Post by pisces on May 23, 2015 21:47:43 GMT -5
[nospaces]
[attr="class","infoh"]the mise-en-scene
[attr="class","infop"]In a ravaged world overrun by monsters, Paris stands a stronghold of humanity. The security and prosperity of its population is ensured by the magicians, who claim they have rebuilt and restored the city to its past glory. Not every part has been treated with equal care, however—while the iconic landmarks and opulent buildings in magicians' districts gleam as if they'd never been damaged, many of the outer areas where nonmagicians live and work have received only desultory efforts.[break][break]
Buildings lie evacuated, falling to ruin; those untouched are often overcrowded and bare, ugly. Pedestrians skirt around sinkholes, cave-ins in the street, and pass under exploded street lamps, remainders of the Rift.[break][break]
The magical elite live like kings, the rest as paupers. But to be protected, to be within the city walls is an infinitely better fate than out, stranded in the surrounding wastelands.
The Catacombs, long-abandoned stone mines stretching beneath the streets above, are home to a subterranean society of strigoi and the human "livestock" they keep to feed from, unbeknownst to commoners. The ancient network of galleries and caverns, extensively renovated and furnished by its vampire inhabitants, is only accessible through secret entrances scattered all over the city—from subway inlets, cemeteries, cellars of bars, the sewers and manholes.[break][break]
The Protectorate strictly forbids descent into the tunnels, with very loose enforcement. The crime is penalty enough—few trespassers mount to see the light of day again.[break][break]
The Other Place, the home realm of spirits, is a multicolored, swirling mass of collective essence. There is no individuality of being; all spirits are as one in a single consciousness. Time passes differently in the Other Place, and the world has no apparent order or law able to be grasped by human understanding. [break][break]
In summoning a demon by calling its name, magicians therefore impose a separate identity on it against its natural state of being and against its will.
Though Black Sun is set in 20XX, about fifty years from present-time/the Rift, it is a post-apocalyptic world. Technology has practically not advanced since the Rift, which also made obsolete some existing technology at the time, notably global digital communication systems. The mass onslaught of Other Place spirits and magical radiation broke satellite, telephone, internet, etc. A local cellular network has been rebuilt in and around Paris, though there is no popularized internet or television. Thus commoners, lacking djinni long-distance messengers, live in an isolated bubble, cut off from the rest of the world.[break][break]
Transportation-wise, commoners take public transit (bus or metro). Magicians exclusively use private cars.[break][break]
Use your judgment. Anything unessential, ie gaming devices and fancy gizmos, is no longer in production or a luxury reserved for magicians.
Buildings lie evacuated, falling to ruin; those untouched are often overcrowded and bare, ugly. Pedestrians skirt around sinkholes, cave-ins in the street, and pass under exploded street lamps, remainders of the Rift.[break][break]
The magical elite live like kings, the rest as paupers. But to be protected, to be within the city walls is an infinitely better fate than out, stranded in the surrounding wastelands.
[attr="class","infoh2"]the catacombs
The Catacombs, long-abandoned stone mines stretching beneath the streets above, are home to a subterranean society of strigoi and the human "livestock" they keep to feed from, unbeknownst to commoners. The ancient network of galleries and caverns, extensively renovated and furnished by its vampire inhabitants, is only accessible through secret entrances scattered all over the city—from subway inlets, cemeteries, cellars of bars, the sewers and manholes.[break][break]
The Protectorate strictly forbids descent into the tunnels, with very loose enforcement. The crime is penalty enough—few trespassers mount to see the light of day again.[break][break]
[attr="class","infoh2"]the other place
The Other Place, the home realm of spirits, is a multicolored, swirling mass of collective essence. There is no individuality of being; all spirits are as one in a single consciousness. Time passes differently in the Other Place, and the world has no apparent order or law able to be grasped by human understanding. [break][break]
In summoning a demon by calling its name, magicians therefore impose a separate identity on it against its natural state of being and against its will.
[attr="class","infoh2"]technology
Though Black Sun is set in 20XX, about fifty years from present-time/the Rift, it is a post-apocalyptic world. Technology has practically not advanced since the Rift, which also made obsolete some existing technology at the time, notably global digital communication systems. The mass onslaught of Other Place spirits and magical radiation broke satellite, telephone, internet, etc. A local cellular network has been rebuilt in and around Paris, though there is no popularized internet or television. Thus commoners, lacking djinni long-distance messengers, live in an isolated bubble, cut off from the rest of the world.[break][break]
Transportation-wise, commoners take public transit (bus or metro). Magicians exclusively use private cars.[break][break]
Use your judgment. Anything unessential, ie gaming devices and fancy gizmos, is no longer in production or a luxury reserved for magicians.