Finally finished my cover of this fun map and scenario
I have already posted an incomplete version here which I will delete once people have had time to notice the upgraded version.
2019, in a magic world, abundant in mermaids, djinn and fairies and elves (of the shoemaker, Santa, and illusion-filled realms under mounds types, not Tolkien elves). A fair percentage of most animal species smarter than fishes can talk, and magitech is quite advanced, with flying cars (carpets are _so_ 17th century) and robots powered by steam or enchanted clockworks. It's a world with a far more equal distribution of wealth and power than ours, with the nations of Asia and Africa wealthy and powerful in their own right, so much so that Europe has unified to strengthen its position.
But it's not quite a perfect world. In mostly countries talking animal have few rights, and few question the rights of people to slaughter animals that _don't_ talk. Predatory talking animals killing and eating prey talking animals is considered "natural", as long as it's done with fair warning beforehand, although most countries force them to pay a viking-type blood price. Fairies and the mound-dwelling sort of elves are treacherous and deal in dangerously unreliable magic. Dragons are largely extinct, as are unicorns. Robots and golems are as much slaves as Droids in Star Wars, and developed nations suffer from toxic magical pollution from industrial magic. Capitalism is as predatory as talking cats and crocodiles, and there is socialistic unrest in much of the world.
Religious intolerance exists too, and while the Mohamedan nations (the local term for *Islam) are rich in magic and culture rather than petroleum products (a material only recently becoming of importance), relative decline vs the Christian and pagan worlds and economic inequality has led to the rise of a new and intolerant radicalism. Nor is the world lacking in Christian fundamentalism: people watch nervously developments in the extensive realm of the half mad immortal Prester John, who has converted his once many-colored kingdom into a monolithic theocracy.
Magically empowered corporations have come to threaten the power of national governments, and the Snoweiss company seeks global influence by gaining control of water supplies across the globe. Predatory corporations also backed Lord Pan's takeover of the Desert continent, providing logistical support for his forces in exchange for sweetheart deals. (Modernity has not been good for the immortal Lord Peter Pan, who has become addicted to drugs and high powered weapons, and whose current Lost Boys are less playmates than a army of flying child soldiers. Some whisper his shadow now has a hook for a hand.)
In Europe, long a land of relative freedom, a land where even talking animals have the vote, Julius "Big Bad" Wolf came to power on a wave of European xenophobic nationalism, blowing away Arthur of the Monarchist party as an "out of touch elitist in the pocket of Big Elf", "Red" Hood of the Socialists as a "radical Commie" and "anti-predator", and the LittlePig political dynasty was accused of lining their pockets with shady deals in crummy public housing.Since coming to power he has increasingly turned to extralegal and authoritarian means to maintain and increase his power, and there are rumors that he has eaten two of the three leading LittlePigs.
The island states of the Nether Atlantic remain relatively free, and seek to join in a union that will preserve their freedoms rather than stifle them as seems to be becoming the case in Europe. Will they manage to find a balance between freedom and security, and tame rampant corporate power while avoiding the most dangerous of magics? Only time will tell.
I have already posted an incomplete version here which I will delete once people have had time to notice the upgraded version.
2019, in a magic world, abundant in mermaids, djinn and fairies and elves (of the shoemaker, Santa, and illusion-filled realms under mounds types, not Tolkien elves). A fair percentage of most animal species smarter than fishes can talk, and magitech is quite advanced, with flying cars (carpets are _so_ 17th century) and robots powered by steam or enchanted clockworks. It's a world with a far more equal distribution of wealth and power than ours, with the nations of Asia and Africa wealthy and powerful in their own right, so much so that Europe has unified to strengthen its position.
But it's not quite a perfect world. In mostly countries talking animal have few rights, and few question the rights of people to slaughter animals that _don't_ talk. Predatory talking animals killing and eating prey talking animals is considered "natural", as long as it's done with fair warning beforehand, although most countries force them to pay a viking-type blood price. Fairies and the mound-dwelling sort of elves are treacherous and deal in dangerously unreliable magic. Dragons are largely extinct, as are unicorns. Robots and golems are as much slaves as Droids in Star Wars, and developed nations suffer from toxic magical pollution from industrial magic. Capitalism is as predatory as talking cats and crocodiles, and there is socialistic unrest in much of the world.
Religious intolerance exists too, and while the Mohamedan nations (the local term for *Islam) are rich in magic and culture rather than petroleum products (a material only recently becoming of importance), relative decline vs the Christian and pagan worlds and economic inequality has led to the rise of a new and intolerant radicalism. Nor is the world lacking in Christian fundamentalism: people watch nervously developments in the extensive realm of the half mad immortal Prester John, who has converted his once many-colored kingdom into a monolithic theocracy.
Magically empowered corporations have come to threaten the power of national governments, and the Snoweiss company seeks global influence by gaining control of water supplies across the globe. Predatory corporations also backed Lord Pan's takeover of the Desert continent, providing logistical support for his forces in exchange for sweetheart deals. (Modernity has not been good for the immortal Lord Peter Pan, who has become addicted to drugs and high powered weapons, and whose current Lost Boys are less playmates than a army of flying child soldiers. Some whisper his shadow now has a hook for a hand.)
In Europe, long a land of relative freedom, a land where even talking animals have the vote, Julius "Big Bad" Wolf came to power on a wave of European xenophobic nationalism, blowing away Arthur of the Monarchist party as an "out of touch elitist in the pocket of Big Elf", "Red" Hood of the Socialists as a "radical Commie" and "anti-predator", and the LittlePig political dynasty was accused of lining their pockets with shady deals in crummy public housing.Since coming to power he has increasingly turned to extralegal and authoritarian means to maintain and increase his power, and there are rumors that he has eaten two of the three leading LittlePigs.
The island states of the Nether Atlantic remain relatively free, and seek to join in a union that will preserve their freedoms rather than stifle them as seems to be becoming the case in Europe. Will they manage to find a balance between freedom and security, and tame rampant corporate power while avoiding the most dangerous of magics? Only time will tell.
