<span style="font-weight: bold">{Signup thread <a class="postlink" href="https://aryion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&amp;t=46582">Here</a>}<br/></span><br/>Our tale begins in the human kingdom of Sharitha. It's not the largest of kingdoms, nor the most populated. It's not the richest or the poorest kingdom either. However, it is among the most accepting nations, and has avoided large scale conflicts for an incredible time. Through very intelligent and benevolent monarchs, the use of a skilled diplomatic corp, and clever trading, Sharitha has managed to be a peaceful kingdom for centuries. Through this peace prosperity, tolerance, and happiness shined through to the populous.<br/><br/>This all changed when Prince Sebastian Theodore Lukran II stepped up to become the ruling monarch, after his father Sebastian Douglas Lukran the first died in an accident. Unlike the warm golden-hearted kings and queens before him, the newly crowned Sebastian's heart was stone cold and black to the core. It didn't take many months until the silver paint started flecking away to reveal his true nature. It threw the once prosperous and peaceful Sharitha into dissent and fear. The new King ruled with an iron fist. With his wife, just as incredibly beautiful as she was sadistic, Queen Penelope. The monarchs watched with glee as day after day the kingdom fell deeper into the pit of depravity.<br/><br/>During their reign any attempts to speak up against the rulers have been instantly and brutally met with a sword in the guts or a dagger in the back. Every day people are being brought up to the castle to never be seen again. Silently, every citizen has realized the truth, and is picking a side.<br/><br/>But there are other stories hidden behind this one.<br/><br/>For ages, Sharitha has had the highest concentration of rare species of any nation, many of which are known to be able to consume people whole and alive. This would have bred distrust, however the rulers counteracted this primal fear with enlightened understanding. Whether a lamia devoured a human or a human picked up a sword and stabbed the lamia, the victim was equally dead. Two lessons could be taken from this: It would be wrong to sanction them for what they could do when anyone was capable of similar acts, and being able to eat something did not make the predator inherently superior. Thus the kingdom continued peacefully, with malice towards none. At least openly.<br/><br/>King Sebastian Theodore Lukran II earned the support of a small council of nobles who were jealous of predators with two simple facts. First was that, contrary to common belief, humans and their ilk<span style="font-style: italic">were</span>predators, equal to any other race. Second was that, as King, he would grant them permission to consume as much as they desired.<br/><br/>On the other side, the hearts of most of the citizens have not changed. And as the blanket of darkness and evil slowly consume the kingdom of Sharitha there are those who stand up to fight the regime. Working as an underground resistance, they do what they can in an attempt to topple the regime. Working in secret, often even from each other, these resistance cells have been acting to remove the people from Sebastian's rule, and disrupt the forces of evil law. But now, the time for running has passed - the last ship has set sail, and no powerful heroes have entered from outside.<br/><br/>But if the right opportunity presented itself, even the most ordinary citizen might strike out against their enemy...<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>The city of Gericia was one of Sharitha's prime trading ports. It's well kept main roads took cargo from huge ships to the edge of town, where they would be carried across the nation, and the opposite. But now, the corrupted local milita have the city locked down, with no one allowed to leave, and no civilians allowed to carry arms. A few short days ago, the resistance managed a small victory by smuggling a few ships full of people out of the nation on a false Colonial mission. Now, everyone left is stuck for the long haul.<br/><br/>In a world where long-distance travel is slow and tedious, even big towns and cities tend to subdivide into smaller, semi-independent sections. In Gercia's District 8, an opportunity is about to arise and set things in motion.<br/><br/>But what brought you strolling past in the first place?