Salem Background

To understand Salem history you need to understand a people who for their own protection have been oppressed and kept in the dark for many hundreds of years. A land where the dead walk, necromancers known as the White Hand prey on the populace and vampires stalk the night. Occasional uprisings do occur, but most strong free thinkers leave Salem seeing change as an impossible task.


The Salem Empire

Until recently, Salem was ruled over by the religion of the one true God. Reading, writing and the telling of stories was strictly forbidden, except where licensed for approved use by members of the Church. The Laws of the Church were enforced with an iron hand by the Inquisition Office. Transgressors could expect no clemency, with sinners hunted down, tortured and publicly hung or burnt as a deterrent to others.

Wars were fought over differences in dogma and interpretation of the Wissen (the Salem Church's equivalent to the Bible) and in the end the Church along with the mighty Salem Empire split in two, in an event which became known as The Schism. On one side, was the Eastern Church which took a hard-line on all heresy or deviations from the teachings laid down in the Wissen. In comparison, the Western Church (while far from soft or easy on its populace) were slightly more tolerant in their outlook and willing to use those who were tainted against the evil which plagued their land.

Time passed and Salem moved on, battles were fought, some lost, some won and eventually the Church re-formed. The Schism was healed, the East prevailed and the West fell. But even as the Eastern Church worked to root out the heresy left within the once mighty Salem Empire, in the year AU0 the world as they knew it ceased to be.

On the night the Shards came together, all of the gods departed, Salem's one true God amongst them, never to be heard of to this day. On Salem, priests continued to preach the teachings laid down in the Wissen, but their conviction was shaken, God did not answer their prayers and their sermons were hollow, empty words. So it was, that amid this massive loss of faith, a group long hidden among those in power acted and took control, that group was the Thule Brotherhood.

In the year AU11 the Thule Brotherhood made their move, seizing the reins of power from the ailing Church. Led by Emperor Steiner they moved swiftly to remove any who might stand against them. The Supreme Pontiff was murdered and many priests were killed at their hand or took their own lives as the new Emperor declared the Wissen false and outlawed both the Church and belief in God.

The Emperor however granted new liberties to his people; books where no longer banned, the teaching of science was encouraged, other nations were no longer the enemy and so the people of Salem felt they had more freedom. This freedom came at the cost of those long considered outcasts and persecuted on Salem, with the intolerances of the past paling into insignificance in this new Empire as the Thule Brotherhood sought to achieve racial purity. Anyone odd or different, with unnatural skills, deformities or the slightest disfigurement were rounded up and imprisoned in concentration camps alongside those who remained loyal to the Church or God.

The people of Salem had long been taught to fear those who were different and now, without God by their side, they needed something to believe in and so they came to believe in the Thule Brotherhood's ideals.

Now a new age of darkness reigns in Salem. The few remaining Priests are sheltered, hidden in cellars by those with hope that God will one day return to them. Those with the smallest differences from the proscribed norm are handed over by their kinsmen as unpure and the people of Salem are once more ruled by fear.


Geography

Salem Empire was once split with Western Salem or the Holy Empire of the West consisting of the provinces of Castille, Aragon, Aquitaine, Burgundy, Saxony, Bohemia, Bavaria, Carinthia, the Papal States and Saxony the capital being Rome, now the current capital of all Salem. Eastern Salem or the Holy Empire of the East consisted of the lands of the Serbian Princes, Achaea, Wallachia, Moldavia, Lithuania, Teutonic Order and the Principality of Moscow with its former capital being St Petersburg. Britanny was once part of Avalon but is now part of the Salem Empire.On the continent of Salem are several other domains independent of the Salem Empire these are


Latveria

In the midst of this lies a land called Latveria, ruled by man called Victor Von Dumas, it has become a sanctuary to those that need or wish to escape the Thule Brotherhood. Heavily protected by its geography, its people and by Lord Von Dumas himself, Latveria remains a free thinking oasis for religion and those considered different.


Avalon

To the West of the Salem continent lies a land called Avalon. Once home to the White Hand necromancers and at one point the most free thinking of arm of the Church, it is currently a problem area independently ruled and left alone by the Thule Brotherhood. Hidden here is the great Witch King, the leader of the Forsaken who want to reclaim this land as their own. The Capital of Avalon is Carnelium, to the north lies the lands controlled by the Attacoti tribes, once puppets of the White Hand, these tribes of cannibals have been somewhat civilised by the rest of Avalon, but still wait for the one true God to return. Out to East lies the land of Erin some say the White Hand still rule here the people of this island keep themselves to themselves.


The Saami Lands

To the very North of the Salem continent lies the Saami lands a land cut off from the rest of Salem by dense forests (filled some say with the webs of giant spiders and gaseous swamps) razor sharp mountains and unclimbable coastal cliffs. Rumours have it that these isolated lands are populated by evil witches who curse all who reach its borders and eight foot tall white haired apes that could tear a man in half. Or so the Salemite rulers would have us believe since nobody travels there, but perhaps they are right?


Araby

To South Eastern corner of the Salem Continent lies Araby. Little is known about this land; its borders are fortified and walled off but rare sightings of its people, show them dressed for a warm arid climate. Araby's capital city is Constantinople which is a great sea port, but they don't trade with the Salem Empire. In fact contact in general is minimal and Salem's ships steer clear of the region for fear of being fired upon


Peoples of the Salem Continent.

Salemites are predominately human, with typical costume and styles based roughly on 17th C Europe, no other races or cultures are known to exist. However this is not entirely true, Salem is the traditional home of vampires and werewolves, although the latter have all but gone. Salem is also the home claimed by the bloodline race, the Forsaken, lastly we should not forget Araby although little can be said about them.

It should be noted that nearly all players characters from Salem do not live there, but are refugees living on different Shards with many living as settlers or mercenaries on Frontier, Union or Archipelago.