Long ago according to legend the world was made of earth and stone, with green things growing on top. Most people have trouble picturing this. The legend says that at some point the world grew barren; crops wouldn't grow, starvation and disease ran rampant. Wars flared over dwindling resources, and the best and brightest, the most powerful of people came together to try and save a dying world.

Technically their efforts worked, possibly a little too well. Greenery grew and never stopped. No one knows how long it's been since then, most people aren't even sure this actually happening. What is known, is that civilization runs in cycles. As the forest grows and the canopy spreads it begins to intertwine until dying leaves, insects, and small creatures begin to form arborial soil from which the next generation of greenery begins to grow.

The world runs in cycles, beginning with a climb. Where everything one cannot carry is left behind as people follow the light. Immediately after a climb, wars break out, resources are scarce - there are still things attempting to climb out of the dark depths they've just left behind.

Eventually the canopy spreads enough to support life during the growth phase. Resources become more readily available and peace tends to follow. We are currently in the middle of the golden phase, the stable cycle. This is where civilization has enough space to spread, but not so much that it can't be managed. Eventually it will move into the overgrowth phase, where the canopy spreads too far to contain, plant life begins to intertwine and choke out the light.

Overly expansive edges will allow for gaps in defense, where things can crawl out of lower levels. Eventually these threats will trigger a climb, and the cycle will reset. This generally runs between 300-500 years per cycle. No one knows how many cycles have passed, or just what lays buried and forgotten under the greenery.

But for now, life is decent, we will begin our story in the nation of Marmoraz, in the town of Treiz. Treiz is in the south of Marmoraz, bordered by the canopy, with a sinkhole in the area. Beginning in a keep of the division of the Astratir; guards of a sort, a little wilder than town guards, tasked to watch over holes in the canopy.