System adaptation, setting name pending

[clockworkmonkey]

Now that I have established what the Sentiment system is, and hopefully some of you have begun your descent down the rabbithole watching one or more of the shows running it, I can introduce you to my own rabbithole. I stalled on making this thread because I wanted to have a name to call my setting but oops, brain no work good when prompted. If I ever find a name I'll update the name of this thread.
So. Sentiment. Rolls to Do and Dye and attributes and colors. All of this initially appealed to me because it was very rules-light and would allow for greater freedom to tell a story without getting bogged down in a numbers-game where everyone had to memorize 3 books or more to even get started. I wanted to run a game that would be friendly to beginners using a setting of my own design because I am unconscionably averse to using premade modules.
Quite literally all of this started because I wanted to play D&D, but with WotC being what it is and the state of the OGL being what it is, the idea of "maybe an alternative" stuck in my thinkmeat. Pathfinder is... an option. I was raised on D&D 3rd edition, and Pathfinder first edition is a natural evolution of that, but P2E is different. I don't know this system. It seems interesting, but I don't want to try running a game I don't know inside and out. I'm neurotic and have extreme ADHD, I have to know what's happening or I'll become stressed to an extreme. So the hunt began.
I stumbled onto Sentiment through a series of associated shows and it immediately clicked for me. I would revisit something old, something that defined my early days on the internet and much of my early adulthood. In the mid-to-late 2000s I was a moderator for the roleplaying section of an independent forum, and one that had a relatively large population, (I think we had 400 registered users, though the most active at any given time was a tenth of that) and I helped build the world where all of that took place. I wrote what might as well have been a doctoral thesis on the Laws of Magic, setting hard rules that prevented the "it's magic, i don't have to explain shit" excuse. Nobody likes a god-moder.
My part of this setting was built on a harmony of magic and technology, two forces that were otherwise anathema. Abundant magic overloads electrical systems and causes modern/advanced technology to fail, and the development of technological systems depletes natural magic and slowly kills the land. The goal of this nation was to develop a means to bridge the divide, to create technology that worked in tandem with natural magic. I named this nation Elmgarde. This would be my primary point of development on the continent, with other contributions including a prestigious academy of magical learning in the largest city.
That forum is years dead. That world exists only as memories in the minds of a handful of scattered people. I live with one of those people, the rest I haven't spoken to in about a decade. But this world and the many, many characters I created within it, have occupied space in my thoughts and my hard drive all this time. It may come as no surprise, after reading this, to learn that I've always wanted to author my own comic. There's obstacles to that, artistic and narrative skill that I feel I don't possess. It's still on the horizon. And this is my world.

The first challenge I faced when adapting the Sentiment system for my purposes was that I wanted magic to be a core mechanic. I struggled for weeks trying to assign elements to colors and determine how they interact in a way that wasn't heavily weighted to make any one feel overpowered. When I found my solution, it not only shaped the system I would use, but the very foundation of the world.
All things in this world are made of magic. The rocks, the trees, the waters, the people. Everything is made up of coalesced Mana. The world itself is formed from the overlap of pure elemental Circles within the Astral Sphere. All living things are made up of a significant concentration of at least 3 elements bound around a core of Light Mana with threads of Dark Mana.
The foundational elements of Lightning, Fire, Earth, Ice, Water, and Wind form the world and its natural forces. Most of these are self-explanatory, but for the sake of clarification: Lightning represents energy, most notably electricity and magnetism; Fire represents heat and flame; Earth represents firmament, stone, soil, as well as the flora that springs from it; Ice represents cold, capturing other elements in solid form; Water represents fluidity; Wind represents gasses, air, and vibration, including sound. The higher elements of Light, Dark, and Astral are somewhat more abstract. Light and Dark should not be confused with the concepts of good and evil. Light represents vision and the soul; the foundational elements may make up your body, but the soul is the very core of your being, the breath of life that flowed through you from the Astral Sphere. It's also literal light. Dark represents obscuration and the body. It is literal darkness and shadow, but it is also flesh and blood and bone, bile and sinew, the tissue that binds the foundational elements to the soul. Astral represents the universe, the immutable, the laws that govern all things. Astral is gravity, it is space, it is time. Light, Dark, and Astral are the cosmic trinity of Man, Earth, and Heaven: the Self, the Body, and the Universe.
Magic is typically performed by expending a portion of the Mana within your body, creating a physical toll on the caster proportional to the desired effect. There is a reserve of Mana within the body that can be expended before damage is done to the body, and it is restored through rest, eating a meal, etc. (in this way you can think of MP as being equivalent to stamina) Absolutely everyone has the capacity to use magic, as absolutely everyone is made of magic, but reckless use can be hazardous to one's health. It is all too possible to spend every last ounce of Mana within yourself and die. The Central Ackademy of Magick, located at roughly the geographical center of the continent, stands to teach anyone and everyone how to properly and responsibly harness this power, and graciously funds research conducted by faculty and alumni. One of the most important lessons at the Ackademy is the practice of imbuing Mana into objects for later use. Not quite enchanting, this practice allows one to functionally turn any object into a secondary MP pool. Alumni who have successfully learned this technique are officially called Mages.
Nobody knows who built the Ackademy. It's stood for as long as anyone can remember. Over time, students and faculty from the Ackademy began to build their homes around its base, and a singular structure became a small settlement, and eventually that settlement grew into a sprawling city. This city, known as either Central City or Guild Town, is home to numerous guilds of prospective heroes, hunters, and mercenaries.
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This map is still very much a work in progress, but these are the places I have fleshed out so far. I'll go over each of them in the future but this post is already getting stupidly long and I've barely started to scratch the surface.

[clockworkmonkey]

Before I dive into further aspects of the continent's geography, I would like to remark on the system of magic. It's not a "hard system," there is a lot of flexibility to it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

To talk about how magic works, I have to first explain the Astral Sphere. If you think of the world as being 3-dimensional, the Astral Sphere is the 4th dimension, a space where the world we live in, the Mortal Circle, overlaps with other worlds, or Circles, made up of pure elemental energy. When mana is expended in the Mortal Circle, it doesn't cease to be; it cycles back into the corresponding Circle, and over time mana trickles back from those Circles to replace it. Unlike elemental planes in D&D, these aren't physical spaces where life exists, at least not as mortals understand. They are roiling pockets of pure energy, made entirely of a single element. There is no Light to form a soul, no Dark to bind it to a body. These are not places you could feasibly go. The exceptions to this are, obviously, the circles of Light and Dark.
The circle of Dark Mana is the Mortal Circle. It is the only place in the Astral Sphere that Dark Mana exists, and it is not a swirling vortex of blood and sinew because of how Dark Mana functions. Dark is more matter than energy, and binds other elements together into a tangible form.
The circle of Light Mana, on the other hand, does not overlap with the Mortal Circle, and is inhabited by living, thinking beings. It is also not a singular, contiguous mass within the Astral Sphere, but disparate floating islands. The Celestial Circles are where gods, angels, and demons live. Yes, demons are beings of Light, because Light is the element of the soul. The Celestial Circles are formed and maintained by mortal thoughts and beliefs. When mortals, attempting to make sense of the forces of the world that they don't understand, ascribe things to gods and give worship to them, those gods become real. Man is not made by god, god is made by man. However, gods are far greater than men, as they are formed from a collective of Light Mana from many mortals. When a worshiper of a god dies, their soul becomes a part of that god. Gods seek to expand their worship in order to expand their power, and when a god is forgotten by all living mortals, it dies. In order to continue their own existence and ideally expand their power, gods will offer a portion of their mana to followers to perform miracles. This falls under the purview of Pact Magic, and I'll talk more about that later. Needless to say, being born of mortal minds, the gods are fickle and jealous creatures. Many fearing the inevitability of being forgotten, create servants, messengers, and ferrymen to travel between their realm and the Mortal Circle, making deals with mortals in exchange for the tiniest sliver of the Light that makes them, and ushering that Light to their master's realm when the mortal dies. These servants, whether you want to call them angels, demons, or anything else, are middlemen working for bosses that don't want to pay them, but if the boss dies then so do they (unless they get a Mortal to believe in them, specifically) so many are less than thrilled with their existence. There's no small number of renegade Celestials living in the Mortal Circle and shirking their duties.

Oh, and what if I told you there was something beyond the Astral Sphere? It is referred to as The Void, because it is utterly incomprehensible to anything within the Sphere. If a Circle is the 3rd dimension, and the Sphere is the 4th, the Void is the 5th dimension. It isn't literally an endless sea of nothingness, but it cannot be perceived or understood by any means for denizens of the Mortal and Celestial Circles, and when something from that extra-dimensional space so much as lightly brushes against the world or even a single person, the results are disastrous. A mortal or celestial that has come into contact with an entity of the Void, knowingly or not, contracts what is known as a Voidcurse. A Voidcurse is a hole in the fabric of your very being through which mana is removed from your body, your soul, and from the Astral Sphere entirely. You may gain abilities far beyond other mortals, knowledge beyond the understanding of your peers, but it will slowly kill you in a way will leave a scar on reality itself.

Okay, so with that established, let's talk a little more about magic.
Magic is, fundamentally, the manipulation of Mana to affect a reaction on the world around you. In the very broadest sense, getting out of bed in the morning is magic, because you are willing the Mana in your body to move. The more strenuous the action, the more Mana you bleed into the Sphere. Everyone has an internal reserve of Mana they can burn through before it starts taking a damaging toll on the body. Pushing yourself too hard for too long doing everyday things can hurt you, and that is reflected mechanically. Unlike in our world, however, these people, composed of Mana as they are, are able to manipulate that Mana and project it into the world as energy. Generally speaking, one can only create effects of types corresponding to the elements that make them up unless they have studied or trained extensively, and while every living mortal is has the capacity to use magic, most do not understand that this is how the world works and will go their entire lives without performing a single magical act.
Say a person has a Fire attribute, a Wind attribute, and a Lightning attribute. This individual, with little to no training or study, could spontaneously ignite a bonfire, leap many times higher and farther than normal, and power an electrical device (not that there are many of those in magic-practicing lands). These are just examples, of course, and I highly encourage people to be creative with the ways they utilize their elements for the purpose of magic. Each of these actions has a cost proportional to its effect. Talking mechanically for a moment: Mundane, non-strenuous activities do not cost MP; pushing a heavy log or boulder by hand does cost MP; lighting a fire or producing a gust of wind might cost as little as 1 MP, depending on magnitude; once a character's MP pool reaches 0, anything that would normally cost MP deals that much damage to them instead. In this way a caster can push past the limitations of their endurance at the risk of bodily harm or death.
There are two other ways of using magic, however, that have no immediate toll on the caster. Since I've already established Pact Magic, let's start with that. A mortal may make a connection with a being of greater power than itself (which could be a Celestial, Eidolon, Void Entity, Fae, or even a sufficiently powerful mortal) that binds their soul to the object of their Pact. This entity is able to experience that mortal's senses and send mana from their own being for the Pact-holder to wield. Pact Magic is subject to the whims of another being, and as such comes with any number of asterisks, but it allows a relatively inexperienced character to harness powers far beyond would ordinarily be possible for them. I'll talk about Eidolons and Fae later.
The third method of magic is Shamanism. Shamans are in tune with the world around them, and are able to sense the ebb and flow of mana in nature. A traditional spellcaster commands the mana within themself, and it responds because it is a part of the caster. Should they reach out to the mana around them in the same way, however, they will find it resists them. Shamanic casters understand that you can catch more flies with honey; by listening to the world around you, you may beseech it to act on your behalf, though the result may not be exactly what you asked for. Natural mana has its own quirks, ways that it wants to do things, and a Shamanic caster's player will have to make suggestions to the GM who may alter or outright ignore them. A Shaman may perform small elemental feats without spending any MP at all, or much larger effects for relatively little cost, giving a part of themself to appease the natural flow.

Eidolons are undying beings comprised of a single element. They represent an entire Elemental Circle, and are the origins of all the mana of their respective element on the Mortal Circle. Eidolons are the elemental titans that shaped the world as it is, and were themselves formed when their Circles overlapped with the Mortal. Dark Mana gave energy form, and these forms, in turn, formed the world with their energy. Their presence cataclysmically alters landscapes, heavily weighting the natural mana in the surrounding area with a single element. They are not mindless or malicious beings, however, and are aware of the disaster their mere existence can cause, so they hide themselves away for centuries at a time, hibernating to minimize their impact on the lives of mortals. Being sedentary, unable to interact with the world lest it be unintentionally brought to ruin, Eidolons are eager to form Pacts with mortals who seek them out, in order to experience the world through their senses.
Fae are not mortal, but are born of the Mortal Circle. Intensely magical spirits of natural mana, they are a physical manifestation of the will of the land. By and large Fae live in places that are rich in natural mana where humans do not dwell. They are powerful, curious, and capricious, and are absolutely not to be trifled with.

[clockworkmonkey]

Let's talk about magic, alchemy, and technology. In a world where everything is made of mana, raw energy given form through a binding of elements, these things are a bit different than you might understand them. I've explained how magic works, and how using it takes a similar toll on the body as overexerting oneself with physical activity. Alchemy, then, is in this world the process by which mana changes form. Alchemical processes, usually conducted by injecting a small amount of mana from the alchemist's body into the subject, can transform mana from one element to another, fundamentally altering the physical properties of an object or material. The object or material itself cannot be transmuted into another form altogether, however, merely altered. For example, you could turn lead lustrous, but this would not make it gold.
Very technically speaking, a spellcaster who produces an elemental effect different from the elements that make up their being is using alchemy to transmute energy into a different form. This particular application is referred to as Alchemancy. A talented Alchemancer is able to alter the elemental state of any many within reach, transmuting energy even as others manipulate it.

Technology in this world is born from alchemy. Transforming raw material into energy to power complex devices is the foundation on which multiple nations have been built. However this process damages the natural cycle of energy between the Circles. Mana spent magically will return to the Circle from which it came and eventually cycle back into the world, but mana which is forcibly transformed into energy becomes polluted and unable to return to the cycle. Technology must consume an endless amount of raw resources, depleting the natural mana in its surroundings.
In this atmosphere of depleted mana, these civilizations have developed complex machines that run on intricate electrical systems comparable to modern technology in our world. These systems, however, are delicate, and a sufficient presence of natural, ambient mana can at best interfere with them, creating energy fluctuations that make their functions unstable, and at worst cause catastrophic failure.

There are three, technically four nations on the continent who have developed technological systems, with varying levels of advancement. At the lowest end is modern-day technology, and at the highest end is androids and mecha. These things are fundamentally incompatible with magic, and cannot exist in lands suffused with mana. Electrical systems overload and shut down. There is a level of distrust between magically-developed nations and technologically-developed nations, even those who have generally good relations. They each see their way as the way, and the other as some kind of savages railing against the natural order.

[clockworkmonkey]

I have a shitload to compile about the actual regions of the continent so in the meantime here's something bite-sized.
What do people in this setting look like? I lieu of the typical fantasy tropes, and to save myself the struggle of trying to figure out the evolution of social structures, there are no "races." Since everyone is literally made of magic, they can look like just about anything, though their appearance is typically reflective in some way of the elements of mana that compose them, and most are either humanoid or anthropomorphic. The most "pure human" a character can be still has some animalistic or elemental traits.
Also, trans people exist. I know that shouldn't need to be said but I'm saying it. There are multiple ways to transition and it is normalized basically everywhere on the continent. I'll touch on those methods at some point.

[Slumber]

I have a shitload to compile about the actual regions of the continent so in the meantime here's something bite-sized.
What do people in this setting look like? I lieu of the typical fantasy tropes, and to save myself the struggle of trying to figure out the evolution of social structures, there are no "races." Since everyone is literally made of magic, they can look like just about anything, though their appearance is typically reflective in some way of the elements of mana that compose them, and most are either humanoid or anthropomorphic. The most "pure human" a character can be still has some animalistic or elemental traits.
Also, trans people exist. I know that shouldn't need to be said but I'm saying it. There are multiple ways to transition and it is normalized basically everywhere on the continent. I'll touch on those methods at some point.

HELL YEAH, trans people baked into the VERY FABRIC!!!

[clockworkmonkey]

Trans people have always existed and that's just a fact.
And you know what, for the hell of it, let's just jump into those transition methods before we get any further. Brainfog is making it hard to write up a particularly long post right now.
So, obviously surgery is a valid method. Bodies are physical, and function in a way similar to our own. Surgery is probably the "most accessible" transition method, but it's imperfect, leaving scars upon the body. No shade, no shame, be proud of your scars.
Alchemical transition would be a gradual process of altering your elemental attributes to more permanently and "naturally" change your body. The obvious drawback here is that it takes time, and you have to either know an alchemist or BE an alchemist, but they're hardly a rare thing in this world. Especially in tech societies.
I could talk for a long time about alchemy, it's one of those hyperfixations that just pops up and doesn't go away for days or weeks at a time.
And lastly, we have Physiomancy. What is Physiomancy, you ask? Well, it is an application of Dark magic (the element of flesh and blood and bone, remember) that specializes in molding flesh like clay. A Physiomancer is able to give you the body you've always dreamed of having. Unfortunately, it's not a permanent solution. The body is shaped by the mana that makes it up, and over time it will attempt to return to the shape that blueprint suggests. The most perfect method would be a combination of Physiomancy and alchemy.


For a peek at the mechanics, the base level of the Physiomancy Gift looks like this:

Sculpt Self: Roll to Dye and take damage equal to the difference between your highest and lowest dice results (minimum 1). You may alter the shape of a part of your body in a way that does not change its total mass. Changing facial structure, consolidating muscle mass to a singular limb, or giving yourself claws, sharp teeth, or antlers are all potential uses of this ability. Rolls to Do that utilize the altered features to your advantage gain a d6 bonus which may be included in damage rolls for bodily weapons formed in this way. Rolls to Do which do not properly utilize your altered features, and all Rolls to Dye made until reverting the effect, have a d6 penalty. Purely cosmetic changes may be made without incurring a bonus or penalty, and other living things can be incorporated into your form while preserving their life using this ability.

At higher levels of EXP investment, it can be used on other people, and gains different perks that I have yet to decide on

And hey, while we're on the subject of Physiomancy, why not use that tangent to talk about Necromancy! I reject the concept of Necromancers as evil wizards raising undead minions to terrorize the populace. My idea of Necromancy (informed by Dominic Deegan) is the study and celebration of death and life, and the way that the two interact. Also since death results in the dissipation of the body into its component elements, raising the dead isn't really a thing in this setting. Sure, you could like. Make a skeleton, and animate it (using a different type of magic entirely) but it's not really "raising the dead," so much as creating a construct of bone.
Necromancy, in the bounds of this setting, specializes in the decay and regrowth of living tissue. Those who practice Necromancy are, in essence, doctors. Most Necromancers are also Physiomancers, and very adept ones at that, since they have a very intimate knowledge of how bodies are structured and what they are capable of.

[clockworkmonkey]

Today we're going to talk about some of the major nations and geographical regions of the continent. There is more to the world beyond this continent, but I haven't been putting much brainpower towards anything else since it would only be relevant if players left the continent, and since I am very bad at actual storytelling this game hasn't started yet lmao. There is a lot to cover, so for the sake of ease I'm going to break this up into multiple posts.

I've already talked a bit about the Central Ackademy of Magick and the surrounding Guild Town. Guild Town is not the densest urban center on the continent, but it is the largest by area. The part of the city closest to the Ackademy proper is largely housing, apartments and townhouses originally built for students and faculty but open to anyone. Beyond the housing district is the general business district. Bakeries, restaurants, general stores, blacksmiths. As the population expanded, businesses moved in to meet the needs of that population, and those businesses brought their own needs. A lot of the storefronts in the business district double as homes for the people who own and operate them. The outermost part of the city is the guild district. Following a recent war, this part of the city has seen dramatic expansion as people from all over seek to become "heroes," founding or joining guilds and mercenary companies of like-minded hopefuls. The guild district is filled with guild halls where these companies sleep, plan adventures, and do the things that adventuring companies do when not out in the world. Interspersed between these guild halls are taverns and Hunter's Bars, the hubs through which news of the world at large flows and from which jobs of varying levels of importance are taken.

Directly east of Guild Town is Summel Forest, which acts as the western border of the nation of Elmgarde. Summel is the largest and densest forest in the world, and in the densest heart of the woods stands a singular massive tree as tall as a mountain. Beneath this tree slumbers the eidolon of Earth, the presence of whom has transformed most of the natural fauna of Summel forest into ambulatory flora. Many fae live in these woods as well, and between these two forces the forest is considered particularly inhospitable to mortal life. Those who wander in may never find their way out, as the trees themselves seem to shift to make navigation impossible.
Within the boundary of Elmgarde, nestled just at the forest's edge, the village of Summel is a relatively quiet town of farmers and loggers. The only thing that makes this village worth noting beyond any of the other villages in the region is its proximity to the forest. There are several towns and villages within Elmgarde, but the bulk of the population is within the capital city. Elmgarde is in the midst of a magic-industrial revolution. Generally speaking, magic and technology are fundamentally incompatible forces. The development of technology is predicated on a rejection of natural law, using alchemical processes to break down material into energy and trap that energy within a circuit from which it cannot return to its proper Circle. The nation of Elmgarde has developed technologies that tap directly into the cycle, bypassing the need to consume raw fuel. These technologies are still in their infancy, and not without flaw, but the hope is to someday fully bridge the gap between magic and technology.

Surrounding Elmgarde's northern, eastern, and southern borders are the Ember Mountains. These mountains glow and shimmer with energy as though perpetually burning, the natural mana forever altered by a mingling of the fire and lightning eidolons. The dense natural mana that pervades the land and air of the mountain range creates a sensation akin to catching fire, though it causes no such physical damage. Still, the discomfort is great enough that most avoid the area altogether. There is very little in the way of local flora, and the fauna subsist on the raw mana itself. A tribe of nomads roams the range, hardy people adapted to resist the burning sensation over generations.
I'm fully open to suggestions about what sort of creatures might actually live in the Ember Mountains. My main philosophy is borrowing only from the mythos of cultures with which I am familiar and can to some degree say I represent: that is to say, primarily european mythologies. I want to completely avoid using the aesthetic or folklore of east Asian, African, or Native American (North or South) cultures without consulting with someone who knows and represents those cultures.