A dark fantasy card adventure that blends tactical deck play with the feeling of a tabletop quest.Easy to learn, brutal in its choices, and uncompromising in atmosphere.

All hope is lost.

The world has finally turned against humankind.

For thousands of years, people fanatically tried to preserve their faith in the good and the holy. Spiritual and transcendental dimensions were explored, allowing humans to evolve beyond the limits of flesh, bone and breath. Masters of magic, blessed knights and other bearers of hope, brought forth by branching faiths and guilds, rose up against evil. In silver halls, beneath burning warding circles and before altars of marble, they swore to preserve the light. Yet this only fueled the world’s apparent hatred of humankind even further.

Natural disasters, plague and apostles of horror multiplied unstoppably. Earthquakes tore cities in two, black storms swept across the fields, and from the poisoned swamps crawled beings whose mere sight corroded the mind. In the end, the number of humans was decimated to a fraction. Of what was, not so long ago, a vibrant bustle in splendidly built cities, villages, cathedrals and castles that often towered into the sky, nothing remains today but dark and abandoned ruins. Towers stand broken like old bones in the mist, empty window sockets stare into the night, and dust lies upon the cobbled streets like ash.

The few survivors have withdrawn and, in miraculous ways, managed to carry on. Some paid for it with their sanity. They whisper to shadows, shun the daylight, or stare into the fire for hours, as if they could see the world of old in it one more time.

The struggle for survival has always been disproportionately hard for humankind. Man was a soft creature in a world of teeth, claws and immense bodies. He was born without armor, without wings, without fangs and without the raw strength of those creatures lurking out in the forests, swamps and mountains.

Even ordinary birds could appear to a child like dark giants. Their talons tore wood and flesh, and their cries echoed like warning calls across abandoned valleys. Thus even they, as one of the most ubiquitous kinds of animal, could pose a serious threat.

Beyond that, some creatures carry not only hunger but cunning within them. Only a few humanoid species use languages, yet most possess highly developed communities and hierarchies. Some hunt in silent order, others build nests, camps or subterranean structures that seem almost like alien kingdoms. Little is known about this, however, as no one ever survived long enough to report such observations.

Humans could only secure their survival through daily and exceedingly hard fighting. Building a home was utterly draining due to countless setbacks and ever-recurring assaults by the forces of nature. Walls were raised and torn down again, fields were sown and devoured by the storm, wells were dug and filled with poisonous sludge. Yet the forefathers succeeded in building cities and fortresses that offered humankind protection for several centuries.

They were expanded ever further during this time, and are therefore deeply labyrinthine, often towering several hundred meters into the sky. Narrow bridges connect stone towers, stairways wind through dark shafts, and entire districts cling to massive walls like swallows’ nests. Most of these fortresses stood where the world itself served as a wall: on steep mountains, by deep lakes, behind ravines, cliff faces or other natural barriers.

In that long-gone era of protection from creatures and natural disasters, humanity was able to develop almost unhindered. It managed to forge tools, weapons and armor from rare metals, strange stones and materials found only in the most dangerous places of the world – creations that seemed to defy the laws of nature. Blades shimmered like frozen moonlight, armor bore engraved promises of the light, and some strikes conjured lightning that turned upon its target.

At the same time, profound narratives of hope and faith were developed to grant inner strength to people shaped by their grueling daily lives. Apostles of the light studied nature, humankind and everything hidden behind the visible veil of the world.

Active research was devoted to widening the human mind until it perceived more than mere stone, wind and shadow. After several centuries, a comprehensive awareness of humankind and the world was established. Furthermore, by joining earthly knowledge with sacred teaching, humans were made receptive to powers that did not seem to originate from this world. Some could hear voices from distant spheres, others saw cracks in space like fine fractures in glass. Yet this was achieved only by the most ambitious sages and demanded lifelong training.

Apart from this, soldiers were trained under strict military discipline, and several fighting styles were developed to offset humankind’s natural disadvantage against the deadly creatures of the outside world. On blood-soaked training grounds they learned to dive beneath claws, to fight oversized foes, and to hold formation when the ground trembled beneath them.

But from generation to generation, not only did humans evolve and grow stronger – the world and its horrors grew ever deadlier as well.

The scholars finally realized that forests, creatures and plagues took on new forms faster than humankind could follow. Forests grew denser than axes could clear them. Roots burst roads and foundations, thorned vines climbed over walls, and livestock that was once hunted began to plan hunts of its own.

And so it came, after decades of ever more demanding battles against creatures, plague and catastrophe, that the people could no longer protect themselves behind the walls of their ancient strongholds. The fortresses, once symbols of human strength, became traps of stone. Their high walls no longer kept the horror out, but locked the people in with their fear. They became an easy target and had to scatter.

The number of humans dwindled rapidly until only a fraction of them remained. Now there are but a few small communities of people, each specialized in its way of life. Some roam with tamed creatures, laden with tents, lanterns and weapons salvaged from ruins. Others hide in the treetops of the giants, where their huts hang between leaves as large as sails. Others still live deep within mountains, behind gates of black ore, or on secluded islands, surrounded by mist, cold water and the constant feeling that something waits beneath the surface.