Dark Fantasy
The Dark Lord Naburis and his armies have ravaged the lands of Iysibriel for the last century in the War of Souls. The elves have become an endangered race with their powerful and ancient powers failing to repel an eldritch invasion that severed their ties to the land that gave them their powers. For the first time in aeons the children of the Fae seek refuge among human settlements, the once bitter rivals unite against a common threat along with strange allies from other parts of the land.
To what end the Dark Lord is reaching is anyone's guess. The ancient evil he commands has unleashed demons unto the world and the warring beastmen and ogre tribes now unite under his banner to march on their true foes who have tried to rid them for generations. The elves who have relied on their raw magicks in the past has failed to protect them as the ancient Fae lands that fueled them with the mana pools to draw from have been corrupted by the darkness. The humans, who have sat on the sidelines in this century long struggle, were always weak in magicks but were clever in their use of technology with the aid of their regional neighbors. The elves, still powerful with their magicks, have begrudgingly saw the best of both worlds to mix magic with human/dwarf technology.
Rogue wizards, sorcerers and necromancers with their plague rituals and demonic entities prey on the weakly defended settlements in the rustic areas of the human/elf realm of Tydewell. Some settlements have been reported to be consumed by rituals that made the very air caustic and the denizens died slow agonizing deaths and worse. Such a thing was thought impossible to do until now and the horror of this new reality made many to abandon villages to seek the safety of the larger cities.
The city of Westholm is the last bastion of safety in the region as its legendary fortifications watch over a troubled land. There the local Count ordered the hiring of demon hunters, mages and anyone else talented to combat the dark forces all the while the human houses including the small ecclesiastical militants have pitched in to raise an army. However no matter how many fill the ranks in these dark times a much more extraordinary few will be needed to turn the tide. The legends are long gone and there are already too many names of dead heroes donning the Hall of Courage and no one wants to be one in these dark times. The Cynics, and there are many, have come to the conclusion this land is doomed and there are airships leaving every week to escape the coming calamity. Who will prove them wrong?
And it is written in the Adventurer's handbook: the brave fall first.
Playable Races:
Human - The most populous people in the land appeared several thousand years ago with an ambiguous history have become both a benefit and a hazard to their regional neighbors. For generations they have had a bitter rivalry with elves and wolfkin in their heavy appetite for territory, resources and conquest. The once primitive race have become the most contentious and influential societies in Iysibriel.
Gnome - A strange people and the shortest people on average they are known to be great explorers and mathematicians. They share a common ancestry with the dwarves with few physical differences although polar philosophies since gnomes tend to be more liberal than their much conservative mountain dwelling brethren. They were instrumental in making many human adopted technologies practical.
Dwarf - The strong, short and stocky people from the northern mountains have shared the same level of contentiousness as humans and have a history of being the must stubborn species to ever inhabit Iysibriel. They're slightly taller than Gnomes and although they're excellent craftsman and architects they're more isolated and only have been exposed to human intrigue in the past few centuries. They are credited for inventing gunpowder.
Wolfkin - The race of wolf-like humanoids remain to be the most primitive in the land but their ability to blend primal forces with magicks has made them a contender in regional disputes. They despise humans more than the elves do for they lost a great swathe of their ancestral homelands to human land grabs in the past. They're naturally strong and they're the tallest among other races and have night vision among other advantages.
Mystics - The rarest of people and often mistaken as human save for the glowing markings on their body. They're magickally powerful like elves but their order is more of a religion than an institution of mana. Often sought after for council by their distant human cousins they are keepers of ancient secrets and artifacts from lost civilization that go back to the times of the Fae. They, under the consent of the elves, built academies to teach those who are capable to learn magicks and to use it with up most care.
Elf - The indigenous people of Iysibriel. Believed to be descendents of the god-like Fae of many aeons ago they're unrivaled in magicks and draw power directly from the mana pools that swell into the ancient Fae lands. Physically tall and lithe they are a beautiful people but also arrogant and snobbish with the utmost disgust towards outsiders, especially humans. They were once the most populous until the recent war have drastically reduced their numbers and for this reason the dark elf subspecies has been considered extinct.