By the end of the 18th century, humanity faced the forces of chaos from beyond the known world and its terrifying spawn - the Swarm. A plague that not only killed, but changed everything it touched: flesh, minds, and the very souls of those infected.
Scientists called it a new form of life, priests called it a curse, and magicians called it the killer of worlds. And the Swarm was all of these things at once. It was driven only by an endless desire to grow and consume. The weak-minded lost themselves, turning into mindless creatures, while the strong subjugated its power, believing they controlled it. But in the end, even the generals, preachers, and agents of the Swarm became part of its mind, mere illusions of individuality within a collective voice.
The Swarm could not be fought like a normal army, nor could it be stopped by quarantine like a normal disease. The Swarm's whisper divided the world into two parts: those who fought to preserve humanity and human values, and those who decided that humanity's time was up.

1750 - The First Breakthrough of Chaos.
In the catacombs beneath Paris, a group of mages encounters Chaos and closes the portal, preventing an invasion. But the forces of Chaos have already seeped into the world and begun to study it in order to consume it. The mage Cagliostro sides with Chaos.

1784 - The Plague of the Loire Valley, or the First Epidemic of the Scourge.
A strange plague spread through the Loire Valley: fields turned black, vineyards withered, and peasants began to fall ill and mutate into horrible, insane monsters. This was the first recorded mass impact of the forces of Chaos on Earth.

June 11, 1785 - The Breakthrough in Lyon.
The second largest Rift after the one in Paris was recorded in the catacombs of Lyon. Demonic creatures burst out of it. Only the combined forces of the Council of Mages and the regular army were able to stop the catastrophe. This episode went down in history as the Great Breakthrough of Filth.
At the same time, agents of Chaos were operating in Paris, undermining the people's confidence in the government. They were led by the adventuress Countess Jeanne de Lamotte.

1787 — The Awakening of Franz von der Trenck
A man who had been presumed dead since 1749 appears on the Austrian border — Franz von der Trenck, once the legendary commander of the Pandurs. His body is distorted by mutations, and his eyes glow scarlet. He calls himself General of the Swarm.
His army - a mixture of deserters, dead men and mutated soldiers-captures Bavaria. The general claims that the Swarm is not a curse, but a new stage of development, more perfect than monarchy. “An empire, united in flesh and mind, devoid of human weaknesses.”

January 1790.
The Swarm has engulfed the lands in the Rhine Valley near Cologne and is moving south. The Holy Roman Empire, which forbids magic, is helpless against the dark forces.

February 1, 1793.
Part of the English fleet was infected by the Swarm, and the destruction of the infected ships was perceived as an act of war.

1793.
The French city of Toulon was captured by agents of the Swarm.
A special type of the Swarm, La Marea Roja (“The Red Tide”), rages in Spain and Italy. People infected by it turn into vampires. The Swarm's vampires are capable of infecting others through blood and sleep.

1795–1797 - Infection of Spain
The Swarm captured the Pyrenees. Entire provinces of Spain fell within a few months.
Madrid fell after the Seven Days' Siege: burning bodies exploded, infecting everything around them, and the city walls breathed and bent under the pressure of the living mass.
The royal court managed to evacuate to the colonies.

1798
Europe turned into a series of front lines between infected and uninfected lands.