The Founding
First there was a Kingdom, a kingdom of man. This Kingdom was located on a peninsular archipelago with many smaller kingdoms and city states near by. As this Kingdom held most of the natural resources of the main land, the Kingdom grew thru trade and soon came to encompass many of the smaller kingdoms and free cities. Then came the discovery of a new world far across the ocean, with riches and rewards for the taking. It was with this that the kingdom then became an empire as trade flourish between the old world and the new. However all was not peaceful within the empire, some of the smaller states that did not succumb to the expansive empire, either due to lacked trade resources or remoteness, grew bitter with jealousy and envy of the empires wealth and power. These states, lacking in wealth and power to count of their own took upon themselves the only way they deemed necessary for their survival, piracy and brigandry. Tho lacking any formal structure these pirate/bandit factions only proved to be mealy a troublesome annoyance to the empires trade routes. The empire itself only considered them little more than a nuisance, however how wrong they where. Through ignorance or complacency the empire ignored the problem for to long, then came the night of the great squall.
The Great Squall
No-one knows from whence the necromancer came from or for whom he work for, or if he was merely seeking to take the imperial throne for himself, but it is known that he could not have been working alone. For in his bloody hand he did wield an artefact that could only been crafted by the wills of gods; The Orb of Shadow. Using its power the necromancer summoned a great storm that lashed upon the peninsular to the likes that world had never seen, shattering coasts and town alike, even twisting that which is reality itself. From the squall came the darkness and from the darkness came the legions of the dead, and with them came that of which can only be described as the foulest of foul. The Gates of the great city fell and the unstoppable storm rushed on to fall upon the foot of the imperial throne itself. It is not greatly known as to how the battle between emperor and the necromancy played but the result has impacted the world as it is today. Whether the necromancer failed to control the orb, or whether the emperor used some unknown power, or mayhap the gods decided to play another hand, either way it matters not for what happen sounded the death knell of the empire…
The Silent Throne
The Orb of Shadow had in its power to crack the divide between our world and the realm of the dead, and upon the night of the Great Squall this is what it did. Fissures still remain between the realms mostly found in the darker places of the world, places that are now more prevalent than before. The sea has become more unpredictable and a constant gloom still remains in the skies above. As to the orb itself, in the final throne room battle, the orb saturated with power, expanded to encompass both the participants within its confines and then it somehow lodge itself between this and the next world, but not only did it become fasted in space, but that of time itself, impervious to all. The emperor and the necromancer can both be seen within the orb lock in eternal battle, the emperor still upon the throne and the necromancer grasping at the throat of his liege. The Imperial throne lies silent, the emperor no heir, and the usurper incomplete in his act.
The Aftermath
With the throne in ruins, the empire without direction and the surrounding lands still haunted from the terrors unleased from the night of the squall, and the seemingly splintered pirate groups now mysteriously united under the flag of the crimson skull, trade has become a dangerous game. The former city states of the empire have fallen back to a state of seeming pseudo balkanization and now its seem that none can trust another and everyone seems to be in for themselves. This can only be a time befitting for heroes.
First there was a Kingdom, a kingdom of man. This Kingdom was located on a peninsular archipelago with many smaller kingdoms and city states near by. As this Kingdom held most of the natural resources of the main land, the Kingdom grew thru trade and soon came to encompass many of the smaller kingdoms and free cities. Then came the discovery of a new world far across the ocean, with riches and rewards for the taking. It was with this that the kingdom then became an empire as trade flourish between the old world and the new. However all was not peaceful within the empire, some of the smaller states that did not succumb to the expansive empire, either due to lacked trade resources or remoteness, grew bitter with jealousy and envy of the empires wealth and power. These states, lacking in wealth and power to count of their own took upon themselves the only way they deemed necessary for their survival, piracy and brigandry. Tho lacking any formal structure these pirate/bandit factions only proved to be mealy a troublesome annoyance to the empires trade routes. The empire itself only considered them little more than a nuisance, however how wrong they where. Through ignorance or complacency the empire ignored the problem for to long, then came the night of the great squall.
The Great Squall
No-one knows from whence the necromancer came from or for whom he work for, or if he was merely seeking to take the imperial throne for himself, but it is known that he could not have been working alone. For in his bloody hand he did wield an artefact that could only been crafted by the wills of gods; The Orb of Shadow. Using its power the necromancer summoned a great storm that lashed upon the peninsular to the likes that world had never seen, shattering coasts and town alike, even twisting that which is reality itself. From the squall came the darkness and from the darkness came the legions of the dead, and with them came that of which can only be described as the foulest of foul. The Gates of the great city fell and the unstoppable storm rushed on to fall upon the foot of the imperial throne itself. It is not greatly known as to how the battle between emperor and the necromancy played but the result has impacted the world as it is today. Whether the necromancer failed to control the orb, or whether the emperor used some unknown power, or mayhap the gods decided to play another hand, either way it matters not for what happen sounded the death knell of the empire…
The Silent Throne
The Orb of Shadow had in its power to crack the divide between our world and the realm of the dead, and upon the night of the Great Squall this is what it did. Fissures still remain between the realms mostly found in the darker places of the world, places that are now more prevalent than before. The sea has become more unpredictable and a constant gloom still remains in the skies above. As to the orb itself, in the final throne room battle, the orb saturated with power, expanded to encompass both the participants within its confines and then it somehow lodge itself between this and the next world, but not only did it become fasted in space, but that of time itself, impervious to all. The emperor and the necromancer can both be seen within the orb lock in eternal battle, the emperor still upon the throne and the necromancer grasping at the throat of his liege. The Imperial throne lies silent, the emperor no heir, and the usurper incomplete in his act.
The Aftermath
With the throne in ruins, the empire without direction and the surrounding lands still haunted from the terrors unleased from the night of the squall, and the seemingly splintered pirate groups now mysteriously united under the flag of the crimson skull, trade has become a dangerous game. The former city states of the empire have fallen back to a state of seeming pseudo balkanization and now its seem that none can trust another and everyone seems to be in for themselves. This can only be a time befitting for heroes.
