The Setting

Our story begins on the war-torn continent of Kahelee in the year 7910 of the imperial calendar. For thousands of years, petty kings and lords have ruled the fractious lands from sea to sea. The borders have shifted like the desert sands with constant small-scale war and political maneuvering, where no one faction could maintain the upper hand. Dynasties and fortunes rose and fell while common folk prosperd and traded. Thirty years ago an unknown conqueror from the southwest of the continent emerged from total obscurity, naming himself as the gods' chosen Emperor of the land and demanded fealty or abdication from all the kings of the realm. What seemed at first the ramblings of a charlatan were soon found to have teeth when the Emperor arrived at the gates of many castles at the head of an army so massive and terrible that that none of the small kingdoms could withstand it. One by one the western lords fell, adding to the expanding Kalatian Empire. By the time the Emperor had conquered more than half the continent the eastern lords had banded together into an alliance led by the great kingdom of Ghelnah. Over the ensuing years war raged across the continent and the alliance was steadily pushed back, unable to match the seemingly endless strength of the Empire forces. Whole generations of people perished in war, famine, disease, and some fates darker still.

The war came to a head five years ago when some of the eastern lords were subverted and switched sides hoping to save their dynasties and curry favour with the Emperor. The alliance crumbled and massive battles were given at the borders of the resisting states. Tales of raving madmen claim to have witnessed the walking dead, man eating devils, dragons, angels, and even Gods clashing in these cataclysmic events. At great cost the armies of the Kalatian Empire were repelled from the lands of the most powerful independent kingdoms, and an uneasy peace came over the land. Life under the rule of the Empire is brutal for average person, with severe cruelty, harsh taxes, and crushing hopelessness pervasive throughout the land. Some few sovereign kingdoms continue to exist as free enclaves on the continent. While some rejoiced the end of hostilities, whispers pass in taverns across the continent that Kalatian armies are once again mobilizing, the spark of rebellion is alight in the downtrodden masses, and the flame of war threatens to consume Kahelee once again.