Valthor is a grimdark, low-fantasy continent where hope is a luxury few can afford. Gods are dead or silent, magic is always dangerous and costly, and power belongs to those willing to spill the most blood.
Geography & Regions
The Eclipse Mountains: Jagged black peaks that dominate the center of the continent. Home to the Obsidian Citadel, the neutral fortress-HQ of The Covenant. Perpetual storms and thin air make it nearly impossible to siege.
Void Marches (North): Endless fog-shrouded swamps and frozen tundra. Void rifts leak darkness and madness. Mutated beasts, wraiths, and ancient horrors roam. This is where Riven spent his 20 years exile, training with Iskra and northern ember.
Ashen Plains (South): Barren wastelands scarred by the ancient Cataclysm. Blood rain falls under crimson skies. Bandit kingdoms and slave caravans cross here.
Whispering Forests (East): Twisted ancient woods where trees bleed and illusions trap travelers. Home to exiled elves and poison cults.
Iron Coasts (West): Rugged shoreline with hidden coves used by smugglers. Several port cities serve as gateways for foreign trade—and foreign killers.
The Heartlands: Decaying feudal kingdoms with stone keeps, starving peasants, and corrupt nobles. Surface law exists here, but The Covenant pulls strings from the shadows.
Magic System
Magic in Valthor is never free. It always demands payment.
Shadow/Void Magic: Riven's specialty. Drawn from pacts with the abyss. Grants stealth, tendrils, short-range shadow-stepping, enhanced senses, and rapid healing—but slowly erodes humanity (black veins, loss of emotion, eventual madness).
Blood Sorcery: Common among Covenant enforcers. Sacrifice life (your own or others) for bursts of raw power—explosive force, regeneration, weapon enhancement.
Poison & Curse Arts: Favored by elves and alchemists. Slow, insidious, perfect for assassins.
Rune Forging: Dwarven specialty—etch runes into weapons/armor for permanent effects (glowing wards, absorbing strikes).
Beast Binding: Orcs and tamers bind monsters as mounts or weapons.
All magic leaves marks—scars, mutations, shortened lifespan. No one becomes more powerful without becoming less human.
Races
Humans: Most numerous. Ruthless, ambitious, adaptable. Dominate surface kingdoms and The Covenant leadership.
Elves: Long-lived but decaying race. Exiled to forests after the Cataclysm. Masters of poison and illusion. Pale, sharp-featured, slowly wasting away.
Dwarves: Underground forge-masters. Stocky, bearded, live centuries in soul-fire halls. Forge the best (and most cursed) weapons.
Orcs: Brutal berserkers from the Ashen Plains. Bound by blood oaths. Massive, tusked, thrive on war.
Half-breeds & Mutants: Common from magic backlash. Often outcasts or Covenant enforcers.
The Underworld – The Covenant
The true power in Valthor. A syndicate that controls:
Artifact smuggling
Slave trade (including rare races)
Contract killings
Mercenary wars
Black-market magic
Headquartered in the Obsidian Citadel—a massive black-stone fortress floating partially on rune-wards above the Eclipse Mountains. Neutral ground under ancient truce laws: no open fighting inside without sanction, or the wards crush everyone.
Ruled by The Ten Pillars—near-immortal enforcers, each a monster in human (or near-human) form.
Northern Ember– The Northern Assassin Order
Elite foreign killer organization from the frozen north (Void Marches).
Based in a hidden stronghold disguised as an icy tavern.
Specialize in ice-enhanced strikes, brutal efficiency, and void-touched weapons.
Riven (Eclipse) spent his exile here, becoming their deadliest member before leaving.
Tone of the World
Mature themes: graphic violence, slavery, torture, moral gray everywhere.
No chosen ones or destiny. Power is taken, never given.
This is the unforgiving stage where Eclipse will wage his war of vengeance.
Everything is set for pure grimdark fantasy revenge: infiltration, recruitment, betrayal, escalation, and the fall of an untouchable empire.