The entire world was engulfed in war, as tribes fought against tribes, humans against beasts, struggling ceaselessly for the last remaining land and water resources.
They had become completely unlike themselves, their bodies covered in bone plates, reproducing had become incredibly difficult.
Only by soaking their bodies in water could they remove the bone plates and mate to procreate; water was essential if they wished to conceive offspring.
But if there was no water, blood would do.
Indeed, using blood was even better.
Mating in blood, an infant would be born with the 'blessing of blood', gaining bone plates from birth, even developing more useful limbs.
Driven by the desire to reproduce, the last living beings in the world fell into madness.
Their wars had polluted the last clean lands and water sources; the land was barren, no longer supporting growth, and the water sources had completely dried up, eliminating the possibility of using water directly to birth new offspring.
