they say that the Threads look like spider webs made of soot, they can be any size from as thin as a hair to as thick as a redwood tree. Players can use Threads to travel between Worlds, usually via being guided by Thread Tracers, but those who know how to feel out the Threads can use them to find their way, at a much greater risk to themselves unfortunately. Thread Tracers naturally magnetize to Threads and can walk along them if they like. For everyone else there is nothing like gravity in the Abyss so they have to hold on tightly to whatever Thread they can find.
Dragons
The loyal guardians of The Worlds against The Dark. Dragons acted not unlike an anti-virus fighting to keep The Dark from corrupting The Worlds. Unfortunately they were not immune to the corrupting effect of The Dark and in time their numbers began to dwindle and the memory of them in the Threads began to fade. The Dragons realized they were going extinct and devised a plan to protect the world after they were gone and thus they created the first Players. Though they're long gone now the Players still invoke their memory, either as religious symbols or just in legends. Their magic is wielded by Apostles and Dragon Kin. Apostles occasionally make contact with the remnants of the memory of Dragons from the Threads. Rarely Players in the Abyss may encounter a much more terrifying reminder of the dead gods, Abyss Dragons, Dragons who succumbed to the lure of the Dark before Beasts corrupted by its influence could kill them.
The Abyss and The Dark
The Abyss is an endless expanse of space within which all the Worlds exist. The Dark is the thing that existed before the Worlds. The Dark, unlike The Worlds, is very much a thinking thing. Its thoughts are far beyond anything Players could understand, but it wants. It hungers and feeds. It seems to hate and it seems to hate nothing more than the Worlds. The Dark might want to destroy The Worlds and all the life and light that comes with them. Or maybe it is simply curious. Perhaps it doesn't know the pain and violence that its corrupting touch causes. Perhaps it simply wants to know. Either way it does bring destruction and corruption. Beasts and Players corrupted by the Dark become horrid mockeries of themselves and are driven to destroy and kill whatever they can.
Corruption
Corruption is a sickness caused by contact with The Dark either directly or through other corrupted beings that slowly changes the victim until they're no longer anything like themselves. Corruption exists as part of The Worlds ever since the Dark first interacted with a World. This corruption causes some Beasts to simply spawn corrupted and since the memory of that Beast is corrupted it will always be whenever it respawns. Players never spawn corrupted, instead they can only become corrupted via contact with corrupted Beasts and Players. Corrupted beings usually seek to destroy or corrupt others, they're especially eager to corrupt Nymphs for some reason. As corrupted beings are usually so different from their original form they're frequently called something else (Corrupted Nymphs are called 'Imps' for example). Thankfully corruption is not immediate (unless in Beasts that spawn that way) and Players have developed cures for nearly every level of corruption except the most severe, once the corrupted being fully transforms into their corrupted form however there is no known cure.