What IS the Crusade?

t began in the time Before Man, when the Forces of Light and the Dark Powers clashed in battles so fierce that the very foundations Creation shook.   Creatures beyond imagination... the majestic and the grotesque, the regal and the horrific... battled each other for the right to control what Is and What Shall Be.  But as powerful as they were, neither army could defeat the other.  And so a Balance was reached.   And out of that Balance rose a Covenant.   Man... a race of lesser beings spawned on an insignificant speck of a world... would decide the fate of Creation.   Of his own free will, this fledgling race would decide which of its true natures it would follow:  Good or Evil.  Order or Chaos.   And as Man went, the Balance of Creation would follow.   But the Dark Powers were not content.   They hated man,  and would not stand idly by and watch as this weak race decided their fate.   They created there OWN lesser beings, spawned of Evil and Hunger and Darkness. These they sent out into the world of Man to tempt, trap, and torture him into yielding to his baser desires.  Those among Man who would not be tempted would be destroyed.   These dark things performed their task with zeal, for they had been promised that should Man fall and the Dark Powers rule Creation, that they would have a place of power over all the lesser creatures.  So they sowed the seeds of chaos for generations.   They tempted and destroyed, and brought Man to the brink of oblivion.  

hen the Forces of Light came.    Though the Covenant forbid them from acting directly against the Dark Powers, They could not allow darkness to corrupt the Balance.    From the masses of Man, They selected the worthy... the noble and the brave, the stalwart and the strong.  These Chosen were given Gifts that made them giants among other men.  They were sent into the world to seek out and destroy the dark beings... and should one of the Chosen fall, his Gifts would be passed on to another, so that the mighty Crusade could continue. 

nd so it began.   From the time before the Ancient Kingdoms of Man, the Chosen have fought and died to protect the Balance.   They have sought out the minions of the Dark Powers, and crushed them wherever they could be found.   Swords and crossbows clashed with fangs, claws, and all the hideous dark powers of Evil.    And now, after hundreds of generations,  the Modern Era of Man begins.   A new time.   A new battleground.   This new era has replaced Blades and Bows with high explosives, automatic weapons and complex computer code.  The field of battle stretches from the darkest depths of the human soul to the furthest reaches of cyberspace... and beyond.  But, though the weapons have changed, the Enemy... and the Battle... is still the same.
 

This is the Crusade