Nearly a hundred years ago, the realm of Nimouervil was in a millenium-long state of peace. Reigning over its millions of inhabitants were the many families of the Kyvernites, a race of noble giants born with great power, be it physically, mentally, or even magically. Under their rule, the many regions of Nimouervil lived in unity, ranging from the freezing mountains of Danyanuo up north, to the densely poputed southwestern Tsiuc and southeastern Kazya, to the cool western coasts of Hospuria and Jianc, to even the much warmer eastern climates of Ardelesia and its surrounding swamp-infested regions. With heavy restrictions on weaponry and armory, as well as a very thorough regution on the usage of the strange and hardly understood field of spells and mana, little conflict was had when the Kyvernite family ruled.
At least, not physical conflict. Strife within society presented itself even past the retive peace that was beneath the iron fist of the Kyvernite families. The exile and mistreatment of those born with physical mutations that separated them from those viewed as normal by societal standards. Labeled as mutants, though more commonly referred to as dregs, these people were casted out from the civilized world, left to attempt to live off of the barren wilderness they were stranded to. Even those beled normal were often subject to prejudice, from the naturally magic-attuned Heiande race being smeared as dangerous and untrustworthy, to those of the more nomadic Nitlie race stereotyped as incestuous brutes hardly capable of more than mindless combat, with many more examples coming from those that happen to come to a pce not welcome to their kind. The Kyvernites neglected addressing these issues, focusing on territorial expansion and the accruement of wealth above all else. More common were the Kyvernites encouraging this prejudice, hoping dividing the masses and setting them against one another would help them ignore the rampant nepotism and stagnation that the Kyvernite families were becoming increasingly ill with. This stagnation turned to decline as famine and disease became more common within the lower css masses, creating an aura of desperation, something which a new movement took advantage of.
Known simply as Atharot, this recently founded religion created an answer for the many confusions and worries the popuce of Nimouervil had. “What happens after death?” Atharot gave reincarnation as an answer. “Why do others differ from my kind?” Atharot procimed each race as equally negative, and that the ultimate being would not be defined by race. “What defines us as people?” Atharot gave the journey to perfection as an answer. “What stands in our way to perfection?” Atharot gave the Kyvernite houses as an answer. They openly decred their distaste towards the indolence of the noble families, starting as public protests and campaigns that described the Kyvernites as gluttonous, greedy snobs that looked down on the unwashed masses. Attempts by the Kyvernite families to violently shut down the protests were met by far more violent uprisings and rebellions, leading to a string of bloody conflicts that stretched across the entirety of Nimouervil. Known as the War of Gods, the polytheistic Idolist faith of the Kyvernites and their followers were pitted against the new faith of the Athorists, resulting in countless cities and settlements being destroyed, and countless more people dying in this seemingly endless war. If it were not the conflicts between the two great forces that destroyed the city, it would be the endless onsught of ambitious bandits that came afterwards, that or forces of nature that preyed upon a weakened popuce.
In the end, there was only one victor. The Kyvernite families were driven back more and more until they were separated and forced into singur holds scattered across Nimouervil, them now allied under the Houses of Hadleigh, an alliance which holds the 6 surviving Kyvernite families. The faith of Atharot suffered multiple schisms since its inception, with many new worshippers of its path to a perfect being taking on controversial and sometimes unethical practice. Atharot was no longer known for its indiscriminate and spiritual nature; it was now known for the ruthless zealots and practitioners of grafting within its ranks. No, what won this war was no gathering of man. It was a destructive and vile force known only as the Darkness.
A seemingly sentient mass of opaque bck liquid, the Darkness gained its namesake not only from its physical form, but for the inexplicable things it did to the living. Livestock, flora, and wild animals did not suffer any madies from the Darkness. But sentient beings that come into contact with it can only describe it as an excruciating pain like no other, one that leaves you wishing for death until it slowly comes to you. And once it did, the Darkness would bring the dead back to life, but not as what they once were. This new being takes on a bestial and unthinking body, its ck of its prior personality or abilities making it hardly more than an empty shell of the person they used to be. Known as hollows, these Darkness-possessed corpses ravaged an already weak Nimouervil, causing most of its cities to isote from one another.
Despite the hundreds of thousands dead, the many cities and alliances destroyed, and what used to be a rapidly progressing society now fallen apart and made to rebuild itself, many of those living in Nimouervil fight on, hoping to one day bring back what was once a functional civilization. A beacon of hope to this idea is the Guild, a contract-based protection company divided into many sections that operate across the entirety of the realm.
A hundred years ter, Nimouervil has managed to partly rebuild itself, with many newfound cities rising from the ashes, as well as those maintained through the many wars endured throughout the nds. Although there may be bands of marauders and thieves, hordes of hollows and accompanying Darkness, and political reaches for power by the several factions that have formed from what remained of the Kyvernite families, many can see hope in this progress towards a better world. Even those ignorant to the bloodshed around them, knowing history only by retellings by those born in the same sheltered life as them, can find the hope to help change the world. But little do they know, the forces which split Nimouervil apart still persist. Though weakened, they can easily show any naive fool the truth of what happens to those that try and become the hero.
