The Zosimos Mythos

Unraveling cosmic threads of Retrograde’s lore, and a prophecy of things to come

For the past eight years, I’ve been slowly but surely developing a narrative universe that connects almost everything I write, draw, and print. I call it the Zosimos Mythos.

It’s centered around an ancient alchemist, Zosimos of Panopolis, who, in my fictional cosmos, makes a dark pact with the reigning deities of the universe that splits his soul in two and dooms his severed identity to an endless cycle of reincarnation. Those deities, the Unending Dark and the Unending Light, dispatch avatars to the mortal plane, often becoming legendary figures and playing key roles in great events of human history. Together, the Unending Dark and the Unending Light are the Cosmos Unending, and relics of their power are strewn across the galaxy, waiting to unleash incomprehensible power upon unsuspecting mortals.

This dualist cosmology is at the heart of Retrograde’s lore, but in Overprint and The Bone Record it’s mostly behind the scenes. If you’re curious, here’s a glimpse behind the curtain into the cosmic mechanisms driving Retrograde’s stories, and some clues of adventures to come! You can also read more of Retrograde’s foundational lore in an earlier blog post here.

light spoilers for Overprint ahead!

Zosimos The Alchemist

Zosimos is a figure steeped in rumor and myth, but scholars of the Alchemist contend that he is not one figure, but two. In a dark pact made to seek immortality for himself and his loved one, the Alchemist split his soul in two, unwittingly turning himself into the avatars of the Cosmos Unending: the Unending Light’s avatar is known as Zosimos, and the Unending Dark’s avatar is known as Pseudo-Zosimos. Their intercessions in the mortal plane are an expression of the Cosmos Unending’s constant struggle.

Zosimos and Pseudo-Zosimos have battled throughout history – legends of medieval champions and alchemists are often linked to the immortal pair, and some esotericists claim that unexplainable phenomena in the 20th and 21st century are likewise the works of the alchemist’s reincarnations.

Along with their immortality, Zosimos and Pseudo-Zosimos can both perform a powerful ritual known as the Chrysopoeia, allowing them to glimpse a human life’s complete causal possibilities, both past and future. This power has often allowed them to intervene in key points of human history, but their prescience is occasionally foundered by cosmic artifacts and other cosmic avatars – they are not as invincible as one might think.

It is rumored that after the Season Unending, the collapse of the Earth’s ecosystem at the end of the 21st century, a reincarnation of Zosimos used the Chrysopoeia to discover a cosmic mechanism that unlocked the power of Blood Ink Teleportation, allowing humanity to travel faster than light. Opening the cosmos to human exploration, Zosimos and Pseudo-Zosimos have, by most accounts, vanished, though some claim that the Alchemists’ power can still be found in a mythical, planet-sized supercomputer: The Library of Zosimos

The Lost Worlds

In the early days of Blood Ink Teleportation, before the rise of Gutenberg, Ink., humanity launched many colonization expeditions to distant stars, performing perilous “blind blinks” into the far abyss of space. Teleporting so far out with imperfect data, the vast majority of such expeditions were never heard from again. Still, it is possible some of those expeditions survived and managed to set up successful colonies, small outposts of humanity disconnected from all other human worlds. These rumored planets have been dubbed the “Lost Worlds,” and only two are spoken of with any degree of knowledge: The Library of Zosimos and Encaustic.

The Library of Zosimos

Many blood ink mutants have recorded Retrograde dreams of The Library of Zosimos, leading many to plan expeditions to search for it – the chief issue is that no one knows where it is. Dedicated mutants search their dreams for coordinates, navigational stars, anything they could use to get closer to the Library’s location, but so far no one has come close to finding it. Still, such a commonly shared Retrograde dream is widely acknowledged to mean that such an event will inevitably come to fruition – but that day may not be within the lifetime of any mortal dreamer.

Iona, Gutenberg’s chief executive in the Caligo System, is one of the blood ink mutants searching for the Library, and like many she believes that her prescient dreams are a fragment of the Alchemist’s Chrysopoeia. If she is able to reach the Library of Zosimos, Iona may be able to unlock the full power of the Chrysopoeia and learn the purpose of humanity’s place in the galaxy and the destiny that awaits us all.

Encaustic

Encaustic is the full truth of the legends of the Lost World: a colony expedition that undertook a blind blink to a planet tens of thousands of light-years from earth, the people of Encaustic have created a society that would feel both alien and ancient to most of their contemporaries in Gutenberg-controlled space.

Encaustic’s society operates with a roughly 18th century level of technology, but sustains many relics of advanced technology from the days of the early colonization. There is also a strong presence of cosmic power on Encaustic, and Encaustic’s throne was once occupied by a family of powerful magicians; however, the throne now sits empty, and the powers of the family lie hidden behind the mystical seals of the Tome of Encaustic, the family’s grimoire. It is said that only the family’s magic could unlock the seals and summon the planet’s full cosmic power.

Encaustic could be a safe haven for anyone wishing to flee Gutenberg’s dominion, but it has its own troubles brewing. Though the noble family of Encaustic was thought extinct, two young claimants have emerged and vie for the throne, seeking alliances with four powerful factions: the Knights of the Golden Morning, the Monks of the Purple Dawn, the Reavers of the Crimson Dusk, and the Wanderers of the Emerald Night. Though Encaustic has enjoyed many centuries of peace, the power promised by the Tome of Encaustic is a dangerous catalyst for war.

The Prophecy of the Prismatic Oracle

Off the shores of Encaustic’s capital, Enkaustikos, sits the Temple of Prismos, the home of the Prismatic Oracle. Apart from the feuding of Encaustic’s factions, the Prismatic Oracle merely reads the stars, and records what wisdom they offer. Those who venture to Prismos with offerings for the Oracle may receive scraps of their visions in return – here, dear traveller, is one such vision:

And so they say the great king’s fated alchemy

Shall protect this people from all interlopers

And no strife nor hunger shall come upon them here

Or greet them in the true face of a noble friend

Until the sky runs with fire of distant stars

Then, on such wrathful day will his own blood betray

The great pact made ere aeons of old motherland

And break the seal laid upon the throne’s sacred tome

So shall something lost never will right again

The fear and hatred of our forebears will have us

Their fates doomed to repeat in our own sword-dances

That great conspiracy of fated star and blood

Souls wracked in ink-stained maelstroms of time unmade.

The Shape of Things to Come

All of this lore is driving my work on upcoming projects in the Zosimos Mythos – I have a lot of further adventures for Retrograde planned, including several one-shots and a larger campaign setting planned for Encaustic. I’ll aim to do a deep dive into a specific part of Zosimos Mythos lore every month or so – it’ll be a good way to share little pieces of my writing and give y’all hints on adventures to come!

Let me know what parts of the Zosimos Mythos you’d like to see more of – what piqued your curiosity here? Comment your questions and I will be more than happy to share my secrets. Thanks for reading!

– Nathaniel