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The Unbound Steppe is beset by raiders driven to madness from beyond the Firstborn Mountains in the South, and in the East, the ever encroaching armies of Ustuun Pasha and his Empire of God swallow the land and its inhabitants to leave only small Voivodeships protected behind their walls, unable to fight the invaders between their own individual lack of strength and their constant infighting.

 

Rumors meanwhile swirl in the West of angels descending and gathering in the Lands of Law to sweep East like a holy wave and combat the Empire; though none are sure whether they will deliver the land from the invaders in their crusade or drown everyone in the resulting deluge.

 

The ground is rotting, and even the dust from which all men were once shaped can no longer sustain humanity. Crops bear poison harvests, and mothers birth children abandoned by God and all covenants new and old. These are the Failed Earth, soulless clay in the form of men. No sacrament will touch them; thus they can never know God's mercy, and when they die, the ground rejects them, leaving them to wander the Steppe forever until the sun that rises in the East sets in the North to never rise again.

 

There has been no king to wear the Crown of the Father since the powers above and below all grabbed at its gold and silver teeth to retreat back to their own holds and claim divinity as the true inheritors of Heaven's Mandate. No one man with his one life could ever hope to reunite all of creation's wayward children, but one born of Failed Earth, undying just might - or at least reforge the Crown and place it upon the head of another.

 

This is Crown's Taker (Crown Thief in Japanese)

 

 

Item descriptions:

 

Sanguine Oak Crest: Knights in the service of Prince Vyacheslav the Dragon are issued this crest that is said to give special protection against the pikes and handgonnes of any who would threaten the forests of Valhazja. Each crest is personally blessed by the Prince, signifying a departure from the rule of his father.

 

"Let their arrows grow into seedlings that expand our woods, and let the brush turn their spears so that they may impale themselves upon them."

 

 

Red Knight Helm: Standard head protection for Knights of the Sanguine Oak. Prince Vyacheslav III had ordered the green seals of his father filed off and replaced with red ones of his own design.

 

The Prince is assuredly a man and not a dragon, but dragon blood is said to flow faintly in certain men, harkening back to some ironic kinship between the dragons of legend who tended to the trees and the men who slew them. Perhaps if one drinks enough blood, then the fire of man's heart might be extinguished and let the things in the shadows reemerge.

 

 

Golden Lance: A brilliant armament wielded by the elite Sipa cavalry of the Empire. The serpent-like waves within the steel gleam magnificently on sunny days and inspire courage within its wielder and his comrades.

 

Neither the Sipa nor the Jana, the sultan's own fanatic household guards will deny their rivalry with one another. Thus the Sipa consider it particularly auspicious that the sultan would favor them over his own bodyguards.

 

 

Moonstone Ring: An unremarkable ring with a dull gem. It's often overshadowed by the many fine accoutrements adorning the High Captains of the Bezak Hosts. Its pale glow becomes almost dazzling during the night as if in defiance of the whole world.

 

When moonlight shines upon the Steppe, the things from the old world wake, and the old believers pray.

 

"They will look upon us as brother. What will they see when they turn their eyes and swords to you?"

 

 

Yellow Pavise: A stout great shield favored by mercenaries employed by the Merchant Duke of Leoran along with the angels who have chartered his ships. Its sickly yellow tint represents heaven or coin depending on who is wielding it.

 

But it still provides wonderful protection for the already well-armored and heavily-armed veterans of numerous wars. After its old owner was killed, it dutifully serves its next one, and like those it guards, it will continue to serve any who would have it.

 

The faded, off-putting color refuses to fully disappear.