A world mixing contemporary technology with magic. Once protected by dragons, but with their extinction, an order of warriors descended from dragonblooded humans is now locked in a seemingly endless battle with abyssal creatures.
Type: BlossomA martial and mystical order of humans descended from dragons themselves, charged with fighting back against the Abyssals threatening the existence of mankind.
The dragonblooded warriors are raised from birth by the order and trained in a variety of martial arts alongside ways to channel the magical power over flame in their blood. First acting in secret in preparation for battle with the Abyssals, but with the beginning of the war for humanity's survival, they are now an important part the world's society, leading the armies of the various stronghold cities across the globe in their defense against the Abyssal threat.
The Dragonblooded warriors of the order themselves are, as a result of their draconic ancestry, born with physical capabilities beyond that of a normal human -- stronger, faster and more durable. They are also born with an inherent magical ability to control flames imbued with the distilled supernatural quality of the flames the dragons had mastery over -- able to channel flames as weapon in themselves, but more iconically, empowering their attacks in melee combat with flames that burn through Abyssals. Their flames are still not as strong as that of the dragons of centuries past, and lack the ability to seal off the portals the Abyssals use to enter the human world. The Order had been working on trying to rectify this, with the plan of fusing one of the Dragonblooded with a preserved soul of a dragon, and further drawing out draconic powers to them, but only one among the most recent generation has been found as a suitable host so far.
Extradimensional, eldritch monstrosities that have been threatening humanity since the loss of the dragons' protection.
It is difficult to give a short-hand descriptor for these creatures, as they appear to lack a consistent, common shape. Reports of their sightings vary from masses of dark ooze taking vaguely wolf-like shapes all the way to giant, sea monster -like abominations of writhing tentacles with eyes numbering in too many to count.
They only seem to share two unifying characteristics among them. The first is that they appear to devour sunlight and weaken light from other sources, resulting in the areas in their vicinity being filled with deep shadows if not outright creating the illusion of day being turned to night. The second is their weakness to fire, in particular the supernatural Warding Flame wielded by the dragons (and to a weaker extent the Flameward Order); though mundane weapons are capable of damaging Abyssals, fire quickly burns through their bodies and the Warding Flame is able to destroy even the sturdiest Abyssals and halt the healing of those possessing rapid regenerative abilities.
For a long time, the Abyssals were presumed to be simply a force of nature, even if originating from a different dimension, as they seemed to hold no purpose beyond animalistic destruction and devouring of anything in their path. But some years into the fight, some sightings of Abyssals taking on vaguely humanoid shapes exhibiting capacity for tactical thought - albeit rare - suggested that there is more to their existence. Even to this day scholars can only guess and speculate at what the truth behind them is, and what their goals are if there in fact is a thinking consciousness behind them guiding their war against humanity.
The technology in this world is, for the most part, comparable to that of modern-day Earth; Cars are common, and most people even have access to smartphones and computers. The most significant difference is that much of the technology is powered by magical sources of energy like runes and magic crystals, instead of electricity.
While the practice of magic outside of the Flameward Order is mostly exhibited in rituals upkeeping the aforementioned sources of energy for technology, practice of more personal-scale magic is not unheard of. Non-ritualistic magical practicioners without dragon blood are typically limited to low-level magic, however, but a few rare occurences have risen every now and then who have been capable of nearing the flame manipulation of the dragonblooded and even the more rare forms of magic such as divination, evocation and conjuration that only a select few even among the Flameward Order have been capable of practicing.
The introduction to the World Tree has brought on mixed reactions from the inhabitants of this world. While the leading minds of Flameward Order and the governmental bodies of most of the stronghold cities largely treat off-worlders with caution and only aim to interact with outside worlds with matters relating to Abyssals, yet the leadership of some cities and even more civilians across the world see the World Tree as an opportunity, instead. With their world locked in war with Abyssals for more than a century, much of the planet has been made uninhabitable, and many are now looking for the opportunity to simply move on to someplace better on the other side of the Vines. As a result of these mixed views, the seeds for an internal political strife has been set. Most local leadership is attempting to keep the population in their current homes with claims that the nearing of the end of the war is allowing them to rebuild and prosper, while proponents of moving off-world accuse them of trying to maintain political and financial power at the cost of putting the population at risk in a dangerous world.
Abyssals, meanwhile, are sneaking onto other worlds where they can. The exact purpose behind these excursions are not clear, but a common hypothesis suggests that they are trying to reamass their forces where the Warding Flame cannot reach them as easily-- even if their appearances in the World Tree aren't particularly stealthy in most cases, and typically appear as single-minded hordes running wild wherever they might appear.