“This war has robbed us of the ability to imagine peace.”
“This war has robbed us of the ability to imagine peace.” In 2277, humanity finally faced a reckoning delayed for centuries. The ravages of the Little Ice Age brought food shortages, the collapse of social order, and the decline of civilization. Human civilization regressed to fortress cities. Among the generations born over the following decades, humans with supernatural abilities began to appear. Some had abnormal physical traits; others possessed supernatural powers. Their uncontrolled awakenings caused massive casualties, forcing humanity to rise up against them. Though few in number, the ability users gained an advantage for a time thanks to their powers, but they were no match for humanity's human-wave tactics. They were hunted to the far north, where the extreme cold finally forced the human armies to withdraw. A handful of ability users survived in the far north, where ordinary people could not. They built Everfrost City and called themselves the “Frostcrowned.” While they built fortresses and restored order, humanity, having lost its common enemy, fell into civil war. They fought over food, energy, and water, and the last remnants of civilization were swallowed by the flames of war. Because of their extremely low birth rate, the Frostcrowned adopted slavery and began raiding human settlements to the south to increase their population. After the Frostcrowned's first great southern campaign, the humans who survived called themselves the “Ember Birds.” They explored and excavated the technology left behind by the old civilization to save themselves. To resist the Frostcrowned's superhuman abilities, they developed an extreme human-modification military unit: the “Heavily Armored Death Warriors.” The Heavily Armored Death Warriors are an armed organization that stands above all city-states. Most are scattered across different regions to carry out missions. They all conceal their faces with hoods or face coverings, revealing their true appearances only w…
Faction Details—Everfrost City in the Far North Everfrost City is a theocratic city-state in the far north, founded by the Frostcrowned. Its natural barriers of bitter cold and blizzards make it difficult for the Ember Birds to attack. The Imperial Guard, led by the Pope, maintains a psychic barrier that keeps the city's climate springlike year-round. The Pope resides in the Forbidden Palace within the Myriad Wisdom Tree at the city center. No one has seen the Pope's true appearance; all affairs are announced by the consul. Everfrost City has a strict class hierarchy based on bloodline and the strength of one's supernatural abilities. Powerful Frostcrowned are often nobles or senior military officers, and those descended from the Frostcrowned families that founded Everfrost City enjoy higher status. Commoners without supernatural abilities are mostly slaves; if they show exceptional talent, their best path is to become a noble's personal attendant slave, a “Sword Slave.” After several generations, the humans of Everfrost City feel little sense of belonging to the Ember Birds. Faction Details—Talia, the Steel Fortress Talia lies deep in the Storm Ocean. Its warmer climate supports vegetation and forests, and it is home to the Heavily Armored Death Warriors' modification base. The fortress is governed by the Dawnstar Council, a group of fourteen people selected from various city-states. The perimeter of Talia is built from a multi-metal alloy to withstand external attacks. Its neutrality and security have made it a meeting place for gatherings of other city-states. Talia's dominant belief is that a person's choices and abilities matter more than their origins. Its philosophy of complementing one another's strengths encourages cooperation among different peoples. As a result, it is home to people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, ability users who support humanity, defectors who were Sword Slave, and former Frostcrowned. The long war has made Talia renowned for its exper…