The Truce

For the past six centuries, the humans and the supernatural beings of Bacas County have lived under a truce that forbids open war between the two worlds. Here, in the forests of the remote valley, myths and legends are very real.

The truce was set shortly after Mara was thrown out of the area and an uneasy peace was restored. The enigmatic Cucuvea summoned all the inhabitants of Bacas County to a great gathering and called for reconciliation and mutual respect. Here, in the small valley, man and supernatural would co-exist, none more valued than the other.

Fairies, nymphs and forest spirits lived side by side with moroi, pricolici and capcaun. Uriasi rested in the mountains and the small lake was home to a Vilva Apei. Humans stuck to their village and their farmlands, minding their own business, and for a long time there was a fragile but working balance.

The creatures gathered here from all over Romania, retreating into one of the few sanctuaries left, a place where they weren't hunted. Magical, mystical beings, the mischievous and the good-hearted - they were all refugees in a world that no longer believed in their kind. In Bacas County they found a place where humans respected and accepted them - a home the outside world could no longer provide for them.

For many of the creatures, preying on humans was the natural order of things; and for their part, the inhabitants of the valley understood this order. While the truce called for no unnecessary aggression, it allowed all creatures to remain true to their nature. So Fata Padurii would claim a young man a few times a year, a stray traveller would return covered in bruises and scratches from the dance of the Iele, the strigoi and pricolici have their way under the blood moon. It was how it was - and for hundreds of years, it worked well.

Until the hunters became the hunted.

A few years back, one supernatural after another vanished with increasing intervals. The once so flourishing forest fauna was being culled, slowly but ever so surely. This sparked uproar among the creatures, who blamed the villagers. The humans denied any knowledge of the circumstances and Cucuvea had to point out that there was a truce in effect that none of them would dare break.

Many of the magical beasts felt forced to leave the forest, trying their luck in the harsh world outside the secluded valley rather than staying as bait to an unknown killer. Those who stayed grew increasingly unforgiving and suspicious of humans as their numbers slowly dwindled.

Not long after the recent arrival of hordes of feral vampires, a group of Romany followed suit. Many of the forest creatures had been actively persecuted by these monster hunters in the past, and time had not healed their wounds nor made them forget. The arrival of the gypsies only made matters worse, and the already strained relationship between magical creatures and humans was exhausted.

However, the Romany showed no interest in the resident creatures. Perhaps with great self-control or perhaps with contemptuous disdain, they have so far ignored the supernaturals and fought their common enemy instead.

Despite the mutual hate between them, the monster hunters and the supernaturals grudgingly realised that they must stand together against the vampire hordes to have any chance of survival. For the time being, they aren't hunting each other, but once it is all over, the old truce will mean little in the animosity between magical and mortal.