- Joined
- Jul 1, 2007
- Messages
- 6,677
This is a concept I've had in my head for about a year now; I was using it in a (now dead) project outside of WC3, and kinda forgot about it when the project died.
It's a pretty simple idea at heart, but there's a lot of elaboration. It stems from the question: have you ever wondered what would happen if a fantasy, magical world underwent an Industrial Revolution?
Magic:
Magic in this setting takes the form of a kind of mist called Essence. Raw essence is a gold mist. It occurs naturally along Ley Lines which traverse the surface of the planet like a web. Concentration is particularly strong at Ley Nodes, or where multiple Ley Lines intersect.
The origin of life in this world is derived from Essence. The primary theory is that, in high enough concentrations, life begins to appear in the form of anomalies in raw essence. These anomalies start out as little amoeba-like floaters that swarm in pockets of concentrated essence (sort of like fissures at the bottom of the ocean). In massive concentrations, such as rifts or other disturbances, these anomalies can actually coalesce into larger forms or spirits. Spirits are like ghosts; they are partially sentient, they can interact with the world around them, and they look just like clouds of essence; however, they are generally perceived to look like animals or humans.
Even at high concentrations of essence, anomalies are still ethereal, tied to the ethereal plane. Thus they cannot move too far from their point of origin on the material plane. They are also still made of essence, not flesh. The theory is that life can be created under particular circumstances involving very high concentrations of essence around a rift in close proximity to certain organic chemicals when said rift is closed after anomalies are formed, severing their ties to the ethereal plane.
Humans:
100 years before the setting, humans' civilization was very similar to that of any other fantasy setting. Castles, wizard academies, cathedrals, dark fortresses, etc. There were wizards who shaped raw essence out of the air into fireballs and lightning and all that stuff. Between then and now, however, human civilization went through an industrial revolution.
Some important guy invented a machine called a ley tap which sucked raw essence out of the air and bottled it in canisters. This allowed raw essence to be manipulated mechanically. Early uses for raw essence were as fuel in machines, crude bombs, and sources of light.
Raw essence, however, is very unstable. It tended to have unpredictable intensities, ranging from fizzling out to exploding. Therefore it wasn't a reliable source of power at all. Some other important guy invented a mechanism called the refinery which was a series of machines, including a ley tap, which harvested and processed raw essence, removing its impurities, and then bottled it. This new essence was dubbed pure essence and took the form of a white mist.
Civilization as of the present setting uses pure essence as a power source for just about everything. Lights, machines, vehicles, weapons, it's basically like electricity and oil combined. Refineries have been set up and monopolized by corporations all over the land. Wizards have become a thing of the past, as magic users now use canisters of essence to power guns, to heal wounds, and do everything wizards did before with much less training.
Where you stand:
The main character I'd envisioned was a low-ranking member of one particular corporation, the Nexus Co., which controlled about a third of the world's refineries. The main "enemy" was a corrupt totalitarian government which also controlled a lot of refineries as well as a massive military, and was threatening to take over the Nexus Co. The Nexus Co. was, therefore, building an army to ward off the government's forces. The protagonist goes on a mission to rediscover lost masters of wizardry and use their techniques to defeat the government's technological army. Or something like that.
There's a lot more elaboration but thats all that really needs to be written down. Thoughts?
It's a pretty simple idea at heart, but there's a lot of elaboration. It stems from the question: have you ever wondered what would happen if a fantasy, magical world underwent an Industrial Revolution?
Magic:
Magic in this setting takes the form of a kind of mist called Essence. Raw essence is a gold mist. It occurs naturally along Ley Lines which traverse the surface of the planet like a web. Concentration is particularly strong at Ley Nodes, or where multiple Ley Lines intersect.
The origin of life in this world is derived from Essence. The primary theory is that, in high enough concentrations, life begins to appear in the form of anomalies in raw essence. These anomalies start out as little amoeba-like floaters that swarm in pockets of concentrated essence (sort of like fissures at the bottom of the ocean). In massive concentrations, such as rifts or other disturbances, these anomalies can actually coalesce into larger forms or spirits. Spirits are like ghosts; they are partially sentient, they can interact with the world around them, and they look just like clouds of essence; however, they are generally perceived to look like animals or humans.
Even at high concentrations of essence, anomalies are still ethereal, tied to the ethereal plane. Thus they cannot move too far from their point of origin on the material plane. They are also still made of essence, not flesh. The theory is that life can be created under particular circumstances involving very high concentrations of essence around a rift in close proximity to certain organic chemicals when said rift is closed after anomalies are formed, severing their ties to the ethereal plane.
Humans:
100 years before the setting, humans' civilization was very similar to that of any other fantasy setting. Castles, wizard academies, cathedrals, dark fortresses, etc. There were wizards who shaped raw essence out of the air into fireballs and lightning and all that stuff. Between then and now, however, human civilization went through an industrial revolution.
Some important guy invented a machine called a ley tap which sucked raw essence out of the air and bottled it in canisters. This allowed raw essence to be manipulated mechanically. Early uses for raw essence were as fuel in machines, crude bombs, and sources of light.
Raw essence, however, is very unstable. It tended to have unpredictable intensities, ranging from fizzling out to exploding. Therefore it wasn't a reliable source of power at all. Some other important guy invented a mechanism called the refinery which was a series of machines, including a ley tap, which harvested and processed raw essence, removing its impurities, and then bottled it. This new essence was dubbed pure essence and took the form of a white mist.
Civilization as of the present setting uses pure essence as a power source for just about everything. Lights, machines, vehicles, weapons, it's basically like electricity and oil combined. Refineries have been set up and monopolized by corporations all over the land. Wizards have become a thing of the past, as magic users now use canisters of essence to power guns, to heal wounds, and do everything wizards did before with much less training.
Where you stand:
The main character I'd envisioned was a low-ranking member of one particular corporation, the Nexus Co., which controlled about a third of the world's refineries. The main "enemy" was a corrupt totalitarian government which also controlled a lot of refineries as well as a massive military, and was threatening to take over the Nexus Co. The Nexus Co. was, therefore, building an army to ward off the government's forces. The protagonist goes on a mission to rediscover lost masters of wizardry and use their techniques to defeat the government's technological army. Or something like that.
There's a lot more elaboration but thats all that really needs to be written down. Thoughts?
