The world of Before the Storm

Before the Storm takes place in a sea of islands and river lands where four martial arts sects live side by side in a peace that nobody trusts.

The Lantern Pact

Every journey begins in the Phu Giang Old Quarter, the greatest market town of the river lands. Phu Giang belongs to no sect. The four great sects hang their lanterns under the Lantern Pact: within its brick walls, no blade may be drawn. They keep the pact not out of trust, but because none of them is yet strong enough to swallow the town alone.

The law of Phu Giang is simple: the lanterns shelter only those who can feed themselves. No sect takes in the empty-handed, so a newcomer's first days are spent gathering, crafting and hunting. The beginner's guide walks through them step by step.

Regions of the world

Eight regions already have hand-built terrain and can be reached from the world map:

• Phu Giang Old Quarter – a walled riverside market town of brick streets, lanterns and canals, and the neutral starting town.
• Mistcreek Hamlet – a poor creekside hamlet behind bamboo hedges, wrapped in morning mist.
• Goldendune Village – a fishing village on golden dunes, with salt fields and fish-sauce vats.
• Blackstone Harbor – a black basalt storm harbour whose signal tower has flown the storm flag for three moons.
• Whitemarble Ward – a quarter of marble carvers gathered around a white stone temple.
• Dragonbone Karst Wilds – rainforest on limestone karst, home to a fossilised dragon and the contested Jade Dragon Shrine.
• Sungold Highlands – red-earth plateaus of golden dry forest, a sun altar and a newly exposed gold seam.
• Mossrock Pinewood – a wild pine forest of mossy boulders, fallen trunks and rocky streams.

Each of the four sects also holds a home island of its own, and two dangerous lands, Sword Valley and the Sword Tomb, guard ancient blades and lost martial arts manuals. In development

Why a storm is coming

Beyond Phu Giang's walls, everything is changing. The Goldendune fishing grounds have run dry, gold has surfaced in the Sungold Highlands and the sects are fighting over the Jade Dragon Shrine. The storm in the game's name is not of the sky but of men: the Storm Campaign, the war that will settle every old grudge between the sects.

The story in four acts

1. A Stranger in the Lantern Quarter – a squall capsizes your boat at the river mouth and Elder Lac Thuy of the Moon Tide sect pulls you from the water. Survive and earn your place. Playable
2. Choosing a sect – stand firm in Phu Giang and the sects will invite you to join them. In development
3. The lost manuals – your sect sends you into Sword Valley and the Sword Tomb in search of lost martial arts. Planned
4. Before the Storm – the balance breaks and every warrior must choose Gale or Thunder. Planned