In ancient times, a religion arising somewhere east of the Mediterranean Ocean split into many different factions. Its disciples quickly carried it to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa. As time passed, some gods from the various sects were forgotten, others were assimilated into other religions, and still others were shunned as evil.
For one reason or another, the gods all but disappeared. What few people continued worshipping them were branded as heretics. The dissenters were forced to turn their backs on their own homelands in order to continue in their beliefs.
Venturing farther and farther away, the outcasts eventually found themselves adrift in an unknown land floating on the outskirts of the New World. This was Dumary Island.
Hordes of refugees of different races, beliefs and languages crossed over to the island. The first to arrive followed the sea routes of the old Viking explorers, around the North Pole and through the Pacific Ocean. Following them came runaway slaves seeking sanctuary.
The newcomers all had a single common point – belief in a pagan religion. Tribes that had historically skirmished over old differences running deep in their cultures now lived together peaceably on the same island.
As the generations passed, the former strangers blended together into a single people. Their mix of different languages, ethnic customs and various gods gave birth to new, totally unique religions.
The gods worshipped by the new blend of people were an ancient family of beings inhabiting a different dimension. They wielded strange powers and existed outside the concepts of right and wrong. Deities that were considered evil or pagan in the old world were, on Dumary Island, simply thought of as “other gods” – there were far too many of them to count. Rites performed in honor of these idols often resembled exorcisms and demon sealing ceremonies.
The priests of these cults were known as “guardians” and were sometimes called upon to protect the gods and their worshippers. Many were the legends of guardians who had borrowed the power of their own gods to defeat enemy gods. One recent tale, only a few hundred years old, told of a great swordsman appearing from “the outside” to aid in exorcising the most evil god of all time.
Over the centuries, Dumary Island’s success in supporting the worship of unique religions while maintaining its existence out of the mainstream has been nothing short of miraculous. Lately, however, agents of international corporations have quietly begun infiltrating the island. Their purpose is to acquire the “special ores” discovered in the island’s interior.
On Dumary Island, the people’s simple religious piety, as well as the fabulous artifacts buried in the inner mountains, are now in great danger...
