Loom

Long after the passing of the Second Shadow—when dragons ruled the twilight sky and the stars were bright and numerous—came the Age of the Great Guilds. Blacksmiths. Shepherds. Clerics. Each devoted to absolute control of secret knowledge. Among them were the Weavers. Over centuries, their craft surpassed physical cloth until they could weave the very fabric of reality. Now a strange power has swept the Weavers into oblivion, leaving one Weaver boy to unravel the truth. Help young Bobbin rescue his Guild—and you just might save the universe from an unspeakable catastrophe.

Prologue The game’s events are preceded by a 30-minute audio drama. It explains that the Age of the Great Guilds began when humans once again attempted to establish dominion over nature. The world of Loom is not explicitly defined in relation to ours, though many believe it takes place on Earth in the far distant future, since the story is set in the year 8021. People formed city-states built around shared trades, "devoted to the absolute control of knowledge, held together by stern traditions of pride, and of fear." The humble Guild of Weavers first became masters of fabric, then surpassed the limits of cloth by weaving "subtle patterns of influence into the very fabric of reality." Branded practitioners of "witchcraft," they were persecuted and ultimately bought a remote island they named Loom, after the great loom that symbolized their guild. Lady Cygna Threadbare is introduced as a grieving mother who pleads with the Weaver Elders to use the Loom’s power to end their 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 her, insisting it is not their place to play gods. Despite the warning, Cygna secretly takes control of the Loom and plants a single gray thread. Unintentionally, she draws an infant from the Loom, earning the Elders’ wrath. She entrusts the child to Dame Hetchel, an elderly serving woman, and accepts her punishment. The Elders cast the "Transcendence" draft on Cygna, transforming her into a swan and banishing her from the pattern ("Cygna" is the Latin feminine form of swan). Hetchel names the child Bobbin and raises him as her own. Bobbin grows up ostracized by the Guild. The Elders believe his gray thread has thrown the pattern into chaos, and the Loom itself foresees the pattern unraveling. They forbid Bobbin from learning the guild’s ways until a decision can be made on his seventeenth birthday (described in the audio drama as "until his coming of age seventeen years hence"). Hetchel defies the Elders and secretly teaches him basic weaving—where the game begins. Plot On his birthday, Bobbin is summoned to the Sanctuary so the Elders can decide his fate. He arrives in time to see them punish Hetchel with "Transcendence" for teaching him, but the result is unexpected: Hetchel reverts into a swan’s egg, alarming the Elders. As they struggle to understand what happened, a swan crashes through a Sanctuary window. She casts "Transcendence" on the Elders and the rest of the villagers, transforming every Weaver except Bobbin into swans, who fly out through a rift in the sky. Left alone, Bobbin finds Elder Atropos’ distaff and uses it to free Hetchel from the egg. Now a cygnet, Hetchel tells Bobbin that the swan who visits him every year on his birthday came to save the Weavers from the Third Shadow that is about to cover the world. Bobbin sets out to find the flock. During his journey he encounters other guilds and faces a series of adventures. He eventually confronts Bishop Mandible, a Cleric seeking the Glassmakers’ Scrying Sphere, the Blacksmiths’ swords, and the Shepherds’ goods. Mandible also claims the Weaver distaff, intending to rule the world with an undead army and fulfill prophecy. By playing the "Opening" draft on a nearby graveyard, he tears the fabric of the universe and allows an entity called "Chaos" to enter. Chaos kills Mandible and summons an undead army to devastate the earth. Bobbin recovers the distaff from the dead bishop and begins repairing the tears in the pattern, helping many of the people he met earlier who were harmed or killed by Chaos’ forces. In the end, Bobbin battles Chaos as it attempts to seize control of the great Loom on the island of Loom. During the confrontation, Chaos kills Bobbin’s stepmother using the "Unmaking" draft, though it is implied she may still be saved because "one feather still remained intact." Bobbin then destroys the great Loom with the same draft. Bobbin is reunited with his mother and the other Weavers. He is told the world will be divided—one half ruled by Chaos, the other held by the Weavers—until, in time, the Weavers may gain enough power to challenge Chaos again. Bobbin casts "Transcendence" on himself, and with help from his mother and the villagers in swan form, he flies away, carrying the ripple across the world. His friends watch the swan flock depart, and it remains unclear whether Bobbin has left them within Chaos’ realm or saved them.