The cursed countess

Very little is known about this secretive noblewoman who seems to enjoy a privileged relationship with royalty. To the few with which she share some of her secrets she is the Cursed Countess: a noble from a past long forgotten that lost both the ability to die and to kill. Because of her inability to fight she often resorts to her seduction and her sexuality to attain her objectives, which often only the Queen  know about. She lived so long and saw so many friends and lovers die that she is has become somewhat insensitive to the emotions of the living, however under the veneer of her coldness a good heart still beats. Watch this space as it is updated when new information about the Countess is revealed.

Sondra the Thief

Sondra the thief is an orphan that was raised as part of a children street gang, a group of children that survive by themselves through petty thievery in the city. As a result she is a very social, warm and team minded person who will not hesitate to risk her life for her friends. She also has a tendency be very emotional and extroverted. Because she is a thief she doesn’t see money as actually belonging to anyone, just something to be taken where it is available when one needs clothes or food. She is an half elf, a mix between an human and one of the legendary wood elves, although she prefers to think of herself as an elf (something her physical attributes clearly makes impossible). When she became an adult she left the city streets for the woods in order to “go back to her roots”, however she quickly met the Cursed Countess…

The Queen

The Queen of the kingdom of Redargen is the heir to a centuries long dynasty that traces it’s lineage to the foundation of the kingdom. To the public she appears not only as a stern and decisive ruler, but also as a fair and just one. Those few who are more intimate with her know her as a more humane, warm and peaceful character than her public image would suggest. She always places the well being and unity of her kingdom before her personal preferences however, and would not hesitate to go to war to protect it if no peaceful solution can be found out.

The Queen's Necromancer

Nobody knows much about this strange character. One day he appeared beside the Queen and was announced to be the royal Necromancer. No one knows exactly what he does for the Queen, but some suspect that he is working for the throne in the secrecy and shadows, and that some accidents that are opportune for the Queen are not really accidents… A very small amount of people suspect that he would have been romantically involved with the Queen, but no one dare speak that out loud. Nobody knows the meaning of the Tattoos on his face and body, but many suspect them to be highly magical.

Magic in general

What appears to be magic on the world of the Cursed Countess is actually the result of forgotten nanotechnology. The people have inherited from their technologically advanced ancestors an arsenal of Nanobots in their bloodstream, as well as in the general environment. Although the knowledge of nanotechnology programming is long lost, a few people manage to control the Nanobots in and around them to perform incredible feats such as waking the dead, transforming normal humans into demons, healing wounds,  blasting energy or setting up destructive traps.

Demonology

The forbidden art of Demonology specialise in the mutation of healthy humans and animals into deformed, extremely powerful creatures called demons through the reprogramming of the Nanobots present in the target’s body. As a result of the violent mutation the mind of the target is usually destroyed, making the newly created demon a puppet of the demonist. Demonists are sometimes also adept at curses, a lighter reprogramming of the target’s Nanobots as to place unnatural limitations on the target’s body or mind. Unlike a Demoniac mutation a curse leaves the target’s mind and appearance mostly intact.

Necromancy

Necromancers are considered to be the better version of the Demonists: they reprogram a body’s Nanobots to serve them, but only do so on corpses. Although they can perform the procedure on freshly deceased bodies, they usually prefer to do it on skeletons, as the Nanobots concentrate in the bones when the flesh rots away. Some people regard the necromancers as disgusting vultures to be hunted, while other don’t see any wrong in using one’s body after their death. Most Necromancers are also adept at minor curses (but much less so than demonists) and traps.

Shamanism

To be  published later

Clockworkism

To be  published later

The Discovery.

 
The slightly smaller than earth planet was officially discovered by the starship Sarattoga from the Procyon Star Alliance. Scientist discovered that the planet had very recently been suitable for carbon based life, and that it could be restored to habitable condition with minor terraforming. The operation was quickly approved and a 2 year nanomachine-based terraforming was quickly started before the planet was opened for colonization.

The Ancients.

 
The most temperate parts of the planet were quickly settled by colonist from the Procyon Star Alliance and from Alpha Draconis Eleven. The later, better known as “Elevens” were humans that had accepted heavy modifications of their metabolisms (and to a certain extent appearance) in order to extend their lifespan dramatically. They usually cohabited peacefully with the “normal” humans. About 250 years after the colonization started, contact was permanently lost with the start based Alliance. The reason for the loss is still unknown. During that time an indigenous intelligent life form was discovered: The lizard like Dragons. It appears that numerous eggs were still hidden under the surface of the planet and were awoken when the climate changed following the terraforming.

The Draconic Wars (650 Before Emancipation).

 
It took about 150 years for the dragon generation to reach puberty and for the Ancients to realize what mistake they had made. Without any “adult” to guide them trough adolescence, the joy Dragons went mad, the males fighting restlessly the other males for the females attention, killing any humans that interfered. The females destroyed most human cities that they perceived as a threat to their offsprings. It was also at that time that humanity discovered that Dragons were naturally able to control the nanomachines in their bloodstreams, making them the equals of humans. Ultimately the eleven abandoned the human cities to leave hidden in the forest to be later known as "Elves", and most of humanity was destroyed.

The Dragon Clans (500 Before Emancipation).

 
After a devastating century of destruction that wiped human technology and civilization, the dragons matured and started to organize themselves in clans. They very quickly discovered the usefulness of humans and decided to keep them as servants. During the next half millenia an human civilization stagnated “metal age level” under the rule of the Dragons. The control of nanobots, now called “magic”, initially the privilege of Dragons only, the art having been lost to humans, started to reappear in humanity.

 

The Emancipation.

 
Under the rule of the small copper Dragons clan, humans perfected a new  nanobot based magic: Artefact Crafting. This allowed the creation of Artefact, object forged by men but charged with “nanobot magic”, the “magic granting the object and its wielder exceptional powers. These could only be made by humans, as dragons failed to master the art of crafting. The turning point in history came when the Copper Dragon Clan’s head was killed by a youg green dragon, and the green dragons claimed their territory: humans equipped with their new powerful artefacts did what the ancient themselves couldn’t: they resisted. After several Dragon clans tried to take control of the Copper Dragon’s territory held by human, the Red Dragons Clan did the unthinkable: they recognized the Copper Dragon’s  human Clan as the equal of a dragon clan, and declared that on Red Dragon Clan territory humans would be considered equal to dragons. This is known as the “Emancipation”.

 

The Age of Artefacts (0 to 450 after Emancipation)

 
The Red Dragons Clan start quickly to benefit from combining Dragon Magic and human artefacts and soon most Dragon Clans have passed “Emancipation”  laws and are fully collaborating with the human crafters. The few clans that refuses to do so, such as the Green Dragons, start to mount an offensive against the Human-Dragon  alliances, but are eventually defeated. A few remaining humans and dragons from those clans are rumored to have fled to the legendary island of Gehena. The following years are considered to be a gold age for the human and dragons. This is when the bases of magical sciences such as Clockworkism and Necromancy are laid. Although humans remain less skilled at magic than Dragons, the gap closes tremendously.

 

The Rise of Demons (450 to 510 after Emancipation)

 
A malevolent wind blows from the island of Gehena. In the town of the Purple Clan (a small human clan located on the coast) strange new sorcerers appears from the sea: the demonists. While the necromancers are obsessed with the search for immortality and the reuse of corpses, the demonist turn healthy humans into mindless servants. Demonology is quickly outlawed, but some manage to hide themselves and operate in the shadows.

 

The Fall of the Dragons (509-513 after Emancipation)

 
One day appeared on the coast of the continent the ultimate sorceress. Able to create demons and skeletons alike, she has also discovered the secret to necromantic immortality. She invade the tower of the artefact crafters of the Bronze Dragon clan and kills all crafters after stealing their secrets. She uses their powers to create two extremely powerful artefacts: the “book of demons” and the “sword of death”. Thus armed she raises an army of demons and undead and start to conquer the continent. Clan after clan is defeated, town after town is conquered. The invasion culminate with the destruction of the red dragon clan’s crafters tower. Faced with such destruction, the Dragons decide to abandon humanity and to flee to the mountains, where humans can’t reach them. Left to themselves, the humans of the badly battered remaining six clans decide to each send one warrior or shaman hero, to try to defeat the sorceress. Ultimately they success through treachery and guile, however no one known what became of the six heroes.

 

The Time of the Human Kingdoms (514 to 1038, present time)

 
With the Dragons and their magic long gone, and most of the knowledge of the Artefact crafter’s forgotten, the continent is in bad shape. Out of the six remaining clans came a few kingdoms, shadows of their former selves, but most of the land is composed of small petty kingdoms and unruly city states. Barbarism as returned to a lot of places. Artefacts, Crafting and Clockworkism are now the stuff of legend. Rogue  Necromancers and Demonists  haunt the land if they don’t install themselves as king. A new order is needed, but no one seems to be able to do more than preserve what remains from the clans from falling further into chaos.

 

Geography of Redargen and surounding lands

To be published later