DIALECTIC

The Sun was reaching its high point in the sky over the mystical mountains of Zug. As per usual, the Dialectic Alpha Mancers were sipping their potions and excavating at the vanguard of the crypto rabbit hole as vape smoke filled the air. Suddenly one of the powerful Italian Alpha Mancers exclaims: “Pronto! I found it! Bellissima! Perhaps a gem has been uncovered.”
They had stumbled across the Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult, a nascent idea of “Build to Earn”, where a community of like-minded Wizards would create the very world they wanted to inhabit online with magic, code and community commitment.

Preparations were made in the hours as the great summoning approached. The Dialectic Alpha Mancers gathered late at night for the event. A tinge of magic filled the air as it became clear that something different, something very special was about to happen. The summoning would be a moment of great importance and would unfold as fierce gas war was waged among budding Wizards across the realms of the Ether. Many wanted to tap into the chest of Runes and summon one of the powerful wizards, but none would have the certainty of success. The Alpha Mancers assembled in their ceremonial gowns, as part of the strategy devised a practice was introduced of avoiding the Portal-site to the Sacred Tower. The !magic of smart contracts would reign supreme over retail Wizards across the realm. A true Alpha Mancer communicates directly with the more elegant wizard-force of the smart contracts, befitting the deft technical skill of our DeFi Degens and Solidity Jedis.
As the chaos of the Summoning passed and the Alpha Mancers rejoiced, fully 132 Wizards were captured by Dialectic that would serve as the foundation for a new type of collector guild, 1of1.works was born. “Rest not, young Jedis! Let’s purge this virgin land of the flippers and fly-by-night actors. This is where the search for alpha truly commences, where Wizard Masters outmaneuver and outperform.” And so the Alpha Mancers went to work acquiring rare Wizards such as the Sacred Key Master.

After the summoning was concluded the crew performed Discordian spells to establish communication with Elf and Dotta. Luckily, these empowered wizards chosen to lead the community were receptive to the calls and many further communications were had between the teams and showed great ethical stewardship of the nascent bourgeoning Cult. The Dialectic team was certain that these wizards were at the highest moral, artistic and technical talent - and so a long and flourishing relationship began on this epic journey for Web3 glory.

With great interest and enthusiasm, the Alpha Mancers observed the core team and community deliver on promise after promise, day after day, moving at a speed rarely seen and with the full support of a growing cult of !magical wizards. New ideas emerged from the ether, !magic became code manifested, all while the vibes and community were of a rare breed of positivity, generosity and authenticity scarcely seen in the bowels of Discord before the Summoning of the Wizard Cult. The Dialectic Alpha Mancers marveled at the purity of Cult, so aptly named. To see a project grow so organically, grass-roots, community-driven, decentralized and with eyes on the horizon towards a clear mission that all Wizards may contribute to and capture value from.

As time passed, the Dialectic Alpha Mancers found themselves strangely drawn to the siren of the Cult over and over. Some within team even wondered aloud, “are we spending entirely too much time on the Cult?”. “Nonesense” bellowed Meph, the Grand Wizard Master of Production at Dialectic. “What are we here for if not to find and support real communities building real value? These are our people.” So the team, following Meph’s lead, continued to adventure further into the Hedge Wizard Woods, building lore for Wizards in the 1of1 collection, tools such as www.theorbacle.com, jamming on strategy during Wizard Wednesdays, and summoning code spells and magical mechanisms.

One day, the Sacred Flames appeared and rumours started spreading around an opening to the Infinity Veil that could be traversed by wizards through a burning ceremony. In the weeks prior the Dialectic Alpha Mancer recruited another extremely powerful wizard, an orange pupped that was created in the image of divine wizard Dotta. There was a prophecy told by a previous owner of the Dotta wizard that one day the Puppet would traverse the sacred flame and find a new destiny on the other side. A ceremony was had the evening of the Burning, the entire Dialectic Alpha Mancers adorned in Wizard Garments, lay the flame to a rare 1of1 NFT and rolled the dice that it may be a jelly doughnut. Wizards joined from far and wide as more than 1000 witnessed Dotta, the founder of the Wizard Cult be doused in flames for the entertainment of the Cult.

The Lore of the Runiverse has yet to unfold, but the Dialectic Alpha Mancers together with Magic Machine sought to recruit other storied contributors to support the mission of the Cult. Alexis Ohanian, the remarkable talent who built Reddit and has led many missions of cult-like cultures was a natural choice. So was Nick Tomaino, one of the leading minds in NFTs, authentic communities and Web3 culture. And so, others joined the party and acquired land in the Runiverse ready to build the future of Forgotten Runes together. The sale was made at the same price that the community will pay in the forthcoming community land sale.

One of the core theses at Dialectic is that the future is forged in the weird soup, deep down the crypto rabbit-hole. As a family office, we have the flexibility of backing very vanguard experimentation. In our history in early-stage projects, we have found the projects that have called us to them, purely for the intellectual curiosity of something new and unique that could impact millions of lives to also be our best source of alpha.

The key concept behind Forgotten Runes is the creation of what is often referred to as the “collective legendarium” a fantasy world like Middle-Earth, Tamriel or Westeros, built by community for community. Full of creatures, gods, governments, sophisticated economic mechanisms, and epic storytelling. This collaborative world-building experiment is extremely fascinating to us. It pushes the boundaries of how we understand Intellectual Property, and the creation of a global media franchise. The way rights from IP will be shared among the members of the Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult could change the way we view the business models of a media franchise.

Another important data point is technical competency and execution. The mission to build out a novel metaverse is an ambitious one. Given our team's deep involvement in the Cult, were closely observed how one milestone after the other was hit, and even things outside the roadmap such as the pony drop were delivered on time and with enormous success. The ability of the Magic Machine team to deliver has been both exciting and inspirational as shipping on time and on budget is so rare in crypto. We are very encouraged by their progress.

Right now the Cult is in a phase of transition from a niche 10k PFP project to what we believe will be the first example of what the future of media franchising will look like. The Forgotten Runes are manifested across a variety of mainstream media expressions, and we are excited to see which experiments catch lightning in a bottle.

Where the Cult goes from here is still unknown but will be very exciting. Forgotten Runes has all of the tools to drive a new type of community experience – one that spans multiple media formats, is inclusive in its value share mechanisms and collaborates with other games and communities for mutual benefit. We could not be more proud to lead the Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult land sale investment round and we are committed to building the most authentic, epic, community Web3 and gaming have ever seen.