What worlds and paths await you as you navigate the World of the Written…
The Book of Lore is a webcomic by Ted Bishop, the creator of Trader Lydia, with Gamebooks-style segments. There are two versions of the webcomic: short-form entries
available through his DeviantArt account, and long-form entries on Ted Bishop's website Owl Quill.The comic's Framing Device focuses on the guardians of the titular Book of Lore, also known as "Lorecrafters", who have the power to manipulate the worlds described within its pages. Thus far, there are six major settings described within the Book:
In addition to these main settings, there are also various "Paralogue" stories, such as Starrweald, Woodland Wanderings, Labyrinth of the Bound, Fangs of the Dragon, Ohmens of the Future, and The Forked Road. There is also a spin-off called Breakthrough co-created with another artist, which was put on hiatus in 2018.
Tropes:
- Alliance of Alternates: Characters from the "Lore" occasionally end up crossing paths with another version of themselves and working together for a common goal.
- The Paralogue "Labyrinth of the Bound" stars Marcus from "Machines of War", who finds himself having to team up with an opposite-gender version of himself that had previously fought with other versions of Marcus against an evil version of himself.
- In the parallel world where "Starrweald" takes place, there have been six different rulers of the kingdom of Harmonia named Roya, including a Winter Royal Lady and a warrior queen, in addition to the Roya that originates from "Another Princess Story" and gets sucked into that world. Upon doing some investigation, the seventh Roya learns that her predecessors were not ancestors, but versions of her from other routes that became lost in the fae-enchanted Starrweald forest and warped to this alternate realm at different points in its history.
- Ascended Extra: Eliza Serdste and Beth Taberna were originally a pair of recurring extras in "Another Princess Story", being the kingdom mean girls responsible for getting Roya accidentally cursed by a witch in several stories. After awhile, the two began getting more prominence outside of Roya's story, their characterizations shifting to make Eliza more akin to a Lovable Alpha Bitch and Beth akin to more sensible Shrinking Violet, eventually resulting in the two gaining their own story in "Woodland Wanderings", before eventually becoming True Companions with Marisa, the lead of "Unicorn Trail", and Brynhild, the tritagonist of "Mechanics of War", in turn making them intrinsic to the foundations of the Book of Lore, to the point Beth is a frequent target of the Boundman.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The three princesses from "Another Princess Story" fit this; eldest sister Olyvia is the Brains but also socially distant, middle sister Roya is the Beauty that has a "motherly" nature towards their subjects, and youngest sister Geenya is the Tomboy Princess Brawn that would rather fight battles than rule.
- Big Bad: While each story has there own main villain, the series as a whole has "The Order of the Last Page", a group of Lorecrafters led by a man named Mordred, who may or may not have any relation to the figure from Arthurian legends, whose goal is to change the stories and preserve them at the cost of the destruction of the story's inhabitants with the group only seeing the residents as just ink. Many of the villains from the book's chapters are later revealed to also have connections to the group like the Overlord of TraVania from "Another Princess Story" who uses their ink to keep his memories of the alternate branches as well as create his army of soldiers from it as well, the Boundman from "Unicorn Trail" who is actually a creation of Isaiah from the group, and Omnicules from "Fangs of the Dragon" where Yvette is later revealed to have corrupted the monster to continue attacking Darin after it should have been defeated.
- Computer Virus: Alice, from "Cyber Road", is a sentient virus that attempts to pull a Grand Theft Me on Ashley's body while Ashley's consciousness is connected to cyberspace.
- Connected All Along: Initially, the various stories seemed to all be independent stories collected in the titular "Book of Lore", with nothing really connecting them in terms of characters or setting outside of the Lorecrafter's interference. This changed with the "True" Lore of "Cyber Road", revealing it to be a Stealth Prequel to the rest of the Lore, the setting now being set After the End following an apocalyptic event caused by the virus Alice, and giving way to "A Knight's End", where the titular knight Merek befriends the young sage Gavin and becomes enemies with the Glory Seeker Griflet, who would go on to become the Royal Sage and Overlord of "Another Princess Story" respectively, as well as becoming the grandfather of siblings Darin, lead of "Fangs of the Dragon", and Marisa, lead of "Unicorn Trail". From there comes "Another Princess Story" following the three Balogh princesses, with Eliza and Beth eventually breaking off for "Woodland Wanderings" before meeting Marisa in the setting of "Path of the Orient", and getting involved in the story of "Unicorn Trail" while causing a Stable Time Loop by dropping the young Brunhild in the time of "Mechanics of War", before she eventually met up with them again but now much older.
- Crossover: Lydia and some of the other characters from Trader Lydia occasionally play roles within the Lore.
- Forced Transformation: A reoccurring element in the various stories is its protagonists suffering from one, such as Roya being magically transformed into a Pumpkin Person, or Ashley's body undergoing a mutation after exposure to chemicals.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: During certain sections of the chapters, some of the characters notice something wrong and potentially seeing the pages of their stories. One notable example is when looking at the choices for the canon route of "Another Princess Story" page 62 on the Owl Quill website, the options mention the reader attempting to choose an option and being unable to with the Overlord of TraVania able to see the pages himself with both options only leading to page 63. The beginning text of the page has more faded out text underneath it that states that the reader notices the Overlord isn't looking at Olyvia at that moment, but the reader instead as they try to change the outcome in futility with the voice of the Overlord telling them not to even bother. The Overlord has this ability because he absorbed Lorecrafter ink and knows he's just in a story because of it.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: In "Another Princess Story", Queen "Bloody" Mary, the mother of the three siblings, turns out to still be alive; she simply abandoned her family for holding her back and aligned herself with the Overlord of TraVania to gain dark magic. In some routes, she even attempts to kill her own family with a pair of hatchets when they try to stop her.
- Griping About Gremlins: One of the main characters of "Mechanics of War" is Skully, a female gremlin that snuck aboard the airship that Marcus was aboard to raid its technology, only to end up forming an alliance with him when greater trouble occurs.
- Hyperlink Story: All of the tales within the Book of Lore are directly connected to each other despite their vastly different settings, with characters occasionally crossing from one tale to another, such as Oly from "Mechanics of War" potentially bumping into a young Marisa from "Unicorn Trail" and her two aunts who are actually older versions of Eliza and Beth from "Another Princess Story", or Gavin the royal mage from "Another Princess Story" appearing as a little kid in " A Knight's End" since the story takes place decades before the former. In the Owl Quill version of the canonical "Another Princess Story" route, Roya's trial to get titania's powers was changed from the Deviantart version with all of the pixies changed into silkworms and Valja getting tied up by them as a mysterious bugcatcher with oriental clothing like the ones seem in "Path of the Orient" hunting Roya down with her other versions contacting her through the sword.
- Intrepid Fictioneer: The Lorecrafters of "The Book of Lore" can use their magic to directly interact with the book's stories, sometimes even changing the outcome of the stories themselves.
- The Lost Lenore: In some branches of "Another Princess Story", Roya meets and falls in love with a man named Jack, who starts out as a jester before becoming Roya's knight and then falling in battle while trying to protect her, leaving behind both Roya and Someone to Remember Him By.
- Pretending to Be One's Own Relative: In some branches of "Another Princess Story", Roya is magically transformed into an older and curvaceous form that resembles her aunt Regina. It then turns out that there is no "Regina"; all instances of her are actually transformed versions of Roya, either time-displaced or from different branches of her story that have crossed over, with a side-effect of the magical transformation altering perceptions so that she always belonged.
- Princess Classic: Roya Balogh, from "Another Princess Story", is the middle child of the rulers of Harmonia, and known for her kindness and compassion.
- Rebellious Princess: Geenya Balogh, Roya and Olyvia's younger sister, would prefer that one of her sisters inherit the throne so that she can take up a sword and go on adventures. Ironically, in the "Canon" ending to their tale, after Roya is transformed into a Fae and Olyvia considers herself undeserving after falling under the Overlord's sway, Geenya ends up as Harmonia's next Queen.
- Ripple-Proof Memory: Despite the alternate paths that can be taken in the chapters of the stories, some characters appear to keep their memories of alternate branches such as the Overlord of TraVania, Tenrus, Darin and Magnus, and Olyvia after she is freed from the Overlord's control but still has a part of the power he used to corrupt her. This is later revealed to be because they have either absorbed Lorecrafter Ink like the Overlord and Olyvia or because they are an imagina like Magnus who can see beyond the story.
- Steampunk: "Mechanics of War" is set in the nation of Brittania where steam-powered airships and robots are commonplace, with its focal protagonists Marcus and Oly Baroque working as professional tinkerers.
- Thanatos Gambit: In the climax of the "Canon" route of "Another Princess Story", King Balogh fights against his eldest daughter Olyvia after she's been corrupted by dark magic, feeding off of her resentment for not inheriting the crown, and Olyvia fatally wounds him. Olyvia suddenly regains her senses and is instantly regretful of her actions, with the King admitting in his final moments that if he had won and subdued her, she would have just hated him more and the darkness in her heart would have completely taken over.
- Those Two Guys: Played with regarding Eliza Serdste and Beth Taberna. The two were initially this in "Another Princess Story", a pair of best friends who are rarely seen separated and acting as the stereotypical "mean girls". They would eventually gain more prominent roles, acting as the leads in "Woodland Wanderings" and secondary characters in "Unicorn Trail", while also having their characterizations made more distinct and gaining more individual focus.
- Token Good Teammate: Quentin is a member of the Order of the Last Page, but he also doesn't see Written as nothing more than ink in the book like the rest of the Order. Because of this, when he meets the cosmic version of Ashley after she breaks out of her story, he helps disguise her as one of his Inkpots and tricks Mordred with it. As thanks, she helps act as his spy for the rest of the order.
