Cardinality

The world is made of four continents spread over the globe, plus an archipelago at the top. Each continent has remained a single nation with a specific form of government.   In a world where werewolves, witches, vampires, fairies and ghosts roam freely throughout the land, it would seem inevitable that weak creatures such as humans would be completely subjugated and dragged to the rock bottom of society’s power pyramid. However, this was not to be.   Humans are actually the bosses. Never mind their lack of raw power. How did they do it?   No one knows exactly how it happened, only that it did. Attempts to explain this unlikely scenario will inevitably be thwarted because only the humans’ recollection of events survived the test of time. Humans are notoriously unreliable narrators who tell stories in ways that are most convenient to them; truthfulness of the facts does not figure very high in their list of priorities. Therefore History books given to (human) children will contain slightly embellished versions of the following tale:   "A thousand years ago, the supernatural races went to war against each other in their search for absolute power. Humans were left mostly alone, as they were not considered strong enough to be a threat. After years of constant savagery and intense bloodshed, the population of the supernatural races had decreased so dramatically that they became at risk of being instinct because of their own thirst for power. A wise, noble human finally made the supernaturals realise their dire situation, and thus humans were acknowledged as a race strong in the head, even in lacking strength in the body. An even further acknowledgement of human standing in this new society was made when the supernatural races ceded us the right to rule over them as an attempt to quench their self-destructive power hunger. From that day on, humans and supernaturals were bound by a code of law that can only be amended by humans after fair judgement of supernaturals’ demands. Thus our society has been peaceful and prosperous for the last millennia. K. Rapper & F. Arting, History of the World, p. 3"   At first this agreement worked well. Humans treated supernaturals fairly and helped them rebuild their dying cultures. However, just because humans do not posses supernatural power it does not mean they are not power-hungry. They got too comfortable with their new authority, and paranoia settled in. Random, isolated incidents of attacks against humans were used as excuses to impose increasingly tougher regulations on the supernaturals’s way of life.   It is only over the last century that the supernaturals have begun to conquer some of their rights back. Supernatural Equality groups have emerged to create dialogue with humans in order to improve the quality of life and constitutional rights of vampires, fairies, witches, and werewolves. There is still much to do, and even among the supernaturals some have more rights than others, so the road to freedom is still long, dark, and dangerous…