Mortal Coil: Setting Info
As promised, here's the writeup for our Mortal Coil game from the play-by-post I tried to set up:
The game takes place on a world that some call M'yrrth. Approximately four hundred years ago, a cataclysm called the Bleaching took place. Whatever this phenomenon was, it made the planet's surface uninhabitable for humans. Fortunately, there was enough time for the planet's mages - wielders of powerful magical forces - to help (most of) society evacuate to a series of cities which were raised above the toxic atmosphere of the Bleaching through a mixture of arcane energy and magically-reinforced steel "stilts." To this day, a thick haze of cloud cover called the Bleach covers the entire surface of the planet. The air above the Bleach is thin but breathable (in some places more than others).
Life goes on, and so it did following the Bleaching and the evacuation. No one knew exactly what caused the Bleaching, but mages were under suspicion due to their interaction with unknowable forces, leading to heavy restrictions on the use of magic in the years following the evacuation. Technology began to develop more rapidly (aided by practicioners of a more subtle form of magic), leading to an approximately Victorian technology level throughout the planet. Folks began farming on elevated platforms using less controversial forms of magic, and mining efforts began on peaks that rose above the Bleach. Cities on M'yrrth are like island nations - often quite disconnected from one another, ruled by various forms of government, and varying substantially in quality of life and in atmosphere. Trade is carried on through the use of aircraft that can travel from one city to another, primarily zeppelins, though some cities that are not too far apart are connected by railways.
The beautiful, awful city of Coil serves as the direct setting for the game. Coil was one of the last cities to be built once the Bleaching started, was originally intended to be something of a mining outpost - the city is near a mountain range, and the builders intended the pillar to house primarily warehouses and refineries to store and process materials taken from the peaks for shipments to other cities. However, this was predicated on an overarching government ruling over the cities and directing traffic smoothly, a dream which collapsed within a year of the Bleaching. Wealthy industrialists quickly took control of the city government and the valuable real estate at the center of the city's main pillar, and outlying platforms were bolted onto the structure where necessary to house agricultural facilities, warehouses, factories, and housing for the poor. As a result, the city is a hodgepodge of platforms of various shapes, sizes, and heights, the lowest of which are perilously close to the upper reaches of the Bleach, meaning that air quality there is very poor. The various districts are likewise connected by a series of bridges, stairs, and sometimes rope ladders.
Magic:
There are four separate, though potentially related, kinds of magic present in the city of Coil.
Magic: First is the purest "magic" - the wielding of spells and obviously arcane energies. This magic is innate in nature and only a few people are capable of it - it is passed down from wizard to apprentice, and was heavily regulated following the Bleaching as people believed that mages were responsible for the cataclysm. Since the time of the Bleaching, mages have used their power to accumulate a great deal of influence and so have circumvented most of these regulations. In some areas, wizards even run city-states as direct rulers, though this is not the case in Coil.
The Line: The second kind of magic is based on heightening a person’s physical ability. This kind of magic is taught in exclusive academies which produce a cultured warrior class with essentially supernatural athletic and combat abilities. People learning this kind of magic don’t really think of it as magic - they see it as a philosophy of physical perfection called the Line. The Line involves extensive training in swordsmanship, and one member of the Line is a terrifying force when pitted against even large numbers of untrained people. The Line was developed as a kind of quasi-independent police force, but many people accuse Linemen of serving as glorified lackeys of the rich and preservers of an unfair status quo.
Magitech: The third form of magic is also taught in academies, and is also not truly considered magic by its practicioners. These magitechnocrats have the ability to bind arcane energies to physical objects, in effect utilizing magic to assist with engineering. This magic is the most diffuse and “middle class,” with magitechnocrats being employed by wealthy landowners and industrialists throughout most cities. Magitechnocrats have the ability to modify or "enhance" human bodies using clockwork parts, though this is rare within Coil. They can also create clockwork beings which act as servants - artificial intelligence is possible, but clockworks have their intellects limited to prevent this.
Alchemy: Alchemy straddles the line between magic and science. This discipline was essentially formed by the Cult of the Born God, a group that believes that they can summon their deity to earth by building a suitable vessel for him. Following the Bleaching, this cult was completely outlawed, but a secular version of alchemy cropped up, with practitioners using their craft more scientifically. In reality, the cult was not stamped out, and many of these practitioners remained believers. Alchemists also have the ability to modify human bodies using a bizarre glass-like substance.
Other Significant Facts:
No races other than humans exist in the cities of M'yrrth, though there are legends that another race lived on the planet's surface before the Bleaching and was left behind. Parents tell their children that these creatures - the Underthings - will sneak into their homes and take them back down to the surface if they misbehave.
Natural resources are exceedingly rare in Coil and throughout the planet, and are controlled by a small class of landowners and industrialists, while most people work as servants, factory workers, or miners or other workers doing dangerous high-altitude work. Metal and stone are mined from the peaks of certain extremely tall mountains, owned by extremely wealthy families. Other such families own farming systems, shipping lanes, and water farms (which are far from the mountains, necessitating sophisticated shipping, mostly done by airship and by trains that travel from city to city using sky tracks that connect them). Magitechnocrats and the Line in large part serve the interests of the upper classes. High reliance on shipping lanes also leads to air piracy at a widespread level.
The cities themselves are stratified literally as well as metaphorically. Upper classes live in the highest sections, furthest from the pollution of the Bleaching. Poorer citizens live in lower, more polluted areas (both residual pollution from the Bleaching and areas contaminated by factory waste). Some of these regions suffer from extreme disrepair, even to the point where the ground in certain places would not be level (leading to being able to tell that someone comes from a poor area based on how they walk).
The game takes place on a world that some call M'yrrth. Approximately four hundred years ago, a cataclysm called the Bleaching took place. Whatever this phenomenon was, it made the planet's surface uninhabitable for humans. Fortunately, there was enough time for the planet's mages - wielders of powerful magical forces - to help (most of) society evacuate to a series of cities which were raised above the toxic atmosphere of the Bleaching through a mixture of arcane energy and magically-reinforced steel "stilts." To this day, a thick haze of cloud cover called the Bleach covers the entire surface of the planet. The air above the Bleach is thin but breathable (in some places more than others).
Life goes on, and so it did following the Bleaching and the evacuation. No one knew exactly what caused the Bleaching, but mages were under suspicion due to their interaction with unknowable forces, leading to heavy restrictions on the use of magic in the years following the evacuation. Technology began to develop more rapidly (aided by practicioners of a more subtle form of magic), leading to an approximately Victorian technology level throughout the planet. Folks began farming on elevated platforms using less controversial forms of magic, and mining efforts began on peaks that rose above the Bleach. Cities on M'yrrth are like island nations - often quite disconnected from one another, ruled by various forms of government, and varying substantially in quality of life and in atmosphere. Trade is carried on through the use of aircraft that can travel from one city to another, primarily zeppelins, though some cities that are not too far apart are connected by railways.
The beautiful, awful city of Coil serves as the direct setting for the game. Coil was one of the last cities to be built once the Bleaching started, was originally intended to be something of a mining outpost - the city is near a mountain range, and the builders intended the pillar to house primarily warehouses and refineries to store and process materials taken from the peaks for shipments to other cities. However, this was predicated on an overarching government ruling over the cities and directing traffic smoothly, a dream which collapsed within a year of the Bleaching. Wealthy industrialists quickly took control of the city government and the valuable real estate at the center of the city's main pillar, and outlying platforms were bolted onto the structure where necessary to house agricultural facilities, warehouses, factories, and housing for the poor. As a result, the city is a hodgepodge of platforms of various shapes, sizes, and heights, the lowest of which are perilously close to the upper reaches of the Bleach, meaning that air quality there is very poor. The various districts are likewise connected by a series of bridges, stairs, and sometimes rope ladders.
Magic:
There are four separate, though potentially related, kinds of magic present in the city of Coil.
Magic: First is the purest "magic" - the wielding of spells and obviously arcane energies. This magic is innate in nature and only a few people are capable of it - it is passed down from wizard to apprentice, and was heavily regulated following the Bleaching as people believed that mages were responsible for the cataclysm. Since the time of the Bleaching, mages have used their power to accumulate a great deal of influence and so have circumvented most of these regulations. In some areas, wizards even run city-states as direct rulers, though this is not the case in Coil.
The Line: The second kind of magic is based on heightening a person’s physical ability. This kind of magic is taught in exclusive academies which produce a cultured warrior class with essentially supernatural athletic and combat abilities. People learning this kind of magic don’t really think of it as magic - they see it as a philosophy of physical perfection called the Line. The Line involves extensive training in swordsmanship, and one member of the Line is a terrifying force when pitted against even large numbers of untrained people. The Line was developed as a kind of quasi-independent police force, but many people accuse Linemen of serving as glorified lackeys of the rich and preservers of an unfair status quo.
Magitech: The third form of magic is also taught in academies, and is also not truly considered magic by its practicioners. These magitechnocrats have the ability to bind arcane energies to physical objects, in effect utilizing magic to assist with engineering. This magic is the most diffuse and “middle class,” with magitechnocrats being employed by wealthy landowners and industrialists throughout most cities. Magitechnocrats have the ability to modify or "enhance" human bodies using clockwork parts, though this is rare within Coil. They can also create clockwork beings which act as servants - artificial intelligence is possible, but clockworks have their intellects limited to prevent this.
Alchemy: Alchemy straddles the line between magic and science. This discipline was essentially formed by the Cult of the Born God, a group that believes that they can summon their deity to earth by building a suitable vessel for him. Following the Bleaching, this cult was completely outlawed, but a secular version of alchemy cropped up, with practitioners using their craft more scientifically. In reality, the cult was not stamped out, and many of these practitioners remained believers. Alchemists also have the ability to modify human bodies using a bizarre glass-like substance.
Other Significant Facts:
No races other than humans exist in the cities of M'yrrth, though there are legends that another race lived on the planet's surface before the Bleaching and was left behind. Parents tell their children that these creatures - the Underthings - will sneak into their homes and take them back down to the surface if they misbehave.
Natural resources are exceedingly rare in Coil and throughout the planet, and are controlled by a small class of landowners and industrialists, while most people work as servants, factory workers, or miners or other workers doing dangerous high-altitude work. Metal and stone are mined from the peaks of certain extremely tall mountains, owned by extremely wealthy families. Other such families own farming systems, shipping lanes, and water farms (which are far from the mountains, necessitating sophisticated shipping, mostly done by airship and by trains that travel from city to city using sky tracks that connect them). Magitechnocrats and the Line in large part serve the interests of the upper classes. High reliance on shipping lanes also leads to air piracy at a widespread level.
The cities themselves are stratified literally as well as metaphorically. Upper classes live in the highest sections, furthest from the pollution of the Bleaching. Poorer citizens live in lower, more polluted areas (both residual pollution from the Bleaching and areas contaminated by factory waste). Some of these regions suffer from extreme disrepair, even to the point where the ground in certain places would not be level (leading to being able to tell that someone comes from a poor area based on how they walk).