# Cosmology — the Warden and the Seven

The overarching theme of the Margreave. Every new piece of content sits inside
this hidden war and must not contradict it. The canon lives in
`content/lore/cosmology.md` and `content/lore/the-seven.md`; this file is the
author-facing summary + the rules that keep it in tone. Read it before writing
lore, NPCs, quests, or items.

## The frame

- **The Warden** (`person.the-warden`) — a genuinely good, *distant* god. Made
  the races, loves them, wards the world against the Seven. Answers worship with
  rare blessing and does not otherwise intervene. **Nameless by design** — no one
  living speaks his name; never invent one. Whether he is good, absent, or dead
  is the world's oldest argument, never settled by the narrator.
- **The Sent** (`faction.the-sent`) — his angels. Indirect: a Sent one *asks* a
  mortal to do a deed in his name; blessing follows the deed. Rare — most people
  never meet one. This is the cosmic-flavored quest-giver vein.
- **The Seven** (`faction.the-seven`) — seven demon kings + armies, the Warden's
  enemy. Want the races dead or enslaved. Run on **blood** (`rule.blood-price`):
  sacrifice buys their power. The roster (`content/lore/the-seven.md`): Kareth
  (slaughter), Vael (betrayal), Morren (plague/mercy-kill), Ghaul (bondage),
  Ishri (appetite), Nuun (madness — chief possessor), Draeth (tyranny).
- **Possession** (`rule.possession`) — how the Seven reach mortals: mostly
  *influence* (a hand on the scale of what a person already wants), rarely
  outright seizing a body (Nuun's specialty). A possessed mortal is a victim; the
  thing inside is the enemy.
- **The two economies** — worship→blessing (`rule.the-pact`) vs
  blood→power (`rule.blood-price`). Both express through Luck's *flavor*, never
  numbers (see below).

## The FTH-axis callings (from the races/classes spec)

The two divine callings draw power from opposite sides; the rest are unaligned.
- **Bonesetter** (Cleric, FTH) — channels the Warden; healing *is* his blessing.
- **Bloodsworn** (Warlock, FTH) — pacted to one of the Seven; the "Pact Mark"
  talent spends a thread of a lord's blood-price power.
- **Hedge-Mage** (Wizard, MAG) — outsider; arcane is *studied*, serves neither.
- Martials (Sellsword/Trapper/Barbarian) — unaligned; the war only echoes.
Callings are code-owned state — reference them in prose, never author a "class"
entity. (A Bloodsworn's patron choice and any Luck effect are M4/M5, not content.)

## Authoring rules — keep it in tone

1. **Distant.** The cosmology is the hidden engine under local grime, not the
   surface text. A corrupt mayor can just be a corrupt mayor.
2. **Through people.** Demons work by influence; possession is rare and quiet.
   No manifesting monsters in the square, no preaching narrator, god unconfirmed.
3. **Not epic.** Keep the gritty, indifferent register (see `tone.md`). Cosmic
   stakes stay implied, argued-over, never announced.
4. **Blessing/curse ↔ Luck.** Express which side has hold of someone through
   Luck's *flavor* ("fortune spits on you") — never a number, never something the
   player can calculate. A cursed item (+STR / −LCK) is a small bargain with the
   Seven.
5. **Victims are gated secrets.** WHO is possessed, WHICH road is bled, WHICH
   shrine is a front — author as per-town `rumor`/`fact`/`secret` with disposition
   gates, not stated in the open. The frame gives you hooks; you place the wounds.