"And thus the world was bathed in fire for seven days and seven nights, so that the cycle would start anew."
-Excerpt from The Book of Garmr, one of the Sirvai holy texts
-Excerpt from The Book of Garmr, one of the Sirvai holy texts
Cileze. It has been our world since the dawn of time, it's fertile soil has fed us and it's caves have given us shelter. As time marched on, it's firm rock gave us foundations for our own "caves", and soon we became something more than animals. Great towers of stone stretched up from the ground, and the fertile soil became our servant in gigantic farms full of crops we planted and harvested ourselves. Alongside us every step of the way, however, were the gods.
They give us power beyond the natural. Magic, as most of us call it. Each of them provides us mortals with their own power, and throughout history, we have used that power to do everything one can imagine. It has been used as a weapon of war, as a tool with which to build, and as a bandage for both the body and the soul. For countless millennia, the force of magic has defined our world. Those who were gifted in it ruled over those who were not. One day, just over a hundred years ago, all of that changed.
On that day, a machine of iron and wood made it's way down two steel rails as a fire within it propelled it forward. Such things were possible with the right magical training before, but the puffs of smoke coming out of a tower on top of it made it clear that it was not moved by magic. That machine was the first steam train, and its existence launched a great revolution which catapulted the world into a new era.
The species and nations that had found themselves at a disadvantage in the magical arts turned to the ever-advancing march of technology to accomplish their goals. Empires that had reigned supreme for centuries found themselves threatened by their former vassals, and not wanting to be left behind, they too fused the way of staff and mana with that of steel and coal. It seemed as though civilization had reached its apex, but once again, the fates had other plans.
As progress ceased its slow march forward and began to dash, we learned to harness new powers. Cars took over city streets, fueled by the power of petroleum. Great ships sailed out into the ocean as diesel fires burned within them, connecting the world in ways we had never before seen. Such innovations, however, were nothing compared to what would come next.
In one of the largest coal mines on the planet, a routine blast to clear way for a new tunnel caused a firedamp ignition. The explosion ignited the coal dust in the air, and the entire mine was destroyed. Such was the power of the detonation that it caused a massive landslide, making it impossible for any rescue teams to reach the miners or even their camp. To make matters worse, a second explosion went off within the mountain, this one more powerful than any the world had seen before. The mountain was torn apart as if it was an erupting volcano, and chunks of dirt and rock were thrown up into the air to block out the sun.
After that second detonation, disaster relief teams from multiple nations were sent to the scene. When they reached the mountain, their eyes gazed upon an incredible sight. Some sort of red liquid was flowing up into the sky from the mountain, like it had been stabbed and was bleeding. In fact, many thought it actually was blood at first (it had long been said that the Earth itself bleeding would be a herald of the end of the cycle).
And thus it became known as the Bleeding Mountain.
Every nation rushed to study that strange liquid, and within days all the major nations had set up their own outpost to collect it. The substance was just as odd as it had appeared. Somehow, it had negative mass. Countless scientists attempted to explain how it could have formed, but in the end, it wasn't a question science could answer. Once again, the people of the world had run into a phenomenon that could only be explained with the word "magic".
Soon afterwards, two human brothers got their hands on multiple samples of the liquid. A few months later, one of them was soaring above the beaches of the northwestern continent aboard the vehicle they built themselves. It was the first time anyone from the non-winged species had achieved powered flight. They had proven the potential of this new resource and had drawn a line in the sand between the old and the new.
A technique was devised to detect the liquid underground, utilizing the study of minute differences in gravitational pull in areas it was present. Soon afterwards, warships like those of the sea flew in the sky, kept aloft by the liquid. An entire industry grew around the extraction of what had become known as the blood of the mountain, and more and more great explosions occurred in order to rupture the land to be able to reach the blood-red gold within.
Now, the world is more connected than it even has been before. The fusion of magic and technology has brought the rise of countless new countries and empires, competing for power in this new world. New ideologies have sprung up across the land, some preaching freedom, some control. Some equality and other superiority. As the world continues to spin, the people upon it rush head-first into a new era. Perhaps a victor shall be declared, an ideology shall reign supreme. Or perhaps new technologies will create a futility in war, and a peaceful era of coexistence shall follow one of bloodshed.
Or perhaps the prophecies really were true, and the world has begun its descent down the slope to the end of the cycle, to another seven days of flame.
Hooray for overly long intros!
As you would know if you read that half-irrelevant blurb (or, you know, the title), this is a fantasy/dieselpunk roleplay. Technology is roughly equivalent to that of mid-WWII, save for the obvious flying battleships. Ideologies are also probably quite similar to the period, which is something to keep in mind while creating a nation. Communism, capitalism, and fascism are all likely present. Due to the fact that gods literally exist, things such as theocracies and absolute monarchies where the king/queen/whatever claims to have been given their power by god are also more common than they were in our world (though probably in smaller numbers). Of course, if you can come up with an ideology and explain why it exists, there's no reason you can't just use it. Before the RP starts, things like fascism might be renamed to fit the setting (If the inevitably Italy-analogue isn't fascist, then fascism probably wouldn't have been named fascism).
Something that I didn't really make note of in the intro blurb up there is the fact that this takes place multiple thousand years after an extremely advanced civilization that once occupied the planet fell. Ruins from said civilization are strewn across the world, and will be discovered throughout the RP (as random events dictated by the GMs, because otherwise someone would go and say "Oh hey look I found a stockpile of ancient nuclear missiles"). Sometimes they might just be a few broken devices that could give engineers ideas, other times it might be an operational ancient weapon that nobody understands beyond "When you press the button, things blow up". There will NOT be any full-on reverse engineering of advanced ancient technology. That weapon? You'll never know more than what you learned when you pressed that button unless the RP goes on long enough for you to reinvent it and realize they're the same thing.
Another thing to note is the existence of various different species, most of which have their own patron gods or goddesses. This doesn't mean that each of these species is fully organized into its own nation, and it also doesn't mean that everyone in a single species worships the same god. Most countries will have inhabitants from multiple different species, especially immigrant-built nations like the inevitable USA analogue that someone will make. At the same time, however, nations will generally have a single species that holds most of the power and respect. In the USA analogue, for example, two species might coexist, but one of them probably won't get to use the same water fountains as the other. In addition, species will tend to worship their traditional patron deity more often, but this is no way prevents you from having characters who break the mold or entire countries full of humans who worship another species' deity. The list of established species and deities is in the hider below, and possibly subject to change.
As for how all the magic stuff functions, it's really pretty simple. Whatever deity one worships will grant them different powers (such as Sirona granting one of her followers that famous self-healing spell of hers). The power to cast said spells also comes from the deities, and is called "mana" because Duck and I ran out of creativity with names somewhere around magic. The "mana pool" as every fantasy RPG ever calls it can be increased by simply using magic frequently, just like working out increases muscle mass. However, gods will often reward highly devoted followers with a larger pool as well, though it is generally considered easier and less stressful to just exercise one's magical ability. Atheists and agnostics exist too, by the way. Since they do not worship any gods, their mana is derived from the power of souls that have passed on. However, they also do not have access to the specialized spells of the gods, and are thus generally considered as "Jack of all trades, master of none" magi. However, through extensive exercise, they can manage to focus on one specific type of magic.
The religions of the world vary heavily, and the same god is often worshiped by multiple different religions with drastically different accounts of events and moral rules. The one thing they all have in common, however, is the belief in the Seven Days of Fire, the apocalyptic event that brought the end of the ancient civilizations. That specific event is part of another shared belief in the existence of a Cycle of Life, in which every time civilization reaches a certain point, the world is bathed in flame to allow a new cycle to begin.
As a final note, the backstories of the gods took place before the cycles began. They're mostly irrelevant flavor text, honestly, as the stores have been distorted plenty as stories tend to be. Make no mistake, though, the gods DO exist.
Some extra stuff:
It can be assumed that a major war (analogous to WWI) took place in the recent past, and that the powers of one continent have colonies on multiple others. What happened in that war pertaining to your nation and were those powers were is up to the players. (Personally, I'd suggest the northeastern landmass for European-style powers, but that's just me). If at all possible, please keep in line with what other players before you have come up with. If the USA analogue is on the northwestern landmass, then please put your Mexico near it and not on Basically Australia down there on the right. If the Brits show up on the little group of islands that in no way resembles a four-leaf clover whatsoever, then please don't have your French be down in the southern hemisphere.
