Stormlight

Welcome to what remains of the Continent of Stormlight. A massive expanse of earth, this is the lonely island you find yourselves born into, with any other signs of habitual land such a distance away as to be impossible to reach by any means available to you. For as far as you know, the Endless Ocean offers only the promise of death while the Opal Sea carries foreigners from distant lands with the occasional exotic good. You knew long ago that while being born in Stormlight, you will likely die here.   The Continent is divided into several major factions, almost all once unified before a cataclysmic event called 'The Long September' sundered this once unified Empire into warring city-states. Two thousand years ago, at the end of that apocalyptic civil war, sentient life was beginning almost anew. Ancient cities once teeming with life - such as Redwall, Starwatch and Brighthallow - were rebuilding while creatures of chaos took entire demesne for themselves. Radicalized knights took up oaths of eternal warfare to reach promised enlightenment while foreigners landed on these distant shores searching for opportunity amongst the carcass of the slain dream of unification. While history is unable to recite many of the details of the apocalypse, what was left was a foundation for the growing nations that you, as characters, would live in.   In the world that was left, much was lost. Entire towns and keeps were left in ruin, entire peoples were scattered, and the favor of the Gods seemed unreachable. Many of the magical advancements that progressed society and defended it were turned useless, their creators long dead and their tomes burned in the fires of fearful persecution. Many of these wonders remain in the world, waiting to be discovered and their powers unlocked. The most common, widely saught after of these lost arcane creations is Sacred Steel. Once ordinary steel, Sacred Steel weapons were forged before the Long September in a bath of magical energy before receiving a blessing a Ghrond to ensure their abilities never waned over time. To wield a blade made with such timeless craftsmanship is to wield a small but physical fraction of the Gods power, and untold thousands of desperate hearts search for such artifacts to enrich themselves or their benefactors.   In this fresh, blossoming era, barbarians roam the barren Hinterlands, seeking thralls to sacrifice to foreign gods. Knights pillage the haunted graves of their ancestors for the promise of Sacred Steel. Assassin Guilds leech the secrets of proud cities like Redwall and Brighthallow. Clerics and Templars, unified in service of the Gods wield sword and spell, purging darkness from newly tamed lands. Wizards plot within the Endless Citadel, seeking both power and glory too great for mortal capabilities. Simple Bards inspire the many to greater feats of courage while vengeful, exiled Warlocks perform the deeds of darker powers to punish the world that turned its back on them.   Great triumphs exist to be taken on the surface while unimaginable horrors lurk in the dungeons, caverns, and other deep places of the world. On the roads between the vast, growing civilizations of Stormlight are limitless stone-hearted soldiers, weary gunslingers, shady merchants, and desperate urchins all with stories of vast, unexplored lands as the frail fabric of society starts to remesh again after two thousand years of uncertainty. Now is the time of the pioneer and the explorer. The builder and the artist. The opportunist and the adventurer. And of the threats you will face, there will be many, for in such times, there is no feigned promise of peace. Deadly monsters still roam newly cleared roads, and cunning bandits plunder thriving trade routes.   With so much evil still contesting much of Stormlight, a path of peace rests on the edge of a knife. The question remains unanswered if such a lawless land can be saved, or even deserves saving. Or, in such times, if you can only save yourself.