The Plague of Shadows

### “*When the sun rouse a great Empire stood, but when the sun turned to moon all that remained were empty husks*” – Clyde Magnus

Named after the effects that the curse had on the people of the Empire of Koruthar in the year of 524 HE, the plague was the culmination of centuries of planning by the nefarious Mister P.

Mister P who had escaped The Old Man´s experiments, travel to the recently founded Empire of Koruthar. Mister P had little in the ways of resources when he first arrived, but over the centuries he was able to attain influence, wealth, and great Psionic powers.

But it was with the creation of the Puppets, creatures made from fresh dead bodies that could replace and mimic any other creature, that Mister P was able to control a frightening amount of positions in the Empire. And while he attacked the Empire for fresh bodies, he also pretended to be the only man capable of defending the empire against this mysterious threat.

Under the pretense of “defending the empire, and aiding investigation”, he placed Crystal Poles in almost every major city. These Crystals were controlled by Mister P, and were slowing absorbing the nearby magic, powering up for the eventual demise.

However the Empire was forever doomed when Mister P obtained an ancient relic found in the ruins visited by The Lads. This strange tech would allow Mister P to perform a powerful ritual with an unknown kind of magic, to complete his final plan.

## The Fall

With the intent of eventually eliminating all life that wasn’t him and his puppets, Mister P activated the device, and a dark curse spread across the land using Crystal Poles as a sort of portal.

A living entity when afflicted with this curse will have their soul completely consumed, and the body turned into a Shadow Beast, a mindless monster that only wishes to consume any living matter that it comes across. Had the ritual been completed Mister P would’ve gained complete control over all Shadow Beasts, but thankfully he was stopped by The Lads, remaining mindless and hungry to this day.

The curse took hold in almost all major cities, even though some survived the influence of the curse and did not transform, while others lived to far away from a big city to be affected by the curse, they soon died to the incoming slaughter of the hordes of Shadow Beasts, and the collapsing social system.

## Survivors

With the curse and the ensuing collapse of the Empire, about 80% of the total population in the continent died during this event. With the surviving population being made up of mostly lower class individuals.

Lad Town: The city of Meirin Center survived with a lot less causalities than other cities of its type, due to a mysterious error in the Crystal Poles the curse spread with much less power in this city. And with The Lads serving as defense, the city was quickly reinforced and secured, being renamed Lad Town and serving as a safe haven for the incoming refuges of the Empire.

The Qirora Crown: Being a clan of isolationist Elfs and a people of battle, their higher class was able to mostly survive the curse by hiding in the surrounding jungles. Although they are still struggling with the Plague they were able to maintain a loose social order.

The Drow Kingdom: Due to their “separatist” beliefs and distain for the empire, this region was less affected by the plague. However they only survived the hordes of Shadow Beasts by hiding deep within the mountains, and using demonic energies and worship to aid them in the fight against the hordes. Even though the menace is not close to being eliminated, they have created some safe havens inside caves and mountains.