The Demon Wars

The central conceit behind the setting:

For thousands of years soulless automatons of flesh and bone (humans) ruled "the innerlands". They grow in numbers and in wealth and in knowledge. They eventually discover necromancy, the control of souls. Having the "undead" humans control the "souls of the living" is the greatest heresy to the demons, who send their souls through the soulgates from their home in "the outerlands" (Annilm), initially capturing vessels with their souls, and when they eventually grew to be powerful and detected by necromancers, they attacked the necromancers in an era called the Demon wars.

Through the demon wars formed two great nations, the Kpor Empire and the Sica Alliance. They eventually gathered enough strength to create a necromancer army to push through the soulgates to attack the demons in Annilm.

However, after the dictator of Sica (SD) led the necromancer forces through the gates, the gates were closed, seemingly betrayed by the Kpor Empress (R1) who reached an accord with the demon queen. The Immortal Lost Army is forced to wander in the outerlands forever.

The Kpor regime sealed the soul gates and banned necromancy. The royal family is the only place where they still keep the secrets of the necromancer. They destroyed all the demons by splitting them in half, an event called "the division". This destroyed all the demons in the innerlands and led to an era of peace where the human descendants of the necromancers (called the solfrey) led the unknowing hosts of demons (the commoners) who carried half a demon soul each within them. The two carriers of the demon souls will seek out one another and if they join together will resurrect the demon, something the human nobility (who call themselves soul free) is keen on avoiding.

Over the thousands of years since the demon wars many (hundreds) demons have been resurrected and now roams the lands. It's important to note that they are local terrors and do not pose an existential threat to human society.

The Kpor regime banned necromancy and destroyed its history. This is generally a good thing as the magecraft controlling souls is the "evil thing" that set off the demon wars. Without necromancy humans and demons may live in peace in their separate realms.

You the Main Character, a descendent of Sica, the ancient nation that was destroyed by Kpor. However it is so long ago and Sica is more of a memory than a target for revival, would be like someone trying to revive the Babylonians.

Kpor Royalty

Kpor at the time of the sealing of the soulgate is ruled by the Empress and her 4 siblings who had various positions of power. At the time, all powerful people were necromancers and they were all immortal through the power of necromancy. The majority of the population were necromancers, and necromancy was common practice, and even those who aren't adept necromancers still at least had some ability allowing them to benefit.

The Empress was married to the Sica Dictator Yan Hui and had 3 children with him at the time of the sealing. From here on out, child1, child2, child3 (C1, C2, C3).

The Empress was the eldest of her siblings, from here on out called R1 (royalty 1). Then there was female R2, male R3, female R4 and female R5.

Female R2 and Male R3 went with the Sica Dictator through the soulgate to attack the demon queen in her home. The male R3 was known and feared as the Guardian of La, who protected/saved the capital of Kpor during the massive demon siege, the largest battle of the demon wars. Female R2 was also an elite warrior known to be one of the strongest in the world, she personally, along with everyone who know them both, believes she's stronger than her brother but is generally fine with being overshadowed by her brother since it's her brother. The Sica dictator is the genius strategist who singlehandedly used tactics to defeat larger forces of demons and was who was the most responsible for the progress of the war.

The lost army is consists of mostly Sica and is led by Sica because the Kpor army was subpar and poorly organized. R2 and R3 serves as Kpor reps and are semi-hostages to prevent Kpor from acting up at home. Though married to the Kpor Empress, Sica dictator was cognizant of the political situation in the innerlands and the simmering rivalry between Sica and Kpor as the two great powers of the land.

In the present day, R2, R3, and Dictator are all lost in the otherlands. R1 is trapped in "the road out". R5 has disappeared. R4 is the architect of the betrayal of Sica and the Kpor's taking over of the world.

The history up to this point is decently understood. The official narrative has R2 and R3 attacking and defeating the demons. Yan Hui, the Sica Dictator, was written out of the official history and the Sica contribution to the war minimized. But that is just the official history. Historians since the fall of Kpor have since rediscovered Sica and Yan Hui through archeology and knowledge about him is taught to the educated Solfrey, though not known by commoners.

However, the truth behind the division, why the Kporian royals turned on their ally SD, is cloaked in mystery. Very few understand the true story. Only at the very end, when you meet the final boss C2, will you learn. There are 2 incorrect narratives you will be given before the finale. Each of R4 and R5 believe a lie, and will impart that falsehood onto you.

The Lost Army's attack - False Narrative from R4

In the present day R4 is one of your close friends, thousands of year old immortal necromancer princess, though you do not find out her identity until the middle of the game. To understand who R4 is, read the Peizhi Nam profile under Characters.

According to her:

When SD came upon the demon queen, instead of slaying her he laid with her. The demon queen manipulated him, told him that Kpor posed the greatest threat to him. She promised him that he would be able to take over Kpor and be a god among humans with her power. He, blinded by lust and ambition, believed the demon queen and would have turned the his army against humanity.

When they discovered this treachery, together, R2 and R3 attacked the demon queen and SD. Both R3 and SD dies. Eventually R2 killed the queen's physical body, stealing her power, but she knew that she would not be able to kill her permanently in the outerlands. She took the queen into herself, and using herself as the vessel, sent a message to the soulgate telling them to seal it, signing an accord with the empress for permanent peace where the soulgate is sealed on both sides and the humans renounce necromancy. R3 later dies as well.

Of course Sica didn't believe Kpor's story and had to be put down. This version of history is used early on by R4 to justify the purge of Sica.

The Lost Army's attack - False Narrative from R5

R5 is not alive today, but you are able to get the R5 version of history from the Miralei School, which is the organization she founded.

According to R5:

R2 and R3 were in a secret incestuous relationship, but the campaign caused R2 and SD to get together and fall in love.

The demon queen used R3's jealousy to get him to kill SD. R2 thinks R3 is controlled by the demon queen and kills R3. Eventually the demon queen surrenders to R2 and is forced into the accord, the R2 and the Lost Army stays in the outerlands to enforce the accord.

R5 says R4 was in love with R3 and told the false story to protect R3's reputation.

While the R4 version of history remains, this version of history was told to Kporian nobles once R5 becomes Empress and used to justify the leadership change. Later during the Mortal Dynasty, all versions were censored and Sica and SD were removed from the story entirely.

R5 got the story from the gatekeeper, who was C1.

C1 is the most hyped up talented necromancer at the time. And was the one who figured out the grand gate and kept it open. C1 was also the only person who could communicate with the Lost Army.

C1 in fact made up both stories to R4 and R5. To fully understand this, please read the C1 personality profile.

The real story: C1 was the most talented child of R1 and SD and sought their affection. R1 was just so in love with SD but SD was a womanizer who caused her endless anguish. C1 grew up resenting her father and desiring his love both at the same time. She came to be proud of her necromancy ability and used it as a way to buy love from her father, who pretended to show that his appreciation for her necromancy extended to her. But C1 knew that it didn't but hid it.

SD had a previous wife who he was actually very in love with, with her he had a daughter with no necromancy ability, a girl that was beautiful, cute, but talentless. In that time, no necromancy talent meant that you were vulnerable as a vessel for demon soul infestation. He loved that daughter so much he brought her with him in the Lost Army, the idea is to give her the power of the demon queen. If she can become the demon queen who commands the demon souls then her will would be free from the control of the demon souls.

Upon realizing this plan, C1 was enraged at SD and hated Sica. Also, having a half-sibling as the demon queen would threaten C1 as the heir to R1/SD, the Kpor-Sica throne, so this has solid political rationale and isn't just someone who can't control her emotions. C1 was already on poor terms with her mother, who didn't believe her when she spoke out against SD. She knew that she could not get R1 to turn against SD, and so instead enlisted R4 and R5, feeding them different stories that would cause them to turn.

R4 was very close to R2 and R3, and was their little protege, and so felt the betrayal by SD keenly. She supported overthrowing R1 and attacking Sica in retaliation.

R5 was in love with R3 and hated R2. She always went on hypocritically about R2 and incest when that was what she wanted with R3 too lol.

The reason why C1 lied is because unbeknownst to R4 and R5, R2 and R3 were actually very loyal to SD and supported his plan to give the demon queen's powers to his daughter. C1 knew there was no chance to actually convince R4 and R5 to turn on R3 and R2 if they were still alive, so she made up this story where they died due to SD. Neither stories above are true, R2, R3, and SD are all still alive when C1 decides to betray them.

C1, with her supporter R4, decide to enact the plan to secretly seal the gate. However to do so, in a way that's actually workable, they also need to seal the gate from the other side at the same time. Thus they need a liaison to talk to the demon queen, and that was decided to be C2. C2 got both the agreement with the demon queen and the way to destroy the demons that would remain in the innerlands, the division. Returning, she is met by R1 who wises up to the plan. Confronted, R1 realizes that C1 has turned traitor and killed her own child accidentally while trying to stop her. Devastated, she entered the gates to find SD herself, however she never makes it into the outerlands, and is stuck in the "the road out" due to the gate degrading upon C1's death. With C1 dead it was up to C2 to actually close the gate and perform the division.

Believing in the accord she reached with the demon queen, C2 attempted to snuff out necromancy, and in turn destroyed immortality among the Solfrey. The only people who were allowed to preserve their immortality are R4 and R5. C3, before the necromancy was banned, attempted to try to find her mother in "the road out", but ended up trapped there, frozen in time.

C3 thinks C2 betrayed the nation and hates her, though at the time she was too young and weak to oppose her.

To this day C2 and R4 are still alive. R4 is the queen of a kingdom and C2 is the empress, hidden beneath the earth in immortal hibernation.