The game begins during the Fourth Mendevian Crusade, which was sparked by a powerful balor known as the Storm King. He and his forces were able to damage one of the wardstones that protect Mendev and invade. The incursion was pushed back, but the Storm King was not defeated. Even now he rallies more troops, demons and sycophants alike, to his banner.
Meanwhile, Mendev is a land divided.
Enigmatic creatures within the Estrovian Forest kill mortal and demon alike, depriving the country of a convenient source of timber and wild game.
The call for troops to fight in a new crusade has attracted a large number of foreigners, including untested youth, greedy mercenaries, unscrupulous merchants, camp followers and the occasional demonic cultist.
Much ill will remains after the third crusade, which turned into an internal witch hunt that still divides the region. The original tribal inhabitants of the land claim it was an attempt at genocide, while the pious maintain the natives had turned to demon worship.
The country is ruled by Queen Galfrey, Sword of Iomedae, in name only. Her concrete authority stretches to the walls of the fortress capital of Nerosyan. Outside those limits, her word is not law, so much of her time is spent in political maneuvering to keep the various commanders throughout Mendev working toward a common goal.
The result is the current crusade is one of the least organized, a fact that some of the more righteous commanders blame on the influx of the so called "low templars," people who fight outside of an organized religious army.
Mendev is the perfect place to make a buck, start a fight or become a world-renown hero. It's also the place where many thousands of people are going to die.
