Ma'rune

A single, expansive continent split into 12 kingdoms: Brywall, Ca’astan, Cermia, Elryn, Kiberia, Lo’gar, Rennarsie, Tennith, Valissa, Vorne and Yondar. Each kingdom is ripe with its own history. Each ruler - whether they be a king or queen, or a council of powerful men and women - has their own ideas of how to improve their kingdom, and the world at large.

Throughout history, there have been numerous conflicts between the kingdoms. Fighting for land, gold, or the basic necessities required for one's survival. The fighting hasn’t been limited to just the kingdoms either. Sometimes, wars have broken out between fellow country men.

Ma’rune has never known peace.

Alliances are precarious. Kingdom borders are ever changing. Good women die everyday to give others a chance at a life without war. Without fighting. Without pain.

You know this, have lived with this knowledge for the entirety of your life. But the winds are changing. There is a storm brewing on the horizon and you will be forced to face it - whether you wish to or not.

Ask me of the forgotten, and I cannot speak. Tell me of the forgotten, and I cannot listen. For only a fool would open their hearts to the lies of lesser men.

But, I say, find me in the night. Find me when the only whisper is the wind across the stones, when all sleep but the howling wolves and the shimmering moons. And I shall tell you the secret that every holy man fears.

Our gods are not dead. They are not silent. They are not gone. Rather, they are trapped, my child, no more to roam our land.

The divine beings of Ma’rune have, for the most part, been around since the world’s creation. 24 souls of immense power, unfathomable wisdom, undying and unyielding, though the full pantheon has long since been forgotten by the denizens of Ma’rune.

Now, the people are divided into factions. Their worship is limited to only the deities that they believe in. As it stands, there are three major religions: the Church of Van-Hael, the Nightsingers, and the Elryvian Pantheon.

It is written in history that the deities were once very involved with the daily lives of mortals. But something happened just over a thousand years ago. An event known only as the Lightfall, after which the deities ceased to interact with the mortals. Lost, without guidance of those they once worshipped, the people began to rewrite the tales of the gods.

Recently, Ma’rune has seen its fair share of brutish, horrifying betrayals. From the coup at Castle Tirav, where Prince Percival Greymount ousted his father and allied with the Valissans. To the change of Vignesian leadership, built on lies and blood, and the resulting slaughter of one of their most prevalent professions.

One must ask themselves, can peace truly be found when the world is rife with so much conflict? Can alliances be made and kept, without the expectation that they will eventually be broken? With the trust of the people so easily broken, it is a wonder that they can find it in themselves to trust at all.

Would you whisper in the ears of great kings and queens, all in the name of a falsified war? Would you risk life and limb to further your own agenda, to rise to a power you never should have earned?

The way you look down at them from on high, as if you are a Goddess amongst mere mortals, is frightening my dear. Your disregard for your fellow country men and women will be your downfall.