This is a story that unfolds on a planet called Wendel.
Long ago, a cataclysm descended from the sky, devastating Wendel's first-born civilization. The people were forced to huddle together in fear, resisting wave after wave of overwhelming darkness. The brilliance of the past vanished entirely. In the end, the awe-inspiring technologies, the mystic arts, the history—everything tied to that ancient civilization—was wiped from memory or buried deep beneath the planet. The survivors could no longer read the old scripts, nor recall how to wield the technologies they once mastered.
When the disaster finally ended, those who remained crawled out from the rubble, ruins, and underground shelters. With wonder and ignorance in their eyes, they returned to the surface beneath the blue sky to explore a world that had become utterly unfamiliar.
In the present day, humanity has come to understand their world with a high degree of clarity. In the northern reaches of the main continent, the Holy Church—having deciphered the ancient languages and inherited forbidden magics—rules supreme. In the south, the nation of Dazilet took the lead by embracing scientific thought, igniting an industrial revolution. Within just a century, Dazilet rose above the countless minor states scattered across the southern lands, waging war north and south, and conquering vast territories.
Across the sea, the scarred lands of the Lybidon Continent still bear the direct marks of that ancient cataclysm. Its people live in isolation, rarely interacting with the main continent. To most, it remains shrouded in mystery—"The Enigmatic Lybidon."
Magic is the oldest force in this world, yet it now only functions properly in the northern lands—territory controlled by the Holy Church. This magical monopoly is what enabled the Church to swiftly unite and dominate the north. In contrast, Dazilet owes all its technological advancements to a legendary figure known today as the First Scientist, a revered ancient sage. This figure leads the most brilliant minds of the empire outside the bounds of imperial authority, providing cutting-edge innovations and cultivating new generations of scholars and inventors.
Yet because the pathways of discovery and the origins of science in Wendel differ so vastly from what modern readers might expect, many of this world's inventions will seem both familiar and strange at once.
Politically, the rise of Dazilet has already begun to alarm the Holy Church. The Church wishes to crush Dazilet before its strength becomes unassailable, but none of its past schemes have succeeded. Today, Dazilet stands as the undisputed hegemon of the south. Only a few remaining states near the Mutmesa Desert still resist, propped up by the Church—but they too are expected to fall, crushed beneath Dazilet's iron wheels and war machines. If that comes to pass, what fate awaits the main continent?
And yet, looming even larger than these political tensions is the ancient secret buried deep beneath Wendel's crust—the legacy of a ruler who once held dominion over the entire planet: the so-called Emperor. It is said that one day, without warning, this being will return and cast the entire world into chaos once more. That fleeting, unpredictable moment... may now be drawing near.