Magical Realm Cyoa/Naracel

Build

Trapped! (+50 to total) Protection 2 (6) Gateways 2 (8) Culture & Customs (10) Metahuman Population (15) Technology Upgrade 2 (17) Mercantile (19) Industrial (22) Mechanical Affinity (23) Warfare Affinity (24) Intellectual Affinity (25) Landscape Adjustment (28) Magical Phenomena (31) Exceptional Materials (34) Fate (38) Immortality (40) Tongues (41) Friendship 2 (44) Dominion (48) Teleportation (49) Energy Manipulation (52) Awareness (54) Lifestyle Upgrade 3 (59) Influence 3 (65) Automatons 1 (67) Theme: Wooden Ships & Iron Men Sky Adventures (71) Dungeons 2 (74) Fauna & Flora 3 (79) Gambling Affinity (80) Technomagic (85) Aesthetics (87) Magical Upgrade 2 (91) Portals (94) Spirits (96) Spirit Walk (99) Peak Condition (101) Machina Mind (103) Alchemy (105) Harem (107) Familiar (110) Memory (112) Malice (113) Alcohol Affinity (114) Literature Affinity (115) Mystical (119) Attitude Adjustment (120) Area Increase 5 (129) Population Increase 6 (141) Guidance 1 (145) Cosmic Adjustment (147) Enchanting (149) Elementalism: Air (150)

World Structure

The Realm of Naracel is a fractured one, made up of a large number of floating islands, roughly level with each other, floating many many miles above the floor below. Beneath these islands lays a layer of freezing mist, which nobody has ever entered and survived. Despite the plane being around five times the size of earth, the 'civilized' and most populated section of the world is a section that occupies roughly 1/10 of the world. This section, known as 'Narius' the only truly known, mapped part of the sky to the inhabitants, is made up of 4 major continents, Arelia to the east, Disnacht to the north, Entilles to the west, and Naxis to the south. Numerous smaller islands and remnants also populate the sky between these continents.

The world beyond is largely unmapped and unexplored, filled with massive floating jungles, deserts, ruins, glaciers, all imaginable landscapes and vistas. This area 'beyond' is colloquially known as 'the Cel'.

Nations & Peoples

The most distinctive feature of Naracel is the remarkable power balance in Narius. Narius currently features four major powers: Tinrell, Taron, Naxis, and The United Republics of Arelia. The true power, however, rests in the hands of the traders, merchants, adventurers, and mercenaries.

Each of these nations holds its own unique culture, and these nations frequently clash due to this.

The Impirium of Taron

The Impirium of Taron, of the easternmost continent is filled with a robust, hardy people, hardy and disciplined, yet they retain an exploratory spirit and ambition burns brightly within them. A visitor from earth might catch himself remembering literature and stories of the old British Empire, or the Kingdom of Prussia. Tinrell holds within itself vast forests, expansive fields, and in the easternmost provinces, massive mountain ranges.

Tinrellian Empire

Residing on the westernmost continent, and the Tinrellian empire is characterized by the carefully constructed, elegant architecture one finds wherever a Tinrellian engineer has had his day. The Tinrellians are a people rooted in tradition, focusing on quality and substance above all. In their society, artists and poets are highly prized. Tinrell is, unfortunately, a dying nation. Its focus on individual ambition is demonstrated in both its military and government. The scheming nobles and barons frequently clash, and politicking and internal conflict has left it open to both foreign incursion and internal dangers, and the empire has been slowly crumbling for a century with little to no sign of improvement. This is shown to its greatest degree in the Lanskin Rebellion, where a vast chunk of the interior rebelled against the current monarch's attempted innovations and seceded to form an even more dogmatic and traditionalist kingdom. A visitor from earth might wandering through a Tinrellian city might find themselves comparing it to Babylon, or the Byzantine empire.

Naxian Technocracy

Naxis is a strange and enigmatic place, perhaps the most unfamiliar to the outsider. The lands it inhabits is largely desert and wasteland, and their population is a scant few. Their people and history however, are incredible. The Naxian ideal can be traced back to when the Tinrellian empire was at it's height, controlling more than half of the known world, including the southern continent, Naxis, which was in those days a land of vast rolling hills and plains. A genius scholar and inventor, who's name is now lost to the sands of time, did the impossible- he created a thinking machine. A massive construct the size of a hill, it was a delicate, intricate construction of brass and gold clockwork. Upon the announcement of this momentous even, he locked himself within his fortress with his machine. What was done in the years following may be only known to the Naxians themselves. Half a century later, however, the fruits of his labour were made available to all across naxis. Machine-Men, a little more machine than man, built from Serfs and clockwork soon became the de facto source of labor on Naxian farms. Yet another half-century later, something went wrong. The Tinrellian metropole suddenly ceased receiving reports from the inventor's fortress. In a sudden explosion of fury, the machine-men turned on their masters, slaughtering the inhabitants of Naxis. From the fortress of the machine-mind, strange and intricate brass constructs began to take flight. What follows next is burned into history books forever. Normal humans were driven from the continents, and through arcane methods the Naxian seers began sapping the life from the land to power their ships. To this day they remain a vehement enemy of Tinrell, and the two take any excuse to make war. The Naxian Machine-men and their ships are few and far between, but each are powerful and advanced, and will not hesitate to kill trespassers on sight. The Naxians today are isolationist, ruthless, yet inventive and efficient people, of which little is known. They worship the sun, a great heresy to the Tinrellians, who worship the far-stars. Though traders and ambassadors regularly ply the skies beyond Naxis, they stay tight-lipped about their homeland.

The United Republics of Arelia

The final great power is the United Republics of Arelia, a federalized alliance of republics, communes, and free-states sandwiched between the southern border of the Impirium of Taron and the Naxian Technocracy's holdings on Arelia. Bound together by necessity, the United Republics are a hotbed of innovation and individualism. Many of the greatest mercenary and merchant captains trace their lineage or success to the URA. It is difficult to characterize the URA due to the fact that it's a collection of different governments, cultures, languages, and peoples. They do as a whole, however, place a great emphasis on one's freedom to determine one's own fate, and eschew allowing one to be controlled by great powers beyond one's control.

There are also a great number of smaller, less directly powerful nations and islands dotting Narius.

The Open Sky

While one might initially think that power still lies in the hands of the monarchs, nobles, diktats, and myriad rulers of the isles, the true power lies in the Open Sky- that is, the hands of the traders, pirates, adventurers, and mercenaries. Until very recently, it was highly unusual for a nation to maintain a standing navy of any sort, and mercenaries would form the bulk of the conflicts of Narius. Unlike those from earth's own history, mercenary captains of Narius see conflicts as a matter of pride and honor,and break the misconception of them as beings devoted to the financial aspect. While captains who will abandon a host at the first sign of defeat do exist, they are the exception, and certainly not the rule

Similarly, nation-states of Narius are wholly dependent on the Free-traders for to maintain the continued flow of resources, people and money. Throughout history, since the very first sky-ship was constructed, sky-captains have enjoyed autonomy and freedom in their dealings thanks to the precedent established by the first true king, the Rose King. Upon the presentation of the sky-craft to the Rose King, he blessed the Carpenter, the Magus, the Pilot, and the Sailor, and told them to sail "In my name, and with my blessing, and only with your consent." Since this day, all sky-captains have entertained a degree of independence and freedom, even within modern standing navies.

Pirates, of course, are a natural consequence of this. Though not too common, pirates are a definite and persistent danger in the open sky. From the common bandit squadrons junk skiffs, accosting personal craft and lightly armed transports, to elegant privateer frigates, acting as noble and gentlemanly highwaymen, the ideal of all petty robin-hoods.