The world used to be a simple place, one of black and white, where decisions could be made to affect entire nations based on concepts of good and evil. It was a time of unity. The united empires of the free nations joined together as a force of good and every wretched monster that ever haunted the dreams of man joined together under one banner on the Lost Continent. The war raged for years, titanic battles of unimaginable proportions ravaged the planet and ended the lives of millions until one day, it stopped. It ended not with a bang, but with a whimper as all the nightmares that had terrorized the world were forced to flee back to their empty barren wasteland and hide in terror of man. Good had finally triumphed over evil. The victory was celebrated by every man woman and child of every race and class. It seemed that the world would know peace and happiness forever. Unfortunately, what seemed and what was are two very different things. At first there was no noticeable change, life went on as usual. As time went on though, people began to realize that the constant threat of evil was gone. They had no reason to be afraid any more. The church began to notice this change as attendance dropped and people just seemed to stop caring. Back during the war the church was a shining beacon of power and hope for the people. It was a place to go and know that a higher power was watching out for them because they lived their lives the right way. Now the people no longer needed that protection, evil had been defeated so why should they go through all the trouble of devoting their time to gods that could do nothing for them. For a time the church managed to continue existing in society, they continued to try and teach the people what was right but the people wouldn’t listen. Though the church faced a population filled with apathy, that’s all the people felt, apathy. The people may not have respected the church anymore but they had nothing against it either. That is, not until one day when a overzealous paladin spoke out a bit too strongly against the actions of a rich nobleman. The paladin managed to crawl into the nearest church, broken and bleeding, before he collapsed on the church floor. He was able to communicate to his brethren what had happened and a group of paladins and clerics rushed to the nobleman’s house to confront him. The confrontation turned violent, and to this day nobody really knows who won the fight. The government caught wind of the fight and took the side of the nobleman, the church took the side of its paladins. What followed, could hardly be considered a war, but it was a confrontation between two very powerful forces. The government began passing anti religion legislation and the church began independently punishing criminals. The government finally had had enough with the church and decided to end it. One night they organized a synchronized attack on all of the major churches but to their surprise they found them all abandoned. Some say the gods themselves warned them of the attack, and others say they simply had spies in the government. Only the members of the church themselves really know what happened, and they’ll never tell. After that night all churches were torched and razed and the ruins were left standing as a message to any that would try and resurrect them. The church found a home on the northern continent in a massive city known only as The Great Belltower. Once they had become established there they continued their training of Paladins, Monks and Clerics and began sending them back into the world to spread fear. The church had realized that without danger and fear the people would never return to morality so they took it upon themselves to provide them with it. The government reacted by finally making any practice of religion illegal, making it the first officially atheist country in the world. The government itself had changed as well. As a testament to their power and arrogance the government raised a giant square of land out of the sea to build a capitol city on. They appointed an emperor who then appointed lords to rule the various provinces of the country. As a custom, the emperor presented each new lord with an extremely powerful magical item of their choosing to assist them in their ruling. Our story begins now, in a prison cell on the floating city, a city sitting atop a giant island that floats across the sky, accessible only by airship. In that cell we have a wizard caught forging magic items, a would be traitor of paladins, a disgraced noble, a monk with a past of violence and regret and a mysterious man in the corner watching patiently out the single window.