Might & Magic: Heroes VI

Story

In the eternal war between the orcs and the Griffin Empire, led by Duke Pavel Griffin, Toghrul, an orc shaman, summons the demons to help him and his tribe get rid of Pavel. The demons overpower Pavel and kill him, but his sister Sveltana (a necromancer in disguise) is able to capture Pavel's soul in the Griffin family sword he fought with. Before she can intervene, however, an angel descends and steals the sword. Advised by the angels in the coming war against the demons, Emperor Liam Falcon issues a decree allowing Duke Gerhart of the Duchy of Wolf to exterminate the orcs in the realm. Duke Slava, Pavel's son, retaliates in solidarity with the orcs, and the dukes' squabbles prompt Archangel Uriel - Michael's brother - to intervene. Uriel decides that Slava's eldest daughter Irina should be betrothed to Gerhart in order to force a lasting peace. A decade passes, and Sandor learns that Irina is being held in the dungeons of the Wolf Duchy because she has injured Gerhart. He raises an army of orcs to free his half-sister, and the renegades flee to the Jade Ocean, where Sandor leaves Irina behind in Hashima and departs. Irina quickly befriends the local Naga and helps them destroy a wolf trading port before discovering she is pregnant with Gerhart's child. Gerhart accuses Slava of orchestrating Sandor's attack, and the two dukes are summoned before the emperor, where Slava's daughter Anastasya - Uriel's pupil and lover - kills Slava with a hidden knife in front of the court. Anton is crowned duke, but the Inquisition tries to force a confession from Anastasya, fearing she is in league with the Faceless; Anton decides to euthanize his sister before she can be tortured. He learns that Jorgen - one of Slava's former advisors - is a covert Faceless One, but not Slava's killer, while Anastasya is reanimated as undead by Sveltana. She decides to find out who made her kill her father and frees Jorgen from the Inquisition before traveling to Heresh with her aunt. Meanwhile, Kiril is left behind in Sheogh by his mentor, the archangel Sarah, where the soul of a demon prince shares his body. Desperate to eradicate the demon, he pursues Sarah as a new demon invasion begins. Sveltana is kidnapped by Anastasja's rival Miranda. Suspecting her of Slava's murder, Anastasija kills Miranda and tells her that Anastasija was controlled with a comb powered by the magic of the Faceless Ones. Irina plunders the Duchy of Wolf and kills Gerhart, and she and Sandor use their powers to eradicate the demons. Michael sends Anton to assist Gerhart against the Naga, but Anton soon learns that the Duke has already been killed. With the comb, Anastasya enters the mind of her betrayer: Uriel, who had tried to use her soul to resurrect his mother. Enraged, Anastasya destroys Uriel's spirit, and both he and Emperor Liam are killed in battle, leaving Anton to eliminate the remaining demons. Kiril finally seizes Sarah, who reveals that she sold Kiril's soul to the demons in order to cripple the Faceless by destroying their storehouse of knowledge; Kiril seizes the storehouse and frees himself from possession, while Sveltana discovers that Pavel's soul was used to resurrect Michael. After the demons are defeated, Michael asks the Griffin heirs to help him end his war against the darkness. When the alignment of the heir chosen by the player is tears, the heir rejects Michael's call to arms and leads armies against the angels alongside Cate. Michael is killed in battle and Cate manages to send the souls of the remaining deceased angels to Elrath, but the ritual ultimately results in their deaths. Or, if the heir has a blood alignment, they launch an offensive against Cate with Michael's support and manage to kill her to prevent the impending conflict. In either case, the Griffins mourn Cate's death and bury her along with Slava, while Jorgen conspires with the dark elf Raelag to instigate the war against Elrath triggered by her absence.