Drawing on folklore, westerns, and epic fantasy, Morrison and Mora intended to craft a brand-new sexy Santa for the modern age.

The origin chronicles Klaus, a wild man of the winter and the forests on his mission with his pet white wolf Lilli, to restore joy to the sacred holiday of Yuletide.

Set in the totalitarian town of Grimsvig, wherein joy is forbidden and Yuletide is outlawed, the series casts Santa Claus as a V for Vendetta and Robin Hood-esque figure, fighting its fascistic Lord Magnus, and the greater demonic force behind him.

Despite the walls and sealed gates, Klaus slips into Grimsvig at night and distributes the toys among the children of the poorest families, and defacing a portrait of Magnus.

When night falls again, Klaus tries to reach the gates, knocking out several guards (and building one into a snowman as a joke), before he is cornered by a pack of hunting dogs.

Magnus orders his men to guard the doors of every house, so the children burn these wishes in their fireplaces, hoping they will reach "The Santa" through the chimneys.

In flashback, Klaus's story is told: as an infant, he was discovered in the forest, clutched in the arms of his mother, who had frozen to death, but miraculously alive himself.

Later, while the young Klaus was a captain of the town guard, Magnus poisoned the lord and put the blame on him, driving him outside the walls to die, but he was saved by Lilli, whose life he had spared while she was still a cub.

Jonas's letter lures Klaus into a trap laid by Magnus's men, and he is barely able to escape the walls, wounded by a poisoned arrow.

Before it can devour any of them, Klaus appears on a flying sleigh pulled by eight white wolves, Lilli leading, and wielding a great sword.

Klaus subdues the demon, but is stabbed from behind by Magnus, who demands that Krampus fulfill its half of their bargain: giving him the kingship, and the love of his family and the people.

The demon seizes Jonas and converts Klaus's sleigh into a dark chariot pulled by hellhounds, and flies into the sky, declaring that "all bad children belong to me!"

After her funeral, Jonas, now middle-aged and the new lord of the town, sees Klaus preparing to depart in his sleigh to bring joy to the rest of the world, but promising to return once every year, when things are at their darkest.