In the Kingdom of Gaan, they say that the sun never sets on the faithful.
For a thousand years, the people of the oldest kingdom have walked beneath the shadow of the Great Spires, secure in the belief that they are the chosen children of the Heavens. They celebrate the Festival of the Gods every three centuries, a grand gala of prayer and gold meant to honor the truce that ended the Age of Ruin. To the commoner, it is a holiday. To the nobility, it is a display of status.
But the history of the world is not written in ink; it is etched in the scars of those who were sacrificed to keep the lie alive.
Beneath the gilded surface of Gaan, a rot has been festering. The royal vaults are hollow echoes of their former glory, drained by the greed of a Council that values power over life. The previous kings played a dangerous game, borrowing time they could never repay, leaving the current throne to inherit a kingdom of ghosts and debt.
Then came the silence of the Gods.
It began as a whisper in the darkest chambers of the Church of Dawn—a realization that the "Owners" of humanity were no longer entertained. The gold was not enough. The prayers were too quiet. The property had become stagnant, and the Gods, in their infinite boredom, decided it was time for a culling.
They call it the Blood Curse.
It is not a sickness of the body, but a rebellion of the soul. It is the divine hand reaching down to turn a man's own life-force into his executioner. When the first drops of red stained the white marble of the capital, the King faced a choice that no man should ever have to make.
To save the millions, he had to betray the one.
To keep the sun rising over Gaan, he had to extinguish the brightest light in his life. He had to take a man of unshakeable loyalty, a man of pure heart and iron faith, and lead him into the mouth of a nightmare. Not to win a battle, but to provide a feast of despair that would sate the heavens for another age.
The world remembers Alaric the Faithful as a martyr who died seeking a cure. They build statues to his memory and name their children after his courage.
But the Gods are not the only ones who can play with the dead. Deep within the Copper Grove, where the laws of the Heavens are ignored, an ancient power watched the "Faithful" fall. And instead of letting him shatter, she gave him a new purpose.
The King wanted a sacrifice.
The Gods wanted entertainment.
But the Blood Hag… she simply wanted a Dog.
The truce is over. The leash has been passed to a new master. And the "Iron Pillar" of Gaan has returned—not as a savior, but as the herald of a red dawn.