The lore mostly comes in the form of flavor text on cards or in the instructions. I want the lore to mostly come in cryptic bursts that fire the imagination of the players, and give suggestions as to the larger picture of things. I especially try to be hazy on the exact details of each faction's religious views, so players can interpret what they believe however they like.

I have a lot of ideas on what some cards should be, but I give myself enough room to improvise in case I see some amazing piece of art that fits a card in a new way I never considered. That was half the theme of my most recent post, where I described how the nature of some cards changed based on the art I found. For instance, there's a race called The Cracked, which were meant to be a completely bonkers race (and the placeholder art I originally used was a photo of a guy in a straightjacket in a padded cell with a gag in his mouth). But I changed it to a kind of android instead, because of the final art I found, and it struck me in a particular way and made me think of taking The Cracked in that direction.

I have also been considering writing tie-in stories that go along with the game, though I want to probably get at least the base game complete before I start those. Also, when this base set is complete and I begin work on the expansion sets, I might try to push a narrative flow through them so there's a bigger overarching story that progresses (and might even change how the game is played as it goes on).

As for playtesting: super apologies in advance! You'll be doing a lot of printing and cutting! :p