In the year 337 since the founding age of the great emperor Ika, the Ika Empire Collapses.
No one knows what happened in political jungle that is the Royal Capital. The news of the assasination of the Emperor Lillappi-son of Emperor Lillappi and grandson of Emperor Justonia-spreads throughout the Continent. Emperor Lillappi had no legitimate children of his own. There are only rumors of a daughter fostered out of wedlock by a different woman. The child isn't even a son. Thus the throne passes posthumously to his nephew. Merely hours after being coronated, the young Emperor is dead. The Great Peasant Rebellion ravages the countryside of the Ika Empire, which holds over twenty percent of the continent's total farmable land. A disruption in the food supply and aid to foreign nations causes political instability. The Ika Empire's direct tributaries; Republic of Massov, the Chiv, the Kingdom of Provonce, and the Duchy of Alleignrah, immediately break out fighting. This holy alliance of some of the most powerful nations simply dissolve over night.
Far to the East, lies a great forest that stretches far beyond the Western Continent. No one has reached the Eastern side of the continent and lived to tell the tale. This is because this Great Forest is overrun by Monsters. These are nightmarish creatures whose design and functions are an affront to the Lord himself. So the story goes, long ago demons broke out from the underworld to plague the world with their filth. As a result, they mutated the animals and humans whom lived there into unsightly creatures.
The vast majority of these unsightly creatures are animalistic in nature. Giant scorpions, walking golems, flying lizards, man eat ants, beastly locus whos size is that of an tiger, and numbers greater than man's, and anything hellish you can put your mind too. It is said that the deeper you go into the forest, the larger and more deadly the creatures live.
Those who were rumored to once have been humans were bi-pedal creatures. A great majority of these creatures take on a green hue, with faces contorted into the most ugliest possible face imagined. Teeth poked out of the mouth as if taunting their prey of their fate to come. Their proficiency to amass deadly weapons created by man and use it against their creators makes them dangerous. These creatures go by many names depending their size; Orcs, Goblins, Ogres, Cyclopes, etc. There is another creature which resembles man very closely. These are creatures with animalistic physical traits. Sightings of Wolf heads on a man's body, Boars and Goats, or Foxes or Chickens, anything you find in a normal forest but with a human body acting as its lifeline. There are humanoids with sharp teeth, those with long ears, sometimes humans who are truly evil will venture into the Great Forest and live in peace.
Both these Monsters, though wildly diverse and different, live in harmony with each other. It is said that in the far east of the forest lies a great king who commands his legion of demons that control the monster. This demon king, continues to wait for the perfect opportunity to unleash his horde at humanity, and take over the world.
To prevent this, a collective started by the Ika Empire was the United Front Initiative. The UFI is an alliance of Far Eastern nations-including the Ika Empire, which maintained a great barrier all along the border of the Great Forest. A large military force was stationed to keep the Monsters of the Great Forest at bay. The UFI has kept humanity at peace for almost 200 years. During this time, technological progress has grown rapidly, along with the discovery of Magic.
Magic is an early system developed by the manipulation of heavenly spirits that reside in all living things. Thanks to this, man has developed the ability to easily tame the animals they breed and slaughter. It has been used to manipulate the rock that cities are built in and create fire that gives life in the darkest of nights. Humanity has utilized Magic as a system against the Monster to deadly effect. Mages who specialize in weaponizing magic are the decisive weapons that has, now prevented monsters from even peering over the thick veil of the edge of the Great Forest. For almost 150 years now, Humanity has not seen a single monster. It is likely that the idea of a monster is just a myth.
However, as time continued its long march, man has gotten soft. They have rested on their laurels and have gotten comfortable with a continued life of peace. For as long as the Ika Empire remained a bulwark against the Monsters, they have been the dominant political figure in the Continent. That domination was only maintained so long as Humanity perceived the Monsters a threat. Now, some do not even believe they exist-but they do exist and are very real and very dangerous. Despite this, a great many political figures sought to exploit this lul in power for their own gain. To discredit the Ika Empire and their efforts as tyrannical and a threat to the freedom of their respective sovereignty, they flew the flag of rebellion. The Ika Empire continued fighting nonstop for the last fifty years. The first was caused by the Kingdom of Mossov, then the War of the Unholy Alliance, then the Thirteen Year Civil War, then finally the Great Peasant Rebellion. More and more soldiers soldiers part of the UFI peeled away to fight for their respective countries. Now, in 337, the Ika Empire has effectively fallen. A monarchy now all dead, and its people and military up in arms fighting each other, the UFI have effectively disappeared.
The Nations part of the UFI; The Ika Empire, the Akavandia Kingdom, the State of Oppenest, the Republic of Wesslerun, the Kingdom of Meres-Est-Engles, the Tsardom of Kvyuna, and the Duchy of Alleignrah, disintegrated and retreated into their own seperate realm. The Protection Wall sat for almost a decade unmaintained and unwatched. It was left to the fate of the Monsters. And the Monster took advantage.
Just only a year after the fall of the Empire, in 338 the a large gathering of Monsters was sighted near a village in the old Ika Empire. The villagers there were found dead-slaughtered like the animals they kept. The houses were burnt and the food and animals taken. One could mistake it for an organized raiding party, had it not been for the dead bodies of the Goblins-small green humanoids who wore light leather veils around their waists. This wouldn't be the first of these raids, and it would be solely conducted by Goblins. Throughout the year, animalistic monsters as well as the humanoid monsters begun pouring through the border of the Great Forest-endlessly slaughtering and killing nearby villages. Most of the world leaders didn't bat an eye, not until the city of Ukanivalsty fell. It was the Ika Empire's greatest city, just after the Royal Capital. The surprise was its fall in a matter of days. A city of almost twenty-thousand was systematically looted, raped, and slaughtered. The horde didn't stop. Further south in the Republic of Mossov, a monster invasion overran much of the country's meager military, and it too was wiped out. Those who found refuge in neighboring countries were not welcomed either. The political period of this time has left a sour mouth in the local peoples against their neighbors. Many who sought refuge were shunned and left to die. Those that were accepted were ruthlessly exploited. As the next line of nations were invaded by the Monster Horde, they found that their own military abilities were insufficient. So too did the nations of Chiv and Provonce fall, with their own people fleeing to the neighboring nation of Akavanida and Alleignrah. The cycle then repeated.
Far to the West, bordering the Heavenly Sea, the Council of Oppenest took a different approach. During the Monster invasion of Akavanida, the Nobles of the National Council elected to follow a different approach. They combined their military power by absorbing the Nation of Meres-Est-Engles and Kvyuna into the Triple Nations Alliance, making the latter two de-facto vassals. Since the invasion almost two years prior, did humanity see its first united initiative since the UFI. However, the combined military strength was just barely enough to keep the enemy at bay. Though the Humanoid Monster 'Army' was thoroughly crushed-a great many Monsters who wielded weapons were slain-Monsters still roam around their conquered territory. It was unlikely that Humans in this area are alive as they sapped all life from the region.
In 344, the lul period in this war has shaken many nobles in the Oppenest National Council. Three major families who guide the Council in their actions are all split. The Moljavac Family, the Aestranian Family, and the Royal Family of Oppenest. They faced two main problems-the large refugee crisis, and pushing back the Monster Horde.
The first was the cause of humans fleeing the east towards the west. By now, Oppenest had taken in far beyond its capacity to feed all its people. With the assistance of food from the two vassal nations, Oppenest had managed to sustain the large population. But now, as that population grows, they face a food crisis. The second problem was the increasing strength of the Monsters after their great defeat, and the decline in military power of the Triple Nations Alliance. Territory must be retaken soon to alleviate these two problem. A noble prince from the House of Aestrania once read a book called 'The Pioneers.' It was a tale about ancient humans who one explored the continent they lived in. They had ventured the Great Forest which was placed as a prison by the Lord against the Demons. The Pioneers were simple humans, who's only superpower was their ability to navigate unexplored territory and were proficient at self-defense against hostile creatures. Such an idea, the prince threw out, would solve both issues. Those refugees who were not considered citizens of Oppenest, and thus could not receive the benefits of being subjects to the crown, could earn fame, fortune, and citizenship if they signed up for the Pioneers. Many who were ex-soldiers disgruntled with fighting for a foreign nations could join the Pioneers as 'mercenaries' to fight for the freedom of their lands, as well as accumulating fortune by selling captured wares or Monster parts. The fame could be won by the prestige gained from fighting the Monsters. The Pioneers, the prince said, would be able to map out the changes in the terrain caused by Monster infestation, making military conquest easier.
At this suggestion, the prince received a mixture of cheers and boos. It split the Council into these two factions. The idea of a Pioneer was so controversial for many reasons. Those on the opposing camps claimed that it would exploit the refugees by luring them into a false sense of security. Others were opposed to giving refugees recognition and wealth since they were seen as 'leeches of ungodly nations.' It would be King Perchu from the Royal Family camp, to swing the pendulum to the side supporting the Pioneers. Thus in 345, the Pioneers were created.