Two Worlds

Sometimes referred to as the Mortal World, or even The Light (versus The Dark).

The games themselves have never made cleart when events take place and dates provided for character births from the original Darkstalkers should be taken with a grain of salt, bearing in mind that it came out hot on the heels of Street Fighter which had a birth year/nationality system which the first Darkstalkers game emulated heavily and was later dropped. Timeframe is further muddled by the otherwise quality OVA Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge in that it seems to just be an active mishmash of various time periods, technological advancements, and prominent cultures. That said, it's an aesthetic I highly dig and I think it could be very cool to play with.

To put it simply, the human world is Earth - just an alternate Earth. It has all of the same continents, cultures, countries, but is scarcely homogenized. Communications technology, for instance, seem to be very low (the series itself peaked in 1997 for us, so it was fairly far removed from the concept of an "information age" like that which sprung up from Y2K), and as a result many of these cultures are more isolated than we're used to. The benefit of this is that they haven't been trampled or disrupted in the same way as our history, so specific cultural aesthetics were allowed to flourish rather than dampen. There are certain areas of the world that are still industrious and have dense populations, and the cities with the largest number of people seem to be the most advanced when it comes to technology.

Outside of them, technology and style runs the gamut from anywhere between the 12th century and the early 19th century. Even then, certain areas (or rather, specific governments) seem to have access to high tech surveillance equipment and in some capacity televised broadcasts exist, which means recording equipment does too. Vehicular travel seems to be the most contested bit, with steam trains still being a highly popular method of transportation. Cars are available but look no more new than the 1930s models, and seem to be fewer and farther between. Sometimes cars have covered wagons latched behind them, rather than them being pulled by horses or oxen, but horse drawn carriages are also still in wide use depending on the area. Generally, the more populous and wealthy an area the more advanced it seems to be with the most isolated and destitute towns and villages likened to the middle ages. Transport over sea is still often done by sail boats, while for air travel there are blimps but airplanes seem to be limited toward models from the World War II era.

Weapons and entertainment are some of the larger oddities with how widely they differ. Guns and other types of firearms exist but do not seem widely circulated. Imagine if the entire world followed most of Europe's common sense gun laws and America's ridiculousness about them didn't exist. Their makes and models likewise don't tend to exceed beyond the second World War but some exceptions do exist, such as the Uzi (the prototype of which wasn't completed until 1950) and other automatic weapons but hunting rifles and the like seem to be the most accessible. On the other hand, theater and film are definitely available and there are news broadcasts. It would make sense, then, for radio to also be a viable medium and since recording equipment exists I'm willing to say that VCRs along with VHS and other cassette tapes exist. For the shakier forms of tech that can possibly slide, nothing made after 1999 should be used by humans. If something futuristic exists then it should either actually be magitech of some kind from the demon world or it came from a more advanced civilization that is possibly alien in origin.

Aside from that, pretty much every culture that we (as a species) know of can possibly exist. Alternate history stuff is extremely viable (for instance, according to Darkstalkers lore the dinosaurs were actually destroyed by an army of robots created by an alien being 65 million years ago, that were later adopted into ancient Aztec culture). There were some specific countries/locales that were concentrated on, as the earliest release of the game still clung to giving its monster characters human nationalities, and those are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Northern Europe, Romania, Scotland, and the United States. Of course there can be more, every nation and culture is valid, but I thought these were good examples for how some things stay the same while others change. Considering the incredible possibilities that come with alternate histories, I would suggest not to tread too far off and leave most things vague; we're all going to try our best to be respectful, so I think the best course is to just keep things vague on the human side of things. We won't be dealing with their politics and histories overly much anyway, just their mythologies and superstitions.

For my own reference, I like to use the birth years provided for certain canon characters in conjunction with their nationality to determine when "in time" that particular country seems to be "stuck", as it were. So for example, Jon Talbain was born in 1940 England, aesthetically I would keep England in the 1940s. The others include: the United States in the 1960s, Scotland in the late 1600s, Australia in the late 1800s/early 1900s, China in the 1700s, Romania in the late 1400s, Brazil in the 1950s, Germany in the 1800s, Canada in the early 1900s, Japan in the 1600s, and so on. However, contemporary vibes, fashion, music, and other forms of entertainment can overlap. For instance, Lord Raptor, a zombie born in 1889, has an aesthetic that encompasses the New Wave of British Heavy Metal despite that only taking hold in the 1970s. Such things should be considered loose, rather than rules, and can be dealt with at your personal discretion. Do whatever makes the most sense for your characters and enjoyment, nothing is really contradictory at this point.

Sometimes called the World of Monsters, the Dark Kingdom, or Hell by a majority of humans. It is the origin of The Dark as a concept, and where all manner of monsters originate.

It is written in the Genesis of Makai that the "first lifeform" appeared from emptiness, and is thought to be the body of "god" so all creatures from Makai are considered its descendants. It is also written that the reign of the demon nobles began two million years ago. The ancestor of the Aensland family, demon king Zeruru, is written to be the first emperor but all writings before this have been lost and no spells exist to find the truth. It is a high possibility, acknowledged by residents of Makai, that history could have been rewritten to fit this narrative but there is no way for anyone to prove the contrary.

The majority of Makai is comprised of a single continent; the earth is the color of blood, veins of never ending pits lead into a deep abyss, the forests shudder with eerie movements, caves are filled with toxic miasma, poisonous marshes that can melt even bones, and all manner of monstrous creature reside in the dark land. The area is several hundred times that of all Earth's continents combined, including the vast sea which surrounds the land. It is impossible to determine the exact size of Makai, and not even the Emperor knows every corner of the world. The seas of Makai are separated by the Eastern Sea and the Western Ocean; the Eastern Sea is filled with flames that burn as hot as 10,000 degrees Celsius while the Western Ocean is filled with ice at absolute zero. Where the sea of fire and ocean of ice converge lies a 200km wide storm zone filled with torrential waters.

Beyond the oceans that surround the land is a highly compressed atmosphere which forms a wall that makes it impossible to travel beyond. According to ancient writings, there is a mysterious dimensional rift here which leads to another world but no one has been able to prove it. At the center of the continent lies the Devil Mountains which tower 8,000km above sea level. Within these mountains there is a waterfall which reaches the depths of 3,000km and would drag anyone who comes near it into its darkest depths. The demon world is so large that several hundred trillion creatures live in this world and have all built up their own societies and territories. Its lands are so harsh that its inhabitants must be strong from the day they are born; a human would not even last a day in this world.

The Makai is not a lawless land, despite its harshness. It is ruled by noble houses of demons with three kings, one of which serves as the ruling emperor. There are nine established noble houses, each with control over another particular territory of Makai, and each are constantly vying for their shot at one of the thrones. The previous rulers of Makai (as established within the series) were Belial Aensland, the strongest demon of the realm and the ruling emperor; Galnan Voshtal, the oldest of the three high nobles who lived for 32,000 years; and Jedah Dohma, the youngest of the demon lords. The other noble families include: House Lepe, House Maximoff, House Hartland, House Kreutz, House Gilman, and House Funechika, each with different strengths, weaknesses, and archetypes among them.

In terms of distribution of culture, aesthetic, and technology, the demon world is very similar to the human world in its range of possibilities. The noble familes of Makai generally keep a Western European fantasy aesthetic, particularly around the 1800s, while regions of the world can range far back into the ancient world. At the same time, technology such as television and news broadcasts exist, and some monster villages even seem to be set up like 1950s style suburbs. With that in mind, there should be no real restrictions in terms of style just like with the humans, but only the noble families have access to castles and other impractical forms of excess. The lower ranked a creature of the Makai sits, the more impoverished, destitute, or feral they are forced to live.

As stated previously, ancient Makai scripture acknowledges the existence of certain dimensional rifts that could lead to other worlds. While the locations of these rifts are difficult to document, there is one particular instance discovered by the nobles themselves some 2,000 years ago. Bearing in mind that monsters of all sort have been documented by humans much further back than this, it's likely that this is only the most well known, most observable, and most stable rift of its kind and that others have existed at various points all across Makai since its creation.

At the center of Makai lies a volcano known as Gilala Gila that expels a fire blizzard and has erupted since the creation of Makai. It was about 2,000 years ago that this eruption stopped without warning and in its place was a distortion that twisted all light and gravity into a black void. This void opens and closes periodically during a two week cycle, and at its widest the void creates a tunnel that physically connects the human world and demon world for only a handful of seconds. The ruling noble house around the area was the Lepe family, and its master sent a servant to investigate only to hear word of trouble. When the master went to investigate himself, he was swallowed by the void and disappeared.

News of his disappearance in this terrible void created a new fear across the land. Anyone who dared go near it would be thrown into some unknown dimension. It was feared as a bringer of death, or even death itself. The political powers in Makai decided that the rift, which they had begun calling The Gate, should be sealed. After its seal was successful, the gate stayed quiet and was eventually forgotten by most of the demon world. However, the nobles had continued researching the gate and discovered that it was a contact point between their world and another dimension that contained an incredible power; evil souls within the human world. They found that this power collectively rivaled that of the three high nobles and began to covet it for themselves. All of the noble houses began observing each others movements toward the gate, which began a cold war across the demon world.

To put it simply, the tainted souls of evil humans were sought by countless demons and monsters as not only a delicacy but a power source. They believed that if they gained access to the human world and were able to consume these souls then they would gain their power and surpass the ruling nobles. Of course, news of such an intense power source was not kept secret for long and soon even lower class monsters were vying to enter the gate.

Just a little over ten years ago, the seal upon the gate broke and the time it stayed open increased to several minutes rather than only a few seconds. This allowed an incredible influx of monsters to enter the human world, but the harshness of its light was uncomfortable for all of them and lethal to many. With the cold war now effectively an arms race, the nobles used their powers and dark magic to create a blanket across the human world. A comfortable darkness enveloped their lands and gave all manner of creature from Makai the strength and confidence to treat the human world as their playground while, behind the scenes, the noble houses began to fight each other through politics for the right to rule.