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As we approach August, the apex of the year, there’s just enough time to give you a glimpse of something on the horizon. You may have heard whispers of MetaStones, the Daoist DAO, and the StoneKeeper harbingers that will herald its arrival. If you’re wondering if we’ve been on psychedelics, don’t fret, the following paragraphs will explain all.
We’re talking, of course, about the upcoming MetaStones project. If you haven’t heard the buzz yet, then allow us to explain. MetaStones is a new WEB3 project promising to be the world’s first Daoist-themed DAO. Aside from being the niftiest use of an acronym in the metaverse to date, a Daoist DAO makes a lot of sense. Daoism, as a philosophy, has existed for a thousand years. Though, while it’s hardly new, its tenets of universal balance and harmony are as relevant today as they were a millennia ago.
But what are these StoneKeepers and what makes them so special?
The short answer is StoneKeepers, or the Guardians of the DAO as they are known, are NFTs. The tokens represent entry to and membership of the MetaStones DAO. Visually these tokens are ancient warriors clad in ceremonial tunics, armour and blessed by sacred Bagua symbols. Each guardian has four facets that can manifest in any combination of 12 distinct colour hues. As with most tokens, these guardians come in a variety of rarities. The more common foot soldier will likely appear in four colours and the fewer the colours the more uncommon the token. In addition, the Origin StoneKeepers can manifest with up to eight unique or identical Bagua symbols, although most will have less. Sacred to the Daoist ways, these Bagua symbols represent many elements of the belief. Rarer guardians arrive blessed with more Bagua symbols. The rarest of them all though appear in one colour bearing either eight identical, or eight different symbols. The upshot is each Guardian is unique and their identity and rarity is obvious from space. It’s worth mentioning that of the ultra-rare mono-coloured guardians, only 12 can ever exist.
What do these StoneKeepers do?
Think of the MetaStones project as a kind of Digital round table. Each member has a voice and voting rights and will help decide what kind of society the DAO will become. While we won’t and frankly can’t give everything away yet, we can say that owning a StoneKeeper gets you a seat at that table. There’s more to come, isn’t there always, including some vague hints about some kind of Game-fi element called Project-X ( an idea they’d planned long before Elon jumped on the bandwagon) , but that’s all we can say for now. We can guess maybe that a token’s rarity may come with additional functionality, but that’s pure speculation.
What’s Daoism got to do with it?
Daoism is very much the theme of the project. The tokens share Daoist iconography and the lore behind MetaStones is rich with Daoist beliefs and philosophy. In terms of the tokens, this manifests itself in four distinct ways.
Time: each of the 365 Origin Stonekeepers binds to a specific day of the year. This binding happened every day since the inception of the Metaverse in 1992. Like the guardians, the MetaStones themselves also bind to one day. This fact becomes more important due to the next element.
Binding: project lore tells us that once each Origin StoneKeepers has materialised, they’ll draw the Metastones from the Metaverse into the real world. This event signals the start of the DAO and allows the ‘Binding’ to begin. Each StoneKeeper can bond with one MetaStone. This process called Metamorphing, allows each StoneKeeper to evolve into a more powerful entity imbued with something called Ancient Wisdom. We can’t say for sure, but the developers seem keen for us to ask… what happens if a StoneKeeper and MetaStone bound to the same day, were to bind themselves? We’re guessing fire & brimstone, dogs and cats living together, and maybe some kind of cash reward. Who knows right?
Metaclock: this one’s new to us too. The lore’s fuzzy, but it sounds like some kind of giant… erm… Meta Clock? We’re guessing it’s some kind of visual reference to how the project’s going, but it could also be a puppy with a pointy hat. The developers tell us it represents the harmony and balance of the DAO as StoneKeepers and MetaStones come together in one big digital swinger’s party.
Compassion: this one’s interesting. You don’t come across many WEB3 projects boasting that Compassion lies at the centre of their concept. Here it is though, a promise that whatever MetaStones becomes, it started at least, with compassion at its core. If nothing else, we think this makes MetaStones worthy of a whitelist.
You can follow the project and its team here as their dark design unravels and they unleash their MetaStones and Stonekeepers on the world.
