Fantasy ⸸ The Devil's Orphans ⸸ Lore ⸸

[OverconfidentMagi]

Timeline:

400 years ago, the human Hero Lucas struck down the last of the Devils, Amiya. This brought an end to the age of demons as humans became the dominant race, and we are now in the age of man.

300 years ago, the Kingdom of Arro was established and built around where the hero was laid to rest, the city of Ensis'Lucas serving as its center.

200 to 30 years ago, other human kingdoms and countries formed surrounding Arro. Though these nations fought and warred among each other, Arro was left untouched because of what it represented for all humans. Because of such longstanding peace, the kingdom grew lazy, corrupt, and weak.

30 years ago, the King Almus Lucius Arros took control of Arro. Almus wasn't content with letting his kingdom grow old and fade, so he bolstered the military slowly, and then when two neighboring countries were weakened from fighting each other, he invaded.

30 to 15 years ago, the Kingdom of Arro, having broken its stance of peace and proven to be a threat, now became a target for attack from all sides. Years of constant defensive warfare and raids wore down all support for the king, and Almus was gradually made into a tyrant as he attempted to maintain control.

15 to 8 years ago, the other kingdoms infiltrated Arro and turned the people against the king. The Kingdom of Arro was eaten away at by the other nations, until all the land it could still claim to control was the city of Ensis'Lucas and what could be watched over from its walls. For a siege of a half-dozen nations against a single city, the outcome was predictable.

8 years ago, the citizens of Ensis'Lucas revolted against the king. Knowing there was no way out, Almus accepted that he'd failed in every way, that he'd ruined his kingdom and would now die. It wouldn't just be his life though. His entire bloodline, all of the children he'd fathered as king, would be executed.

8 years ago...

The king summoned his children to dine with him. This was highly unusual. He was a father that rarely acknowledged, let alone interacted with, his children. But now they were all gathered at one table to share a meal. It was awkward, not pleasant at all. The king did not know his children, so they had little to genuinely talk about. But he was speaking to them, more than he'd done before. At the end of the meal there was a toast, "to kingdom and to blood", and all of the children drank. It was a nasty dark drink that burned going down, but none dared complain. Only the king drank alcohol.

After the children had imbibed the devil blood and spasmed onto the floor and fallen unconscious, the king ordered the few servants and slaves he still thought loyal to take his children away, as far as they could go.

Present, despite managing to keep hidden for years, hiding both their identity and altered body, it seems like some person or group has caught wind of where the devil's orphans are hiding, and they plan on forcing the lost princes and princesses to act.

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

Until about 500 years ago, demons were the dominant race across the world. Humans were simply a fast-replacing disposable servant and worker class. There wasn't much that could be done then, since demons were strong physically and possess magic, which humans do not. The demons in turn were ruled over by the much more powerful devils. Each devil controlled a region as big as a continent, but their power was so vast that even then they were unopposed except when two devils decided to entertain themselves by going to war. And then 500 years ago, a small number of humans were born with power capable of matching even those devils. They became known as Heroes.

A group of heroes managed to kill a devil, something thought impossible. The demons that had lived under that devil's rule suddenly became weakened, to the point that humans now could fight back against them. This began a war that lasted the next hundred years, during which many heroes died to kill each and every devil, finally ending 400 years ago with the Hero Lucas ending the last of the Devils, Amiya. With the demon race now weak and left with only minor magic, they now became the slave class. But due to how infrequently demon children are born, mistreatment threatened to drive demons to extinction, and to maintain their lower class the rising human nations quickly set rules against killing demons. Most types of abuse is fine and ignored, but killing a demon is a crime.

The elves are a unique case. They're generally considered something between human and demon. The elves broke off from the demons during the long war, abandoning their lands to shelter within the Great Forest to the north and constructing a powerful magical barrier over the forest to keep humans out. This was before the devils were driven to extinction and magic was still capable of performing such miracles. Though technically demons, because the elves didn't fight against humans during the war, in the rare event that one ventures out of the forest and into the lands of men they are generally treated well. At most they are ignored.

Races:

Humans - Standard humans. High physical strength, extremely high endurance, no magic ability, short lifespans (~70), fast reproduction.

Demons - Humanoid with more exotic hair and eye colors, usually smaller than humans. Physically weak, weak magical ability, very long lifespans (~300), slow reproduction.

Devils - Related to demons, with less humanoid bodies. Incredibly powerful both physically and in terms of magical power. Immortal. Empowers demons just be existing.

Elves - Related to demons. Human appearance except for the ears, which are longer. Physically weak, very weak magical ability, long lifespan (~150), slow reproduction.

	Appearance	Physical Strength	Magical Ability	Lifespan	Reproduction	Location
Human	Standard	High Very high endurance	None	~70	Fast	Lives everywhere, Control all major cities
Elf	Longer ears	Weak	Very weak	~150	Slow	Lives in the Great Forest to the far north
Demon	Smaller size, Longer ears, Exotic hair/eye color, Rarely very small horns	Weak	Weak	~300	Slow	Lives everywhere, Many hidden demon town exist
Devil	Varies Usually less human	Very high	Very high	Immortal	Unknown	Extinct

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

Nations:

​

Kingdom of Arro
Location: In the central part of the Western Continent
Founded: 300 years ago
Founder: Gint Abellum Arros
History: Founded in the aftermath of the human-demon war, the castle at its center was built atop the ruins of the castle of the Devil Amiya and is where the Hero Lucas struck them down 400 years ago.
Symbol: A white sword piercing a black circle surrounded by a blue sky
People: Mostly human, with a large population of demons as well (mostly slaves)

The Great Forest
Location: In the northern part of the Western Continent
Founded: 500 years ago
Founder:
History: Founded early on in the human-demon war by those who wished to avoid participating in the war, the elves hid within the depths of the forest and used now-lost magic to create a barrier around the place that would keep humans out, a barrier that has lasted nearly 500 years without being breached.
People: Elves, possibly demons (demons can enter the forest but are almost always driven back out by the elves), no humans can enter the forest

Sephestíel
Location: In the northern part of the Western Continent, between Arro and the Great Forest
Founded: 200 years ago
Founder:
History: A buffer nation between the other nations of men and the Great Forest where the elves live. The land is filled with a lot of foliage, and few people. Towns are rather far apart and the people prefer to survive on their own. The nation itself receives payment from neighboring nations for returning runaway demon slaves that have fled north towards the forest. As the elves usually force the demons back out, recapturing them isn't difficult.
People: Mostly human, some demons, the occasional elf

Heronda
Location: In the eastern part of the Western Continent, along the shores of the Rond Lake
Founded: 280 years ago
Founder:
History: A nation founded around the forts and camps used by the heroes and human armies towards the end of the human-demon war. Heroes are celebrated even more than in Arro, and as a result demons are treated worse. It has the highest volume of demon slaves of the human nations.
People: Mostly human, with a large population of demons as well (almost exclusively slaves)

El'Mithe
Location: In the southern part of the Western Continent, where the plains end and the Southern Jungle begins
Founded: 150 years ago
Founder:
History: When the lumber able to be cut from around the Great Forest grew sparse, humans looked to the equally massive jungle to the south. El'Mithe is a collection of factory cities, processing lumber from the forest, and stone and ores from the mountains.
People: Mostly human, some demons (slaves), small number of free demons

Biran
Location: In the farthest west part of the Western Continent, beyond the West Horn Mountain range
Founded: 300 years ago
Founder: Ash the Wanderer
History: According to the stories, there was a woman that had wandered across the world and found herself at the western shore with nowhere further to go. So she decided to cut down the trees and build a great ship for herself that could take her further west. The story doesn't clearly say whether she did manage to build the ship and sail off to unknown lands, but the nation that formed from that place and story is still around and thriving. Biran controls the sea with their massive ships capable of handling storms and sea monsters.
People: Mostly human, very few demons

Port City Tierr
Location: In the southwest part of the Western Continent, situated between the mountains, sea, and swamplands
Founded: 200 years ago
Founder: Pirate King Tierr
History: Originally founded by criminals that stole ships from Biran and fled south, Tierr has evolved into a place of freedom. Just about anything can be found or bought with enough money, so the culture accepts and encourages any means of making a profit. Even demons are allowed to own property if they can afford it, a rarity in the lands of men. It's also one of the few places where human slaves can be bought and sold in addition to demon ones.
People: Mostly human, a large demon population, the occasional elf

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

Magic:

Magical power exists everywhere in some amount. Generally places with a stronger connection to the world will gather more magical power than other places. Basically, if it seems ancient, mysterious, or magical, it probably has some extra magic juice floating around. Magic by its very nature causes change, usually of the unpredictable or strange variety. If left alone to gather around one location, object, or creature for too long, the magical energy will alter that thing. This could create some disaster or miracle or change a natural creature into an unnatural monster.

The main difference between humans and demons is that the latter have a body that magical power can easily flow into and out of. For some reason or another, magical energy has difficulty permeating into the human body. This means humans lack the ability to manipulate magic like demons can. It also means they are immune to the random magical mutations that often pop up in the demon race. The difference in how magic interacts with the body can most easily be seen with healing magic. A demon's body can be healed rather easily, internal injury and broken bones can be mended from the outside without any problems. Using healing magic on a human is usually not worth the trouble for anything worse than a small cut. Fixing internal injury means opening up the person so that the magic can get inside, and a bone would need to be set and visible - again meaning opening the body - in order for healing magic to be any use. Offensive magic is less discriminatory: fire created from magic burns human flesh the same as demon flesh.

Before the human-demon war, magic was both common and powerful. The average demon could easily overpower a group of humans using their magic. At the time magic was generally called either attack, battle, or healing magic. Attack magic was magic that created some phenomena, such as fire, water, wind, and the like. Battle magic enhanced the body, enabling demons to brush off attacks and retaliate with unnatural strength. Healing magic is the easiest to understand and also the most valued magic a demon could know. There was of course many examples of magic that didn't fit cleanly into these groupings, for example illusions and barriers, but it covered most common uses.

As for actually using magic, aside from the most basic of applications, some sort of guide was needed to get the magic to do what you wanted. Chants, incantations, magic circles, precise actions in some ritual, anything could really be used so long as the intent was intentionally and carefully imparted. A demon could will a small flame into existence on their own, or say an incantation to direct a fireball to hit an enemy, or repeatedly direct magical power into a drawn magic circle to fire off multiple fireballs rapidly. As the scale of magic increases, so does the amount of preparation needed to make it do what you want.

The relationship between magical energy, demons, and devils isn't well understood at all, but what is known is that devils dramatically increased demons' ability to use magic, and with the extinction of the devils demons are now only able to use the most basic of magic.

Current level of magic most demons are capable of:

• Making a lighter-sized flame appear
• Filling cupped hands with water
• A weak gust of wind
• Healing a small cut or bruise

... and similar feats. Without battle magic enhancing their bodies, demons are much weaker physically than humans, to the point that a strike from a person can easily break a demon's bones.

 

[OverconfidentMagi]

Heroes:

500 years ago, seemingly out of nowhere there appeared humans that processed unnatural powers rivalling even the devils. They had divine protections against the devils' magic and wielded weapons blessed with incredible power. Despite the heroes ostensibly being human, very little is actually known about them. They appeared suddenly, rose up against the devils that ruled over the world, and while many heroes died and new heroes appeared to replace them during the war, once the war was over there were no new heroes, and eventually there were no more heroes left.

The Legendary Hero Lucas
Lucas is the most famous of the heroes, as he was the hero that finished off the last of the Devils, Amiya, finally bringing an end to the age of demons. His blessed weapon Glascar was a sword with a clear blade that could supposedly cut anything and everything. He lived for another century after the war and was laid to rest in the very place he struck down the Devil, where the castle of the Kingdom of Arro would be built around.

The Hero of Flames Aine
A hero that fought in the final battle against the Devil Amiya. Her blessed weapon Rot, a massive great sword with a crimson blade, turned enemies to ash and the entire battlefield into a burning inferno. Shortly after the final battle was done she abandoned her weapon and disappeared. Blessed weapons seem to work different from magic, as proven by humans being able to use a lesser version of the incredible power the heroes displayed when holding the weapon. Her weapon had been passed down through the Arros family until the previous holder, Aryan, was killed and the blade taken.

The Sky Hero Keyne
A hero that leapt through the sky and dropped his blessed spear Vergold down on his enemies with the force of lightning striking. He was killed by the Devil Amiya in the final battle of the human-demon war.