Introduction to the World

The Blood War

The Sunlit Earth is dead, conquered by the forces of Chaos. What was once a garden of peace and plenty is now a barren plain of constant change. No system or category matters anymore. There is no time, no space. Directions no longer exist. Things disappear when you cease to look at them.

This state of the world is a result of a bitter Blood War between the forces of Hell and the Abyss - Law and Chaos clashing. The demons of Chaos once lived beyond the sky, while the devils lived in Hell at the centre of the earth. Mortals lived on the surface between the two extremes until the demons conquered their world. When pure Chaos took hold, the survivors were forced to flee underground, closer to Hell.

Entrails of the Earth

The tunnels under the earth are often referred to as the ‘Trails, an ironic abbreviation of the word entrails. The ‘Trails are dark and incredibly hostile to the former surface-dwellers. Hardly anything grows in these places where life was not meant to reach - creases into the rock and narrow pathways carved out by hypogean rivers.

What few creatures you’ll find down here are patient, blind opportunists. While you struggle to find your way in the dark, they don’t need to see to know where you are. The creature arches its back, and remains perfectly still in anticipation of that one fateful leap. If it can seize the moment, your flesh will feed it for a month of near-hibernation.

The City

Our story begins in the year 6412 of the Age of Sapience, two millennia after mortalkind was driven underground. The majority of the former surface-dwellers’ dwindling numbers are concentrated into cities, protected warrens of tunnels in the stone. One such place is the city-state of Zwll, a prosperous settlement yet troubled by the infighting of its cooped-up inhabitants. We find humans here, and the genasi who once ruled them, but also less common folk such as myconids and even a few young dragons.

Zwll is ruled by democracy, though it still bears signs of the old mage-aristocracy. Magic is highly praised as the mark of the upper classes, and absolutely necessary to grow food in the dark. The ultimate ruler of the city is the Prince Tectonic, a noble earth elemental, but his grip on power is tenuous at best. Between criminal syndicates, infernal ambassadors, and magus-ministers, the city is in a constant struggle as its inhabitants fight to see their interests represented.