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[@Lucius Cypher][@ReusableSword][@Norschtalen][@TheForgottenArc]

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[center][h1]The Faraway Land: Arcane Adventures[/h1][/center]
Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a village. It was small, unassuming, and unimportant. One day, the earth split with a loud crack, and out of the chasm sprang forth mystic energy, which they dubbed "mana." This mana could be controlled by will of thought, easily at that (or so they thought), lending them great prosperity. But the chasm did not stop releasing energy, and in a few years time, the whole world became enveloped in mana.

Thus magic was born into the world.

You, the players, are at the forefront of research into this phenomenon. Armed with little more than a sword and your wits, you set off from your respective tribes on a pilgrimage to where it all began. Naturally, you are not alone, and your journey crosses the agendas of entities high and low. Some may aid you, some may hinder you; watch therefore, and guard your life and knowledge from those who would use it for evil.

The journey is long and arduous, but great power lies at the end of it. Will you persevere to the end?
__________

Gameplay will be a lot like lorebuilding, except it's all IC. Your characters will be expected to experiment and create new spells, documenting them in a tome. The strength and quality of the spells you can create/cast increases as you approach the Chasm. Additionally, there is another sentient force in the world using magic to create and genetically modify life. This phenomenon should be investigated, and terminated if need be.

Some tribes are more technologically advanced than others; some have developed in different technological pathways. Feel free to come up with creative new tribes to encounter. The highest known tech level is Renaissance, with guns, germ theory, and rudimentary electricity. The lowest tech level is early-Medieval.

[hider=Random Lore]
There are hundreds of tribes scattered across the world, many of them easily hundreds of millions large. They all say they were born of a "world seed" that God cast down from heaven and scattered abroad. Aside from the deific attribution, this is more true than they realize.

An ancient, ageless Immortal oversees the development of the world. While a few remote sects worship her as a goddess, she maintains enough of a presence in society that she is more broadly perceived as a celebrity. She wields tremendous power even before the appearance of magic, and through the judicious use of it in the beginning, she established her absolute authority over the world. She is a benevolent leader, for the most part.

The setting takes place in the 32nd century A.D., in our universe. The planet is named Aion, and it is hundreds of light-years away from Earth. While the sci-fi aspects of this story are not the focus (since I want it to be largely conventional high-fantasy), they bear some relevance to the plot. The planet is a colony of a vast galactic empire ([u]not[/u] a cliche evil one, I might add), and the Immortal is its representative, given the task of guiding the population to a future where they can someday contribute to the empire. We're more or less in the early stages of development.

Gameplay will be a lot like lorebuilding, except it's all IC. Your characters will be expected to experiment and create new spells, documenting them in a tome. The strength and quality of the spells you can create/cast increases as you approach the Chasm. Additionally, there is another sentient force in the world using magic to create and genetically modify life. This phenomenon should be investigated, and terminated if need be.

Some tribes are more technologically advanced than others; some have developed in different technological pathways. Feel free to come up with creative new tribes to encounter. The highest known tech level is Renaissance, with guns, germ theory, and rudimentary electricity. The lowest tech level is early-Medieval.

Up to this point, all technology was reached by conventional innovation, research, and development. Much of it was spurred on at the Immortal's suggestion, since she came from a considerably more advanced civilization. For example, Midhaven's waste-burning disposal plant functions as power source for the nearby forge and mill. Since she doesn't know exactly how electricity is made, the system is an entirely mechanical one.

To cite a few more examples, ice tribes up north worked out how to generate electricity through chemical means (i.e. batteries), but they use it in metalworking processes to make aluminum and never thought to use it for modern functions. One of the forest tribes learned how to make airships a while back, and now live almost exclusively as sky-nomads.
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[hider=Races]
* Human (playable): Far and away the most common race here. Aging is a little slower on Aion, so while people still die at roughly the same age as always (<120 years), it takes them longer to show signs of it. Additionally, for reasons too complicated to explain in one sentence, the majority of humans on this world are dark-skinned asian-looking types.

* Immortal (non-playable): Distinguished by their pointed ears, Immortals are otherwise no different from ordinary humans except for their inability to die of old age. Only one is known to live on Aion, though there are rumors of a second, less-benevolent one roaming the world.

* Orc (playable): The product of some very nasty experiments on an (now-dead) Immortal, orcs are designed to maintain their peak physical capacity from adulthood to death. Aging doesn't slow them down, and their muscles never atrophy, allowing them to reach heights of strength only dreamed of by ordinary people. This means, however, that they also have increased energy consumption, and in fact one orc regularly eats enough for about two or three humans. Thus, orcs rarely have developed civilizations and are more commonly found either as nomads or mercenaries for the wealthy. If an adequate food source could be found, orcs would reproduce like rabbits and overpower everyone else. This fact is not lost on certain ambitious wizards...

* Voidspawn (playable): Sentient mana-spirits that appeared from the Chasm. Since they are incapable of affecting the world without a physical form, they prey on creatures that are on the brink of death, pushing out a native soul to take its place. The resultant being, if it survives, can be identified by its purple irises, and often possesses immense magical talent. Being non-native to their bodies, however, their lives are rather fragile and can, at times, be destroyed by mundane things like stress.
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[hider=A Non-Comprehensive List of Interesting Creatures]
* Sprites, cute ball-shaped mana-forms with the genetic composition of plants. Whoever designed them used a vegetation template.
* Wargs, wolves grown with magic to twice their normal size. Their intelligence appears to have grown with them.
* Aery, a type of mana spirit inhabiting dispersed particulates, rather than a singular object. The Voidspawn most often take this form before they can locate a body.
* Goblin, a small and ugly creature genetically related to monkeys, and with similar thieving habits. Surprisingly unintelligent for a mammalian biped.
* Reptiliforms, a category of creatures including dragons, drakes, wyrms, wyverns, and such like. Dinosaurs appear to have been the genetic design template. These creatures wield great conventional and magical power, making them dangerous foes if crossed.
* Venus Mantrap, a larger and enhanced Venus Flytrap equipped with tentacles to actively capture its prey. Contrary to how hentai portrays them, they are [u]not[/u] interested in lewd activities. They slowly digest their food over several months, and while some try to tear apart their meals before eating them, a few species have worked out how to keep their prey alive during digestion. Very nasty plants. Easily identified by their lovely aroma.
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