Until some weeks ago, when we had a bunch of crazy ideas about a war scene (mostly about European wizards fighting Japanese robots and American clone troopers - this last one got scrapped from the final project) and then thought "Let's add this to our setting!". After a long time of creating concepts, characters, a mildly coherent history and political scene we came up with this (I hope) brilliant piece that'll shed light on atleast the core tenets of the setting.
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When the Earth was young and yet untouched by the hand of man, a race of beings known to later generations as meta-entities thrived. With the birth of mankind, these beings saw them as potential servants and, using their greater knowledge of the magical arts, tricked the humans into submission and worship. While in time humans came to wield magic as well, they were still under the command of their "gods", waging great wars in their name. Nearly three millenia ago, two powerful wizards known only as The Archmage and Halshim joined forces in the great city of Atlantis, with the intent of sealing magic away. The Archmage saw the sealing as necessary to free humanity from the thrall of the metas and to stop the humans themselves from abusing its great power. Halshim, on the other hand, wanted to retain his soul, which he owed to an ancient being that would be killed by the seal. After all preparations for the ritual had been dealt with, the two great magi started weaving their spell. Halshim, however, soon realized something was wrong. The Archmage, disgusted by his selfish reasons, was weaving her spell in such a way that it would seal Halshim along with magic. Afraid of the catastrophic causes interrupting such a complex spell as the seal would cause, Halshim continued channeling the seal while trying to counteract the Archmage’s spell, but she steadily maintained the upper hand. This stalemate remained until they neared the conclusion of the seal, when a desperate Halshim pulled back from the seal and directly attacked the Archmage. Enduring his attack, the Archmage managed to conclude the spell on her own, leaving her attacker powerless. It was then that Halshim realized her true trickery: the Archmage had prepared a loophole in the seal, keeping magic as if hidden in a vault of which she possessed the combination. Looking at the great city being destroyed by the disruption caused by Halshim's premature retreat from the spell, the Archmage summoned all the power she still retained and blasted the entire island into the depths of the sea, killing herself but forever imprisoning the immortal Halshim underneath the sunken ruins of Atlantis.
Centuries passed and more and more meta-entities vanished. Some died slowly from having their magics locked away, while many more were killed by Umbra, a group of magi formed by the apprentices of the late Archmage. The Umbra used the same method as she did to continue their use of magic for the cause of wiping the meta-entities off the face of Earth. Come the third century before Christ, the additional mission of sealing away all credible records of magic and magical beings was also taken up by them. As a consequence, magic turned into myth and superstition over the millennia.
However, there were times when the Umbra faltered and failed, as well as meta-entities who hid and survived. The greatest shame of the magi was the Great Leak, when one of their leading wizards, disillusioned by their great task, stole a large amount of papyrus scrolls from their largest storage, the Great Library of Alexandria. He rode north for several days and hid the hoard underground somewhere in the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, enchanting the vault to be indiscoverable by anyone capable of using magic. Afterwards, he sailed west and told everyone about his exploits. Even though he was eventually taken down, his actions spawned hundreds of years' worth of conquest seeking to uncover the secret.
Even though no "leak" was as large as the great one, there were others. Throughout the Medieval period, hundreds of magi either left Umbra to practise magic in secret on their own or took apprentices behind the organisation's back. All who were discovered were killed, most of the time stealthily. It was soon noticed, though, that the masses hated these "witches" just as much as much as the Umbra did, and hunting for them was made a public sport.
Come the New Age, Umbra spread its influence throughout the globe and plucked out the supernatural where ever it was found, and ultimately even the learned and studious would not believe in it. Even the amount of rogue wizards went down; in the secular world, anything out of the ordinary started sticking out. Places not under Umbra's watchful eye grew rare. It seemed they had won.
Then, just as the world had entered the twenty-first century, all hell broke loose. The seal created by the Archmage and Halshim was rupturing as a consequence of the latter's rash actions during the procedure. In 21.6.2013, despite the Umbra's best attempts to avoid it, the cornerstone their organisation had been built on collapsed. Over months, supernatural events took place all across the world, and there was no way to hide it any more. Magic had returned.
A period of great unrest followed. Some people saw magic as a discovery that would greatly benefit humanity as a whole and encouraged its study. Others saw it as unnatural, dangerous and something that should be forbidden. All around the world, magic caused debates, protests, riots. Soon, the entire world was engulfed in conflict. Laws were passed, alliances were made, wars were fought. The world had been changed forever, in ways nobody could have seen coming...
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In this new age marked by strife, wondrous magics and exciting new technologies, the political map is dominated by the following factions:
The United States of America – Following an election, the new President quickly passes laws that outlaw magic, AI development and many applications of genetics (mostly regarding genetic manipulation on humans), receiving cheerful support from a large part of the population. The government also insitutes universal military service, in order to ”better protect America from the horrors abroad”. Following disputes with the Canadian government, the USA invade their northern neighbours and quickly take control of the unsuspecting nation, forcing many Canadians to flee the country en masse and leaving the whole of North America under the control of the USA.
South America – In response to what they perceive to be totalitarian and warlike movements by the USA, most South American countries unite under the SOL ("Sudamerica Organizada para la Liberacion" - South America Organized for Liberation), currently undergoing a process of abolishing capitalism and instituting a fully functional communist system. Meanwhile, discoveries of ancient nature magics left by ancient civilizations pushes the SOL to greatly focus on this brand of magic and attempting to create eco-friendly technology.
Europe – The different countries of the European Union realize they need to become more united to face the international threats arising. The European Parliament becomes an authority above the individual governments, with the different countries surrendering their militaries to the control of the Parliament to ensure equality and avoid inner conflicts. Seeing great potential in scientific applications and studies of magic, the EU is the faction that most employs both magic and technology, being the prime user of magitech.
Japan – A great breakthrough in the field of robotics is achieved and a race of sentient and intelligent machines is created as a result. These beings are dubbed ARCS (short for ARtificial Computerized Sentience). After initial turmoil between ARCS and humans, the two races eventually manage to coexist in harmony. To maintain equality, it is decided that magic should be restricted to the humans, to compensate for the ARCS' superior intelligence and military capabilities, leading to magitech being forbidden. Manual labor and most military operations are carried over by non-sentient robots, with powered armor becoming standard issue for any human or ARCS soldier, while officers lead their troops from heavily armored mechas.
Korea – A few short years after the Great Unsealing, North Korea strikes its southern neighbour out of the blue. The armies of the People's Republic are now boasting beastlike supersoldiers which are massive, deadly, subservient and showcase magical qualities. It takes a month for South Korea to fall, and by that time all foreign states interested in the conflict have realised that North's new soldier breed are too dangerous to tackle without further intel. In the coming months, the Communist Party makes sure to show the power of its minions at every opportunity. No one has yet been able to determine the origin of the creatures, though a likely clue was discovered recently: the budget of the nation's genetic engineering studies has quintupled since the unsealing.
China - With their economic growth, which is almost entirely credited to free market, mainland China gives up communism and grows a strong traditionalistic streak instead. As magic returns, dragons are discovered in the Himalayas and the nation immediately begins a breeding program to bring life to the dying species. In another display of traditionalism, the military also begins training their soldiers in using a brand of magic that complements their physical abilities. As a result, they develop superior speed, strength and accuracy and some even manage to generate the so called "ki attacks".
Middle East – After metas have become public knowledge, Allah reveals himself to the population. The Islamic countries rejoin once again as a new Caliphate, with Allah deciding to remain distant so people don't depend on him, but offering occasional advice to the Caliph and even to the whole world through his speeches. As its answer to the many radical changes around the world, the Caliphate invests large quantities of money into teleportation magitech, enabling them to create assembly lines that instantly warp the components into the finalized product, be it machinery, weaponry or even entire buildings.
India – After the discovery of meta-entities, worldwide reactions are mixed. While some nations simply remain neutral towards them, nations such as the USA and Korea declare them abominations to be destroyed. Seeking refuge, most of the still remaining meta population concentrates in India, one of the few places where a wide meta pantheon still has some influence. In cooperation with some of the oldest metas and capitalizing on the importance meditation already has in their society, a group of magi creates the ”Nirvana”, a mystical link connecting the minds of the people, allowing them to constantly share their surface thoughts and emotions with eachother, in an attempt to achieve better understanding and unity. The military also does its spin on the idea, training certain units to employ the Nirvana to the point of their sensory information melding, allowing them to work with an incredible synchronization rate.
Russia – After ancient spellbooks written by Grigori Rasputin are unearthed and the magic within tested, the Russian magi quickly take to the brand of magic detailed within: necromancy. The major political and economical leaders are turned into liches, with Vladimir Putin himself becoming the Immortal Leader. Necromancy also starts being used medically, mainly to reanimate dead tissue for a short timespan of up to two years. After death, people's bodies are reanimated to serve as free manual labour (mainly as zombies, though the military does employ more exotic types of undead) while their souls are collected and sent through a refinement process that turns them into energy.
Ethiopia – A team of alchemists discover a method of creating a highly energetic resource, then named hamranite. Since oil has pretty much run out by this point, most of the world (except Russia) quickly becomes highly dependant on Ethiopian exports of hamranite. The government refuses to share the secret of how to syntethize it and threatens to destroy their entire stock and their production plants in case any foreign nation attempts to obtain it by force. As a result, Ethiopia becomes a tremendously rich country and devotes its wealth to improve living conditions all throughout Africa. Alchemy quicly becomes ubiquitous in Ethiopian life, from allowing easier production of many substances to weapons research (from super-napalm to heat-absorbing bullets). All the while, seemingly random mishaps plague the collecting of what oil there is left and the research of alternate sources of energy. Conspiracy theorists blame the Ethiopian government for this, but nobody can prove a thing.
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So, read that and post any comments of questions you have. Criticism is always appreciated, whether good or bad.
I'll post some extra stuff soon, including a political map of the entire Earth. Keep watching!
PS.: You can find some discussion on UFS in this Scrolls of Lore thread. Have fun!
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