Silvaria Great Forest stood like a fortress, dividing the frozen wasteland of Frostland from the vibrant, season-rich Gaobo Continent.
Stretching endlessly from the Arles Mountains in the west to the Boni Coast in the east, it split the continents in two. Acting as Gaobo’s shield, it blocked the icy winds and miasma from the demonic Frostland, allowing Gaobo’s civilizations—human, orc, dwarf, elf—to flourish for millennia.
Yet light always casts shadows.
Ancient Gaobo chronicles recorded that Silvaria was forged by the Great Ghost Clan of Ares Mountain and the continent’s once-glorious elf clans. They raised this forest barrier after the Undead civilization of Frostland declined, to repel endless Undead invasions.
But after a thousand years, their legacy was stolen. The ghost clans—once revered as mountain gods by human ancestors—were reduced to mercenaries and hunters on Silvaria’s fringes. The elves’ radiant capital, Sylvan Mirage City, crumbled into ruins. Their civilization faded, leaving elves as rootless wanderers.
Worse still, the forest’s original guardians—the elf and Great Ghost border warriors—succumbed to northern miasma over centuries. Some intermarried with Undead, birthing a new race: demons. Most mutated from constant miasma exposure, devolving into man-eating ogres—powerful but rabid beasts. Their descendants lost all reason, becoming the Corpse Eaters now infesting all of Silvaria.
Time flowed on. The Undead of Frostland faded from memory, while Silvaria’s Corpse Eaters emerged as the new threat.
These dim-witted, cold-resistant monsters dwelled deep in the frozen forest. Little was known of their ecology, save this: every few years, a Corpse Mother would emerge among their hulking, carrion-feeding packs. Larger than ordinary Corpse Eaters, she endlessly birthed more of her kind while alive, swelling their numbers until they surged toward human settlements to hunt.
Fortunately, Corpse Eaters were slow despite their strength. Specialized troops could slaughter them easily. Military fortresses lined the forest’s southern edge, garrisoned with soldiers who regularly purged southbound hordes. Over time, towns even sprang up around these forts, thriving on trade in Corpse Eater carcasses.
Then, in 672 CE, everything changed. The first Vampire Corpse Eater Hybrid appeared. It devoured its entire tribe at birth, then rampaged south, annihilating the largest border fortress. This near-apocalyptic horror forced armies to shift tactics: now they hunted Corpse Mothers deep within Silvaria, determined to nip calamities in their cradle.
