#the lorekeeper's lore

[its-gonna-be-may]

Hi, hey, hello! Zinnia here! Yeah, I'm Zinnia! I'm Zinnia I'm Zinnia that's who I am!

Uh... May just flew off on Rayquaza and left her 'Nav with me...

So I guess... I'll just talk with you all...

[briskchips]

I just wanted to say how much I love your stuff! I'm a little shy and new to the CRK community, it's been like 3 weeks? But you helped fuel my unhealthy brainrot and I just wanna say thank you :)

Toxic blue and gold boyfriend cookies got me in a chokehold!! 😭

Do you have your own lil cookie character?

Thank you so much! Welcome to the community I hope you have a lot of fun!!

I don't have like. a cookie oc with a full backstory or anything, but I have a cookiesona! I've still yet to fully complete a design for him, but it's Coffee Grounds cookie!

[taruth3mighty]

JUST HAD A SUDDEN REALIZATION. I was imagining TJ and Quincy with that spiderman meme as one does right? Y'know with TJ going "I created you and you created me" and then I remembered that TJ DOESN'T KNOW THAT ZAVIER IS QUINCY CANONICALLY. And it's probably a good thing too, TJ just managed to start getting out of his crash out arc after Zavier started it, just imagine the fucking sheer conflict TJ would face if he knew Zavier was Quincy. Like TJ would come to the conclusion that he was just there to stop Quincy from being Zavier and that would've probably put more distance between them in canon and plummet TJ down into his spiral rather than help him. I just had the flash of several angst scenes of TJ just yelling at Quincy after discovering the truth, I might not be a Quilt shipper but DAMN that thought is just too good to pass up.

[lorekeeperdigo]

The Ilex Forest Shrine

Note 1

It’s probably 2 p.m. but I can’t tell, the trees are so tall and thick and the sunlight can’t cross the green leaves to illuminate the ground. How do the flowers grow in this forest?

I left Azalea Town this morning. I arrived yesterday night but I didn't have much time to visit the city. Roselia is so happy about this adventure. Her flowers shine a bit brighter every time we visit forests and gardens, she feels the natural energy and the vibrations boost her spirit, probably. Now we are sitting down after two hours of walk in the glittery darkness of the forest, we need to rest. Roselia is napping under one of the rare rays of light peeking through the trees, she feels the warmth of the sun through the red and blue hand-flowers. The perfume of her body is calming all of the wild Pokémon around us, I can see them sleeping on the trees or between the bushes, this place is packed with wild creatures!

Yesterday night I met Kurt, the famous Pokéball maker. My professor told me to trust everything he would have said (note for myself : I need to write a letter and thank him again). He’s one of the last artisans that still keeps alive the old tradition of hand-made pokéballs. It’s truly fascinating. When I think about the Hisuian Museum in Sinnoh, or the massive factories in Kalos… we came so far, today technology is baffling!

Kurt showed me his library and some old books about the history of the Ilex Forest and the secrets of the wooden shrine. The sightings of Celebi are pretty rare: legends say that he appears only during peaceful times and, as we know, today's world climate isn’t one of the best… I don’t know if I’m going to meet them today, I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed but I think it’s pretty impossible.

I do have my photo scanner with me: I want to perfectly map the inscriptions written inside the shrine and study them back at university. I might be able to unlock some hidden secrets, who knows. All the books I found back in my University’s library show photos where the moss is growing all around the shrine, inside and outside, I’ll gently scrape it off and finally get a complete version of the inscriptions.

Kurt gifted me a small token of fortune for my small adventure, a rare GS-ball. Yes! When he gave it to me, I gasped. It wasn’t my first time handling one of those special pokéballs but, normally, they are always stored in museums and they are broken or just consumed by time. This one is actually working!

Also, when I named it the gold-silver ball, he corrected me immediately. In my books back home, that’s the name for this celebratory poké ball, but Kurt told me I was wrong. The eastern world thinks that the G stands for gold, and the S for silver. This is a common mistake. The Alolans call it the “greatest smith’s ball”, but also this tale is wrong. Dramatically, while he dropped the ball in my hand he said to take care of the generation sympathy ball, the GS ball, that’s the right name! The one thing that could actually bring me closer to Celebi. Kurt told me about the myth surrounding the GS-ball, an old tale I heard before once or twice, but never in such detail. Let’s write it down:

In ancient times, the friendship between the Azalea Village and Goldenrod was ruined by the rivalry of the people in power. While Azalea was thriving via the commercial routes with Kanto, Goldenrod was achieving glory through the sea: in the middle, suffering from the dispute, the Pokémon of the Ilex Forest were in danger.

While the animosity became stronger, Mother Nature punished the region with the strongest storm humans ever lived: after that it was impossible to travel via water for Golderod, or cross the mountains to Kanto for Azalea. The crisis broke the spirit of the two towns. The people were now obliged to exchange goods between them to raise themselves back up from the ashes, like Ho-oh. A new sense of friendship was born and peace became the new way of living. During the signing ceremony of the agreement, a Celebi appeared playing with the people of Azalea and Goldenrod. People of both parties celebrated that day, looking at the time travelling Pokémon as an omen of good luck.

The same day one GS-ball was forged and left inside the shrine of the Ilex Forest. During the celebration, people heard a voice singing and a flute playing, and just like that the GS-ball disappeared. At that moment they knew Celebi appreciated the shiny gift.

I’m going to stop writing for now, there is a Hoothoot looking at me in a funny way, just over a tree, next to me. Is it already night time? It isn’t possible! It might be because the forest is so thick that night-time creatures come out during the day, I read something like this somewhere…

[snowyrey]

i animated a thingy hHEHE

featuringggg The Lorekeeper and Anti-Lore(she still doesn’t have a name)

anyway

[mamasplat]

I’ve vaguely explained my break down of the kalos protags ages (and while I could talk about that more) I wanna talk about zinnia because I have a lot of thoughts about her!

I’ve spent years of my life focused on storytelling both visually and verbally, specifically written and drawn character designs and the art of “show don’t tell” so I think that gives me enough insight to be the one deciphering character ages-

Okay starting first with her visuals, zinnia has a very mature build by proportions alone, she has sharp facial features, firm toned body (you can literally see that through her shirt, which is skin tight and tied on) she’s undoubtedly muscular partially through her upbringing, but it’s important to remember muscle gains come with age. You will not see a 12 year old with abs and jacked forearms because a young child/teen body can not gain that kind of muscle. A toned body indicates muscle gain especially in AFAB individuals as there’s a lack of testosterone to aid in the process of bulking up. And zinnia leads a rather off the grid lifestyle already so an enhanced workout routine is out of the question. Her build alone indicates late teens to early adulthood.

Dialogue, there’s dialogue that refers to zinnia as a teenager. But there is also dialogue of a team magma grunt saying she’s totally his type. If they’re comfortable having implied adults hit on her I feel it’s safe to assume we can cut her down into the 18-19 bracket.

Storyline, zinnias story is not a tale you write a young child into. Her story is filled with heartbreak and not just acceptance of her own mortality, but also facing her willingness to die in order to save the world. She was raised into a suicidal duty and she’s come to terms with a young death. Most writers (especially gamefreak who makes games for children) tend to avoid child death as to not upset parents and players. Another part of her story is the fact she gets a job working under team magma/aqua depending on your version, and while I wouldn’t say it’s out of they’re brand to work with younger teens in team aqua- team magma would not hire a 15 year old into a high tech eco terrorist team of geologists and scientists. Meaning she must be old enough for them to think she’s responsible in the field.

Lastly, I placed Calem and Serena at the age of 18 as they didn’t have an appearance that (in my opinion) warranted me putting them at the age of 19. When I put zinnia next to Calem and Serena I see that (in my opinion) she looks older than them both. Therefore my final thought is that lorekeeper zinnia from pokemon omega ruby and alpha sapphire, is 19 years old.

Thank you for coming to my autistic TED talk

[gravelynz]

new (bad) idea: lorekeeper that's just blatantly wrong about everything.

[cyraen-ae]

My Dragonfable OCs

Thallen Varsen ID : 24647148

Aleena Varsen ID : 47060525

The Brass Angel ID : 47060525

Leonas Shieldmane ID : 46610654

Kamin Wildbreeze ID : 46954765

Lysander Chrisanti ID : 47060530

Sanya Borowska ID : 47065616

Wisp Art by @platiumdragon-blog

[amessageonthewind]

hey Zinnia! what's your favorite pokemon and your least favorite pokemon? (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

People who don't know me all that well might assume it's a Dragon-type, and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong if they assumed that. But they're not right. Whismur is my favourite Pokémon and I'm probably biased by saying that.

Aster was my partner for a long time. She was there for me in good times and in bad. She's been in my life for as long as I can remember and she was there when the person that she was named after was...

Ahem, anyways! She was just so darned adorable! She made the sweetest little noises whenever she would snuggle up against me but she could be really tough when she needed to be! Call me sentimental, but I'll always have a soft spot for Whismur.

As for least favourite... Malamar. That one's also personal, but... not in a good way. I know that there are people that will abuse Pokémon and use them as tools to control others, but this one... this is a tool only the worst kinds of people want to use and having faced one of the most evil people I could've ever imagined who used his to try and control everything... I can't think of a worse one.

Even when I was trying to protect Rachel, he used his Malamar to turn me against her... and I hurt her. She still has the scar... and I still feel guilty whenever I see it. We've talked about it more than once, but it's one of those things that I don't think I'll ever really get past.

Here's hoping that maximum security prison he got sent to has the most vigilant security system. I genuinely think that he's the most dangerous man in the world. He got his tools taken away, but... some part of me is still scared that he'll find a way to get back at us for stopping him and ruining his grand plans for good. I know he likely won't... but I still catch myself looking over my shoulder sometimes.

Whoops! So-o-orry! Didn't mean to bring the mood down, there! But yeah, that's my answer!

[the-neurographic-wizard]

Actually no, no it's not. This entire post is bullshit. This is what happens when you have not had a PROPER lesson of the history of Magick. Which is most of Witchblr & WitchTok, and honestly most Witchcraft authors nowadays. Yes, Crowley was hella problematic. But so were a lot of others of his time.

Here is an excerpt from Arbatel De Magia Veterum, a Grimoire of Renessaince Ceremonial Magick published in 1575. The Grimoire uses the Early Modern English spelling of "magick" with a "k" in reference to sorcerous practices. This same spelling is used in the De Occulta Philosphia (aka the Three Book of Occult Philosophy) by Heinrich Cornelius Aprippa, published in 1531. Both of these works long predate Aleister Crowley by almost 250 years. The spelling of magick was NOT "created" by Crowley, it was popularized by him. Big fucking difference. Magick (with a K) is, always has been, & always will be the spelling people use to separate stage illusions from real sorcery. Y'all need to stop with this nonsense about how the word is supposedly racist & has a history with misogyny. No the fuck it does not. Just because Crowley was racist & misogynistic doesn't mean the word "magick" is. So yes, y'all can quit with the bullshit & embrace actual facts.

Magic vs Magick

If you've been looking into witchcraft for some time you've probably seen two spellings of the word Magic/Magick sometimes ending with a C and other times ending with a K. The spellings are usually used interchangeably however the spelling of Magick with a K was created specifically by Aleister Crowley a not so nice man when it came to women and people of color.

Crowley claimed that his spelling of Magick was to distinguish between actual magick and stage magic, like pulling a rabbit from a hat. However many academics use the spelling of magic when discussing ancient cultures and practices, and no one assumes that they mean stage magic.

Another reason as to why Crowley uses his spelling (which is often ignored) is that he considered magick to be anything that moves a person closer to fulfilling their "ultimate destiny" which he called one's True Will.

By this definition, anything, Mundane or Metaphysical that helps fulfill someone's True Will is Magick. Casting a spell to gain someone's attention is not Magick.

Another reason Crowley spelled it with a K is that it expanded a five-letter word to a six-letter word, also because hexagons are a six-sided shape that was very prominent in his writings. The letter K is also the eleventh letter in the alphabet which also helps significance to Crowley.

Besides Crowley's reasonings there is also one that claims that other spellings of magic can be found all over the world in various texts. The word has been spelled, "majick", " majic", and "magic". However, this was before spelling was standardized.

Many witches who know of Crowley's sexist and racist behavior choose not to use his spelling of the word and opt to use the simple "magic" spelling. Whether you choose to use Crowley's spelling it's good to know his history and the reasons why he chose to spell it the way he did.

[its-gonna-be-may]

The thing is, Ms. Zinnia, I don't think anyone would really blame you for making a few dumb decisions given your situation. What matters now is what you are going to do going forward. -@pokemoncontestprodigy

🐉I don't even know what I'm gonna do going forward! What else is there to do! Rayquaza's here so the Meteor problem's basically solved. I'm spent so much of my life dedicated too this, and most of the last few months dedicated too getting home, that I didn't think about afterwards.

🐉See, now that one I know is true of the original Zinnia. May can't call me on that one.

[taruth3mighty]

I know it's for like getting to know them more, but I find the wording, "For some reason, Teneson and Portia are also here" to be funny as hell. Because that's like wish basically saying that, "Yeah, I don't really have a lore reason why they WOULD be here, but they are because I want to explore them more" and that's so valid That just makes me giggle a little bit. *wipes tear* Anyway, on a more serious note. This was hinted by him in the discord a while ago, y'know with Cortes, Teneson and Portia being more involved in the next arc. Certain people I've discussed this with, primarily the number one Portia fan, suspected that they're there to hunt down Riffraff. (Credit to @portiaonmercury aka the number one Portia fan for the idea since they were the ones to discuss it to me, and I'm just rehashing what they've told me.) The idea is that Teneson wants to use Portia since he knows that Portia means a lot to Riffraff. Using her like the cheese in a rat trap. But I doubt Riffraff would be that easy to capture, considering that you'd think in the decade that Teneson had been trying to capture the rat man, he'd use that method already. I personally think there will be more. Like having Portia there would increase the chances of the rat man being there, but for him to actively show his face especially with Teneson around. There'd better be a good reason. Considering that Riffraff's only afraid of Teneson. (Bro literally warned us that he wouldn't be showing up in the Academy Arc due to Teneson being there) (And he mentions in the Oasis that the only person that can catch him is Teneson, how could bro do that when you can teleport? I have no idea but maybe that'll be explored in the next story arc) Wish has also said that he wanted to explore Teneson's backstory on how he got his Reragon before he joined DoodleCo. That'd be so interesting, and maybe he'll explore why Teneson is described as so cutthroat about being the 2nd position in DoodleCo outside of just wanting power. Like Teneson has had beef with Lucas ever since the beginning for some reason. And honestly the next arc could explore why Teneson is so mean towards Portia, because bro should know that Portia ain't near qualified for the job, it was literally given to her by the CEO without a choice. I have a bit of a lore prediction that Teneson dragged Portia all the way to Ambasa city is to prove herself and maybe earn her original team back. Because he did say that she had to work under him. I'm honestly wondering if Portia's changed, like personality wise, we haven't seen her for a while and being near so many toxic people like Teneson and Cortes has to do numbers on her mental health. And unlike Quincy who has friends now by his side, Portia doesn't. It'd be sick to see Portia crash out at Riffraff because of everything. Because the girl has been quite silent about her feelings about him. (Bro is said to be her father in some way, so I mean that, don't think anything otherwise.) Perhaps I'm just rambling a bit, but it's just some Food for Mind.

[lorekeeperdigo]

The Ilex Forest Shrine

Note 3

What happened? I’m so tired I can’t even move my body. I don’t know how to explain but… did we travel through time? All of my questions from this morning: the answer is yes, yes, yes! We met Celebi.

A few hours ago, what was I doing? We arrived at the peaceful shrine, one of the few areas in the forest where the sunlight shone through with all of its heat. Roselia was sunbathing, charging her body through chlorophyll. I sat down in front of the shrine taking out from my bag some gifts I took for the time traveller. Some candied fruits, a rose incense (Roselia’s favourite) and a small bouquet of fresh flowers. While I was arranging the gifts on a cloth, the GS-ball popped out and dropped on the rocks, resonating with a metallic sound.

After a little bit, an unusual sound came from inside the small wooden shrine. Roselia stopped dancing and came closer to me, a bit scared of that unusual music. Even the curious Hoothoot sat on my shoulder, he was looking at me moving his head to the left and the right.

We got closer to the shrine, the gentle sound of a flute came from within the sacred monument. I lit up the incense and the smoke whirlpooled around us magically. The music was getting louder and with my shaky hand I gently opened the shrine’s door. The GS-ball floated in the air, like if something was playing with it. The ball landed into the shrine and we heard a gentle laugh. The shape of Celebi appeared from the darkness, playing with their power of invisibility. Celebi jumped out and touched my nose, Roselia’s rose hand and Hoothoot’s beak. We started to float. Even if we were all scared, I could see the Celebi was just trying to play with us, hiding their small smile with their tiny hands.

With a blink of an eye, a bright violet and yellow light flashed around us. We catapulted in a twist of wind and we felt in a completely different place: a flower garden, on top of a wider hill. In the middle a monumental rock, probably a stony shrine that I couldn’t recognise. It was so much colder and the sun was already setting down (dawn at 4 p.m., impossible!).

I looked around, Roselia was safe on my belly and Hoothoot was flying over my head, coming towards me. I couldn’t move much, the gusts of wind were so strong that I had to keep an arm around my face and my two little friends near my chest. Next to us, the laughing Celebi turned back visible, unbothered by the strength of the wind. I tried to focus on the architectural piece away from us: a large rocky column, covered in moss.

The wind blew away the dusty clouds. I couldn’t believe my eyes: around the ancient structure, a hooded Pokémon trainer was fighting against a creature I never saw before, a greenish gray tangle of vines, branches and mud… a monster made of dying nature.

The shape of the decaying monster was beating their wings creating the blasts of wind all around us. I could smell old leaves and freshly cut grass. The hooded trainer punched the sky with their fist, he probably screamed something. In the moment a glowing azul beam surrounded the Pokémon in front of him: a strong and feary Noctowl. The flying Pokémon's body got covered in a light blue crystal skin and a giant stained-glass pair of wings appeared floating above them… was it the terastal phenomenon that my Paldean friends always talk about?

Celebi flyed near the unknown trainer and whispered something in their ear. The trainer turned toward me and I saw, under the cloak, the uniform of my university, maybe he’s someone I know, anyway he was too far away for me to be able to recognize him.

I tried to scream but my voice was lost in the wind. The trainer gave Celebi a little shiny something and turned his back to me, facing the giant plant monster. Celebi came toward me and gave me the small crystal he took from the stranger: a purple tera shard.

When I took it in my hand the strangest thing happened. I did study before the Paldean terastal phenomenon, but I never witnessed something like that: the blueish diamond skin of Noctowl turned transparent dark purple and the winged tera jewel shattered, dissolving in sparkles. A new tera jewel appeared, a ghosty phantom surrounded by shiny purple must. I finally heard the man scream to his Pokémon to attack, « Night Shade, c’mon ! ». Something in his voice, it was familiar but still strange. The boosted Noctowl was surrounded by a dark energy cloud and attacked the mossy monster. Instant change of tera type, is it possible?

I wanted to help, but I couldn’t. The wind was so strong that Hoothoot was taken away. I had to think fast. Celebi, smiling, pointed at the GS-ball. My motion was automatic, I had to save that poor creature. While the fight was evolving in the background, I captured Hoothoot with the precious ball. Safe in my hand, Celebi looked at me and it took us back to the Ilex Forest, travelling through the light beam portal.

While travelling through the portal (maybe a time portal?), we could hear a gentle flute but, unfortunately, I can’t remember much of the melody. We felt on the leafy ground of the Ilex Forest, and the doors of the shrine shut immediately… Celebi was gone.

[punjab-official]

I never thought I'd see the day where we'd get one of these character design planning sheets...

I love today!!

also @whaleaddict13 @tentavision @inkyyasteroid @eli-spyke in case you didn't see yet

wow i wish my phone wasnt crunching this. translated version and original

[jade-mythriil]

The Angel of Dimensions

Jade Mythriil was a Lorekeeper. But he was different from the other Lorekeepers. He wasn't a fragment of the Mithel_Celestia's soul like the other Lorekeepers. He was a spawn - the only spawn - of the Mithel_Celestia, born from the union between him and a mortal from the origin realm; this happened before the Lorekeepers was even formed.

Back before the Lorekeepers and the Other-realms existed, there was the first realm - the Origin Realm. During the time of the origin realm, the Mithel_Celestia was very proud of his creation. They wanted to be among their creations and so started mingling with the inhabitants of the realm and the inhabitants were very happy with his presence.

One day they took a liking to one of the mortal inhabitants of the realm and she took a liking to him too. Their love eventually spawned Jade. He was not a Lorekeeper back then; He wasn't even an Aethereal. He was a mortal inhabitant living with his mother and they had a happy life together. But the paradise did not last.

The Void was angry. It wanted revenge for Time encroaching on its domain and brought its wrath to the guardian of the realm, the Mithel_Celestia. It pierced through the veil separating the realm from the all-consuming Void and started consuming everything. This was the first time the Void ever attacked a realms and it almost wiped all of creation.

In order to preserve it, the Mithel_Celestia could only do one thing: They needed to use an Aetheral Artifact, the Reality Helix, to preserve all of creation before the Void could consume it all. But to do that, the Origin Realm had to be wiped clean of both the Voidcs corruption and its inhabitants.

The Mithel_Celestia had no choice but to erase everything including his only love in order to preserve creation and it was the hardest decision they've ever made.

After the Reality Helix absorbed all records of creation, the Origin Realm ceased to exist and the Void was once again thrown back to its domain.

Nothing remained of the Origin Realm. Except for one. It was the only remnant that survived the cleansing; the lost soul of his only spawn, Jade.

Feeling obligated to not only take care his only spawn but also all of creation, the Mithel_Celestia split his soul and assigned them the task of remaking all of creation but splitting them into different realms so that the Void would not destroy it all again. The Lorekeepers had been formed and the creation of the Other-realms had commenced.

Eons passed and the lost soul had finally developed into a proper Aethereal with no memory of his past. He was given the name Jade Mythriil and given the task of protecting the realms from the Void. Everything went smoothly until one of the realms Jade had been watching had an unexpected breach. He tried to contain it but every time he did, another breach would pop in. Eventually the realm became overwhelmed by the void. The Lorekeeper's Protocol dictated the realm be wiped clean and start over to prevent the Void from consuming the realm, but somehow the mortal side of Jade didn't want to let go of it.

Just as he thought everything was lost, a fellow Lorekeeper approached him. It was Omen, the personal apprentice of the Mithel_Celestia. They saw his plight and knew of a way to prevent the void from destroying the realm.

The only way to save it was to use the Reality Helix. It contained records of every realm created by each Lorekeeper down to the exact moment in time. If Jade could use the Helix to restore the realm back to a point in time before the Void had breached it, he could oreserve the realm and get another chance at protecting it.

Jade knew where the Artifact was held but it was kept away somewhere secluded to prevent the Void from finding it. It would only be used in special cases where wiping a realm isn't an option. But Jade was desperate.

He lead Omen to the helix, hoping Omen would help Jade use it. When the Helix was in Jade's grasp, he got ready to use.

But Omen had other plans. Using powers that Jade had not known a Lorekeeper to wield, Omen had thrown Jade aside and pinned him under a black mass. Omen revealed his intentions to be evil as he wanted to use the Helix to destroy the protective veil surrounding the Other-realms and allow the void to consume all of reality as revenge for the Mithel_Celestia casting him aside and betraying him.

Jade struggled to get out of the black mass and stop Omen, but as Omen was about to destroy the veil, a power inside Jade awoke and a bright light enveloped the room.

Jade grabbed hold of the Helix from Omen's clutches and use his soul to fragment the Helix into pieces and scatter them throughout the realms. Once the light receded, Omen had already escaped. But Jade was too weak after he fragmented his soul to prevent Omen from getting his hands on Reality Helix.

On the verge of disappearing, Jade laid back and allowed his essence to dissipate throughout the Other-realms. But before he disappeared completely, the Mithel_Celestia appeared before him. Having pity for his only spawn, the Mithel_Celestia transferred a large portion of his power to Jade and gathered what little was left of the Reality Helix to merge it with Jade's soul.

Jade was slowly regaining his form, but the Mithel_Celestia had one last act to do. With the Reality Helix fragmented, each of the realms are protected from the Void. But the Arcane Archives where the Lorekeepers reside was now unprotected from an attack from the Void.

To keep the Archive's safe, the Mithel_Celestia spent the last of his power creating a new veil before his soul fell dormant.

With guilt of not only losing the Reality Helix but also the loss of the Mithel_Celestia weighing on him, Jade must now find a way to collect his fragmented souls and find the lost fragments of the Reality Helix before Omen could use it to destroy the realms.

[dullahandyke]

Kingdom hearts the game series of all time. It's a technothriller, it presents you with lore in a confusing and unreliable way because all the lorekeepers have imperfect knowledge and their own agendas, it's dripping with plurality, it's a story about how your home is cursed and you cannot escape it and you have to leave it, it's an intertextual exploration of childhood and growing up, it's got ancient clans of child soldiers with robed leaders in animal masks, it shows you ten different versions of the same character and makes you ask which ones are distinct and which ones are real and what the difference is, it defines the Heart as quantifiable discrete proof of sentience and circles edge cases and asks things like what happens when it's fractured and how does the lack of a heart impact your personhood and can you imbue a heart upon that which never had it and the answer is yes because pinocchio