The continent of Lumus consists of four countries that are divided by their ecosystem:
- The Northern Country of Schnee known for its snow with Eshea as its pseudo-capital.
- The Eastern Country of Abilene known for its torrential rain
- The Southern Country of Kindra known for its high-speed winds
- The Western Country of Newport known for its scorching heat.
Each country is governed in their own way whether it be a monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or oligarchy. The Northern Country was originally an aristocracy for 300 years. The Winter Family was the leader of the aristocracy since it contained the Winter Vessel that could control the ice and snow. The other nobles consisted of the original families that founded the village of Eshea. It grew in size as more people migrated to the once uninhabitable country.
However, the aristocracy began changing. After the long 300 years, the Northern Country turned into a patriarchal monarchy that lasted for nearly 200 years. No one really remembers the original story, but the story that is told in school is that the aristocracy wanted to have a formal king as a leader since the Northern Country's population was sky-rocketing.
One of the nobles found a great spot nearby the mountains to create a castle to become the symbol of the flowering country. The first king was not the Winter Family but the Schnee Family which is why the Northern Country is called Schnee.
However, tales that have been told among the original families that were against the Schnee Family is that the Winter Vessel was supposed to be the king since he could control the snow and ice. One way or another, the Schnee Family managed to get the Winter Vessel from accepting the crown and agreed to become the Schnee Family's secret to rule the country.
The people of the country were told that the king has been given the blessing of stopping the snow and ice. No one in the country knew about the Winter Vessel's existence. No one except the families that were against King Schnee's arrangement.
The families that opposed King Schnee along with the Winter Family moved away from the newly forming capitol and returned back to Eshea where they rebuilt the city's structure. Despite much persuasion, the Winter Family refused to become the mayor of the city. The Winter Family wanted to protect the city they built with the other family's without all of the attention the mayor would get. That's all they wanted to do. To protect their people.
After 200 years of monarchy, the eighth king and his family mysteriously disappeared from their castle in the country's capital of Thawe. This was almost 100 years ago.
Without the leadership of a king, the nobles in the capitol began fighting for the position. Through dirty tricks, nobles would hire mercenaries and assassins to kill other nobles and their families. However, when word got around the country that there was no king, an all-out war commenced amongst the power houses in other cities of the Northern Country in a fight for the highest position of power.
Eshea was smart enough to free themselves from the ravaging war early on. With the guidance of the Winter Family, the mayor of Eshea declared it a neutral city five years into the now 100-year war for power when the city was running out of resources to maintain the structural balance. With the remaining funds and the Winter Family's help, several organizations that call Eshea home combined their strengths to erect a wall of steel around the city in order to keep out the conflict and maintain peace.
A secret meeting was held among the descendants of Eshea's original founders excluding the Winter Family. They came to the conclusion that the Winter Vessel should no longer hold its long-standing agreement with the royals since the king is gone. The Winter Vessel only needs to use his power with the city's walls. Using his powers for the whole country was already as life-consuming as it was, which is why the Winter Mafia was formed so that they could look after the city while the Winter Vessel was safely within the Winter Estate.
They summoned the Winter Vessel to the meeting and repeated the decision that was made. The Winter Vessel readily agreed since he was already almost exhausted out of his life. However, he didn't know that the secret meeting also came to an agreement to make the Winter Vessel the new king once the war died down. Little did they know that the war will continue on for a long, long while, and the second agreement will be long forgotten.
However, outside the city, things only got worse. Many of the smaller cities in the country have been wiped out. Some of the larger cities are now home to crooked dealers like those of Black Snow. Scattered about are refugee camps that help displaced families find their loved ones and try to survive the harsh never ending winter.
When the king was around, winter came when it was supposed to and left when no longer needed. Before the war broke out, the seasons were still in check even when only the nobles knew the king had disappeared, so some had hope that the king was still alive somewhere. Sadly, hope can only last for so long.
Once the war started, and the battles intensified, the snow came pouring down as if the clouds had been carrying the heaviest weight in the world and collapsed under pressure. Everyone outside of Eshea was hoping to find or be the next person who is blessed to stop the winter when they had no idea that the king was never in control of winter in the first place.
In order to take advantage of the chaos and make some money, dark-minded people gravitated towards each other and muddled each other's minds more with evil ideas. Despite what one might think, these dark-minded people gave each other a sense of structure.
Some split off to kidnap kids and turn them into slaves. Others split off to become mercenaries. Regardless of their so-called 'profession', they all relied on each other for connections because each of them knew that if one person kept something hidden or betrayed the structure, then they would be killed off.
This became the start of some of the most notorious organizations outside of Eshea. Some of the original families' descendants that were supportive of the king were alive and making full use of the situation by charging more for tolls in order to keep away the poor from outside their territory. They would be the patrons of these dark organizations in order to keep them safe from the other families' attempts to kill them.
This vicious cycle of kill or be killed continued on for a hundred years and into the present day. Even though the war has mostly died down, there was no way to rebuild since the savage winter cruelly blew its icy temperatures all across the Northern Country except in Eshea.