Introduction to The Monster's Alliance

Written by Cyborg Starfish

It is said that the tendrils of power will inevitably break everything ensnared in them. A few centuries ago, they broke the world. We are the only ones who survived.

We are Elphin. Aeons ago, we were shapeshifters, free to achieve our true forms whenever we desired. Now, our flesh is chained, the knowledge of our past abilities nothing but a distant memory. How did we become like this?

The World that was Broken

We know it as Valahiri. We don't know the meaning or origin of that name. In fact, most of us also know it under a different name.

Underneath Valahiri's surface, a vast Tunnel network connects us to each other. Even though many connections have been destroyed, we can still use the network to travel to Valahiri's many corners. When the world broke, we fled to these Tunnels. A hundred Cycles later, we emerged to find a radically different world.

We know of ten large areas in Valahiri, each with their own biomes. What lies beyond the sea is a mystery to us. Those who tried to venture outward through the Tunnels never came back. The outer seas are too acidic to cross. Whether there is anything left outside of Valahiri, we may never know.

The Thing that Broke the World

We call it the Three Cataclysms. It started with a string of natural disasters, followed by the death of an empire. As we fled to the Tunnels, our overlords ascended to a city in the sky. The city crashed into the earth, and our overlords were gone forever. Then, a strange chasm formed, cutting off the empire's former homeland from the rest of Valahiri. We call it Dreamfall. True to its name, it bends reality to its will. No-one has ever managed to cross it. Those who live on the other side are trapped, and they have forgotten the world they were cut off from. All that is left is a painful, yet hopeful yearning for the unknown.

The Universe that Hums

Echoes. Every being in the universe, dead or alive, has one. Our Echoes all come together in The Eternal River, a constant stream of sound, loud as a waterfall, and ten times as maddening.

The Echo is movement, always shifting, constantly in communication. A universal negociation between all things. It is the basis of all forms of magic. Those who directly work with the Echo know that magic is not about control, but about communication. Those who seek control can only ever invite disaster.

The Ones that Survived

Our overlords called us monsters. Perhaps that is what we are. But we are still here. And they are dead. Now is the time for monsters.

We are not a united front. We never were, and we never will be. We exist in beautiful diversity. However, we are not immune to the tendrils of power. We too have the potential to become overlords. We have the potential to label our fellow Elphin as monsters. We may never escape this dark side of us. If the story of our species proves to be a cycle, if we are doomed to repeat history and destroy the world over and over again, how can we break that cycle? Is it even possible to break that cycle?

The Stories that will be Formed

Whatever happened to our world, it is now behind us. Of course, we must remember. We must unearth the stories that were hidden. We must prevent such a catastrophy form happening again. But we must also live, in the present, as ourselves. With the Powers that Were no longer keeping us down, the new world is ours to inhabit, ours to shape. These are our stories.

Table of Contents

These are Our Stories

Told in image and prose. Harrowing journeys, intimate moments, wondrous encounters, ancient mysteries, uncomfortable truths, the tiny wonders of everyday life. The new leaders among us doubtlessly have their own stories to tell too, but will we listen to them?

We didn't ask for the world to be broken. We never wanted this. But the Mighty fell and they dragged us down with them. Now we are left to pick up the pieces they left behind.
We will thrive to spite our former masters.

- Anonymous