CivCraft - Exodus, Chapter 3 Lore

More information for CivCraft's lore can be found in the latest Kickstarter update.

He had found the Huntsman, or so he had called himself, in the Frog’s Nest Inn, the final stop before the marshes spread out into fifty leagues of moss, swamp, ruins and unspeakable monsters. It had occurred to Krassus that he hadn’t an inkling of an idea how to traverse the southern pass through the marshes. The Huntsman had been willing enough, though he could not have seen more than twenty summers, judging by the amount of bragging he had done. The coin that Krassus had agreed to pay would have tempted even the most apprehensive of travelers, but since the pair had set out from the Frog’s Nest the Huntsman had yammered ceaselessly about his exploits, leaving Krassus skeptical about the credibility of his new companion. After a few steps the Huntsman started again, “A fortnight ago, I came upon a dark one, quite an experience, first of all—” “What did I just say?” Krassus interrupted firmly. Krassus slowed the pace. Through the mist, the moon reflected off the moss infested pools, painting the trees an eerie green. Reflections bounced off the branches and tall grass and played tricks with the shadows. In the distance, Krassus heard the croak of frogs and the quiet music of crickets. He smelled the air, thick with rain and soil and… Brimstone…sulfur… A massive shadow moved amongst the ruins in the distance. “Dark ones…” said Krassus after a pause, keeping his eye on the ruins up ahead; “what was that you said?” “Hmm?” “You spoke of dark ones; what did you mean?” Krassus asked. “Oh yes, um, people… people have seen strange creatures, but they dare not speak of them. They call them the ‘dark ones.’, foul beings, each stranger than the other, coming from some place they refer to as Blood Castle.” “Arag…” Krassus said to himself. “Who?” asked the Huntsman. “Arag, the red king of the south, the banished king; who invoked the forbidden magic. Blood Castle is another name for the Red Castle.” “Oh…” the Huntsman hesitated. “My uncle…I mean, we’ve met people traveling from that region. They say the dark started appearing more often, and with them, more people disappear more often. They say these creatures are not natural, that they are not from our land, that they are from beyond…” Krassus stopped walking, looked at the Huntsman and raised an eyebrow “Beyond…? Where...?” “Just beyond…I’m not really sure,” the Huntsman. The man finally silent for the first time in their journey. Krassus continued on, slowly, keeping his eyes ahead. Arag had been an ally to Kael’s father. When Arag started experimenting in the dark arts and red magic he corrupted himself, making outlandish claims about “the new powers of the black magic” and “eternal life under the shadow of our master”. He became so delusional that Kael’s father was forced to shun him, banishing him to the south where he gathered followers and continued his practice of red magic and the dark arts. In the infamous battle for Kourniak, Arag introduced his new powers, raising the dead and unleashing them on both Kael’s father’s army and the collection of southern clans that had rallied to his cause. Arag won the battle but his allies turned against him. At the climax of the battle, Kael’s father was killed by one of his own who had been raised as a dark creature by Arag’s magic. His death broke his army and scattered it to every corner of the land until Kael reunited them.