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Bright Future Magic
Bright Future Equipment

Bright Future Setting

New Calendar

Late Winter (1) Ever Frost
Early Spring (2) Sun’s Thaw
Late Spring (3) Spring Seed
Early Summer (4) Rain’s Fall
Late Summer (5) High Sun
Early Autumn (6) Harvest
Late Autumn (7) Hearth
Early Winter (8) Moon’s Frost.
28 days per month: 4 weeks of 7 days per month.

Bright Future Locations of Interest

City: Asa no Hikari (Morning Light)

The city of Asa no Hikari is a Chakain coastal prefecture that boasts being both a cultural as well as an industrial Prefect. It’s known for having the most complex Kaiju storm breaker wall, and is home of many wealthy individuals who desire a safe view of the bay. It also hosts Chakai’s largest commercial airport, allowing for over eight hundred airships to be landed at any one time. It’s also home to Kueiloon, the Walled City.

Kueiloon, The Walled City

Kueiloon is almost recognized as it’s own prefecture, it’s a densely populated mega structure that’s takes up eight Acres. Over seventy five thousand people live within it’s towering walls, and it has it’s own police force. The Traids and the Dragons can’t gain a foot hold in Kueiloon, as they’re considered outsiders, so it became a major breeding ground for small gangs who can command loyalty of those with in the walled city. It’s a hot bed for crime, and holds a majority of the cities population living in squalid conditions, even the poor move out of Kueiloon as quickly as they can, although some stay to try to change it. Despite being a mega structure of apartments, it has it’s own markets, shops, bars, and other commercial enterprises. They say you can live your entire life in Kueiloon and never see the sun.

Bright Future: Daily Life

Society and the Weave

Technology built on Weave: Magi-Tech is built on being able to imbue the Weave into items and technology. The problem comes in making this a process which can be done on the factory floor. Since most people don’t develop a strong connection to the Weave, becoming a spell caster, the ability the mass produce Magi-Tech was limited.
The Weave Clinics: A solution finally came about halfway through the war, what ended up as one of the major turning points. The Weave Clinic, a mixture of medical and magical professionals who work together to pull magic from an individual and store it for later use. That usage became the mass production of Lancer weapons and when the war started to come to a close the Weave pulled from people started to get used in the production of Magi-Tech devices.
Weave Drainers: With the ability to take the Weave from others being a defining factor to the civilized races surviving the war, it also brought about a new terror. While the Weave flows through everybody, it also flows through every living thing, it’s a force that sustains the living. When a spell caster is out of spell slots, they still have Weave in them, when all the Weave is drained from someone or something, it dies. Weave Drainers are anomalies that do as the name suggests, it could be an area, a creature, or even a person. Those who drain Weave tend to be evil, the ease of drawing power from the Weave corrupts those who continue the deed. Society does not look favorably upon Weave Drainers because of the possible creation of The Empty, but the art is known and taught to allow the collection of Weave at the Weave Clinics.
The Empty: Those completely drained of the Weave stop living, and become a strange form of unlife. The undead have Weave flowing through them, animated them, similar to the living, but The Empty don’t have any Weave, they’ve been closed off from it and the reason they’re able to move or act is a complete mystery. Not everyone or everything drained of the Weave becomes Empty, not every Empty is the same. Their lack of the Weave means they don’t have magic, at least as society understands magic.

Urban Living

Population Density: With the majority of civilization retreating to population centers secured behind city walls, urban centers were forced to grow up rather than out. Space is the biggest premium, with most families living in single room apartments. The wealthy enjoy multiple room apartments, penthouses, and some even homes and mansions outside of the downtown area.
Crime: With the increase in population density, crime has also increased, cities are now rife with criminal activity, muggings, robbery, and murder happen on a daily basis in most of these urban center.
Vehicles: City dependent, most don’t do well with large amounts of vehicle traffic, although the roads being choked full of bicycles is expected. Pedicabs are popular, the small pedal powered vehicles act as taxi’s in any city. Most can carry one or two people.
Mass Transit: Despite the popularity of roads, bus find it hard to compete with pedicab and taxi services, however most cities have invested in subterranean mass transit systems, subways. Designed to move lots of people from one region of a city to another, some are offered free of charge (paid for by taxes) but most require the purchase of a ticket, day, week, or monthly pass.
Economy: Population density changed certain economic factors, food, especially fresh and quality food comes at a steep premium, while mass produced Magi-Tech, clothing, and medicines are cheaper closer to their source. Land value is also extremely high, especially in downtown areas, so maintaining a place of residence requires a job in the city.

Militarized Forces

There have been a lot of militarized forces since the Skaajan invasion, ranging from armies to small private military groups.

Chakain State Army (CSA): Chakai’s state military.

Chakain Self-Defense Force (CSDF): A separate force from the Chakain Miliatry, the CSDF focuses specifically on internal military defense. Divided into Reserve Defense Army (RDA), Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), and the State Intelligence Burro (SIB). The RDA is tasked with protecting the walls against Skaajan and Kaiju threats, and makes up the majority of the CSDF. They range from full time to part time soldiers and specialists, and have a small internal branch for Kaiju defense. The ATTF is a mixture of investigative and armed forces, although they work in conjunction with Chakain police forces when mounting raids or otherwise acting on evidence. They have a sub division specifically for magical terrorism, as well as Bio-Terrorism and Monstrosity Investigation. Finally the SIB is the internal intelligence agency for Chakai, working heavily with other branches of the Chakain government. Rooting out spies and treason, the SIB also get involved in high priority cases. They like to maintain a low profile in the public eye, as any obvious intelligence agency isn’t doing it’s job very well. Public opinion on the CSDF is rather high, but remains volatile. If events aren’t handled well, public opinion can dip dramatically.

The Perfects: A private military contractor that provides private security, medical, and fire rescue services. Based out of Chakai, they provide services in Nox, Kana, Orion, and New Stahlwacht. The Thirteen Kingdoms, while a source of recruitment, political strong-arming has prevented the Perfects from operating out of any of the Thirteen Kingdoms. A large number of those involved in the effort to close the portals and eliminate the Skaajan started the Perfects recruited others to their cause. Their mission statement is “To repair the broken World”. Survivors of the Skaajan invasion who align with the goals of the Perfects started joining in droves, making the Perfects the largest private military organization on the continent. Public opinion of the Perfects is mostly positive, but a number of conspiracy theories place some serious doubt on their true motives.

Stahlwachian Monstrosity and Spell Hunters (SMASH, Witch Hunters): Stahlwacht was once renown for it’s witch hunters, flintlock toting finesse fighters who used advanced technology to hunt magic users. As New Stahlwacht turned from a colony into a city, the old tradition returned. The higher volume of magic users in the neighboring Thirteen Kingdoms pushed the small organization into a national ‘secret’ military force. They have no uniform, operate in plain clothing, and wield the authority of the state. The new Witch Hunters had a rocky start, wielding authority while operating ‘in secret’ lead to a number of abuses of power. Eventually organization grew and internal oversight started to smooth the rough edges. Public opinion of the Witch Hunters is mixed, even within new Stahlwacht. Past cowboy justice left its scars on the organization.

Rural Living

The Specter of War: Rural living was extremely dangerous during the war, Skaajan attacks could happen at any time, and their thick skin made even a single Skaajan a difficult target for the best trained rural militia. However the Skaajan didn’t destroy buildings, they were left as a haunting reminder of what was lost. With the invention of the Lancer, the rural frontier reopened. Anyone with enough money to afford a Lance Pistol or Rifle could stand toe to toe with most Skaajan, and some of the tougher families were seen teaching their children to defend their property.
Space but no Security: With most of the Skaajan wiped out and attacks dwindling, people have flocked out of the claustrophobic urban centers. But many city folk, use to an armed military and well trained police force suddenly realize how much they’re giving up. Skaajan have been known to attack settlements, but worse now are the Empty.
Crime: With more armed individuals in rural areas and fewer people, crime is rare but still exists. Highway bandits continue to demand toll or strike a caravan for all it’s goods. Outside of knocking over caravans most crime isn’t organized, but simply crimes of passion, law enforcement in rural areas feel more like wild west sheriffs than inner city police officers.
Economy: Basic goods like food and construction materials are dirt cheap in rural areas, but processed and manufactured goods, especially Magi-Tech are hard to get a hold of. Expect low prices for food and housing, but a premium on Magi-Tech and highly manufactured goods, if they’re available at all.

Commerce and Trade

As society advanced, so did the expectations and regulations around goods.

The new Adventurers: Couriers

Paid for speed, security, discretion, and occasionally the need of illegal action. The modern Adventurer is now the Courier. A Courier is a single person or small group of people with skills to survive on the streets and sometimes in the wild. With growing regulation and tracking, being able to move something discretely has become a valued service.

Couriers Code

The Couriers’ Code is a list of agreements most Couriers abide by when they take jobs. Not every Courier offers these agreements, but the majority of people who employ Couriers expect to hear the code. Usually those who don’t expect the code are either desperate, shady, or new to hiring couriers.
First: We never open what we transport. (We don’t ask what we’re carrying, we won’t look mid mission, and also for our safety we don’t want to heavily interact with cargo.)
Second: We protect the cargo with our lives. (We fight to protect the cargo, and when we know we can’t win we run.)
Third: We deliver or it doesn’t exist. (We will ensure the cargo is destroyed if we know we won’t be able to deliver it for any reason. Death or capture.)

Trade: Airships and Convoys

The business of trade between towns, cities, and nations has grown, and getting in on the ground floor now takes a lot more money. If you can’t move volume, you have to move specialty items or turn to smuggling. Goods are now moved with Airships for rush jobs or difficult terrain, convoys of multiple trucks when a land route is involved, and large cargo ships for trade routes over sea. Trade in basic commodities is regulated with contracts, most shops won’t buy commodities off anyone, worry about stolen or damaged goods. The time and effort to verify commodities from unknown ‘merchants’ turns off most shop keepers and distributes from purchasing from just anyone.

Pawnshops

When being able to unload goods is more important than getting the right price, local pawnshops are the answer. Most don’t ask questions for anything Licensed, but if an item requires a Restricted license questions get asked and most legitimate pawnshops would rather pass them up. Pawnshops purchase items off characters for 1/4 of the normal price, and they won’t take mass quantities of a single commodity; but as a result, they’ll take what they can get and sell to other shops or people, handling the required networking to ensure goods get to the right place.

Races: Stereotypes, and History.

The storied history of races have changed expectations of certain races. Prejudices are just as strong as they’ve always been, despite all races being involved in wars, rebuilding, and living together in times of peace. Not everyone holds the same expectations, not everyone believes the stereotypes, nor does everyone fit within them.

Humans:

Half-Elves:

Elves:

Dwarves:

Gnomes: Tinkers and inventors, gnomes are a strong part of the work force responsible for a lot of the advancements in electronics and Magi-Tech. The return of the Promethean is thanks to the dedicated work of many people, but a large majority of those who worked on their revival are Gnomes.

Halflings:

Half-Orcs: Still viewed as barbarians and savages, a lot of half-orcs fought in the war and many war heroes share orcish blood. Despite the barbaric expectations, most people respect the sacrifice of the half-orcs, others wish they had ‘sacrificed more’. A lot of hard labor is taken by half-orcs, as well as security and military positions.

Shifters: Shifters were a strong community before the wars and during unification. They stereotypically are close knit because of their long history of persecution, most people see them as part Lycanthropes, and as a result are considered wild, nomadic, or barbaric. Shifters and Lycanthropes spend a lot of time together, usually due to Shifters having Lycanthropic parents, and both receiving similar prejudices due to their ‘animistic’ nature.

Lizardfolk:

Dragonborn:

Tieflings:

Rahshaki: Rahshaki had and still have three subraces and expectations with each.
The Nomadic ‘Sabertooth’ Rahshaki are one of the few races to survive most of the war without having to join society to do so. They remained mobile and in small groups, avoiding Skaajan instead of engaging them. Some of these Nomads joined society, usually the military, they became specialists, some commandos and others assassins.
The Tribal Rahshaki joined society, their traveling bands couldn’t survive outside of walls, to many people and possessions to be able to move quick enough when Skaajan were detected. Some of the Tribal have become gangs while others just close knit communities, most are merchants or diplomats. Half-Elves seem to have an affinity with the tribal Rahshaki, the races strong charisma tend to have them engaged in long conversations in bars, competitions of tales of wonder, and battles of the arts. Both tend to end up in the same types of jobs with similar skill sets, and their time together tends to breed friendships and deeper relationships in some cases.
The Settled Rahshaki were already working within society when the war broke out, their curiosity is famous, and they’re associated with the development of Magi-Tech. High tech early adapters, the Settled are trend setters and magically inclined.

Lycanthropes: Lycanthropes, despite the name implying wolf, is used to include all cursed shapeshifters. Society see’s them as a disease, an infectious disease, they want them segregated and separated from the rest of society. Their inability to control themselves during the full moon makes including them in society a danger. Hospitals have a Lycanthrope ward designed to contain the beast, but most people see this as a waste of money, yes it contains the Lycanthrope, but it has no other use outside of holding a minority of society who could just… go somewhere else.
Lycanthropes are registered, passing the curse is considered a crime, and are usually monitored by local governance if more than a thousand people live there. Despite the regulations, there are those who seek the curse called “Bite Chasers”. Chasers are the groupies for Lycanthropes, some hang around Lycanthropes and Shifters hoping to let themselves get turned. However some Chasers take a more direct and immediate route, drugging and kidnapping Lycanthropes, then they wait for the full moon.