TERRA MAGICA
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- If you have any questions regarding the game, ask in the OOC.
The Fall.
"The world screamed and magic was born from the shudders a dying civilization."
-Chronicler Marie Iboto; Book of Upheaval; A record of the early pre-Fall era.
In the year of 2050, Earth faced a possible extinction level event. The sudden appearance of a giant celestial body blinked into existence right outside of our atmosphere, sending a chock wave that displaced and destroyed most if not all satellites we had in orbit. To this day, nobody can tell how such a thing could possibly happen. And then it begun to crash down towards earth. What first was believed to be a giant meteor turned out to be something else. The massive thing was alive and the size of a small city. And then it shattered and rained down onto the earth as a hail of massive crystalline meteors. They punched down into the earth, piecing down to the crust in some places and causing massive eruptions of lava and earthquakes that reached a 10 on the richter scale. In other places, they hit the ocean causing sent massive Tsunamis across our coastlines. And their effects were not limited to normal physical phenoms. The crystals drastically affected the areas around them. First came the kinetic shock waves of their impact that leveled everything in a radius of several hundred miles. But, what came afterward was very unexpected.
Instead of sweeping our planet in giant clouds of dust and ash, the giant crystals that were now embedded into our planet warped the areas around them. In the Amazons, the crystals warped the wildlife and fauna, hyper charged and mutated it into something more fit of myth then reality, and on the plains of Texas, giant beasts were suddenly roaming, the oilfields lost to violent, revolting fauna. The oceans filled with sea serpents and other creatures of myth that turned our navys into scrap metal and made traveling by a sea a nightmare. And in the Northern hemisphere some places were flash frozen with ice that do not melt, entire cities swallowed by overnight glaciers. It had caused eruptions and punched deep enough, it appeared to absorb the heat and spawn a series of strange creatures. Some of them capable of breathing fire, others being permanently aflame yet undisturbed by it.
All across the world, mankind lost to the new world that was created before them. Eradicated by the natural phenomenons and the powerful new creatures that roamed our earth.
Magic and Technology: A new Frontier.
"Some call it magic. I don't believe in magic, but I do believe in results. The crystal hold this energy, this ether. I believe it to be the missing component, the possible explenation to big bang."
-Professor; T'cho Mabari Bazala. Ether Theory, second print edition.
Humanity is resilient and masters of adaptation. We weren't entirely wiped out after all, it takes more then alien crystals and magic to undo several millennial of technology and perseverance. Those of us who survived banded together, we huddled up and hunkered down. We adapted and technology became our shepherd. With our population decimated several times over however, there was no shortage of jobs, and the rebuilding would have to take quite a while. In the this new, hostile world, a lot of resources became scarce as there were no longer any functioning companies mining or drilling for them, not mention entire areas of the world would need to be remapped. Our satellites were all destroyed by the strange celestial body that that appeared in our sky at the events beginning, destroying our means of communication.
However, humanity was also gifted with new talents. Some call it magic, other call it etheral manipulation. Basked in the light of the crystals, some humans find themselves capable of tapping into the crystals energies. However, doing so tend to have side effects. Such as spontaneously combust or turning into a tree. Indeed, the average rate of survival for a person tapping directly into the flow of a crystal is less then 2 percent. And those two percent are all insane and liable to join the other 98 percent should they slip up even the slightest. However, as time moved on, scientists discovered ways to harness the 'magic' of the this strange new ore. Using only small fragments of the crystals, mined from clusters that could be found in the wild, one could harness the energy in different forms. We also found that different crystals possessed different elemental properties or different magical attributes. A crystal that harnessed fire for its magic might be used to heat something, while some of the ones that acted almost as if they were lightning in a bottle made for powerful batteries. And as such, the basis of a new industry and a new field of science was discovered.
Decades later, we have managed to incorporate it into vehicles, guns and armor as well as everyday appliances such as ovens and power stations. Magitech as the common folk dubbed it, has its many uses. A rifle can use a kinetic crystal to punch bullets with pure kinetic force, with no need for gunpowder, others use them to move heavy objects out of the way. Fire crystals are used to heat pretty much the entirety of Easts Coasts biggest settlement: Ambrosia. Icecrystals are used for freezers. In general, we have grown completely reliant on the magical crystals.
Those who embrace the crystal; Mages
"With the fall came the power, ironic that we needed to reach oblivions edge to take the next step in evolution."
-Master Alzif, Leader of the "Crystalline Pledge"
As mentioned, there is another use of said shards. Some people, considered by many as insane, have heralded the magical shards as a living material and tries to harness the power directly. Handling raw shards is extremely dangerous and the powerful feeling is extremely addictive. People consumed by the addiction are called Shard Heads. There is however some people who appears to have mastered the crystals influence better then others. Most of them belong to a sect or religion of some sort who teaches discipline and mental resilience needed to stave of the addiction and its effects. People have, quite naturally, began to refer to them as Mages. Most prominent of these sects is the "Crystalline Pledge" who wield a considerable amount of political clout in smaller, less well armed settlements.
Mages are viewed upon with great suspicion, because they are still ticking time bombs as far as any normal person could tell. It should also be noted that Mages focus on a single shard. That they keep with them at all times as to not split their focus and efforts. Instead they refine their use and power bit by bit to maximize the effects. Where a shard head would just surge himself full of power and use it up in one go, a shard in the possession of a mage lasts for months, even years.
Consequences of Magic: Mythical Beasts and Mutants
"Beasts? Yeah, I hunt em. Silversnakes, Rattletusks, Bloaters. You name it. Don't ask me about mutants though, I don't hate em, but they creep me out."
-Antoine Livé, Hunters Guild representative.
Magic changed the world, most notably for the worse. The beasts that have spawned as result of rampant magic range from more mundane things such as rabbits with spiked carapaces to giant, flying dragons. These beasts are not all hostile, many are herbivores, and there is a working ecosystem at play. But many of them are much more dangerous then their Pre-Fall brethren. Many have unique defenses such as emitting blinding light or spitting flesh melting acid. Others have incorporated crystals into their forms and can somehow wield magic, such a horses with burning manes and hooves or snakes that can bury underground with the help of a earth crystal.
Not all humans are unchanged either. Some have noticeable defects, such as oddly colored eyes that shine in the dark. These "mutants" are more attuned to magic naturally, but will also easier fall to its influence. Many mutants, especially ones with more obvious mutations such as the glow in dark eyes, are hugely discriminated against.
The New Order; How we rose from the ashes.
"You know why it is called Ambrosia? Because we survived Armageddon and are now drinking the nectar of gods. A whole new world, free of the pollution and shit. We get to start over man. How cool is that?!"
-Random Teenager, The Ambrosian Bugle
With our governments all but gone, the splintering into new factions was a fact. New religions sprung up and old ones changed to accommodate the new reality. Townships formed by survivors act dependently without a central governing body and old city ruins became split between different factions.
Certain factions managed to preserve the old worlds technology with varied degrees of success. These would be the ones who also managed to save the most people, forming cities in the ruins of the old. Advanced technology fused with the new technology of the crystals allows them to fight back the encroaching monsters and shield themselves against the strange new weather and phenomenons. Some have even begun the undertaking of recolonizing the planet. A slow, painful process full of danger. Old maps can no longer be referred to and nature itself is wrought with danger like never before. These zones became known as “Safe Havens” by travelers, and act like a form of budding City states in the new world.
One of these is Ambrosia, a city state on the northern West Coast of what was once the United Stated. Situated in the ruins of San Fransico, not a lot of the old cityscape has been left in a state that can be considered 'whole'. The surrounding are all One of the biggest crystal formations can be seen far off in the distance, a jagged peek of shimmering red where Los Angeles used to be. Nothing remains of Los Angeles. Not Hollywood, not south central. The kinetic wave was enough eradicate most of it, the earthquakes and shattering of LA's entire structure subsurface dealt with the rest. Ambrosia stands as a beacon for human perseverance however. Led by a council of military and scientific experts, they have managed to fight back the worst and is constantly pushing for expansion. The new, lush wilderness might be deadly, but the soil has proven immensely fertile. It has become a trading hub of sorts as well, connecting most of the west coast towns together by commerce. However, Ambrosia by itself only reach just above 50.000 citizens where San Francisco once boosted over 5 million. That's how massive a loss the region has suffered.
Ambrosia as a city looks like something of extremely well of shanty town. Due to the nature of things, there is a lot of materials to build from but little organization in the building it self. Old houses has been rebuilt and patched up, not always to the prettiest of appearances. Farm have been established, and makeshift industries have sprouted from the reclaiming of world. Outside the City, some pioneers have set up a water distillation plant using water magic. It should be noted that a natural effect of humanity once more being “the fledgling species” in a world that seems to actively strive to eradicate it, weapons are common place on most people. Magitech powered melee weapons such as thunder powered spears and more conventional things such as small arms both have their place.
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