To know of the tales that shall carry out within these pages, one must first know their origins. And of the oldest amongst them there is but one that harkens back to the days of dark and fell spirits, of idol and demiurge, whom had long since carved the world for themselves. And seeking to chisel greater marks yet unto the earth, took for themselves beings to do such toil.

Long were these evil days of servitude, for the land was honed by living hands, yet not theirs to wield. But this would not always be so, for at the unknown closing of the age was birthed a son of slaves, who would be named Leofric. Brilliant was he amongst his kin, and so was taken at the wake of adolescence, and given the patronage of one of the world's great tyrants, whose name does not survive. And so was Leofric made into the vassal of this being, forever to give his ear to its whisperings, and be the voice that spoke them aloud.

And yet amongst the skies and its realms whose voices uttered unto the earth, not all were malevolent nor self seeking. Of those few, some were pieces of the shattered Good the world had not yet known. And it were they who set in motion the fall of this age with cunning and guile, usurping the whisperings of their Evil kin with words of their own.

It is here that mankind's fate shifted, for the first came to Leofric's ear in the fires of his idol's shrine, and for years persuaded him to the cause for which he is now known. For in the latter half of his life, Leofric did indeed cast his master down and take for himself the reigns of his people, and in waging holy war converted or condemned all who stood in his way.

Of Virtue

Thus would the discovery of virtue make for the felling of tyrants, done by deeds of both word and blade, for while the eventual throne and its crown were birthed from the felling of swords that shed the blood of the unfaithful, it was the ideal of purity and the virtues it encompassed, that had guided mankind to such deeds. They were Zeal, whose fire had purged the land of Evil; Awe who revealed the beauty left in its wake; Persistence who bid them the effort to achieve it; Justice to ensure all were held true to this task; Fortitude to embolden this purpose against doubt; and Wisdom who promised these lessons to all who come after.

Indeed those who later bore the crown and sat the Sixfold Throne were meant to represent the purity that had freed man from tyranny. And so it was that Issenica's Kings would thereafter claim to rule by the divine right of that of the Six Virtues, for none living do not know the tale of the heavens whispering to their ancestor, and of the first crusade that spread the faith.

Of Issenica

Alas as the pillars of the first age began to fall, so too did Leofric himself, who in death upon the battlefield ascended unto the skies that had whispered to him. Thus the first to cast down the chains perished and arose in a great fire and his tale ends, and that of Kings begins. For thereafter Issenica would be ruled by his descendants, first among them was Athal, who himself had fought on the field with his father, and at the turning of the age took for himself his crown and led their people to the shores of Edrenica, and there founded the city of Lindenwell on the coasts of the Yearning Sea.

Though never again did Issenicans do battle against the supernatural, the kingdom was above all founded in conquest, and such would continue for centuries yet. So rose yet more cities, and where went the sword so too did the faith, until all the men of the known world were united under the great House of Leofric.

But since those days of storied valour and purity, the wise of the today knew all too well that as all things rise, so too must they fall. First would the kingdom reach heights, the waxing of deeds and their tales, and then would it assuredly wane as all things do. For being founded by one, so too would it take but another whom could undo it.

Of the Red Days

It had been some nine centuries since the days of King Athal I, and though the kingdom had been witness to crisis and war of succession to the throne more than the once, the King's line remained and Leofric's lineage could yet be traced. It was in these years that King Ardaric V would see two sons enter the world, first Adal to be remembered as last of the Kings of Issenica, and then Lethis, to be remembered as one who ensured this.

At first the princes differed little from one another, for the pair were indeed close, and for much of the last reign were they ruler and heir. For Adal had long since lacked for children, and so too was his brother increasingly popular. And yet as it would always come to pass in Issenica, it began with the whisperings, for shortly after the birth of the new Crown-Prince did rumour begin. First were the accusations of adultery by irate noblemen and noblewomen against Lethis, but Adal remained at his brother's side. Then came rumour of the Prince's unsavoury tastes, and again Adal spoke to his virtue and affirmed his trust. But then did the King die, and the Crown-Prince was not yet of age, and so came that Lethis began a regency over the throne, and would no longer need the approval of his brother.

The year that followed was a cruelty unto the memory of the late monarch, for Lethis was quick to dismantle the kingdom's strengths. First were the bastions along the kingdom's borders left unmanned, the faith forbidden from its tithes that aided the poor, and the nobles brought to heel, or altogether shunned. Before long he had turned the kingdom against itself, for the people begrudged the temples for withholding the once-relied upon charity, and so too did the people begin to hate the nobility deprived of its soldiers and castles whom were sworn to defend them. Amidst this all did the Prince-Regent then pose himself as herald of change, for if the kingdom's collapse was well-nigh before he came to power, innocent then was he seen in the eyes of the many famished and ignored.

The Red Days as they are known, were truly the spark to the kingdom that found itself covered in pitch, for a fire was lit against the kingdom's loyalists just as the capital itself was in fact set aflame in a great and terrible red fire, unnatural and foul-omened. And it was a fire that began in the temple, and by the time it was quenched, the voice of Zeal was nought but ash, and so too were many innocent. It was with this that revolt began, championed by the Regent who for long years had already been cast out of from the nobility whom abhorred him, and so the people were led against their masters of the sword and cloth, thinking it was they who took after Leofric. A long and cruel civil war it was, for five years did this kinslaying last, and workers toppled the castles they had helped build, and the once-faithful burned the temples whom had before echoed with their chant.

Of Hell

Expose the current state of affairs, describe both the physical and spiritual scenery at play.

And so the skies emptied over the thousands dead, and the skies bled for the thousands left unburied.