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The world; History and trivia
Topic Started: Nov 27 2011, 11:23 AM (303 Views)
Siobhan
Member Avatar
Elven Healer
Mid-December 2011: The Present

Russia and Japan have divided most of China among them, the rest of it is a barbaric wasteland devastated by decades of warfare raging back and forth about hundreds of miles, with a steady stream of refugees flooding into British-held Hong Kong. Most of Maritime Southeast Asia is occupied by the Japanese, who frequently clash with American naval forces in the Pacific, Japanese strike forces sometimes ranging as far as Hawaii. Australia is a nation under arms, poised to become the next target of the Japanese and their demon-infused samurai.

South America is a patchwork of smaller conflicts and governments struggling to assert their independence while also fighting a war they never wanted to be part of. American airstrikes in support of local forces are driving back demonic forces along the Pacific coast, but on the Atlantic coast local guerillas in league with monstrous allies are gaining ground, while in the jungles of the Amazon battles rage that are scarcely noticed by the rest of the world but nonetheless fought with equal - or more - ferocity than any other battle fought between light and dark.

In Europe the front hasn't shifted in years. Every town on the border is a fortress, every meter between towns protected by concrete walls, minefields, and guards armed to the teeth. The deepest the Russians ever penetrated towards the west was the bank of the Wistula river at Warsaw, but Polish forces threw them back across the river, and now Warsaw is nothing more than a big army camp. It is also the command center for all troops operating on the Russian border. But recently Russian forces have started offensives in Sweden and Saudi Arabia, so the Europeans have staged a counter offensive, pressing eastward from Warsaw, to divert some enemy troops from their effort to take the heart of Europe into a pincer.

Africa is a divided continent. Like Australia it provides vital raw material for the war effort, but while many of its people have been granted a modicum of freedom by their former colonial masters (who just didn't have the troops to keep them under the heel), resentment against the exploitation of their resources and labor forces runs high. For now it is only the influence of the elves and shamans allied with them that keeps resentment from turning into downright revolt, but Africa is a powder keg waiting to explode.

Meanwhile Avalon has become a center of diplomacy and the seat of the Free World League, the body that coordinates the war effort of all allied powers against the growing darkness. Here humans are taught magic and the combat skills they need to stand up to demons. Elves, wizards, Valkyries, Einheriar, and a dozen other species freely mix and mingle with humans. Here the finest minds of their time are trained in politics, wizardry, diplomacy, and warfare. And all around this diplomacy and learning the thriving city of Avalonia has sprung up to provide all the services needed to keep such a world-spanning organization alive and running.

But while on the surface all might look well in Avalonia, it is still a city at the center of a global war. Diplomats mingle with arms dealers, war-hungry Einheriars run into peace-loving cityfolk, spies of both sides keep an eye on each other, and political activists of all color strive for goals ranging from aid for Africa to unconditional surrender to the Russians.

And now the Russians have sent an envoy to Avalonia, but what he wants and what he has to offer no one knows - yet.

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World History - What Came Before

February 1916: German and Austro-Hungarian troops fighting on the Eastern Front report encounters with what they variously describe as demons, devils, or monsters capable of tearing a whole squad of armed men to shreds single-handedly. The military leaders of both countries dismiss the reports as old-wive's tales or excuses made by frightened soldiers for their failures.

Late April 1916: Reports of devil attacks from the Eastern Front increase. The first of the creatures is killed in Romania, and its remains are sent to Berlin for study. As the creature was killed with grenades and flamethrowers very little remains for study, but one thing becomes clear - whatever it was, it was neither human nor animal, but a completely new, never before reported species.

Mai 1916: German troops pressing back a Russian offensive near Lithuania encounter villages torn apart, little left of their inhabitants but half-eaten remains. Even a cursory examination by those few who can stomach the sight makes it obvious that this was not the result of an attack by wild animals. The first reports of what the Germans and Austrians found reach the Allied powers, but are dismissed as unsubstantiated rumors, especially as Tsar Nicolas II assures his allies that there are, of course, no demons fighting in the Russian army.

August 1916: Russian tactics on the Eastern Front change more and more, with regular troops holding defensive lines, while small groups of monsters tear into the lines of the Central Powers, inflicting hideous casualties in surprise attacks that now even come in broad daylight. Mines, grenades, and flamethrowers prove effective against the attackers, but for every monster slain fifty or more German and Austrian troops pay with their lives. Berlin and Vienna begin to realize that they have a serious problem on their hands and order a slow retreat on the Eastern Front to form a tighter, more defensible perimeter against the Russians.

October 1916: One of the creatures appears in the German port city of Hamburg and begins a bloody rampage that leaves more than 200 dead before it can finally be brought down by hastily assembled army units. It is speculated that it stowed away on a freighter recently arrived from Lithuania, but that theory is never proven.

Late October 1916: Germany and Austro-Hungaria offer an unconditional cease fire at the Western front and begin to withdraw their troops to pre-war borders. While puzzled, most Western governments order their troops to follow, initially with a plan to invade Germany and bring the Kaiser to his knees.

Early November 1916:
French troops capture a German general and a treasure trove of classified cables and letters. At first skeptical about what they read, British and French leaders slowly start believing what they hear when personal letters found on German and Austrian soldiers corroborate the story - demons are fighting for the Russians and just holding the Eastern Front will take every man the Central Powers can spare.

Mid November 1916: Germany and Austria reiterate their offer of an unlimited cease fire and a formalization of pre-war borders in the West, dangling an offer of more permanent peace accords under the noses of the French and British. While the Allies welcome the cease fire and indicate a willingness to not cross into German and Austrian territory for now, the offer of a peace settlement is denied diplomatically, but nevertheless outright denied. The opinion in London and Paris is that the Germans might as well bear the brunt of any Russian attacks, and should the Russians ever win and try to conquer the rest of Europe, at least the Central Powers will have bought everyone else time to prepare.

Late November 1916: The leaders of Europe and America are quietly visited by eminent members of their societies who urge them to strive for peace and unite against what could well become a common enemy. Most heads of state remain skeptical a permanent peace can ever be achieved, even if they desired it. Some do not even believe there is any real threat to worry about.

December 7, 1916: The leaders of England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire are again visited by the same people for further talks. Then they all vanish into thin air.

December 10, 1916: World leaders return to their offices as suddenly as they had disappeared and declare an end to the war. British and French troops are withdrawn from the front lines, while Germany and Austria rush all their troops to the East. The United States remain neutral, having never entered the war in Europe.

1919:
German and Austrian troops hold a front running from Koenigsberg on the Baltic Sea to Warsaw to Varna on the Black Sea. All countries west of that line are united in pacts of mutual non-aggression and support. Raw materials from French and British colonies are rushed to munition factories and even into Germany and Austria, creating more and more grumbles among the populations of both countries who can not understand why their governments are aiding their former enemies with resources that could see better use at home, while receiving little in return.

1920:
Disturbing rumors spreading out of China speak of massive clashes along the Russian-Chinese border, just before Japan begins a massive invasion of China, lead by samurai who are said to fight like devils and never remove their armor or face masks. Japan bans all foreign ships from its territorial waters. Three American vessels close to the unilaterally declared Japanese sea border sink under mysterious circumstances.

1921: Unrest grows among the people of Western Europe. A bomb is detonated near Westminster, killing four and wounding a dozen more. First demon attack in France, at Marseilles, with a death toll of over three hundred including most of the provincial government. Industrial action cripples most of Britain during the summer. Germans march through the streets of all major German towns shouting "we are dying here for naught and nothing, let the others die in our stead". Politicians of all colors in the United States begin calling for isolationism and withdrawal from the fights of others.

January 1, 1922: Faced with the untenable prospect of fighting down internal unrest and an ongoing war at the same time, world leaders reveal the truth to their populations.

Humanity was under attack. Monsters and demons had crossed into the world almost fifteen years ago, 1908, in a far-off corner of Russia, near the Tunguska river. Ever since they have subverted certain governments with promises of power and glory. Russia fell pray to them, as did Japan. But humanity was not without its friends working behind the scenes to contain the spreading cancer. Friends who had abducted world leaders in 1916 and opened their eyes to the truth that had been kept hidden from them so far.

Elves, angels, wizards, creatures of myth and legend opposed the darkness, stood by humanity, but had always thought humankind was not ready to face the truth. But people demanded an explanation, and secrecy and lies were no longer enough.

January 2, 1922: As if to assert their presence, now that their existence had been revealed to the world, demonic creatures attack on all fronts, some who had long lain in wait emerging in major population centers that had been deemed safe. Paris, Washington, London, Rome, Instanbul, even far-away Sydney and a dozen more major population centers come under attack from within. Civilian casualties worldwide approach ten thousand. The Eastern Front holds, but over the next four days the fighting there claims the lives of over fifty thousand soldiers. Tsar Nicholas II declares himself eternal ruler of the Russian Empire, openly revealing his ambition to eventually unite the whole world under his leadership.

January 6, 1922: A contingent of Elves, spellcasters, Einheriar, and Valkyries descends on the Eastern front and drives back the advancing hordes of monsters, but at severe losses in a series of battles one observer describes as "world shattering". At the same time a large island. While people are swift to dub it Atlantis, the elves inform everyone that the island is, in fact, named Avalon. When the Tunguska explosion opened a door to a world of darkness (dubbed by then the Netherworld), the universe also opened a doorway to a world of light (the Otherworld) that had been kept hidden ever since and was home to Elves and other non-human species that had been fighting against the Netherworld for centuries.
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Siobhan
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Elven Healer
Differences To Our World
While the technology in the world of Avalon 2012 would be familiar to most people, there are some marked differences to the world we know. Television, telephones, computers and cars resemble what you might know from real life, but...

  • Cars are a luxury item as gas prices are high. Fuel goes first and foremost to the war effort. Public transportation is a much more common way to get around than it is for many people in our world. There are no Japanese or Korean made cars in the Western world. Germans don't produce many cars for a mass market, so some of the most common car brands in this world are Chrysler, Ford, Fiat, Peugeot, and Vauxhall. Common brands of luxury cars are Mercedes, Ferrari, Bentley, and Jaguar
  • The internet exists, but it has only been opened to civilian use some ten years ago, and for civilians bandwidth is limited. You can email, you can use newsgroups, but there are no online games to speak of, and no social networking sites.
  • No nuclear weapons or power plants. When the gates to the worlds of light and darkness opened, a subtle shift to the laws of physics occurred that prevents nuclear fusion from happening. Power is supplied by conventional power plants and renewable energy sources like wind, sun, and water.
  • Military technology developed in slightly different ways. Most warfare is still ground warfare. Tanks, helicopters, and ground-attack planes are the weapons of choice for most armies when it comes to conventional weapons. Fighter jets and long-range bombers don't have much part in modern warfare.
  • Just as cars are less common in this world, so are passenger jets. Air travel is expensive. People who want to go on a vacation use trains or ships to cover longer distances.
  • While magic is not uncommon, it has not replaced technology in any major way. Every mage has to pay a price for using magic in some way, so magic can replace technology in some limited cases, but it never did on a wide scale.

Politics and society are quite different from our world, as many countries are still monarchies.

  • The US, France, and Italy are democracies, as are Belgium and the Netherlands.
  • Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and the UK are parliamentary monarchies.
  • Spain, Portugal, and most African and Arabian states are absolute monarchies.
  • The ruling houses of Germany and Austria-Hungary were united through marriage of the German prince Adalbert and the Austrian princess Marianne in 1957, creating the German-Austrian Empire, currently ruled by Adalbert's son Emperor Franz-Waldemar I.
  • Many former British colonies are now independent, or at least semi-independent, as Britain could not spare the troops to control growing unrest in the colonies during the 50s and 60s. France still holds on to a few colonies in Africa, but had to let go of most of its North African possessions in the 70s.
  • Grass-roots movements for more democracy exist in many countries, some just calling for more democratic participation in governments and not downright abolition of monarchies. Many of these movements are small and peaceful, but a few anarchistic cells have formed that advocate more direct action against monarchs and the nobility.
  • Anti-war sentiments are growing and have led to the formation of protest movements that sometimes, but not always, overlap with pro-democracy campaigns. Some of these movements have been infiltrated (or actually created) by Russian and Japanese agents.
  • Religions are as varied as in our world, with a few changes: While it is widely accepted that there is a strong presence of demon worshippers in Russia and Japan, no proof of demon worship has been confirmed in the West, despite constant rumors of small underground cults. A few humans have turned to the dualistic believe of the Otherworld, where the worship of a moon goddess and a sun god are quite common.

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Siobhan
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Elven Healer
The Otherworld - and how to get there

The native dimension of elves, shapeshifters, valkyries and einheriar plays no real part in the events transpiring in this roleplay, so it will (for now) remain largely undescribed.

In general the Otherworld is very much like Earth, but populated by non-human races, and it is home to some creatures of myth and legend, including pegasi and unicorns (but not dragons). The technology and civilization of the Otherworld closely matches that of Europe's Renaissance period (ca. 16th and early 17th century), so if you think of the Otherworld, don't think so much of it as a "Lord of the Rings" setting, and more as a "Three Musketeers" setting with a few less muskets. The Otherworld has long been in conflict with the Netherworld, so long in fact that no one is absolutely certain why or how the conflict started, but long enough that the denizens of the Otherworld have become quite adept at fighting demons and monsters with magic and steel.

Crossing between the Otherworld and Earth requires a magical gate, and those gates can only be opened at certain points in the world were magical energy runs strongly. There are about two dozen "gate sites" known in the free world, two of them in Avalon. Activating a gate - and keeping it open - requires the skills of an expert caster of movement magic. As there is some correspondence between Earth and the Otherworld, gates are about the same distance from each other in both worlds, so gates can generally not be used as a shortcut for travel between locations in the same world.

The two gate sites in Avalon are in the basement of the Free World League building, and in a small town in the mountains that is heavily guarded by parts of the Free World Army
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