For decades, demons have ruled the Worldwound. Fearsome
fiends of every stripe roam the ruined lands that were once
known as Sarkoris, leaving their mark wherever they go.
Four crusades have attempted to cleanse the land, but each
seems to meet a worse fate than the last. Were it not for the
line of magical wardstones along the eastern and southern
borders, the demons would have long ago overrun
northcentral Avistan and beyond.
The Fourth Crusade didn't really end as much as
peter out, yet some refused to accept that. Amid crippling
shortages and record lows in morale among the crusaders,
the Mendevian war effort teetered on the brink of collapse.
Though the demonic occupation of the Worldwound
was growing, as was corruption among the crusaders, a
dwindling minority of paladins and priests maintained that
the Fourth Crusade was still vibrant and alive, and that the
turning point in the war was only a few days away.
The Fourth Crusade was anything but vibrant, but
the crusaders were more right than they knew about the
approaching turning point in the war.
One of the greatest weapons arrayed against the crusaders
was their own mortal ignorance. The crusaders had long held
that it was the inherent disorganization of demonic hordes,
coupled with the bolstering wall of the wardstones, that
would keep the world safe from the Worldwound. Unfortunately,
while a leaderless mass of demons is indeed a bickering tangle
of chaotic, directionless violence, the demons of the Worldwound
were far from leaderless.
Deskari and his demon lord allies do not want to merely wipe out
their enemies physically. They want to annihilate their very natures;
to destroy what gives them hope. They want their
enemies to fall to their own base instincts and wallow in
the countless sins that will, in the end, consign their souls
to the Abyss as grist for new demonic life.
The corruption that has grown among various crusading
companies, knightly orders, and other organizations involved
in the war is in large part an unavoidable result of human
nature. But over the decades, it’s been subtly nurtured
and encouraged by the demons—particularly the secret
order of the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth. These
cultists of the demon lord Baphomet have infiltrated
every major group among the crusaders, working at
undermining their morale and corrupting purity from
within even as the demon host of the Worldwound
relentlessly attacks them from without. For a time, the
Templars were content to sow seeds of corruption and
lay foundations for rebellion and disorder, but Deskari
has grown impatient. A hundred years after the death of
his old nemesis Aroden, Deskari has set his end game
in motion, and Baphomet and his cult are hastening
to comply by stepping up their acts of corruption and
treachery within the ranks.
