Sol 4: Terra Umbra

"I feel... trepidation, my dear Crepera. I took this lifeless, barren rock and breathed life back into it, forged a new home for our people, yet I feel as though I have set in motion events beyond my control!"

Titania Raas Siegfrida

  The Land of Shadow, colonised by the space-faring Republic of Helheim eons after fleeing the 2nd home-world of Tír na Dodhéanta, formulating the respective United Republics of Arcadia and Alba.   In the 40,000 years that have passed since then the world has descended into turmoil.   The Albian royal family, descended from Crepera Fuyuthien, were usurped and forced into exile by the Zacharias Family, who then seized control of the government and military resulting in the formation of the Zacharian Empire, a violently totalitarian pro-human regime.   With Helheim since far removed, focused on open war with the opposing Elven forces of Tir Na Dodheanta; Arcadia became the one nation that could stand defiant and battle the Zacharian regime. The ultimate end of this war resulted in the annihilation of Arcadia.  It's people lost to a great cataclysm that threw the world out of balance.   As of 40-2172, the Empire now holds Terra Umbra in a vice grip while forces beyond mortal understanding grow in power.   ~   On the north-western continent of Panthera, the sprawling polluted mega-city of Dialoft continues to grow as the heart of the Empire;even while suffering the fallout of a nuclear winter and the cracking of the planets mantle beneath it. This cyber-punk society is now ruled by the Kaiser with ominous contempt for all, with the high-society enjoying decadence and power at the expense of all life and liberty of those beneath them. Those unfortunate enough to not be born into wealth or rise to wealth face a constant battle to survive in a fascist society locked in a cycle of hatred and apathy.   For many survival lies in submission and obedience. Others, however, choose to fight. As Criminals within the Mega-City, as Nomads roaming the Borderlands, as Mercenaries dealing on both sides. This of course puts them at odds with the military police, but within the Empire, regional warfare is routine.   ~   To the south lies Totenheim, formerly a vibrant and lush land where all people could live in co-operation, now however it is an irradiated wasteland as a result of nuclear strikes meant to wipe out all traces of a culture that no longer fits the Empire's vision.   Today, it is now a 'death factory'. Overseen by the Military Industrial Complex, this sub-continent is used for the testing of experimental weaponry, advanced bipedal weapons platforms, the training of the Imperial Forces and the extermination of unwanted elements of Terra Umbran society.   The exiles and slaves who are sent here do not survive long, if the soldiers don't brutalise them and the War Mecha's do not terminate them, then the greatest threat remains that which does not live.   ~   To the Far East lies Weltenbaum, though previously a separate state from Alba and Arcadia, the Empire quickly invaded and annexed the landmass in order to secure its vast biological resources to become the lungs of the planet.   While the land is certainly fertile enough to easily remove global hunger as an issue. The Empire has instead elected to use the majority of the land to grow radiotropic fungus and dense energy crops in order to both mitigate pollution and nuclear fallout while still accommodating a monopoly on the food industry and maintaining dominance over the biofuel industry.   Though it remains under the watchful eye of the Empire, the people remain in a society more similar to Sol 3 (Gaia) in the 1950s and many people who would be otherwise killed by the Empire have found a remote sanctuary in the deepest groves of its forests and jungles, closested to the last living Yggdrasil in the Sol System.   ~   To the South East lies Kaolna, a formerly uninhabited landmass with a diverse biogeographic landscape. It's low laying deserts, mountain ranges, vast coral reefs and semi-arid prairies home to increasingly deadly wildlife and hostile weather patterns.   Though originally settled by Albian and Arcadian's seeking a harder, more thrilling life than could be found in the wilds of either nation; The people who contended with the deadly wilds created a sub-culture of warrior tribes where even the weakest among them could contend against the many threats surrounding them.   Those who best thrived were not those who fought to live, but who lived to fight.   Today the people of Koalna are too displaced to be actively governed by the empire.   Only the cities are actively policed and ruled over but even then the people remain tribal, their allegience remaining with the Elder Hunters of their tribe.   Though the military have conducted sweeps to remove unwanted elements in the past, non-human life and historical evidence of their presence on Terra Umbra continues to exist in relative safety due to the immediate risk of the Blood Knights, Vedmaks and Sin-Eaters who still stand defiant in the face of the Kaiser's rule- the Empire too grim a place to house such radiant souls.   In the North stretching to the South, bisected by a sea, is Stagragi-Corval.      with the wilds home to roaming monsters that answer to the vicious Ra-ghoul that sits in perpetual torment upon the empty throne of Arcadia.   Rumours of organised resistance has spread however; and with the return of wayward royals and a legendary dark knight once thought dead, the seeds of hope have at last been sown.