If you are correct than heres the answer, if not heres still the answer:
We are adventurers in the Free States. (More lore to come). You can be any race you can think of (within reason) and anything from a swordsman to a mage to a rifleman. I have a storyline thought up but it will start in an Inn as most good adventures do.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." - Edgar Allen Poe
NOTE: This is not fully fleshed out but this is what I have completed as of right now. If anything is unclear please ask, if you have any ideas for a character message me.
NOTE 2: YOU DO NOT NEED TO READ ALL OF THE HIDERS. You can read as much as you want or think your character would know.
Lore
"Everyone expected the bombs, but no one expected a future." - Duavh Glenharrow, assistant to the Elvish High Councillor.
Although scholars don't agree on the exact year, everyone knows that the Manaburst occured around the beginning of the 21st century. In order to understand the reason it occured at all, you must allow your mind to venture back thousands of years and through all of human history. Since the very beginning of human civilization there has been a substance in our world known as Mana. At first this Mana was allowed to freely escape into our world; touching everything and creating all kinds of magical things and creatures. However, for ancient humans, it created far more problems than it solved. An order was formed to combat the threat at its source. This order constructed diffusers at Wells in order to prevent Mana from changing the world as it did often. Over the years these sites fell into ruin and were slowly forgotten. No one knows how long Mana built up for under the ruins, but we are sure of the result.
"We all wanted a brighter future.. I guess the flashes of nuclear bombs were pretty bright" - Ralph "Blind Man" Jones, Human Ambassador to the Elder Council.
After the smoke cleared and the fires burned down, the new races needed guidance and found it in the Elder Council. Those who are considered the first born into the new world, those who transformed during the Manaburst, are immortal. A group of these people formed the organization called the Elder Council, and set out with the goal of leading the world back onto its feet. Over the past 250 years, all but a handful of these Elders are still alive today. Each sentient race has a seat on the Elder Council, with the exception of the Ents as they have a Spriggan who carries their voice. This council has three main responsibilities: they mediate conflict between the different races, they lead the Guild system which operates in every kingdom except for the lands of the Orcs, and they are the government for the Free States.
"There is no place like home.." - Jiala, Elven Ranger
The Free States are ruled by a simple set of individual rights that ensures no one should be oppressed. The Guild system is headquartered here and almost all would be adventurers start out in the States. The Free States are the most culturally diverse places on Earth. All races and all backgrounds find a home here. Business here comes first and foremost, with thousands of merchants and goods from across the globe. The Mages guild was born here and holds rights to every teleportation stone within the borders of the States. WIP
"All I can remember from the day is the fire.. And the screaming.." - Igram Steelbeard, Dwarven High Councilor
Most who experienced the Manaburst and still live to this day agree that the lack of noise was something of a blessing. Until the screaming began, there was a long pause where everyone and everything seemed to stop for those undergoing transformations. The Leylines had held back Mana for as long as they could and like the bursting of a dam, it poured out with explosive force. In some fit of rage or maybe a decision based in mercy, the collective governments of the world launched their entire nuclear arsenals. The flashes of white and red were countered with twice brilliant shimmers of blue as radiation collided with mana. Mana prevailed in holding back the radiation and pushing most of it out into space. However, the debris and other damage still caused sixty years of nuclear winter and nuclear summer. The new inhabitants of Earth fought tooth and nail to make it through.
"Fire, Disease, Radiation.. these things are not malicious, they are nothing more than what they are. That is the true nature of Mana, it simply doesn't care." - Unknown
Mana flows underneath the surface of our world in lines many call Leylines. At points where two or more of these lines intersect, a Well in formed. Wells push Mana out into the atmosphere and at each of these places there are ruins of ancient diffusers. Raw Mana acts more like a particle than like matter. Living things are born with the ability to hold Mana inside of them in what is called a Manawell. These Manawells lie dormant until they have been touched by Mana at which point they begin storing it. When anything is exposed to extreme levels of Mana it reveals its true nature. In humans this usually results in a violent transformation into their true race. Unlike during the Manaburst, the Mana in the atmosphere today is not enough to cause transformations but it is more than enough to use Magic and occasionally create magical creatures. Roughly 40% of all things exposed to extreme levels of Mana become abominations of what they were supposed to be.
"Using Magic is a lot like filtering water, if you are the filter and Mana is the water. The more that runs through the filter, the more clogged up it becomes." Jibyo Hornholler, Satyr Spellcaster
Using magic is the art of filtering Mana through your Manawell and bending it to your will. Mana that passes through a Manawell is called filtered and can be drawn out to cast spells. Filtering Mana is extremely taxing and can fatigue even experienced mages fairly quickly. Raw Mana is nearly impossible to manipulate although some of the most powerful mages in history have managed to do it in stressful situations, this usually left them comatose or simply deceased. Most mages study one of the schools of magic in order to properly learn how to control their will. Although education is not necessary to learning magic, it does help prevent accidental death and or incineration. Certain races are incapable of using magic altogether but they make up for this deficiency with the ability to handle extremely high levels of Mana and magic without any consequences.
"How do you expect me to organize this mess?!" - General Fairweather, first commander of the Free States Militia
While most civilizations in this new world have had to rediscover old technology, some smaller factions have managed to retain or even improve upon technology from the 21st century. A prime example of this is the difference between the neighboring dwarves and gnomes. Dwarven technology has only been able to recreate basic gunpowder weapons (due to their inability to use magic) and rather than factories, they use skilled craftsmen. Gnomes on the other hand have incorporated magic and 21st century technology into their culture. They use factories run by golems and assault rifles that fire magic bullets. Most of the races with a seat on the Elder Council cohabitate well and help each other deal with the greater threat of the Plaguelands.
"The irony in the name is that its probably the only place left thst doesn't have any disease." - Doctor Bainbridge, Gnome Physician
When the bombs fell, Mana managed to expel most of the radiation out of world. However, in usually small pockets around the globe, radiation still lingers today. The Plaguelands is the largest of these pockets, spanning thousands of miles and containing horrors beyond imagining. As if the radiation wasn't bad enough this land is host to the greatest threat known to the world, the Reapers. An unending horde of biological machines that have only one goal, the kill anything that isn't a Reaper. They come in all shapes and sizes, some as small as a dog and others as big as a town. The Reapers may not have been as much a threat if not for the radiation, for radiation and Mana are enemies. When Mana touches radiation, it dissipates, and usually the same happens to radiation. However, in the pockets and Plaguelands, it seems that the radiation never dissipates or is simply replaced as quickly as its destroyed. Humans and other races with an active Manawell naturally use their Mana as a shield against the radiation but after its used up, its gone and the radiation can do its damage. Magic is unable to be used inside of the pockets and only extremely powerful mages can spend long inside without long lasting effects.
"If there were any more schools of Magic, we would need a school that remembers them all just to keep track." - Archsage Winchester, librarian.
This is not a complete list, just what I could come up with.
School of.. Elementalism Nature/Decay Telekinetics Telepathy Magical Theory General Studies Calculation Oneiromancy Necromancy Contracts Plane Manipulation Abjuration Alteration/Illusion Transmutation Alchemy (RESTRICTED) Transportation Enchanting Charms/Curses Rituals
"You want a book on all the races? We have an entire floor for just Beastfolk." - Archsage Winchester, librarian.
This is not a complete list, just what I could think of.
Elves: Elves - Almost all elven "races" are no different genetically and their differences are in culture rather than anything else. Dwarves Nymphs
Florafolk: Ents Spriggans
Beastfolk: Minotaur Satyr Centaur Reptilia - Lamias and their legged cousins
The Foxfolk, or properly known as the Vulpinia, are a somewhat elusive race. Semi-Nomadic tribes of varying size all prowl the great forest of Grishaer competing for resources and for inter-tribe dominance. Although isolated and elusive, the tribe has still taken up the common tongue and many young Vulpini wander out into the world for a few years before returning. The tribes don't war with each other openly, instead they each have a champion who fights for the honor of their tribe. In the case of an outside threat, the Vulpinia form together as one without so much as a shred of hate or distrust between them. It is this bonding that has allowed them to grow as numerous as the other beastfolk around the globe. The Vulpinia were not always as free as they are in the modern era. Slavers commonly picked on the Vulpinia and at times there were very few left free in their woods. In those dark times a group of knights known as the Animalia Lancers began hunting down and killing slavers and other people who oppressed the Beastfolk, regardless of which race they came from.
The Vulpinia voice in the Elder Council is controlled by the Lionis Councillor, who also holds the voices of several other beastfolk races.
Technology isn't progressing in Grishaer but only because of lack of advanced materials. While the Elves have taught the Vulpinia to properly harvest living wood and how to appease the forest spirits, that is the best material they have. Metal is very rare for Vulpinia and it is seen as utilitarian rather than as a status symbol. Vulpini merchants often sell powerful herbal remedies and beautifully crafted staves, canes and wands.
Vulpini culture doesn't widely seperate half Vulpini from full blooded Vulpini and they are one of the most accepting peoples in the world. That being said, they also do not any patience for slavers or anyone who exploits others. Many a lying merchant has been found hanging at the edge of the Grishaer without several key pieces of their anatomy. In order to assist the Elder Council in containing the threats from the Plaguelands the Vulpini send potent potions and some of the bravest warriors in all of their tribes.
"Everyone was right. They're all out there." - Bishop V'ahlatha, Draconian Bishop
Thousands of years of silence was broken on the day Mana was released back into our world. Mana was the missing link between humanity and the ancient Gods. Every religion of the old world turned out to be at least partially correct and when the survivors prayed, the gods answered. Each God bestows a boon upon those who pray and serve them faithfully. None of these gods is necessarily more powrful than any other one, their boons are significantly different however. Along with the Gods, the return of Mana allowed for Angelic and Demonic beings to reinhabit the Earth. These beings were not exclusively tied to Christianity and treated everyone based on their moral decisions. While Demons could walk the Earth freely, Angels were restricted to being hosted in a sentient being's body.
Survivors aren't called that because they're easy to kill, especially those who survived the plague that wiped out most of the world's civilization. Small groups of people huddling in the upper floors of ruined apartment buildings could hardly be called civilization, but that's the best Nikolai had managed to find for the last couple of months. Most of the times he came into contact with these types of groups he was either attacked or simply told to go away. After months of surviving in the world of the infected, Nikolai managed to find three small havens hiding out in New York City.
Up until the apocalypse, people hadn't really thought of Nikolai as strange. As he stood in the blood soaked hallway entrance of one of the havens, the music playing in his headphones kept his adrenaline in check while he finished off the third infected to rush him. He let out a small sigh through gently smiling lips as he peeled his mace out of yet another partially collapsed skull. He could just barely hear the thumping of the final infected footsteps as it came up through the chokepoint into his kill room.
When Nikolai found the havens, he hadn't been able to settle down like he thought. He knew people needed a messenger; someone capable of surviving the infected without needing luck all the time. He spent his time traveling between the havens and collecting resources from the abandoned city. One thing that always hurt him deep down was walking past a grocery store stocked to the brim with canned food while hunger gripped him. People had gone to them thinking there would be getting food, but ended up becoming food instead. He did his best for these people but they never really expected him to come back when he left.
Humans may be able to learn from the mistakes of others, but infected take a lot longer to pick up any new information so when the fourth infected finally reached him, Nikolai braced like always and waited. A moment later, a crash for one was a familiar shudder to the other and a hefty swing of his mace ended the infected as it lay on the floor at Nikolai's feet. Bleach and mops replaced bodies and blood as the haven's resident's helped him clean up the mess. He finished his delivery and left after only accepting a refill to his canteen.
The sunshine and clean air that rushed to meet his senses could have easily made Nikolai forget the apocalypse as he stepped out into the ruined streets of Old New York.
Member
