Previously in the midst of a large-scale, cooperative effort by the corporate powers (backed by government military) to colonize the final, unsettled continent, Antarctica has become a restricted area patrolled constantly by military and private corporate forces to prevent the unwitting from making contact with the fog that now enshrouds the entire continent. The patrols also double as reconnaissance, searching for any openings or changes in the wall of dark gray mist that towers high into the sky. All information about the projects that had been ongoing in Antarctica have been pulled from public records, presumably for investigation by an independent commission. Word on the street is that they’re hiding something, but many dismiss this as conspiracy theories in the wake of what is clearly an upcoming Great Calamity that’s surely nobody’s fault. Prior to the continent going offline, pictures of biome constructions and industry developments had been touted by real estate corporations as the new ‘luxury’ living, with sweeping landscape views and clean, unpolluted air where buyers could become the first to own hot property on the world’s only true terra nullius.

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A hidden research facility known to very few members of the public. Those who are bit more tech savvy, or magical enough to be, have found reams of redacted documents and data for what should have been just a standard ecological observation and research post in the south pole. It’s generally agreed among the undersides of the net that the censoring could be as much a result of general corporate overcaution as it could be a conspiracy. The tinfoil hats still scream of a grand cover-up, but what data has been gleaned seems to merely show general fragments of reports on temperatures and wildlife records.

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A dormant volcano in Antarctica that was the site of a proposed theme park and potentially tourist attraction. Construction had been progressing steadily with extensive use of magitech and Starweavers, but the fog had cut all communications with the team when the research facility exploded. The last transmission from the theme park construction crew was pulled by netizens shortly after the catastrophe, a brief, 10-second recording of a drawn out, tuneless humming that seems to fade from the microphone as the distant voice of someone in the background shouts to ‘Seal the fucking doors!’ Speculation has only arrived at a dead end, though, and no information is forthcoming from any of the corporations involved.

The central trading hub of the world in 2050 and a prime destination for most races to live or do business. Having expanded to nearly 10 times its size in the early 2000’s, New York is now nearly its own country on par with the Vatican (whose monotheistic beliefs continue to praise a God for His creation of the universe). Most megacorporations like Disney, Apple, and Google, now headquarter in New York, each with large tracts of land dedicated to their base of operations usually consisting of barracks for their private military forces, company-specific housing for their employees, and various R&D centers pushing the bounds of ethics, one project at a time. Despite the powers that exist, many CEOs of major corporations continue to be humans, albeit nowadays of the magically gifted and enhanced varieties. Demihumans are generally more popular than regular humans in New York, their visages gracing billboards, posters, and large-screen advertisements in the vaunted Times Square. Starweavers, as common as they are relative to past eras, are still not common enough to be found on every corner. The presence of one has the same effect as the public catching sight of an A-list celebrity. Some revel in the attention while others keep a low profile, but it’s no secret that Starweavers are particularly welcome in the new commerce capital of the world.

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The famous tourist attraction of New York no longer hosts the New Year’s ball drop, instead seasonal events are headlined by some of the most popular Starweavers and demihumans in the country from the literally enchanting songstress Starweaver, Mia Sharpe, to the magic-defying acrobatic feats of ‘dreamboat Daeva’ performer, Tarkhan. Times Square has also been the sight of many a protest in recent years over the Japanese treatment of demihumans, with notable talk show personalities and celebrities speaking out against the poor state of sentient rights in other countries, but most egregiously Japan as a country that still holds the patent rights to much of the magitech circulating the world.

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Well, the torch arm on the statue was accidentally lopped off at the elbow in a fight between a branch of Foci, the most notorious anti-Starweaver faction, and a Starweaver they were targeting, but the government isn’t making a big deal out of it because it was the Starweaver who did it. The arm has since been replaced with a better magitech version superficially modified to look the same as the rest of the statue’s weathered copper. Foci was given the blame for the entire incident anyway and indirect blame for damaging a historical monument, which the borderline-terrorist organization seemed to have taken a dislike to as motifs of the statue’s severed arm against the backdrop of the offending Starweaver’s starmark began propagating around the internet soon afterwards, usually accompanied by inflammatory comments such as “Starweavers can get away with this arm. Wait until they get away with yours.”

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A restaurant and bar chain favored by demihumans and Starweavers. Its iconic neon sign of an androgynous merfolk sprawled across a rock and sipping on a cocktail has become a beacon in the night for demihumans looking for a good time. The restaurant features both lounges for the guests and individual rooms for more private outings, looking more elite than its prices would indicate. Under the table deals between demihuman-exclusive gangs usually happen behind closed doors at the Tipsy Temptress, and the backroom features dancers of all races and talents. Owned and managed by an enigmatic Starweaver, the police tend to turn a blind eye to whatever happens in the Tipsy Temptress establishments; things there will either work themselves out or they’ll be forced out of the location’s unspoken protection.

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An extremely prestigious institution (arguably the world’s best institution of astrology) that welcomes only the most adept of astrologers to its ranks. The ancient craft of astrology has blended easily with modern science, as hereditary astrologians have never denied that stars were also collections of gases in the distant space of the universe. What sets the astrologians of the MAR apart is their unique insight into the way the stars move, die, and are born, the minutiae of which form messages to take heed of and often foretell the awakening or death of Starweavers, who are intrinsically bound to the stars which are, in turn, also bound to them. It’s a bit of trivia knowledge that the name ‘Starweaver’ was modernized from a dead language used by the first astrologians to refer to them as those who ‘write the stars’.

A major information market ever since the collapse of the totalitarian regime that was China during the third Great Calamity. As a side effect of the rogue Starweaver’s rampage, many surrounding countries suffered great destruction as well and in the aftermath it was by luck that Hong Kong established itself as a ruling power first, with much of the major Eastern powers and organized crime syndicates flocking there to get a foothold in what would undoubtedly become a central location. With so many power sources concentrated in the city, it was only a matter of time before reconstruction was well underway and now Hong Kong flourishes in both crime and prosperity. Nowadays, it’s the backdoor of the country, and anyone who wants anything important comes and goes through there. The city is entirely controlled by three major gangs that constantly jockey for dominance, though an unspoken, tripartite truce keeps everyone from starting an all-out war for the moment.

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The eastern side of Hong Kong is controlled by the Tien Tao Meng, a Taiwanese gang that rose to prominence on the back of the third Great Calamity, taking advantage of the chaos to shift the balance of powers in their favor. Now they peddle a veritable cocktail of drugs in their territory, turning their already volatile portion of the city into a den of dilapidated houses, unfinished construction projects, and people who live as little better than the walking dead. The Tien Tao Meng source their drugs from both local and international suppliers and have recently been infringing on the territories of the other gangs.

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The southern and a bit of the southeastern end of the megacity belong to the Four Seas Gang, one of the larger criminal organizations in China whose leader had the wherewithal and luck to escape the annihilation that followed the beginning of the third Great Calamity. Posing as more ‘gentlemanly’ than their Tien Tao Meng counterparts, the Four Seas Gang keeps a strict, but peaceful hold on their territory and most of the city’s residents are left in peace as long as they pay the gang’s taxes. Doubling as ‘protection’ for the residents, the Four Seas Gang keeps the unsavory members of the Tien Tao Meng out as much as possible, though recently the uptick in skirmishes has left several of the upper ranks concerned about the Tien Tao Meng’s activities.

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Originally a non-criminal organization, the Mun Ji Dong group extended its shipping business into human and demihuman trafficking once it was clear authorities would have no sway over them in the reborn Hong Kong. In part due to aligning with powerful Starweavers and in part due to having the backing of some of the world’s wealthiest people, the Mun Ji Dong have rendered themselves virtually untouchable to the other two gangs in Hong Kong. Besides having the wealthiest, most well-supplied territory, to attack the Mun Ji Dong is to attack everyone they’re connected to, including the top research centers in Japan that rely on the Mun Ji Dong’s networks to procure test subjects.

Leading the world in magitech innovations, soon after the third Great Calamity, Tokyo’s research departments were the first to create long-term magitech weapons that contained a self-sustaining magical power source rather than requiring a recharge every few months. Sure, it took a few unwilling demihuman sacrifices to see the project to completion and maybe the research centers were viciously attacked for decades afterwards by various resistance and sentient rights groups, but things eventually settled down when a contracted Starweaver wiped out most of the opposition on behalf of the government. Tensions between races and Starweavers are high in Tokyo as a result of this, but so far nothing has yet come to a boil. As far as the research teams are concerned, that means everything worked out fine.

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The pioneers of modern magitech advancements and host to some of the world’s brightest minds, the NIASMT still retains much of Japan’s nationalistic ideals, with most of its researchers hailing from Japan or possessing only Japanese citizenship. Despite the prestige of Starweavers, even Starweaver demihumans in Japan are treated almost like second-class citizens and very few are allowed to work on projects in the NIASMT. The country pays lip service to the concept of sentient rights and the various international treaties that have been signed regarding them, but as with most world superpowers, there’s no one to hold them to account. The NIASMT in particular has been rumored to use demihumans in highly unethical projects, but with strong government backing and the ability to silence and suppress any nosy journalists, the institute outputs almost yearly breakthroughs both big and small in magitech innovation.

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A reknowned research center specializing in biological studies, the RIKΞN QBC is one of many RIKΞN centers in the country and the only one officially approved to perform human and demihuman experimentation. The Center, as it’s often referred to (and no one who’s aware of it would mistake which center), looks to not only create new races from the existing ones, but also to magically and permanently enhance the human race so that there is ‘equality’ among the many races. Holding onto a vaguely human supremacist mindset, the Center was the first to create a pseudo-Starweaver subject by transferring the consciousness of a Starweaver into the body of a regular, vegetative human. This success lasted for an entire 5 seconds before the test subject’s body broke down and the Starweaver’s consciousness was permanently lost. In fear of inciting the wrath of other Starweavers, the Center has already released a novel’s worth of public statements and apologies, along with promises not to repeat the experiment until a ‘perfectly safe method’ was found.

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There has been a light mist over this notorious site in the wake of the Antarctic disaster. After some initial panic, there was no indication the mist had any of the same effects, so much of the furor has since died down. The only remaining unease is that the mist never seems to go away. A Starweaver also lives here. Japan’s strongest Starweaver (as much as they can lay claim to him since he insists on staying in their country) is a Daeva whose Starweaver ability allows him to seal away the powers of others, seemingly for an indefinite period of time. He has had mixed success against other Starweavers and now hides deep in the forest of Aokigahara, refusing to interact with the world at large. It’s clear there are many who would like to see him dead, at the very least to test the theory that their powers will return if he dies. There are even more who would prefer he live for as long as possible, or at least longer than some of his victims.

Though a large variety of other ‘races’ do exist beyond the playable ones, most are either feral or feral enough that they cannot adhere to any form of civilized society. From the rabid merfolk who only look half-human to the less intelligent of the Fae race, then to the many more unnamed varieties living among the normal, non-magical animals of the world (and can hardly be distinguished from them sometimes), these beast races are outcasts on the fringes of society and aside from the occasional exotic pet, it’d be difficult to find them in any populated area. Like owning an alligator or a cheetah, any owner of the more feral species must go through the proper checks and paperwork to ensure the creature won’t be a danger to itself and others.

Versatile and innovative, humans have married science and magic to create the magitech that now powers much of civilized society, bringing about a dawn of convenience and prosperity for much of the world. Despite being comparatively frail relative to the other major sentient races, they aren’t limited to any specialization and many human mages boast a variety of spells that covers the grounds other races fail to. Though human magic is significantly weaker than the specialties of the other races, this weakness actually allows spells to be combined on the fly for multiple varied effects at once without needing multiple casts. Having learned by now that powerful magicks fail to mix well without some extra work (or a Starweaver-brand ability), human ingenuity has developed several standard curriculums of rapid-fire, low-cost combination spells for all its mainstream mage courses. The result is devastating efficiency and bewildering variety if allowed to continue casting unimpeded.

Humans don’t use natural energy like the Fae, physical energy like the Daeva, or celestial energy like the Mal’akh, but an individualized energy that seems to come from the ‘soul’. This concept is still being rigorously studied and tested, but it’s been verified repeatedly that human magic is entirely different from other races, yet can mimic to a lesser degree their various effects. What mankind has to worry about, however, is the lack of capable mages in their midst, as few humans truly master magic to an extent that cannot be replicated by magitech or surpassed by the other races.

Human magic usually involves a short channeling period, followed by the spell’s output. During channeling is when human mages can weave in other spells if their control is strong enough, but most stick to the safe number of three spells combined at a time. Training and understanding the concepts of calling forth the magic (which feels a little bit like the body’s squeezing itself inward) is a necessity for both enhanced humans and magically gifted ones. The idea of ‘manifesting your will’ has enough magical literature to fill libraries.

Enhanced variants are often humans without any magical inclinations who have opted for the experimental (and often times permanent) injection of magical properties. This is normally done in the form of storing ‘non-perishable’ desired magical effects into a temporary magitech core, similar to what powers the current magitech weapons. This core is then tested for compatibility and then embedded into the human recipient, granting them the desired magical affinity. With enhanced humans, the power output is significantly weaker than normal magical humans, but the transplants allow more fine control as the magitech core is already calibrated for the specific individual. Many enhanced humans use their powers to aid in work or lifestyle management and it’s seen as something generally beneficial and recommended for those inconveniences and common problems in life—-if you can afford it. Inherent magic and enhanced modifications tend to magically clash, so it’s not normal for the already magically gifted to undergo enhancements. In the rare instances it happens, certain mystical medications and suppressants are prescribed to keep the magical reactions in check.

In common parlance, the ‘angels’, once believed to be celestial beings bearing the messages of the universal will. Nowadays, they’re considered quite common, though many people still hold great respect for their origins from stardust, their siren-like voices, adept and highly beneficial (though slow) healing abilities, and graceful aerial maneuvers. Their wings come in many shapes and colors and are used to rapidly condense magic for long-term storage and casting rather than to actually fly (which they simply do with magic). Notable traits are their obvious wings, which can be attached or detached, but tend to hover very close to them; the unnatural colors of the eyes and hair; and the enticing sounds of their voices. Despite their abilities, they’re physically fragile and when exhausted are merely easy pickings. Their spells flashy and wondrous things, but are slow to channel and often leaves them an easy target while they concentrate.

The Mal’Akh wings have been the subject of many a study and magitech has done a poor job of replicating the efficiency with which the wings store energy. As the Mal’Akh draws their energy from the heavens, they were once believed to be the heralds of Starweavers. Only in recent times have astrologians clearly distinguished the two parties, where one is born of the stars as a natural matter of course while the other is explicitly chosen. Energy stored in the wings can be released all at once in a self-destructive explosion, which has been the cause of several detonations in certain wars and attacks. Otherwise, the Mal’Akh can siphon away their energy reserves to other races if need be, but the poor efficiency of the conversion from celestial energy to other types of magic means this is normally a last resort.

While the Mal’Akh share with the Daeva unusual eye color, they’re not known to have any strange scleras and their irises are almost always a lighter shade of certain pigments, or several at once. Their hair usually matches their eyes, however many hues there might be. Thanks to this natural color coordination, fashion brands love to employ Mal’Akh models for their shows, particular those with more iridescent shades of eye and hair colors.

A race comprising creatures born the depths of the earth. Their most distinguishing characteristics are their unnatural pallors ranging from any number of shades blue to gray, black scleras and/or unusually-colored irises, tails, and horns. Proud of their horns, which can come in many shapes and sizes, many Daevas tend to accessorize them extravagantly, either with jewelry or dyes to accentuate their outfits and hair. Their tails come in high varieties of multi-tails, single tails, fire tails, glowing tails, and the like. The uniqueness of a tail’s appearance lends to a bit of pissing contest culture between more flamboyant Daevas and they can often be seen discussing tail and horn care routines with each other.

Their various abilities focus around greater physical and mental strength and enhancements thereof, making them the clear opposition to the Mal’akh. Many of them form the backbones of militaries and police around the world, while even more are part of paramilitary forces for hire. Highly resistant to damage, they’re the perfect race for combat or heavy-lifting, but fail spectacularly when it comes to providing direct magical support or healing to others. It’s said a Daeva will do their own job only and no one else’s.

Daeva magic is more physical in nature, with a well-kept physical form providing more inherent magic than those who are out of shape. It’s extremely rare to find a Daeva who isn’t a fitness nut, as their training and practice is more straightforward than the magical control of other races. The better their physicalities, the better the effects of their magical enhancements. In combat, a Daeva can solidify skin to impenetrability, amplify strength in bursts for great feats, run fast enough to leave blurs, and contort and twist where flexibility is needed. Their natural mental fortitude also prevents them from being easily manipulated by magic that would affect the mind and they can amplify this further to prevent casual mind-reading or brainjacking.

The race once believed to be descended from forest- and nature-based origins, though much of the old lore is now lost to time and the results of the first Great Calamity. They channel a variety of utility magic and boons rapidly and precisely, but also tire of casting just as quickly. Though traditional Tinker Bell-type fairies are the most common variant, this race comes in many forms and sizes and usually prefer to speak the Old Tongue (a language which comes naturally to all who have Fae blood) with one another when purposefully excluding those not of their kind.

The weathered song of the Old Tongue also channels the natural magic of the world to aid in another’s casting or concentration, but loses its efficacy the more diluted the Fae blood. Unlike the other major races, the Fae have clear distinctions in abilities between pure-bloods and mixed-bloods and discourage interracial unions. Though some forms of the Fae may resemble the Daeva at first blush, the Fae invariably possess far more animalistic characteristics than the Daeva from cloven hooves to animal ears both common and more mystical. Extreme variants of the Fae folk resemble little more than walking trees or floating motes of light, though these would be counted more as fringe members of the race as their sentience isn’t up to par.

Pure-blooded Fae can move plant, air, and soil at will, forming constructs to hide and protect or pushing the wind to hurricanes. A powerful lineage also allows a Fae folk to strengthen and expand the effects of other magicks, as natural magic blends well with other types. The Fae have no natural form of magical energy storage, though, since they borrow nature’s magic rather than possess it, and channeling the force of the earth itself is taxing on them. They’re not known to be front line fighters and can often be found accompanying others as support. What they lack in magical stamina they make up for in variety and even to this day researchers are still cataloging different abilities and variants of the Fae race. Though information is still inconclusive on the Starweaver that was an entire Calamity unto himself, the working theory is that he was at least partially Fae as the earth shook and moved with his will before yawning chasms opened to swallow his victims whole, their bodies mashed and ground into the dirt at the bottom of their descents until there was nothing left.