Year 50 by the new revolutionary calendar of Marche, otherwise known as year 200 since the Portsmouth Accords, or year 500 since the coronation of Prince Mikhail Vasily as Czar of Vladivostok. In any case, few areas of the map remain uncharted in this era of unparalleled industry and expansion. The three major empires have largely resolved their internal disputes and embarked on a worldwide game of colonization and domination. In the midst of this chaos smaller nations must either seek some limited independence as protectorates or subjects, or through shrewd diplomacy, play the powers off of one another to retain their freedom. The dark continent of Karrage has been circumnavigated for almost two centuries, and most of the coastline has been explored to some depth. However the heart of the continent remains shrouded behind towering escarpments to the south and east, and impenetrable jungle to the west. The only thing known about this heart of darkness is the great Mamba River, which has been traced to its source by the famous explorer Stanley Morton. However he was unable to stray far from the river during his expedition, and as a result the land beyond the banks is almost completely unknown to outsiders. The continent has been roughly divided between the three major powers, but ambiguity remains around the central Mamba basin. The Green Ocean League, one of the few remaining independent nations, has offered to curate the land as a middleman to ensure no major wars break out between the great powers. In a gesture of good faith (and pragmatism, as it lacks the population to effectively govern such a massive territory) the Green Ocean League has allowed immigrants from the major powers free access to their new territory. This open policy has resulted in only a few small settlements on the west coast at the Mamba delta, and a couple tiny ones a little ways inland along the river. However recently, word has reached the coasts of a terrible monster that is wreaking havoc in the deep interior, and tribal representatives have beseeched their new government for aid. In response the colonial administrators sent out a call for mercenaries and volunteers to enter the unknown in a dangerous and possibly suicidal gambit. The potential reward however is enticing, and a handpicked crew of adventurers meets in the coastal city of Hattston, ready for the journey of a lifetime.
Factions:
While everyone on this mission is expected to work together peacefully and effectively, their origins are as far flung as the empires that dominate the current world.
Vladivostok: The oldest and most magical of the three great powers, the Vasily dynasty of powerful spellcasters has held onto power for 500 long years. Vladivostok is still ruled by a strict caste system of spellcaster aristocracy and non-magical commoners, with an exclusively human ruling class. While being far and away the most powerful arcane faction, the Vladivostokis are distrustful of anyone too familiar with modern technology and ideas. Though they begrudgingly acknowledge the existence of non-humans within their borders, these other races exist as a fixed underclass and are not allowed the privileges of literacy or a chance to join national institutions such as the military. Despite their oppression of non-humans, human Vladivostoki peasants are treated with similar disdain, though the military exists as a means for ambitious young Vladivostokis to flee the grinding poverty of peasant life.
Vladivostoki character guide – human restricted:
Arcane magic user, holy magic user, mundane martial character, subversive intellectual character;
Background guide: magical (or potentially non-magic) aristocrat, peasant, or one of the few members of the middle class;
Note: non-magic aristocrats will either be socially outcast, or very secretive, as the Vladivostok aristocracy is horrified at the idea that magic lineages can be slowly losing their magic.
 
Portsmouth: A nation born 200 years ago in the Portsmouth Accords between the Parliamentarian and Royalist factions of the spellcaster aristocracy. The 50 year war exhausted the magical classes in Portsmouth to such a degree that a radical revolution of nonmagical peasants nearly toppled the weak government that had emerged from the civil war. As a result of increasingly magic-deprived aristocratic bloodlines Portsmouth is a country of endless compromise. Magic and mundane share a perilous balance in parliament, while the spellcaster king reigns with little to no power. Non-magical people fill the highest ranks of government, and non-humans occupy a far better position in society than in Vladivostok, though they remain barred from government and administration. Due to the magical weakness brought about in the three way civil war, Portsmouth is the most industrialized of the three powers, though Marche is hot on their heels.
Portsmouth character guide:
Arcane/holy magic user (generally weaker than their Vladivostoki counterparts), mundane martial, sportsman/explorers, technical expert (including medicine or biology);
Background guide: magical or non-magical aristocrat, middle class professional, non-aristocratic industrialist, working class, farmer, seafarer (Can also be non-human, Elves, dwarves, half-folk, but only non-aristocratic, and non-wealthy backgrounds)
Note: Portsmouth may be a land of compromise, but equality before the law is not a universal concept, and many forms of official privilege exist in society, though not to the same extent as Vladivostok.
 
Marche: The bloody revolution of 19 Thermidor brought the world’s first constitutional republic to power. Direct representation and a strict legal equality replaced a spellcaster elite similar to the kind that existed in Vladivostok and Portsmouth for centuries. Marche is a young country, still finding its feet in many respects, but industrializing faster than any other, and with a growing and fully enfranchised population it seeks to spread the ideals of the revolution across the globe. Due to the bloody nature of the revolution few spellcasters remain, and those that do are only a couple generations removed from the horror of revolution. As a result spellcasters and magic users in general are almost nonexistent in the government, though not due to any legal reasons, but rather a lingering hatred by the new citizenry of the old guard. Non-humans have no legal barriers in society, though due to their previously marginalized state are still few and far between in senior government ranks, though they make up a large portion of lower level bureaucrats.
Marche character guide:
Arcane/holy magic user (usually without formal teaching, and some lingering resentment to their homeland over their loss in status), mundane martial, sportsmen/explorers, technical expert (including medicine or biology), revolutionary intellectual (usually possessing some skill other than ideological as well);
Background guide: magical or non-magical citizen (can be rich, middle, working, or farmer class, and can also be a non-human sentient race – Elves, dwarves, half-folk);
Note: Due to Marche’s legal equality, most citizens will be extremely patriotic to the point of jingoism. Marche is widely regarded as a bit of an international pariah, and its citizens are looked upon with some trepidation by outsiders.
 
Green Ocean League: A comparatively sparsely populated archipelago united only about 130 years ago into a loose confederation centered on the city of Mostar. It exists mainly as a merchant republic and has maintained its independence by acting as a neutral intermediary in great power politics. Technologically it remains far behind the three major powers, though it has some basic industry and a strong commercial agricultural base.
GOL character guide: Due to its nature as a middle ground, the Green Ocean League allows for almost any sort of character.
 
Natives: The native tribes of the Mamba basin are incredibly diverse, but the only ones with significant connection to outsiders are the ones of the coast. Of these, the Katanga peoples are the best integrated into colonial society, and make up the majority of taxpaying colonial subjects. They tend to be concentrated in homesteads in the delta region and slightly upriver, and have little contact with the interior. Due to the lack of immigrants from elsewhere, the Green Ocean League makes extensive use of native soldiers and administrators, though senior levels in the colonial military and administrative structures remain exclusive to the settler class, though this may change in the coming years.
Native character guide: Shamanistic magics (holy and arcane), middle class professional, mundane martial, farmer, trader;
Note: Due to the Katanga people existing as a culture rather than a formal organization or society, a player of Katanga origin can be any race.