Under the cork-oak
Everything in the Scalelist Universe hangs from one tree, beats in one rhythm and is counted on one board.
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is a cork-oak older than counting. He stands in Scalelist, the prime realm, and his roots reach into every other realm: he is why nine worlds are one universe and not nine. When a realm dies, Ferdinand bleeds cork. When a realm is born, he grows a new branch.
Ferdinand remembers every wound. Where a cork-oak is struck hard enough and often enough it grows a burl, the hardest wood on the tree. Ferdinand grew nine, and they became the Scarwood. His fallen bark is the only wood that floats on the Current, which is why the crew's ship is built from it.
The currency of the realms is the Cork Coin.
The nine realms
Scalelist · the Prime
Where Ferdinand stands. Home of the board, the Order and Glasheim.
Codexia
The realm of books, where the Library keeps the Codices.
Trinity
Whatever dies here comes back slightly altered.
Astralis
The realm of stars.
Helios
The realm of light, with nine steps to its throne.
Heartbeat
The northern realm of lakes and pines, where a cabin waits.
Thanatos
The realm of the dead, and the river they cross.
The Null
Not a place so much as an absence: the eater at the edge of everything.
Void-II
Never shown.
The Current
Between the realms runs the Current, a sea of moving starlight. Islands drift in it: worlds too small to be realms and too stubborn to sink. The map is never the same twice. Close to the realms lie the Shallows, where a bark-hulled ship and a good navigator are enough. Past the Mouth, the Deep Current has no north at all.
The Scalelist
The Scalelist is the public board that ranks every soul in the realms. The Order assigns the ranks, from K-I to K-V, and every fighter wears their plate: NAME · K-RANK TITLE · Scalelist #N.
| Rank | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| K-I | UNMARKED | Ordinary people. Most of the world. |
| K-II | MARKED | A sin-mark has woken. |
| K-III | TESTED | Proven in the Arena or in the field. |
| K-IV | SHAPED | Power shaped into something rare. |
| K-V | ARCHITECT | The Council that built the board. |
| ∞−1 | OFF THE LIST | Vigolas. The board cannot number him. |
| — | NOT RANKED | Mingus. He is the unit everything is measured in. |
Every power has a price. The board only counts the power.
Sins & colours
Every power in the realms grows from one of seven sins, and every sin has its colour. A sin-mark shows where the power lives on the body.