Study 01:
The Feuding Cerberus
Long ago, humans and monsters fought each other in a war that lasted a hundred years.
The main reason the war lasted so long was the fact that the monsters weren’t truly united. In fact, the term “monster” is nothing more than a catch-all for non-humans. There are over a hundred species of monster, all with vastly varying biology. Even monsters of the same species were divided into tribes whose nature varied by their occupation and the region they lived in, further complicating things. They say, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but this did little to unite the monsters against their common enemy: humans.
The human troops, on the other hand, had a clear hierarchy that allowed them to form and deploy a massive army, while the monsters were reduced to skirmishing in much smaller squads. The result was a long, drawn-out war in which the centaurs were forced into a decisive battle in the mountains where the terrain put them at a disadvantage, while the lamia, who excelled at guerrilla warfare, had no choice but to fight on the open plains. Every battle found the monsters unable to take advantage of their natural attributes.
Needless to say, the death toll was massive. The monsters were desperate for a leader who would take them to victory. And, in the final stages of the war, that hero was born. His name was Rheocles, King of Beasts.
Rheocles was a hybrid, born of a mix of monster races. He united the scattered tribes and established an alliance between centaurs, lamia, harpies, mermaids, giants, and other powerful species. This army could easily have crushed the humans in battle, but peace was brokered before any such battle could take place. King Rheocles went down in history as the hero who’d brought all monsters together.
After the war, Rheocles built a massive city in the very heart of monster-ruled lands. The city served as a symbol of unity, and as proof that the once-scattered races now stood together, deterring the humans from ever invading again.
Thus was born Nemea, capital of the monster realm.
Nemea boasted a flourishing economy, with burgeoning trade and a large number of churches that catered to the beliefs of many different species. Its roads were constructed with the most advanced technology available, even accommodating centaur carriages and providing waystations for them to stop at.
Most important of all, a university named the Nemea Academy, was established to educate the monsters—in the hopes that they would go on to achieve great things in years to come.
The Academy attracted educators from all corners of the continent. Here, students could receive the best instruction money could buy. And, although initially established as a school for monsters, the Academy welcomed students of any race.
One day, a young boy arrived from abroad. At the time, he was the first and only human ever to set foot in Nemea. Rumors soon flooded the school about this bright new student who’d come all the way from the human realm to study medicine—a prodigy who moved up in his studies only six months after admission.
His name was Glenn Litbeit.