A world of one continent.
The great lake in the center of the land divides it into three sections. The great river
Divitias
flows from it to the southeast. The great mountains known as the
Erimos range
run from the seas of the northwest down to the lake. A final gap, the
great ridge
, runs from near the lake to almost touch the southwestern shores.
This land has forever been without change, as far as all known life can remember. Humanity has risen from weaklings to be the apex predator...at least, on the grander scale of things. Their combination of intelligence, tool-making, strength, speed, endurance, ability to domesticate wildlife, and sheer vast
numbers
has allowed them to overcome otherwise-superior foes, such that the great beasts of old are nothing but myth and legend.
Over time, three kingdoms of mankind formed: the nomadic
northern tribes
, the great
eastern kingdom
, and the
western empire
. The tides of time over thousands of years have seen countless countries rise and fall, with those three coalescing their power to dominate their respective domains. For hundreds of years, they have fought off rivals, used political alliances, suppressed populaces, and even committed genocide in order to secure absolute authority, until only they remained.
While all three factions have conflicted in the past, an uneasy stalemate formed where nobody could attack or risk an alliance with another, as the scales could easily tip against them with even the slightest turn in events. The northern tribes, while scattered, became hardened warriors able to mobilize quickly. The few beasts roaming their territories have fallen under their absolute control, allowing them to prosper against almost every threat.
The eastern kingdom was the first of the three to dabble in the supernatural and attempt to harness the great powers within. This, combined with their bountiful, resource-filled land, rendered them an economic power-house, able to suppress their foes by forces otherwise-unknown.
The western empire, though poor in agriculture, was ripe with ores. Investing in industry, they were able to create a great nation that ran like a well-oiled machine, responding to any threat with mechanical precision. With all three equally matched, none could be the victor.
Though tension remained high, ultimately, trade between them opened up. Through this came not only opportunities, but also stories, as the people began to intermingle. It is a well-known fact Agnigi is not without its monsters. Most of the day have long-since been destroyed, but those of the night have remained a nuisance, reappearing over time to horrifically decimate isolated villages, or lay waste to unsuspecting travelers.
It was around this time a race of humans previously-unknown shown up. Calling themselves
hunters
, these pale-skinned, red-eyed travelers, be it man or woman, specialized in fighting off monsters. Primarily employed in the south, it was theorized that these mercenaries may hail from the north, as some lost forgotten tribe, yet when asked about their origins, they refused to divulge unless to a member of their own clan.
Their international service, while starting as individuals, soon began to form a company, unaffiliated with any country and yet carrying political weight equivalent to one. Their protection for a cost became indispensable, as no other humans had any clue how to fight off the beasts of the night.
Irreplaceable, and growing in numbers, their power began to grow, especially after the rise of a dreaded beast known only as
lycans
. These beasts, they warned, were capable of turning humans into more lycans, and were thought the strongest, most ruthless beasts in existence.
The hunters continued the fight, even as the number of lycans grew far beyond the natural level, and it was at the great lake near the border between the tribes and the empire where the reason behind this disturbance brewing was revealed:
Dmitri Damanos
, once a mere bandit who had fled from the eastern kingdom, had formed a cult revering the beasts as gods. This cult, the
Wulden
, had all willingly undergone the process of lycanthropy. Things only got worse. Already an even match for the hunters, Dmitri was able to uncover a dark secret from the eastern kingdom, utilizing a mad science to recreate a long-since forgotten process to turn anything considered living into an unstoppable
undead
killing machine...including lycans.
With this absolute power, the Wulden were able to seize control of a large section primarily of the western empire, spreading across the land like a plague, including the discovery of a secret library that Dmitri was able to uncover, one which the hunters had desperately tried and failed to defend against.
And for good reason. In it contained ancient records detailing humanity's first triumph against the beasts of the night. In times of legend, monsters were all tame. They were kept in check by a force they feared:
vampires
. These pale-skinned, red-eyed creatures of the night were themselves beasts, and yet they had kept control over all the others for one simple reason...
...Vampires were once human. And like lycans, hold the power to transform humans into more vampires. The humanity of old, before the three nations, had collectively risen up and supposedly exterminated them, and it was only then that monsters began to prey upon humanity.
Those vampires were the hunters, hidden in the mist, exterminating their competition, bouncing back from their brush with death to recuperate, multiply, and prosper. Even coming from a monster, this the hunters knew would be taken as true. Exposed, outgunned by the Wulden, and now knowing they would lack the support of the three nations yet were facing the forces of darkness...the vampires, the hunters, became desperate, and in their desperation, stole the secrets of the occult.
Though unable to harness the strength of the undead, for vampires are already considered such, they were able to modify lycanthropy such to allow themselves to be infected with it, willingly hybridizing their whole race in the process, redubbing themselves the
Nosferatu
.
Now on equal fighting terms with the Wulden, the Nosferatu acted quickly and took as much territory as they could, primarily from the northern tribes, as to best offer them the resources needed to fight in the upcoming war. These events happened in less than a month, and humanity immediately, desperately, bonded together, fearing their fate.
If they could be turned against their will into undead, into lycans, into vampires, into some sick hybrid of two, what could they possibly do to survive? None of them had the experience necessary. The only action available: as with their ancestors, put their differences aside and bond together, in a desperate alliance against the supernatural creatures of the unknown.
This alliance was to be focused in the strongest remaining of the three factions, the eastern kingdom, but this triggered one final change: overnight, after the signing of the Humanity Treaty, an uprising of slaves rose up. This, because those slaves were secretly undead, hidden survivors of the experiments long-since discontinued, fearing for their lives thanks to their new bad publicity.
The land now divided between humans, wulden, nosferatu, and undead, a four-way factional war is brewing...
...Yet a
fifth faction
lurks in the shadows...a faction with an entirely foreign motive, one which sparked the war in the first place.
Until recently, the residents of Agnigi had no word for hell. They've invented one:
Welcome to Gistou. Population? everyone here.
