The world has been in constant turmoil over the scarce but renewable resource known as manarite. The manarite refinement process allowed for different forms of manarite to be used for different applications. Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous manarite allows for different applications. The world became dependent on this miraculous resource and all its benefits towards magic and technology. However, this would put different empires against each other for prestige, for honor, for supremacy, for freedom, for security, and whatever other reason people fought for.
Empires would rise and fall. Constant war would stunt the growth of technology for a time and only at times of peace would economies grow, cultures spread, and technology develop. If one were to compare our world to theirs, they'd have access to electricity and fuel and yet they would be less efficient in their consumption. Mechanical progress was slow, streamlining processes took decades, and such is the case when looking at this world's military. They did not have tanks, they did not have planes, but they had massive warships and airships; they have no magazine fed rifles, no body armor, but they have gatlings and manarite weapons. In the end technology for each country may have developed in similar ways but diverged in others.
Empires continue to fight for territory, for resources, and for colonies to feed their imperial ambitions.
Setting:
The roleplay setting is in a steampunk/dieselpunk setting with magic still being a major source of power for some nations. As mentioned, constant war has caused technology to vary and stall, while there are a lot of things that have progressed, there are many things that are somewhat stuck in the early to middle victorian era. Perhaps there are people here that still use muzzle loaders, perhaps there are people who have yet to develop electricity because of a manarite shortage - whatever the case, this gives people the chance to diversify their nations.
The map on top is a few islands within the world. Not a continent, rather think of it as like Japan, Philippines, or Malaysia. Obviously the map isn't the size of any of these places and I'd rather not get into size and rather keep it vague. The focus of this is not a super accurate representation of land mass and geography but rather the stories borne out of the nations eeking out their colonial ambitions here. There are natives of this land and perhaps they may have been left to their own devices and become independent from the colonists.
Resources:
Manarite itself is a miracle resource that can intensify magic but it also has adverse effects such as causing weird mutations or even sickness in large enough quantity. It's used as an energy source for industrial purposes and can be downscaled for the personal consumption of the individual.
Manarite is considered rare in many places but there are still underpopulated/underdeveloped places where manarite growth thrives. Seeing as manarite has become this world's oil, it's only natural that growing empires would want to keep these places to themselves.
It is usually found in two forms. Crystaline and liquid pools. However, a third way is when it forms into a gaseous state over liquid manarite lakes. In its liquid and gaseous forms, it's extremely unstable and combustible.
Races:
It is said that the existence of manarite pushed humanity to change in various ways. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and other weird and interesting people live on this world and may have all come to be because of manarite exposure. This also means that all the races are connected to humanity in one way or another.
That being said, this allows the players to have a lot of freedom in making the races for their nations.
Magic & Technology:
Magic systems and such are complicated. However, I think it goes without saying that magic in this world can be powerful, however there should be limitations. For now I'll allow people to do what they want, as long as it doesn't rub people the wrong way. I guess, what I'm saying here is...
Don't be an Asshole.
Magitech weapons and technology is all fine and dandy, just don't use magic as a replacement for energy shields or supermassive gearhulks. I too like my automaton armies and skyships, but if you're going to have massive fuckoff weapons, technology, or magic, there has to be a very good reason for you to have them. I think that's fair for everyone. At the end of the day, this is a roleplay, a game - we're here to have fun so don't get too serious about things.
If you've gotten this far that means you're thinking about it. Well I've got the general layout of the Nation sheet ready if you'd like to make the plunge. I don't really care too much if you're overly detailed or if you'd like to keep things short and to the point. But do understand that as a GM I'd have to read through several of these (Not saying I don't want to, but it's more like it'll be slower if there are many that are like more than 10 pages long). That being said, I don't mind either way, I'm always interested in what people come up with.
I'd also like to thank you for taking the time to check out this interest check. If you have anything you want to talk about or ask about the setting feel free to hit me up. I'm pretty friendly, sure I get shy at times, but I'm trying to break out of the mold. Without further ado, here's the NS.
