Caterpillar Hearts

Background

The Scourge

In 1493 under the old calendar, the Scourge of God fell upon the world - the newly dead reanimated with an unquenchable thirst for blood and hunger for the living. The spread of the Scourge brought an age of darkness, turmoil and, in many places, devastation. In the east, the Holy Church spread a new religious orthodoxy and organized vast crusades and pacification campaigns of continental scale and astronomical cost in lives and resources. The resulting Holy Empire brought an unprecedented unity across much of the known world. In the west, the coastal cities formed the League of Satella and survived the threat with fortifications and the alkatech revolution.

The Holy Empire

The theocratic Holy Empire rules a large chunk of the continent directly from Spiro and has influence much of the rest. Since the Age of Crusades, they have stagnated but remain the preeminent force in the civilized world. Internally, the empire is brutal and repressive, regularly engaging in atrocities to 'fight death with death'. The priesthood dominate society along with the pre-Scourge nobility, mandating cremation and religious ceremonies for the deceased, placing a heavy tax burden on the general population. Heresy is punishable by summary execution. In the past century, they have had to contend with the rise of the League as well as tackle the Corrupters - people born with the ability to escape notice by or even control the undead. This is considered heresy and is punishable by mass execution. The empire's first two wars with the League gave it impetus to industrialize but also heavily destablized it and went into full blown turmoil after the winter of 422-23

League of Satella

The League is the most powerful country in the world besides the Holy Empire and fought two successful wars with them in 370 and 395-398, overcoming the odds each time with technological and industrial superiority. The League is a one party democracy dominated by the Free Will party which is funded by a vast trust of wealth derived from the still valid wills of long deceased nobles and industrialists. The League has no religious bent and views reanimation as a scientific phenomenon though actually studying it in any detail is banned due to public risk and the entrenched interests of the influential 'dead rich'. While the vast legions of urban poor are cremated, the wealthy in the League are embalmed to prevent reanimation and interred in fortified crypts beneath the cities. By law, this allows their wills to retain legal weight long past death. A typical will amongst the League upper class leaves little of substance to living descendents. Instead, it is a thick and massive volume prepared by a specialist class of lawyers since long before death which stipulate in fine detail how the trusts may be utilized and political influence peddled after death.

The League-Imperial Wars

The League and the Empire first came to blows in 370 in a brief conflict where outnumbered but technologically superior League forces routed Imperial templars, first demonstrating the lethality of modern arms. Wars up to that point had always been contained affairs due to the difficulty of dealing with battlefield dead in time during war conditions and two sides quickly negotiated a settlement. The Empire came again in 395 and this time the fighting was more serious. The Empire's numbers stalled the League counteroffensive, forcing the two sides to the trenches. Late next summer, the world's first simple tanks busted the trenches and substantively ended the war again in the League's favour. While the armistice came in 398, in truth the last two years was mostly a cleanup of the large numbers of war dead and some from that war still stalk to this day. Once again, the negotiations left further conflict almost inevitable.

Because of the difficulties, lethality and consequences of industrial war and the strategic limitations of the much smaller League, both sides decided the third war would have to be the last and developed grand, megalomaniacal plans for a final victory. This left neither side any room to hold back when the two sides mobilized and clashed once more in 422 in the war to end all wars. The extremity of lethality and bloodshed surpassed description. After one full year of war and a brutal winter, there was no longer anything to be fought over. Instead, what remained was a vast gulf of No Man's Land stalked by millions upon millions of war dead joined by decimated populations as entire cities were overrun by unprecedented hordes. The empire fell into turmoil as long suppressed uprisings swept across the vast dominion while the League lost much of what precious little hinterland it held, with a mostly destroyed military and on the brink of starvation and mass shortage.

96th Armoured Scouts, "Caterpillars"

It is now 424. The 96th Armoured Scouts is a penal division of the League army thrown into No Man's Land in order to ascertain the extent of the situation, report on and hinder any Imperial activity and also start clearing the undead. They are equipped with second line armoured vehicles deemed obsolete at the start of the war (but plenty good enough against most undead).

Characters

There are four character slots to start with, as well as one tank.