Alllll right
Here's the scoop:
The backstory is set in a place called Geo. It's a mad frolic through the late 19th Century's steampunk and 14th Century Gothic, mixed with crazy technology and deep magic.
This is a place where cathedrals walk, gargoyles are alive, and the Magic Folk walk the planet. Wars rage between the unstable slaves of Humanity and the few folks who still believe that the Gods will some day return.
Humanity remains within a vainglorious Dark Age, trapped by its own hubris and atavistic barbarism.
Humanity fell from godlike powers during the Starfall War, and still fights to preserve itself from extinction at the hands of the races it created in the deeps of time. However, the Human tribes are shattered into cultures who are opposed to one another- the Shapers and the Melders.
Shapers started the Starfall War. They believed that Magic was given to Humanity to rebuild the universe in Humanity's image.
The Melders objected, because they believe that Humanity needs to stay within the bounds of Gaia to be whole. They rejected the Shapers' calls to rebuild the universe, which they declared unfit and unwise.
The Beautiful Ones, ageless creatures created by the Melders in an effort to improve upon themselves, have turned inwards, and are scarcely less barbaric than their Human forebears. They have sought the inner workings of the magic unlocked when Humanity reached its greatest heights, and are skilled at the arts of creation. Beautiful Ones sometimes join in the "play" of war, and make fearsome adversaries. Neither the Shapers nor the Melders can always claim them as allies, however, and their relationship to the two sides is very blurry. Some say that they are simply trying to wear out the remaining Avatars of Humanity and take their rightful place, but no one knows for sure.
The Maw are a race of beings the Shapers created to fight their wars on countless worlds, first against the alien beings who Humanity met as it travelled the stars, then were set upon the Melders when the Starfall War began. As the Shapers lost control of the universe in their endless war with the Melders, the Maw became less and less controllable, and the ancient secrets of controlling these beings have been lost. Fierce, militant and built with ancient Tek and Magic, the Maw are eternally dangerous, and now seek to exterminate the other beings on the planet.
The Savage were created by the Melders as a defense against the Maw. The Melders did not want to control the Savage, as they felt this would make them guilty of the same sins as the Shapers. Instead, they gave the Savage a built-in hatred of outside authority and a creative genome, that allows the race to reshape itself to counter any possible threat. Originally, the Melders intended to plant the Savage on planets that the Shapers wanted, but over time, as the Shapers and Melders both descended into barbarism, the Savage became first bodyguards, then informal allies with the remaining Melders.
The Tinkers are the remains of another attempt by Humanity to reshape itself. They worship Tek, and dislike magic. They originally sided with the Shapers, but now fight for anyone who will hire them. Tinkers hate the Maw, for the Maw possess Tek but do not understand it, and are destructive for the sake of it.
Lastly, the Dark Ones. They are beings who believe that the Shapers and Melders are both wrong, and that the entire purpose of Life is to organize the universe into stasis. The Dark Ones worship Entropy, and seek to finally end the threat posed by both the Shapers and the Melders by extinguising Humanity. Hated and feared by all, the Dark Ones are, perhaps, the most dangerous beings in the universe.
This is the last chance for Humanity to reconcile itself with its own internal contradictions. Who will win? Will the Maw simply eradicate every being who doesn't fit into their narrow view of the meaning of Life? Will the Savage simply out-evolve everyone and return Geo to chaos? Will the Dark Ones reduce Life to a simplistic set of inputs and outputs, destroying everything that it means to be human? Will theMelders finally return Geo to a state of blissful Nature?
It's all up to you.
.