Project Moon Literary References and where to read them
@libraryofprojmoon
Contrary to popular belief, Project Moon fans SHOULD read, actually!
This is a repository for all the literary works references in Project Moon's games.
Best viewed on browser. Mobile Navigation in pinned post. Enjoy!
This is a repository for all the literary works referenced in Lobotomy Corporation, Library of Ruina, and Limbus Company!
Our goal is to find and make an available collection of original texts and translations of those works, as well as cross-media adaptations, academic essays, audiobooks, youtube videos, and more, in order to make the source material referenced in-game accessible and enjoyable for everyone!
This blog is currently a WORK IN PROGRESS and we appreciate not only your patience, but also your help and contributions ♥
Best viewed on browser!
Mobile friendly LCB Sinner directory
Inferno-Limbus Company parallel masterdoc (colloqually known as 'Looney Tunes') by @unowers
Project Moon Media and lore intro masterpost by @hypodermicfroggy
Limbus Company Story Logs
All art and visuals used on this blog are from Project Moon's games and affiliated media.
A huge thank you to Project Gutenberg for hosting many of the works of literature we were looking for
Thanks to a contributor via email, the LibraryofProjMoon Official Drive now contains a whopping three more translations of the Divine Comedy—the Ciardi, Sinclair, and Hollander translations! They can now be found in subsections of Dante's folder along with the initially provided Longfellow translation, and a Read Me has been added into their folder for extra context on the translations to help you decide which translation is right for you. I will update Dante's directory page shortly to reflect this!
Hello, Project Moon fans! Admin Lucifer here; a bit ago, I had decided to softlaunch the Drive full of sinner sources to a couple people in private before making it accessible to the public, and I'm happy to announce that the softlaunch was successful and it was not taken down! So, I have edited each of the (still incomplete) sinner pages to link to the Drive's corresponding folders. Each sinner's Drive ideally will house the best translation of their source novel and will include other information or sources relevant to the characters (for example, Rodion's section currently contains the Communist Manifesto, which may be moved to Sonya's section in the future once side character sources and recommended reading are compiled). Only the Sinners' sources, and sources related to them, are available at this time, but more Project Moon source novels will become available in the future.
Before the Drive was accessible, the sinners' pages mostly linked to Project Gutenberg, but as amazing as Project Gutenberg is, not all of the provided translations of the sinners' source novels are the best ones available. In the PM Literary Accessibility Project Drive, I have taken the time to research and compile the most highly recommended translations of each source in both EPUB and PDF form (if available) to make everyone's reading experience as enjoyable and smooth as possible. Certain translations are extremely difficult to find and are not currently available in the Drive, however, I've done my best; I will keep searching for them as the project continues. The Drive is still currently a Work In Progress, however each sinner has at least one version of their source provided! Currently, there are only English versions in the Drive.
The Project Gutenberg and web browser PDF links on the Sinner pages will remain if they were already there, labeled as such; however, I personally recommend the versions in the Drive for English translations!
Please feel free to come to me for any further questions or information you may have about the project or provided sources. Please inform me if there are any formatting issues on the pages or issues accessing the Drive! Thank you for your patience, enjoy your reading, and we appreciate your interest in our little library project!
Please note that this blog/repository is, again, a
WORK IN PROGRESS
and is not currently complete! We weren't expecting the shout out to happen right away so esgoo kind of caught us off guard with this one!
We'll do our best to fill in every sinner's book synopsis and provide as many links as possible— and also work on pages for literature relevant to Library of Ruina (for the Orlando Furioso enjoyers out there!!) and LobCorp!
(I've posted a guide like this on Steam, but I figure it couldn't hurt to put an updated version on Tumblr, too. Also, a warning: This post is going to be very, *very* long.)
Hello, current Project Moon fandom and future/want-to-be fans!
Do you enjoy Limbus Company but don't know how to get into the other games and media to appreciate the greater lore of the series? Do you not actually have the money, time, or patience to endure a brutally punishing (and sometimes even janky) roguelike management sim, deckbuilder, or gacha game because we live in a capitalistic hellworld like the one this very series criticizes? Struggle with getting access to supplementary materials due to controversies and language barriers?
(Pictured: PM Twitter and the Limbus Steam Forums, on any given day. Seriously, what is wrong with some of you people.)
And especially important: hate how Reddit and Steam are full of dudebro coomers who are openly hostile to F2P, non-day one players who might grapple with all the previous issues on top of being more invested in story than waifus?
Then read on under the cut!
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This guide contains a comprehensive list of resources for you to be able to enjoy the Project Moon series to its fullest, including links to wikis, playlists, and more. Even if you can't play the games, I personally think those who can actually appreciate the series shouldn't be gatekept from the truly fantastic story and world that the games hold. Except Canto 6, we don't talk about Canto 6.
AND AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS FOR CERTAIN PARTS OF THE SERIES, AND PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE CONTENT WARNINGS BEFORE YOU GET INTO ANYTHING HERE! This is a very dark series that tackles and shows very heavy topics and content!
For those who can't read the text on the image, some of the common trigger warnings for this series includes:
Animal Cruelty
Drug Use
References to Alcohol and Tobacco
Injury and Dismemberment
Homicide and Suicide
Violence and Torture
Cannibalism
Kidnapping, Abduction, and Captivity
Psychosis
Diseases, Seizure, and Dyspnoea (aka shortness of breath)
Familial Homicide and Domestic Violence
Reference to Clowns (Coulrophobia)
Themes of Occultism and Spiritualism
Audiovisual Depictions of Gore
Uses of Sharp and Pointed Objects
Hospital and Medical References
References to Gaslighting and Bullying
Body Modification and/or Deformation
Flashing Lights (Photosensitivity)
Disorientation Induced by a Shaking Camera
Strong Language and Demeaning Words
Reference to Traffic Accidents
Uses of Guns and Instruments of Violence
Discriminatory Violence
Religious Torture and Violence
Enforced Ideology and/or Actions
War and Mass Conflict
Anyway, if all that didn't scare you off, on to the guide!
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=WIKIS:
When in doubt, there's always the wikis for being references and useful sources, from gameplay to story elements!
>>Cogitopedia - A WIP wiki run by members of the community, working on adding in-depth content for all of the games and supplementary materials.
>>LobCorp Wiki - Has data on every abnormality, including inaccessible ones and cut ones (such as Price of Silence).
>>Library of Ruina Wiki - Has the lore from key pages, and also has cut content like the CGs from the original planned ending.
>>Limbus Wiki.gg - Has ID Uptie stories and info about Mirror Dungeon encounters. (DO NOT USE THE LIMBUS FANDOM WIKI, IT HAS BEEN ABANDONED/VANDALIZED.)
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=LOBOTOMY CORPORATION:
Summary: Lobotomy Corporation is the first game in the series. It is a roguelike management sim where you play as "Manager X", tasked with handling employees and various monsters known as Abnormalities in order to generate daily quotas of a power source substance known as Enkephalin and a mysterious "Seed of Light" project. You are aided by an alleged team of AIs known as the Sephirot, and your very own personal assistant AI, Angela. It's often been likened to "anime SCP Foundation."
This is the game where everything begins, and without it, we wouldn't have the plot of Limbus (or anything else for that matter). This is where the Golden Boughs come from, this is where Abnormalities come from, this is even where Distortions come from - but we're getting ahead of ourselves on that front.
>>This playlist will allow you to watch all the cutscenes from the game, in order, for the canon ending.
All story cutscenes from Lobotomy Corporation.
>>This video also has the cutscenes, albeit not in order, HOWEVER, it does have the alternate, non-canon endings A and B (which are timestamped in the link for convenience).
>>WordsmithVids (also on YouTube) also has what is generally considered to be the most popular summary of the game.
(NOTE: Some people disagree with WordsmithVids and his interpretations of some of the characters as well as his content being "meme-y," so I advise you to watch at your own discretion and draw your own conclusions. That being said, if people have better recommendations, please send them to me instead of just complaining and bitching without offering solutions like that one guy on Steam did, thank you.)
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=WONDERLAB:
Summary: Wonderlab was a webcomic by the artist MIMI/Whitezombies, originally posted on the Project Moon Postype account. It follows the adventures of several employees - often called "nuggets" in fan parlance - Catt, Taii, and Rose, in a Lobotomy Corporation branch facility as they go about their day to day activities.
This webcomic was taken down after the Summer 2023 Incel Controversy, when incels stormed the Project Moon office in Korea and made enough credible threats that the former Limbus CG artist known as Vellmori was fired, and it is currently part of a second conflict over copyright. However, primarily for archival and personal reference purposes, the comic has been saved and rehosted in several forms.
>>Internet Archive version. This has just the comic in an on-site readable format.
>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This features the individual pages, a downloadable .zip of the archive, and a readable Google Docs version.
For those who may have ethical concerns about downloading a webcomic that was pulled due to controversy (understandable), once again, >>WordsmithVids has a summary.
(NOTE: This is NOT the place to discuss either the Summer 2023 incel controversy *or* the current (Summer 2024) copyright conflict. There are far better places to do that with people who are far better informed on the topic than I am. This post is solely for providing references and archives of lore material to help guide people into this series. DO NOT attempt to bring up the controversies here, I will not be acknowledging them outside of mentioning why certain supplementary materials may have been pulled and have had to be mirrored. I am just an archivist, not a lawyer or discourser.)
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=LIBRARY OF RUINA:
Summary: Library of Ruina takes place some months after the events of Lobotomy Corporation. A "Grade 9 Fixer" known as Roland finds his way into the mysterious, tower-like Library that has sprung up in place of the former main facility of L Corp, where he encounters Angela and the other Sephirot (all now Librarians). He begins assisting her in finding "the perfect book", which involves enticing people to come to the library through the sending out of curious invitations.
Now, unfortunately, there is not a playlist that splits up the cutscenes or puts them in order for Ruina.
>>These two videos have them all in compilation.
HOWEVER. A wonderful and dear friend of mine (@citroncynique <3) has allowed the guide they sent me to be reproduced/copied.
>>As such, there is a guide on how to watch the cutscenes in the order that makes the most sense, utilizing the timestamps of the previous two videos. It is not a perfect system, but it works at least.
>>WordsmithVids also has at least two summary vids out.
However, due to financial issues at last update, he has not been able to continue his summary of Ruina. I am including them regardless.
>>As well as his Patreon in case people want to support him in hopes of making it easier for him to work on the vids again.
>>There is also an almost FOUR HOUR LONG video essay that delves into Angela's character specifically after the events of LobCorp and Ruina. It is not required viewing like the rest of the materials here, however, I think it still deserves a mention just for the amount of effort and care that went into it.
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=DISTORTION DETECTIVE:
Summary: Taking place at roughly the same time as Library of Ruina, two Fixers known as Ezra and Moses and an N Corp. Taboo Hunter known as Vespa investigate the Distortion Phenomenon that is rapidly starting to spread across the City after the events of the previous games.
Originally released as a webnovel on Project Moon's Postype, Distortion Detective has 42 chapters and is technically incomplete/on hiatus. Project Moon, surprised at how popular the webnovel was, decided they wanted to potentially make an entire game based on the story. As of this writing, that has not happened (yet) but at least one character from the novel has appeared in Limbus Company, so there is still hope yet.
>>The DD series in its original form on Postype. This version was posted chapter-by-chapter, on Project Moon's Postype account and is (as of this writing, at least) still readable there.
>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This has the entire webnovel in a single document format (both Docs and downloadable PDF) featuring NishikujiC's official chapter illustrations up to Ch. 26, and includes the now-cut comic adaption of Ch. 19 by the artist Monggeu/koug99.
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=LEVIATHAN:
(Lord, this one. Like it wasn't a big enough pain in the ass already.)
Summary: After the events of Library of Ruina, and operating as a direct prequel to Limbus Company, Leviathan follows the Color Fixer Vergilius (aka the Red Gaze) as he grapples with his own personal traumas and comes into conflict with the Ring Syndicate, before being recruited as a guide for the LCB.
Leviathan originally started as a webcomic by Monggeu/koug99. Health issues with the artist resulted in the comic being discontinued and turned into a webnovel, whose translation was never completed and had to later be finished by fans. The comic portion has since been taken down as of the Summer 2024 copyright conflict and controversy, much like Wonderlab was. Once again, however, this has been mirrored for archival and reference purposes.
>>Original source of Leviathan on Postype. Due to the copyright conflict and the translation hiatus, the only chapters available are Ch. 12-15. The link is still included for posterity reasons and just in case the copyright conflict results in the chapters being restored.
>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This link includes the comic chapters, as well as the SnakeskinFS English fan translations for the last five chapters that were never completed, all in PDF form.
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=LIMBUS COMPANY:
Summary: After all the events of the previous games, a mysterious up and coming business known as Limbus Company has taken it upon themselves to send a group composed of 12 "Sinners" and their mysterious clock-headed Manager Dante to delve into the now-abandoned L Corp facilities in search of mysterious artifacts known as Golden Boughs.
Finally we come to the end of the shrubbery maze. Limbus Company is the latest chapter in the currently unfolding story of Project Moon and the City, a gacha game being used to fund other projects under the company umbrella.
Many people, once again, have ethical concerns about patronizing a gacha game. I for one agree with them, even as one of those patrons.
>>This playlist features all of the cutscenes for each part of the game story released so far (up to Intervallo 6.5/Time Killing Time as of this writing).
>>There is also this site, which operates as a pure datamined text archive of all the story content.
WITH REGARDS TO THE LITERARY SOURCES OF LIMBUS (among previous games): There are other individuals who are working on guides for these, such as what the artist/user unowers/unower_s calls their "Looney Tunes" document, which goes into detail about Limbus Company and its correlations to Dante's Inferno. I do not want to take credit away from their efforts, but I will provide links to those guides/resources, once I have a good compilation of them.
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=ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Citroncynique. For putting in the effort of making a watch guide for Ruina's cutscenes, and getting me into this series and ruining my life forever by jingling a bugman with PTSD in front of me (<3).
MIMI/Whitezombies, Monggeu/koug99, NishikujiC, and Vellmori. Although several of these artists have left PM and the community on bad terms, I still think their efforts should be appreciated and supported, now more than ever.
SnakeskinFS. For finishing Leviathan's English translation.
Folex, Bek, WordsmithVids, hydrojoy, and the Lobotomy Corporation Archive. For posting their cutscene and summary/analysis videos.
NeedsMoreDoge. The Steam user who provided the original guide and backup on how to read Leviathan that I myself utilized.
The less than pleasant members of the community who spurred me into making this guide in the first place, out of pure spite.
And of course, readers like you and those members of the community who make me so happy to be here and be a part of this fandom. Genuinely, thank you all, I have never felt as welcomed as I do in the Project Moon circles I run in.
In addition to the references included here, I recommend you get involved in your PM community as well! Join communities and Discords, support content creators on social sites, help contribute where it's needed and in whatever way you can! The best way to counteract the worst elements of any fandom is to be a guiding and helpful element in your own right.
Thank you all for reading, and I hope this guide helps you out!
