A Broken World

The Illusion of Dominion

Once upon a time, the world belonged to the mortals.

Through fire and steel, humans bent the earth to their will. They tamed the wild, built cities that scraped the heavens, and transformed night into day with the flick of a switch. Progress surged forward like an unstoppable tide, erasing the limits of what was thought possible. From the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Age, mankind thrived under the illusion of mastery, convinced it had conquered the world.

But this was a façade; a fragile dream painted in the colors of ignorance.

For in the places their light could not reach, older powers lurked, patient and unrelenting. Vampires, hidden masters of the earth, ruled from the shadows, threading their influence through every nation, empire, and institution. They were the unseen hands that guided humanity’s fate, the silent architects of wars and revolutions, wealth and ruin. While humanity claimed the stage, they orchestrated the performance.

The greatest trick the vampires ever played was convincing the world they didn’t exist.

Bound by their law of secrecy, they allowed humanity to thrive, feeding its delusions of supremacy while they drank deeply from the fruits of its labor. For centuries, the predators thrived alongside their prey, invisible yet inescapable.

But illusions cannot last forever. Beneath the surface, ambition stirred, and the delicate balance began to fracture. The vampires' laws were not unbreakable. Rebellion festered within the immortal ranks, a hunger for power that could no longer be contained.

And when the shadows finally bled into the light, the illusion of dominion was shattered, leaving the world to burn.

What Hides in the Shadows

The Immortals

"They are not creatures of the night; they are the night itself. To call them predators is an insult to their craft."

— Alexios, member of the "Coven of Last Light"

The Immortals have always been here, buried in the marrow of the world’s history. They are not a myth, not mere phantoms of superstition- they are reality, carved in shadow and blood. Where humanity sees its accomplishments as triumphs of will, the Immortals see their careful guidance. Every empire that rose and fell, every great discovery, every war, bore their fingerprints. Humanity marched forward to the rhythm they set, all while remaining oblivious to the strings wrapped tight around its neck.

At the heart of their dominion stand the Four Primordials- the first vampires, the architects of this eternal curse. They were once mages, pioneers of arcane knowledge, who sought to defy death itself. Driven by desperation, they performed a ritual of unmatched ambition, binding their life essence to their blood and rising from death as something neither living nor dead. Their ascension was not salvation; it was damnation.

But from their cursed veins sprang a new race, one built for dominion. The Immortals are creatures of hunger and power, not bound by mortal morality but guided by cold purpose. They are eternal, unyielding, and relentless.

Despite their unity in nature, the Primordials are far from allies. Christian, Olga, Keiji, and Stefan- the four who tore the veil between mortality and eternity aeons ago- rule vast dominions carved from the earth, each a reflection of their own twisted philosophies. Beneath them, their descendants spread like a plague, weaving their influence through every crevice of mortal society. But the Primordials’ shared hunger for power ensures that alliances are fleeting and betrayals inevitable. Even the smallest disagreement among them can set nations ablaze.

For millenia, their law held fast: secrecy above all. Humanity was never to know its place as prey. But in the eternal silence of their existence, the Immortals are still plagued by mortal flaws; pride, ambition, and hubris. It was only a matter of time before the unbreakable law began to crack.

The Mages

"They were once the keepers of wisdom, the shepherds of unseen truths. Now, they are whispers; echoes of power that failed to save the world."

— Jacob Owens, member of the "Children of the Armageddon"

The Mages have always stood apart. Shrouded in secrecy, their craft was both a source of awe and terror. They were not warriors nor conquerors; they sought the threads that wove existence together, delving into the mysteries of life, death, and the spaces in between. To wield magic was not merely to command the elements or shape the world- it was to hold communion with the very forces that shaped creation.

Yet, for all their power, Mages knew fear. It was humanity’s fear of them that burned brightest, a fire that scorched through inquisitions, witch hunts, and purges. The scars of those dark ages ran deep, etched into their memories, their tales and their resolve. Humanity hunted what it did not understand, and the Mages, though mighty, were not invincible.

Thus, their golden rule was born: Do not interfere with humanity. It was not a gesture of mercy or humility; it was an act of survival. To be discovered was to invite destruction. They retreated to the hidden corners of the world: forests thick with ancient whispers, sanctuaries carved into the hearts of mountains, and places humanity dared not tread. There, they formed covens and circles, shielding their knowledge and power from prying eyes.

Their ancient feud with the Immortals simmered beneath the surface, a silent war of ideologies. The Mages loathed the vampires for their interference with humanity, for their manipulation could cause a new Inquisition. The vampires, in turn, saw the Mages as weak, bound by fear and mortality. Their mutual hatred though, was more than philosophical; it was personal. For the first vampires, the Primordials, were Mages themselves, born of a ritual that tore their coven apart and condemned their peers to death.

As the Immortals’ civil war began to tear at the edges of secrecy, the Mages were forced to confront their greatest dilemma. They had held themselves apart for centuries, but the scale of destruction threatened to unravel everything. Some argued for intervention, others for further isolation.

In the end, their indecision was their downfall.

The Fall

A World in Conflict

The seeds of the Fall were sown when Stephan, one of the Four Primordials, shattered the sacred rule of secrecy. To him, the ancient mandate to hide in the shadows was no longer a necessity but an affront to their supremacy. He declared that vampires were not creatures of the dark but masters of the world- and the world must know it.

This defiance ignited a civil war within the vampire hierarchy. Factions arose: some sought to cling to the traditions that had preserved their dominion for centuries, while others craved the freedom to claim humanity as openly as predators claim their prey. Blood was spilled, not just among their kind but across the world they controlled.

Under the vampires’ invisible hands, nations fractured, alliances crumbled, and wars erupted. The civil war of the immortals bled into mortal affairs, pulling humanity into a maelstrom of destruction. Manipulated by powers they could not see, humanity waged World War III, thinking it a conflict of their own making.

The Cataclysm

The failure of the ritual was a disaster of unfathomable scale. The veil between the material and spirit world was torn, but not as the mages intended. Instead of a controlled scar, a permanent rift was created, unleashing torrents of spirits and horrors into the world. The backlash from the ritual erupted as a catastrophic nova. Its shockwave expanded across the globe, killing billions in an instant. Cities were obliterated, landscapes reshaped, and entire nations wiped from existence.

The mages, too, paid the price. Most perished in the explosion, their power consumed in the failed ritual. Those who survived were left broken, their covens shattered, their magic diminished. They retreated into deeper hiding, their influence all but erased from the world they once sought to protect.

A Gambit of Magic

For centuries, the mages had obeyed their creed: to observe. They had watched humanity from the shadows, never revealing their existence, scarred by the inquisitions of the past. But the chaos unleashed by the vampire war was too vast, too catastrophic to ignore.

Scattered and isolated for generations, the mages faced a monumental challenge: to gather once more. Across continents, they reached out to one another, pooling their knowledge and resources. At last, they convened at a single point of convergence: Salem, the site of old scars and new hopes.

There, they devised a plan; a desperate ritual to rid the world of the vampire plague once and for all. The mages would sacrifice their own magic, tearing a rift in the veil between the material world and the spirit realm. Through this scar, they could bind the souls of vampires and banish them to the spirit realm forever, leaving their bodies to crumble into dust.

But desperation blinds even the wise. Betrayal struck before the ritual could be completed. Vampires, learning of the plan, attacked the mages at their most vulnerable moment. The ritual faltered, its energies spiraling out of control.

Vampiric Ascendance

Though the vampires suffered greatly in the Cataclysm, they were not destroyed. Yet the ritual, half-finished, severed their connection to Sanguinis, the magic of their blood. This magic had not been the source of their immortality, but it granted them some of their more mystical powers that cemented their place as supreme leaders

Its loss was a grave wound, not only to their dominance but mostly to their pride. The Immortals had always believed themselves the masters of death, the mages who defied mortality to become eternal. To be reduced to beasts, driven by hunger and instinct, was an unbearable humiliation- a mockery of their grand history.

Yet, in the ashes of a broken world, even beasts could rise to power. The vampires adapted, embracing their primal instincts to claim dominion over what remained. Humanity, decimated and leaderless, became easy prey for the remnants of their kind. Though their connection to Sanguinis was lost, they found strength in chaos, ruling the survivors with an iron grip and building a new, savage order from the ruins of the old.

The World Today

"We once ruled the daylight, hiding in the darkness. Now, we rule the darkness, and daylight hides from us."

— Asunta, vampire Overseer of Eastern Europe

The Age of Ash and Blood has reshaped the earth into a nightmarish reflection of its former self. The scars of the Cataclysm run deep, carving rifts into the land and deeper still into the souls of those who remain. Civilization lies in ruin, its once-proud cities now silent tombs overrun by the wild or haunted by creatures born of the Veil’s sundering. Humanity clings to survival in scattered enclaves, fragile and desperate. Food is scarce, disease rampant, and trust a rare commodity. Beyond the fragile safety of their crumbling walls, the world is a predator's domain: spirits that feast on sanity, nightmares given flesh, and vampires who reign over the ruins like cruel monarchs.

Death is not an option

The Cataclysm has broken the cycle of life and death, exposing mortals to a truth that chills even the bravest hearts: there is no heaven. There is no peace. The rift torn in the skies reveals the fate of every soul- a swirling vortex of torment where the dead claw futilely for escape, only to be dragged down into the void.

The dead, if not burned immediately, rise again to hunt the living. As for their souls? Some become twisted echoes of their former selves, spirits of wrath and pain. Others are consumed by the horrors of the rift. And those few who manage to retain their essence are enslaved by forces more ancient and malevolent than the vampires themselves.

In the shattered remnants of the world, survival is a double-edged sword. The living cling on the edge of despair, knowing that death brings no freedom; only an eternity of anguish.

Vampiric Tyranny

The vampires rule over humanity with an iron grip, offering protection and purpose in exchange for total submission. For many mortals, the vampire-ruled settlements are the lesser of two evils. Within their fortified walls, they are protected by the nightmares of the rift. The immortals provide food, shelter, and safety from the horrors outside, but their price is steep: the blood and bodies of their mortal subjects. The choice is clear for those who kneel willingly. Better to serve the masters of the ruins than to risk the endless suffering of the Veil.

Yet even amidst their dominance, the vampires are restless. Stripped of their connection to Sanguinis, they are hollow echoes of their former selves. The great irony that they, the mages who once defied death, are now reduced to beasts, drives many to obsession. Across the broken world, vampires search tirelessly for a way to restore their blood magic, hoping to reclaim what was stolen from them. Above them all, the Four Primordials loom like a dark legend. Their absence is keenly felt, their ancient plans suspended in the chaos of the Cataclysm. Though they have vanished, none dare believe they are truly gone.

The Silent Mages

The mages, relics of a shattered order, have grown reluctant to wield their power. The magic they once celebrated now marks them as prey, for the horrors and nightmares birthed from the rift can smell it, drawn to its scent like wolves to blood. Hunted by beasts, mortals, and vampires alike, the few surviving mages live in hiding, their existence a constant battle against their own instincts to remain unseen.

Children of the Armageddon

Resistance exists, but it is weak and scattered. Whispers tell of the Children of the Armageddon, a shadowy organization seeking to undo the damage wrought by the Cataclysm. It is said their members come from all walks of life- mages, mortals, even disillusioned vampires- but their goals are shrouded in secrecy. Whether they are a force of salvation, another scheme doomed to fail, or a story created to preserve the survivors' sanity, none can say for certain.

A Whisper in the Dust

As you walk through the barren wasteland, the wind around you carries the ashes of a world long lost. Each step echoes in the hollow silence, broken only by ghostly whispers. One voice rises above the rest, eerie and fragile, yet insistent.

"The Veil is torn, the world bleeding. Salvation lies not in gods or kings, but in the forgotten truths of a shattered past. Seek the Diviner’s legacy, for within it lies the key to undo the darkness- or to embrace it."

The whisper fades, leaving you alone with the weight of its words.

And so, the journey begins.

Welcome to the Age of Ash and Blood.

Will you survive?