Athelan Battlegrounds

War was once absolute. Civilizations rose and fell. Entire worlds, brimming with unrealized potential, snuffed out all because another world was lucky enough to have evolved early. Survival wasn't due to ingenuity or persistence, but simply due to who built their war machines first. That was before the Veyrathi intervened.

Before they became the architects of the Cosmic Law, they were scientists, explorers, dreamers. Similar to most other intelligent life across the stars. They were a species consumed by the pursuit of knowledge. In their insatiable hunger for progress, they pushed the boundaries of technology and magic to a point where they could significantly impact the fate of worlds. That realization came with a choice: They could claim all of it or... they could impose order on the chaos they had witnessed across the great weave of the universe. They chose the latter. ​ No more would worlds be lost to senseless war, their destinies decided by which world got to its arms first. If a planet wished for dominance over another, it would have to battle for it.

And so, the ambitious beings from planet Veyros created the Athelan Battlegrounds: An arena where worlds are lost and gained through trial by combat. Where the fate of whole civilizations is decided by a single match. Champions fight in place of armies and the result determines the future.

If a civilization wishes to take over another, it must challenge it. The defending world has but two choices: yield a champion and fight for their survival or lose their planet entirely.

One fight. That is all it takes.

To those who do not obey Cosmic Law, a quarter of their population is eliminated randomly. Their interstellar technology is dismantled, reducing them to the state of a primitive pre-spaceflight civilization.

Those that are offered up as champions, whether through duty, threats, or misplaced loyalty, are never given the gift of freedom. They are bound to the battlegrounds, their names put on an eternal roster, waiting to be selected whenever a new war is waged.

Though prisoners of the system, their existence is far from miserable. The warriors of the battlegrounds reside in massive space stations, positioned in various locations throughout the universe. Monolithic facilities built to shelter warriors of all kinds. In these stations, champions live a life of luxury, learning, and unlimited possibilities. They can travel, train and explore the farthest reaches of the universe. Some wallow in wealth and hedonism, embracing their fate as admired fighters. Others roam the stars in search of meaning, trying to disregard that their next call could come at any moment. But they can never be free.