Background Story

The Uprising Origins
Long ago the four Empires of the Byzantine, Turks, Mongols and the Kingdom of Jerusalem ruled the four corners of the land with each emperor possessing formidable strength that helped keep the other kingdoms power in check. However, a growing sense of animosity and resentment towards the complacent emperors began to rise from within their regions as dissidents who craved power, destruction and most importantly control, grew tired of the faux era of peace that had now engulfed the world.

At the head of this vastly outspoken movement was Sabbah, a young, intelligent and charismatic warrior who was as skilled at oratory has he was with swordplay. Born during the bloody conflicts of the zonal formation wars, Sabbah was surrounded by bloodshed from a young age after losing both parents in a staged ambush on his village. Driven by this sense of injustice Sabbah refused to bend to the will of the emperor and it wasn't long before he began to use his enigmatic character to sway and ultimately convert a large volume of fiercely loyal followers to his cause of rebellion. This group of disenfranchised civilians, military men and even high ranking generals would come to be known as The Order of Assassins as every member was explicitly trained in the art of assassination and fighting using covert means.

With the numbers decisively stacked in his favor - both within the confidements of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and abroad - he began to spread the message amongst his legion of followers of an uprising against the archaic empires and proceeded to overthrow them one after another. The 'Civilians' belonging to The Order would create panic and spread fear on a public level by assassinating sympathizers of the regime whilst the military members would sabotage the resulting campaign to eliminate "the threat" as ordered by their commanders. The final sector of The Order would prove to be the most deadly and important however as the high ranking generals in the four corners would be the ones responsible with assassinating the emperor.

After countless years of thinly disguised assassinations of advisers and other high ranking officials in the empires, Sabbah and The Order of Assassins began to strike fear into hearts of the emperors themselves as they began to worry about this seemingly unstoppable force becoming larger with every passing day.

After much bloodshed and carnage Sabbah had successfully gotten into the minds of the emperors and he knew that once this was achieved they would grow blind with rage and a lust to kill him. However, this rage and distrust amongst the emperors played into Sabbah's hands as with each new wave of armies sent to deal with The Order, hundreds would surrender and offer up their services and strategic knowledge in return for their life. Sabbah proceeded to use this information in his battle plans and successfully organised a small team to sneak into the supposedly hidden quarters of the emperor of Jerusalem and capture him. With the former ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem captive other regions began to tighten their defences unaware that Sabbah's network of corruption had already found its way to their shores.

As if by divine right each emperor who stood forward to oppose Sabbah was witnessing their forces slowly fading as soldiers began to question orders and stage mutiny's on their rulers. Little is known of how the other emperors were ousted from power but rumors swelled of emperors going into hiding in fear of their lives. Upon witnessing the lawlessness spreading in other regions Sabbah declared himself the sole ruler and proceeded to make his and The Order's presence felt worldwide with his newly constructed fortress overlooking the four corners of the Earth.

With the once illustrious empires out of power, Sabbah radically declared that the boundaries separating each zone shall be removed which in turn cased a dramatic decrease in nationalism allowing settlements of Mongols, Turks and more to spring up and grow alongside each other.

However, within The Order a growing sense of mistrust and discontent began to swell as several military men and former generals wanted to claim a piece of the power that they helped Sabbah gain. Driven by this lust for control four of Sabbah's right hand men orchestrated a mass mutiny within The Order and established four new imperial factions that would go on to oppose Lord Sabbah and ultimately claim the zones for themselves. With his power fading Sabbah was forced to retreat to his lair in the zonal center; despite several bombardments on his capital the body of Sabbah was never retrieved and thus, the newly formed four ruling empires decided to re-establish the territorial borders in order to keep an eye on Sabbah's remaining forces who had strangely disappeared from sight since his retreat some 40 years ago.

Over the course of the past 40 years however, several unexplained disappearances within the villages and an ever growing poverty level have left your territory in a state of panic, distrust and anger at an Empire who has all but forgotten your existence. With food, money and even life at all-time low, it has fallen to you to lead your people to not only find out the true reason why so many of your fellow men, women and children have been vanishing but also to free yourself from the tyranny of your emperor.

History has shown that the only way to get answers is to march to the empires front door and demand the truth... but that is a task far easier said than done.