Setting
The world has never forgotten magic, and in return magic has shaped the world. Even in the Antediluvian Era, before the end of the Ice Age when the glaciers retreated, magic was part of how humans survived and spread across the world. Although none of the early attempts to settle down lasted, there is evidence of at least five different proto-civilizations created with the help of magic and Supernatural beings.
After the end of the Ice Age, as the first civilizations took root, there were more organized attempts to tame magic, to control the spirits and the monsters changed by the wild chaos of pure possibility. Most of these initial attempts were conducted by priesthoods and led to rituals and formulas such as those recorded in the Sumerian codes. These were the basis of Arcana, spells, and rituals that sometimes did nothing more esoteric than helping farmers grow their crops, clear sewage from the streets of ancient Ur, or alleviate diseases in the villages. Many lands developed their own traditions of magic, with secrets closely guarded by their practitioners. There were often byzantine rules for membership in these groups, based more on family and tribal alliances than merit or talent.
In Ancient Egypt, and in some of the villages of the Indus Valley, these groups of priests established houses of learning, keeping the secrets of their magic close to their own orders. It was not until the philosophers of Athens, Greece, rose to prominence, that social orders began to devote themselves to improving education among the populace in general. Several schools, or Academies, were established, teaching different kinds of elevated thinking such as geometry and mathematics, natural philosophy, and of course, the magic. Not only did the Academies help formalize the teaching of the arcane, but allowed for deeper understanding of how magic worked. As Rome grew to power and borrowed many elements from Egyptian and Athenian culture, one element they took almost without alteration were the Akadimia Mageias. The dominance of the Roman Empire was maintained in large part due to the skill and organization of their supernatural forces taught by the Academies.
In the East, China had their own successful Wushu Xueyuan, but these were intended only for elite members of their society and so they had few well-trained mages or supernaturals when the Mongols conquered much of the Empire. Despite these lessons it was not until the late 19th Century that the Chinese began to allow more students to enter the Xueyuan.
No one group of supernatural beings, even the mages, could be said to have a unified goal, but in general most of them wanted to protect and preserve whatever civilization they lived in, even if some advocated for changes and progress. This helped the Roman Empire and its successor Byzantine Empire to last more than a millennia, helped the British Empire weather the first signs of revolution in its American colonies, and kept the Russian tsars remain power even through multiple efforts to bring them down.
Early in the 20th century of the Common Era, Anno Mithras, several of the great Empires of Europa and Asia found themselves caught up in a Great War. The Austrio-Hungarian Empire collapsed, giving the Holy Roman Empire–after a long struggle to maintain its influence–a chance to reclaim lost territory and power. They did so with the help of the Prussian Empire, and together these forces struck against their neighbors, the British, Russian, and Ottoman Empires, all at once. This led to more than a decade of war that eventually touched all the countries of the world, even if the effects were economic or magical backlash after certain massive battles. The Imperial War ended only when a great and terrible weapon was deployed that destroyed the remaining commanders of the HRE and Prussian Empire, the town they were hiding in, and nearly 50,000 troops in the surrounding battlefields.
It is now 1947 AM, almost two years after the end of the war, and the world is facing rapid social, economic, and political changes. The Federated American Colonies are in the process of breaking away from the collapsing British Empire. The HRE is only a political force on paper while its individual states of Hispania, Francia, Italia, and others begin to assert their own independence. Prussia has formally dissolved but it is uncertain whether a new German Confederation will rise up or will remain a loose coalition of independent states. The Russian Empire remains, but it has lost many troops and some territory, such as Poland. The Ottoman Empire has likewise lost territory and and faces internal and border disputes.
While China and Japan were not directly involved in the war, the Chinese Empire has become a Republic, and Japan’s imperial ambitions have shifted from military expansion to technological and economic influence.
In the Federated American Colonies, the independence movement appears unstoppable, and Britain does not even seem interested in trying to hold tightly ont the colonies. There are several high-level discussions about trying to settle on which states will become part of a new country, the exact government that country will employ, and where its capital will be located. The city of Checagou, one of the three most likely candidates for capital, is the site of many of these discussions and so has a large influx of immigrants from across the ocean.