Question about setting.

[nightstriker.livejournal.com]

Well I know that this may be a bit more of an ST question but I well here it is in a public area.

This setting for the game, what is it like? I have heard some of you talk about it but I am still a little lost about what it is like.

I will poise a few question here and there as I think of them so here is the first set.

What year is it?
I am asking for a rough year. Is it 20 years ago, 50, 100, 200 years in the future?

What is the tech level like?
Do we have the modern level of tech? Is the type of tech out there better than what we have today? Is it Perpetually modern? (Kind of what it is like in Marval comics when they are talking about present day.)

Who controls most of the tech?
I remembered hearing that there are multiple factions in the city, so who has the most and easiest access to the tech?

What is the Magic level like and who has the most control of it?
This is kind of simmilar to the tech level question, but a little simpler. Do we have a bunch of poeple who can do very small effects or are there people who can bring down the wrath of gods? Is there a specific set of people who just naturally have more control over magic than anyone else?

This is it for now I look forward to hering responses.

Comments

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

I'll give you the quick two-penny tour and we can go into details later. (The rest of you guys should fill in the bits from your point of view.)

The last game ran over a few years of both game and world time. In game time it was a near future world (a small jump in tech level but no flying cars) between the years of 2026-2029. The official blurb is:

"The Ratcatcher Game is a near-future modern Earth setting where magic exists but is treated like a science. Non-humans also exist as a secret subculture of normal human society."

You can find the origional webpage here (http://www.sce.carleton.ca/~mackinno/Coralie/main.html) and the world description for the last game arc here (http://community.livejournal.com/ratcatchers/27925.html). A quasi-complete timeline for the world can be found here in pdf form (http://www.sce.carleton.ca/~mackinno/Coralie/History.PDF) but it doesn't cover the last few world years of gaming. I also put tags (http://community.livejournal.com/ratcatchers/tag/) on all the posts here. They are organized by character/npc name, campaigne arc, and topic. The one labled "archive" leads to the location of the old game summaries in my lj and the one called "cut scene" leads to shorts about the npcs and characters that don't happen in game.

The year I will be running my longer game will likely be 2055 or so. That will be post Angel War (think world war III) in conquered Europe. Advanced technology will come from the invaders so there will be an odd mix of tech given that much of the native capability for creating tech is only starting to get back on its feet but there is an influx of alien tech (explained later). Look here (http://community.livejournal.com/ratcatchers/27697.html) for a few "preview pictures". I am NOT aiming for cyber punk (which is actually a genra I have never played).

Tech wise I've been pulling my inspiration from real world research (which is absolutely amazing if you look at it) rather than science-fiction and comic books. Hence flying cars are out but use anywhere compact communication systems/computer systems and heavy camera surveilliance in urban regions were normal in my last game. (If you were wondering why the guys were slightly bitter about lack of cell phones during the Fables game this is probably why.) Mixed magic/tech was also starting to become avaliable to people other than specialists in 2029. This was part of the reason the fey went public as it was becoming more difficult to hide magically. In 2029 in everyday use magic was being treated as the science of Thaumaturgy but was usually banned in areas such as medicine. Divination magic was very rare and usually limited to people who were at least partially nuts (ie Changelings = Sihde + human = bonkers).

The shorter games may occur in the late 1990's (if I run a prequel) or 2029 (if I run a game at the start of the Angel war).

It is important to realize that I did not take standard races and insert them into this world. The names may be recognizable but the race may have been tweeked.

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

Human = human

Were = human who has a second form as an natural animal, weres can be magic users like humans but usually aren't, they do not have a "were-wolf" half transformed form... anyone like that is probably a fey, no reptile or fish forms

Fey - blanket term for all magical non-human (although they can cross breed with humans which raises questions) people, in thier natural form they look different than humans (pick pretty much any fey/fable/myth form with a few exceptions) and may have special powers (ie flight), they are all magical although not all powerfully magical, they all have the ability to mimic a second form (not like the were who become their second form) which is usually human except for gremlins who mimic birds or small rodents, Fey may not have feathered wings

Tiefling - human/fey hybrid, rare in 2029, can not change form unless they learn magic to do it, usually magical, small 'fey trait' that can't be easily covered up

Changeling - Irish human/Sidhe hybrids, magical, tend toward mental powers, usually a bit crazy, potentially very magically powerful, in 2029 rare everywhere, in 2055 rare outside of Ireland and common in Ireland but the race is dying out due to the deliberate geonocide of the Sidhe race by humans and changelings, they all look human and may live out thier entire lives believing that they are human

Sidhe - non-player race, lives under the hills in Ireland kidnapping changelings to ensure thier failing connection to Erin's magic, they are the reminants of the formerly glorious Sidhe 'Gods' who left the world millenia ago, they have been dying by bits and going nuts as thier magic left them, still VERY powerful magically, will cease to exist by 2055

Demons - look like humans or fey with colourful feathered wings, extremely rare in 2029 (ie the players knew less than a dozen examples) but increasingly common post-angel war, they are the offspring of a male Angel or a male Demon and a human female, the family line tends to die out after less than half a dozen generations, females are considered sterile, The only know female demon born of a female demon was Prince Serra Ensley and her genetic make-up is in question as her father (Eric) is suspected to be a 'God'. The two major pre-war Demon families are D'Ange and the Princely family in Madiera, Nixt and his 'son' Jasper in the Fey Avalon court are also feathered but their race has never been confirmed, Demons are very powerful mages but do not shapeshift naturally, this will be a character race in 2055

Angel - Alien race that looks like 'angels' possibly from Earth origionally, invaders who conquere Europe (but not the world thanks to the PCs destroying thier gate), ony three battle ships got through, high tech, high magic, ... tend to have breeding problems on Earth but that is not generally known,

Gods - because nobody knows what else to call these very powerful individuals who tend to stay hidden, they have an interest in the world but what that is nobody is quite sure, power and possibly knowledge pass from parent to child at puberty or the death of the parent, they only breed once and that is usually when they are expecting to approach death, the other parent can be of any race, Only a very small handful of people know these people exist and who they are... and after the PCs blew themselves up that number dropped greatly, :) Known (to the players) Gods include Captain Manny MacLir (Sea God, died in last game), Jasper (part of Avalon court, spymaster, considered to be Manny's son by the PCs), Prince Serra Ensley (now missing former prince of the Ottawa Fey court, her real father died before any of the games began, Serra was friend/patron of most of the PCs through out all the games), Jack (was a mentally ill God who didn't know what he was and turned into a serial killer, the PCs had to hunt him down and kill him when he escaped prison and kidnapped Ellen), and Ellen (Jack's daughter by raping an Ottawa fey, she also didn't know what she was but managed to become healthy with the help of the PCs, she is Aedan's (PC) foster sister and the PCs consider her a friendly goddess of death now, she was about 12 in 2029).

I must go eat now. More later. Ask as many questions as you want.

[ancalagon-tb.livejournal.com]

I would add a few small details to that:

- in 2029, our PDP (personal digital assistant) were considered quite potent indeed. The rule of thums was "in over 20 years, could computers do this?" If the answer was yes, - tada, it could!

- germlins are fey per say - but everyone who knows about them considers them to be a degenerate sub race and a pest. They have a tendency to be attracted to electronics. They tend to be idiot savants in that field. Unfortunately, they have a very poor grasp of consequences, and as a result will cause critical systems to fail. Gremlins in an airport are a serious threat. I don't know if t hey would be a valid character race - the average gremlin surely isn't.

More than you really need to know but it's worth my typing it out for posterity

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

A few other commonly used terms:

Prince - In terms of game mechanics this has no meaning. In terms of the game it is used to denote a person who can draw magical energy from others in order to cast powerful spells and/or move it around between magic users. In fey society the Prince does that AND is usually the ruler/leader of the particular fey group. This is the most common form of government among fey. Non-fey, including Demons (ie D'Ange, Serra and the President of Madiera) and Humans (ie Danson and selected Ratcatchers), have proven that it is not a fey specific gift although non-fey Princes seem to experience a higher chance of backlash, possibly because many of them are self-trained. Becoming a Prince usually requires training from childhood as well as a strong magical aptitude. There is one incidence of a landmass being a Prince and that is Erin (the Weave of Ireland).

Oathbound / Sworn / Fealty - The act of being bonded to a Prince such that magical power may move from you to the Prince or from the Prince to you. In fey courts Fealty may also have social implications and expectations.

Outcaste - A formerly Oathbound Fey who is no longer so either by choice (ie betraying the Prince) or cast out from Fey society. Sometimes they may be hunted.

Ratcatchers - Nickname for the Canadian secret police who regulate magic and interspecies relations. Now a public department and police force. Before going public it was headed by Director Watts (aka The Pied Piper) and Deputy Director Danson (who also headed up the sub-group of Lone Wolves, aka Special Operatives, within the Ratcatchers) but it is now lead by Director Danson and Deputy Director Cornellious McNamara (aka Wolf aka Aedan's Uncle).

Dr. Gabriella D'Ange - The head big baddy in the last game. Now blown to bits. She was a Demon who claimed to be an Angel to trick the Vatican. As a Prince she gained the Pope as a vassel as well as a large group of Warlocks and proceeded to suck the whole crew dry to open her gate to allow the Angels in. She was partially successful. She was one of the most powerful Thaumaturgists of the time and invented the T-Field Detector as well as the entire field of Thaumaturgy. For most of her career she was generally considered to be a brilliant (Nobel Prize in Physics) and ecentric (odd habits and lived in Nowhere NFLD) researcher and phillantropist (she invested heavily in scholarship programs and donated to various causes). She just wanted to take over the world... that's all.

Avalon - The Fey court in Britian which has been hiding its self away from human society for hundreds of years. Avalon refers to both the Court in general and the primary Castle which appears to have some basic sentience. The Prince/Ruler of Avalon (aka The Lady or The Lord) can be any fey who completes enough training to become eligable for competing for the Heir position. This is determined by combat to (mild) mutilation. The Heir becomes the ruler on the death of the ruler. Until then the Heir acts as body guard / advisor / millitary leader. There are usually several Heirs over the course of a single ruler's reign. Disputes are also often determined by a Duel. Avalon fey are amazingly Luddite (although this is changing under the leadership of the newest Lady) and no electronics work within the Castle its self. There is an ongoing conflict between internal factions in Avalon over whether or not they should join the modern world. Given that the human British government has banned magic this might be interesting. Avalon also became involved in the Irish war against the Sidhe due to the intervention of The Lady's Consort, Fionn.

[m-danson.livejournal.com]

Hunters - Fey assasins, or if you want to be nice about it... trouble shooters for the fey Princes. Generally fanatically loyal (ie Angus in the Ottawa Court) and often fulfilling more than one function but not necessarily holding any official rank. Bad people to have chasing you.

Dueling - This term has two meanings: 1) the commonly used 'trial by arms' method of justice used by Fey courts, and 2) illegal organized fights with real weapons and magic, often with betting. The first can go to the death but the second usually doesn't. Many Tieflings and Changelings get drawn into the illegal dueling rings for the money, prestiege, and sense of belonging.

Duelists - People who specialize in Dueling. Fey courts all have Duelists who work for the Prince. The Ratcatchers also had dualists (ie Rob) who are called upon during the rare situations where Fey law is being applied to a Ratcatcher case. Illegal duel competitors also call themselves Duelists and are sometimes recruited into the Ratcatchers (Tiefling Det. Susan Stewart).