Long ago, Immillyous was not too different from other places, you may know, with farms, villages, castles and churches; most people lived working and learning, some went to fight a war they didn’t believe in for people they didn’t know. Others would spend their time collecting wealth or worshipping gods that told them how to live, and although this thing still holds sway over people of Immillyous, as far as anyone knows, none of the theses are what throw the world into turmoil.
At the start, it was small things like dogs with steel fer and the fish in the rivers gleaming liking polished silver, then the changes began to become more drastic, and some of the plants started to change, which caused panic as whole crops turned to metal. But this was panic, was nothing to than the first of the new creatures that began to come to life around the wild parts of Immillyous. Still small to start with, shearing characteristics with some creatures that had shown the change. They had come to be known as Metallics, but these new creatures had a hatred towards humans and their statements. They didn’t need to hunt people but for their work metal, consuming everything from the nails out of the building to the tools the people defend themselves with.
It started with small things, subtle changes after the last war, some of the creatures in the wild began to show singes of change, and when one local honey farmer came to market with his hive. To people’s surprise, his bees had metal wings, and their honey tasted metallic.
No one knows why this happened, not that it stops people from speculating. Some said it was the gods doing, and others said it was the plague, a disease that had spread to reclaim nature from humanity, and stories of a weapon used in the last fights that had somehow changed the world.
From then on, it got worse for a time; the things people had relied on for years were taken away in a matter of years. The weapons made to protect them are useless against creatures made of more potent stuff than them. As time passed, the creatures became more monstrous, some banding together and others relying on their strength and intelligence, leading others. There are too many creatures to name now, but they come in all shapes and sizes.
Many years have passed since the first Metallics appeared, and most people have forgotten how things were. Empires have fallen and risen as the face of Immillyous has changed over and over as people find ways to survive with the creatures they now share a word with, as it looks like they are here to stay. We will call them The Forged or Monsters of Metal.
For this story, we will be following a young man who, on his travels, became known as The Abotist, an Ironwood Smith who has set out to find out more about the world they live in.
You can follow his progression here in The Arborist Journal.