There will be a new Empire, but not a Roman one.
All monsters arise from the collective imagination and psyche of mankind.
The old gods are constantly trying to escape, and regain their power in the world. Humans of earlier days used to worship and sacrifice to them routinely, but as humanity progressed we've come to limit their direct power and exert control over them.
Organized societies have dedicated themselves to both imprisoning and maintaining humanities control and dominance over the old Gods.
Initially these men and women were part of the priesthoods and ruler class over civilization, but as they became better and better at keeping the gods at bay, laypeople began to forget.
As they forgot, the old gods histories became shrouded in myth and legend. In modern times they become even less respected. Old stories are not just forgotten, but mocked.
New religions arose, initially as a rebellion against the old priesthoods, but eventually the old priesthoods themselves become forgotten.
It got so bad that the priesthoods had to integrate themselves as much as possible into society to remain relevant, and we got secret societies well connected to powerful world players but no longer a recognized part of the.
Groups like the Templars, Hashishin, Illuminati, Masons, Rosicrusians, Niberians and Elders of Zion all became background powerhouses, although largely ignored by most.
But still with power and money supplied by the "legitimate" rulers .
As society traveled ever farther away from it's knowledge of the Old Gods, and their power, generally the secret societies (they work together very closely) thought it best to remain hidden. Their goal was always to protect humanity, not control it.
The idea that such powerful creatures as the Old Gods are a constant menace would push back enlightenment, science, and belief in our ability to control our destiny so much that it was feared we would never be able to finally break free of them if we knew they existed.
The societies keep them trapped until humanity was powerful enough to be free forever.
But, the gods are ever present, and despite their imprisonment they escape into our consciousness, into humanities psyche. They bleed into our culture.
And our own minds create their minions. At first it was creatures in the night, terrible giant animals that feed on the flesh of men, as we slowly pushed back the natural world, it became barbarians, enemies at the gates, illness, plague, as we pushed back, we create our own demons and the Gods empower them into existence. Not consciously, but by feeding our fears with their power.
So we get SJW-warriors, liberals, homowreckers, ghosts, robots, zombies, dindus etc.
Anything humanity fears, it is culturally specific, but it is fed always by the Old Gods.
The Monsters are not beings of flesh and blood, they are manifestations of our greatest fears. They are not programmed, they exist because we created them.
IF there was no humanity, there would still be Old Gods, but no creatures to prey on us.
