Armello, that was the name of their Nation, Landlocked in one of the most fertile parts of the continent dotted with ruins of ancient splendor and looked over by a fortress as great as seven cities, the Ancient Tortoise growled at the thought of who awaited in that fortress, a Lion, back then almost still a cub, had come to their rightful lands and convinced the squabbling clans to unite in rebellion, ousting her people and getting installed as king for it.
But she knew there was more at play, he had called upon old mystic powers, and brought cards in which magic had been bound to scatter armies and shatter forts, finally he had made a fatal trade with the worm, the rot, their patron… their patron that had decided to oblige him. and the dragon clan, the reptiles that had kept their strenght through besting their foes and absorbing their strength, were no longer with his blessing, it was not long after that all clans descended on them… ousting them from their ancestral home.
But they had kept their ears open, and the elders entrusted her with returning to wander the land and see it all.
She was Agniya the revenant, she had survived more kings than a merchant saw coins, and she had heard of the king,
heard that his orders and edicts were becoming irrational, heard of his guards attacking druids, stealing the ancient wyldstones to destroy them, of possession of such a stone being punishable by death… indeed she had heard of an otter suffering that exact fate, before being sprung by a self appointed bandit queen.
Yes, she had heard of the bandits, all having lost everything, ousted from society, slaughtered families and friends, instilling the thirst for vengeance against the king… if that queen was indeed a leader, all clans may be replaced.
Like the wolfes who had lost a prince to the rot, and the replacement, an able fighter but so inexperienced… a stronger warrior might step up to prevent that from becoming a desaster.
The Rats of course, were thriving and despairing, as usual of the two-faced pests, merchants and thieves, spies and diplomats… the butcher baroness personally depicting the two sides, by day fanning herself in opulence, by night bringing the cleaver to the neck of her victims.
then there were the bears, her hate for them was as old as she herself, they were to the wyld what the dragon clan was to the rot, the magics of nature and the druids, having long kept the reptilians from true dominion,
only the deer were worse, but so much more elusive as well, a pointless exercise to search for them, nature itself hid them too well.
Finally the Rabbits, often viewed as the most agreeable, innovation and machines were inherently useful to have for anyone, even if she had to fight the urge to scoff at their arrogance, believing that their burrows, forts and mechanisms rendered them invincible
With all the revenant had heard she knew the truth,
the king had paid their old patron the worm with his heart… and now the replacement was picking apart his mind and soul, he was not reptilian so it may kill him slowly as well.
and so she told the elders, it was time to return, the Race for succeeding the King was on, they would either put a child of their clan on the throne, or have to admit defeat to someone stronger, unlikely as it seemed.
side note: magic is a thing here, Gunpowder weapons exist but are outlawed, the rabbits invented it, and got their representatives tossed out of the king’s court for it.
(to offer an example for character creation:)
Name: Tau
Age: 55
sex: Male
Clan: King
Main way of fighting: Melee, unparralleled in it as of yet. Magic infused proclamations.
Notes: “the outcast turned King”, a foreigner that entered Armello to find it opressed under the reptilians, worked tirelessly to assemble a resistance against them, and paid “any price” to see the dragon clan defeatable.
suffers the “black heart”, wyldnis power pains him, and the rot begins taking him over.
