War's Way

Intro

The Star Travelers. That is what they call us.  Our job is to investigate new planes for any useful resources and to return to those that are of use to us. It is for this reason that our civilization has thrived for the past four hundred years, our knowledge and grasp of other worlds giving us the edge over the other inhabitants of Vir. The location of our realm also aids our defenses whenever the foolish decide to march on us.

The forest on our eastern front is full of horrors and nobody dares traverse it. Many have ventured in and never found their way back. The few who have tell of the grotesque sights they are encumbered to live with, often leaving them mentally unstable, many of them wasting away in alleys or living in trees. Some say there are people who have learned how to live in the forest. These stores are usually followed by rumors that these people have a network throughout the forest that also reaches into the caves of Murou. The mountain nearest Vortos, the city I gladly call home, houses the river that is our source of water. The river runs through a cave inside the mountain and exits near the base, straight into our city, but our people do not dare explore the rest of the caves.

To our south live our distant relatives. Four hundred years ago, when the power to travel to other planes was discovered, it tore Vortos apart. There were those who were against it, claiming it would bring beasts and other life forms more superior than us to our world and bring an end to Vir. These people were banished from Vortos after a civil war that almost ended our society and settled in what is now known as Skaas, a city in the south that holds the same religion, and rituals, as us but has ventured down a different path. What they once ran away from they now want control of, for they have been trying to breach our walls for the past thirty-four years, every attempt being stopped promptly by superior weapons, made from materials of other planes, leading to many military victories. Cryx, the current commander of Skaas, has made it his mission in life to burn our city to the ground. He is persistent and ruthless—but predictable. Our leaders have chosen not to make him a priority to the safety of Vortos, for as many times as he tries to conquer us he will fail.

There isn’t much to be said about the North, save for the two cities that are always fighting for the right to the Scoschia River, the main water trade route for every major city in Vir. They have no agenda with the rest of the world, too preoccupied with the city that lies just across the vastness of the river. They could become a major force if they made an alliance with each other, seeing as how they could easily control the Schoshia that runs between them. Yet, they have different views on how to control the river, and so the fighting continues.

In this land of a thousand tales, where myth is mixed with reality, there is one legend that stands above the rest, one that is known by all:

 The Star Travelers.