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Threadbare Plot

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Stephen Reid edited this page Oct 7, 2026 · 58 revisions

Status: In development. This page sets out the first full plot for the main body of Threadbare: the LoreQuests of the StoryWeaver's journey. Details will change as the plot is refined. Where this page and another wiki page disagree, raise it with Creative Direction.

Summary

In the beginning, the FirstSpun, If, Once and Ever, wove the Great Weave on the First Loom. No one knows where they came from, or who they were, and they are legends only now...but their loom remains. On this loom they wove Knot, the first Elder, woven from a comiunation of and sent Knot down to the Great Weave with the Loom, from then on called the Eternal Loom, to continue the creation of the world. Knot was charged with the task of building and maintaining a perfect world, from the silence that surrounded them on their first steps on the Great Weave to all that would come thereafter, and Knot set out to do just that. The Loom was made with three elements, one gift from each of the FirstSpun - If's Spindle, Once's Warp Stones and Ever's Shuttle. Together these gifts allowed the Eternal Loom to make things that had never existed before, the loom powered by stories, and autonomous in its creative process. Every new story told anywhere in the world became a new thread, and Knot would weave it into new life. But the thing about life is, it is messy, unpredictable, and far from perfect. Knot had no real control of what emerged from the Loom. They struggled with the rate of new stories, the diversity of new life. Plants, animals, Threadlings and all manner of other creatures. Villages, towns and cities, then entire regions anew. A forest here, a desert there, a mountain range to the North and lakes to the South. None of which Knot had considered or created.

Then Knot discovered the Song Sanctuaries, a land that sang and hummed and whistled, and they could not bear it. In the first of their Three Denials, Knot refused to weave another new thing, abandoned the Loom, and renamed themselves Not. For thousands of years, Not wandered the Great Weave studying the absurdity of what they considered the Chaos of Creation. These memories were recorded in their own book, while the Loom went on weaving without them, and the world both grew and grew worn, until it was threadbare.

Seeing that Knot no longer kept the world, and in answer to the First Denial, the FirstSpun wove new Elders and sent them to the Great Weave. Three of them, the LoomWardens Whim, Echo and Vigil, were set apart to keep the Eternal Loom and carry on its work. Echo, desperate to learn why the first Elder had abandoned such a prestigious post, went looking for Not, and failed to convince them that remembering the world would help, triggering the Second Denial. Not tore the pages from their book and scattered them across the world in defiance of Once's teachings. Not, hearing of the emergence of the mysterious Keepers of Continuity, went looking for the KnitWitches and asked them to cast off the world. The KnitWitches told Not it could not be done, for creation will go on forever. Betrayed and hopeless, Not made the third and final Denial, renamed themselves Null, and disappeared into the Interstice, the gaps in the Weave.

Thousands of years passed. Threadbare thrived, and wore. Then came the LoomLight Festival at LoomLit, and the Legacy of Bobbin Blench - the Void was born, and began to creep across the world. A collective carelessness. A cultural deficit. Null, peering through the Interstice, saw this, and considered it the chance of true perfection - a reset. A world of nothing. The chance to start again. Null returned to Frays End, where the Elders refused them ("Gone is not the same as nothing"), and stole the If's Spindle, Once's Warp Stones and Ever's Shuttle from the Eternal Loom, rendering it useless. The LoomWardens managed to make temporary fixes, allowing it to mend, but no longer create. Null built each stolen element into a dark loom of its own, the three Denial Looms, and hid them in fortresses scattered across the realms, where they continue to give life to creatures made to help the Void along - InkDrinkers, MemoryMoths and Storyvores. These creatures were deployed to assist the spread of the Void. Devouring stories, songs, memories and dreams so communities and entire cultures forget, and fail. Then Null marched North to the WeaveWatch Wale, gathering Obscurists - followers of their call for a perfect world - along the way. They took the Observatory of the Unseen, the academic heart of Threadbare and home of the lenses that can see the whole world, then settled in to watch the world fall.

Many years have passed since. The Void has grown, devouring whole regions and creeping ever closer to Frays End, while Null watches the world fall from the WeaveWatch Wale, in what is now the Observatory of the Obscure. The Eternal Loom still turns at the centre of Frays End, and it can still mend - when an old story is found and brought back to it, the world is healed and the Void held back. But it cannot renew. Nothing new is woven, and the world no longer grows.

The Weave has need of a StoryWeaver. And so, in WeaveWater, the Threadlings call for one, and the Sacred Sewing Machine sews them - to find and relive the world's stories, to recover the three elements, to make the Eternal Loom whole again, and to save Threadbare and the Great Weave.

Timeline

The Beginning

  1. The Great Weaving. The FirstSpun, If, Once and Ever, weave the Great Weave on the First Loom (see The Great Weaving).
  2. Knot is woven. The FirstSpun weave Knot, the first Elder, on the First Loom, and send them to the Great Weave with it, as the Eternal Loom, to continue the creation of the world.

The Fall

  1. The First Denial: Not. Knot discovers the Song Sanctuaries and cannot bear them. They refuse to weave anything new, abandon the Eternal Loom, and rename themselves Not.
  2. The long wandering. Thousands of years pass. Not wanders the Great Weave looking for ways to slow its growth, while the Loom weaves on without them. The world both grows and grows worn, until it is threadbare, and that is how it comes by its name.
  3. The Elders are sent. Seeing that Knot no longer keeps the world, and in answer to the First Denial, the FirstSpun weave new Elders and send them to the Great Weave. Three, the LoomWardens Whim, Echo and Vigil, are set apart to keep the Eternal Loom and continue its work.
  4. The Second Denial: None. Echo fails to convince Not that remembering the world will help. Not tears the pages from their book and scatters them across the world (see The Unbound Book).
  5. The Third Denial: Never. Not asks the KnitWitches to cast off the world. They tell Not it is not possible, and that creation will go on for ever. Betrayed and hopeless, Not makes the third and final Denial, renames themselves Null, and disappears into the Interstice.

The Exile

  1. The long exile. Thousands of years pass, with Null hidden in the Interstice, the closest place they can find to perfection.

The Return

  1. The Void is born. The Legacy of Bobbin Blench unfolds at LoomLit, and the Void is born and begins to creep across the world (see The Legacy of Bobbin Blench). Null wakes, and sees in the Void an opportunity for true perfection.
  2. The Theft of the Elements. Null returns to Frays End and steals the three elements from the Eternal Loom, leaving it able to mend, but no longer to create.
  3. The Denial Looms. Null builds each element into a dark loom of its own, and hides the three looms in fortresses scattered across the realms. The looms give life to creatures made to help the Void: InkDrinkers, MemoryMoths and Storyvores (see The Denial Looms).
  4. The Fall of the Observatory. Null marches North and takes the Observatory of the Unseen, the academic heart of Threadbare and home of the lenses that can see everything in the world. It becomes the Observatory of the Obscure (see The Fall of the Observatory of the Unseen).
  5. The Void grows. Many years pass. The Void devours entire regions and creeps ever closer to Frays End. Null watches the world fall from the WeaveWatch Wale.

The StoryWeaver

  1. Summons for a StoryWeaver. The StoryWeaver is sewn on the Sacred Sewing Machine, in the Summoning Square of WeaveWater (see WeaveWater).
  2. The StoryWeaver's journey. To find and relive stories, to recover the three elements and make the Eternal Loom whole, and to save Threadbare and the Great Weave (see The Story, below).

See the Visual Timeline for a diagram of the timeline.

The Denial Looms

Denial Loom FirstSpun Stolen Element Creatures Region Hidden Fortress
The Not Loom If If's Spindle InkDrinkers and Smudgers The Ink Well The BlotWorks
The None Loom Once Once's Warp Stones MemoryMoths The Remnant Realms (the Memoir Mines) The Keepsake
The Never Loom Ever Ever's Shuttle Storyvores The SunSpun Sands The Lost Library

See The Denial Looms for the full story of each Loom and its fortress.

The Story

Prologue: Summons for a StoryWeaver

In the Summoning Square of WeaveWater, a river town of weavers on the edge of the Fraying, the StoryWeaver is sewn. The Void has taken almost all of WeaveWater, but not the Summoning Square. The town's last Threadlings hang a Calling Cloth, each stitching in a scrap of something they own, or donating old objects, among which are a button, a thimble, and a needle. The town's resident KnitWitch, Wist WishWeaver, begins the long ritual on the Sacred Sewing Machine and keeps watch all night as it thrums through its creative process. The StoryWeaver is sewn from those last loose ends, and wakes to a world in peril. With the button, thimble and needle, they set out for Frays End.

Prologue Missions:

  • Journey to Frays End - The StoryWeaver must take the perilous path to Frays End, accompanied by Tess TreadleFoot, a brave young Threadling of WeaveWater who knows every path out of town.

Act One: Frays End

The StoryWeaver arrives in Frays End. At the centre of the town stands the Eternal Loom, still turning, with three makeshift sockets where the FirstSpun gifts once were. There the StoryWeaver meets the LoomWardens, Whim, Echo and Vigil, and learns what Null took - the Loom can mend the world, but it can no longer make anything new.

The StoryWeaver meets Page PaperPleat and is invited to make a home in the EverLasting Library, and explore it's varied halls. Page gives the StoryWeaver Frith FrayWalker's Letter, the last words of the Elder who walked into the Void, found floating beside the Tangled Temple in the Ink Well. It is their first deep encounter with what the Void really is and what it costs.

Act One Missions:

  • A Light for the Lost - At the water's edge, the Elder Yearn sets a lantern on the water each evening for the lost Lucent Lakes and invites the StoryWeaver to do the same. After gathering the lantern parts, they do so.
  • Will o' the Wisps - The StoryWeaver ventures beyond Frays End to find the WishWisps lost in the wilderness, and guide each one back to safety. One becomes their companion, and gifts them its wishes.

Act One ends with the LoomWardens' charge: find Null's three Denial Looms, destroy them, and bring the elements home.

Act Two: The Three Denial Looms

The three arcs can be played in any order. Each is a reversal of one of Null's Denials, guided by the LoomWarden of that gift. No arc goes straight to its Loom. Each Loom is hidden, and the StoryWeaver must find it through a journey across Threadbare - following clues, solving puzzles, trading for help, winning over allies, and fighting off the Fray. Each arc ends in the Loom's fortress with a boss battle, after which the StoryWeaver destroys the Denial Loom, takes back its element, returning it to the Eternal Loom.

The Not Loom, with Whim. Not is reversed by imagining something new. The Imagine Isles are the first place a loss of Imagination would show, so the trail starts there, and Whim has not heard from Venture in some time and is worried. Aboard the Ferries of Fable, the StoryWeaver sails to The Imagine Isles, but the ferry cannot dock. Port of Possibility, the great harbour of the Isles, has fallen to swarms of InkDrinkers, and its quays are blocked. The StoryWeaver swims ashore through the waves, and the Tideteller ferryman turns back for Frays End. The StoryWeaver finds the Isles fading. Venture is safe, with the Elder Rune, and the two have been defending the Isles from the InkDrinkers. But Maybe Manor has fallen too, and with the Port blocked, no ship can sail in or out of the Isles. All manner of creatures are camped on the beaches, fleeing the islands and waiting for ships to carry them to refuge on the mainland. Nothing new has appeared on the Isles for a long, long time, and the ink used to write new stories has stopped arriving from the Ink Well.

They discover that all Isles' ink comes from The Ink Well, and the last barrels arrived months ago. Something is happening in the Well. Venture sends the StoryWeaver to the InkKeepers of the Well, where the springs of ink are running dry and InkDrinkers swarm the punt routes. With the InkKeepers' help, the StoryWeaver makes the long, hard journey deep into the swamp to The BlotWorks, a vast ink extraction rig of pipes, pumps and levers that Null built to drain the Ink Well and pull out its Inklings, so that no new idea could ever be had. The InkKeepers give the StoryWeaver two tools: ink, to find their way, and water, to wash away the Smudgers. Across the rig, the StoryWeaver must also rescue the captured Inklings and send them home. The final climb is the Blotted Spire, the rig's great derrick, where the drained ink turns the InkWheel that drives the Not Loom. At the summit, the guardian, the BlotQueen, a vast InkDrinker queen, must be beaten. With the Not Loom destroyed, the StoryWeaver returns to find the refugees of the Isles preparing to sail home, their ships filled with barrels of fresh ink.

Not Missions:

  • Port in a Storm - Venture asks the StoryWeaver to sneak into the Port of Possibility, clear a ship of InkDrinkers, take charge of it.
  • Creature Comforts - Having taken charge of the ship, the StoryWeaver must assign creatures to bays, and make sure they have what they need and are not next to a creature they don't like, then ferry the refugees to safety on the mainland.
  • Path Finder - The StoryWeaver makes the journey through the InkWell, to visit the InkKeepers while InkDrinkers swarm the routes. The InkKeepers give the StoryWeaver ink to shape the dark path through the well, and water to wash away the Smudgers on the journey to the BlotWorks.
  • A Dry Spell - The StoryWeaver makes the long, hard journey deep into the swamp to the BlotWorks, a huge ink rig, draining the Well and imprisoning the Inklings. Across the rig, they rescue the captured Inklings, and climb towards the Blotted Spire.
  • A Clean Slate (Boss Level) - At the summit of the Blotted Spire, the StoryWeaver faces the BlotQueen, a vast, bloated InkDrinker queen coiled around the InkWheel, whose ink-spitting trunks fire drops and lines of sticky ink across her chamber. Using the InkKeepers' water, the StoryWeaver dilutes her until she runs clear, and the stolen ink pours back into the swamp, leaving the Not Loom unguarded.

The None Loom, with Echo. None is reversed by remembering what was lost. The trail leads along the Ruined Road into The Remnant Realms, the floating remains of a people no one remembers. Deep in the rock of its largest islands run the oldest shafts of The Memoir Mines, dug by the Remnant people themselves, the first Delvers. There, the StoryWeaver relights the tunnels by discovering and retelling stories about the people who lived there, matching names to deeds, and places. The tunnels are dark and full of MemoryMoths, and the StoryWeaver learns to use the Delvers' old lanterns, the Glims, as they go: MemoryMoths are drawn to light, and a moth circling a lit Glim is dazzled and weakened, so the StoryWeaver can slip past in the dark or strike while the moths are weak. Glims do not burn for long, and must be relit. Retelling the stories restores the name of the Forgotten Village, the Remnant people's own village, and opens its long-sealed gates. At the heart of the village stands The Keepsake, a ruined watchtower whose great lantern once lit the village and guided the Delvers home through the tunnels, and whose bell called the start and end of every shift. Null's None Loom is at the top. The StoryWeaver climbs the Keepsake floor by floor, relighting its Glims, and at the top must use the great lantern, the Glims and the bell to drive off the Keepsake's guardian, Murmur, a swarm of MemoryMoths that can take the shape of a giant moth, among other forms.

None Missions:

  • What's in a Name? - Deep in the Remnant Realms, in the dark tunnels of the Memoir Mines, the StoryWeaver uncovers forgotten stories about the people who lived there and retells them, matching each name to its deeds and places, relighting the tunnels and learning to use the Glims as they go. When the last story is told, the name of the Forgotten Village is spoken aloud again, and its long-sealed gates open.
  • Moth to a Flame (Boss Level) - At the top of the Keepsake, the StoryWeaver faces Murmur, a swarm of MemoryMoths that gathers into a whirlwind, a hammer and a giant moth. Each time the StoryWeaver relights the great lantern, Murmur is dazzled and weakened, and they can strike. The bell breaks her apart, and lighting the Glims around the watch room draws parts of the swarm away. When every light burns at once and the old shift peal rings out, Murmur scatters into the tunnels.

The Never Loom, with Vigil. Never is reversed by passing things on. Storyvores are besieging the walls of HemsHollow. Peg PomPocket teaches the StoryWeaver the PomPuff lure she used at the Battle of HemsHollow, as thanks for defending the town's constantly besieged walls. In the chaos of the battle, The Obscurists break into the HemsHollow Lending Library, tear the endings from every book they can reach, and flee into the dark, leaving a trail of stolen pages scattered and fluttering behind them. Hattie HardBack, the Library's keeper, is beside herself: a story without an ending means nothing, and the Obscurists mean to lose those endings to obscurity for ever. Vigil sends the StoryWeaver after them.

The trail leads east, out of the Fraying and across The SunSpun Sands, where packs of Storyvores follow it too, gobbling up the endings as they go. It ends at the Performance Playa, where the Storyvores have broken up the night's great show in The Canopy of Curiosity. When the StoryWeaver has saved the show and its audience, Rook RagRavel gives them a map. His people have watched the Obscurists' caravans disappear into the deep desert, and he has marked the spot: The Lost Library, half-buried in the sands, where the Obscurists hoard every ending they have stolen, and where Null hid the Never Loom. The StoryWeaver fights their way through its halls, reading rooms and corridors to its guardian, BookBelly, a giant three-headed Storyvore swollen with every ending in the Library, which must be unravelled, so that every book it swallowed spills out in a great pile on the floor of the reading room, to be returned to their rightful place in the HemsHollow Lending Library.

Never Missions:

  • Hold the Fort - Storyvores are besieging the walls of HemsHollow, and Peg PomPocket teaches the StoryWeaver the PomPuff lure she used at the Battle of HemsHollow. Together they hold the walls, scattering PomPuffs to lure the Storyvores away from the breaches and into cages, while the townsfolk patch the holes behind them.
  • Paper Trail - The StoryWeaver follows the Obscurists' trail of stolen pages east across the SunSpun Sands. Packs of Storyvores chase the same trail, eating endings as they go, and buried Gobblers burst up from the dunes. The StoryWeaver uses the PomPuff lure to draw Storyvores into sinking sand, dune slides and dry wells, and grapples between half-buried towers and wind-carved arches. Every page they recover is an ending saved.
  • The Show Must Go On - At the Performance Playa, Storyvores have stormed Rook RagRavel's great show in the Canopy of Curiosity, and its audience has fled, running in every direction across the Playa, with Storyvores in among them, unravelling anyone they catch. Rook gives the StoryWeaver WhipStitch, his ringmaster's whip of pure Spirit thread, whose crack drives Storyvores back. Like a sheepdog, the StoryWeaver herds the panicked audience back through the tent doors, while using the whip to drive off and unravel the Storyvores and keep them out of the tent. A tally shows how many of the audience are safely inside. With the show saved, Rook gives the StoryWeaver a map to the Lost Library.
  • Heads or Tales (Boss Level) - The StoryWeaver fights their way through the Lost Library, level by level, through its halls, reading rooms, stairways and corridors, past every kind of Storyvore and the Obscurists' heaps of stolen endings. At its heart, BookBelly, a giant three-headed Storyvore swollen with every ending in the Library, guards the Never Loom. Mash hungers for stories spoken, Gnash for stories written and Lash for stories told in pictures. As the Library breaks apart around them, the StoryWeaver unravels BookBelly, and every book it swallowed spills out in a great pile on the floor of the reading room, to be returned to their rightful place in the HemsHollow Lending Library. With the Never Loom destroyed and Ever's Shuttle recovered, a BookWorm beneath the Library carries the StoryWeaver home through a WormHole to the EverLasting Library.

As each element returns, the Eternal Loom begins to recover a little of what it lost. When all three are home, it is whole again, and for the first time since Null stole its elements it weaves something new.

Act Three: The Battle for Frays End

The final battle comes in two parts.

The Observatory of the Obscure. With the Eternal Loom whole, the StoryWeaver travels North through the WeaveWatch Wale and across the floating peaks of the Absurdity Abyss to the Observatory of the Obscure, to drive out the Obscurists and Null with them. They sneak, battle, grapple and puzzle their way up through the Observatory, helped by an Observist of the University of the Unseen who has been trapped there since Null took it. But when they reach Null's chamber at the top, it is empty. Through the Observatory's great lenses, which can see the whole world, the StoryWeaver sees where Null has gone - Null is leading the Obscurists and the Fray in an attack on Frays End, to take the restored Eternal Loom.

Frays End. The StoryWeaver races home through a WormHole opened by the BookWorm beneath the EverLasting Library, running from one of the Observatory's old University books to the Library's own shelves, and finds Frays End under siege. The last battle is fought at the Eternal Loom, against Null. Null fights with the Three Denials themselves, unravelling everything they touch, and the StoryWeaver answers each with the restored gifts of the FirstSpun - there is always something new to imagine, gone is not the same as nothing, and lasting is passing on. Null is defeated, but not destroyed, and not redeemed. They step back into a gap between the threads, into the Interstice, and are gone. Null endures, as absence always does. But the Unweaving fails, the world begins to knit back together, and the Void draws back to the edges of the world.

Finale: The LoomLight Festival at Frays End

For the first time since LoomLit was lost to the Void, the LoomLight Festival is held, recreated at Frays End as a celebration of the Void's defeat. The Hand Binding string is passed not to a single keeper but hand to hand through every community, in remembrance of If, Once and Ever. The StoryWeaver ends the journey as a confident creator and keeper of stories, and an inspiration to others. The Weave is not finished. It never is. But it holds.

Key Characters

  • The StoryWeaver - the player; sewn on the Sacred Sewing Machine in the Summoning Square of WeaveWater
  • Wist WishWeaver - the KnitWitch of WeaveWater, who runs the ritual that sews the StoryWeaver and keeps watch through the night
  • Tess TreadleFoot - a young runner of WeaveWater, who guides the StoryWeaver on the perilous path to Frays End
  • The LoomWardens - Echo (Once), Whim (If), and Vigil (Ever), the Keepers of the Eternal Loom, from whom Null stole its elements, and who guide the three arcs
  • Null - the first Elder, woven as Knot, maker of the three Denial Looms, and the enduring antagonist
  • The Obscurists - Null's followers
  • Frith FrayWalker - Elder lost to the Void, met through her letter
  • Venture - Elder of the Imagine Isles, found defending the Isles with Rune, who sets the StoryWeaver on the trail of the Not Loom
  • InkKeepers - the keepers of the Ink Well, who give the StoryWeaver ink and water for the BlotWorks
  • Peg PomPocket - the PomPuff Collector of HemsHollow, who teaches the StoryWeaver how to lure Storyvores
  • Hattie HardBack - keeper of the HemsHollow Lending Library, whose books lose their endings to the Obscurists
  • Rook RagRavel - the Rag King of the Performance Playa, who gives the StoryWeaver WhipStitch and the map to the Lost Library
  • Pell PealKeeper - the last keeper of the Keepsake, who remembers the order in which its lights were lit, and hums the old shift peal
  • The Bygones and the Unnamed - the silent, lingering memories of the Remnant Realms, who point the StoryWeaver to clues
  • The Observist - a scientist of the University of the Unseen, trapped in the Observatory of the Obscure (name in development)
  • Bree ButtonBoon - the Button Collector, met throughout the journey
  • Rune and Muse - keepers of the LoreQuests and StoryQuests
  • Page PaperPleat - Chief Librarian of the EverLasting Library, the StoryWeaver's home in Frays End
  • Woal WickWeaver - Lamplighter of Frays End and keeper of the Book of Keepers, who leads the LoomLight's return
  • Yearn - Keeper of What Is Missed, whose trust brings the Wisps to the StoryWeaver
  • WishWisps - scattered by the Void and gathered home; one becomes the StoryWeaver's companion, and gifts them its wishes

Key Places

Still in Development

  • The Observist's name, and the other Elders' roles in the story
  • A new name for the WeaveWatch Wale, which is easily confused with WeaveWater

Connections

  • StoryWeaver - the player, sewn in WeaveWater when a community calls for help
  • The Denial Looms - Null's three looms, the Not Loom, the None Loom and the Never Loom
  • The Eternal Loom - the loom of the FirstSpun, at the heart of Frays End
  • The Elders - the Elders of the Eternal Loom
  • Null - the Dark Elder and enduring antagonist
  • The Obscurists - Null's followers
  • The Fray - the creatures woven on the Denial Looms
  • Frays End - the last bastion of hope against the Void
  • The EverLasting Library - the eternal repository of story at Frays End
  • Yearn - Keeper of What Is Missed, child of Once
  • WishWisps - lights of hope, born of the Lucent Lakes
  • The Observatory of the Obscure - Null's lair, formerly the Observatory of the Unseen
  • If - the FirstSpun of Imagination, the Spinner
  • Once - the FirstSpun of Memory, the Weaver
  • Ever - the FirstSpun of Spirit, the Binder

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