Darklands

Solus the 4th, 516 AR

In the Golden Age of men and half men, a great empire once stood. It sprawled over the continent of Arath, made of great fields of food, sprawling, wondrous cities, towns of peaceful people. It was an Empire of marvels and scientific advances, where your limits were your imagination and the drive you had to carry yourself through.   Then one night, the meteor shower came.   They called it the night of shattered gems, because it looked like gems of all colors falling from the sky. The Empire celebrated, until the gems began to fall on to it. The largest of the meteors struck the center of the Hodar mountain range, impacting with such force that the sky went utterly dark for a year. Many more fell on settlements all over the country, including the seat of the Emperor himself. The world became a scarier place then, as animals and wildlife became more aggressive and villages started disappearing off the map.   Five years after the night of shattered gems, a scintillating miasma started flowing from the impact site of the largest meteor, known as the Great Star, that which shattered the mountains. More pockets of miasma burst forth from the land, beautiful and terrible to behold. The miasma caused mutations and insanity. Those that remained began to find ways to push back against the terrible fog, or even shape it as a weapon against itself, but as more and more of the empire became covered, fewer and fewer were able to stand and fight. Some even fled the horror, finding something akin to safety in the arms of fey creatures, once looked down upon by men and half men, and their masked queen had not forgotten.   However, there is hope. In places where the smaller meteors landed, crystal formations have grown. The crystals drink the magic of the miasma, and in time create pockets of safety. In a process that is not understood by any, the crystals absorb the miasma from the air, and condense it into a liquid, known as myrrh, pure magic condensed into an oil. This new resource has become the lifeblood of society, allowing civilization to exist in a world thrown to chaos.   Villages and towns have consequently sprung up around the larger formations. Those that are unable to have a local crystal depend on the help of larger towns, or in the most dire of circumstances, hire myrcenaries to delve into the dark places of the world where monsters have claimed crystals, and collect the myrrh there. This is the world of the Darklands, where civilization is kept going by the hard work of those willing to risk becoming monsters to face the monsters.