Realms

This section is designed to give starting players a brief introduction to the various places in the game.

The Kingdom of Sable

Ruled by King Robert and Queen Claire, the Kingdom of Sable is equivalent to Amber in a more standard ADRPG-based game. The KoS is roughly the size of Great Britain, and is situated within the Sable Mountains. It is a Constitutional Monarchy, with an elected government and Prime Minister, and King Robert as the Head of State. The primary source of power is magic, and electricity is supplied either through magical means, or from magic-powered steam turbines.

Magic is fundamental to the everyday life of Sable, and therefore it is taught and encouraged both in Sable, itself, and at certain locations within the Commonwealth. The Sable Mage College is second to none in the rest of the system, and King Robert’s agents travel Shadow and bring in the brightest and best of the Talented. Outside magic, other forms of art and learning are encouraged, as well as scientific development and invention, within the restrictions of steam power and a lack of petrochemicals. Literacy within Sable is around 96-97%, and there is a comprehensive state education system which is free and available for all children up to the age of 18, although they can leave at 16 if they wish to go into an apprenticeship.

For a long time, the KoS was at c.1890-1900 technology levels, albeit based on magic, rather than actual technology, with steam-powered machinery fired by magical heat sources, industrial development, and the beginnings of mass production. This has moved forward in recent years, such that the native tech level of the Kingdom of Sable is now mid-1940s equivalent, albeit still primarily magically powered, with mass production becoming more common. This is likely to rise further as the years pass, as technology, metallurgy, etc. from worlds of tech levels up to the early-1960s are functional, if not common in day-to-day life as yet, within certain limits.

Sable has an audio broadcasting system using crystals and communications magics, based on the foundations of the point-to-point comms-crystal system which has been available in Sable for many years (effectively the Sable equivalent of walkie-talkies/mobile phones). Within the last twenty years, it has also become possible to broadcast pictures magically, to dedicated receivers. In addition, five main newspapers are commonly available.

The internal combustion engine does not work in the Kingdom. With respect to weaponry, gunpowder ignites, and basic TNT/dynamite combust, but none any of the more modern explosives work. Firearms are limited to revolvers, shotguns and bolt-action rifles: automatic and semi-automatic weaponry are non-functional. Nuclear power and weapons do not work at all on Magica Superior.

The Kingdom has good infrastructure (buildings, roads, railways, sewers, etc), and there is a telephone system which works on more traditional industrial lines. The currency is the Sable Pound. The standard of living for the population is quite high, with clean and relatively safe streets (in part due to a standing police force), running water and sewers and good air quality (to the main heat source for steam being magical, not fossil fuels).

Life expectancies within Sable are about two-and-a-half to three times longer than the human norm, so ages of 200-250 years, are not unheard of. Often, a Sable citizen will age normally until they are in their late-20s or early-30s and then they frequently remain roughly unchanged in health and (potentially) appearance for the next 100 years or so, before beginning to age at roughly one-third the speed of a human living in Shadow. Life expectancies in the Commonwealth aren’t quite as long, but are still comfortably in the 150-200 range. In addition, about 10% of the population have the genetic marker which, if activated, could allow them to become a shape shifter.

For well over a hundred years, Sable and the Reich were at War, but an Armistice was agreed in SY125, and a full Peace Treaty came into force in January SY129. The current year is SY159.

Allies

The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is the trading bloc based in the three Shadow Veils immediately around the Magica Superior. The Shadows are linked by a network of Royal Ways. Most of the connections come directly from the Kingdom of Sable, notably in the lands outside Riversend. The Reich is not particularly popular in the Commonwealth Veils (with a few non-Commonwealth exceptions), especially since the expansion in SY100-105 to form the Outer Reich.

The Commonwealth is split into four Quadrants, each with a “Defence Shadow”, ruled by an experienced military officer of Ducal rank, which gives its name to the Quadrant its in: Cadel, Shigare, Lowell and Caulder. These have increased in importance since the foundation of the Outer Reich. These worlds are now primarily military bases, and are responsible for the defence of those Commonwealth Shadows around them.

Recent Issues

With respect to political hotspots within the Commonwealth, the last six months or so have seen significant problems in the Lowell Quadrant. It has become known that Jensen (over the “border” in the Shigare Quadrant), with some help from Garrowby, has been causing problems on the Commonwealth world of Anghelt. This culminated in an internal coup by two members of the Council of Ministers – Dewey Haik and Lee Sarason, both in the pay of external forces – against the legitimate ruler, President York. The President was restored to Power in early-February, following a counter-coup helped from the backgound by Sable agents, and the new government has requested help from Sable to try to weed out the influences of the coup plotters, and help the Shadow get back onto an even keel, both for itself and as a Commonwealth member.

Following the problems in Anghelt, on 21 February, Duke Travis Heinmann was assassinated on a visit to the world of Carrick, which has been undertaking negotiations to join the Commonwealth. Killed with him was the Senior Sable Negotiator, Adila Masterson, along with several members of the Royal Guard and a number of bystanders. Investigations  concluded that the rockets used in the assassination included components made on Jensen. Further co-operation with Oberstgruppenführer-SD Jorge von Raeder of Sanguine concluded that the assasin was a former Waffen-SS officer named Irma Schmitt, who was paid to undertake the attack by unnamed extreme right-wing, anti-Peace forces within the Bayern Group. These individuals are still being identified.

Murray

Murray is the Sable gateway world on the Outside, and serves as the trading link between the Sable Shadows and the wider multiverse. It was founded by King Robert on 21 December SY105, in tandem with the Reich world of Sanguine. When first founded, it was ruled by Prince James, as Regent for his grandfather, King Robert. Since October SY106, however, the Regent has been Emily de Lacy. It is a ruled as Constitutional Regency: the government governs, and the Regent oversees and makes sure that the interests of the King of Sable, from whom she holds her position, are represented.

The overall tech level is equivalent to the mid-1980s. However, as the industry is based on magi-tech, the level of pollution in the cities is considerably less than it would be in the equivalent size cities on twentieth-first century Earth. It has both the internal combustion engine and the jet engine. The high ambient magic level and the nature of Sable’s magic, which Murray shares, mean that industry and technology here are also magically powered.

Ruler: Princess Regent Emily de Lacy, on behalf of King Robert.

The Technocracy

The Technocracy is a single-iteration Power with a futuristic bent. Situated in Veil 100 North, the Technocracy was Created on 7 February SY120 by Andrew de Lacy. At the time of its creation, fundamental links were forged between the Nexus on Technocracy Prime (usually just called Prime) and New Oceania, on the opposite side of the hemisphere, leading to the co-Creation of a version of the Machine tied much more closely to New Oceania.

Prime runs at a similar rate of timeflow to Sable and the Reich, although the year is a longer 600 20-hour days, split into 20 x 30-day months. It is home to roughly 200m souls. Prime comprises one major archipelago comprising a chain of landmasses totalling around 150k square miles in area. As the archipelago is volcanically active, there is an abundance of geothermal power on Prime. Pretty much the whole of the 2,700-mile (c.4,350km) coastline of the largest island in the chain, Fuascailt Island, is made up of a single urban sprawl called Prime City. This is home to as many as 50m people: roughly a quarter of the population of Technocracy Prime. The other islands also boast a number of extensive cities, although they are dwarfed in comparison.

As the name suggests, it is primarily a technological world. That said, magic is functional, if often less efficient than the technological alternatives, except with respect to accessing the Datastream. Technology Prime embraces the technological, resulting an archtypal cyberpunk-style feel to the world.

Due to actions by Andrew de Lacy in SY123, the Technocracy is currently in a state of war with the Greater Reich.

Ruler: Helena-Maria Latz

Seconde

The world now known as Seconde is located in the same general region of Shadow as Murray and Sanguine on the Outside Equatorial cross-section in the general vicinity of St.James, and shares Shadow boundaries with the outer Veils of worlds surrounding both Gateways. Its inherent tech level is significantly higher than either of them, however, as are the tech levels in the five or six Veils immediately around it. Like Technocracy Prime, it has the look and feel of a world straight out of the cyberpunk genre, complete with Urban Sprawl.

Seconde was originally established as one of the Outside Data Repositories. These used Technocracy infrastructure to collate information on events, individuals, etc in the Outside, but the data had to be taken back Inside by Technocracy couriers. However, as time ha passed, the Aurellian God of Communications has worked with Sysdaemon Lucy, on aspects of the Power with respect to interfacing with the Technocracy Data Centres both Inside and Outside, and making the wealth information within the Datastream available to all. This allows seamless communications across Technocracy Prime, and contact between Prime and Seconde, on the Ouside.

Rulers: Tyler and Howard Cameron, aided, abetted and sometimes hindered by Prime Technocrat Andrew de Lacy.

Azure

Azure is the Primary Realm in the Inner Lands of the Terra Magica system: the underwater lands that exist in parallel to the air breathing worlds of Sable. The Inner Lands are the realms of Shadow connected to Azure, much as the Sable Shadows extend out from Magica Superior, with the worlds known as the Ring of Sapphires acting as the equivalent to the Sable Commonwealth. There are probably not quite as many water Shadows as there are land Shadows attached to Sable, but there are sufficient numbers that as yet they have not all been explored, albeit that they are not all habitable.

Ruler: Queen Alison de Lacy

Argent

Argent is the Primary Realm in the Outer Lands (or Sky Shadows) of the Terra Magica system: the somewhat ghostly worlds which seem to exist as much in nightly dreams, as in reality. As with Sable and Azure, there is a full Shadow system extending from Argent itself, although there is no trading belt in the way there is in either of the more corporeal realms.

Ruler: King Cathal de Lacy

Adversaries

The Greater Reich

Beyond the Sable Mountains, the primary power is the Greater Reich, which has its capital in Berlin, roughly in the centre of the land mass. Given its dominance on the rest of the continent beyond the Mountains, the world on which both the Kingdom of Sable and the Greater Reich is located is now usually referred to as Magica Superior. The Greater Reich was the long-term adversary of the Kingdom of Sable, until the two realms signed the Peace Treaty which came into force in January SY159.

The Fatherland is a huge country, more than 4,000 miles across, surrounded by a protective zone, known as the Sudetenland (population 200m), which effectively extends its borders by another 1,000 miles or thereabouts to both the east and the west. Beyond that, again, the Reich has conquered large swathes of territory in the neighbouring countries, and is fighting over much of the rest of the continent, with the exception of the Sable Mountains, which are inaccessible to them.

In the early days of the Reich, the tech level was roughly mid-1920s equivalent, albeit based on magic, rather than actual technology. In that, it was about ten years ahead of Sable. As the years have passed, the Reich has managed to maintain the technological edge, so that its native tech level is in the mid/late-1950s equivalent, comparted to the Kingdom of Sable at mid-1940s equivalent.

As the name suggests, the Reich bears a close resemblance to Nazi Germany of the 1930s and early 1940s, along with its expansionist policies and desire to conquer. Until SY110, it also had a draconian attitude to shapeshifters, and whether they had the right to live, although this has improved to a degree. As Sable is much more “British” in its outlook, and many in Sable abhored what the Reich stands for, from a time shortly after the two nations were founded, they were at war for well over a century.

In the end, however, in light of the rise of certain mutual enemies, as well as actions against the Reich by the Technocracy, a Peace Treaty between them finally came into force in SY129, but there are hardliners in both Sable and the Reich who believe the Treaty was a betrayal, and they would rather return to a hostile stance.

Ruler: Kaiser Wilhelm, and his wife Elsa.
“Shadow Ruler”: Rupert Delatz Reichsführer-SS.

The Outer Reich

The Outer Reich is the GR’s equivalent of the Commonwealth. For the first century or so, it comprised four distinct groups of five Shadows, located in Veils Four-Six, outside the Commonwealth. Between 100 and 105, however, the Reich undertook a military expansion and once the dust settled and the Treaty was signed, the Outer Reich comprised a contiguous bloc of thirty-five worlds.

Ruler: Jürgen Kessler, the former Waffen-SS general who was the driving force behind the 100-105 expansion.

Valhalla

Valhalla was created in the Sable Mountains, to match the Norse-Germanic beliefs of the Reichs-SS. It came into being as a pocket Shadow, woven out of the weird stuff of the Sable Mountains and anchored to them. At first, it was located about 150 miles into the mountains from the Sable side, but now it has moved towards the East of the mountains. The mountains moved around it, so that it cannot be reached by normal people, protecting it much as Sable itself is protected.

Since its relocation, it has effectively spawned into a seperate world, probably occupying a similar space in the metaphysical cosmos as Argent. It is very stable and very permanent, and has become a Shadow of Destiny for the souls of those who have ever died in the Sable-Aurellis universe, who believe in the Norse and Germanic gods and myths. As belief in such things is far more prominent within the SS than other population group on the Inside, Valhalla is effectively an SS nation.

Ruler: Hochprinzessin Trauld Lange

Sanguine

Sanguine is the Reich gateway world on the Outside, and serves as the link between the Reich Shadows and the wider multiverse. It was founded by RFSS Rupert Delatz on 21 December SY105, in tandem with the Sable world of Murray. It acts as a trading gateway into the Reich’s sphere of influence. Transport to and from Sanguine is primarily via the ATS system, although certain mages and other influential individuals can reach the world by other means.

Like Murray, Sanguine has established trading and military links with a number of its adjacent Shadows. Unlike Murray, none of these have a tech level earlier than about 1800s, and they go much further up the future scale.

Ruler: Reichsprotektor Matthias Kapler

New Oceania

Located in Veil 100 North, New Oceania is a police state with overall control in the hands of the New Oceania Worker’s Party (usually just known as the Party). The government of New Oceania is a none-too benevolent dictatorship. It is known to house two Powers, or perhaps two variants of the same Power: the Gift of the Martyr, and the Darkstream. Sable forces have had various encounters with New Oceania over the years, many of them less than civil.

Ruler: Secretary General Andreas Delatz.

The Machine

The exact relationship between the Government of New Oceania and the Machine is unclear, although it is known that the Machine is based at the Data Centre, on the island at the heart of New Oceania. In general terms, “the Machine” refers to the technological side of the Darkstream, which is powered from the Godstone veins. It is a cross-Shadow-capable supercomputer which controls the actions of the Machine Drones, which travel Shadow seeking worlds which they can strip for resources. These resources sometimes include the people, and sometimes don’t. For a general idea of the Machine, think the pre-Picard Borg of Star Trek.

Ruler: The Master of the Darkstream.

Ex Machina

“Ex Machina” is how Sable/the Reich/the Technocracy refer to the Outside gateway for New Oceania/The Machine. It is known to exist, and there is believed to be some kind of datastream between the Inside and the Outside. However, beyond the fact that it is not in the same area of Shadow as the Murray-Sanguine-Second Triad, its exact location remains unknown.

Ruler: External Controller Marcus Mountjoy.

The Weimar Republik (status unknown)

The Weimar Republik was set up in Veil 22 North some time around SY121-22. In around SY125, he rulers of the Republik devised a way to build a small Power, which they believed would not be detected by Robert of Sable or RFSS Delatz. In the event, they were proven correct. Once the Power was created, Weimar started to expand, moving onto the Shadows around it, and formed a Reich-style nexus out in Shadow. In subsequent years, Weimar remained an isolationist nation, working for self-sufficiency through the conquest of itssurrounding Shadows. At the time of its discovery by Sable forces in SY155, it was obvious that it considered both the Kingdom and the Reich to be enemies of Weimar.

It is unclear exactly what led to the massive arcane explosion on 1 February 158, but the result showed all the signs of a cataclysmic event leading to the total destruction of the Weimar homeworld. On the other hand, since then, occasional indications that some Weimar operatives are still active have been discovered in that area of Shadow and further out, hence the status of the Weimar Republik being classified as “unknown” rather than “neutralised”.

Other Realms

Elementis

Elementis is the Power in the centre of the Sable-Aurellis Inside, in Veil 200, and its Creation lead to a huge increase in the scale of Shadow on the Inside. It was drawn by the Four Sisters, daughters of Gaiai, the Aurellian Goddess of the Land. At each quarter point is a design based on, and related to one, of the four Western elements, which were drawn simultaneously, at 90° distances around the metaphorical circumference of the Inside: Air – 0° (“east”); Fire – 90° (“south”); Water – 180° (“west”); and Earth 270° (“north”).

As well as the Sisters themselves and their mother, a number of other Aurellian Gods were present at the Creation, as well as senior representatives from Sable. Some of these were the same people.

Elementis has not featured in the Sable Game as yet, but is included here for completeness.

The Empire of Eboracum/The Federation

The Empire of Eboracum and the Federation are the nations at at the South of the Inside.

The Empire is based on a culture similar in many respects to the Roman Empire of old Earth, but with variations and differences. One feature of the Empire which is noteworthy, particularly for any visitors from foreign lands, is that slavery is a fundamental practice within the Empire, as the basic process of punishment, rather than imprisonment. Both Sable and the Reich have full diplomatic relations with the Empire.

Ruler: Emperor Sirius IV (who happens to be good friends with Kaiser Wilhelm).

The Federation is effectively capitalist America runs rampant. Neither Sable nor the Reich have diplomatic relations with the Federation.

Ruler: President Lincoln Troy Abrahams XVI.

These two nations are more associated with the Aurellis Game, but are included here as they are occasionally referred to in the Sable Game.

St. James and Casablanca

Casablanca is the primary gateway world between Eboracum and the Outside, while St. James is the secondary gateway for both Sable and Eboracum.

Casablanca has the look and feel of the movie of the same name: a neutral city based around a marketplace made up of bright lights and dark corners. It is run as a Regency of the Empire of Eboracum.

Ruler: Regens George Helgram

St. James is the equivalent of our Earth, with much the same history until PCs started messing with it in the early 2000s. The year on St. James is 2012. Richard Lacey, King Robert’s grandson, is the Sable Ambassador to the Court of St. James.

Ruler: No single ruler, as there are multiple nation states.

Like the Empire and the Federation, these worlds are more associated with the Aurellis Game, but are occasionally referred to in the Sable Game.

Other Entities

Richard Roman Enterprises

RRE is not a Realm, but a Corporate Entity that has been encountered in recent years. It appears to have been established on the Veil Seven world of Karreshi in SY147, and is a technology and medical services conglomerate, as well as producing high-end consumer goods. Most of the products sold openly under the RRE name are of a decent tech level, which can sometimes work on worlds where they probably shouldn’t. On the medical side, its products are of good, safe efficacity. It also runs an alternative transportation network called the Portal System.

Unbadged technology, which appears to have similarities to declared RRE products, has been found on worlds that are not necessarily in agreement with Sable’s aims and interests, and has been used to further the interests of governments that are actively working against Sable’s aims and interests.

RRE is included here under “Neutral”, as while it’s products have been found on non-Allied worlds, it hasn’t been conclusively proven that the company itself is actively working against the interests of Sable.

“Ruler”: Chief Executive Officer Richard Roman.