A primal world of savage fantasy where tribes of barbarians fight with monstrous beasts and the only thing that counts is survival. Tribes, beasts,magic...hunters and their prey...be angry, be savage... either you`ll hunt them or they will hunt you!
„We have prayed for ice to go away, now when gods have listened we wish we had never learnt to pray”
Krilang, an elder from Uruher tribe
Ice age is ending. Through many centuries humans have prayed to their gods for an end of cold era. And when Gods aswered those prayers, then the horror began. Monstrous Beasts that were frozen are now slowly waking up. Nobody knows what they really are. They don`t seem to be from one species. They can be eighty meters long or the size of a human. Some of them resemble reptiles, while others have fur. Some are quite intelligent, creating even small quasi-societies(although it`s not anything on humans`s level), while others act like ordinary animals. Before they appeared people thought that sabretooth tigers were dangerous, now Beasts have showed them that there is a lot worse things in the world . All Beasts have one thing in common; the lust for blood , especially that of humans. They wipe out village after village, unstoppable by most of the time, because to destroy them you need a lot of power and strength that only unity can provide and that`s something that humans lack. Beasts are faster, stronger and a lot more tougher to kill that any human. Moderately powerful Beast can wipe out a small tribe. These creatures won`t stop until the earth is theirs again. They were once the rulers of this land, but ice has destroyed their world, prisoned them for ten thousand years. But now...the ice is melting, slowly but without a pause. Humans have to unite before it`s too late. The most powerful beasts are still asleep, frozen in the far north, but they won`t stay like that forever. It may take decades, even centuries, but eventually they will break the ice, and when that happens humans will need all the help they can get.
In this world there are three races; humans , elves and dwarfs. Humans are primitive,savage and superstitious. Their civilization is young and simple. Their clothes are made from skin and fur. Most of them gather in tribes, because it`s easier to survive when you`re not alone. There are nine big tribes. The biggest one has more than four thousand tribesmen. Those tribes have tendency to stay at one place, they mainly eat what they`ve grown, not what they`ve hunted, because they are numerous enough to protect themselves and the cultivable fields, at least most of the time. Besides those nine, there are few hundreds of small tribes, that survive mainly from hunting. They are very diverse, with own culture and beliefs. They can work together or(especially when there`s enough food to feed only one tribe)fight against eachother. The safest place on the continent is near the equator.There are real cities there, made from clay , mud and stones, not just from skins and wood like tribes` villages. One of the most powerful are: Haradruk, a city of dark gods, where shamans sacrifice hundreds of lives in hope that this will make gods pleased and Lengreun, a city near the ocean that controls the seas with their big fleet. Tribe bonds are much weaker in cities. People care mostly about themselves not about the tribe. They also have slaves, while tribesmen treat freedom as the most valuable thing that every human can have. These and many other differences cause a lot of antipathy between city-dwellers and tribesmen. Not enough to cause open war, but enough for a fight from time to time. But that`s not the only source of conflicts. The cities often fights against themselves. There isn`t a month without a brutal conflict. Alliances are made and broken. One day two cities may trade just to fight the next day. Overall the closer people live to the north, the more savage , brutal and primal they are, because most of their lives they spend on fighting; with nature, with Beasts and with other tribes. In the south there is another race. Verdali or elves, as humans call them. Their are descendants of powerful and advanced civilization. But now they are only shadows of their former glory. With every passing day they resemble less and less the proud race they once were. Only few elven cities remained, their numbers are small, but they still have some of their former knowledge, a little of former power. It`s not much, but with humans`s help they may be able to defeat Beasts. Unfortunately elves still treat humans as lower race and are sure that nothing can defeat them. When the Beasts will come they will understand their mistake, but it could be to late to change anything. There is also third race, dwarfs. Two thousand years ago they were a big tribe calling themselves Grarrw, their population grew so quickly that they needed to constantly conquer new territories to feed themselves. So they went south, to the elven lands. Back then elves were still powerful, so they easily defeated Grarrws. But that wasn`t enough for them. As an act of revenge and a warning to the rest of the tribes they turned those brutal tribesmen into a caricatures of humans. They becamed short, about two-third of normal human size. Now they resembled creatures from tribal myths: dwarfs and that`s how humans started to call them. Because of their short legs they aren`t capable of quick movement, especially since there aren`t many creatures to ride on. So they live mostly in cities and the villages of the biggest tribes and still call themselves Grarrws. Dwarfs also despise any kind of magic, because it was magic that changed them. They know that because if their psychical weakness(at least when compared to some barbarians) they can count only on wits and teamwork to help them survive. They have one dream: a dream of their own city, where they would be safe and nobody would mock them. All those races constantly fight for survival, only the strongest will survive , because in times like this, defeat means excinction.
Brutal physical strength isn`t the only power shaping the world. There are also other forces, rare but powerful, like the one used by shamans. They call their gods, and gods listen. These powers are binded to the forces of nature. Powerful shaman can put a small tornado into enemy`s troops or make earth swallow a little village. This is very powerful kind if magic, but it comes with a big price; sacrifices. Even a small spell requires a lot of blood. Not only must shaman sacrifice some animal, but also a lot of his own blood. Because of this using this power is very hard, a moderate spell may require so much of it`s caster`s blood that he won`t be able to do anything else for a few days. The most powerful spells need human sacrifice. It`s prohibited in every big tribe and city, but in small tribes, that`s the whole different story. And even those that prohibited those sacrifices may be forced to change their orders when Beasts will come to their homes. Is saving a five thousand people worth the sacrifice of a thousand? The second kind of magic is technology used by elves. While it doens`t have any supernatural origins it`s still perceived as magic, because even the elves don`t remember how it works anymore, but they haven`t forgotten how to use it. There aren`t many wonders of old glory left, but sometimes a ship will fly through the sky, or horn`s sound will make people insane.There is also Beast`s magic. Murderous, mysterious..and very...very dangerous. Beasts doesn`t use it often, because it`s dangerous to themselves, but when they do, the results are horrible can melt in a second or the dead can rise. Nominee knows how their magic works,but the knowledge is there, between the ice, waiting to be discovered. There are legends, about people that were able to steal a bit of this power. They say that there are people able to command some of the less stronger Beasts. Is this true? Nobody knows. But there are people who understand animals` language and can command them,so maybe there are those who can do the same with Beasts.
Terrains where people live range from hot and wet around the equator , through hot deserts and lush green fields to the cold places where ice still reigns supreme. The world is filled with myths. In the south there are stone and sand deserts. They constantly grow, elders say that with every drop of human blood that is spilled a new rock appears on the desert. In the north, close to the glacier there is a forest with grey, lonely and twisted trees. It guards the road to Beasts` territories. It`s the easiest path to north, because the glacier is low there. But some believe that that forest is evil. Even Beasts avoid it. Some shamans say that every tree in that forest was once a human, who was punished by taking the easiest way. Deep in the north, close to the pole there are abaddoned cities. Monumental, marvelous and frozen. Captured under a cold hard ice. Nobody knows who builded these cities. Some say that the beasts builded them before they degenerated, some say that it`s elves work, and some say that there was another race, more powerful than anything this land has ever seen. If it`s true it may mean that somewhere deep in these cities there could be something that may help in defeating Beasts. From time to time tribes send their best warriors to search those forgotten places, but mostly nobody returns. Maybe Beasts or cold kill them before they reach their destination, or maybe there is something in those cities that doesn`t want to be disturbed.
In this brutal world the most precious thing is metal. Most of the weapons; arrows, axes and spears are made from klint. But while it may be enough to kill human or animal, but not Beast. Unfortunately humans have used most of small metal resources where they live, There is more of it, but it`s either up north, guarded by Beasts or in the south, where elves won`t appreciates someone stealing from them. But that won`t make adventures stop searching for it, it just means that a lot less of them will return home. This is what this world desperately needs: heroes. People that will battle Beasts, search old forgotten knowledge and power, that will try to unite the world against common enemy. Players are those heroes, people that will risk, or even sacrifice their lives to make living in this world at least a little easier.
This world is about brutal fights. About running through the forests with heavy sword in a hand. It`s about fighting monstrous beasts, hunting wild animals and about warm blood on the snow .It`s about epic battles and discovering the wonders of lost civilization. In this world you are really free. There`s no real society to holding you back, you can be whatever you want to. Everything is so simple, so pure. A real adventure awaits all those who dare to take the risk. The civilization is very primitive, all humans are barbarians, even if they lives are short, they still have a lot of great time living though it. Because they know that a short good life is much better than long but mediocre one.
