Setting
Setting
Archea is a fairly small world with only one known continent that shares the same name. In the middle of the continent is Aesir, the largest city from which the royal family has reigned over Archea until the extremely recent Crash when the magic network shattered and Aesir crashed back into the wasteland.
Archea was a very magic-based society for the last few centuries, and so the world has been somewhat changed. Plants have been made into hardier breeds that taste better, live longer, and yield more. The colors of certain flowers are more vivid. Entirely new breeds of plants exist out of a mage's curiosity who made them out of magic. After several years, the plants were no longer tended with magic, and so these strange plants have not become tainted. Tainted plants, water, dirt, air covers Archea in patches. Eating tainted food, drinking tainted water, touching tainted objects, or breathing tainted air can cause a person to become violently ill in a short period of time. It's like the magically irradiated parts of Aesir except in a much stronger, smaller burst.
Animals have also been similarly changed. Through careful breeding and magical influence, animals now come in a variety of shapes with different patterns in their fur, scales, feathers, and so on than one might have expected before. Mages have spent centuries creating a very wide range of fauna, and, while not always successful, there are noticeable patterns and trends. Animals now have a variety of sizes as well from rats big enough to fight back against cats to birds that can carry decent-sized packages in flight to animals such as crabs being made big enough and being altered to some extent to be made rideable.
Surrounding Aesir there is a large wasteland from where nature was destroyed to make the city rise. Eventually, the farther you get away, grass starts poking through the cracks in the ground, and the land starts to take some sort of features. In each cardinal direction from Aesir, there is an outpost. All four of these small towns make up the second half of Archea's population.
Highcliff is the outpost to the north, settled amidst the tall, snow-covered mountains. It is a fortress built out of stone, nestled against one of the largest mountains in the Northern Range. Highcliff is a mining town, older than the mountains itself, the locals say. The mountains have given another gift to the people of Highcliff: the giant rams, which the people of Highcliff have domesticated to pull their minecarts and hold a rider.
To the south lies Murkeglade, a town hidden in the dense forest that lies to the south. Scattered throughout, but only known to those who live there, lie vast meadows filled with houses and the communities that make up Murkeglade proper. The people of Murkeglade have managed to domesticate the forest elk there, and control vast herds of them. The elk are crucial to the southernfolk and all of Archea, being used for their leather, their meat, and their ability to pull great weights. The Great Elk Race every spring is a tradition amongst the southernfolk, as their elk are prized for being swift and fleet of foot over any terrain found in Archea.
To the east lies the farming community of Sharpeheath, which produces most, if not all, of the vegetables, fruits, and grains that are consumed across Archea. The mostly flat land, with the occasional rolling hill, is incredibly fertile and normally has bumper crops every year. When magic was introduced to the land, the resourceful farmers used it to ease the load on their plowhorses and to help the crops attain sizes and yields that were unheard of. However, now that magic has become unreliable, the people of Sharpeheath must now turn to the methods of their ancestors to ensure that their crops flourish to feed the entire world.
The people of Kingtip to the west are regarded as the most resourceful of all of the people in Archea. These coastal peoples have desalination plants to provide them with a constant supply of fresh water. They fish to provide seafood and go on occasional whaling expeditions to acquire the oil needed for their lamps. However, the seas are a dangerous place, due to the massive magically enhanced sharks and other beasts that prowl the waters, but the people of Kingtip have figured out in their clever ways how to fend them off when they strike, which involves harpoon guns with a massive range. Ever-resourceful, the people of Kingtip have, with a little bit of magic in the beginning, domesticated giant crabs for riding atop of, as no other large animal roams the western coastal lands. The people of Kingtip are now working on breeding riding crabs that go forwards instead of sideways.
Technology in Archea was on the rise before the Fall. Electricity on a grand scale was finally being developed, but most research on any subject has been halted due to the catastrophe. Weaponry varies by town to town, but the guns of the Aesirians have come the farthest. They’re still relatively crude, outside of the expertly-crafted bayonets of the Royal Guard, but the smaller (and less reliable) eight-shooter handguns are becoming more popular in this time. While the outposts still enjoy basic running water, the infrastructure in Aesir has all but collapsed, and sooty fireplaces and buckets have replaced the magical heaters and plumbing of the past.
History
Three hundred years ago, the mages of Archea came to the central city, the crown jewel of the continent. Pulling on the ancient ties that bind all things together, the mages planned to prove the might of magic, the strength of humanity, and the eternal majesty of the Umblelonde royal line. They drained the land of its life, killing the plants, the animals, destroying the soil and its nutrients, but they succeeded. Slowly, the ground around the city stretched into sand, and the city began to ascend, leaving a crater in its place on the ground. Relying on the stability of the magical network, the mages left it hovering in the sky, and King Umblelonde dubbed the flying city Aesir.
It remained the capitol of Archea, connected by magical transport that allowed it to function even easier than it had when it had been on the ground. All doubts about the city's safety were assuaged with this knowledge: so long as the Umblelonde royalty remained alive, the magical network would remain stable and powerful. The floating jewel was peaceful, prosperous, perfect. Not everyone, though, could be content. Acolytes of dark magic, the necromancers, the blood mages, the sinners forced from polite society into the underworld began to plot and plan a rise to power. For the last fifteen years, this underground has slowly eliminated the Umblelonde line. Distant members of the family would be found murdered gruesomely or, worse, weren't found at all.
Three days ago, assassins paid by the dark magic users killed around 100 of the remaining relatives including the King, his Queen, and their children. The magical network shattered, and Aesir came crashing to the ground.
The Crash affected all of Archea. Magic users had only a very unstable network to use for their spells. Their magic very rarely worked, often harming the magic user or the object being worked on when it had any sort of effect. Long-lasting magic effects suddenly became tainted - areas with a high concentration of these became irradiated, causing anyone who spent any extensive time there to become very sick.
Aesir, though, suffered the most. The Crash killed almost half of the population. When the city landed, the base cracked, releasing the Poisoned. When the magical network was formed, in order to keep Aesir running and floating in the sky, mages who were too strong, too weak, too troublesome were forced to add their power to the spell. The stress broke their mind, and they were kept placid only by the soothing hivemind that broke when the rest of the network collapsed. Without the network keeping them calm, the Poisoned escaped, roaming like wild animals and attempting to kill anything that isn't one of their own.
The first day after the Crash, General Sandaval of the Aesir Guard got the radio signals back up and began broadcasting to the refugees a safe place to meet in the city. The refugees started to form some sort of order.
On the third day, the strangers began to arrive.
Archea is a fairly small world with only one known continent that shares the same name. In the middle of the continent is Aesir, the largest city from which the royal family has reigned over Archea until the extremely recent Crash when the magic network shattered and Aesir crashed back into the wasteland.
Archea was a very magic-based society for the last few centuries, and so the world has been somewhat changed. Plants have been made into hardier breeds that taste better, live longer, and yield more. The colors of certain flowers are more vivid. Entirely new breeds of plants exist out of a mage's curiosity who made them out of magic. After several years, the plants were no longer tended with magic, and so these strange plants have not become tainted. Tainted plants, water, dirt, air covers Archea in patches. Eating tainted food, drinking tainted water, touching tainted objects, or breathing tainted air can cause a person to become violently ill in a short period of time. It's like the magically irradiated parts of Aesir except in a much stronger, smaller burst.
Animals have also been similarly changed. Through careful breeding and magical influence, animals now come in a variety of shapes with different patterns in their fur, scales, feathers, and so on than one might have expected before. Mages have spent centuries creating a very wide range of fauna, and, while not always successful, there are noticeable patterns and trends. Animals now have a variety of sizes as well from rats big enough to fight back against cats to birds that can carry decent-sized packages in flight to animals such as crabs being made big enough and being altered to some extent to be made rideable.
Surrounding Aesir there is a large wasteland from where nature was destroyed to make the city rise. Eventually, the farther you get away, grass starts poking through the cracks in the ground, and the land starts to take some sort of features. In each cardinal direction from Aesir, there is an outpost. All four of these small towns make up the second half of Archea's population.
Highcliff is the outpost to the north, settled amidst the tall, snow-covered mountains. It is a fortress built out of stone, nestled against one of the largest mountains in the Northern Range. Highcliff is a mining town, older than the mountains itself, the locals say. The mountains have given another gift to the people of Highcliff: the giant rams, which the people of Highcliff have domesticated to pull their minecarts and hold a rider.
To the south lies Murkeglade, a town hidden in the dense forest that lies to the south. Scattered throughout, but only known to those who live there, lie vast meadows filled with houses and the communities that make up Murkeglade proper. The people of Murkeglade have managed to domesticate the forest elk there, and control vast herds of them. The elk are crucial to the southernfolk and all of Archea, being used for their leather, their meat, and their ability to pull great weights. The Great Elk Race every spring is a tradition amongst the southernfolk, as their elk are prized for being swift and fleet of foot over any terrain found in Archea.
To the east lies the farming community of Sharpeheath, which produces most, if not all, of the vegetables, fruits, and grains that are consumed across Archea. The mostly flat land, with the occasional rolling hill, is incredibly fertile and normally has bumper crops every year. When magic was introduced to the land, the resourceful farmers used it to ease the load on their plowhorses and to help the crops attain sizes and yields that were unheard of. However, now that magic has become unreliable, the people of Sharpeheath must now turn to the methods of their ancestors to ensure that their crops flourish to feed the entire world.
The people of Kingtip to the west are regarded as the most resourceful of all of the people in Archea. These coastal peoples have desalination plants to provide them with a constant supply of fresh water. They fish to provide seafood and go on occasional whaling expeditions to acquire the oil needed for their lamps. However, the seas are a dangerous place, due to the massive magically enhanced sharks and other beasts that prowl the waters, but the people of Kingtip have figured out in their clever ways how to fend them off when they strike, which involves harpoon guns with a massive range. Ever-resourceful, the people of Kingtip have, with a little bit of magic in the beginning, domesticated giant crabs for riding atop of, as no other large animal roams the western coastal lands. The people of Kingtip are now working on breeding riding crabs that go forwards instead of sideways.
Technology in Archea was on the rise before the Fall. Electricity on a grand scale was finally being developed, but most research on any subject has been halted due to the catastrophe. Weaponry varies by town to town, but the guns of the Aesirians have come the farthest. They’re still relatively crude, outside of the expertly-crafted bayonets of the Royal Guard, but the smaller (and less reliable) eight-shooter handguns are becoming more popular in this time. While the outposts still enjoy basic running water, the infrastructure in Aesir has all but collapsed, and sooty fireplaces and buckets have replaced the magical heaters and plumbing of the past.
History
Three hundred years ago, the mages of Archea came to the central city, the crown jewel of the continent. Pulling on the ancient ties that bind all things together, the mages planned to prove the might of magic, the strength of humanity, and the eternal majesty of the Umblelonde royal line. They drained the land of its life, killing the plants, the animals, destroying the soil and its nutrients, but they succeeded. Slowly, the ground around the city stretched into sand, and the city began to ascend, leaving a crater in its place on the ground. Relying on the stability of the magical network, the mages left it hovering in the sky, and King Umblelonde dubbed the flying city Aesir.
It remained the capitol of Archea, connected by magical transport that allowed it to function even easier than it had when it had been on the ground. All doubts about the city's safety were assuaged with this knowledge: so long as the Umblelonde royalty remained alive, the magical network would remain stable and powerful. The floating jewel was peaceful, prosperous, perfect. Not everyone, though, could be content. Acolytes of dark magic, the necromancers, the blood mages, the sinners forced from polite society into the underworld began to plot and plan a rise to power. For the last fifteen years, this underground has slowly eliminated the Umblelonde line. Distant members of the family would be found murdered gruesomely or, worse, weren't found at all.
Three days ago, assassins paid by the dark magic users killed around 100 of the remaining relatives including the King, his Queen, and their children. The magical network shattered, and Aesir came crashing to the ground.
The Crash affected all of Archea. Magic users had only a very unstable network to use for their spells. Their magic very rarely worked, often harming the magic user or the object being worked on when it had any sort of effect. Long-lasting magic effects suddenly became tainted - areas with a high concentration of these became irradiated, causing anyone who spent any extensive time there to become very sick.
Aesir, though, suffered the most. The Crash killed almost half of the population. When the city landed, the base cracked, releasing the Poisoned. When the magical network was formed, in order to keep Aesir running and floating in the sky, mages who were too strong, too weak, too troublesome were forced to add their power to the spell. The stress broke their mind, and they were kept placid only by the soothing hivemind that broke when the rest of the network collapsed. Without the network keeping them calm, the Poisoned escaped, roaming like wild animals and attempting to kill anything that isn't one of their own.
The first day after the Crash, General Sandaval of the Aesir Guard got the radio signals back up and began broadcasting to the refugees a safe place to meet in the city. The refugees started to form some sort of order.
On the third day, the strangers began to arrive.