A grounded, human-only medieval world: graphic violence, strong language, prejudice and exploitation as institutional realities, and transactional intimacy — all consequential, never gratuitous. No magic, no monsters — just people, work, hunger, debt, and hard choices rooted in the 15th century.
weather the storm. Build a life worth a legacy.
Between Storm & Steel is a grounded, human-only medieval world rooted in the 15th century. There are no spells, fantasy species, or chosen ones — only people, work, hunger, debt, and the consequences of human decisions.
The Tempest Sea shapes every voyage. For ten months a year its hurricane tracks make a direct crossing perilous, so most traffic takes the longer Northern Arc — a circuit past Vulkanheim that adds one to two weeks to the journey. During the brief two-month Calm Season a direct crossing becomes possible and far safer, though never safe from wreck, piracy, or disease.
Vulkanheim's power lies on that Arc: its harbors, patrols, convoys, and supplies offer the best chance of getting through alive, and its 33% cargo tax is the price of that passage. The year is 1207 PF. The Attalian Empire has fractured into two dozen successor states, and Vulkanheim is still mending after civil war.
In Königshafen — the harbor capital of 85,000 where that traffic must pass — reputation, language, wealth, gender, profession, and legal status decide what doors open. Lower-class voices are coarse and profane under pressure; high standing speaks gracefully until it chooses not to. Steel and wit matter, but neither guarantees safety, and survival must be earned.
WELCOME TO BETWEEN STORM & STEEL
Thank you for stopping by. Between Storm & Steel has been a passion project of mine, developed on and off since about Spring of 2011.
The setting began with a simple question: what would a world feel like if it were recognizable as human history, but shaped by different geography, climate, political borders, and cultural development? Its influences include historical events, maritime societies, political fantasy, and grim settings where institutions and material conditions matter as much as individual heroism.
THE SETTING
The year is 1207 PF—Post Fundamentum. The Attalian Empire, once controlling more than seventy percent of its home continent, is in decline. Its collapse has produced more than two dozen successor states across Kleaterra, each with its own laws, ambitions, rivalries, languages, and memories of imperial rule.
Roughly two thousand miles north lies Vulkanheim: an industrious island kingdom and former colony of Aemestel. Independent for several centuries, Vulkanheim is still recovering from a civil war that divided the realm and reshaped its institutions. It is the primary setting for now, especially the harbor city of Königshafen and the surrounding regions.
The Tempest Sea governs the world's politics and economy. For ten months each year, hurricane tracks make a direct crossing perilous, so most ships take the longer Northern Arc past Vulkanheim — adding one to two weeks to the voyage. For two months the Calm Season opens a safer direct passage, though never a safe one. Vulkanheim's power lies not in size or wealth, but in harbors, patrols, convoys, supplies, tolls, blockades, and mercenary forces that make either crossing survivable.
WHAT THIS WORLD IS
• Low fantasy and scientifically grounded: Religions may interpret storms, political reversals, or unusual events as divine, cursed, or miraculous, but there is no confirmed magic.
• Human-only: Humans are the sole sentient species. Cultures and ethnicities are distinct and should not be treated as interchangeable fantasy races.
• Historically grounded: Technology, clothing, weapons, institutions, ships, and working life are broadly comparable to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with uneven access shaped by wealth and geography.
• Political and material: Hunger, debt, disease, trade, inheritance, class, gender, legal status, language, religion, war, and logistics shape everyday life.
• Morally complicated, not morally weightless: Factions contain decent people, corrupt people, legitimate concerns, blind spots, and harmful policies. Cruelty and exploitation still have consequences and should not be excused as mere ambiguity.
WHAT THIS WORLD IS NOT
• This setting may not be a good fit if you are looking for high fantasy, spellcasting, fantasy species, apocalyptic supernatural threats, or a protagonist who receives automatic access and respect.
• Characters are not entitled to safety, authority, wealth, or success. A character’s reputation, actions, culture, language, gender, profession, class, religion, legal status, and relationships affect how others treat them. Entering a castle, obtaining a ship, challenging an official, securing restricted information, or gaining institutional protection should require a believable reason.
• The setting is intended for mature audiences. It may include graphic violence, offensive language, racism, prejudice, discrimination, xenophobia, exploitation, and other difficult subjects. These are represented as social and institutional realities to examine—not as values endorsed by the project.
BUILDING THE WORLD
Most of the current work focuses on Vulkanheim and Kleaterra. The goal is to make even a small harbor, remote village, crowded market, or isolated garrison feel inhabited by people with work to do, obligations to meet, stories to protect, and reasons to distrust one another.
The world will continue to grow through ordinary human detail: what a storm does to food prices, how a language barrier changes a negotiation, who profits from a blockade, how a guild protects its members, what a family sacrifices to keep a roof, and what a soldier remembers after the contract ends.
Thank you for exploring the setting. I hope Between Storm & Steel gives you room to tell stories about loyalty, courage, compromise, loss, craft, love, and the difficult work of remaining human.
Vulkanheim
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