May 2025 Update
- Adam Donovan
- 8 minutes ago
- 8 min read
[May 2025]
Greetings all, and welcome to the May (2025) update for Roguelike Games!
This month, we will explore a fundamental aspect of the Moralinth game universe: a mysterious phenomenon known as The Delusion. It conceals the Creatures of Darkness and supernatural effects such as magic from the general public, while simultaneously safeguarding the delicate mortal psyche. The Delusion is the primary reason life can continue inside the Enclave walls with a relative degree of normalcy.
The Delusion
The Delusion is a term used to describe the widespread phenomenon that prevents most people in the Known World from perceiving supernatural forces. In game terms, it explains why unusual events are rationalised, and Creatures of Darkness can conceal their true forms while mingling with humans and clockwork. Due to years of religious indoctrination and recent scientific advancements, the majority of people instinctively "filter" out the fantastical. However, a small group known as The Uncanny can see through The Delusion and perceive the world as it truly is. These individuals, possessing The Spark, can also use it to manipulate The Dark in various ways, but those in the know refer to the specific ability to see through The Delusion as The Sight.
For most people, The Delusion doesn't exist, and even bringing up such an idea would likely lead to ridicule or, in the case of The Inquisition, a possible accusation of heresy. However, for the Uncanny, the Delusion is very real, acting as both a safety net and a prison for the Empire's citizens. While the mortal mind is somewhat shielded from the corruption and madness that encountering a Creature of Darkness or a supernatural event could cause, it also leaves them entirely unaware of the threats lurking just beyond their perception's edge.
Alongside supernatural creatures and mystical events, enchanted items - now lying dormant since magic last left the world - are scattered among mundane everyday objects, waiting to be rediscovered. While some are parts of private collections handed down through generations, just as many sit upon a fireplace or gather dust in a loft or box.
Even among the unaware citizenry themselves live the supernaturally-touched, people who do not realise they have blood ancestors who were connected to various fantastical entities long before their birth. These individuals, who share lineage with beings from The Gloom, Aeternum or The Wyld, are known to the Uncanny as The Enshrouded. Sadly, most of these Enshrouded individuals have no idea of their heritage, due to being under the thrall of The Delusion themselves. Uncanny Enshrouded are rare, but many take it upon themselves to secretly safeguard their unwitting cousins.
A World Unseen
For those Uncanny aware of its existence, The Delusion is a source of both frustration and wonderment, with nobody entirely sure what causes it or how it came to be. With the vast majority of the population unaware that they are even affected by The Delusion, it leaves precious few scientific minds to study and understand it, resulting in most knowledge surrounding it being based on conjecture and opinion rather than hard fact.
What is understood is that over 98% of the population of The Known World are completely unaware of the existence of The Dark, Magic and Creatures of Darkness, along with all other manner of supernatural and paranormal happenings that surround them every day.
Some of the more fringe countries of the Empire, such as Timicias and Lyryris, have ancient traditions surrounding the mystical but to most of the populace of those nations, these are nothing more than that - traditions. Many households might practice certain rituals, but these are more akin to religious ceremony than actual, magically-infused rituals. To add to this, the nearer one gets to the centre of the beating heart of the Empire, the less these tradtions are observed and practised.
There are those among the populace, of course, who are more superstitious than others and believe stongly in the mystical and spiritual, but with science and religion both vying for dominance of the public zeitgeist and a general lack of evidence to support the supernatural, most of these people stuggle to have their beliefs taken seriously in polite society. Most people might not immediately dismiss the paranormal out of hand, but if an answer to a strange situation can be given through some form of religious or scientific explanation, the vast majority of people will accept that answer and think little of it. Some scholars among the Uncanny believe that The Delusion is akin to a mass hallucination brought about by some sort of interconnected defense mechanism, and as weavers of The Dark, Uncanny are all too aware how a strong enough belief in something can change reality.
As well as The Uncanny (and Creatures of Darkness, of course), The Inquisition takes the presence of the supernatural very seriously. Even though the majority of its members are not attuned to The Dark, they are trained to root out and abolish heresy wherever they encounter it. The ancient teachings of the Inquisition date back well before the Age of Reason and, as such, many of its teachings reference supernatural threats that require combating.
Blind to the Truth
While the Uncanny Edition, Enclave Edition and Gloom Edition of Moralinth might all have slightly differing rules around how The Delusion works in-game, the general mechanical point is that it acts as a way for magic and the supernatural to exist in a world that generally dismisses such things as superstition and nonsense. Despite many people still being somewhat superstitious and god-fearing in their traditional ways, the world of Moralinth is in the middle of an industrial revolution with the ways of science and technology blazing a path of progression toward what many consider a new golden age for The Empire.
The way that supernatural occurrences are described varies from event to event, but all Moralinth editions come with entries explaining how something fantastical is perceived by those under The Delusion, whether it be through misdirection, rationalisation of subtle manipulation of perception or short-term memory.
For example, if an Uncanny weaved an incantation to cast a fireball at an enemy a few dozen feet away from them, they (as the invoker of the magic) would see the truth of them reciting an ancient spell and hurling a fireball that would go blazing through the air until it hit its intended target, who would take damage from the magical flame and maybe even being knocked from their feet. For those individuals who were under the effects of The Delusion, they would likely think they saw a burst gas pipe explode next to the targeted individual, a stray bullet-shot hit a box full of ammunition, or even the targeted individual fall against a naked flame. Whatever seems most plausible, it becomes the explanation witnesses remember if they find themselves recounting the event. Narrators can be as flavourful with this as they wish (or a Player might like to offer a "Delusional Image"), but there are examples included next to such supernatural events and entities throughout the books to act as examples.
Uncanny Investigators and The Delusion
One of the fundamental abilities that makes someone Uncanny is their ability to use The Sight and, in turn, see through The Delusion to view the world of Moralinth as it truly is. The Uncanny are aware that The Delusion exists, but also know that when they are not using The Sight to pierce it, they see the world just the same way as others. Apart from a few rare exceptions (such as using their own Talents or Spells, or being aware of their own Dark Passenger), Uncannyoperate under The Delusion just as everyone else does - until they use The Sight to shift their perception to see the reality hidden behind the veil.
What this means is that by default, Player-Characters will see the world as the rest of the populace of The Empire: Humanity and the Clockworks living and toiling inside the vast Enclave cities, under the rule of the imperial Government and spiritual guidance of The Church.
The only acknowledged "fantastical" element to the world is The Blight, the plague that ravaged The Known World over three hundred and thirty years ago and destroyed all life outside of the Enclaves. It is only when the Uncanny employ the use of The Sight that they discern Creatures of Darkness, the Enshrouded, and other supernatural phenomena.
After their Eldritch Event and becoming attuned to The Dark, those Uncanny who survive quickly learn to keep what they know of the world a secret for fear of being committed to an asylum or being "cleansed" by The Inquisition. This makes it harder for Uncanny to find more of their own kind, but their natural ability to sense manifestations of The Dark through the use of The Sight means that individual Uncanny can sense the presence of their kin if they are in close enough proximity. Those Uncanny who do manage to find one another tend to create groups - frequently called Cabals - who work together. It is generally considered that Player-Character Uncanny are members of a cabal, though it is entirely up to the Player group as to whether they have only just met, have been established for a while, or have known one another for many years.
Roguelike Community
The Moralinth Official Facebook Group is the place to visit for quick and concise updates for those who only want the summarised details of what is happening with Moralinth and is a great place to see the artwork, lore snippets, and updates. We're looking to add more to it so that we can add extra information, but we need your help! What sort of things would you like to see included in the Facebook Group that isn't there already? Feel free to leave comments so we can know what is a priority for everyone, and make sure you tell your friends!
DISCORD:
For a more in-depth and interactive playground for all things Moralinth, you can head over to the Morlainth Official Discord Server. We're looking to foster the community and grow it out, and a few of the messages we've received of late have asked for more ways to interact with the game world as well as an increase in setting information. We're looking to try and grant both requests simultaneously, so keep an eye on Discord for more information! Feel free to invite anyone who you feel might want to follow the project but please remember they need to verify their account when they first join the server (you need to click the little "tick" to be granted the Uncanny role and gain access to all the Categories, Channels and Events).
Future Plans
For June, we'll be taking a look at the Talents of The Uncanny - special abilities derived from their ability to manipulate The Dark in fantastical ways. As Player-Characters, Talents offer special powers that the Characters can employ in their adventures. Of course, this is Moralinth, so using them comes with their own degree of risk...
....and that wraps up our update for this month! Feel free to drop us a message or come visit us on our Facebook page or our Discord Group if you'd like! Until our next update in the new year,
Happy Gaming!
- Adam
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