Introduction
Introduction ·
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ome five
centuries past the races of mankind in their arrogance ignored the warnings of
the Cardinal Church and brought about its near destruction yet again by the
power of the long-gone Foreigners, save their flying ovoid cities and the
all-powerful Poltergeists sealed within. Devastated by that power, mankind once
more at the beginning of yet another new age resigned themselves to the
teachings of the Cardinal Church. But the races of mankind were arrogant and
greedy still, and faced with the constant threat of the Foreigners sought
protection by technology and unity under nation states.
Some two decades past mankind’s faith in the Cardinal Church
would be shaken with the appearance of a church legend of yore. One that
portended to the coming of a great and destructive evil well beyond the
Poltergeists. In the last nation on the Face of Icarus, watched by the two Eyes
of Icarus on high, the Cardinal Church along with salvagers who sought to make
the treasures of old their own and those fearful of the power a nation held
brought war. The Kingdom of Lucir was not weak however and possessed the
Cardinal Church’s most coveted treasure, the Saint, Lady Cardinal’s Light of
Hope. With it they could save those who were infected by the beasts of the
Foreigners from becoming monsters themselves, transforming them instead into
what the Cardinal Church called Sa·B·ers. To reclaim their holy artifact the
Cardinal Church would go to any lengths, and in so doing they woke the light
that would slay the Dark God of the Foreigners and reminded mankind that the
Legend of Light cast a long and dark shadow.
Yesterday, or perhaps longer ago, or even tomorrow, mankind
lost nearly all faith in the Cardinal Church and the world descended into chaos
as mankind sought answers and a way of life that would keep them safe. But
sanctuary seemed impossible to find as mankind turned against itself in light
of the appearance of the Lucifalz, a tree of light that covered the sky with
its branches and scarred the many time razed Face of Icarus with its roots. The
appearance of the tree changed the world named after the god dwelling within it
and protected by the Sister Goddesses who were all unified by the Saint, Lady
Cardinal. None could forget the day the tree they named after the Foreigners’
Dark God had appeared, but neither could they remember it. They all knew it had
happened, and they all knew they had lived through it. But they could not say
if it was just yesterday or years gone even before they were born. But they
knew it had appeared. They all remembered the day they could not remember. They
all had heard stories of isolated, lone trees of light seen growing somewhere
on the Face of Icarus. They all had heard stories of the Sa·B·ers who carried
the Light of Cardinal, and they feared them, for they knew that they would be
the ones to face not just the beasts of the Foreigners they were sworn to slay,
but also the Dark One, Lucifalz.
For all of the chaos brought into the world with the advent
of the Lucifalz and the fear of what the light portended, it was also a time of
unique prosperity for the races of mankind. Though the Cardinal Church had
placed a taboo against technology, in the five centuries since the Poltergeists
had razed the Face of Icarus mankind had achieved an industrial revolution of
steam and magic built on their miniscule understanding of the hyper advanced
anachronistic technology of ages past. As mankind moved away from the church
and again turned on each other, their steam age began to mature with airships
and other vehicles becoming more elaborate and their ability to imitate and use
ancient technology with their own improving by the day. It was a time of
adventure both in burgeoning city states and the ruins of both the present and
the past. It was a time when adventure called out to all.
Copyright © 2019 Joshua D Tarwater
