A note from the railThe Crow's ledger
The Crow lives on the Trunk's iron side rail. It notices choices, never hidden opponent information, and it will not change a deck without its owner's say. Its entries put recorded history beside tactical observations. Threads marked as Crow's annotations connect stories; they are clues and interpretations, not new combat rules.
Card lore adds context only. The printed card rules and the current game build decide what happens in a match.
The card souls across millenniaA long ledger of the dead
B.B. means Before Binding; A.B. means After Binding. Year 0 A.B. marks the earliest surviving record of a soul remaining in card form. These are the Crow’s reconstructed dates, not precise dates given by the surviving stories. Champions belong to the present-day contest and are intentionally absent from this chronology.
c. 200 B.B.The crown without a king
An empty suit of armor is buried with a crown. Petitions and taxes continue to arrive long after the burial; the first tales of The Hollow Regent
The Hollow RegentC12 · 6 energy · 5/7The crown was buried with an empty suit of armor, yet the taxes continued to arrive.Read this folio → follow.
Card folios: The Hollow Regent
The Hollow RegentC12 · 6 energy · 5/7The crown was buried with an empty suit of armor, yet the taxes continued to arrive.Read this folio →
0 A.B.The First Binding
The oldest surviving ledger records a soul remaining in the mortal world in card form. This marks the calendar's beginning, though the first soul's name has been lost.
c. 400 A.B.Petitions to the empty throne
The petitions keep arriving for the buried crown. The armor that will become The Hollow Regent
The Hollow RegentC12 · 6 energy · 5/7The crown was buried with an empty suit of armor, yet the taxes continued to arrive.Read this folio → gradually learns to answer them.
Card folios: The Hollow Regent
The Hollow RegentC12 · 6 energy · 5/7The crown was buried with an empty suit of armor, yet the taxes continued to arrive.Read this folio →
c. 900 A.B.The city beneath the water
A prophet is lowered into a reservoir. Her voice outlives the people who tried to silence it; those who seek tomorrow learn to pay with memory.
Card folios: The Drowned Oracle
The Drowned OracleC07 · 3 energy · 2/4They lowered her into the reservoir to silence a prophecy.Read this folio →
c. 1500 A.B.The unmarked dead
As districts rise over older graves, the Grave Lantern Keeper
Grave Lantern KeeperC04 · 2 energy · 2/3The keeper lights a lantern for every grave the city refuses to mark.Read this folio → begins lighting a flame for each burial the city refuses to record.
Card folios: Grave Lantern Keeper
Grave Lantern KeeperC04 · 2 energy · 2/3The keeper lights a lantern for every grave the city refuses to mark.Read this folio →
c. 1900 A.B.The bells go silent
The plague bells stop. A hungry thing climbs the cathedral tower and swallows its bronze. Stories of The Bell-Eater
The Bell-EaterC08 · 4 energy · 3/5When the plague bells stopped, something beneath the cathedral began to starve.Read this folio → spread through sleeping wards.
Card folios: The Bell-Eater
The Bell-EaterC08 · 4 energy · 3/5When the plague bells stopped, something beneath the cathedral began to starve.Read this folio →
c. 2200 A.B.The first broken mirror
A reflection steps out before its dancer has finished the final step. The Mirror-Fang Dancer
Mirror-Fang DancerC05 · 3 energy · 3/3Her reflection learned the final step before she did.Read this folio →'s story begins with two shadows no witness can agree on.
Card folios: Mirror-Fang Dancer
Mirror-Fang DancerC05 · 3 energy · 3/3Her reflection learned the final step before she did.Read this folio →
c. 2500 A.B.The house with the nursery
Avel makes a living beetle's armor from her last thimble. Generations of mortal households follow. The final family leaves around 2900 A.B.; the Thimble Knight
Thimble KnightC02 · 2 energy · 1/4A seamstress fashioned his armor from her last thimble and asked him to guard the nursery door.Read this folio →'s hundred silent winters begin then.
Card folios: Thimble Knight
Thimble KnightC02 · 2 energy · 1/4A seamstress fashioned his armor from her last thimble and asked him to guard the nursery door.Read this folio →
c. 2700 A.B.The winter supper
The Waxwork Matron
Waxwork MatronC10 · 4 energy · 2/6She casts a new face for every child the winter takes, setting them around a supper that never cools.Read this folio → begins setting faces for children lost to winter. Candlelight from her table becomes a recurring mark in the Crow's later accounts.
Card folios: Waxwork Matron
Waxwork MatronC10 · 4 energy · 2/6She casts a new face for every child the winter takes, setting them around a supper that never cools.Read this folio →
c. 2860 A.B.The theater fire
A duelist returns from a locked theater with ash braided into her sleeves. She starts leaving ribbons beside vanished names.
Card folios: Ash-Ribbon Duelist
Ash-Ribbon DuelistC03 · 2 energy · 3/2She once fought duels for silk ribbons and applause.Read this folio →
c. 2940 A.B.The wick in the drains
A small thief gathers forgotten flames beneath the candle shops, searching the lost wishes for his own name. One account places a wick from the winter supper among them.
Card folios: The Wick Thief
The Wick ThiefC01 · 1 energy · 1/2Beneath the candle shops, a small thief gathers the wicks nobody remembers lighting.Read this folio → · Waxwork Matron
Waxwork MatronC10 · 4 energy · 2/6She casts a new face for every child the winter takes, setting them around a supper that never cools.Read this folio →
c. 2990 A.B.The condemned kite
A boy folds a kite from the notice of his execution. It returns whenever gallows rise, carrying stolen knots through the city's air.
Card folios: Gallows Kite
Gallows KiteC11 · 5 energy · 5/4A condemned boy folded this kite from the notice of his own execution.Read this folio →
c. 3000 A.B. · presentThe souls remain
These lives persist in card form in the mortal world. The Crow's folios keep their past visible while players decide what they do at the table.
Card folios: The Wick Thief
The Wick ThiefC01 · 1 energy · 1/2Beneath the candle shops, a small thief gathers the wicks nobody remembers lighting.Read this folio → · The Hollow Regent
The Hollow RegentC12 · 6 energy · 5/7The crown was buried with an empty suit of armor, yet the taxes continued to arrive.Read this folio →