Fantasy Adrift - Lore

[The One Eyed Bandit]

Pan, the Sunken Continent​

Pan is a mostly submerged continent, and host to almost all of the nations in the known world. It is largely a collection of small island nations that are all technically part of the same geographical mass but have varying cultures due to their oceanic and political divides. The two largest political forces in Pan are The Church of Tethys and the Transgaean Commonwealth.

Pan’s major waterways are collectively referred to as Tethys, and all connect to a greater outer ocean which is scarcely chartered.

Across both Pan's islands and Tethys' oceans, ruins of an ancient civilization are strewn about like a sauce through pasta. Some brood quietly, others rumble loudly, and all pollute the air with the formless Ether. From within Ether, monsters are born, which then go on to infest Pan's shores. They come in forms big and small, mundane and bizarre, docile and hostile, but none are to be trifled with.

This civilization is referred to by the Church of Tethys as the 'Mainlanders', and in their teachings they are used as an example of the karmic punishment that is delivered upon those who abuse Pan’s land. The Commonwealth, too, is cautious of Mainlander ruins and mostly cordons them off from public access unless they are definitively deemed as being safe for the average citizen. Some more dangerous or decrepit ones, even, are outright demolished for the sake of public safety.

The Church of Tethys​

The Church of Tethys is a theocratic collection of nomads that follow the leadership of their Pope, and his or her Council. The Church of Tethys owes its power to their territory, namely, the winding river-seas of Pan. Marina, the deified first Pope of the Church of Tethys, spoke of the folly of land and urged her people to take to the seas in pursuit of a life more prosperous. They control the majority of Pan’s major waterways and do trade with the island nations in order to supplement whatever they are unable to gather from the Mother Sea.

The Church maintains its control of the waterways through their vastly superior maritime technology, supplemented by water magic. This has had a cumulative effect over the years of their dominance, their restrictive policing of the waterways preventing most other nations from experimenting with and producing any significant maritime advances of their own. In a naval battle, the Church is practically unrivalled, even by the Commonwealth. A Church Galleon, armed with its rows of Siphon-Cannons as innumerable as a shark's teeth is practically a force of nature within Pan's oceans, and their frigates, sped along with the aid of water magic, allow for quick and efficient scouting of enemy waters.

Due to the Church’s control of Pan’s waters, no real major political factions have been able to form on the island nations. The greatest coalitions of island powers tend to number no more than a handful of islands, which are usually part of a single chain or archipelago. The one exception to this is the Transgaean Commonwealth (Or to the Church, the ‘Outlanders’), who make up the second-largest faction in Pan.

The Trangaean Commonwealth​

The Outlanders arrived in Pan (Which they refer to as Gaea) after the Church was established, but before they had fully consolidated their power. Their strength lies in their technological prowess, as they are the only nation with significant means to employ radio communications. This allowed them to spread out across Pan, establishing a great many minor Island-States which cooperate under a single government. Collectively they have named themselves the Transgaean Commonwealth and are the Church’s only real geopolitical rival.

In terms of military, the Commonwealth's speciality lies in their infantry forces. In contrast to the Church which has primarily invested in naval warfare, the Commonwealth has the know-how and the means to arm their military forces with cutting edge Hybrid-Firearms, which blend mundane and magical technology to create cheap and effective armaments. While a Commonwealth vessel will almost certainly be defeated by a Church vessel at range, if by guile or luck a boarding is managed, things may become less certain.

The Commonwealth is primarily driven by economical growth. As the nation has expanded, so has its needs, and therefore it must grow more and more to meet them. There are always crops that need to be sewn, jobs that need to be made, and goods that need to be traded. Because of this, it is not surprising to wake up one morning to find a Commonwealth diplomat on your doorstep, bearing an invitation into their fold, and if you're lucky, a bribe to grease the wheels. They do not take particularly kindly to a rejection of these invitations, and should you be truly dedicated to maintaining your independence, you will have a long struggle ahead of you.

The Island Nations​

The many minor nations of Pan are most often uninvolved in the Church and Commonwealth’s political rivalry, unless one of the superpowers (usually the Commonwealth) spurs them into action. Their cultures and technological levels are diverse, but none of them holds enough individual power to stand up to their of Pan’s major forces; even the most prosperous of the Island Nations can only hope to defend their own borders at best.

Life on Pan​

In Pan, “The Human Species” is a plural term. Over the hundreds of years since civilization’s establishment on Pan, what it is to be Human has become muddied. Consistent exposure to Ether causes mutations in living things, and in exposure over generations, it has led to complete offshoots from the traditional definition of the human race. Some islands play host to inhabitants with animal features, others to ones that resemble the mythological races of legends long since lost. Sporting an extra pair of arms, a coating of scales, or even an extra head, none of these are particularly bizarre in Pan, and only roughly half of its population could be traditionally described as ‘Human’.

Monsters & Beasts​

Besides the political machinations of the Church and Commonwealth, there is another danger that haunts Pan's waters; Monsters run amok, born from the depths of Mainlander Ruins, given birth to by the Ether-drenched air itself. Monsters are not things of the natural world, and it is not understood whether Ether truly gives birth to them, or merely summons them from someplace else. What is known, however, is that they are aggressive to anything that does not share their magical heritage, and thusly a danger to all of Pan's inhabitants. When they die, Monsters are unnaturally quick to rot, fading away into nothingness after only a few hours and leaving behind only a Crystal where they once lay.

Separate from Monsters, there are Beasts. While they appear similar to monsters, Beasts are creatures native to Pan that have been mutated by Ether, much like Pan's many offsprings of humanity. Unlike Monsters, they are not inherently hostile and decay naturally. Because of this they can be hunted for food, or more profitably, materials. The bones of a Leviathan Whale or the scales of a Gulldrake are as sought after a prize as a rare Crystal, and may even hold magical properties of their own.

Magic​

Magic in Pan is harvested from the corpses of Monsters. On death, a Monster’s soul will crystalize into a physical form, which can be used to cast spells. There are two types of crystals, Ability Crystals and Mana Crystals.

Ability Crystals are the ones actually used to cast spells and are activated purely through the holder’s will. These crystals can be utilized by any race with a will to call their own to manipulate the arcane arts. The physical essence of the Ether from which a monster is spawned, each Crystal will have a single purpose which is relative to that Ether. Ability Crystals are each imbued with a single property or 'spell', allowing the user to spew fire, manipulate water, fortify their body, and so on. However, whenever they're used the Ability Crystal will shrink, eventually vanishing into nothing. An average ability Crystal can be used around ten times before vanishing.

A Mana Crystal is a crystal formed from a more common monster that is not powerful enough to be used to cast a spell. To circumvent the short life span of Ability Crystals, Siphons were invented, a type of device that allows an Ability Crystal to draw energy from a Mana Crystal. However, Siphons are both expensive and difficult to maintain, so they are usually reserved for rarer forms of Ability Crystals.