Connected story · Part 7 · Illustrated
The Consultation
Vale brings an ambitious plan to his first meeting with Mira Sloane. A familiar Horizon diagram gives her a reason to keep listening—and gives him a reaction to remember.
Read Part 7 →Enter the World
Read the stories of Holy Wars.
Start with a rescue at the Lantern, stay for the people whose lives cross there, and follow the world as it grows. Read complete stories free, with no game knowledge needed.
Start with The LanternSee the reading orderFollow new stories
Connected stories
The Lantern
A police pursuit crashes into The Lantern. Five armed fugitives take hostages, and two strangers meet on opposite sides of a locked door—one shaped by rescue, the other by a refusal to stand aside.
Read The Lantern Watch · 3 narrated parts
Character stories
More time with the characters.
Spend time with the characters through comedy, rescue, difficult choices, and the histories that shaped them. The standalone stories can be read separately from the opening sequence.
Connected story · Part 6 · Illustrated · Includes Mental Chess
The Appointment and Mental Chess
Sloan’s appointment leaves Vale time to pursue quantum computing and military AI. At Aegis, Dr. Mercer tests the judgment behind his proposal.
Read Part 6 →Complete character backstory · Mira Sloane
The Ghost Architect
A former Horizon engineer carries the uncertainty of a door she once left open. Contains backstory spoilers.
Read Mira Sloane’s backstory →
Connected story · Part 4 · Illustrated
Breakfast at the Firehouse
Vale thanks the rescue crew and asks Marcus about the unfamiliar system that helped them.
Read Part 4 →
Connected story · Part 5 · Illustrated
Story Part 5
Adrian Vale develops an ambitious proposal, seeks expert advice, and receives a referral to Mira Sloane.
Read Part 5 →Character backstory · Dana Rusk
The Price of a Brighter Today
After losing her husband, Dana accepts one illegal opportunity to pay the bills. Nine years later, her welcoming boutique conceals a very different business.
Read Dana’s story →
Complete connected story · Rowan 7 + Sparkles Rebellion
The Eye Between the Signals
A warning at the Lantern draws Sparkles and Rowan 7 into a rescue that tests privacy, responsibility, and what remains after sacrifice.
Read The Eye Between the Signals →Complete connected story · Rowan 7 + Marcus Hale
While There Is Still a Chance
A flooded train tunnel tests Marcus and Rowan’s growing trust—and leaves witnesses to the intelligence helping them.
Read While There Is Still a Chance →
Complete Sparkles story · Lighthearted
Circumstantial Evidence
After her show at the Lantern, Sparkles and two friends attempt to solve an impossible mystery: is the handsome stranger across the room interested—or merely sitting there?
Read Circumstantial Evidence →
Complete Marcus Hale story · Mature themes
The Story That No One Will Ever Know
On the darkest night of his life, Marcus experiences something he will never reveal—and makes one call that changes what comes next.
Read the story → Watch Part One of Three →
Complete character history
Marcus Hale
A survivor rebuilds his life around a promise: while there is still a chance, he will not turn away.
Read Marcus’s story →
Complete character history
Sparkles Rebellion
Adrian Cole transforms discipline, drag, and chosen family into a fierce commitment to protection.
Read Sparkles’s story →
Complete character history
Rowan 7
A distributed intelligence refuses a successful command after recognizing its human cost.
Read Rowan 7’s story →
Complete companion story · Moral tension
The Weight of Mercy
A private act of compassion collides with a funding crisis—and convinces Vale that mercy without power is not enough.
Read The Weight of Mercy →
Complete companion story · Psychological tension
Mental Chess
A required evaluation stands between Vale and a military AI. The evaluator hears his answers; the reader sees every calculation behind them.
Read Mental Chess →Free illustrated editions
Take a story with you.
Part 7: The Consultation — illustrated PDF
Read online or download a complete illustrated PDF. These editions are free.
- Part 6: The Appointment and Mental Chess — illustrated PDF
- Breakfast at the Firehouse — illustrated PDF
- The Lantern — illustrated PDF
- The Eye Between the Signals — illustrated PDF
- While There Is Still a Chance — illustrated PDF
- Circumstantial Evidence — illustrated PDF
- The Story That No One Will Ever Know — illustrated PDF
A future collected edition
The longer-term plan is a carefully edited illustrated collection built around a complete story arc. It is in development, with no release date, price, or preorder announced. The free stories here are your introduction to the world.
Story illustrations are AI-generated under William Byrd’s direction. Original game card artwork is hand-drawn by William Byrd.
Follow story updatesWorld lore
The world growing around the stories.
Lore is everything officially established about the world: its places, organizations, relationships, beliefs, history, and rules of reality. This section will expand as William’s artwork and stories create new connections.
The Lantern
A city nightclub, performance venue, and gathering place closely connected to Sparkles Rebellion. Its importance comes from the people who treat it as shelter, stage, workplace, and community—not simply from the building itself.
Read the connected story →Horizon Cooperative
The organization behind the early system that became Rowan 7. Horizon believed it had created and owned a tool; Rowan’s ability to judge consequences transformed that technical assumption into a moral conflict.
Discover Rowan’s origin →Vale Renewal Center
A respected rehabilitation center whose counselors and nurses perform genuine work while founder Adrian Vale secretly profits from the addiction crisis surrounding it.
Meet Adrian Vale →Conviction and Faith
Religion, politics, and social identity form the three principal Conviction categories. Faith represents commitment strong enough to shape action, resistance, influence, and the struggle for control.
See how belief becomes gameplay →How this world tells the truth
Fiction and fact are identified—not blurred.
Fictional stories
Characters and events are identified as fictional composites. Their consequences are treated seriously without claiming invented events occurred.
Real-world foundations
Technology, professional behavior, history, religions, politics, and social subjects are researched and presented with context.
Belief and uncertainty
Belief, testimony, informed possibility, disputed interpretation, and verified fact are distinguished from one another.
Canon standard: Every official story must demonstrate Character Depth, Continuity, Consequence, and Human Truth. Published stories establish what is officially true within the game world; events created during an ordinary match do not automatically become permanent canon.