Upon the Great Continent there exists the Kingdom of Astoria and the smaller, neighboring Kingdom of Wolfkrone. Powerful individuals and fearsome creatures of old reside within the confines of this vast continent. So great is their might that they have been immortalized by the people of the kingdoms - they have become legends. Some are even worshiped as deities. You were once such a legend. Your power stood amongst, even beyond, Lords and Kings. You, alone, rival the greatest of armies. And as the hands of fate dictated: you led a life of violence and romance. You've slain your share of legends, conquered frontiers, and your accomplishments were forever etched into the history of the kingdoms. And, finally, at the end of your life, you, too, were slain. Such is the curse of the immortalized: "A peaceful death does not await the glorious ones..."

Now, at the advent of the new millennium, a blight spreads across the land. The citizens of the kingdoms call it the "Re-rising". The Holy Church calls it the "Blood Plague". Regardless of what one may call it, it refers to the resurrection of the dead. These "risen" are marked by a mysterious symbol visible upon their flesh. The Holy Church hypothesized the blight to be the work of forbidden Blood Magic, hence the Chruch's given name to the blight. Although the risen may appear and act as normal people, they seem to possess an uncontrollable and insatiable bloodlust. Because of this, numerous gruesome murders have occurred throughout the kingdoms, with numbers amassing by the thousands every month. The ruling families of each kingdom, under the guidance of the Holy Church, are dedicated to purging the continent of this threat but political relations are strained. Some even say that a war is coming.

You suddenly awaken from a long dream in which you walked aimlessly through a never ending field of white roses. You faintly remember a mysterious figure in your dream: a woman shrouded in white; blood-stained hands covering her face. But, more importantly, you recall that you have died some time ago - slain by another legend. You now also possess a mysterious marking somewhere on your body. It is unlike the marking of the normal risen but, rather, it is unique to you; not that you know of any of that anyways. And within your mind, there exists a beckoning desire to kill...

The Creation of the World [+]

The Holy Church describes the primordial sea of chaos before the creation of the world as "The Void." It exists as the absence of light, darkness, time, and space. The first Primordial God and the only existence during The Void, Allias, the One Alone and the All-Father, brought the chaos the gift of light and darkness, then time and space. In return, the chaos gave him a wife: Astachia, Mother of the Void. Astachia shed the first tears and created water, breathed the first breath and created wind, and from her love sprang fire. She then, with assistance from Allias, gave birth to three Primordial Gods: Algur the Great Earth, Gnascor of the First Blood, and Scire the Perspicacious.

Algur, in his arrogance, renounced the authority of Allias to which the All-Father created a prison to "bind his flesh." With a great sphere of water from Astachia's womb, Allias ripped apart Algur's limbs and threw them into the watery prison before doing the same to the rest of his body. Algur's body, in its weight, sank to the center of the sphere while his limbs surfaced to become continents. Thus the world was born. Scire the Perspicacious created the lesser gods and goddesses to act as guardians of Algur's prison. Gnascor, stricken with great grief for the loss of his favorite brother, tricked his father to cutting his throat and wrists so that he bled the first blood and covered the world. From his blood sprang the first men, giants, dragons, and the other beings. Gnascor sacrificed himself so that his brother's flesh may have meaning. As a tribute to Gnascor's actions, Astachia ordered Scire to grant knowledge to the then primal beings. From then continues the story of the world...

The Founding of Astoria [+]

During the Age of Blood, the Church of the Good Blood ruled the Great Continent and employed Blood Magic to enslave mankind. So mighty was the power of Blood Magic that even the giants and dragons feared it. When Lord Galant of the First Sword lost his beloved wife and unborn child to the sorceresses of the Church of the Good Blood, he declared war on the church and its followers. Many were quick to ally with Lord Galant including the giants led by Titanus the Unbroken, Saint Loraine of Light and his archpriest followers, Avalon the Chaos Sorceress and her sisters, and the Five Heavenly Kings.

With his army of Knights of the First Sword, Lord Galant cut down his foes with swords sung about in legends. Titanus and his giants, using pure brute force, decimated the demon armies conjured up by the Church's Blood Magic. Saint Loraine and his archpriests with holy magic and weapons purged the land and captured cities that once swore fealty to the Church of the Good Blood. Avalon and her sisters shrouded the sky in darkness and unleashed a plague of death upon the enemy. And the Five Heavenly Kings with their awesome might slain the strongest of foes the Church could produce. After nearly three decades, the war ended and the Church of the Good Blood as well as Blood Magic, itself, were no more.

In the remnants of the cities constructed by the Church rose a new kingdom: the Kingdom of Astoria; named after what would've been Lord Galant's first born. Lord Galant became king and his allies benefited greatly. A new age had come...

The Holy Church [+]

In the aftermath of Lord Galant's war, Saint Loraine of Light and his archpriests founded a new church: the Holy Church. Under the leadership of the charismatic and beloved Saint Loraine and with the full backing from Lord Galant, the Holy Church's power and influence quickly grew throughout the entirety of the Great Continent and even beyond. Not only did the Church provided places of worship, it also provided an expansive militaristic force armed with holy magic and weapons. In a way, the Holy Church has become it's own kingdom, separate from both Astoria and Wolfkrone.