
It
has been four hundred and seventy years since the fire age, when ballistic
missles screamed across Asterland's skies, long before it was Asterland.
The non-mannish races would not arrive for another hundred years or
more, after the radiation of the wastelands had died out for the most
part, leaving only desolate burned deserts in their wake and mutants.
Yes the mutants are all that remain of the horrible haulocaust that
was the age of fire.
Labelled
'monsters' by the locals, the history of the freakish races that once
were men and beasts is almost completely lost to present day historians.
One group has devoted itself to the preservation of nature and all
that is beautiful. They call themselves only, "Seekers of Knowledge." These
are the offspring of the survivors of the nightmare years, whose ancestors
lived out their lives in the protective tunnels that made up a system
of bomb shelters. In these shafts they played, grew up, and died, seeminly
without purpose. They were firm in their desire that such a tragedy
would never destroy so much beauty so long as the world should stand.
They became haters of technology. So that it could never come to power
again, they also became masters and users of it.
The Seekers
became experts in the arts of technology, so that they could snuff
any use of it. Asterland is a wonderful place of beauty, and to keep
it that way, the Seekers fight out their lives, snuffing technology
when it comes to their attention. They are fearful and unknowledgeable
of magic, seeing it as just another form of technology, yet they do
not understand it, and thus avoid it. Magic follows no laws of physics
or science with which the clan is so well familiar.
They posess
numerous devices of destruction and vehicles of high speed travel.
They will always try to hide the fact that they are out of place. Their
blaster pistols they have converted to wands and their sky-bikes take
the form of horseless chariots. The minds of the ancients have been
transferred to computer memory. From these 'think tanks' they lead
their people in destroying what they see as an ever increasing threat.
Asterland
currently is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, incorporating the art
of magic with the knowledge of blossoming science which has begun to
take the place of magic more and more. The children in school want
to learn the new ways, abandoning the tedious hundreds of hours of
study and concentration of learning magic. The virtual worship of gears
and gyros brings despair to the hearts of aged wizards, eager for apprentices
through whom they wish to pass their lifetime of knowledge. Too long
the man inhabited regions have known peace, to the extent that they
have become vulnerable and soft, not to attacks from without, but from
within their own ranks. This is what has happened with The Cove, the
evil men who seek the enslavement of the people of Asterland. It is
headed by Abbot Brock and his undead minions. Under him is Delig and
Bandor, while Covelli Turncoat seeks association among them. The power
of darkness of this group is so great that it should cause the people
of Asterland to fear, yet they are practically unaware of the threat
that they represent.
The Seekers
try to remain neutral in the struggle, but they are deeply disturbed
by the ever increasing reliance that the forces of good have upon the
things of science in their protection and preservation. It will not
be long before the discovery of fossil fuels will take place for heating
and locomotion.

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