2500 years after the breaking of both the Earth and the Moon humanity faced genocide at the hands of the giant Nephilim, the undead Night Tribes led by Graf Orlock, and the Elfes of I'hiver, and their necromancy. Humanities' only hope was for the nations of Avignon, Ayngland, and Rhinetroff to form an Alliance, using artifacts they were able to recover thanks to the dark tome known as the Cacodex to turn the tide of war. For six years thousands died but with each new discovery, the humans began to push their enemies back until the combined forces of giants, undead, and fae made their last stand at the elfe capital of Ihiver. For four long months, the siege continued until Ayan Starson sought a truce and the Treaty of Ihiver was signed in blood. The terms of the Alliance's victory demanded the Nephilim to be exiled to the wastelands of Brule through the Wychways and the elfes retreating to the Summerlands across the Sea of Night. Graf Orlock and nearly all of the Night Tribes were dispatched by the Zirists and the Kirche of Thul jointly performing the holy rite known as the Mandragora Formula.
130 years ago, Candace Holmes, Prime Minister of Ayngland launched an expedition to the Summerlands to what has now become New Coventry, to great success. The Ministry was surprised to learn that their colony found no sign of the Elfes and a land brimming with resources and opportunities to the bold who were willing to make the journey. Spies for Avignon and Rhinetroff reported these findings to their leaders and soon both would launch their own expeditions to this brave New World.
Papst Unnachgiebig, the leader of both the Kirche of Thul and the nation of Rhinetroff foolishly took the advice of Ritter-Allgemeines Wilhem Schwarts and sought to conquer New Coventry in their initial foray to the Summerlands. Two years later, the Rhinetroff's forces, known as Ironheads, withdrew and signed the Treaty of New Coventry which prevented them from settling a colony for ten years and promised to deliver one-hundred ships to the Aynglish as reparation.
Avignon's Empress Vivain the 16th launched an expedition to the southern gulf of the Summerlands, hundreds of miles to the South of the war, to found and settle Chateau. The Avigno were careful in their explorations of the area and like the Aynglish before them, they did not encounter any sign of the elfes. What they did find was soil rich in nutrients to grow all manner of fruits and vegetables and beyond that marshlands rich in fauna of all kinds.
Today, Chateau is overseen by Compter Antoin Montain whose father went to Academie with Emperor LaFleur the 4th and who gained notoriety during the Pelham War against the Rhinetroff for control of the canal there. Montain seems to have the golden touch as his expansion and development of the region has been met with nary a setback. Some gleefully assumed he would fall out of favor at Court due to the Rugaroo Cult's terrorism over a six-year span but the task force he personally led eventually apprehended and exposed the Wandgrave insurrection that sought to assassinate the Emperor back home. The Compter's eventual triumph not allowed him to save face but to gain the Dor Peregrine from a very grateful LaFleur the 4th.
While the Rhinetroff did settle Festung about one-hundred miles south of New Coventry neither it nor its Aynglish counterpart has prospered in the same way as Chateau. While life on the frontier has some dangers the New World is a promise of a new life, possibly newfound riches, and an escape from the Old World's long history of violence and death that feels like it can drown one in rivers of blood.
