During the rise of Agikaan in the Age of the Broken Sword, many beings sought refuge wherever they could. One such being, a vampiress shadowcaster named Seara Bezna, fled her home in Rendru to a small island off the east coast of Malhuin, attracted to the place as the fell power emanating from it derived from the ancient and long lost tomb beneath it of a forgotten, alien demon lord, defeated and lost in the Godless Times. There, she used her powers to bind the island to its own shadow in such a way that daylight would never shine there. She brought with her a pack of werewolves known as the Psi Pakla and several other outcasts and other so-called "dangerous" beings.

The city's darkness and reputation attracted fell refugees from all over the world. The Agikaanis had little use for the undead, and the sentient undead found the regime was the sort that did not tolerate neutrality--you were either with them or against them. Undead who preferred to be left alone sought hidden places, like Styria, and it became a haven for the unsavory sorts with no interest in the eugenic fascism of Agikaan.

Hrimthurs were one of the larger populations to arrive, seeking the cold that came with the darkness. Unseelies made it their homes. A few doppelgangers, some powerful black mages and more arrived. Eventually, it was something of a metropolis, and Seara Bezna was secure in her power. She gave control of the city over to her underling vampires and descended in her manor to sleep. In her dark sleep, the memories of the alien demon lord reached out to her, seizing her, and now, she is lost in that dark dream, protected by its evil power, warping the landscape to both her own dark dreams and the demon lord's twisted memories.

The official religion is the worship of the Night Gods, though the vampires have not truly enforced it. This has lead to other more evangelical faiths to take a foothold, as well as create a fundamentalist strain of Goddess worship to appear, and there is considerable religious tension.

Ages passed, and the city has changed slowly. More immigration has occurred, with an influx from Dabusen especially, and the city has earned the reputation of "Ansulym on Palhur." Good folks avoid it and use it as a threat to children. Notably, ghosts known as noppera-bo have become a permannet presence, and even the normal dread denizens of Styria dislike them. The city has become a powder keg of fell beings. Even the wildllife is dangerous and fell, including a large number of wendigos in the area.

Major factions:
The Beznan Cabal: vampiric shadowcasters who serve the sleeping Seara Bezna. Their power is waning.
The Psi Pakla: the Hounds of Hell, the original werewolf clan's descendants. Their power is consolidated in one small wooded area.
The Hrimthurs: the frost giants are in control of commerce. They are quite dangerous, though there is a small number of them.
The Scarecrow: an unseelie lord whose glamour is that of a literal scarecrow, he is a lone but powerful agent.
The Styrian Order: the city's black mages believe themselves to be the true face of the city and take its name. They are secretive and dangerous.
Artur Danefell: a doppelganger who fled the religious war that arose in the wake of the Poacher Goddess's ascent and the Green-Eyed Goddess's death, he is an information broker and socialite of some power.

\\more to come\