By the end of the eighteenth century, humanity confronted the forces of Chaos from beyond the known world and their terrifying offspring – the Swarm… This plague did not merely kill, it transformed everything it touched: flesh, minds, even the very souls of the infected.
Scientists called it a new form of life. Priests named it a curse. Magicians feared it as the killer of worlds. In truth, the Swarm was all of these at once. It was driven solely by an endless hunger to grow and consume. The weak lost themselves, becoming mindless husks, while the strong bent its power to their will, believing they controlled it. Yet in the end, even generals, preachers, and agents of the Swarm were absorbed into its collective mind, their individuality reduced to an illusion within a single voice.
The Swarm could not be fought like a conventional army, nor contained by quarantine like an ordinary disease. Its whisper divided the world in two: those who struggled to preserve humanity and its values, and those who believed the age of mankind had come to an end.
A Long Time Ago
Thousands of years ago, the Abyss attempted to conquer Earth, but was repelled by the Druids and their alliance with the ancient fae. After their victory, the fae voluntarily departed to other dimensions, leaving Earth to humankind as a reward for supporting the fight against Chaos.
During that ancient war, many generals and weapons of the dark forces were sealed away, while countless artefacts and sanctuaries were left behind by the departing fae.
Among the people of Earth, one ancient society endured -the Lodge of NinetyNine. Its members searched for sealed tombs and cleared them, determined to destroy every seed of evil hidden on Earth so that Chaos could never return. Nearly a hundred magicians, druids, and priests once stood united in this mission. Yet over the centuries, much of the Lodge’s knowledge and power was lost, and its membership dwindled dramatically.
- The First Breakthrough of Chaos
In the catacombs beneath Paris, a group of mages encountered Chaos and closed the portal, stopping an invasion in the heart of Europe. But the forces of Chaos had already seeped into the world and began to study it, searching for ways to consume it. The mage Cagliostro was infected with the Corruption called the Swarm and turned to the side of Chaos.
1750–1770s.
Cagliostro found and awakened remnants of ancient evil that had slept in forgotten tombs underground and even at the bottom of the ocean. Some tombs were empty or destroyed -the ancient Lodge of NinetyNine, heirs to the Druids’ sacred knowledge, had already been there.
Cagliostro discovered that even before the Chaos Break, creatures of Chaos had existed on Earth, fought by the descendants of priests and druids. In place of the ancient monsters that were lost forever, Cagliostro managed to enlist the support of several survivors.
The call of Chaos was answered by an ancient vampire from the Carpathian Mountains, dozens of wendigos from the Canadian forests, Mesoamerican demon gods, and even a dark god sealed at the bottom of the ocean, who appeared to him in dreams.
Cagliostro also tracked down the last members of the Lodge of NinetyNine: the stern old Dr. Philippus von Hohenheim and his apprentice, the young Dr. Van Helsing.
April 1665. Infected Missionaries Return to Spain from the Philippines
Several Dominican missionaries came back from Manila, telling horror stories about “demons of the sea” and “shadows moving beneath the water.” One, in delirium, sketched a giant with an octopuslike head before dying. Three others descended into madness.
Spanish religious authorities blamed Filipino “pagans” and travelers “susceptible to dangerous philosophies” for spreading sea magic. They insisted that without European influence, no “savage magic” could have touched the missionaries.
July 1767. Magic Panic in Granada
In the Sierra Nevada mountains, herds of twisted, disfigured animals appeared. Peasants called them los Leprosos del Diablo—“the devil’s lepers.”
The Swarm began mutating local fauna through contaminated sources. Panic spread. Crowds accused French agents of wielding “fae spells” and demanded the border be sealed.
11 June 1768. The Lyon Breakthrough
The second largest Rift after Paris was recorded in the catacombs of Lyon. Demonic creatures escaped from it. Only the combined forces of the Council’s mages and the regular army stopped the catastrophe. This episode entered history as the Great Breakthrough of the Corruption.
In the Tuileries, the King of France takes the oath from the fae, causing discontent among other monarchs.
Meanwhile, agents of Chaos—La Fraternité Obscure, the Dark Brotherhood—are active in Paris, undermining the people’s trust in the authorities. They work as spies, saboteurs, and assassins, eroding confidence in the crown. They are led by the adventuress Countess Jeanne de la Motte, who plays upon the weaknesses of the courtiers and the growing unrest of the people.
1770
The union of Maria Theresa’s daughter, Marie Antoinette, with the French Dauphin was concluded, and the two great dynasties hoped this would bring peace to Europe. Maria Theresa instructed her daughter to persuade her husband never to deal with inhuman beings.
In the same year, on the border between France and the German lands, the garrison of the Sarrebourg fortress disappeared overnight. All the soldiers had vanished, while the few officers had been brutally murdered, their bodies hung upon the fortress walls. Later, the corpses of several soldiers were discovered bearing signs of strange mutations.
French intelligence determined that the destruction of the garrison had been the work of cultists from the Fratres Tenebrarum. This event proved for the first time that the Dark Brotherhood operated not only as a secret cult, but also as an elite network of assassins and infiltrators.
1771–1776 — The Dark Brotherhood in Europe
The Fratres Tenebrarum and La Fraternité Obscure bribed officials, eliminated certain generals through “accidents,” fabricated scandals, and weakened the influence of monarchs.
In the German lands, an entire regiment disappeared into the fog, leaving behind only rotten uniforms and rusty ammunition.
In the Habsburg territories, a mysterious epidemic of madness struck Tyrol. It was later revealed that the Dark Brotherhood had released the Swarm’s spores into mountain wells.
In the small town of Rique, in Alsace, a series of mysterious murders of aristocrats, officers, and officials spread panic among the nobility. An investigation by agents sent by the Council of Mages revealed that three local judges were secret agents of the Dark Brotherhood, who passing information about weak points in the French defenses to their comrades in Germany.
The exposure of the conspiracy prevented the destruction of fortifications along the line from Strasbourg to Mulhouse.
- The Wrath of the Holy Empire
Maria Theresa and her son, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, believed that the spread of the Corruption was God’s punishment. Joseph II proclaimed that the Holy Roman Empire must reunite “all previously lost Christian lands” and save their inhabitants from eternal damnation. “Only strong authority and enlightenment can save people from returning to the magic of wild pagans!” he declared.
Austria launched a series of military campaigns to expand the empire’s borders and strengthen centralized power. All manifestations of magic were brutally persecuted. The fae and all who dealt with them were destroyed.
His mother, Maria Theresa, expressed dissatisfaction with such a cruel policy, believing that her son was plunging their lands into the Dark Ages. Yet she supported the idea of expanding and strengthening the Holy Roman Empire under the rule of her descendants.
- The Awakening of Franz von der Trenck
A man presumed dead since 1749 appeared on the Austrian border — Franz von der Trenck, once the legendary commander of the Pandurs. His body was warped by mutations, and his eyes burned with red fire. He named himself General of the Swarm.
His army, a mixture of deserters, revenants, and mutated soldiers, seized part of Bavaria. The general declared that the Swarm was not a curse, but a new stage of development, more perfect than monarchy: “An empire, united in flesh and mind, devoid of all human weaknesses.”
- The Weakening of the Habsburgs: Cursed Blood
Rumors spread across Europe of an ancient curse upon kings and strange afflictions striking members of the Habsburg dynasty. Sudden illnesses among royal families seemed to confirm these whispers, sowing panic among the people.
The authority of the Habsburgs declined. Even their most loyal courtiers in Austria and Vienna began to prepare for the possibility that their monarchs might become completely incapacitated.
- The Emperor’s New Doctor
Two foreign visitors, whether priests or scientists — a stern old man and his young protégé — entered the service of Joseph II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It later became clear that the old man was Dr. Philippus von Hohenheim better known as alchemist Paracelsus, and his companion was Dr. Van Helsing. The two not only tended to the monarch’s health but also shielded him from the influence of the Swarm. Gradually, political stability returned to Europe.
- The Plague of the Loire Valley or the First Epidemic of the Corruption
A strange pestilence spread across the Loire Valley: the fields turned black, the vineyards withered, and the peasants fell ill, mutating into hideous, deranged monsters. This was the first recorded mass manifestation of the forces of Chaos upon Earth.
February 1785. The Fae Treaty Scandal
Agents of La Fraternité Obscure planted forged documents among the Spanish clergy, claiming that the fae demanded “lands beyond the Pyrenees” from France and sought to revive the “Druidic freehold” on Spanish soil.
At the same time, rumors spread in Navarre and Catalonia that French fae ambassadors were “distorting minds” and that France intended to “turn Spain into a kingdom of magic.”
The King of Spain and the Spanish clergy were enraged. The Church forbade all contact with French magicians and accused Paris of heresy.
March–August 1785. Epidemic at the Spanish Court
Strange “accidents” began to occur in Madrid. Respected grandees and generals died from sudden fits of madness. Dozens of courtiers fell ill with nervous fevers — in truth, mild forms of infection with the Swarm, which the Brotherhood used as a weapon of intimidation.
At the same time, the very possibility that “pious Catholics on the sacred soil of Spain” could be infected with the Swarm was officially denied. Any mention of it was suppressed and condemned as conspiracy against the Crown.
Emperor Joseph II dispatched Paracelsus’s student to Madrid. The young Dr. Van Helsing was received at court, though he was suspected of being a Dutch agent.
- The Assassination Attempt of Margaret Nicholson
Margaret Nicholson, a deranged laundress, struck at the King of Great Britain within St. James’s Palace. She succeeded only in wounding the monarch.
1 January 1787
Emperor Joseph II of Austria enacted a series of laws designed to centralize authority in Belgium and suppress “the spread of magic and other heresies.” Belgium rose in revolt. A FrancoBelgian defensive alliance was forged against the Swarm.
14 December 1788 IV
Carlos IV, newly ascended to the throne, found himself encircled by agents of the Dark Brotherhood. They accused him of weakness and drove him to seek traitors among loyal courtiers, scholars, travelers, and ambassadors.
The young Dr. Van Helsing saved the queen from infection by the Swarm. For this deed, he was appointed one of Carlos IV’s personal physicians.
April 1789
Soon after the conquest of Bavaria, the vanguard of the Swarm advanced into Alsace. At Wissembourg, French dragoons clashed with von der Trenck’s mutated soldiers, whose inhuman speed made them terrifying foes upon the battlefield.
May 1789. Uprising in South America
In Lima, Peru, the first cases of sleeping sickness appeared. Victims muttered in an unknown tongue and suffered from terrifying hallucinations. The Inquisition suspected demonic influence, yet could not determine the source.
The Swarm’s secret agents exploited the chaos in Peru to erode confidence in Madrid’s rule over the colonies. Governors quarreled over how to end the sleeping sickness that threatened the unity of the empire.
26 October 1789 — Paracelsus convinced Emperor Joseph II to focus all forces against Corruption in Europe, instead of wasting them on wars between states.
As a result, the Holy Roman Empire withdrew its army from rebellious Brussels. In its place arose an independent state — the United States of Belgium — supported by France. The new nation recognized the rights of the fae and proclaimed the dawn of an era of Equality and Magic.
January 1790
The Swarm engulfed the lands of the Rhine near Cologne and pressed southward. This campaign revealed that conventional weapons could not halt its advance. Bound by laws forbidding magic, the Holy Roman Empire found itself defenceless against the dark forces.
20 February 1790
Emperor Joseph II died, and Leopold II ascended the throne. The new emperor was far more open to new ideas and recognized that the world had changed. He did not share the fanatical belief of the aged Paracelsus that all magic was evil.
Instead, Leopold summoned Dr. Van Helsing back to Vienna and appointed him State Councillor for Matters of Magic and Sorcery. This decision sparked conflict between the two counsellors Paracelsus departed the capital, while Van Helsing gathered a circle of trusted magicians to defend the empire.
1 February 1793
Part of the English fleet was infected by the Swarm. The destruction of the infected ships was taken as an act of war, and France and England entered into open conflict.
August 1793
The French city of Toulon was seized by cultists of the Swarm. In Spain and Italy, a new strain spread — La Marea Roja, “The Red Tide.” Those infected became vampires, capable of passing the Corruption through blood.
October 1793. The Fall of Mainz
The German lands descended into chaos as hordes of mutants captured city after city. In the villages north of Mainz, “blue candles” began to burn at night — the smouldering bodies of walking dead, from which trails of spores drifted into the sky.
December 1793. The Beginning of the FrancoSpanish War
La Fraternité Obscure orchestrated an explosion in Pamplona, placing the blame upon French revolutionaries. Spanish troops launched a “cleansing campaign” along the border, where they encountered French soldiers already tainted by the Corruption.
King Carlos IV declared France the source of all misfortune. Robespierre, himself carrying Corruption within, proclaimed Spain “the enemy of the revolution and the future.” Thus began a war that served as the perfect cover for the Swarm’s advance into Europe.
January 1794
The French army drove the Swarm from Cologne. Yet the city and its surrounding lands were annexed to France, despite the protests of survivors who had endured the horrors of the Corruption.
June 1794 — The Battle of Kaiserslautern
French and Habsburg troops were forced to unite. Together they faced mutant hordes. Vampire cohorts of the “Red Tide” joined the assault. Only by fighting side by side could they withstand the darkness.
1795–1797. The Spanish Contagion
The Swarm spread into the Pyrenees, striking the borderlands. Within months, entire provinces of Spain collapsed. Crowds of infected poured into the heart of the Iberian Peninsula. The army fought bravely, but only magic could truly resist magic.
Madrid fell after the Seven Days’ Siege. Burning bodies exploded, spreading infection everywhere. The city walls, pierced by Corruption, bent beneath the weight of a living, otherworldly mass.
Paracelsus, the legendary alchemist, died defending the city. Many other brave souls perished with him. The royal court escaped — first to the British Isles, and later to the remaining loyal colonies.
1798
Europe was criss-crossed by front lines between charged and uncharged lands. Terrible news came from both east and west. The FrancoHabsburg fortifications in the Vosges became a symbol of the last defence against the Abyssal Legions.
- James Hadfield’s Assassination Attempt
James Hadfield, a retired soldier infected by the Swarm, fired at the King of Great Britain during a performance at the Drury Lane Theatre. The king was wounded but survived.
1805
The Abyssal Legions descended upon Europe. In response, the surviving states formed a coalition. Together they vowed to resist the Corruption.
