<Author's Note> Monsters' Den: The Book of Dread recently turned two years old, and with Godfall on the way, I'd like to introduce my universe for this not-so-plot-heavy game. It's very loosely based on the game though, and takes a lot of liberties, but I do not think you will mind. Further exposition will be forthcoming. In the meanwhile, here's the first page in the Book of Dread, which is now kept securely in the archives. </note>
Open this book, my friend, and read Of men and maidens of word and deed. Of how the demons were surpassed And unimmortal, breathed their last. For what was once the Book of Dread Shall never be an epic of the dead.
The Emperor of Garin: --Emperor Harold Alexander Marius Garin II, Scion of the Fallen Emperor
The Exiles: --Hamish, Royal Bodyguard, Commander of the King's Legion --Nigel, High Inquisitor of the Orthodoxy, Keeper of the Book of Dread --Sheila, Huntsmistress of the King's Rangers, Captain of the First Royal Auxiliary --Mariah, Enlightened Magus, Elemental Mistress --Desiree, Assassin of the Rogue's Gallery --Carlos, Bull Clan Warlord of the Iber Mountains --Matilda, Redeemer of the Exiled Student, Lead Conjuror --Christopher, Captain of the Fourth Royal Pikes, Chief Arms Instructor, Garin Ambassador to the Earthen Nations
The Four Swords: --Samuel, Archmage, Channeler of the Magi --Bethany, Exalted Priest-Lord of the Orthodoxy --Morag, Marsh Clan Warlord of the Hydaspas Marsh --Elton, Swashbuckler of the Rogue's Gallery, Chief Alchemist --Tito, Chief Yeoman of the King's Rangers, Captain of the Thirteenth Toxotes
Garin, the crown of civilization. For over two centuries, it has been the empire in a land that begot emperors. Over a millenia and a half ago, the Xiphas reigned in the region, blooming in art, architecture, and philosophy, repulsing the desert invaders to the northwest, in an empire that stretched even past the Hydaspas River, where only the orcs and unfit beasts lived. They were men, heroes of renown.
But each empire has its time, and the Dwarves of the Earthen Alliance arose, coming down from labyrinths that ran from the northernmost reaches of the continent, the misty mountans known as the Casarron. Slow to grow, slow to breed were they, but they had built empires in their caves and mines, and mankind was overrun and subjugated. The spirit of man was not as easily broken, though, and the combined might of human arms lead to the Amoran Empire. Technology flourished, and in the midst of this Renaissance the beings that had been suppressed into hiding for all of prehistory could emerge.
The Orthodoxy, the One True Way, arose in this time. In the ancient times they had only been known as a wandering group of spiritualists and mystics. And that was what we were. Through the purification and consecration of our beings we were able to find the existence of the One Who Is Not One, who created the planes of existence, and exists in each form as a different incarnation. The incarnation of himself in our plane, the Terrestrial Plane, came into physical form during this time and founded the Orthodoxy, the church that came to realize that the old pagan polytheism was the worship of the manifestations and not the one.
From the shadows also crept the Magi, wielders of the powers of the elements and conjuration, who were also cognizant of the planes. These were the shamans and the midwives, the witches and wizards who had been persecuted by the ignorant for so long by a superstitious society, and later, a skeptical one. Although their powers might have seemed at odds to the Orthodoxy, the fact that they knew about and exercised restraint around the planes made us allies. The catalyst of this alliance is ancient, almost legendary, but it is a story that will be revealed in due course, for it has much to do with the happenings that this book shall describe.
But even the Amoran Empire fell, this time to human corruption and darkness. Internal corruption within the government lead to widespread revolts that would have caused a slow, painful death of the empire had it not been for the forces that hastened it: the splinter group of the Orthodoxy known as the Way of the Outward Path, the corruption of clerics and Magi to become Necromancers, the Goblin hordes, the Dwarven armies.
And so the continent was plunged into the Dark Ages. There was no lawlessness in this time, because there was no law. It was through great trial and skill that the Orthodoxy and the Magi managed to survive, defending their territory and guarding their most precious treasure: the line of the emperor.
Heirs were begotten and heirs passed away, as they learned about the royal blood from which they were descended, and sought to find the havens of culture that had survived all these years. They controlled their small territories, waiting for the time by which they would rebuild their empire.
Finally, after centuries of upheaval, Garin the Unifier finally managed to create the successor to the empires of his ancestors, the Amorans and the Xiphas. It lived and flourished in a new golden age, but among the borders there were always troubles and conflicts. They were almost always isolated conflicts though, and in the face of Garin's might was easily crushed. We were blind, lulled into complacency in the face of the coming shadow.
