"Here we have our present age...bent on the extermination of myth..."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

The Ash Tree
The norse myths tell us about an Ash tree in the centre of creation. In its branches, eight magical worlds are nestled around our mundane middle-earth. Once upon a time the roads between the worlds were open and we lived alongside the Trull, the faeries of norse legend. We were touched by their magic and mixed blood with their kin. Those days of harmony are now over... dark ambition, cold hearts and human greed is poisoning the worlds of magic, forcing their inhabitants to close the paths and leave us to our self-inflicted doom.

The Island and The Under
Once the island of Gothland rose and sank in rythm with the sun and moon. By night it rested under a million stars, home to the mysterious Small Ones Under the Earth. By day it sunk to the bottom of the sea, the alien and noble Merfolk turning the coral towers and sunlit caves into a palace-city of unimaginable beauty. Gothland was the greatest beacon of magic in Midgard, a place of wonder and a refuge for all Trull and changelings.Then the human warlord Tjelvar led his longships to the isle. Cleansing the coral city with fire and steel he bound the island to the surface and soon humans settled there. As first steel-forges, then churches and finally factories and power plants sprouted from the soil, the Trull retreated to the Other Side, into the magical world of The Under. There they bide their time, slowly fading away from existence as they are forgotten by men. But there may still be hope. As a new age dawns in The Under, both human and Trull rise in secret to unite the worlds and bring magic back to our world.

The court of eight
In the very first story set in The Under, players are introduced to the cultures, factions and conflicts of the Under in a relationship-driven story showcasing intrigue and manipulation as the main gameplay elements. The game gives the players conflicting character goals and biographies but leaves the telling of the story largley to the players themselves. The free-form role-playing is facilitated and aided by an emotional engine keeping track of the characters' mental states, sentiments and inter-character relationships.

The drama of the Court of Eight is a closed jury negotiation, Trull style. A changeling witch has broken the all-important Oath of Silence isolating The Under from the human world. Eight Trull from all breeds are chosen by fate and must decide on her guilt and punishment. Each Trull has one vote to cast and must use all their skills of manipulation to make the others vote like she wants. No trick is too dirty to use, no secret to dark to exploit as the future of The Under is decided and the truth uncovered.

The Setting
In The Under of Gothland, broken shadows of our world mingle with the magic of the Trull-realm. The setting for The Court of Eight is the ruins of the St Karin monestary, situated in the centre of the city of Visby in our world. In The Under it is a twisted monument from the days when the Trulls greatest enemy was the tolling of church-bells and prayers still had the power to harm. It is a grim place to a Trull, well suited to its function as courtroom and place of punishment.