BV = (Before Vampires)
AV = (After Vampires)
0 BV: - the great misfortune: Marcus a farmer works his fields, becomes tricked by a witch who has him slaughters his home village he then becomes cursed by kain the god of murder to walk and prey on mortals till the end of time.
500 AV - The golden age: Marcus has firmly established his own realm he proudly proclaims it the Eternal Empire for it will reign eternally.
Under the control of Emperor Marcus the empire expands until it brushes up against a mountain range that is formed like a crescent it starts in the cold sea in the north of the continent and stops at the warm south sea surrounded by scorching desert Marcus names it the Shield mountains. Over the next decades Marcus has the few passes that exist sealed with great strongholds and has a permanent legion assigned to each pass and guard towers in between to watch for intruders that sneak across the mountains.
Inside the Empire Marcus implements a class system that puts him as the head of the power pyramid and his First Spawn beneath him they are each assigned their own province to govern as they wish they gain the title of overlords.
After the ruling class comes the Military class which is composed of other undead beings like ghouls and Halfbloods etc etc they are also include a large overseer class which commands everything from individual squads to entire cohorts.
The Overseers also manage administrational duties like blood taxation etc and oversee the human population more directly compared to their vampire overlords.
It is also important to note that the workforce of the Empire is almost entirely composed of undead beings just because they are inexhaustible and quite competent under direct leadership.
At the bottom are the humans who still live in this Empire they are de facto cattle but this works to their advantage since they are mostly left alone to their own devices sometimes the males are called up to fight in the auxiliaries but they mostly provide tributes of blood to their Vampire overlords and of course their corpse once they die but renowned auxiliaries are exempted from this if they so wish.
Marcus acknowledges the resource that the humans provide and he often encourages his human subjects to procreate because he knows that if the human population dwindles and can't keep up with the vampire population then his family will surely perish.
The other races are in a very small minority in the Eternal empire, they fled to their homelands when Marcus and his clan took over.
660 - 678 AV - start of the solar war: A new religious sect worshipping Kellor the god of light spreads like wildfire through the Eternal Empire the new sect preaches the destruction of all undead and most importantly the vampires themselves it causes mass unrest and eventually armed revolts. The vampire overlords first use force and crackdown on the sect but they know that they can kill too just because it’s their foodsource, the sect knows this as well.
After a year of revolts the Eternal Empire finally thinks it’s dealt with the brunt of the sect when a major revolt in one of the Eternal Empire's biggest cities and the seat of a Vampire overlord is taken from the inside. The Overlord is powerful and kills many cultists but eventually he is dragged out into the sun and incinerated.
This is the point in the war when the other powers on the continent put aside their differences and unite into one massive army they know that one vs one they would have no chance against the behemoth that is the Eternal Empire but together they can crush it to dust.
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With the border strongholds lightly defended due to the undead legions being called away with pacifying the human population. The Army of light as they have come to call themselves bulldoze through the border strongholds and spread out towards the major population centers of the Empire.
Marcus recognises the threat of the army of light poses and he also knows that he can't fight an external war and an internal one at the same time so he eliminates the one can control.
He has every human subject in all major cities still controlled by his vampire overlords put to death and drained of blood, then raised as undead soldiers.
He now knows that now he simply has to wait the advantage of having a completely undead force is that they do not need sleep, food or drink and most importantly time.
The general of the army of light recognises and does not plan on losing the initiative to Marcus he assembles his army and the human survivors of Marcus's purges and go straight for the Citadel capital of the Eternal Empire and the royal court.
The army of light arrive faster than Marcus even thought was possible and start laying siege.
Marcus quickly start recalling his armies to relieve the siege but they would arrive too late.
The General that leads the Army of light is the herald of Kellor and has been gifted with extraordinary powers. At night he walks forward towards the black coloured walls of the Citadel and looks up at the battlements he sees the legions of death upon it.
But because it is night there are also vampires among them dressed for war in black full plate.
The general of light smiles, he raises his arms towards the spy and as if ripping apart the night sky itself he makes it day.
The vampires on the battlements all die when the rays of sunlight hit them creating a genuine confusion among their masters died before they could be issued an order so they stand there dumbfounded.
The army of light charges towards the walls with ladders and battering rams the undead sub commanders start to try and organise a defence they lose precious minutes as the enemy gain ground. But soon start releasing volleys of arrows against their mortal counterparts. The battle for the walls are fierce the undead hold their ground but the flaw of Ghoul commanders is obvious they are simply not able to command the undead force like a Vampire. It is useless and a retreat is called. The battle continues in the streets of the citadel. The Army of light show their real metal when they deploy their priests of light on the captured walls they cast spells that dispel the binding of whole cohorts of skeletons. Usually a vampire mage would have countered them but the undead have no defences against it.
Soon the Ghoul commanders are forced to commit their monstrous units bone giants and flesh golems to charge the army of light leaving only piles of meat in their wake. They pave the way and the undead regain some momentum. But the army of light deploy their bright paladins who wear full plate of volcanic metal that still have fires raging on them they burn the bone giants and flesh trolls to ash and the momentum is regain for the army of light.
Marcus was horrified when he saw his children disintegrate before his eyes he almost perished himself. if it wasn’t been for his supernatural agility carrying him to safety of his coffin in the knick of time.
678 - 712 AV - The start of the Vampire wars: In a matter of hours the whole citadel is overrun by humans who destroy everything. They find Marcus coffin but due to it being adamantium they can't destroy it or open it so the general of light and his most trusted followers carry Marcus to a remote church and buries him in consecrated ground.
For several hundred years the brotherhood of light guard the cemetery but eventually due to reasons lost to time they and the world forget about the cemetery and who lays there.
The Eternal empire falls and and new humans build on top of the former cities.
When the Overlords that were on their way to assist the siege learn that Marcus is dead they turn to grief then to anger they unite for the first and only time and drive the humans out of the lands of the Eternal Empire. Then the first born children of Marcus gather at the ruins of their capital citadel. At first they agree that the empire should be kept together but then there is the question who should succeed Marcus as Emperor?
The meeting ended in blood and the wars ended in disaster they all carved up the Eternal Empire and Marcus’s legacy and fought for humans as livestock and meat for their wars.
Eventually all sides became too weak and after several years of fighting the Army of light invaded again and finished off the fractured Eternal Empire.
Hundreds of years later Marcus is awoken by a band of grave robbers.