Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I think you really have to start off any kind of "ancient warfare vs modern warfare" thinking off with the question "How much do I want to level the odds?" and then build from there. You can still get some mileage out of an uneven match and the lesser side picking their battles, but if you want full-on even battling you probably need to discard pseudo-medieval warriors and start looking into super-dragons and legions of metal golems.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

That's suggesting more of a Mad Max vs D&D set-up, which might make the match-up less one-sided.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

If what are running is a Standard Fantasy Setting from TVTropes then GATE is going to be the default. It isn’t that the other world can’t field high tier warriors, Rory Mercury could have taken all three of the SF units that were sent against them by herself. It is they don’t have enough of them.

When Princess Pina visits the Japanese base, their soldiers each had armor and a gun. Unless you can equipe SFS troops with armor and wands of ranged death dealing, and recharge/replace them at the same rate a modern army can resupply then the SFS army will lose.

As far as the stupidity of attacking an unknown foe, Admiral Yamamoto told the Army that he could run the table with the Americans for six months and then it would be the American’s game. He was right but the Army didn’t listen. Before WWI the French believed they could beat the Germans with Elan and red pants. And these were near pier powers that should have had knowledge of what their enemies could do.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

This is going to be a problem on all levels, not just the high tier. The population of the modern world is just so much *bigger* than a standard fantasy setting could be supporting that you're outnumbered all around. Indeed I'd hazard a guess there are more trained swordsmen in the US [now] than any European army between the fall of Rome and the height of the Spanish Empire, despite the fact swords have been obsolete for a couple centuries. Given that it's a high school sport there, I bet that's even more true of Japan. These guys aren't military veteran skilled swordsmen, but they're better than medieval levies, conscripts or new recruits.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Japanese government was backed into a corner. If they did anything other than attack they were looking at a coup that would kill them all. It was actually safer to attack and lose the war than to avoid the war for the guys making that call. As for the French they were not so overconfident as that. That was why they had their alliance with the British and Russians. The balance of forces was legitimately hard to sus out which was why the war ended up being resolved by one side collapsing from internal exhaustion.

Neither of them were attacking an enemy they couldn't hope to put up a fight against.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I think the easiest justifcation is to know (correctly or not) the enemy can't chase you back. The trick to being a successful raider is to hit the lightly defended spots and be able to break contact quickly. This has worked for everybody from vikings to nomadic light cavalry. It's not necessary to be able to defeat the civilization you are raiding in a war of extermination, as long as you can keep their extermination capable forces from catching you.

Absolute control over where the when the gates appear might get you that, though there's always a risk you could slip up and open one there was a reaction force present if you can't scout first. Just control over who can pass them but not location is less good, you can still get away, but the entire "border" or "coast" can end up fortified to strongly to get through.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Steed of Magicians

It's a good appointment for a young magician like yourself. The pay is good, plenty of time to study, a great chance to make diplomatic contacts. I would love the chance to visit so many different lands and cities.

But I'd still be a courier, a messenger.

A messenger with a knighthood and riding the fastest animals in the world.

Hippogryphs are known as "The Steeds of Magicians" because only people with Magery can ride them. Magery-0 allows you to ride these dangerous and unstable beasts. Each level of Magery above Zero counts as two levels of Charisma for Hippogryphs. Hippogryphs like being in contact with Mages. All the royal courts of these lands, and most ducal and episcopal courts as well keep stables of Hippogryphs and hire young Mages to ride them. For the power elites this is a fast secure courier service. For young Mages, just out of apprenticeship, this is a solid job with wonderful perks.

Basically, it's the pony express in the skies. Assume hippogryphs fly three times faster than whatever description of them you use says they do with ten times the endurance. Mages riding hippogryphs use either Ride or Thaumaturgy plus Magery whichever is higher to ride the hippogryph.

This is a Swashbucklers campaign with a focus on diplomacy. Assume that female Mages are treated as full equals with men. Which would make being a Mage really attractive to most women in most premodern societies.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I was actually expecting this would be a setting about being the steed. (Possibly in a voodoo sense of "riden = possessed".)

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Are you disappointed? Do you like the basic frame?

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The description misses on explaining what the qualification to be a mage is, whether by Heredity, Astrological Timing, Mana-based Mutagens, Pacts, or diligent study.


My first thought was that having riders as a different kid of "special" than magicians, but having characters who are technically magicians but only use it to ride hippogriffs works just fine.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Somewhat disappointed. It's a solid idea; bonded mounts are a popular topic of fantasy. I think what sets me up for disappointment is that "The Steed of Magicians" makes me think of something more epic or bizarre than "Pony Express on hippogryphs".

Also I am constantly on the lookout for game ideas where the PCs are non-humanoid.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

So how about this: slave raids, specifically targeting people who might have the right skills to advance the raiders technology, people with high but untrained magic aptitude,and exceptionally attractive people. A fantasy setting but one on the verge of an industrial revolutionn

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Kind of like the Fly By Knights, the fantasy sourcebook for TWERPS, but just couriers instead of knights and adventurers.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I suspect there is more "Three musketeers" than "Pony Express" to the idea. Young People with an excuse to be hanging around the palaces and courts of the world, a license to cross borders on a whim, and a magic spark that gives them potential to grow.



I'm a little unsure of how you keep the party together.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I think a society expecting much technological advancement out of slaves is deludedly optimistic - slaves have neither the motivation to try all that hard, nor generally the leeway to expend the large amounts of resources and fail that are going to be necessary to develop much of anything - it's not going to work the first time every time, or even the 10th time.

A magic based society that gets any significant fraction of its mages by slave raiding them sounds too stupid to live.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

You'd need to have the "Hippogriff Express" basically just be a background element of the setting, yeah - for adventures that rely on the characters serving the role of couriers, it's generally not going to make much sense for them to group together.

I assumed this was more an "abduct people who already have the knowledge you need and make them teach you" situation.

Depends on the indoctrination process, and how effective it is at making the abducted mages loyal to you.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

You read my mind, and then explained it clearly. You scare me.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Romans somewhat did that, if my knowledge of history isn't faulty in that area. It was pretty effective while it lasted, but may have caused issues with domestic technological growth.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

They can offer the abductees freedom and luxury should they prove useful and relegation to far less pleasant slavery if they don't seem to be trying. They will of course be teaching local engineers, mechanics and scholars. It is at least a far less insane plan than blindly attacking a far more populous and heavily armed nation in frontal assaults. As for the people with magic aptitude, perhaps they can be used as unwilling magic power sources. The main point is get PCs who have the potential to become a big deal in the world after they escape.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Something that shows up in some of the isekai stories (initially partial subversions of the trope, but now kind of its own subgenre) is mages/outworlders* being put under some sort of limiter/mind control/whatever as soon as is practical, to force them to serve whoever has summoned them. This can be overt, like a crown or enchantment that largely robs them of free will or a forced crippling drug addiction, or something a bit more subtle, like just tweaking the subject's personality a bit. The main characters of such stories either manage to break free of the mind control or have something happen that prevents it from ever going into play (an earthquake that disrupts the ceremony, an attack by rebels that frees the character, the character realizes what's going on and turns out to be too much for the slavers to handle, etc), but for the bulk of victims the slavers get powerful mages/outworlders that functionally have no choice but to serve them to the fullest.

*In a lot of isekai stories, outworlders automatically get special abilities.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Also slavery means lack of freedom, not necessarily lack of comforts.

Maybe slave mages can't go wherever they want but they are granted a good life and other slaves as servants and company; people in many countries in the modern world have a similar agreement with the companies they work for, they just get money enough to have a life and some comforts and they have to work "like slaves" or be dispossessed, they can change jobs of course, a slave can't, so these people are free to chose and move, even of starting something on their own, or just chose hunger and risk, but they are not slaves.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Wind Door

Jenny found the way up to the Wind Door. We'd look at the Wind Door from a distance and see the sunlight when it should be night. They say the Wind Doors carry the smoke and fog to the other side of the world. So it's night here and day there.

They say the Wind Doors open up on a mountain side. That's why it always sucks the air out of London and pulls in the country air. But the new air still stinks when it gets to Isle of Dogs.

One day, when it was clear in London and rainy on the other side of the Wind Door, me and my mates slipped through the bars to go and look at the other side of the world.

Six boys and five girls, between the ages of seven and nine, have slipped through a portal called a Wind Door. The Wind Doors were created in the 1880s by Doctor Treminhir, a noted Cornish baronet. The 2197 Wind Doors are arranged around London to reduce the incidence of "Pea-Souper" fogs. As the incidence of Fog is less now than in the 1820s the Wind Doors are considered a success (in real history the 1880s was the peak period for Pea-Souper fogs, nearly the whole winter season was fogged in).

The children....

More later

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Zodiac Club

Yes, I'm swiping this from the film Bell, Book, and Candle , but it's modified.

Basically, the Zodiac Club is a bar in Greenwich village Manhattan. Witches and Sorcerers hang out there. Since a very high percentage of magic using people are LGBTQ+ in this setting (and magic is semi Secret in this campaign) The Zodiac Club fronts as a Gay Bar (but careful spell craft keeps the bar from being raided). The mobs of New York know about magic and seek services from the club's patrons. Blackmailing witches is dangerous but the mob is even more dangerous.

Witches use Path/Book magic in this setting. Overly dramatic spells draw too much attention and can limit what spells can be cast. Many witches pose as mountebanks and grifters to hide in plain sight. Sorcery consists of summoning spirits to perform services in exchange for favors. Familiars, in this world always spirits bound into animal forms, can grant a variety of powers. Most familiars in this setting will be pet animals that can move about the city freely. Cats, crows, ravens, and owls, being by far the most popular. Dogs used to be very popular, but regulation of unattended dogs is strict in the city.

This is a noire setting in many ways but it should include comedy.

One of the most prized achievements of the Witches and Sorcerers of this setting is life extension through slowed aging. Those that have achieved this avoid publicly like the plague, because fame can bring rapid aging. A "Dorian" is someone who is older than they look. The terms "Melmouth" and "Wanderer" are common among older witches.

More later.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

This sounds fun.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

It's later. There seems to be a link between musical talent and magic in this world. Certainly the ability to perform music is directly linked to Ritual Magic. Only those with Musical Talent can have Ritual Aptitude, and only those with both Musical Talent and more than one Musical Skill at IQ or better, can have Ritual Adept. As this setting is in the early 1950s (the Beats are a thing, but no beat ever described themselves as a "beatnik" except as a joke) Jazz, Blues, and Folk are the musical styles of the demimonde that witches and sorcerers live in.

Most spellcasters actually earn their living as musicians. Well those who earn their living do.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Later has come again.

The Governments of the world are aware of witches and Sorcerers, they see them as basically unreliable. They will crack down on trouble makers.
The magic community doesn't like feds and foreign agents. The Russians and others try to exploit this but most spellcasters have figured out that, even if they are deeply political and patriotic, magic and government don't mix. Some of the more respected (by the magic community) government agents know this.

#######################

Early estrangement from normalcy seems to be a common trait among spellcasters. This might explain why so many spellcasters are LBGTQ+. Especially in this time period, being LBGTQ+ forcefully estranges the individual from normalcy. However, many other traits can achieve the same effect.

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Witches, warlocks, and sorcerers, are just beginning to experiment with tech magic. Any tech magic should be learned after character creation and paid for with experience points.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Strange Spring

Among the old ones from before the wars magic was a fantasy. They placed it in stories and games. Something about the wars broke the world. Strange things are seeping back into the world. Or maybe it's just that the stars are right.

Basically, the PCs are mages in a post-apocalyptic world. The setting resembles works like "Starman's Son" or Roddenberry's "Genesis II", although some areas are more like "The Creation of the Humaniods." But functioning societies are few.

Mages generally cover up their powers because there is a deep prejudice against "mutants." Truth to tell, most actual mutations die in the womb or are to sickly and warped to live. Most of those called "mutants" are the demon possessed. The Demons give their victims powers beyond the human limit. Almost always these powers are physical in nature. Psi Powers are also given but the Demons never enhance either intellect or social capabilities. These Demons claim to be from hell (although they are normally somewhat discrete and generally try to maintain a kind of cover). But the claims to be working for Satan ring hollow. The stories are routinely inconsistent.

This leads to the question, "Who are the Demons working for that's worse than Satan?"

I'd use some kind of Realm magic in this setting. However, opportunities to learn magic are rare. Make the PCs work to learn better magic. Note: The Demons fear the PCs learning any new magic.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The technological enclaves are tech level nine but they tend to have gaps in their technology. Most of these gaps tend to fall into one of two areas. First technologies they don't use. These islands of civilization are small and isolated and rarely in contact with the outside world. Many transport and communication technologies simply don't interest them. The second area is technologies they don't have the resources for.

All of these enclaves are advanced in robotics and A.I. This strikes the Mages in this setting as bizarre. Some mages speculate that some type of fay or jinn have infiltrated the world and are disguising themselves as humanoid robots. At present they have no proof and the robots are quick to ally themselves with the mages to protect their enclaves and the citizens of their enclaves. So the mages keep their suspicions to themselves.

###################################

Transport across this America is mainly by horseback or riverboat. Trade is present, but focused mainly on what locals can't produce themselves.

Most of the technologically advanced enclaves are river ports or seaports. Many enclaves have Intraurban trolley lines, but railroads between cities are unknown.

Aircraft are very rare. Each aircraft is a one-off and new parts must be fabricated.

################################

Knowledge of the world beyond North America is limited. The Caribbean Islands and the Pacific Islands from Hawaii to Australia and New Zealand are regularly in contact with North America. The East Indies, South America, Europe, and Africa, resist and refuse contact with outsiders. Ireland and Morocco are exceptions to this. But neither of these countries are in regular contact with the lands to their east.

There is a technologically advanced enclave in Antarctica. But they are secretive and isolationist.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Realm of the Towers

In this world vril concentrates in city-sized zones, extending up thousands of feet, with the large stretches in between having much less. Within the zones vril is easily-accessible, providing for a magitech civilization. However, there's no way to transport it outside the boundaries of the zones. Thus settlements are built up, using vril power to keep their massive towers from falling over. And most people stay in the cities because it's easy and safe. Meanwhile anyone outside has to scrape by on whatever they can make from existing materials or the occasional piece of scrap that doesn't need vril to keep it together. Travel between towers is either terribly dangerous caravans or via very expensive "ley line gondolas" zipping along glowing tendrils between zones (think that sail vehicle from TRON).

A combo of "points of light" fantasy with cyberpunk megacities.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

As travel was rare and difficult, and camping ill advised, holidays are more important in the cities than vacations. The holiday calendar is mainly like contemporary America but with a few rearrangements and add ins. January still starts with New Year's. Twelfth Night is a big deal and mainly a party night with lots of entertainments for children. MLK is still commemorated with solemnity. The 30th is Patriot's Day and celebrates important past Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans.

February has Lincoln's birthday and Washington's commemorated. Valentine's day is a big deal. The first Tuesday in March is always Mardi Gras. Public mask wearing is a thing. Saint Patrick's day is a big party day. Dances, concerts, and storytelling are major features. The first Sunday after the first Monday in April is always Palm Sunday and the next Sunday is Easter. Egg hunts are still a thing. April Fools is unchanged except for the rule about the pranks ending by noon is now universal. The 23rd is Saint George's day. Ren Faires and plays are big.

The fifth of May is a Mexican themed party day. Mother's day is the first Sunday after May 5th. And Father's day is the Sunday after that. Memorial day is the last Monday in May. In June, St. Peter and Paul's day and St.John's day are big outdoor celebrations. The 4th of July is still a big celebration, the fireworks are less spectacular though.

In August, the first Saturday after the first Monday is St.David's Day (a Welshman wanted to increase the role of Wales in American culture). It's also an outdoor party day. Labor day is still observed, but as children go to school all year round in the urban enclaves, it isn't an unofficial end to summer anymore. September also has Michaelmas which is a public and outdoors harvest festival.

Columbus day is back but October is more a build up to Halloween. (Easter, Halloween, and Christmas are the biggest holidays). Halloween costumes are still a big thing. November has Veteran's day and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is still an at home harvest festival.

December has Saint Nicholas Day, which is a general children's festival with plays and parties. St.Lucy's day is a family dinner day. Christmas is by far still the biggest holiday of the year. And much more a public celebration rather than an at home one. New Year's Eve is a big party night.

Remember these celebrations are the main entertainment of the community and replace vacations and other customs no longer practical.

They also provide multiple complex story hooks. Think about the advantages of a day of public mask wearing for covert movement in an urban environment.

In the rural areas, which are brutally depopulated, Christmas and Easter are the only holidays observed.

#########################

Religion is a minority thing in the cities. About 20 percent of the people are Christians. The various denominations blended long ago. Theology is something a very few ministers and priests worry about. Church services are formal and ritualistic. Social attitudes are more like modern Quakers.

Buddhism is a presence in the cities, and about five percent of the population is Buddhist. Other faiths are rarer.

In the country side folk Christianity prevails, often blended with other faiths. The cities distribute Bibles in the Rural areas to promote literacy.

###################################

Marriage is a civil ceremony in the cities. Religious wedding ceremonies generally take place in summer. In the rural areas marriage is mainly informal due to a lack of formal clergy.

Burial grounds are commonplace in the rural areas. The urban enclaves cremate their dead. They do maintain memorial gardens and community cenotaphs.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

This could certainly be interesting. Out of curiosity, what are you thinking would make travel between the towers particularly dangerous? Bandits seem like a good option at first glance, as exiles that survive by raiding travelers/caravans and the like (they can't very well attack the magically-defended towers), but you indicate you're going for something of a cyberpunk (magipunk?) feel for the tower-city states, which implies there would already be a sizable criminal population within the towers. Monsters could also be an option, but mundane animals aren't going to be much threat to humans traveling in groups (and any that are threats, humans are likely to make it a point to wipe them out), and if all the supernatural oomph is in the towers (complements of vril), it's difficult to justify supernatural beasties. Maybe there's a small amount of vril throughout most of the world, and while humans can't tap into it without the sort of large concentrations found where towers are inevitably built, monsters aren't quite so limited (and maybe there are some natural-born mage humans with a similar capability; such might be treasured for their usefulness in crossing the wilds, or despised and thought of as monsters, or anything in-between). Or maybe there's some sort of anti-vril* (that extends downwards instead of upwards, explaining underground dungeons if you want those) that powers the monsters, perhaps some casters... and maybe even some magic items that work outside of the towers (and that might not even be allowed in, due to interference with vril, making dedicated adventurers often functional exiles).

*EDIT: It looks like "vril" is thought to be a shortened version of "virile," so perhaps anti-vril could be called stril, as a shortened version of "sterile."

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I've never thought much about it; unfortunately I'm rather myopic when I think about these things.

I do like the stril idea (though maybe not the name: I might want to change both): I enjoy the concept of ecosystems that defy our physics because they're being sustained by some kind of special energy. Maybe the cities are where they are because those are the only pockets where stril doesn't cause flora and fauna to overwhelm settlements. The use of vril is just a side-bonus. So the danger is both hostile wildlife plus the inability to keep trails and have efficient road networks; think of wheels as something you only see in cities because that's the only place with enough flat ground. Maybe you can make flying vehicles that aren't powered by vril, but we can throw in the occasional giant flying monster to explain why it's still somewhat of a risky method.

The conflict between vril and stril makes me think that the giant, hostile monsters plain do not like the areas the cities occupy; the edge where the two meet is like an electric fence to all but the most maddened monsters. (Smaller, less "Oh, %1$@!" wildlife is okay, because urban wildlife is fun.) And as for any potential stril-users it's probably the same deal: the majority live just outside the border, fulfilling the "witch just a little ways into the forest" archetype.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Humorously, we're arguably using the opposite words, here - "vril" in the original novel was a power utilized by a subterranean race, and using a shortened form of "sterile" to describe a magic energy that appears to actually increase fecundity by accelerating plant growth (and possibly that of animals, to help produce large monsters) clearly seems wrong. But then, from the standpoint of the humans, vril is the thing that keeps them alive, thriving, and growing as a society, while stril is associated with the extermination of entire family lines (from monsters eating everyone), so it still kinda fits. I wouldn't object to different names, of course.

Notably, it's going to be quite freaky to be machete-ing your way through the undergrowth, then turning to look behind you and literally seeing the path closing behind you as the plants creep in. And Towers forbid you have to camp outside - you'll have to burn out a clearing to setup, and keep fires going on the periphery to stop the plants from growing over your tents and smothering you in your sleep... and of course all that fire is going to attract predators.

Honestly, I love your idea of lines of vril extending between the Towers to power expensive flying machines. Or perhaps there's an abundance of vril once you get high enough, it's just that without one of those rare pillars that extend down to the ground, you can't build a tower tall enough to tap into it (in no small part because the fast-growing plants will cover it and tear it down long before your reach the vrilosphere). To make it risky, perhaps the flying vehicles are restricted to the lower level of the vrilosphere (going much higher means the air gets too thin to breathe; note this also implies needing to slowly acclimate yourself when climbing the tower to even reach the vrilosphere), and there can be fluctuations that result in loss of power - and/or there are monsters that can launch projectiles high enough to reach the ships (you could posit a world where the atmosphere thins out a lot more quickly than on Earth if needed), as I'd expect any flying monsters to have low flight ceilings (stril tending to extend downward rather than upward).

The whole concept really has a lot going for it, I feel.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I feel like there's a lot of potential in alien landscapes/environments that goes unexplored.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Is a 'pubic mask' a fancy thong, or a typo?

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Orgon or orgone for an opposed chaotic force to vril's order.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Typo corrected. Being blind to my spelling mistakes is painful.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I get it, I've had two eye surgeries in the last six months and I've noticed my ability to catch spelling errors and typos has gone done markedly.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Glitter and Shadows

The world no longer wants magic. Or at least it seems that way. For magicians to live we must hide. For magicians to live we must be seen. Show Biz is how resolve the paradox.

The cheap phony tacky carnival we're working in is perfect Plausible Deniablity. No one seeks true wonders at carnivals, circuses, or amusement parks. So, wonder, like the Holy Grail, is hidden where the "wrong ones can't find it."

Magicians, faeries, the old gods, and stranger things, still live. Well, if you call it living. The world seems to reject magic. Being publicly supernatural causes rapid aging and general physical deterioration. Hiding away from the world causes you to fade away. Maybe you lose your memory and become mundane, but simply ceasing to be or to have ever been, is also possible.

But side shows, road side attractions, circuses, tourist traps, all allow the magical folk to be supernatural in public without penalty.

Basically, the PCs are magical folk, Wizards, Fay, Demigods, whatever. They have hope that the world will change to be less brutal to magical folk in a couple of centuries. If you can last that long, glory and wonder awaits you.

You need to be acknowledged as magical while not being caught being magical. Smoke and mirrors are your friends.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I'd drop the carny side of this and set it in early Hollywood. You'd have all this secret magic stuff alongside LA's water wars, the oil industry, and crazy Theosophy cults. (Imagine, if you will, a coterie of fairies and wizards trying to deal with the plot of Chinatown.)

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Your take is inspired. But then a minor studio like Republic or Monogram would be a great place to set a Wainscot fantasy like Changeling: tD or Mage: The Ascension.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

You could get a lot of mileage of out this setting. It's inspired. Well done.

An interesting time and place to put it, for certain.

It would also work well as a variant In Nomine campaign for Ethereals. Bonus points trying to function in Hell-controlled LA without the patronage of Nightmares or The Media.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

It occurs to me that a small studio specializing in B-Sci Fi movies would be great cover for paranormal beings. Weird phenomenon becomes just special effects, maybe gone wrong. Strange beings are "actors in costume."

The merely uncanny is hidden by the gaudily bizarre.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Like Harlington-Straker Film Studios.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Return Engagement

How long has it been?

More than two millennia.

This world is more changed than I thought possible. Your giving them fire has had so many consequences.

Someone would have given the mortals fire. For all your father's fury at me you know he would have done it eventually.

And yet you accepted the vultures eviserating you daily.

Have others come back besides my brothers, our cousin Hecate, and yourself?

I think so. But we had better know so.

Promethus, Athena, Hercules, Hermes, Hecate, and perhaps others, have returned. They are far more powerful than mortals, but far less powerful than they were in the days when they were worshiped in Hellas.

A shadow hangs over their return. Old foes have also returned. This small band of immortals must protect the life of the world or see it gutter out like a candle.

Basically, supers with mythic and conspiracy themes. You could bring other Olympians and some Greek heroes into the mix. Medea, whom recent scholarship suggests was seen less as a witch in our sense, than a mad scientist, would be a fun choice. Of course you can pick your mythic heroes from any traditions you like. Bast, Thor, Oya, Mananan Mac Lir, Vishnu, or the Handsome Monkey King, all make good superheroes.

But pick people who can do subtle. The conspiracy has champions of its own.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

So lion Onyx Publishing's Scion, only you play actual mythic figures rather than their children? Am I close?

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

In some ways. But you have to find out secrets without getting caught. It's avatars of the gods versus the illuminati and whoever is behind them. Supers and conspiracy horror tropes.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Some final notes.

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Mages age more slowly in this setting than normal humans. The whole idea was originally a Mage: The Ascension campaign. The aging rate was divided by the Arete. If using standard GURPS: Thaumutology Realm Magic divide the aging rate by the highest Realm known.

Note: slowed aging makes people suspect mages are mutants.


#####################################

Sea Level is up thirty feet beyond early 21st century levels. Western Antarctica collapsed, which caused a twenty foot jump in a decade. The other ten feet happened much more slowly.

However, between the mass die off of humanity and the near total reduction of carbon emissions, the CO2 Level has dropped dramatically. Climate conditions are much more like the little Ice Age.

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Some mages have set up bases of their own, mainly in ruined cities. Other mages have built towers in areas just out of reach of the cities.

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Other than the few civilized areas and the mage bases towns are few. Both rural areas and the few civilized enclaves regularly hold fairs. The county folk trade livestock and crop surpluses for manufactured goods like knives, cookware, spinning wheels, needles, or glassware.

Mages also attend these fairs to buy and sell as well.

###########################

The Demons seem to be more focused on disruption of society and enslavement of humans than anything else. The Demons generally set up plantation-like farms.

The Demons always seem to require a dominance hierarchy in order to work together.

####################################

Although the Mages are mystics, they don't ignore the benefits of science and technology. Using the techniques of genetic engineering the Mages have introduced subtly modified crops and livestock.

The most dramatically altered livestock are dwarf dairy cattle. Just as nanny goats have one tenth the body mass of dairy cows, eat one tenth the fodder, but produce one quarter the milk. These goat sized dairy cattle produce 250% as much milk per unit of feed. It also allows families to poor to afford even one dairy cow to still have milk.

The mages have produced cultivars of major types of grain can fix nitrogen like legumes. Thus dramatically increasing crop yields. The nutritional qualities of plants are also enhanced.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Zombie Jamboree

The dead rose! And now you can profit from it! Here at Resurrection Inc. we train zombies to be good trustworthy workers.

Being dead, Zombies need no rest or paychecks!

With our new titanium muzzles, Zombies are now safer than ever!

The Zombie Apocalypse was disturbing but unorganized. The military had the situation in hand quickly and efficiently. The rounded up Zombies had to be supervised and putting them to work was the logical means to recover the loss labor supply.

Basically, the Zombies were no match for capitalism. However, there are other undead out there, mainly vampires of different types, and Zombies aren't risk free. The PCs are Zombie control agents (though actually you control all sorts of undead).

So you hunt the undead in Post-apocalyptic America. But you still have to pay rent and the cable bill. Anyone for beer and pizza? They still deliver.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

There's a movie with this background (minus the other undead). It's called "Fido".

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I haven't seen Fido. I saw a British comedy, Shaun of the Dead, with this set up, minus the other undead, as the end.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Socialist Magic

It used to be the gods had all the magic, and mortals only got any if they performed tasks for the gods -- or traded it between themselves -- and always just enough so they would need to work for the gods again tomorrow.

But then the mortals rose up and forced the gods to distribute the magic equally. The gods did not give up their hold willingly, and those that could fled with as much magic as they could take with them. Now they lurk on the edges of the world, tempting mortals with extra magic in exchange for attempts to bring the society of equality down and restore the gods to their "rightful" place.

With this extra magic these wicked mortals are a match for groups of lesser mages. In some places champions are selected by the people to receive enough extra magic to stand up to the Wicked.


(I.E. Gods were the upper classes hording all the resources, socialist coup makes everyone equal, some gods still have enough extra to try and up-end the new system, sometimes this results in evil warlocks/witches fighting magical girls/boys/people empowered by democracy.)

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Haha. This sounds like it could get very satirical very quickly at some tables which might not be a bad thing.

Possibly how gameplay goes would depend on how the magical girl powers work and how easy it is for their supporters to take them away again. That might be something that a GM would adjust depending on what kind of plot they were doing. If it was difficult to remove the powers once they were given, it might be possible that once a champion had been granted powers they might go rogue and try to become a new god and the players would have to fight them... which also seems very socialism.

One possibility might be that the powers are in some kind of magical item, which once charged up and given has to be physically taken away to get the powers back. Then you might have to go and get one back off a rogue champion, or somebody might steal one off a defeated champion.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Knightwatch!

Where is this place?

Nowhere, anywhere, this is the Castle of the Border

Which border?

All of them.

It's the bright shining ultramodern world of 1920s Britain. Humanity is moving on towards a bright tomorrow. However, there are many things is the dark that dislike the light. However, Knightwatch is a loyal guard of reality itself. Bold warriors, wizards, witches, scholars, scientists, inventors, and adventurers, all dedicated towards protecting the tomorrows of all mankind.

Basically, Knightwatch is an alliance dedicated to protecting the world from things from the realms of shadow. Vampires, goblins, mad scientists, and insane Sorcerers, are all commonplace threats.

The Britain of this world's 1920s is a pulp Sci Fi wonderland. The Tech Level is 6+1^. Magic is generally Path/Book.

Knightwatch is headquartered at the mystical Castle of the Border. These days the CotB looks like an old country house that has been rebuilt a few times. Those initiated into Knightwatch can use the mystical power of the place to travel the world quickly.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

A good way to help make the concept work is also how it worked in Fido, where everyone who dies (with the exception of those wealthy enough to get a funeral with custom head-coffin to ensure they don't rise again) winds up coming back as a zombie. If you've got other undead in play, it might be that what people come back as is random - or those other undead are actually "evolved" versions of zombies (and it may be possible that someone who gets turned by such an "evolved" undead rises as the same type, rather than having to go through a zombie phase first).

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Mainstreaming

Let me get this right. You claim to be a wizard.

The correct term is Mage.

(The gentleman in the violet suit levitates himself and the interviewer)

Have I convinced you of anything?

Okay, you're a wiz...Mage. Why are Mages, Faeries,
and the like, going public?

Why should anyone have to live in the shadows?

Basically, the Mages decided to come out of the "Broom Closet." The Faeries and many other supernaturals have decided to join them. Others, especially Vampires, want to shut it down...NOW!

Take the WoD, or any similar setting, and give them a means to go public without the major consequence. Example: Paradox is the bane of the existence of WoD Mages. However, due to powerful rituals, if Mages wear purple clothing marked with stars, Paradox is radically weakened.

Now, groups like Vampires and conspiracy focused Mages are a major threat in this setting, but don't ignore the threat of ordinary people who are dealing with creatures out of myth for the first time in their lives. A ordinary person with the wrong idea can be a massive threat.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Return

What are these beings?

Wizards.

Are you nuts? Besides, Wizards and Wizardesses in stories are humans.

Only those who started out human in the first place. These beings know how to use magic and they came to Earth in Ancient Times to teach humanity. They say they got into a war with reactionaries of their own species. It took them thousands of years to defeat these reactionaries.

Now they've come back to teach us magic and undo the blocks the reactionaries placed on Earth to prevent humans from discovering magic on our own.

Who do they think can learn magic?

Nearly everybody.

Humans built the pyramids with their own brains and sweat. But they should have had the right to use magic if they wanted to. Friendly aliens have returned to Earth to restore what was stolen from humanity, our capacity to do magic. It turns out that without outside interference almost all healthy humans have at least Magery 0. Imperialists among their own kind shackled humanity's gifts for magic to enslave us. But those chains have been shattered.

The Aliens are now teaching magic and thaumutology to large numbers of people. The aliens point out that, with everyone trained in magic, the kind of techno-magical technology mankind will soon be able to build, and the use of servitor spirits as A.I.s to run robots and other systems, humanity will achieve something like a post-scarcity society. Or at least a very low scarcity society.

The problem with this is that all of humanity's governing systems are built on the management of scarcity. Democracies will accept the changes but not all human governments are democratic. Also, many groups violently reject human equality in our real world. They'd be far more bitter here.

Also, humanity's frustrated magical gifts have attracted predators. Beings conventionally called demons. They dislike the idea of losing their hunting grounds. Other stranger beings Faeries, Djinni, Vaesen, Nunnehe, Menehune, Kami, and others don't like the changes either.

Basically, it's a power struggle on in a society a
fundamentally like our own. The PCs should be competent professional Wizards and Wizardesses trying to educate the young in magic. As written I was thinking of standard GURPS Magic but use what you like.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

A Bag of Islands

This campaign runs around a single powerful magic item. The Bag of Islands is from Arab folklore, it's even mentioned in GURPS:ArabianNights. Just toss one of the stones in the bag out into the sea and it turns into an island (on land it would turn into a mountain).

In a medieval cultural setting, the ability to create new land would be politically explosive. If the PCs suddenly create a new kingdom by tossing the Islands out in appropriate seas (you'll want someplace with a viable climate), they'll soon be involved in a struggle with the nearby powers to keep their new kingdom.

The struggle to make the new kingdom a working nation will be a major campaign. Things from getting a population, getting the church to allow the appointment of Bishops, or getting the regalia of legitimate kingship (Scotland had to argue with the Papal Court for more than a century because England fought to prevent Scotland's kings from being anointed.)

Political struggles don't just involve humans. The Sea Faeries displaced by the PCs will be furious too.

I'd have a strictly limited number of Islands in the Bag. When the Islands are all out of the bag the archipelago should have roughly the same area as Wales but with more arable land.

More later.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Maybe the islands come with population, frozen in magical stasis.

They might be grateful for freedom, or they might be done with being under someone's control and demand the destruction of the bag (whether or not it's been confirmed islands can be put back).

Maybe each island comes with its own separate race, and the PCs have to work to get them to cooperate so they don't get conquered.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Throw on at the mouth of the equivalent of the Thames or the Seine and devastate an economy. Stops lots of trade and floods prime land.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

An interesting campaign might revolve around the introduction of new magical techniques into a campaign setting. Try the idea of the introduction of syntactical magic into a standard GURPS Magic setting. Power relationships would change. And changing power relationships mean struggle, conflict, and drama. Just what you want in a game.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Especially if the people who can use this new magic aren´t the same people who were wielding the power or magic before.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

It is always a source of extra pages in a history book when outsiders get improved skills.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Transformations

Grandpa, what were humans?

We used to be humans. All of us folks. I'd say humans looked most like us Elves, but their lives were only a couple of decades longer than an Orc's.

What were they like?

They were like all of us. Think of a mixture of Elves, Orcs, Trolls, Halflings, Dwarves,
Pixies, all the folk. They were like dangerous rainbows. Their characters had so many colors.

Starting in the 2030s small children began to change. Some became slender and their ears got points. Some grew fangs. By puberty about thirty percent of all children were clearly inhuman. The phenotypes matched folklore. Elves, goblins etc. in the West. Nagas in India, Mnoetia in West Africa, Dolphin folk in the Amazon, Menehune in Hawaii, though, it was assumed because of the influence of Western media, Elves, Halflings, Dwarves, and Orcs, were common everywhere.

More later

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

So like that "Troll Syndrome" or whatever they call it from Shadowrun, but humanity-wide.

I once thought about setting where all the humans were transformed into anthropomorphic animals, and came up with an interesting (though minor) knock-on effect: accurate period dramas and time-travel stories would need to use animation (or puppets), which might elevate the medium in the West compared to our timeline. Though I understand it also increases the cost, so you might get a proliferation of "barely fantasies": live-action works based on the past with only the tiniest veneer of "this isn't the real world" for plausibility.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

I am going for a Low Mana/Low Fantasy setting.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

It's later.

With each generation more of humanity turned into Otherkin. At present, all of the surviving humans are over a hundred years old.

Various cultures reacted differently. On the whole the prettier a group is, the more respected they are. Elves, beautiful, graceful, highly intelligent, and very long lived, quickly rose to the top of society. Sadly, elves rarely seem to remember the old adage "Handsome is as handsome does."

Orcs, Trolls, Goblins, satyrs, and other animalistic types are discriminated against. Some of these like the Orcs have the burden of shorter than human lifespans. Others like the Pixies are considered silly and unreliable, which severely limits their job opportunities.

This is a low magic cyberpunk setting. Use Path/Book magic. Restrict who can have RitualAdept, it should be rare. Most Otherkin can learn Ritual Aptitude, but not all. I'd use Transhuman Space as the model for the local technology. But use what you like.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Editorials

What's the point? We're the designated villains in this story. Our whole world is based on narratives and stories and we're the bad guys.

Sure, we've drawn the villain's lot. But who says we can't rework the story? Once someone assumes they're the virtuous hero of the tale they tend to stop asking themselves whether or not they are actually being virtuous or they just look that way

The PCs have drawn the short straw in life's lottery, they are the villains in a world based on mythic narratives. This can be very bad, Disney Villain Death bad. But why give up? You're the villains. You generally start out with several advantages on the hero anyway. Instead of wasting time on the hero (who generally won't get up off their backsides until you attack anyway) why not try to get ahead of the story and grab the role of the hero for yourself?

Basically, the PCs are a pack of wolves, Trolls, witches, goblins, etc, who decided they can be the heroes of the story. Sure, you've got a nasty reputation and some really bad habits to overcome, but being a real hero was never easy.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

This is one that I think should be developed more. Also, wondering if the magical style is something like The Magic of Stories, since it seems like that would fit.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Agreed. But it's a gift to metagamers.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Book of Coming Forth by Day

Champollion has ruined us all.

Why do you gas on like this?

The Philosophes and the Natural Philosophers were bad enough. Now everyone is studying Egypt's dark arts.

"Dark Arts?" Now that we can read the hieroglyphs we can heal wounds in hours and regrow limbs in months. The blessings on our fields are flooding our markets with abundant food. Even beggars eat beef.


And as we grow rich we grow foolish, worldly, and insubordinate!

We were always all those things. Just now we're honest about it.



Romantics thought the enlightenment had been driven back. In spite of the upstart American Republic surviving most of Europe had learned to respect their betters. Then Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone and brought back the secrets of ancient Egyptian magic.

Once the Egyptian lore was revealed other secrets made more sense. Mystic secrets from Greece, Rome, Ireland, the Nordic lands, the Finmark, and laying forgotten in dusty libraries all over Europe and further afield. The Amercans learning the secrets of Native teachers, hearing the wisdom of Houdous and Root Workers, are gaining power as well. Mexico studying the Aztec lore with new eyes also gains mystic power.

Basically, this is a combination of Swashbuckling, espionage, and occult investigation. It's the bold new world of 1830! The secrets of the universe are up for grabs.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Far Lands of Wonder

This setting is an interstellar colony world. The ship carrying groups and supplies for several colony worlds had a disastrous misjump in deep space. Other than knowing that they are so far from Earth they can't tell where they are and knowing that they traveled backwards in time ( only possible with no form of control) the colonists have no clue as to when or where they are.

Luckily the colonists found a world extremely suitable for terraforming (Mars is only barely suitable for terraforming). By the barest they managed to create a shirtsleeve environment before most of their equipment wore out. However, as they moved out into the new environment they began to encounter mysteries. Strange animals were sighted in the distance. An impossibility on a terraformed world. Then they got a photograph of a cryptid! It was a...Griffin!

What the &%$#?

Then small children began to cast spells!

It's now generations after the first discoveries of magic. Wizards are becoming more powerful both because they've gained greater understanding of magic and because the larger human populations can actually use the more powerful and flexible wizards and Wizardesses.

Basically, it's a frontier with magic! The forests are fairly new, but then so are the dragons.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Clock Restarted

This setting is a crossover of the GURPS treatment of the World of Darkness, space opera, and post-apocalyptic. Basically, all the endgames started happening at once. Mainly the Gehenna, the Wyrm's attempt to destroy the world, the return of the Formians, and the KotE Sixth Age (an East Asian apocalyptic scenario).

A powerful Hermetic threw everything into a deal with Wrinkle the most powerful paradox spirit of Time. Large numbers of Mages fled Earth and Wrinkle put Earth in a time bubble, frozen for 256 years. The Mage who made the deal was getting ready to hand himself over to Wrinkle, when large numbers of Black Spiral Dancer Werewolves, Sabbat Vampires, and Nephandi Mages attacked. Wrinkle laughed and make them never existent (cross Wrinkle and he makes you never exist in the first place). Wrinkle announced that "The idiots paid most of the debt. Now go make your plan work."

The Mages and the people they took with them have built human communities in deep space. Unlike present WoD there is no risk of discorperation, people can live and rise families in deep space. The Council of Nine and a large group of defectors from the Technocracy have formed the Council of Twelve. The Technocracy still exists. Multiple mages groups fled into deep space. Assume all mage groups that existed in the WoD still exist if they would choose to leave Earth to survive.

Many of the Horizon realms that existed before the third edition of Mage are basically planets in this setting. Humans are settled on many worlds. Those worlds most closely associated with the Council of Twelve generally have a Tech Level of Ten. Supertech, schizotech, and retrotech are not rare. Planets with less than fifty million people (unless those people are packed very closely together), can't have paradox other than that which comes from the Mage themselves. Casting difficulty is far lower on very low population planets.

The main plot action in this game is going to Earth and rescuing people. The 256 year stasis is over. The PCs are rescuing humans and some others from Earth. It's assumed that most PCs are mages and consors (close Mage allies). But other supernaturals are possible.

Paradox still exists on Earth, but it is weakening fast. Still paradox is a threat. The Antedeluvian Vampires want humanity as a whole to stay put. They need the blood and souls of billions to survive. Less powerful Vampires want to flee to the stars. The PCs are against both options. The Werewolves and other Gaian shifters need humans for breeding stock. Some might resist having human populations evacuated. Some might want to join the evacuation. Others might demand their own Starship. There will be groups of Mages that see keeping humanity on Earth a sacred duty. Others want only to save themselves or their little group and be glad to see the rest die. Commoner Changelings will want to go. The Sidhe nobility will be a serious issue because they need to rule. Wraiths will mainly want the living to go. Some will definitely try to get their Anchors taken along. Hunters will have multiple different reactions to evacuation. The Mercy creeds will help as will the Visionary Creed. Waywards and Hermits will attack and interfere. Zeal creeds will tend to be wildcards. The Defenders and Judges slightly favoring evacuation and the Avengers mainly assuming the Evacuation another snare.

Three new Spheres exist in this setting. The Sphere of Society, The Sphere of Information, and The Sphere of Metamorphosis, which I will explain elsewhere.


More later...

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

What has the reaction to it been on Earth? It can't be concealed: the proper motions of stars will give it away, as will the sudden change in position of the planets, the sudden change of sunspots, and other astronomical phenomena.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Those that would notice it will be shocked. However, large areas of the planet are effectively a warzone. New Zealand, largely ignored by the most disruptive supernaturals, is one of the most normal places left, is aware of the time jump and how long the jump was to the minute. But most surviving astromers are busy with other things.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Council of Twelve is already accepted that it will become the council of seventeen later on. The additional five seats will be named for directions (North, South, East, West, and Center.) The Heremetics have agreed to accept African number symbolism. Sixteen, in West African numerology symbolizes totality. Seventeen represents the hidden powers of the world that complete the world and allow both growth and useful achievements.

During the evacuation, the Dreamspeakers and the Verbena took nasty blows. The two groups have consolidated together as the Lodge of Vision. The Lodge holds the seat of Spirit.

The former Progenitors now hold the Seat of Life and call themselves the Aescepalians.

The Order of Hermes gave the Seat of Forces to Iteration X who have reclaimed their old name The Artificers. Meanwhile, the Heremetics have taken the Seat of Society.

The Virtual Adepts have taken the Seat of Information, and given the Void Engineers the Seat of Correspondence.

The Seat of Metamorphosis is held by The Children of Knowledge . Being alchemists, this suits the children.

Two of the directional seats are occupied at this time. The Seat of the South is held by the The Ngoma and the Seat of the Center by the Wu-lung.

Both the Technocratic Union and the Disparates still exist. But both groups are weak and uncoordinated.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

It sounds like, this might be a lot of work to run, with so many different factions of monsters as the enemy and the Mage set-up of even the laws of nature change depending on which Paradigm is most common in that area.

Still, it seems like, it could be kept within limits by just limiting how many different kinds of monsters the PCs encounter - they needn't all be on stage - and likewise the PCs would only be in one place with one set of laws of nature at a time (that might be more of an issue in the mage colonies than on Earth itself).

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

True, the GM can focus the PCs on a particular class of issues. A group might focus on evacuating small rural towns. You'd be unlikely to run into either Vampires, Wraiths, Demons, or Mummies, in such places. Conflict with Shapeshifters and Mages would be far more likely. If you go to Paris to evacuate the Arcanum and empty the museums and libraries, you'll run smack into a Methuselah vampire (François Villon, the poet). Intrigue and negotiation will be the game.

By choosing the focus you limit your work.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

Off Earth populations are low and scattered. The destruction of the Void Engineer space colonies at the start of Mage 3rd never happened. So those populations were available. As were the human residents of Horizon Realms. The human groups in the Near Dreaming also joined the new human communities. Still, with nearly a hundred fifty worlds settled, few have more than a few million people on them. Even with tech level ten robotics, Magery and Psionics, it won't be easy taking in Earth's billions. Many people assume failure to save the billions, but are determined to save who they can.

################################

The remnants of the Technocracy which rejected joining the Council generally have chosen to live on worlds that will take longer to Terraform. This means that their Sleeper populations have to stay put in the cities. With no place to run to the Sleepers have to obey the will of the Technocratic Union. The Technocracy proclaims this is for their own good.

Life on these worlds is comfortable but controlled. Think of the Village on the old TV show The Prisoner. The village was charming if creepy as hell. But no one suffered want of anything material. All had food, clothing, shelter, amusements, and basic services. No freedom, but it was an attractive and comfortable prison. A brutal prison, but with good food and creature comforts.

############################################

The other Mages that left the Earth have settled worlds of their own. These tend to reflect their values and social culture.

Re: New Fantasy Setting Seeds.
 

The Council mages have a base on the Moon. This base is under constant threat. Hostile Mages, Cathayan Vampires, Shifters, Changelings and others can travel through the Umbra or the Dreaming to get there. So the base can be a war zone at the srop of a hat. Only Cainite Vampires and Wraiths have serious limitations in going to the moon.

Multiple diplomatic visits occur weekly at the moon base. Powerful supernatural beings demanding to be taken to the stars or given starships. Most of these diplomats aren't especially diplomatic.

Groups of rescued humans and others are kept at the moon base long enough to sort out where to send them. Ghouls, Formoi, Thalains, and the like are also delt with here.

#################################################

There is a massive salvage operation going on. Vast numbers of cultural artifacts, vast amounts of information, samples of vast numbers of plants and animals are being gathered together. If the Earth is destroyed or changed beyond recognition, this might be humanity's last chance at these things.

Places with especially rich supplies of cultural artifacts tend to also have rich supplies of powerful supernaturals as well.

###############################

The isolated nation of New Zealand has diplomatic relations with the Council of the Traditions. New Zealand is about the only nation that isn't in chaos and under attack. Thus it's an important base in the evacuation effort. Most New Zealanders deemed useless to the evacuation effort have already been evacuated to deep space.

More later.