In the years following Moonfall, a strange transformation fell over many of the denizens of Arcais. It started slowly at first, amounting to little more than curiosities and party tricks to show their friends. As the mutation progressed, though, the afflicted found they had the ability to swallow not only food and small objects but whole people in a single gulp. However, with this novelty came a primitive and powerful lust, and it wasn’t long before they began to see how everyone around them was made of warm, delicious meat…<br/><br/>At first, attacks by predators were far and scattered. They were usually considered assault and murder cases that were notoriously difficult to solve due to lack of evidence. However, as more and more predators discovered their abilities, the unaffected realized that a much larger threat had befallen them. Many powerful peoples, from fighters to wizards, sought to neutralize the rise of the hunters, but by then it was too little too late. The predators and their lusts quickly overran the region, devouring uncountable numbers of people within the span of a few years. Before long, the once-proud cities had crumbled into dirty, lawless, overcrowded population centers, filled with people who both feared and needed to prey.<br/><br/>Many dreary years passed, the land steadily slipping into decay with each season. Life fell into a pattern of raw survival, filled with paranoia over who’d be next to fulfill some hunter’s cravings. Even so, roughly 100 years after Moonfall, a new development began to arise amongst the predator’s themselves. Before then, most of them operated alone, prowling the seedier parts of the large cities, or they formed small bands preying on merchants and travelers in the countryside. In the southern regions of Arcais, such groups overran nearly all of the prominent population centers, using the unaffected as food to fuel their constant battles and territorial wars. However, with many predators developing new sentiments about their powers and responsibilities, more organized factions started to arise in the larger villages. Some predators swore to find ways to curb their habits and coexist peacefully with the unaffected. Many others, though, chose to capitalize on their powers and use them for criminal endeavors, most of which they covered up with so-called “dinner nights.” The city of Eva Heights quickly became a nexus for these frequently-competing groups, a place where they could place their various projects into practice. How you factor into these projects, however, is in your hands. :3<br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Notable Factions:</span></span><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">The Dusk Guard</span><br/><br/>One of the largest predator coalitions, the Dusk Guard operates in most main population centers in Arcais. It consists of roughly fifty predators per city, held together by a main house in Eva Heights. The predators in the Dusk Guard consider themselves “enlightened”: they had developed techniques and items to avoid picking innocents out of the population (and thus are the ones to have created the remove Lust and cure Lust Withdrawal potions). They also serve as a sort of police force, showing uninitiated predators “the way” and hunting down particularly dangerous predators.<br/><br/>Despite their good will, however, some people still look down upon them. Many predators don’t take them seriously, seeing them as vain annoyances getting in the way of their daily hunting. Others see them suspiciously, claiming they use their position as a way to sugar-coat their own needs to feed (although this is sadly true in a number of cases).<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">Silent Light</span><br/><br/>While relatively new, Silent Light quickly became one of the most notorious factions in Eva Heights. Their policy was simple: take what they wanted, and eliminate the individuals who prevented them from doing so. In their eyes, their position as predators was a gift from higher powers, and thus preying on the people was merely an extension of their inborn rights.<br/><br/>Understandably, Silent Light was quite unpopular with the unaffected. However, several other predator groups were drawn to their self-justifying ways, seeing them as gutsy enough to take what was theirs. Thus, several hunters joined them eagerly, ready to take the promise of a long, delicious, food-filled life.