Gramlin Realm

No one knows when the darkness first descended upon the lands of Gramlin, though no one alive remembers a time without them. They surround the land, threatening to engulf it, but never quite reaching the human populace. The shadowy fog rests along the mountain passes to the north east, the valley to the south east, and if one is daring enough to travel by boat out at sea for a day, they’ll find the shadows lurking there as well. The consensus among the kingdoms was that no-one shall traverse past, if such a thing is even possible.

However, also lost to time, was the arrival of the wielders of darkness. Well arrive is a harsh term for it. At some point, babies began to be born, with strange powers against the natural order of things; they would pull at shadows in their cribs, bending bars in odd shapes, as if they were made of clay. They would be playing a game of grumple in the square, and pulling the shadow of the sack, they would move it to wherever they wished it. The slightly older would sneak out, simply blending into the shadows and walking out the door, never being caught by a parent or guard, as if moving through the dark itself.

Eventually, enough of these odd cases occurred that it was brought to the attention of The Thirteen Kings, the rulers of the land. They decreed that all such “dark magics” would be restricted to the borderlands of the Fog, and any such child found with gifts as dark as night, would be delivered to the elders of the allotted lands, and in return, any normal children born would be delivered to the families that were ripped of their rightful children. The representatives of those original dark workers, without other options, begrudgingly agreed.

Most knowledge of this pact has been lost to time, even the treaty itself, but still it is followed; less from strict lawful precedence, and more from cultural fears and taboos. Now, the numbers of those in the dark have grown to a sizable lot, while those whom are normal have stagnated. The Thirteen leery to trust after the Assassination almost two decades ago, the common folk upset at the number of children being taken every season, the growing distrust of the Dark Folk and their nonchalant attitudes are stirring trouble within every home in Gramlin.

Now, there’s talk that after time forgotten, the borders of the shadow fog are beginning to encroach once again into the kingdoms of men. With little trust in each other, their royals, or the dark wielders at their borders, it appears that the people of Gramlin may well and good be doomed.