From the introduction:
This is a land where kingdoms have risen, only to meet a most dreadful demise. Drangleic, the most recent and greatest of kingdoms within living memory, once stood here. Besieged in a war against the giants spurred by the king’s invasion of their lands, however, and the kingdom is now no more.
What purpose do you have in these lands? Power? Truth? Riches? No matter, for if you continue to travel these lands with purpose then all are assured. With lack of purpose, you become unchained, and your self will leak upon the earth like rain until just another corpse is left.
The king, the king, the King Vendrick of Drangleic is assured to hold answers, but to seek him is to seek peril and danger. Four giant souls so powerful and ancient must be secured to take the only path left to his castle, or the ability to climb several feet of rubble.