The World of Destrea

Introduction

Destrea is a world of conflict, wonder, and mystery, shadowed by a pervasive sense of deep, cosmic dread. It is this unknowable, nagging unease which has led to millennia of exploration, progress, and unavoidably... bloodshed.

While the names and faces of those who venture forth into the world will always change, their desires remain constant. Whether it be power, prosperity, meaning, respect, love... or some delicate balance of them and many more, mortals have yearned for these things in every era of our history. How one acts upon them depends on the person, their place in time, and their circumstances. The striving for respect and meaning can make a martyr in one era... and a tyrant in the next. Power can come to the noble and the cruel alike. And it could be argued that love and devotion can be lain at the feet of any cause, righteous or otherwise.

How, then, will you decide your path? What will drive you forward, as you navigate its winding turns? Is that something you can truly know? The only truth we might cling to is that there can be no escape from choice—for to refuse your path entirely is, of course, a choice unto itself.

Every mortal begins as a stranger to Destrea, but in seeking to better know one's world, one invariably comes to know oneself.

"So many references to a 'Chosen One' run through the stories of old, but all are 'chosen' in this life, by virtue of our existence. The only question is: for what?"

- Ebonia Sootscale, The Dreadqueen