machiavellian | setting information (expanded).

MAGIC & TECHNOLOGY

They're not really separate fields here. They're mixed, matched, blended, and researched.

↪ Medical

A surgeon/barber can set bones, keep wounds from turning, and maybe do some light surgery. It's strongly advised that any injured parties see a magician or a faith-healer for the rest.

↪ Power

Overall, it's a mixed bag: a mix of practical (steam, a little coal, a smidge of solar) and some magical. The most potent form of power is ghostrock.

Ghostrock is a strange substance found all over the world, but there's the biggest concentration of it out in the Valley of Long Shadows. It seems to work as a sort of magical uranium - lots of power, but you've gotta be careful with it or Very Bad Things Happen.

↪ Communication

Your characters are equipped with a device commonly called a 'sea-box' that allows for brief voice or voice-to-text messages. It runs on a dodgy hybrid of science and goblin magic.

Messages can be sent beyond the confines of the Rift City, but they're expensive and not particularly reliable. There is good money to be made as the equivalent of the YmA Pony Express.

CURRENCY.

↪ Cash money.

Rings are the standardized currency in YmA and its territory. These are thin loops of metal that you can carry on a string that you have tucked into a pouch or purse. They're not solid, so you can pull them apart to get them off the string to pay for your drink or whatever. (Seriously, pay for your drinks, Rejean has bills.)

It is extremely gauche to wear them as jewelry. The height of tacky.

↪ Exchange Rates.

One black iron ring is worth 100 silver rings.
One silver ring is worth 100 copper rings.
One copper ring is worth one copper ring and this is as far as we go. Clipping or partial rings can occur, but it's rare and a sign of poverty.

Ten copper rings will buy you a good meal in most places.

RELIGION.

↪ Ossuary of the Saints

There are several major faiths, but the most common one in YmA and its allies is that of the Ossuary of the Saints. Saints are (generally speaking) deified beings, gods, or animistic forces of nature. It's a bit complicated and the nature of what is or is not a Saint is left up to the various Priests, Preachers, and Creosotes.
Most towns have a patron Saint and their temple is tended by a Priest or two. Given that the Saints can and do communicate, it's a practical job. (Faith matters, but it's also a matter of healing, small magics, charity, reading for those who aren't literate, etc.)

Preachers travel and spread faith and practice - there may or may not be tent revivals, but there's usually some good eats and news from elsewhere. They often like to promote the powers of a particular Saint and will offer healings, blessings, etc. Often superstitious, revivalist and fierce. Enjoys actual divine backing by whatever is out there. Open to all but those who cast long shadows.

Creosotes are hermits who go out into the wilderness to commune with their patron Saint, worship nature, or just do their thing in peace.

YmA HISTORY.

↪ Notable events.

There is no official story on how The Rift came to be, but one day it wasn't here and now it is.

REST OF THE WORLD.

↪ Other Powers

They're out there, but not worth worrying about at the moment.

TESSISAMESS