Nightingale Lore

Nightingale takes place in an alternate timeline to our own. It is the year 1889 and the world is near its end. FaeRealm’s Nightingale lore summary will introduce you to the magical world and backstory of Nightingale.

The Fae And Humans

The Fae and humans lived in peace together for centuries. Humans worshipped the Fae and their magical abilities. The Fae, in return, gave humans the possibility to use magic for themselves. Humans learned to bind magical abilities to items and to use magic through these items.

Screenshot showing Fae and humans interacting peacefully in Nightingale — Fae and humans were living together for centuries in Nightingale.

After a long time of living in peace, Humanity, in its arrogance, felt more and more like equals to the Fae. The humans stopped worshipping the Fae and the Fae abandoned the world. But even when the Fae took their magic with them, the seed of magic has already been planted in the world.

Nightingale City

Nightingale City is the most important place in the human world. Nightingale City was an enchanted place that attracted people from all over the world to study science, art, and - thanks to the Fae - now magic too.

It was in Nightingale City that humans discovered the Calcularian Portal Engine, an engine that can open arcane portals to the Fae Realms. The Fae Realms are some sort of parallel universes. While Faes could use their magic abilities to travel between them, humans needed these arcane portals to connect to the realms.

Screenshot of Realmwalkers leaving a portal Nightingale — A group of Realmwalkers enters a new realm through a portal in Nightingale.

Humans built a whole portal network on earth and started to send people through portals into the Fae Realms - these people were called Realmwalkers. Over the centuries people even started to stay in the Fae Realms and lived completely separate lives from the rest of humanity.

The Pale And The End Of The World

In 1889, the year players will start in the game Nightingale, a mysterious power called “The Pale” was surrounding the earth. It is unclear where the Pale came from, but the Pale is described as a cataclysmic event.

Humans used earth’s portal network and tried to get to Nightingale City. Nightingale City and its magic seemed to be the last hope for humanity and to save the world. But the Pale has collapsed the realm network and instead of reaching Nightingale City people are lost in the Fae Realms.

The players of Nightingale slip into the role of one of these lost Realmwalkers. Players are trying to find their way back to Nightingale City through the labyrinths of the Fae Realms.

From a gameplay perspective, Realmwalkers will play Realm Cards to travel through the realms. These Realm Cards will influence the traits of the realms a Realmwalker will explore in multiple ways. Players are trying to figure out how certain Realm Cards can be combined and what effects that might have.

The Fae Realms And Fae Factions

Exploring the realms is a dangerous adventure. The realms belong to the Fae and some Fae are hostile to the human race. The Fae have social hierarchies with Lords and Ladies and are divided into different factions called courts.

A screenshot showing a Fae sitting on a throne with followers kneeling before him in Nightingale — The Fae in Nightingale live in social structures and hierarchies similar to our own.

Faes, that do not belong to a court, are called Ronin. For now, Realmwalkers will only meet the following two courts:

The Winter Court.
The Summer Court.

In the future players might see more courts in the game.

The Winter Court

The Winter Court created creatures in a grotesque mimicry of humans. These creatures are called The Bound. The Bound are hostile and set out to eradicate humanity.

The Summer Court

For Humanity, the Summer Court seems to be the less hostile and more benevolent faction in Nightingale. But we haven’t discovered their agenda yet.

Human Factions And Popular Figures

There were also human factions that had their habitat in the Fae Realms. While discovering different realms, Realmwalkers may find old ruins, settlements, or other vestiges of the past.

Screenshot of an old airship hangar that players might find in the lands of Fae — An airship hangar is one of the many Points of Interest in the lands of Fae in Nightingale.

Since Nightingale takes place in an alternate timeline to ours, Realmwalkers will meet popular people from our history. A few examples of humans that could appear as NPCs (Non-player characters) in Nightingale are the following:

Ada Lovelace
Edgar Allan Poe
Nellie Bly
Oscar Wilde

Part of the fascination in Nightingale will be to experience how different their lives could have turned out in this alternate universe. For example, what would mathematician Ada Lovelace have done differently if she could have used magic?

Additionally, we will see fictional characters come to life. Examples could be the following:

Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Allan Quatermain

Most likely these NPCs were Realmwalkers too. Players might find a realm where they meet one of these NPCs or at least hear their stories or discover notes they left behind.

Faewild - Creatures Of The Fae Realm

Realmwalkers will find various creatures in the Fae Realms. We already heard of The Bound and Realmalkers will see critters and other common creatures. Additionally, there will be notable creatures players can find in the realms.

These are the notable creatures in Nightingale:

Carnute
Harpies
Eoten
Bandersnatch
Brippo
Flamespitter

The following YouTube Shorts give a short introduction to each of these creatures:

More Lore Is Coming To Nightingale

Nightingale is still under NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). We will see more and more pieces the closer the Early Access release is. The Nightingale Release Date & Beta FAQ is constantly updated with all details about the release schedule for you to check. As soon as more lore tidbits drop, the Nightingale Lore document will be updated too.