Setting Overview

The continent of Armandy was enjoying a golden era.  The Great War ended long ago, and only grandparents remembered the scourge of the sea raiders.  Peace had reigned for seventy years.  The nation of Torheim sparked off an age of enlightenment that swept across the continent, bringing such inventions as the spyglass, the printing press, and great clocks to grace city towers.  Art, music, and story flourished everywhere, and especially in Albion, which produced great composers, playwrights, and writers of romances.

Fleets of Vortican trade ships and lines of caravans brought the finest goods and most wondrous innovations to every corner of Armandy, while the Vortican court grew ever more glittering with wealth (and, some might argue, ever more devious).  Braemoor celebrated the rise of its Hero Queen, who inspired her people to greater things and rallied the once-stricken country.  Only Scartha still kept a militant watch on its borders, remembering the floating castles of Albion and trusting not even the mountains to keep its neighbors at bay.  Even the Lostwood seemed to open up, with more nonhumans coming forth to make their lives among humans, and the mysterious Forest King sending ambassadors to each human nation.

The Aether itself seemed charmed.  Tales and rumors of Aetherials devouring those who stayed out past midnight or luring travelers to their deaths in marshes became less common.  More often, stories spread of Aetherials who helped lucky widow’s sons find gold in old wells or gave clever shopgirls magic masks so that they could trick greedy merchants out of their fortunes.  As the Armandine and nonhumans remembered to offer tidbits of their prosperity to appease the Aetherials, so those of Vahrenden descent spent less time beseeching their ancestors for help and more thanking them for good fortune.

These golden times seemed so safe and prosperous, in fact, that the School of Seven Virtues found fewer and fewer students interested in pursuing the Path of the Hero.  Finally, it closed its doors for the first time, accepting only those studying the Path of the Teacher.  Those who remained on that more scholarly path discovered magical innovations apace with the scientific ones: enchantments to heat buildings, open Gates over longer distances, and grace a room with music.  It seemed that finally the dreamer’s ideal of peace and prosperity had become a permanent reality.

So it seemed.  Then the Mahori came.

It wasn’t the first time.  Long ago, the Mahori broke through to this world, from some dark and empty place beyond the Aether.  They laid waste to the entire continent of Vahrende, and were poised to destroy Armandy as well when the Seven Heroes arose and drew on the strength of their Virtues to banish the Mahori.  It was one of the Seven Heroes who went on to found the School of Seven Virtues, to train those who would defend Armandy in unlocking their own inner strength.

Now the Mahori have returned.  Torheim has already fallen.  The mountains hold the Mahori back, but not for long.  All of Armandy prepares for war; Braemoor and Scartha already skirmish with the Consumed, humans taken by the Mahori and turned to soulless destroyers.  The nations of Armandy must also decide what to do about waves of Torheimer refugees and the difficult problem of the Touched — those who bear the mark of the Mahori and retain their own will for now, but may fall to their control at any time.

The School of Seven Virtues has opened its doors to Heroes once more.  All of Armandy watches to see if the new class of Heroes can train in the paths of their Virtues quickly and well enough to defeat the Mahori before it is too late.