Sublime

‘lore’—it’s a model of knowledge that is able to interface with both reality and fiction.

1. Lore is anti-marketing 2. Lore is inner psyche-management 3. Lore is born-baroque imaginative irony 4. Lore is Posture, Narrative, Behavior (PNB) triad molecules 5. Lore is narrative territory catalyzed by shaky epistemologies 6. Lore is about circumstances you manage, not problems you “solve” 7. Lore is epic-orthogonal everyday life habits

What makes lore important is that it what persists through epic ages and dark ages, through booms and busts, through iconic era-defining product seasons and incremental update seasons that merely keep the product alive and chugging along. Lore creates slow-burn meaning in a way that isn’t subject to the vagaries of epic winds. Epics wax and wane. G... See more

Lore is something you witness, and attempt to shape as it emerges, if it emerges, not something you design and execute. You cannot, for instance, set out to write an origin myth. At least not one that will work as lore (though it may work as part of a grift). You can only recognize and institutionalize one. 

We recognize that lore is uncertain, evolving, unstable, and rife with bullshit, superstition, and outright conscious lies. It contains enough truth to be functional, but enough obvious untruth that we are conscious of its limits. We do not delude ourselves that it is the whole truth, or nothing but the truth.

A decade ago, lorecraft was largely limited to edgelords haunting online fora thinking up the next troll for lulz and electoral mayhem. Now lorecraft is being used to manage treasuries worth millions, launch complex commercial projects, and design automation deathstars for fun and profit.