Wordbreakers are a company of adventurers in Vala whose trade is also their name: breaking pacts “in a world where the pact is what must be broken”. They are “known heroes in the region”.
| Type | Group (adventuring company) |
| World | Vala |
| Founder | Garkhan |
| Leader | Disputed: Antinoo or Sheridan |
| Base | The World Breaker tavern |
| Chronicle | vtc |
| Spanish entry | Wordbreakers |
Nature
Their unwritten statute: «tenés que hacer que el pacto se realice; antes hay que librarse de otros pactos, hay que romper la palabra de los malditos que han utilizado mal la palabra» (“you have to make the pact come true; first you must get rid of other pacts, you must break the word of the damned who have misused the word”).
They are also the ones trusted with the pact that must hold: the Oathbinder, who upheld the primordial pacts for eons, passed its legacy to them before dissolving into mist. The concept did not originate in Vala: “the moon, some point to it as the world of origin” (see Moon). The group was founded by Garkhan.
A legend about them circulates: “a meteorite fell and they came back with the dragon”.
House and marks
They bought a tavern and renamed it World Breaker; the group is also hailed with the cry “House Wordbreaker!“. One member “made the kitchen [their] laboratory”, so the tavern does not cook and the others go elsewhere to cook.
The members split the metals among themselves (“Remember we recently separated the metals?” / “Yes, we each have one”): each carries one of the seven sky-metals. There is no banner or common fund.
They operate covertly in the meteorite impact zone as a “rapid response group”: “you are in the zone and people don’t know you are there”.
Members
The records give a core of seven, only three named: Juve Bribaldo, Garkhan, and Shakes, who “brought the fire”. The combat formation lists nine: Torsen, Taylor Robert, Sheridan, Nibiru, Juve Bribaldo, Antinoo, Sven, Rocuro and Garkhan.
Rule of command: “if you are not a Wordbreaker you cannot lead”. Membership is also claimed by affinity (“I’m a Wordbreaker too, in my own way”). They declare themselves open: “we are Wordbreakers and we allow a breadth of forms, polyamory” — whether as internal rule or tavern boast is unclear.
Contracts
Breaking a given word is a paid service in Vala. Prince Debo “wanted to use the services of a group called Wordbreakers” to break a marriage engagement. Their largest known contract pays 10,000 gold coins to each member and requires them to “prove the shards within a year or they would come to take us out”.
Role
They can give orders (“Wordbreakers who say we should go”) and are said to be “taking the role of gods”. They carry two continental commitments: preventing war between men and dragons, and rescuing the Gardener. The announced divine fury falls “on all… of the Wordbreakers”.
Conflicting accounts
- Leadership: one account names Antinoo (“he is our leader, we do nothing without him”); another names Sheridan, of “serious and at the same time comforting gaze”. Succession, co-leadership or dispute is not settled.
- The main contract: 10,000 gold coins each; another account says 20,000.
Open questions
- How the lunar origin relates to Garkhan’s founding is not recorded.
- Who the four unnamed members of the core are, and whether all nine in the formation are full members, is unknown.
- The tavern’s city, its current keeper, and which member turned the kitchen into a laboratory are unknown.
- Which the seven sky-metals are, what each does and who holds which is unknown.
- Who paid the shards contract, and who would come to enforce it, is not recorded.
- Whether the divine fury results from a pact they broke is not established.