The Darks

The Darks are a group of cats that are at war with The Lights. The leaders are Ares and Vixy. They lost when Lunis killed one of their leaders, Ares.

## History

#### **The Era of King Romulus**

The Darks were officially created by King Romulus and King Maxwell after taking over Strike’s tribe and assassinating the former leader. The tribe broke off into two groups, half following Lillia and Rose, the other following Romulus and Maxwell. Romulus quickly ordered the construction of a castle to create a solidified location. Many rouges, loners, and displaced cats joined him and the population grew rapidly.

The Dark citizens greatly admired King Romulus, to this day still considering the greatest king in Dark history. He ruled with an iron fist, he was incredibly organized in his cause, he was just the right amount of intimidating, and he inspired his subjects.

**The Era of King Maxwell**

After Romulus mysteriously dies, and an unknown she-cat named Lydia brings his body to the castle, the citizens grow weary of her intentions. While many of these superstitions were solely based in rumor, many cats distrusted Lydia, even being slightly taken aback by her rise to becoming Queen. However, the citizens still willingly followed now King Maxwell, seeing he was just as good a king as Romulus was.

After it is revealed that Lydia is a spy for Rose, Maxwell immediately kills her for his own protection and to punish her disobedience. Maxwell is cursed shortly after, and the stability in the kingdom began to crumble.

After Maxwell's curse he began behaving over aggressively, even harming his own citizens and family. The citizens began to fear him more than love him, but a select few idolized him. The war between Darks and Lights exploded, and war was the only thing the citizens knew.

**The Era of King Ares**

The Dark Citizens knew that Ares had murdered Maxwell, but they were also aware of how much King Maxwell abused his son. The citizens were once again hopeful that a stable leader would rise, but Ares proved to be grossly unfit to rule, often leading off of superstition and refusing to create a council to oversee his battle plans.

Now, the majority of Dark citizens disaproved of Ares' leadership, many deserting the kingdom or fleeing to the Lights, which caused Ares to enforce a new strict rule: Desertion will warrant execution. Now, his citizens were practically forced to obey him.

The citizens greatly disapproved of Ares fathering two children from a low life Dark Soldier out of wedlock.

Fighting continued to escalate, and eventually Ares began recruiting children for his battle lines.

#### **Aftermath of Ares' Death**

After the finale, The Darks completely crumbled and disbanded. This was due to low patriotism, nobody in line to take charge, distrust of royalty, domestic issues, and desire to join The Lights. The Dark Castle is completely abandoned to this day.

## Terrain

The Dark's terrain is filled with deep forest, the most popular kind of trees are pine and birch. It's known to be hard to navigate, but many tunnels are beneath the surface for spies to move around in. Massive cliffs surround the border, and a river cuts through as well. The river is the recognized border between Darks and Lights.

The castle is run down, considering nobody has been taking care of it since King Maxwell's death. The walls are bare and there is poor lighting. There is a massive cobblestone wall surrounding the outside. The majority of the Dark citizens live inside the walls, but it's not uncommon for families to live in huts, caves, trees, etc. outside of the castle.

Ares is often seen in caves instead of the castle when having private meetings with Vixy.

## Personality of Dark Citizens

The Darks are known to be cold, bloodthirsty murderers, but this is mostly a stereotype. While many of them are cold and closed off, there are still good citizens within The Darks. The citizens are often seen as bitter and intimidating considering it is required to join the military at some point, and they often have very little resources.

Many of the citizens do not agree with Ares' rule, but choose to stick around due to fear of being executed for disloyalty, or because they hope for a better leader to eventually rise. Vixy is more favored among the commoners.

## Reason for Warring Against The Lights

The Darks view the war from a power imbalance standpoint. They believe that Queen Felicity, Queen Hesia, and Princess Lunis unfairly took power from Ares. He is the eldest of Rose's bloodline, therefor he has a right to the throne, even if he did obtain it unfairly. Felicity was not blood related to Rose, so The Darks think this was an unfair rise to power.

They are fighting to hopefully unify the two kingdoms.

## Former Rulers

* King Romulus (First King)
* King Maxwell (Second King)
* Lydia (First Queen)
* Ares (Third King)
* Vixy (Second in command)