In the shadowed twilight of 19th-century Delhi, where the once-mighty Mughal Empire crumbled under the iron heel of British colonialism, Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib—pen name Ghalib, meaning "the conqueror"—breathed his last on February 15, 1869, at the age of 71. His life had been a tapestry woven with threads of unparalleled poetic genius, profound philosophical inquiry, personal tragedy, and unyielding wit. Orphaned at five after his father's death in battle, married at thirteen to Umrao Begum (with whom he would lose all seven children in infancy), financially destitute despite royal titles like Dabir-ul-Mulk and Najm-ud-Daula bestowed by Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II, and a witness to the devastating 1857 Indian Rebellion that reduced Delhi to ruins, Ghalib's existence was one of exquisite sorrow and intellectual rebellion. His ghazals, written in both Urdu and Persian, delved into the mysteries of love (ishq), the divine (khuda), the self (khudi), and the illusory nature of reality. Lines like "Na tha kuchh to khuda tha, kuch na hota to khuda hota / Duboya mujhko hone ne, na hota main to kya hota" (When nothing was, God was; had nothing been, God would still be / My very existence has drowned me; had I not been, what would I have been?) captured the Sufi-inspired unity of being (wahdat al-wujud), questioning ego, creation, and the divine in ways that transcended his era.
Yet the cosmos, in its infinite mercy and curiosity, deemed such a soul too luminous to fade into oblivion. The Eternal Muse—a primordial entity embodying the creative force behind all poetry, song, and word across multiverses—intervened. Ghalib's verses had not merely echoed human longing; they had subtly resonated with the fabric of reality itself, bending probabilities in ways even he never suspected. As his mortal form lay in his haveli in Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, his soul was offered reincarnation not into another earthly life, but into a high-fantasy realm called Elyndor, a world where magic is fundamentally linguistic and "the Verse-Weave" governs existence.
Elyndor is a sprawling continent of towering crystal spires, enchanted forests that whisper ancient ballads, floating archipelagos held aloft by sung winds, and abyssal depths where forgotten gods slumber in rhyme-locked tombs. Unlike typical high-fantasy settings reliant on mana crystals or bloodlines, Elyndor's magic derives from The Great Verse, the primordial song that the Creator-Deity (known as the First Bard) chanted to birth the world eons ago. Over millennia, this pure creative force fractured: rigid "Spell-Runes" (formulaic incantations chanted in dead languages) became the domain of mages and sorcerers, while true improvisation—poetry, music, metaphor—grew rare and dangerous, capable of rewriting local reality but risking "Verse-Backlash" (chaotic mutations or reality tears). Most inhabitants fear raw verse, viewing it as heretical or unstable. The ruling empires—the Human Dominion of Valoria, the Elven Enclave of Sylvandar, the Dwarven Forges of Khazadun, and the shadowy Demon Principalities—wage endless wars using regimented magic, dragon-riders, and golem armies.
Enter the System: a divine interface granted exclusively to "Anomalous Souls" like Ghalib, known as The Diwan Interface (nodding to his real-life Divan-e-Ghalib). Upon reincarnation, it manifests as a translucent ethereal scroll hovering in his vision, quantifying talent into LitRPG mechanics tailored to poetry:
• Name: Asad Khan (the new body is a 16-year-old orphan peasant in a border village of Valoria, whose soul departed during a bandit raid, allowing seamless merge).
• Class: Verse Sovereign (Unique Legendary Class – Evolves with poetic mastery; starts at Level 1).
• Level: 1 (Experience gained via composing original verses that affect the world, completing "Muse Trials," or defeating foes with metaphorical power).
• Stats (out of 100 base, scalable): Wisdom 95 (philosophical depth), Charisma 92 (oratory charm), Intelligence 88, Poetic Essence (Mana equivalent) 120 (unlocked potential), Strength 12, Agility 18, Endurance 25.
• Skills:
• Ghazal Invocation (Rank F): Compose a couplet to manifest effects—e.g., "Dil hi to hai na sang-o-khisht, dard se bhar na aaye kyun" summons emotional shields or heals allies by evoking shared humanity.
• Rekhta Resonance (Passive): Urdu/Persian-infused verse amplifies 300% in multilingual or emotional contexts.
• Metaphor Forge: Turn similes into literal constructs (a "heart of stone" enemy petrifies temporarily).
• Divine Diwan Archive: Access and adapt his earthly ghazals, with escalating power as level rises.
• Quests: Procedural "Trials of the Muse" – e.g., "Seduce the Storm with Song" or "Rhyme the Dragon's Rage to Slumber."
• Titles: Reincarnated Bard (+50% to verse potency in despair), Conqueror of Words (unlocks hidden lore).
Ghalib awakens with full memories intact, his wry personality blending with the youthful body. He views the System not as a game but as a divine jest, quipping in his mind with lines from his past life. The story unfolds across a planned 20+ chapter epic (each 5000-8000 words, rich in sensory detail, internal monologue, battle choreography where poetry literally warps physics, and philosophical dialogues).