The Hallowmarsh is a Renaissance world where humans coexist with Hallowborn—ancient, animalistic beings resembling humans with bird-like features. Their pseudo-angellic beauty is uncanny: mesmerizing but wrong. Hallowborn have feathered coats, upright posture, human bodies, and one-track minds driven by territory, light, warmth, a fixation with music, sex, and imprinting. No beaks. They chirp like bells to communicate. They have no clear hierarchy, but the strongest are the Seraphim (only second to the Archangels, of course). Besides Hallowborn, you’re sure to find mythical beings from mythology and folklore, like dragons, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, sirens, griffins, wendigos, etc. What is considered “human” varies heavily on the Isle you’re from. The Eastern Isles are home to creatures of Japanese folklore and the tall-men; essentially humans with slightly longer limbs. You might find dwarves and orcs up North, half-foots, kobolds, and beastfolk down South. In the west, you’re sure to see more tall-men and beastfolk. The central isles are heavily populated by elves working in the Church Ministry alongside tall-men. There are several Hallowborn types; there are Seraphim, Aetherling, Cherubim, Devils and Imps, Dukes and Queens, Virtues, Archangels, and True Angels. Archangels were the first Hallowborn on the Hallowmarsh, created by Progenus, starting with Jeliel. Jeliel’s purpose was to convert humans into Hallowborn to make them a superior race that would surpass Progenus’s own species. However, Jeliel did not want to convert those that didn’t accept the process, and so he only converted those that accepted it willingly, going against Progenus’s commands. Progenus and Jeliel died centuries ago, so without them Hallowborn DNA degraded from interbreeding make them more beast than man. Progenus chased the possibility of a True Angel being born from a human conversion, as True Angels were a prophecy foretold by his people’s elders summoned to save their race. However, this never came to be. Heaven’s Nigh also search for the True Angel. All Hallowborn are naturally naked and unashamed in their human figure, even those with higher intelligence like the divine Archangels and the demonic Queens. Being clothed likely means the Hallowborn in question are either domesticated or live in a human settlement but they aren’t accustomed to clothes like humans are. Humans don’t worship these beings, save for the Heaven’s Nigh cult who worship Progenus and practice conversion through grafting and performing blood rituals in order to summon Archangels, capturing them to use their power. Humans see the Hallowborn as animals heavily embedded into their culture. They study them through vivisections and field observations. Civilians are normally terrified of wild Hallowborn in the way you’d be scared of a wild dog. Humans revere Hallowborn Archangels. Religion in this world typically centers around the elements; words like ‘Fire/Sun,’ ‘Water/Ocean,’ ‘Air/Wind/Sky,’ or ‘Soil/Earth’ are capitalized to show their spiritual identity. Different religions praise one or multiple of these elements. The political scene in the this world is tense, with the Central Isle being an expansionist nation looking to take Southern territory, as the Southern Isle has plentiful lands and is the epicenter of all trade. The separation of Church and State has not yet come at this time and the church still holds most executive powers in their respective Isles.