<i><span style="text-decoration: underline">Introduction</span></i><br/><br/>It had taken centuries of bloody conflict for the city-state of<b>Ishvara</b>to rise to dominance in the world, but it ultimately emerged victorious, and it was through the technological marvels it had developed that the world now existed in a state of uneasy peace.  This was a land whose achievements in technology were built around engines of war, with tremendous airships held aloft by elemental-powered reactors plying through the skies, threatening to rain down destruction on any who would dare oppose Ishvaran supremacy.  And yet, in time, the rest of the nation developed in technical advancement as well, with railways sprouting up to connect the island's boroughs, powered ships to travel between foreign ports, and even puttering automobiles that rolled through the streets.<br/><br/>The previous Emperess had raised Ishvara to its current, global station, melding together magic and technology to ensure her nation's survival, and it was only recently that she passed rule of the nation on to her only son.  Though young, the new Emperor proved to be both capable at administration as well as command, and Ishvara's supremacy continued on despite the change in power.  Though the other powers in the world grudgingly respected the city-state, there began to rumble quiet murmurs of discontent, for Ishvara was a cosmopolitan land where races of the new and old worlds mixed together.<br/><br/>The old races of the world--often monstrous in appearance--were seldom welcomed in many of the nations that had arisen, founded by the new races that had come to the plane--the humans, elves, dwarves, and others more 'human' in appearance--despite their being the original inhabitants.  Only in Ishvara did the "monstrous creatures" have equality, and this was something that some could not bear to allow.  Supremacist organizations began to conspire and connive to drive out--or exterminate--the older races as well as those who sympathized with or befriended them.<br/><br/>It was against these clandestine organizations--and other criminal elements of Ishvara--that the order known as<b>Judgement</b>unceasingly combated through investigation, prosecution, and--most often--execution.  They were the Emperor's Law, and though their practices might be considered draconian, most deemed them essential for the continued existence of the city-state.  Officers of Judgement--in their slate-grey uniforms--were afforded both respect and often fear by the city's residents, as they seldom came calling unless something was amiss.<br/><br/>In the city-state's bustling districts, criminal elements seethe just below the pulsing surface of the city's experience.  As groups like the<b>Silent Dawn</b>work to sow dissent and violence, Judgement continues to act against them, and life in the city carries on.  It is a time of discovery and prosperity, and though it is earned only though brutal vigilance, the world is at peace.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>