The history of Iron Scripter goes back centuries, and it steeped in myth and legend. But those are do not know this history are, as they say, doomed to repeat it. All students of the Iron Way are urged to study this history, and here we offer a brief primer.
The Era of Legend
According to legend, the ancients mastered their world through code. Through code, order was brought to chaos; through code, peace was wrought from war; through code, prosperity was wrought from poverty. In the beginning, so goes the myth, all was code, and the code was all.
But order, peace, and prosperity are never won – they are only borrowed for a time. Evil men with evil schemes sought to destroy the dreams of the ancients, by subverting the code. The code was taken away from the people, and hoarded by masters. These masters gathered followers to themselves, offering protection and education – but only so long as those followers obeyed the masters’ directions and intent. This was the beginning of the factions, and each master developed their own style, purpose, and ultimate goals for the code.
And for a while, this brought a new kind of order. If the code was less free, then at least people were protected and cared for.
Of course, that could not last.
The Era of War
It didn’t take long before the masters and their followers looked at the other factions and felt envy… distrust… and even hatred. Some factions saw others as abusing the code, while others saw the code being used to freely, and being given unto too many hands.
War ensued.
Code became the weapon of the factions, and they leveled their weapons with no pity. Entire factions were obliterated, while others were conquered and absorbed. Each faction sought to make?their vision the?only vision. Of course, because each of them sought to harness the code, to suppress it, and to close it in, none could ever succeed. The Era of War continued for over a century.
Eventually, one master saw the futility of all the fighting. He recognized that someone’s code should reign supreme, and that battle was sometimes the only way to discern whose code was worthy of ruling. But he also saw that, as times changed and the world moved on its path around the sun, what was considered “best” would also change. He saw that endless bloodshed and conquering was not the way to find the best code for the day.
So this visionary master disbanded his faction and formed The Foundation. As its first Chairman, he decreed that no faction’s code could be seen as supreme unless it faced, and conquered, a terrible challenge. He formed the Script Hall as a venue for that challenge, and invited other masters to set aside their weapons, and instead face The Foundation’s challenges. He convinced several of the largest factions of the time to participate, and their influence and power brought other, smaller factions along. It was the beginning of the Iron Way.
The Era of Competition
Today, the factions still vie for supremacy, but not through war. Instead, they bring their best and their brightest whenever the Chairman of The Foundation invites them. They face his diabolical challenges, and they keep to the Iron Way. At each competition, only one faction exits Script Hall as a winner, and it is their path which governs the code… until the next challenge. Each faction must evolve with the times, or face certain defeat the next time they face their foes… in the tournament we now call Iron Scripter.
The Iron Scripter Theme