Centuries, the underside of the world became a battlefield once more. Two previous wars have already made the concept of 'battle' a tradition amongst those who lived in the shadows of the human world. It was from this that, spurred on by a perceived slight upon their honor, the Jotnar instigated what would be known as the Third Fimbulvetr War. A powerful clan of magicians hailing from the north, they thought of their defenses, both magical and physical, as impenetrable. Others may be forced to retreat, but the stronghold of the Jotnar would stand, resilient against all forces.
Bearing the Yggdrasil Seeds, a unique weapon that had been monopolized by their family for decades, they marched into battle. Their clashes against lesser clans were thought to be acts of God, natural disasters, terrible plagues. With the might of True Magic in their hands, and legions of hired warriors to do their less subtle attacks upon their enemies, the Jotnar met little opposition from their enemies as they marched through Europe, engaging in the family past time of 'war'.
Yet, such confidence became their downfall, as, through their nonsensical rampage, they turned the rest of the magical community against them. The advent of Rune Magic, once thought to be a passing fad with little substantial use by magical authorities, marked the start of a revolution. No longer would one have to perform the long and cumbersome incantations of more powerful spells in the heat of battle, and one simply had to follow instructions in a 'spell book' in order to manipulate forces that would shake the very earth with their might. Talent, while still important, became less and less of a deciding factor as the war continued, while the revolution of Rune Magic allowed for even an average magician, granted he had enough preparation, to face off a more powerful one.
Faced with the swarms of rune-magicians they had alienated through past crusades, the Jotnar clan was forced to retreat, their Yggdrasil Seeds lost with every battle, their mages cut down by magics that could once only be used by those who studied for dozens of years. Soon, on the brink of annihilation, with only three members of the main family left in the stronghold of Jotnar, and their enemies all around, they made one final decision.
To materialize the World Snake, Jormungandr.
In a forbidden ritual drawn in the blood of the thirty-eight members of the branch family who were unable to participate in the war due to age and disability, they called forth the unholy beast from the sea that bordered their castle. Bound with the soul shackles of thirty-eight magicians, the World Snake ascended from the sea, splitting apart the heavens as it stretched. The sea turned red from its arrival, stained by the poisons that slathered from its gaping maw, which curved upwards in the shape of a terrible smile. With a single tremble of its serpentine body, it shattered the magical bindings that first restricted it, before placing the full weight of its body onto the castle of those that foolishly called it into the mortal world.
And then, just like that, the World Snake, herald of Ragnarok, changed the Third Fimbulvetr War into a fight for the survival of humanity.
Wrapping itself around the planet, it began a slow constriction of the surface of the earth. The crust of the earth buckled under its strength, and devastating earthquakes wracked the world. Volcanoes spewed out lava and ash, the blood of the planet being squeezed from its pores. Mountains were made and remade. Incapable of destroying the beast, whose main body was sunk tens of kilometers into the ocean, the mages realized that the only option was to either return it from whence it came, or to seal it in a separate space.
It was during the halcyon days of winter that archmages from all over the world gathered, stepping through a portal into an unknown continent, in which rested the head of Jormungandr. The Right Hand of God, the Maiden of Versailles, the Will of the Emperor, the Archduke of Skandia, the Rune Sage, the Knight of the Lake, the Clockwork Genesis, the Phantom Army; all those legendary figures and more mustered their great powers, and even then, had no fantasy of being capable of destroying the beast. Instead, it took three days and nights of desperate struggling to even restrain the beast long enough for them to construct a separate dimension in order to seal the World Snake in.
Through the combined sacrifice of the Right Hand of God and the Phantom Army, whilst utilizing the greatest, final masterpiece of the Rune Sage, Jormungandr was locked away in another dimension, an empty, lightless, matterless one.
And yet, it never succumbed to the void.
Decades passed, and it was the runic seal that first wore out, not the World Snake. The world itself was slowly running out of magic as well, the ways of True Magic having been lost a long time ago. As the governing body of magicians grew desperate, one individual proposed a solution. The renewal of the seal's strength through the artificial generation of Qnd.
Essentially, human sacrifice disguised as a method of solving the blood feuds that developed between different magician families.
A substitute for a much larger war, which would not be able to escape the attention of the modern, atheist world.
A chance to obtain a miracle that exceeds both magic and science.
A humane, riskless method of restraining the World Snake that would end life the moment it broke free of its prison.
Ragnarok
Instead, another way is used: through the application of Qnd -- which is roughly estimated 200 times more potent than Mana -- it was possible to renew the seal. Qnd however, could only be gained through the death of an exhausted mage, meaning people just had to die for the greater good. With this in mind, Ragnarok was modeled to attract the most capable magicians just for the sake of killing on their own free will. For one, the magician clans used Ragnarok as a substitute for their own war, designing representatives who stood for the entire clan. On the other hand, part of the collected Qnd was used to fulfill a desire of the sole victor. Lastly, winning meant unrivaled fame and respect amongst the magic community.
Magic
Compared to the old times, today's magic degraded by an amount that people differ between True Magic and Magic or, as most call them, Runes. With people becoming less superstitious, technological advancement, mana becoming less and less abundant and the desperate invention of streamlined magic in form of runes, today's magic degraded immensely.
Magic works in a way similar how a computer program works: simple operations combined into something complex that make up a Spell in their entirety. Unlike computer programs however, magic is able to defy logic to certain degrees. With this in mind, all the user needs to do, apart from having a sufficient amount of mana, is make his will clear. Easier said than done however. A faithful priest may be able to heal the wounds of a damaged by laying his hands down, but anything more complex proves as incredible hard without extensive study or utilizing the help of chants, complex gestures or similar.
Because of this, today's most standardized design is in the form of so-called 'Runes'. A Rune is simply made of 2 components, a form of inscription like a magic circle and a surface it is inscribed into. It is entirely up to the user what is used a surface, one could draw it on-site, use stone tables, a book, a Rubik's Cube or the own skin. However, that doesn't mean one can simply get their hands on a rune and start using it, some time-investment is still needed to get familiar with its structure and such. Also as helpful as it may sound, the investment of Runes pushed True Magic even more into extinction.
Mana, Ether, Qnd and Vim, those are the known values that have to do with magic. Though only Mana and Qnd are used to actually cast magic in the end.
While Mana is all around us, only the Mana of one's soul can be used to actually use magic, the depleted Mana turns temporary into unusable Ether which is, depending on the amount of current Ether, slowly converted back into Mana.(Describing the process as slowly might be wrong, because the more Ether there is the faster the conversion.). In more simple terms, it just means the more mana someone has the more spells he can cast.
Qnd is an entirely different Story however. Usable by everyone who has the means to do so, it can be used the same way as Mana but is roughly 200 times more efficient. Qnd slowly degrades to Vim over time - and while it can be stored for later use, there is no vessel that stops this decay completely. Qnd is obtained through a life forms death, the Ether inside the being is ignited and instantly converted to Qnd while the left-over Mana is turned into Vim.
Vim can easily be described as magical waste and everyone who tries to read more into it becomes a laughing-stock of the magic community.
Magic Society
On top of the magic community are The Four Kings, while their power is pretty much unrivaled they rarely take any action and just make sure nothing gets out of hand. Under them are a great deal of clans who have their hands in politics, occult and economics alike.
The structure of a clan can differ greatly, ranging from a great family to an entire organization. What they all have in common more or less however, is to preserve as much of their traditions as possible, fearing they would lose even more of their magic, any major advances in the field of magic have come to a halt. They also share a major disgust for technology, some going so far to live in a medieval like state, believing it would preserve their declining power.
Hostility between Clans is common. Protecting their own secrets and runes so much as to even include self-destruct triggers, they thirst after their rivals secrets just as much. Alliances happen solely for the purpose of taking down greater enemies, though some clans offer their services for the right price. Also, another common thing is incest inside most Clans to keep the lineage pure.
Lastly, the independent, born outside clan or organization. Most of those have enough mana to actually become magicians yet lack the education and knowledge, making suspicious - but unaware - of the supernatural and ultimately lead a normal life. They may get recruited out of desperation or find out about their talent by coincidence. Independents are commonly not well-liked, making racism against them very common.
Magic is not known to the broad-masses and some clans dedicate themselves entirely to the task of keeping it like that. Still, the curiosity for the occult is a more popular theme than in our world and it plays a major role in economics and politics. The internet however, is a powerful medium and difficult to manipulate.
Yggdrasil Seeds
Yggdrasil Seeds, with their exact origin unknown, it is simply believed they are just another masterwork of the Jotnar. With their power unfazed by the ever declining magic, they are highly sought after. Since a high amount of Mana is needed to activate, and sustain, a Seed, welders of them became simply known as Einherjar. It is unknown how many Yggdrasil Seeds exists, as their ordinary seed-like design makes them hard to find.
A Yggdrasil Seed can bestow power upon a user in many different ways, though have all near immortality in common. Able to regenerate from the worst of injuries if in possession of a seed, the manifestation of the seed itself must be destroyed to really kill the mage - with the exception of simple aging. As soon as a Seed is eaten, the magician either dies a horrible death through rejection or manifests the power of the Seed and is classified as an Einherjar.
There we go! I still have some more information for this and that but I am just looking how many people are interested in general! It's kinda going PvP but is by no means a battle roleplay! Character development, shitty twists by Skys™, drama and yadda yadda whatever a roleplay should be about is obviously a thing! Though if I only get a a low amount of people I can easily work it into a PvE plot! Death is a possibility and stuff so if you're afraid of your character dying, don't join. Since people get salty and all as soon as it gets to PvP however don't be afraid to play underdogs/just play what you want. I'll make sure to handle it! Posting-speed wise, I have more or less a branching-plot laid out, though I encourage player interaction/initiative. Looking for something around 2-3 posts per week.
If you got more questions, are interested or whatever, feel free to drop it here! Thanks for your time reading.
