The setting is pretty loose right now. We will add information as we go along.

Principles for New Stuff

These are some general guidelines for new material--

• In a struggle, the more passionate side wins if all other things are equal. (Sometimes things are not equal.)
• Cultures are vivid and complex. When two cultures interact, things get fuzzy and unpredictable.
• Genuine magic is rare. (There may be impostors, or natural things that seem magical.)
• Others TBD

Open Questions

• What ended the First Age?
• What happened to the Nubians?
• Why didn't it happen to Atlantis? (Demons, presumably.)
• What is Atlantis's relationship with those demons?
• What happened to the City of Brass?
• What's the most powerful of the Ten Thousand Tribes?
• How ambitious are the Eastern nations?

Cosmology

This is the Second Age of the World. The First Age did not please the gods, and they abolished it, moving some portions to the Astral Plane, and consigning the majority to the Abyss. The residue of the First Age is called qlippoth, and is tainted and unholy.

Atlantis

Atlantis escaped destruction at the end of the First Age by striking a pact with immensely powerful demons. (The exact terms are TBD.) Atlantis possesses a powerful navy, a wealthy economy, a luxurious society, plenty of slaves, and a strong tradition of sorcery. Their civilization is powerful, but it is in decay.

When talking about the Atlantean culture, remember that not all people raised within the Atlantis civilization are Atlantean by blood. Atlantis, as a powerful city-state, casts a large cultural shadow over its tributary kingdoms, vassal-states, and other admirers. Many people share the general Atlantis culture but are regular human beings. Think of it like the Roman Empire: you had Rome, of course, but that general culture-bloc extended to Northern Africa, Gaul, and the Near East too, even though hardly any of those people were Roman by birth.

Names - I get a classical vibe from the Atlanteans, so if the character was raised in one of the more civilized spots you might want to look at Greek, Roman, or other Crade of Civilization types of names. The Iliad and the Odyssey have some great names: Zethus, Leodes, Ortilochus, Kadmus, etc. For the outliers who are part of the Atlantean empire, simple European-sounding names would work: Vetch, Ybarra, Weamish, Colette, Clooney, Dorthea.

The Far East

Beyond the deserts and mountain tribes are the exotic lands of the East. Because these lands are so far away from Atlantis, the men of these places have established several flourishing young empires. The East has its own tradition of sorcery.

Names - Plenty of different names here, depending on the specific culture you had in mind. This culture bloc would encompass a mythical version of India and China.

The Ten Thousand Tribes

This term refers to the myriad of societies in the tropical south, the forbidden mountain valleys, the sandy waste lands, and the frozen north--basically any kind of barbarians. Atlantis likes to claim they have control over these tribes, but it's not really true. Many of these tribes are primitive from an Atlantean viewpoint, but some tribes once inhabited impressive cities that have since fallen into ruin. The Ten Thousand Tribes have a type of sorcery too.

Names - Wow. Seriously, this is a "catch-all" designation for hunter/gatherers like the Pygmies or Yanomamo, nomadic pastoralists like the Plains Indians or the Masai, and primitive agricultural groups like the Vikings, Aztecs, and the Xhosa. You've got plenty of options.

Ruins of Nubia

In the First Age of the World, the Nubians were rivals to the the Atlanteans. But their culture was destroyed in the cataclysm, while Atlantis survived. The Nubians had a form of sorcery based around Necromancy; hints of their lore persist in odd corners of the world.

The Astral Plane

The Astral Plane is many things: the raw material of creation, the Land of Dreams, the "backstage of the cosmos," and the realm of powerful spirits which may or may not be gods. It is the home of many types of demons. Human sorcerers can travel to the Astral Plane under certain circumstances, but this is taxing, and it is dangerous to linger. (Rules for this on the rules page.)

The City of Brass is a demonic mirror image of Atlantis, populated by djinni. The djinn are creatures of smoke and fire (Inconspicuous demons, in game terms), who used to dwell on the Material Plane during the First Age. They are not on great terms with the Atlanteans.

Stuff

Lotus Leaf

Lotus is a drug used to boost Lore, particularly for Contact rituals. It has a tendency to erode the Will, however.