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The MC's Corebound Origin

PROPOSED TERM: Corebound — provisional working label for the MC's mortal-vessel state, inheriting from ul-hero-calling.md's universe-scope Corebound fact. The term is proposed at universe scope and proposed here pending confirmation.

PROPOSED TERM: [Zone Wardheart name] — the specific Crown-Wardheart of the starting Zone whose decay released the MC has no committed name yet.

Scope​

This file owns the Game 1 protagonist's specific origin story: caught by an old Hero Calling invoked in a prior era, delayed in transit through Shroud disruption during the Final Battle, released centuries later by the failing Crown-Wardheart of the starting Zone into a nearby survivable pocket within that anchor's pull radius, and arriving without a divine mark. It is the Game 1 instantiation of ul-hero-calling.md's Corebound fact applied to this specific protagonist; the universe-scope mechanism (Accord of Intervention, Calling structure, Shroud thickening) lives in the ul-* files. This file does not narrate the cosmology — it states the Game 1 specific consequences.

Facts​

Fact: The MC was caught in a Hero Calling invoked in a prior era​

The MC was the target of a Hero Calling invoked under the Accord of Intervention before the current Afterwar — that is, in the era of the prior Cycle peak. The specific invoking god, the cost paid, and the original target crisis are deferred per ul-hero-calling.md's bible-only and proposed entries; what is committed is that the Calling existed and that the MC is its delayed arrival.

Canonicity: hard canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md

Fact: The Shroud's thickening during the Final Battle interrupted and stored the summoning in transit​

The Final Battle that closed the prior Cycle peak coincided with severe Shroud disruption. The MC's Calling was already in transit when the Shroud thickened or distorted along the divine-to-mortal path; the summoning did not fail outright, but it was interrupted and effectively stored — held in a state that did not resolve to mortal-world arrival until centuries later. The mechanism is not narrated in Game 1.

Canonicity: soft canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-shroud.md, ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md Exposure note: hinted only per lh-game1-cosmology-hooks.md. The Shroud's role is never stated as cosmological mechanism in Game 1.

Fact: The failing Crown-Wardheart of the starting Zone released the MC​

The MC's stored summoning was released by the decay of the starting Zone's Crown-Wardheart — the major anchor whose failing Ancient Shield defines the Zone's degraded state. Specifically, the disruption from the failing anchor is what completed the long-delayed arrival, pulling the stored vessel into the mortal world inside a constrained nearby pocket within the anchor's pull radius rather than depositing them cleanly on the anchor itself. This is why the MC arrives in this anchor-haunted pocket and not another.

Canonicity: hard canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-wardhearts-and-nexuses.md, gl-afterwar-state.md

Fact: The MC arrived without a divine mark​

The Calling's god-mark never attached. Because the summoning was disrupted in transit by Shroud thickening, the divine signature that a clean Calling produces (per ul-hero-calling.md) did not complete on the MC's arrival. The MC carries no recognizable divine mark to other divinely-attuned senses; the Shroud-shielding effect that protects Called heroes from demon perception does not apply.

Canonicity: hard canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md, ../universe/ul-divine-layer.md, ../universe/ul-shroud.md

Fact: The MC's condition is Corebound​

PROPOSED TERM: Corebound — the MC instantiates the universe-scope Corebound pattern described in ul-hero-calling.md: a mortal vessel drawn to a Wardheart anchor without a clean, fully-paid divine mark. The MC is a delayed, partial, anchor-pulled arrival rather than a Called hero in the standard sense. The term is the same proposed working label used at universe scope; Game 1 does not commit it as final canon.

Canonicity: proposed Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md, ../universe/ul-wardhearts-and-nexuses.md Exposure note: hinted only per lh-game1-cosmology-hooks.md. The Corebound pattern is suggested by the MC's situation; the mechanism is not narrated.

Fact: The MC has no hero-class powers​

The MC has no Calling-granted divine signature, no hero-class abilities, and no mark-derived powers. What the MC brings to the Zone is mortal capability — Earth-origin background skills (see gl-mc-earthborn-backgrounds.md), individual aptitude, and acquired learning — not a god's gift. The MC's location in the failing anchor's orbit is explained by the anchor's pull, not by a hero-class destiny that demanded the player.

Canonicity: hard canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md, gl-mc-earthborn-backgrounds.md

Fact: The MC is bound to this specific Nexus because the failing anchor is what released them into its pull radius​

The MC is not in the starting pocket by convenience. The Wardheart's decay state is the disruption that completed the stored summoning; the bond between MC and anchor is causal, not narrative. The Core that the MC establishes in Act 0 sits on this anchor for the same reason the MC was drawn into its surrounding pocket. Other Nexuses on the continent did not release the MC because they did not undergo the specific decay event that this one did.

Canonicity: hard canon for Game 1 Cross-refs: ../universe/ul-wardhearts-and-nexuses.md, gl-afterwar-state.md

Fact: The specific Zone Wardheart name is deferred​

PROPOSED TERM: [Zone Wardheart name] — the specific Crown-Wardheart of the starting Zone has no committed name. It is referred to as "the starting Wardheart" or "the Zone's Crown-Wardheart" in deferred terms. The name will be committed by a future content wave.

Canonicity: proposed

Cross-references​

  • ../universe/ul-hero-calling.md
  • ../universe/ul-shroud.md
  • ../universe/ul-wardhearts-and-nexuses.md
  • ../universe/ul-divine-layer.md
  • gl-afterwar-state.md
  • gl-mc-earthborn-backgrounds.md
  • ../hooks/lh-game1-cosmology-hooks.md
  • ../hooks/lh-game1-world-hooks.md