On a dark winter’s night, a child signs a contract with a man dead to the world.
Promised an upbringing filled with forbidden knowledge, the two enter a strange and isolated existence together.
After nineteen years, the sanctuary and prison you have come to know as your home is discovered, and the land finally learns that the villain they believed to have perished a century prior has merely been in hiding…and that he isn’t alone.
Separated and forced to flee, you’re once again released into the world without your master’s hand to guide you. Only now, he is no longer the only one adept at the unsanctioned arcane arts.
“Unsanctioned” is a 18+ interactive novel created in Twine where you play as the apprentice of an ostracized sorcerer. It’s set in a dark fantasy world where magic is simultaneously a symbol of status and strictly supervised.
Demo (COG) | Demo (Twine)
✢ Three backgrounds to choose from which will shape your MC and their relationship with the world, impact their pool of knowledge, their countenance, and how others might react to them.
✢ Three races to choose from: elf, human or the shunned cryn.
✢ A complicated parental relationship at the heart of the narrative.
✢ A cast of potential – and not entirely lawful – companions who you can forge various relationships with.
✢ Around five full-fledged romances, along with casual flings you may try to pursue along the way.
✢ Choices that shape your MC’s personality as well as the world around them to a lesser or bigger degree and narrative branching based on certain choices.
✢ A game of truth and deceit with you as one of the main players. You've been taught to keep your identity and abilities a secret from others, but is secrecy what you truly want?
✢ A magic system of both legal and illegal spells at your disposal. Use wisely, or you might attract unwanted attention...
✢ Elven, He/Him
If the stories are to be trusted, he is the last surviving member of the group of sorcerers unceremoniously named the “Pentagon order”. He is your master and your caretaker, your mentor and your jailor.
Knowledgeable and lonesome, he often seems to ponder the world which he has now become a reclused observer of.
Whether you consider him family or a brute who took you away from the life you were meant to live, it can’t be argued that the nineteen years the two of you have spent together has shaped you into the person you are today.
How your presence has affected him, you cannot confidently say. His mind remains as closed off to you now as it did on that snowy winter’s night so long ago.
Perhaps leaving his side is what will finally allow you to learn the truth about him.
✢ ?, He/Him
As a being born from the very essence of sorcery, Muir’s existence threads a thin line between mortality and something wholly other. All mages rely on the energy of their Magiramús to cast their spells; you rely on this hoary eyed young man to do the same. Aside from his direct and stubborn disposition, he possesses both a palpable kindness and a sense of unmotivated ruthlessness.
You don’t know what he is, yet you know him better than anyone. You left your home together; now you must learn to navigate the world together.
Something that’s much easier said than done when your very existence marks you as outlaws.
✢ Elven, They/Them
One need only look at Wren to know that they’re one of the Institute’s agents. If the robes didn’t give it away, their demeanour certainly would.
Arrogance lies deeply embedded in their eyes, and they seem convinced that anyone who looks their way does so with envy.
When you encounter them in the troubled village of Kelmerth during their Practice of Passing, you get to witness firsthand what a student of the most distinguished academy on the continent can do, and what being a product of its teachings really means.
✢ Human, She/Her
Hailing from the southern land of Ciralor, one of the few human-ruled countries on the continent, Azora is less attuned to the laws of the arcane than a native of Aíos would be.
Instead, she tends to rely on the inventions her homeland is both renowned and feared for. She is eloquent, straight-forward and impulsive to a fault – but it is all, according to her, to reclaim her rightful place as Ciralor’s leader.
A task that proves difficult when every day is a battle to stay in control of her own body.
✢ Vampiric, She/Her
Astra's gaze always appears to wander, searching for something in the crowds she often surrounds herself with, occasionally locking on to someone who just so happens to catch her interest.
Although her muscular stature points to a life of strife, the poise she displays is more befitting of a high born than that of a common thug.
As a vampire, she has little choice but to shun the light of day and seek the comfort that lies in the shadows. Representing the part of her people that refuse to conform to the rules set in place by the less potent, she operates outside of the law, following instead the self-made rules of her Coven.
✢ Cryn, He/Him
The order of The Aelesh is enveloped in mystery. Worshipping the world of the unknown, they have chosen to cast aside the Faith in favour of the Truth – and in their eyes, the truth lies beyond that which mortals can comprehend and perceive with their senses.
With the simple mask he insists on wearing, your only clue as to Kirin’s true character lies in his voice and body language. Each sparse movement has a purpose, every phrase a veiled meaning.
He’s vowed to express his beliefs by following in the footsteps of the infamous Pentagons and to serve them in any way he can.
In his opinion, this is currently best done by aiding you.
You will be able to access a “book of spells” (codex) from the game's menu whenever you wish. The spells that your MC has learned, or learned about, will be displayed there along with some information regarding what each spell does.
There are key points during the story where using magic might attract attention or be more risky than other times. Know that there are no bad endings in this game, but that choices do have consequences, and that includes your use of magic.
There are spells which are considered “lawful” and spells which are labelled as “forbidden”. You will have access to both, though due to the nature of the MC's upbringing, they will have a wide range of forbidden spells at their disposal.
Even when using a “lawful” spell, this is still considered a crime unless you have a permit to do so.
There are moments in the game where you will be able to go to the spell menu and select the spell you want to cast (if any). Not all spells will always be available at all times simply because of branching reasons, but I’m striving to make it as free-choice as possible and add flavour-text in most cases at the very least.
Progress Status
Last Content Update: 3rd of April 2025. (Editing + some new paths during the beginning of chapter 1).
Total Wordcount: Around 185k (as of end of March 2025)
Words Coded in ChoiceScript: Around 185k (as of end of March 2025)
Written Chapters: Prologue part 1, prologue part 2 + start of Chapter 1.
Edited Chapters: Prologue part 1 (3 backgrounds), prologue part 2, beginning of chapter 1.
Currently 10 chapters in total are planned, excluding prologue and epilogue.
Credits
Cover art: cyanide-chicken
Character portraits: holyantenna (upper portraits) and mooreux (lower portraits)
Logo art/text design: kathaeris
All other images are from Canva