You are Noel Tiberius, queen regnant of Hazaran and formerly one of the top-ranked monster slayers in your little corner of the world. And now you finally know just how little that corner truly is, a comparatively small island on the far side of the world from a massive continent on which most of the human race lives, alongside a still-mysterious species called the asharakam - colloquially known as ‘dragons’.

In your veins runs the blood of that species, which gives you and the other warriors like you a similar power - control over a poorly-understood power called yōki - albeit at the cost of some of your humanity in the exchange. After being sent on one too many suicide missions for your liking, and after having seen your comrades butchered just for showing the faintest hints of individuality and self-determination, you decided that your crimes should fit your apparent punishment and rebelled.

Along with you came several ‘half-awakened’ warriors, individuals who have pushed themselves beyond your supposed limits and become more monster than human before somehow managing to claw your way back to something approaching normal, along with a large number of former warriors who, like you, had long since had enough of watching their sisters die.

But now you’re expected to be something more than a wandering warrior. Your nation is besieged to the north by an occupying force from the continent, loyal to the same Organization that turned you into a living weapon to rekindle the dying embers of a war that should have long since been settled. They controlled every aspect of your life for years as part of their attempts to create some sort of dragon-slayer out of myth and fable, even deliberately setting monsters of their own creation loose on the people living on this island in an attempt to maintain the sort of desperate conditions that produced candidates for their experiments.

And now they intend to do the same to everyone else in your home.

“Good afternoon,” you greet the head of the guard in the city of Merced. “You should have been informed of my arrival.”

“Of course,” the man bows sharply before leading you into town. “Follow me, please.”

You’ve come to the town, which is near the fairly new border between Hazaran and your western neighbor Tarsus, because it is on the way to where you need to go. And honestly, it makes sense to be seen stopping here in any event.

The guards lead you to the mayor, who you greet in front of the town hall together with the members of your retinue: a cavalry officer, two of your fellow warriors, and one of the awakened beings who has settled with you here in Hazaran.

“I see you brought companions,” the mayor greets you. “May we make introductions?”
>1/?