The City of Monsters "We look out for us. So do you."

The Story of Monsters

  Long ago, casters found themselves the prey of every monster they shared the realm with.   We know them today as witches and wizards: possessors of powerful magics, but utterly vulnerable unless given the time and the resources to cast their spells. This and the fact that they bred more than most of their monster counterparts made them easy targets for many: plentiful magic, souls, and energy to feed off of, a delicious blood supply, target practice for dangerous fae magic, and lots and lots of meat for the more feral among the monsters. And while casters suffered the heaviest losses as the easiest prey, everyone in the realm knew war and hatred and tragedy. Territory disputes were not at all uncommon. Nor were wars over personal slights or long-standing blood feuds. Death was common, but none suffered as many losses as the vulnerable casters.   Sick of being the target of every hungry monster in the realm, a powerful sect of casters came together to cast the most powerful spell the realm had ever seen. They would show the monsters, they decided, what it meant to cross the magic-blooded.   A spell of this caliber had never been done before. And it was especially risky because it was almost guaranteed to instantly kill its casters. This would leave their people more vulnerable to the monsters than they'd ever been; so vulnerable, in fact, that they were susceptible to being wiped out forever.   But if the spell succeeded, even the deaths of these elders wouldn't matter, because they would have accomplished their ultimate goal: to secure the future of their people by wiping out the monsters who hunted them so relentlessly. There were a few, however, a compassionate few, who had other ideas. "The monsters only hunt us because they must survive, just as we must," they argued. "What if wiping them out is not the solution, but instead making resources plentiful enough for all of us?"   While there were some vengeful elders who desired the complete destruction of those they shared the realm with—and had lost so much to—ultimately, they chose compassion. The spell they cast did not wipe out every monster in the realm, but instead created a new one, one that mirrored it. One that would have all of the resources every denizen of the realm would ever need.   But they hadn't accounted for the fact that their compassion for the monsters would not save everyone from suffering, but instead inadvertently redirect that suffering to those who would be none the wiser.   For the spell created humanity. Condemned to exist solely to live and die as food and cattle.