The luxury skyliner Queen Titania was a marvel of Formulization and engineering, a brass juggernaut of an airship that had all the amenities one needed to enjoy a thirty-day trip around the world. Gorgeous greenhouses full of exotic flora and avians served as wonderful areas to enjoy fresh fruit and well-brewed teas. Indoor sports gyms bedecked with equipment for all games of athleticism made friends and rivals out of the growing number of erudite youths who entered the ship at each stop on its global tour. Even the library, though it paled in comparison to Alexandra’s vastness, was a soothing marvel, all mahogany and leather as crystal players resonated classic music at astounding clarity. And even the dining rooms, both private and public, looked to be places that one ought only to go when dressed to the nines, the on-board chefs managing to delight with their crosscultural culinary creations every evening. There were no shortage of distractions onboard the Queen Titania, no shortage of entertainments and pleasures to partake for the two thousand prodigies within its spacious bowels.
But today was the thirtieth day, and the clear skies encouraged all to crowd around the concave windows of the foremost atrium to witness the one thing that the Queen Titania could not offer:
The Academic City of Bermuda, an artificial island on the equator made of brass and steel, its many towers jutting out as if to scrape at the underbelly of the airship.
Fifty years has passed since a tenuous truce rose from the ashes of the Futile War, and the crystallization of that peace now stood below the two thousand students. It was a lasting symbol of peace and cooperation, a cloistered space away that served as a neutral ground, where no individual government could profess power and where the youths who would shape the future of the world could learn to build a unified future.
But you were different.
For you were here for a specific purpose, a purpose determined by the government agency, by the secret society, that sponsored your admission to this prestigious academy. Through subterfuge and subversion, your goals will be accomplished with all the sophistication of an expert spy, all while you maintain the disguise of just another erudite student.
Those naïve fools, those sheltered academics, none would be any the wiser as you execute your schemes and machinations with precision and tact.
…
What you didn’t know, however, was that every other freshman aboard was also a spy.
The world was complete, but the rest was not.
Beyond the stretches of the atmosphere, that boundary line between life and death, rests not the vastness of space, not the allure of the celestial objects, not the fiery wrath of the Sun nor the brilliant nobility of the stars, but rather a mass of chaotic abstractions and half-formed entities. T’was the detritus of creation, left behind by the all-powerful existence that willed the world to being, and t’was the grail of forbidden knowledge that drove astronomers and philosophers to delirium and madness:
Formula, the divine calculus of the Creator, from which the world was given shape.
And through the sweat and blood of trial and error, through the inspiration and dedication of the prodigies and the passionate, the academics of the European nation-states solved the secrets of the stars and encroached upon hallowed domain. The Scientific Revolution set the Occident ablaze as Formulization was turned from a miracle to a study, countless inventions made at a blinding rate. Stones more buoyant than helium. Engines that ran without need for fuel. Towers that bottled lightning and dispersed it through the skies. And as cities changed overnight, as the lives of all within the continent improved by leaps and bounds, so too did the ambition of the powerful.
Wielding technologies that existed outside the bounds of natural laws, holding the power to distort the very fabrics of reality, the Europeans boarded their flying dreadnoughts, resolved to bring Enlightenment to the savage lands around them, and sparked off the Age of Exploration…
…but were met by civilizations who matched them in might.
In the Orient, warrior-philosophers had turned the divine science of creation inwards and casted aside pre-conceptions of humanity to actualize their martial ideals. Wielding starsteel stolen from the abstract firmament, they cleaved through false laws and mortal flesh alike, unrivalled and without peer beneath Heaven’s gaze.
In the New World, the Edenic Beasts have granted their gifts unto the indigenous empires that revered and devoured them, favouring mortal shamans and champions with eyes to perceive the Formula of the intangible. With the power to grasp the substance of storm and stream, they delivered supernatural destruction upon the invaders, becoming avatars of dynamism and disaster.
In the Dark Continent, the manifold tribes stalemated Western encroachment with their own reality-defining scripts, having teased out the truth of the incomplete universe from the inconsistencies of sunlight and moonlight. Armed with textile tools invariably more flexible in usage than the strictly-designed technologies of the Occident, they stalemated their northern neighbours across the harsh deserts and unforgiving shores.
The Age of Exploration ended within a month, every national power confident in the capabilities of their own Formulizations, and the Futile War began, a five year long conflict that maintained a bloody stalemate on all fronts and ended in a miserable ceasefire with countless lives lost and nothing truly accomplished. Whether innovative design, blasphemous alchemy, superhuman might, or skyshaping skill, none alone was enough to ensure global hegemony.
What was needed was synthesis. What was needed was the knowledge of the enemy.
On the semicentennial celebration of world peace, the Academic City of Bermuda, an artificial island off the coast of Abya Yala, was revealed to the general public. A cloistered society for the world’s best and brightest youths to convene and mingle, it was ostensibly established to form greater bonds between the next generation of Polymaths, promoting peace and progress for the betterment of the concrete planet. And though such a lie was sweet enough to be believed by the proles and the politicians, the subjects and the monarchs, clandestine government agencies and surreptitious secret societies knew better.
Bermuda was but the next stage in a war that has never ended.
Formula, the divine calculus of the Creator, from which the world was given shape.
Though to the layman, Formulization is simply an incomprehensible magic, to Polymaths, those trained in the craft of manipulating reality, it is a science that draws from all fields of human knowledge, from mathematics and physics to philosophy and astrology. A closer and yet paradoxically broader understanding of the world is what allows Polymaths to perceive the Formula that the world is composed of and thus be able to influence it. As Formulization is a craft that largely relies upon manipulating what already exists, there are still inviolable rules and limitations that must be followed, regardless of how fantastical the craft is, or how powerful the Polymaths are.
The effects of Formula spread from points of physical contact. No matter how knowledgeable, a Polymath can not influence what they can not touch, and any property or manipulation they extend must come from themselves.
Unseen Formulae cannot be influenced. Regardless of whether or not one is able to see the physical object in question, if they are incapable of perceiving the Formula that constructs it, Polymaths cannot change it.
The Formulae that construct organic beings, whether flora or fauna, are incredibly difficult to affect, due to their ever-changing nature, to the extent that most treat it as simply impossible and not worth pursuing.
The more powerful or widespread the effect one wishes to create, the more time it takes to write the script, and the greater the cost upon oneself. This cost manifests itself as Abstraction, as the Polymath’s body loses tangibility, starting from the point of physical contact. While simple rest would resolve the cost of most commonplace Formulizations, it was not uncommon for Polymaths during wartime to disappear entirely, leaving no trace of their existence. In extreme cases, the cost of Abstraction is borne not just by the Polymath themselves, but also their surroundings.
After the Futile War, all forms of Formulization were standardized into four Majors, each with various Specializations within. Though traditionalists are stubborn in the purity of their specific Major, the modern-day Polymath have at least a basic understanding of the principles and theories behind other Majors.
Technologism is the craft of altering the properties of solids. The more enduring the object is, the more permanent the effect, which allows for the creation and invention of materials and tools that would otherwise be impossible to make. Relative to other Majors, Technologists find it the most difficult to spontaneously generate powerful Formulizations, but also suffer the least from Abstraction. Traditionally, they use their dominant hand’s pointer finger to manipulate Formula, a habit partially inspired by The Creation of Adam.
The three great inventions of the Scientific Revolution (the Steam Core, the Peizogravitas, and the Telesma System) were all products of Technologism. No other Major has affected the modern era quite as much.
Dynamicism is the craft of manipulating the path of intangibles, such as liquids, gases, and energies. While they must constantly work to maintain the effects they impose with their Formulizations, this tradeoff allows them to flexibly manipulate what is impossible for Technologists to write on. Of the four Majors, Dynamicists possess the greatest ability to perceive Formulae and most of them have only obtained such an ability through the favour of Abya Yala’s Edenic Beasts. Traditionally, they use the palm of both hands to manipulate Formula, as Dynamicists physically ‘pull’ or ‘push’ what intangibles they control.
The Dynamism of Lightning is banned by the Geneva Convention, and all known practitioners are either under heavy surveillance or to be killed on sight. Historically, no one has been able to perceive the Formula of Light.
Egoism is the craft of transforming the self. Originating from the meditation and enlightenment of Oriental monks, Egoists possess no significant ability to perceive Formulae of the outer world, but instead are intimately aware of the Formulae the inner world, that of their muscles and organs, their bones and their blood. Rejecting their pre-conceived notions of self, they pursue their personal ideals instead, tattooing artful scripts upon their bodies to serve as the framework for their Formula transformation. Through this, superhuman attributes are achieved, and through this, they take on bestial traits, losing their humanity. Traditionally, Egoists tattoo their scripts upon their backs, creating displays of ink-art that grow in complexity and beauty as they veer further away from their humanity.
Though a controversial Major to pursue as a Polymath, due to how meaningless superhuman might is for most careers, the personal benefits sometimes outweigh all other consideration. In some cultures, Egoists are known as Flamechasers.
Mesmerology is the newest and least developed craft. Born from a synthesis of the three traditional Majors, Mesmerologists claim to have the ability to perceive the Formulae of the mind and to be able to alter the properties of such, allowing them to subsequently manipulate memories, reroute brain functions, and even transfer knowledge directly from one mind to another. These are merely claims, of course, and any Polymath who brands themselves as a Mesmerologist would be the laughing stock of any proper convention.
But if there was ever a Universal Genius, perhaps they would be able to do what Mesmerology promises.
In 100 AD, Ptolemy began recording the shapes of starlight, which he believed to be glimpses of the Creator’s Formula.
In 1512 AD, Michelangelo painted The Creation of Adam, commemorating both the Sistine Chapel as well as his first successful attempt at perceiving and altering Formulae.
In 1537 AD, Paracelsus completed his standardization and systematization of Technologism, becoming the father of the craft and paving the road for an academic route towards becoming a Polymath.
In 1541 AD, Paracelsus, in his hubris, crafted a Formulae script that altered the world irrevocably. The days in a year was reduced to 360. Everything within a 150 kilometer radius of Salzburg was lost in Abstraction. Paracelsus was posthumously stripped of all titles.
In 32 EE, the Age of Exploration started, ended, and gave way to the Futile War.
In 87 EE, the Academic City of Bermuda finished construction, welcoming the first generation of students.
If you've got a CS that I had no further issues with, post it in the Character Tab. Feel free to join the Discord too, for instant communications. If everyone ends up joining, that'll be 16 people, but this is fine.
Done all those. Glad to be here, let’s all get counting!
James Porter 18 | Male | 5'7" | 149 lbs Empire of Britannia | Dynamicism | Chemical Assassin
Their Story Kidnapped at the age of 7, James was trained in her Majesty's new Military Intelligence project codenamed: "Good Little Deeds". There he was taught to speak multiple languages, handle firearms, and become one of the brightest minds among Britannia's citizens. His original purpose was to infiltrate into foreign nations and gather intelligence and conduct sabotage missions. However, he had a particular talent for brewing poisonous gaseous solutions. This talent was deadly when paired with his use of Dynamicist formulations.
At first, his potent poisons were simple and needed a lot of setup before they could be deployed without risk of towards himself. That was of course until he studied a little bit of Technologism. His major talent still lied within his fine dynamic control, however, altering the specifics of his poisons with Technologistic formulations were key to his continued success.
His missions from the day of his recruitment to his current assignment have been his life. He has no childhood, no parents that he can remember (or cares to remember), and no real friends. However, he still has many of his years ahead of him and life can change in a hearbeat, his story has only yet begun. Organization: Institute of Good Little Deeds
I added a bit into this, I'll post this here since it makes sense to me to put it here first before final approval. (I am also still in search of a good looking plague doctor mask illustration.)
Alright, more or less good. Toss 'im into the cage with the rest of those savages. You've worked out the general bits of how Britain looks and feels with Click, ye?
Yup! Steampunk Victorian England with an alternate universe Queen Victoria. We also worked out a bit of history? I think we agreed that perhaps during Britannia's early forrays, they did manage to take, but not hold, some land, which would at least give some further motivation to Britannia's colonial ambitions. In a way, they want to make up for their embarrassing defeats as a proud nation. At least that's as far as we've discussed, as to what other shenanigans the Empire is up to, I don't think we've thoroughly discussed it because it depends heavily on some of the other players in different regions and on you as the GM.
You would be hard pressed to find Bang in anything sloppier than smart casual attire. Presentation is key for first impressions after all, that's what his mentors would drill into him. Not a button unbuttoned, not a wrinkle unsteamed. Neatness is its own benefit but so is the coverage it provides for the compression layer underneath.
Besides his well-kept suit, a passer-by would also notice the simple cane he walks with to compensate for the limp in his right leg, along with the glove he only wears on his right hand. If one were to bump into him, they'd likely remark on how solid his gloved appendage feels.
Their Story: It was a rather sudden thing. Foreseeable, he supposed (an observation tragic in its own right), but it was just like in the stories he’d read in the Egoist epics. His body simply moved on its own, and subsequently had 26% of its mass blown off from his brother’s abstraction.
Their father was a callous but ambitious researcher who expected his children to have the same drive as him. Early in his life, Bang was deemed the less viable of the pair, too soft and non-confrontational. He was spared from having to engage in the family’s Egoism studies. He didn’t know what his brother Khanh was put through, though his prodding around in later years told him that they were attempting more powerful but volatile experimental methods.
Bang watched his brother’s will corrode in real-time. Whatever they were doing to him in that campus, it turned a fiery-hearted young man into a seething, broken mess. His temper would snap at the slightest provocations. Whatever skin was exposed at home would be littered with tattoos and scars in equal measure. Bang could feel his heart breaking more for him with every passing week.
Fast forward two years to a tense family dinner. Another snide comment from their father about Khanh’s progress. An angry retort from the eldest son. Something was different this time though, more heated and bitter. The table and chair were toppled as he stood up, and heat began to swirl around the dining room.
“Why don’t you look at what I’ve done for you? Look at it!”
Bang recognised the way his brother flexed that hand of his, memories of their sibling brawls flashing red. Khanh was going to go all out. Little 12-year-old Bang dived in to tackle his brother away from the family and the next thing he knew he was on the ground, feeling more and more of his life force spurting out onto the tiled floor with every weak pulse in his partially erased ribcage.
They told him he was vegetative for nearly three months. That his coma was the easy part. What came afterwards would often make him wish he’d gone out in that tragedy. Occidental alloy rods were fused into his body to replace his missing bones. The new ribs were easily the worst part, but at least that was eventually done with. After that was the studying. Egoism was what literally tore his family apart, but it was also what would save his life. He took up the study of regeneration, one of the most primitive forms of Egoism. Through this, Bang was placed in debt to his father and, indirectly, the government organisation he served. As long as blood still flowed through his shamble of a body, his will was theirs.
Despite the more modern fashion of the face claim, Inti wears the traditional clothes of his homeland. Colorful, strongly woven tabards, pants, shirts and shawls. Besides when sleeping, he can pretty much always be seen in a poncho of some sort - his favorite being a big red, white, and purple item with an intricate pattern stitched in. His hair is indeed a tricolor enigma that he states he was born with. Like all of his siblings, both within his Bunch and outside of it, he sports a small tattoo of a chakana on his shoulder blade.
Inti Ruq'a 15 | Male | 158cm-5'2'' | 40kg-88lbs Tawantinsuyu | Dynamicism | Magnetism
Their Story Can one create a Polymath? What would it take to do so? Would one have to grasp the very formulae that make up the human soul, or can the perfect environment be created to condition a Polymath from birth? In Tawantinsuyu, known outside of the 'New World' as the Inca Empire, the answer lay in a certain small population of 'kurakakuna,' those families that gave their bloodlines in service to the Empire. With Edenic Beasts as their mentors, those that would have been called priests centuries ago began working with these families to create Polymaths soon after the Futile War came to a close. Early tests were all but failures, as they quickly realized that humans couldn't simply grant the ability to perceive formulae the way the great Beasts could. They turned to other avenues, and other Formulizations for the project. At it's current stage with the introduction of Egoists specializing in 'reproduction,' altering their bodies and wombs to create the perfect vessel for special children, the project has seen some success.
Tawantinsuyu's 'artificial Polymaths' number few, but they'd proven it was indeed possible! Motivated by the results of this research branch, other branches of the government turned their sights to other things that had been deemed impossible. Mesmerology, or changing the formula of a living being, maybe it all could be possible.
The next question was, how many other nations had similar projects?
This is where Inti comes in.
He is a third generation artificial Polymath - or more accurately part of 'Bunch #3', the third batch of children which could be considered homunculi. With the opening of the Academic City of Bermuda, and the subjects of Bunch #4 still too young, Inti was chosen as the representative of Tawantinsuyu. He was the most gifted with formulae of all his fellow bunch-siblings, and with a strong life force, positive attitude and a specialization in Dynamicism that was previously achieved through relentless study and use of natural mineral and lodestones, there was no better choice. He would be able to show the rest of the world the potential of Tawantinsuyu, while absorbing information about other nations at the same time.
That last part was particularly interesting to Inti himself, as growing up in a government facility could be pretty dull at times. The artificial Polymaths were treated well, raised and socialized in groups and given an approximation of 'normal' childhood, in between their Formulization studies... but they were also smart kids that could tell their situation wasn't exactly the usual. For Inti, though unquestioningly loyal to Tawantinsuyu and the only family he's known, the prospect of making some outside friends, learning about other cultures and experiencing life outside is extremely exciting. Despite any ulterior motives, he is giddy and optimistic about the semester. Organization: Qamaq Bureau
Majapahit Federation (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore) | Egoism | Animalization
Her Story A weird woman coming from an equally weird country. Bunga Kurniawan was the daughter of Wealthy Spice Merchants in the city of Palembang, a city established in 683 AD and continuously inhabited ever since. Growing up in a very Liberal, Cultured, and Wealthy environment. Bunga quickly became innately curious of the natural world that practically surrounds the great trading city. And this is when her brushes with the local community of Polymaths quite literally changed her.
They were a unique bunch. A group of Polymaths that spent their time in the University of Palembang complex studying the formulas of Floras and Faunas, a notoriously tough subject for even the most seasoned of Polymaths, and through her constant observation and help, made easier by the fact that her parents are very generous donors for the University. She began unofficial training to become a Polymath herself.
Combine this with a very good International education that her family provided for her, and the relatively open society she grew up in. She managed to make major contributions to the fields of 'natural formulae', not by necessarily replicating organic life, she even think that part of Formulaic studies is impossible, but by imbuing Formulae that mimic the traits of animals into the human body. she herself being a case in point.
How she got her animal ears was a little bit of a mystery even to herself. She was busy doing observations of the Red Fox at the city's local zoo, noting the animal's movements and patterns, perhaps in a bit to find the formulae that makes the Red Fox tick, she muttered some wordings, written some stuff that seemed to glow and disappear, and went back home. She woke up with a pair of fox ears, a significantly enhanced sense of smell, and enhanced agility not attributable from working out.
She also did that with the goat as well, gaining a pair of Horns (that she hides with a separate Formulae, those things can be very annoying when she sleeps), along with a penchant and skill for mountain climbing.
All of that happened 2 years ago, and ever since, she has been busy trying to replicate her findings, with the help of the University and even some Governmental ministries that heard of the news and got involved as well.
And that was when the Badan Pertahanan Nasional (National Defense Body) and the offer to travel to Bermuda came to her. The BPN was highly interested in the transfer of 'Animalistic' traits into the hands of Majapahit's soldiers, potentially turning the already very trained Egoist soldiers of the Federation even more overpowered, while The ministry of Research and Development will fund further research into the branch quickly being called Animalism.
And Bunga was at the forefront of that research. Currently one of the very few people in the world that has managed to transfer whole animal traits into herself. A step above standard Egoist practices.
Honestly, national defense aside, she's here only to talk with other potential smart kids, the quick and very kitbashed training the BPN gave to her was sufficient to make her hold her own in case of a fight. But really, as far as the bigshots in Jayakarta is concerned, everyone expected her to be a passive agent, not really gunning for any active threats to the Federation at this moment.
Through continuous research, and a couple of accidents, Bunga has gained a couple of traits not really exhibited among most humans. - Goat Vision (Don't laugh!): The 'goat vision' as Bunga called it, has granted her extremely sharp eyesight, able to see flies and mosquitos even at a distance of a meter or more with great clarity, and also grants her night-vision too! - Climbing Proficiency: Perhaps a part of absorbing the 'goat formulae' when she was 16, Bunga has the ability to almost innately know the best way to climb a vertical surface to reach to the top, she has climbed rock cliffs without aid with a skill exceeding that of professional climbers. Potentially useful if she has to climb something. - Goat Horns: A trait she kept under disguise, she can head-butt anyone she wanted to and probably come out the other end without any concussion or brain damage. Probably useful in a fight but she's not really one to find conflict anyway. - Fox hearing: A gift and curse, her fox ears has gifted her the ability to have the hearing range of the Red Fox, an animal that can hear a watch ticking from 40 yards away. Safe to say, if she wants to hear something from afar, she would easily pick it up. It's also super fluffy! - Fox tails: This doesn't help as much, it's just super fluffy! and a great companion when she's sleeping. - Fox speed: She can run at a speed equivalent to that of a Red Fox, a maximum of 50km/h, and 6-12 km/h when she jogs.
Organization: Kementrian Riset, Sains dan Teknologi (officially), Badan Pertahanan Nasional (unofficially)
I hope I get accepted. I'm very interested in the setting!
EDIT: Frick, ignore my post. Sorry I didn't notice the full tag in the thread.
