The Other Side, Act II

What's all this then?
Due to a bunch of monkeys playing silly buggers, TOS ended up losing traction. Because I've had enough of this, I'm enforcing a skip ahead in time and a major event to get things back on track. Hence the name, Act II.
In Act II, the world has been struck with disaster. The ambient magic from off-world has grown in strength, with the expected results of focus points breaking and more land being lost. It also has some curious side effects on the people - in simple terms, their magical potency (MP) receives a flat +2 bonus in most areas, more under certain circumstances and in certain areas. Adjust characters accordingly, and also consider with especial care what your characters have been doing in the in-world three years that have passed since the travel RP's expedition to Tyrica.

Did Act I have an aftermath?
That's to be considered for each individual plotline; while we can safely assume Palacepollsters succeeded in their reconstruction effort, the expedition to Tyrica to steal national treasures almost certainly didn't. Such things can be resolved as we go along and encounter the loose threads that were left behind. Thanks to the diligent efforts of most participants, TOS provides a nice old patchwork of plotlines to play around with.

What happens in Act II?
Our crew, whoever that ends up being, embarks on a quest. These bold and fearsome adventurers use their unique qualifications in an attempt to right wrongs and get to the bottom of the crisis hanging over the world like a guillotine suspended by a wire currently being used as target practice by a number of drunken, irresponsible archers egging each other on by such various means as dares, insults, temptations and occasional blackmail, some of which includes unsavoury pictures of individuals engaged in what one might easily be led to assume is adultery. Of the worst kind. If that doesn't give you an idea of the current state of affairs in the world, you lack imagination.

While our courageous adulterers adventurers are out on their quest, there will of course be room to engage in other activities and adventures, interact with locals, sample local food and beverages such as dragon-meat stew and moonshine, and converse with one another, as we're familiar with from Act I. In Act II, however, I'm aiming for a stronger narrative, and considering the new concept of acts which I totally thought of all along, this also gives more room to actually finish the adventure and move on to the next act when the time comes. Or if - if it turns out a bunch of monkeys end up playing silly buggers again.

More information will be released in coming days.

How did this disaster affect the world?
Badly.

For starters - the seas, the ones that were getting calmer and allowing for more cross-continental travel - those seas - got worse instead. Inverted maelstroms, mutated fish, islands getting stuck in temporal loops and reliving the catastrophe of drowning under the sea on an hourly basis, swole crabs, ships turning feral and eating their sailors and so on and so forth - all of that and more awaits anyone who attempts to undertake the journey across nowadays.

Elne, as the northern continent and the one that was already struck hardest by magic, suffered horribly, with the strained supply lines breaking down from all the unhindered magic. It's not all over - where there is life, there's hope, as long as that life hasn't turned into a magic-drugged abomination. Some few pockets of resistance still hold the line, but it comes as no surprise that life in Elne is rather grim at the moment. A certain Karl Holner and his associates are working on a way to prevent further collapse.

Kayre, more sheltered from the waves of magic, fares better, and while the aftereffects of the disaster are making themselves known across its nations, there's still plenty of room for all manner of good-for-nothings up to no good. Making matters slightly worse, an ancient threat from down below rises up in greater numbers. One can only guess for what reason, but all over Adrila, these subterranean terrors crawl up from sand pits, mines, caves and cellars, to the delight of locals seeking a proper scrap. The ivelleans aren't quite so happy about their share of the bloated little monsters, as the ones west of the mountains seem far more organised.

Arrendal remains upon Adrila's throne, weary yet unbowed. A change in leadership seems out of order, as the kingdom needs stability and an experienced leader in these trying times; in other words, the tug of war between Evanor, the real Vivian and the fake Vivian continues (but which is which, and what kind of rope has three ends?) In addition, a series of earthquakes have struck Adrila, causing landslides throughout the basin and avalanches from the mountains. One avalanche went up the mountainside, but it's yet unclear if that's due to wizardry or just ordinary ambient magic.

In Ivellea, stability is out of the question, the civil war had barely been resolved when disaster struck. Furthermore, with a nexus point destroyed during the war, northern Ivellea is getting rather dangerous. Mutated wildlife prowl the lands, gravity is playing tricks on rocks that respond by exploding into tiny bits and recollecting erratically, and those slain in the area during the civil war just won't stay dead. It's not helping that the Emperor once again has fallen sick; Ivellea's not exactly presenting itself as the spiritual successor of Chandeum nowadays.

The city-state Elthern has managed a careful status quo, in no small part to Alastair's extortion of the city government; without that, slave trade would be booming, and the lower classes of the city would almost certainly rise up against the upper classes enabling this trade. So far, Alastair's racket has turned a tidy profit and a lot of refugees have managed to establish themselves as actual citizens in the city, but Elthern's coffers are running low and Alastair is getting bored.

For a time, it would seem the Grey Marshes would suffer badly from the ravages of magic. Fortunately for the Marshers, they have a very, very stubborn queen who refused to let her countrymen lose their lands and homes to magic. With an abundance of ambient magic, Althania's inherent magic increased exponentially, and in a most bizarre turn of events, the Grey Marshes are protected from an overexposure to magic by the queen. Althania, however, suffers from the magic turning on her instead, and like her grandfather before her, it's her turn to embark upon a quest to save herself.

The Federation of the Sacred Dragon, already suffering from infighting, suffered even worse from the disaster. The tall mountains surrounding the once peaceful federation shook, destroying many of the numerous hidden tunnels and pathways in the area. Tectonic plates shifted, the earth shook and ruptured, spilling the fiery lifeblood of the world into the open. Ashes and smoke billowed out, and for months, the lands were blackened and sick as people starved and froze. In those dark months, a lone Adrilan knight rallied those subjugated by the rebels, and in a series of tactical master strokes, the rebels found themselves first outmanoeuvered, then outnumbered, and at last outmatched. The final turning point was when the rebels woke up to find their leaders all dead, killed in their sleep, on the dawn before a siege, and with that, the rebellion was smothered. Finally - in tune with the philosophy of the people of the Federation - from death and ruin, new life sprung forth; the ashes left by the war and the volcanic activity, plowed back to the earth, gave the richest bounty for generations to come, and the people could recover from the scars of war. None saw the Adrilan knight again, however.

Further effects of the disaster included...

The Xillidi Empire, the deserty expanse of the north, didn't face a drastic shift in its status quo compared to other nations. Certain areas of the desert became inexplicably hostile and some trade routes needed to be changed. Nothing too fancy. The main colonies themselves continue to thrive despite the temporary terror that the disaster instilled in some of its inhabitants, thanks to the relative solidarity of the Xillidi kind. However, the Xillidi also face the new threat from below. Efforts to reinforce provinces and the borders have been halted, and a majority of military power has been dedicated to skirmishes across the empire to hold off the newly emerged threat. Like any other that opposes the Xillidi regime, they meet it with relentless efficiency and unity behind the cause.

The Moseli Cartel wasn't as fortunate. Being a coastal city, the entire hub of shady dealings has been catastrophically ruined by the ravenous forces of magic and the natural fury of the fluctuating tides. For some, this was excellent news that was worthy of celebration. For others, there was now a massive gap in the global underworld market for Kayre for its hub was gone. The disarray sent shockwaves across the criminal network across the world, and the anarchy is actually increasing crime rates globally.

However, from the ruins of the cartel, a new power has risen to fill the void it left behind. Commandeered by a former slave that once laboured away in the cartel city. A nameless harbour city known only for now as "The Bridge City", it seeks to establish itself as a formal power while also creating a new hub for underworld dealings across the continent. However, due to its new leadership, it seeks to do this in a way that unites the denizens of the underworld rather than face them off against each other in endless conflict. It remains to be seen how this will influence the political climate of Kayre.

The Barren South endured a great deal of change in the wake of the disaster. The southern parts of the continent fractured further. Parts of it became flooded, others were rendered even more desolate by wild magic energies. The Glasslands were now the furthest reach of the southern boundary, that which lay beyond it forever lost to the tides. Furthermore, the temperature became even more severe. Many of the splinter colonies perished to the increasingly frigid climate, leaving only the most rigorous tribes and species to survive. The Gate of Exevrus has collapsed too, forever laying rest the myth of a tunnel that connected Kayre to Elne. It is here, where the Mendis Empire are supposedly entrenched. A notable area that has since formed in the south is the Morslake. It is a massive lake of lava that has been churned up from the world's crust by a selfdestructed focus point. However, the magic also affected the frigid aspects of the region, resulting in a despicable climate where one must deal with unreasonably frigid temperatures and never-melting glaciers that float in the burning extremes of lava and noxious fumes.