[World Building] Alt-History TL 8 Earth with open RPM

[ajardoor]

Hey guys, I've been working on building an alternate history modern day Earth with public Ritual Path Magic setting in GURPS. I am a bit uncertain about the results, and I figure that this forum is full of folks with their heads on straight. Please Evaluate and Comment Honestly.
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The setting is TL 8 Earth (2015 C.E.), with nine "mystical realms" (outer planes of existence named after the nine Paths) accessed through dimensional gates. The only magic system is Ritual Path Magic - and magic is pretty much the only supernatural power available (no Psi or Divine Favour). Magic is believed to have entered the public eye sometime around the Victorian Era (perhaps related to the fads of Spiritualism and Egyptology?), but improvements in magic's power and popularity rose during World War One, rose further during World War Two (the Nazis did not use magic at all during the war, and purged magicians in the same way as political dissents in the 30's) and hit another upswing during the height of The Cold War (though the Soviets lagged behind NATO in magical development from beginning to end). The latest trend of magical developments have begun about twenty-five years ago, when gates to the outer planes were discovered, and are still yet to plateau. In particular, the worldwide magi population has been skyrocketing since the mid-80's. Osama Bin Laden was killed during the Clinton administration, thus preventing 9-11 and The War on Terror, but America's issues with civil rights, the recession and state-sponsored paranoia still arose in the early Noughts due to public backlash against magic.

I recommend players who want an Earth-centric campaign (one not focusing on the outer planes, that is) to consider setting it firmly within familiar bounds - their native country and culture. Then, consider how an alternate history with open magic would've changed the last twenty or so years of their country's "normal/real" timeline and socio-economic status - that makes the campaign backstory and general setting. Then, players should use their country's mythological and "weird/mysterious" events/things as a basis for magical elements introduced - for example, Stonehenge in the UK, the pyramids in Egypt, and Shinto legend in Japan. A campaign set in the outer planes is gonna be less worried about a fleshed out and coherent alternate history of modern Earth.

Only humans are generally considered a sapient magical race, there are no elves, goblins or dwarves anywhere. While magical creatures (Manticores, Chimeras, Zombies, Basilisks) exist, but most are of animal intelligence and are usually native to the outer planes. The Undead that are sapient, like Liches and Vampires, were living humans first. The spirits are just magically manifesting embodiments of human emotion and thought, with unsophisticated personalities that lack nuance, depth and emotional range - although complex/powerful spirits like Fae, Archdaemons, Archangels and Loa do have more rounded mental universes. The outer planes seem empty of any native human population, so humans from Earth are free to colonise and settle on the land - when it is safe to do so.

Reports of magical artefacts (grimoires, places of power, charms, elixirs, enchanted stuff) found in the outer planes further encourage explorers, settlements and research.

Some even consider the settlements in the magical realms to be a kind of homeland for magi, but the political issues concerning that frontier are complex. The mundane Earth governments are wary of giving magicians too much political power or their own lands (with their own laws), so they mostly try to deal with (and thus give political legitimacy to) intentional/interdimensional corporations of magicians than any other type of magician-run N.G.O. (like Civil Rights groups). The mega-corps, relying on government good will to grant them access to consumer markets and public contracts, will choose to avoid rocking the boat whenever possible. Most countries put serious social restrictions on both casting spells and the movements of thaumaturges - magicians must be registered, carrying ID badges in public spaces, publically announcing the spell being cast, let the government search their homes without a warrant, and so on. Harsher governments force magicians to live in ghettos, submit to behaviour-restricting mind control, receive longer sentences when convicted of a crime, and only cast a certain amount of spells per day. In game terms, most mundane Earth governments treat their CR as one or two higher when dealing with magic. Only a few governments on Earth seriously ban magic outright, even if they all fear both magical botches and magi uprisings. The mega-corps (and magi in general) often have to downplay or suppress incidents involving magical crime, disastrous botches and wizard supremacist terrorism, just to avoid backlash from the mundane population like civil unrest (including hate crimes), harsher laws, loss of consumer confidence in magical products and increased police scrutiny. The laws in the outer planes settlements, naturally, are far less stricter on average, since they are supposed to be magical outposts - "company towns" (owned by the mega-corps) are even run entirely by magi and boast the richest markets for magic, with a standard of living to match. Of course, those frontier settlements not run by the mega-corps could just be minor anarchist communes, petty warlord encampments, glorified puppets of a mundane government, scavenger/prospector shanty towns and other political non-entities. Botches, therefore, are more common in the outer planes simply because there is less pressure and restraint put upon the caster, which can interfere with a settlement's quality of life.

The magical corporations supply the mundane population and civilian governments with magical research, enchanted items, civic projects, mass entertainment, magical hospital supplies, the gates and other major, expensive works. While they are subject to regulations and laws, they are allowed lobbyists, highly visible advertising, military contracts and other benefits of incorporation.
Independent (small time) merchants usually only sell charms, elixirs and personal services - out of van, if they ain't got the License.
Learning magic is typically done at a special university - the one-on-one apprenticeship (by family or local hedge wizard) is less popular than it use to be, due to recurring issues with student abuse, fraud, unsafe classroom conditions and substandard instruction quality. Magical styles can be learned any number of ways.
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TO BE CONTINUED NEXT POST