Heelspike is a city shunned by the rest of the world. 

It was cast into isolation by the other kingdoms many centuries ago, when, in order to save the city from an invading army, the most powerful families in Heelspike made a pact with the dark gods of the world. 

They agreed, that from then on, each of the families would worship one of the seven dark gods and would take on their name as their family name. This new devotion to these evil and twisted deities changed the families and the city forever.

In return the dark gods taught those families the dark art over which they had mastery. 

Worshipping the dark gods has transformed the city into a place of nightmares. 

The arts studied by the occultists of Heelspike are banned, illegal on pain of death in the rest of the known world.

Today six aristocratic families hold power in the city:

Ren Family worship The Goddess Ren and are masters of the art of Necromancy. 

Villous Family worship The God Villous and practice Blood Magic. 

Whiptar Family worship The Goddess Whiptar and study Shadow Weaving.

Malheart Family worship The God Malheart and know the secrets of Dark Curses.

Invakus Family worship The God Invakus and he teaches them The Art of the Dreadcall (summoning terrible emotions and entities from the dark realm)

Rootus Family worship The God Rootus who gifts them the dark art of Flesh Melding.

All ultimately answer to the seventh, the Royal Grimmere Family who worship The God Grimmere and are masters of the least understood and most powerful of the magical arts Voidmancy.

But you have little to do with such rich and powerful people. 

You begin life in the city slums. 

You are however a person with natural aptitude for certain skills.

What those are is up to you...

Your Character...

Whilst you will begin the game poor and living in the slums of Heelspike known as  The Ratways you are someone with noticeable talents.

Rather than working in the backbreaking mines, stinking sewers or as a servant for one of the aristocratic families, you have decided to risk working for a local slum crime-lord Unknown in the hope of eventually gathering riches and power of your own and not being ground down like the rest of the hopeless masses who call this sinister city home.

You must choose one of the following careers (skill sets) for your character:

• Fighter (you are good at fighting, strength, solve problems best with brute force)
• Investigator (you are good at seeing what others miss, solve problems with careful detective work)
• Thief (you are good at stealing things and know the criminal underworld well)
• Assassin (you are a master of the stealthy kill and can walk in the shadows)
• Con Man (you are a fast talker, charismatic and dangerously charming) 
• Ranger (you are good with a bow and know the mountains well)

It is important to note, whilst none of you start with magical ability you will get the chance to gain such powers as the game progresses. 

You must also choose a name, gender, age, what you are afraid of, what your ambition is and any backstory that takes your fancy. These aren't reflected in your stats but provide a sense of who your character is. 

Heelspike sits in a vast curved mountain range that acts as a natural border between three mighty empires. It was originally founded by wealthy merchant families from each of those empires sick of the heavy taxation of their empires rulers and keen to monopolise the merchant route over which traders wandering between empires must tread.

Initially, this led to a vibrant and culturally diverse city where culture, high art thrived, the people growing wealthy and the wealthy growing rich from the trade route that was the life blood of the great empires. However, one of the Empires rulers Ikandoor the Great, grew jealous of this new mountain city-states wealth and sent his armies to bring it under his command. They laid siege to Heelspike for over a year. Catapulting its walls daily with boulders, flamings balls of rags and plague infected rags.

After such a sustained assault the city was on its knees. Ikandoor would kill them all and take the city for himself it seemed, when, the richest families in the city, in a desperate bid to save their home, did something terrible. They made a pact with the dark gods, the evil deities of the world whose worship is outlawed and whose names it was illegal in many places to even speak.

In return for destroying the invading troops, the noble families would swear eternal loyalty each to one of the six malevolent gods and, the seventh and most powerful, would be worshipped by the Royal Family of the city.

Each family would take on the gods name as their own family name. In the hundreds of years that have past the pact has irrevocably changed the city - it is a place despised and feared by the rest of the world.  

They let in the sinister creatures who had once hidden in the most remote and inhospitable mountains - Unknowns, Unknowns, Unknown, and Unknowns.

Wrathstone has made Heelspike rich or rather it has made the noble families rich. 

This magical stone is mined in the mountains that Heelspike controls.

It's even mined within the city itself in the Maddening Mines. 

It is used to darkly magically animate the inanimate. Want a wagon pulled? Wrathstone will generate sinister spectral horses to pull it. Want the front of your theatres sign to move and light up? It does but with strange details and a spooky light.

Most see the benefits as outweighing the diabolic nature of the magic and as a result the Kingdom of Gesh, Pelan Empire and Lostvaria all import large amounts making the city of Heelspike rich and powerful. 

There are those who think that this gift of the dark gods may not be used without consequence but such critics are often silenced.  

The stone itself has a shiny black surface that they say people see ghostly figures in.

Every citizen of Heelspike">Heelspike, regardless of status, is marked at birth by the dark gods. These marks grant minor powers but also come with horrifying, and unfortunate side effects. 

Perhaps your presence repels carrion beasts and scavengers. However, fresh food spoils rapidly in your hands. Or maybe, your teeth regenerate when lost, but sometimes, they grow in the wrong places—on your tongue, under your nails, inside your cheeks. This is the level of power and misfortune usually granted by the mark. 

In Heelspike on the day of their wedding those to be married exchange rings that have poison hidden in their stones. The vows state that if one of you is to die the other must avenge their death if they fail to avenge it within a year they must drink the poison and join the partner they failed in the world beyond. 

The Phatgas seem to thrive off the fumes that are excreted by the volcanic mountain upon which Heelspike is seated. These creatures bodies are like great balls of gas and they float around above the city, slow and ominous. They are however harmless. 

They are used like blimps by the town guards, who at night float over the city shinning a light from a basket suspended below the creature which briefly illuminates the dark alleys and back streets of the city looking for those defying the law.