The Eastern Blood Tide

The West was undergoing religious and political reform. High Guidance Alabaster Black was pushing his radical agenda on the Addani people, and he was gaining traction. They liked him, he was both strong and pious, charismatic and focused. He was a new kind of leader, advocating for a new kind of world, one which could only be achieved through an initial period of violence and sacrifice. But then there would be peace, or so he used to say. His policies were antiquated, fanatical, and rejected everything that was not of Western origin. They promoted the criminalization of magic and the concept of mana, and placed blame on Eastern cultures for what he believed to be wrong with the world. Backed by the wealthiest of all the Human families, High Guidance Alabaster Black would soon become Supreme Guidance Alabaster Black, and he would change the world forever.

Dealings between the East and the West were becoming hostile and tensions were growing. There was an immediate outcry for peaceful resolution from the kingdoms near the border, but many Eastern leaders saw this as an opportunity to seize power through war. Small time crime lords and pirates too, they all sought to benefit from the turmoil and unrest. Among them, one unlikely crew of thieves and smugglers, pirates of the Howling Doom, found themselves caught in the Blood Tide. They had gotten involved with many who sought profit from the conflict, but most importantly of all, they had come to have possession of a peculiar child. One who was said to hold the key to great power. Vressa was her name. She was a fugitive with a great destiny, one of ruin and rebirth. Unbeknownst to them, the Doomers had become harbingers of a new age.