By the by, if anyone else has another setting concept or anything, please do not be afraid to post it! I may be a self-important jerk, but I don’t want to bury any potentially great ideas under a wall of text that happened to go first because I’m the dude posting these topics. >_> Also, do feel free to directly challenge anything I write. Again, I am simply pitching this to you, the committee, as a potentiality. I don’t want to browbeat the topic into adopting whatever I say by virtue of being prolific. This area just happens to be my specialty.
So, do the people know that the use of Dissonance destroys your immune system, or do they just know it causes you to become sick? I'm just wondering if a society that possesses multiple levels of magical healing should have much of a knowledge of things like cellular biology.
Just that it makes you become sick/stop healing naturally. It was initially discovered when a few people who had been healed from drastic injuries started going batshit insane and decaying. After some examination and noticing that people who had been healed this way to a lesser degree were less healthy, the connection was made. The exact effects are pretty unknown and can vary from person to person, but most practitioners are trained to guess at about how badly their healing will effect another person. They can also make a fair guess by looking at your Flow.
On The Great Lord: There are actually a few dedicated religions to him, so it would be no surprise if there was something of a militant sect like Nama suggests. On the whole though, the area where the Great Lord would presumably reside, the central island, the Great Lord's Throne is pretty much utterly inaccessible. Early expeditions there found a "barren, terrifying land haunted and hunted by the dead." In actuality, and as was later realized, the Great Lord's Throne is simply an area of nearly incomprehensible Disquiet. So it is pretty naturally inaccessible. Still, wouldn’t stop the “devout” from not wanting people to even try, especially given that nasty things have come from there before. Works for me if we want to work it in somewhere.
While I'm thinking about it, in actuality, many people actually see the Great Lord as a benevolent figure who, gave humanity the means and opportunity to acquire independence. It is often believed that those who carve their own paths in life, regardless of the consequence, are the favored of the Great Lord and will one day be able to pass the veil of his throne and join him in eternal life and awesome or what not. Of course, there are also churches that see him as a cruel, unforgiving death god that turned his back on humanity because of his weakness or his hatred of them.
On the reality of the matter? It is something of a halfway point between the idea of a god and the idea of merely the first practitioner but we can go into that a bit later since the reality of myth is far more flexible.
Nama and Excal: I like. I like a lot. Piracy was something I never considered but makes a TON of sense. In addition, the nobility issue makes a tremendous amount of sense, especially when you consider the idea that, under the current timeline, it is pretty much a military authority wherein the civil authorities/important figures have been marginalized. I dig. Plus includes fantastic dynamics all around. The barbarian idea is similarly great, especially when paired with the ability to give us something radically different for one of the paths by REALLY digging at a different culture/environment/etc. Since, honestly, the empire, even accounting for regional difference, is going to naturally end up a certain way. This is definitely something to be expanded on.
Other thing worth noting while I remember it. Dissonant practitioners are VERY much under the purview of the government. Potentials are actively sought out and recruited to the academy and, provided they can pass the rigorous schooling are inducted into the government and allowed certain outlets pending their abilities. Anyone showing potential as a Dissonant producer is jammed into that since the Guardian Rebellion/Revolution lost them an awful lot of those (which is another reason the civil authority fell to military authority) and they are trying desperately to recoup their losses/get the disquieted land back under control. Others are allowed to pursue research projects (think being a grad student on your thesis-ish sort of thing or enter into the military. On the whole, Dissonant practitioners are fairly heavily tracked/monitored for unshocking reasons.
Anyhow. Onto that plot thing. (Note, nothing I say henceforth disqualifies the current path ideas floating around, just letting you all know where I was going originally. This includes a retcon to account for the fact that I forgot the fact that the Rebellion/Revolution was NOT long-lived, otherwise my time frame blows up. Originally my plot was focused primarily around the characters of Noemi and Mirek, but they were tied pretty close, so this could be changed around to accomodate multiple branches, or it could be left as a strong central narrative and the others could just be built on it. This includes backstory, so brace yourself.
<backstory>Noemi is the orphaned daughter of plantation workers who was placed in the Crimson House Orphanage in the city of YYYY, an orphanage specifically set up by the plantation owner/Dissonant producer, [XXXX of the Crimson House] and his brother-in-law, Erastus. XXXX was a fairly liberal individual and did his damnedest to insure the safety of his workers, including encouraging his only son, Mirek, to become a Guardian. Early on, her talents were discovered by the kindly Erastus (who spent much of his free time frequenting the orphanage with his wife, children and nephew) and he encouraged her as well as the other orphans. When she was old enough to be sent to one of the central cities to formally enter the school, Erastus helped her plan the details and made sure she would be cared for there. So thus, our orphan went off to learn the art of Dissonance.
Meanwhile, Mirek and his cousin, Mynasar, were inducted into the Guardians and started to learn that stuff. There, Mirek fell for a woman of remarkable talent, etc, etc.
So, time passes. Tensions over the Dissonant plantations, worker conditions, etc reach boiling points and, across the world, uprisings begin, led by Guardians. Dissonant producers are struck down, their lands destroyed, etc.
In the city of YYYY and the area, things remain tense, but peaceful. XXXX's efforts seem to have endeared him to the people and the Guardians there, keeping the areas stable. Erastus and his wife are recruited into the war effort in the north, while Erastus' daughter, Clacy, is moved south to help there. Erastus, one of the most skilled Dissonant practitioners in the west, proves an amazing asset.
Back in YYYY, tensions have peaked and a plot has been hatched, in secret, amongst several of the Guardians to carry out an assassination of XXXX. The day of the plan, Mynasar and Mirek are taken out into the plantation and offered the choice of joining the traitorous Guardians. Unshockingly, the two refuse and combat breaks out. Mynasar and Mirek manage to get the upper hand until the gal Mirek digs enters the fray. Some talking, some snarking and some hesitation gets Mynasar killed and Mirek wounded. Mirek manages to get escape, but the assassination is carried and XXXX is killed.
On their respective fields, Erastus' wife is also slain and Clacygael is driven mad by repeated Dissonant healings.
Hearing about the the deaths and disabling of his family, Erastus gets a bit understandably angry and, in the next battle he is engaged in, unleashes the full force of his power, utterly annihilating the opposing forces, officially establishing himself as a hero of the war and one of the four greatest practitioners in the world. Unbeknownst to the general publid, he also annihilated the vast majority of allied forces there with him. (The site of this battle is the Desert of Red Glass, quite appropriate, given that Erastus used fire to do his ruination. The area is now massively Disquieted.
In the wake of Erastus' victory, the Empire's forces score a series of decisive civtories. The Guardians are forced underground (or, more appropriately, back into Disquieted areas since pursuing them there would be suicide).
Noemi has been doing damn well in school, in the meanwhile. Yes, her role in the backstory is kinda dull. We're getting there.
Back in YYYY, Mirek, as a member of the Guardians is shunned by the community at large. Due to his father's soft approach, he is post mortemly treated as a traitor (more signs of the military displacing the civil authorities) to the empire and the Crimson House lands are returned to the government, leaving him without home, money or... anything really. He struggles to get his uncle's help, but obviously the man is a bit distraught to care about his nephew's plight, leaving Mirek to fend for himself. The former Guardian is left homeless, living in the slums that border the Dissonant plantation. With only his residual sense of betrayal, he began to silently champion the area.
Back to Noemi, finally. Having graduated at the top of the class, she is free to pursue a research subject. She chooses the (hopeless, but obviously of government desire) subject of the Disquiet and reversing it. Having looked into the prior research, the mythology of the world, old documents and what not, she believes there is something to it. One of her major interests are Guardians, given their ability to survive in Disquieted areas, and Disquieted areas themselves. Having been in communication with Erastus (and knowing of what happened with him) she contacts him, hoping to get help and, perhaps, give the old man a little something to do.
Meanwhile, back in YYYY, Mirek, nearing the end of his ropes, encounters a young woman named Eirwen and protects her from a group of thugs. In return, she invites him back to the tavern that she owns and, at the least, offers the man a meal. Her co-owner and long time friend, Artur, is wary and, upon recognizing Mirek as a Guardian, adamant against his presence. Eirwen prevails and hires the troubled Guardian on as staff.
Noemi hears from Erastus who agrees to assist her with her research and encourages her to return to YYYY. She agrees and travels. Upon arriving, she is greeted by the old man (who definitely looks very bad, all things considered). He nevertheless greets her as cheerful as he ever was, revealing the he has a plan to help her: finding his nephew, as he's probably one of the few Guardians she could examine close-up.
And man. I just realized how long this is getting. So... uh. Lemme post this.
Thus, she hunts down and Mirek and soon becomes embroiled in a plot to bring about another revolution, as well as a sinister goal to achieve long lost power and remake the world. Or something. Lordy. I'll start another post with more plot direction and a Dramatis Personae type thing.
