THE BASIC PLOT (story)

    Welcome to the weary blood soaked world of Hur.  This world's history is splattered with the blood of many harsh and devestating battles.  A few hundred years ago, combat was a way of life.  This was until Lyr, the great hero of the West, united the nations under one banner and became the first ruling Illuminarch of all of Hur.  The title was passed down from generation to generation and the Illuminarch's brought great stability and structure to Hur(with a few exceptions).  Nearly 20 different Illuminarchs have reigned since Lyr.  However, an event of catastrophic nature changed all of the rules.  Yes indeed, the assassination of Illuminarch Darcius was one of the greatest tragedies in all of Hur's history.
     The assassination caused a wild uproar of fear and wild, unfounded accusations soon spread across the land.  In the end, four of the Illuminarch's five Wardens(bodyguards) were sent off to remote islands for imprisonment.  Whether these men were resposible was never really proved, but nevertheless they came to be known as "The Crestfallen".  One of them  managed to escape his captors on the way to the prison, but the others are still without their freedom.
     The overall situation looked like it would improve until alleged Archayan assassins mudered one of the senior ambassadors from Gilead.
Dispute over this incident has put the two countries at odds with one another and Gilead has launched an invasion force to take over Archaya.  In another part of the world the Grarg(from the northlands) have begun to build up their forces to invasion capacity.  The nations of Elea and Lansa look to bear the brunt of a possible Grarg assault.
     Clearly everyone is thinking about the same thing.  Who will be the next Illuminarch?  Whoever conquers the other nations may lay claim to the title, but becoming the true Illuminarch is much more complicated...