Thread: Dust to Dust (Another Round and Kiyanayu)

Trinitan, a small island filled with peril. From the harsh deserts of the east, to the rocky badlands in the north, and all the dangerous creatures that manage to survive within them. But this has not stopped man before. But when the men of a kingdom from a distant land set sail for Trinitan, they found something far more dangerous than the hostile environment, fauna, and, on occasion, flora. As it turns out, Trinitan has a strong connection to the realm Tartarus, homeland of demons and foul magics. The island serves as a sort of bridge between the mortal realm and the demonic one. As a result, demons off all sorts have spilled over from their native realm, formed tribes, and took pieces of the island for themselves. It was under this anarchic psuedo-rule that Trinitan existed under for centuries, the shift in dominant tribe and borders ever constant. That was, until the arrival of men. Several times, mankind has made landfall on the island, many times they were repelled and other times destroyed entirely by one faction of demons or another. But if there is one trait that defines men, it is persistence, or perhaps plain stubbornness. Slowly, men were able to obtain footholds on the island, establishing forts and conquering once-demon-owned lands. From there, they slowly expanded, often times regressed, but eventually made progress. It was a bloody series of wars as the new kingdom of men grew, with losses that at times seemed too great to justify the gain, but they continued nevertheless. There's some human stubbornness for you. In the end, it was by sheer numbers, and of course their prized firearms, that man was able to assert its dominance in a land that was not theirs. It has been many decades since mankind has claimed most of the Trinitan, enough to establish their kingdom of Nexian. But order is not something that spreads quickly. Even with the ever-growing popularity of the locomotive, true cities only exist on the coast, near the capital, where humans first made landfall on Trinitan. First landfall on their crusade that was successful, anyhow. Further inland, a new kind of government has arisen One that lies between the anarchy that the demons observed and the order men try to establish. Both groups have adjusted accordingly. Mankind has established settlements, small towns and villages, usually along the train tracks or in the few places where livestock can be raised or farming can be done. Towns set up around mines where the resources of Trinitan are gathered are also popular. The settlements are closely-knit, are always threatened by one thing or another, and are always on watch. Humans in these areas have had to adapt to their neighbors. Highly religious groups are severely anti-demon and some go out of their way to hunt and exterminate them, these people are the Paladins. While most people are at best wary of demons, some settlements have extended out to them, offering trade, sometimes employment though usually for much lower wages and other things typical of humans in an attempt to integrate demons into human society. There have even been those who have been labeled demon sympathizers. The demons, whose numbers are far lesser than their numbers once were, also had to change with time. For the most part, their lives now revolve around humans, unless they are the few living in parts of the island that can still be considered over demonic control. Some have stuck to their tribal ways, forming bandit coalitions that prey off human livestock and trade routes, usually to buy and sell their loot with the few humans who would do business with them. Others have stuck out for themselves, usually committing pettier, less organized versions of what the bandits tend to do. Others still have tried to blend into the human world, working with them and settling near their towns, though this sort of thing is rare and usually short-lived, demons on the whole treated in a less-than-friendly matter. Of course, demons are not the only ones to commit crimes. In the inland, with only local marshals and the word of a seemingly far-off government to serve as law, many humans have resolved to form their own gangs, some even known to join with the demonic ones. To enforce the law, many, either by their own doing, by a town's, or by the government itself, have been appointed Demon Hunters. And while they do not exclusively target demons, it is the job of the Demon Hunters to seek out those who have disrespected the law, and deal with them accordingly. Most of the time, Demon Hunters work alone or in very small groups.