The Brightest Shadow: Introduction

(This is the first in my series of worldbuilding posts for The Brightest Shadow.)

The world of Myros is choking on anticipation. Its many cultures have vastly different beliefs and stories, but they all tell one Legend. One prophecy, varying in the details but familiar across the entire world. Whether the Legend promises heroism or genocide depends on where you stand.

Two sentient races live on Myros: humans and mansthein. Both are complex groups that sometimes live in harmony, sometimes fight among themselves, and sometimes go to war with one another. As an expansionist mansthein empire begins to conquer human lands, some begin to ask if the conflict is really so complex. Because the Legend speaks of Deathspawn - foul monsters that seek to destroy all life - and in the right light, the mansthein fit the part...

All across the globe, this conflict plays out in different ways, from the relatively primitive cultures in central Breilin to the highly developed nations of Eltar Trathe to the mostly forgotten continent of Onel Chaentan. The story begins at the center, a vast grassland called the Chorhan Expanse.

Few live in the heart of the Chorhan Expanse, but many cultures must pass through it. There has been tenuous peace between them for nearly a century, but the arrival of mansthein armies has threatened to provoke another war between both sides. In the center of that complex conflict, rumors about a Hero of Legend grow more seductive, promising a righteous war that can be won forever.

The Brightest Shadow begins here, on quiet grasslands. They have been stained by blood in the past, but the stories promise so much more...