Loom

Story

Prologue The events of the game are preceded by a 30-minute audio drama. It explains that the Age of the Great Guilds began when humans once again attempted to gain dominion over nature. The world of “Loom” is not defined in relation to our own world, yet many assume it takes place on Earth in the distant future, as the game is set in the year 8021. Humans banded together into city-states centered around a shared craft, “dedicated to the absolute control of knowledge and held together by strict traditions of pride and fear.” The humble guild of weavers established itself as masters of the art of weaving, but eventually they crossed the boundaries of fabric and began to weave “subtle patterns of influence into the fabric of reality itself.” They were persecuted for these acts of “witchcraft” and acquired an island far off the mainland coast, which they named Loom, after the great loom that was the symbol of their guild. Lady Cygna Threadbare is introduced as a grieving mother who pleads with the elders of the Weavers’ Guild to use the power of the loom to end the weavers’ suffering. Their numbers are dwindling, and their seed is barren. The elders Atropos, Clothos, and Lachesis—named after the three Fates of Greek mythology—rebuke Cygna and tell her that it is not her place to play God. Despite their warnings, Cygna secretly takes control of the loom and threads a gray thread into it. She accidentally pulls an (unforeseen) child from the loom, thereby incurring the wrath of the elders. She hands the child over to Lady Hetchel, the old servant, and accepts her fate. The Elders cast the “Transcendence” spell upon her, transforming her into a swan and banishing her from the Pattern (the name Cygna is the feminine form of swan in Latin). Hetchel names the child Bobbin and cares for him as her own. Bobbin grows up isolated from the rest of the Guild. The Elders determine that the presence of his gray thread has thrown the Pattern into chaos, and the Loom foresees the complete dissolution of the Pattern. For these reasons, the Elders forbid him from learning the arts of the Guild until a decision can be made on Bobbin’s seventeenth birthday (“until he comes of age in seventeen years,” as described in the game’s audio drama). Hetchel, however, defies the Elders and secretly teaches him a few basics of weaving. This is where the game begins. Plot On his birthday, Bobbin is summoned by the Elders to decide his fate. He arrives at the sanctuary just in time to witness the elders punishing Hetchel with the “Transcendence” spell for teaching Bobbin, but Hetchel transforms into a swan’s egg, which confuses and frightens the elders. As they ponder this turn of events, a swan descends from the sky and crashes through a window of the sanctuary. She casts the “Transcendence” potion on the Elders and the rest of the villagers, transforming all the weavers except Bobbin into swans, who fly away through a tear in the sky. Bobbin, left all alone, finds Elder Atropos’s spinning wheel and uses it to free Hetchel from her egg. Hetchel, now a swanling, tells Bobbin that the swan who visits him every year on his birthday had come to save the weavers from the Third Shadow, which is about to engulf the world. Bobbin then sets out in search of the flock. Along the way, he encounters other guilds and experiences numerous adventures. Eventually, he meets a cleric, Bishop Mandible, who is after the glassmakers’ crystal ball, the blacksmiths’ swords, and the shepherds’ wares. Mandible claims the Weavers’ spinning wheel for himself in order to rule the world with an army of undead and thus fulfill the prophecies. By playing the "Opening" score in a nearby cemetery, he tears the fabric of the universe and lets a being named "Chaos" in. Chaos kills Mandible and summons an army of undead to destroy the Earth. Bobbin retrieves the spinning wheel from the dead bishop and heals many of the tears in the pattern, helping many of his former acquaintances who were injured or killed by Chaos’s army. Eventually, he battles Chaos, who seeks to gain control of the great loom on his home island. The battle ends when Chaos kills his stepmother with the “Unmaking” pattern. However, it is implied that it is still possible to save Hetchel, as “one thread has remained intact.” Bobbin then destroys the Great Loom with the same pattern. His mother and the other weavers join him, and he is told that one half of the world will be ruled by Chaos, while the weavers remain in the other half, and that in time they may gain enough power to challenge Chaos once more. Bobbin casts “Transcendence” on himself and flies away with the help of his mother and the other villagers in their swan forms, carrying the wave across the world. His friends watch the flock of swans fly away; it remains unclear whether Bobbin left them behind in the realm of Chaos or saved them.