— the monthly subscription —

The Scribe's Pledge

One relationship, from pre-alpha to launch and beyond.

Vellum is a subscription. Five euros a month, or fifteen for the binding tier. From the first pre-alpha build you can reach today, through alpha and beta, through the public launch, and through every month after — it is one continuous relationship between a scribe and the world they are writing in.

There are no microtransactions. No cash shop. No battle pass. No ads. The subscription is the whole price, and the two tiers offer the same experience inside the game.

Pause any month. Come back any month. The scribes who are subscribed before launch keep the permanent first scribes credit — in the game's titles, forever, even if they stop subscribing the day after launch.

— what every scribe gets —

For every Pledged scribe

  • i.Access to Vellum as it is being built — pre-alpha now, alpha and beta the moment they open, the full game at launch.
  • ii.The long-form devlog — the version that is not published.
  • iii.A Discord room with the engineer. Quiet. Curated.
  • iv.One open hour with the engineer every month. Any question.
  • v.A name in the in-game credits at the first scribes — for anyone subscribed before launch, permanent even after cancellation.

— the two tiers —

Pledged or Binding

Pledged

€5 / month

Everything above. The full experience of being a scribe, at the lowest possible monthly price.

Subscription setup in progress. The Pledge opens here when it is live.

— with the printed volume —

Binding

€15 / month

Everything Pledged gives, plus a printed copy of the year's devlog as a bound notebook — mailed once a year — and priority on direct replies from the engineer.

Subscription setup in progress. The Pledge opens here when it is live.

Both tiers offer the same experience inside the game. Binding extras are out-of-game.

— the pledge token —

Pay in euros. Or pay in gold.

Every month of access is represented by a Pledge Token — a consumable object in your in-game inventory. When you subscribe, Vellum puts a token in your account and redeems it for you automatically. But the token can be held. And if it is held, it can be sold.

On the in-game marketplace, any scribe with enough gold can buy a Pledge Token from another scribe and use it to pay for their own next month. Nobody pays twice. Nobody gets something for nothing. One scribe works the parchment and is paid in gold; another scribe sharpens the pen with that same gold. The result is that both of them get to write.

The loop is closed. Gold can buy a Pledge Token; a Pledge Token pays for a month of access. There is no path the other way — no player ever cashes out of the system into euros. Your time can become game time. It does not become cash.

This means a player who enjoys the game and accumulates gold can, in principle, play forever without paying another euro after the first — by buying Pledge Tokens with gold from players who would rather pay Vellum directly. It also means a player with little time but some money can support the work of a scribe on the other side of the world who has more time than money.

  • — Pledge Token marketplace activates when the economy is online (alpha and beyond).
  • — Vellum takes a small fee on each marketplace trade — paid in gold, and destroyed. It is a sink against inflation, not a revenue stream.
  • — Pledge Tokens exist only inside Vellum's database. They are not crypto. They are not transferable to anything outside the game.

— the rules —

  • — Zero pay-to-win between Pledged and Binding. Same game.
  • — Zero microtransactions, for any scribe, of any tier.
  • — Zero exclusive cosmetics behind tiers or paywalls.
  • — No "subscribe now or lose X". The Pledge is an open door.
  • — Cancel any time. No penalty.
  • — Pause and return: your character, inventory and progress wait for you.
  • — First scribes credit is kept forever for anyone subscribed before launch.
  • — No cash-out. Gold cannot leave the system as euros. The loop is closed.