Pneuma Morta. That was the name given to the plague-like affliction ravaging the world. About fifteen years ago, it cropped up seemingly out of nowhere like a nightmare. The sickness starts with an infection, hardly noticeable until it begins to spread. Sometimes it’s slow and painless. Other times it burns through the victim painfully and violently in a matter of hours, until they are completely consumed by it. It seems to vary case by case, each person experiencing it differently. No matter the process, the end result is always the same. Because, as it turns out, the infection is only the beginning.
Pneuma Morta is not simply a plague that kills its victims, it consumes their very soul and replaces it with something entirely new. The body becomes a vessel for another being. The true nature of the infection, is in fact, possession. Demons latch onto humans like a parasite and eat away at their soul until it is able to control the empty shell like a puppet. They then spiral into harassment and torment, causing harm to any who cross their path. And thus, the demonic plague began to overtake humanity like an invasive species. Anyone was susceptible at any time, and there was no known cure.
People became confused and scared. Family and friends they had known their entire lives suddenly turned into vicious monsters that would not hesitate to tear them apart. No one knew what caused it and there seemed to be no end in sight. Towns were slaughtered and cities razed. The chaos made people vulnerable. That is where the noble Church of Solomon stepped in.
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Claiming to have knowledge about the demons and how to stop them, the Church offered their services to the government and in return asked for generous funding and authority. Feeling as though they were backed into a corner with no other options, the government agreed. After the deal was struck, the Church’s influence seemed to quadruple overnight. More and more people came to be devout believers and followers. Some of the higher-up Church officials even managed to weasel their way into government positions. The institutions became like a snake that had two heads but shared the same body.
The Church was given permission to create a military force tasked with exorcising demons and keeping the peace. As a demon could not be exorcised until it had taken complete control over the host, many were left to rot the remainder of their days away in prison cells awaiting their doom. Otherwise, exorcism before the demon took complete control resulted in a living corpse phenomenon. In some cases, the demon was freed from the host's body only to infect the next closest person.
The Church of Solomon preached that the demonic plague that had befallen them was nothing more than divine punishment being bestowed upon humanity for their sins. Thus the infected began to be effectively referred to as “the Condemned”. If people acted in accordance with the Church, they would be spared from possession. Many people believed in this doctrine and dedicated their lives to the Church, seeking salvation. Only through piety towards the gods and reverence towards the Prophet could their souls be saved.
However, not everyone was in favor of the government’s continued collaboration with the Church of Solomon. A resistance group began to rise up to counter the Church’s oppression and prove that combating the demons was possible without their help. Although up until now, their resistance was tantamount to the bite of a fly on the skin of a lion. An annoyance here and there, but not quite enough to do lasting damage. But their numbers and their strength were increasing by the day. And so, humanity began to fight a war on two fronts.