Dev Diary 3 - The Kingbreaker Codex Part 1

Despite my best efforts, I am British. 

The British Isles are a fascinating place. Over the last two hundred years we have homogenised into a general sense of “Britishness”, but these isles of mine are home to a proud and profoundly strange folkloric tradition stretching back 3,000 years. There is one recurring myth found across the UK that formed the basis of Kingbreaker’s lore: The King in the Mountain.

For those unfamiliar, this is a common motif across several cultural traditions: A noble ruler enters a period of stasis, appearing to the world to be lost or dead until they return when they are needed most. We see this in the legends of King Arthur, Fionn MacCool, Charlamagne, King David, and Aang the Last Airbender. What makes the British Isles so unusual is the sheer density of this myth here. In addition to the aforementioned Arthur and MacCool, we have the promised return of Merlin, Brân the Blessed, the giant of Plynlimon, the wretched Gogmagog, Thomas the Rhymer, the Seven Sleepers, Owain Glyndŵr, King Dunmail, Garret the Great, Earl Gearóid, and Sir Francis Drake to look forward to. 

With so many slumbering sovereigns lurking beneath the surface of the UK, it felt only natural to ask the question: What happens if they all come back at the same time? 

That’s where the plot of Kingbreaker comes from. 

The Day of Crowns 

Kingbreaker: The Crownday Festival takes place in a post-apocolyptic medieval land known as the Isles of Providence (or, more commonly, “These Isles”), around 300 after a cataclysmic divine event known as the Day of Crowns (also called the King’s Day). On the King’s Day, six ancient rulers were resurrected by the divine entity known as Providence to watch over the land and steer it towards a new era of peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, the Six Kings began to battle one another, soon becoming locked in an endless war. These kings were the giant King Kowres, the pious Saint Annalise, the tricksy Prester Willem, the bestial King Mathra, the pitious Parzefal, and the mad Aethelred. 

These Isles

Once the seat of a powerful and prosperous empire, These Isles were devastated by the coming of the King’s Day. Consisting of a scattered archipelago of temperate, rocky islands in the middle of a cold northern sea, These Isles are homes to the survivors of the King’s Day - as well as the monsters, undead, and spirits that were conjured up in its wake.  

The Kingbreaker

Seeing the turmoil that has ravished These Isles, the almighty Providence saw fit to bless a new breed of warrior: the Kingbreaker. These mighty souls are blessed with deathlessness, for each time they perish in combat they are born anew. Each Kingbreaker is spurred by a single, all-encompassing task - to seek out the Six Kings, and destroy them once and for all. 

Of course this is no mean feat, and only the bravest, strongest, and most cunning warriors may be blessed with the title of Kingbreaker. To determine the worth of potential candidates, These Isles are host to the annual Crownday Festival, in which knights, wizards, knaves and scoundrels of all stripes compete for the blessing of eternal life under Providence. 

That should give you enough of a primer of the lore and setting of Kingbreaker: The Crownday Festival. Over the next few months I’ll be sharing more detailed lore breakdowns about the characters, deities, and nations of the setting, but for now I will leave you with a simple bit of advice: 

If an ancient king emerges from a cave and tells you that the country needs him more than ever, hit him with a sword and get out of there.