Public Views on the Last Major Historical Event (The Magic Wars) by City

A while ago, I wrote about a world-defining historical event that takes place in the relatively recent past in my homebrew setting. The profile on that event largely focused on what happened and the immediate results. But because it is so recent an event, the fallout from it would still be happening at the current time, only 27 years later. So to understand how the Magic War, a series of battles fought over the freedom of magic use, impacts the world of today, let's consider how each major city in my main homebrew setting feels about the conflict and its ramifications. 

Mishara:

Mishara, the elven capital, was one of the chief forces for free magic use during the war, and magic has become an even more ingrained part of culture and society in Mishara since the Magic War concluded. The already considerable entrenchment of magic in Misharan culture, where many industries such as healthcare, construction, and the arts utilize magic heavily, has dug even deeper into magic use after the confirmation that magic's free use was appropriate for society. This deepening of magic's place in society had led to advancements in several fields--for instance, the use of magic in astronomy has led to the discovery of several new planets and other heavenly bodies which can explain astronomical phenomena such as previously unknown gravitational forces that had vexed earlier generations. Thus, the practice of magic is largely considered to be a social benefit by Misharans, and Mishara's defense of free magic in the Magic Wars has been speculated to have directly led to a more open and appreciative perception of magic in and around the city. 

 

In terms of the Wars themselves, Misharans still feel a fierce connection to the free magic cause. Many homes and businesses still bear banners of the pro-magic side in the conflict. It is not uncommon for magic supporters to greet or bid farewell to other known magic supporters by invoking the battle cry of the pro-magic forces, "All the power you can make good use of." Very few Misharans advocated for regulated magic, and practically no Misharans supported the abolition of magic use; openly stating support for these causes is essentially social suicide in Mishara. Unbeknownst to most Misharans, there remain small underground societies of those who opposed free magic, but these groups are incredibly private and secretive to the point that even worshippers of Gruumsh feel more free to share their beliefs than anti-magic Misharans do. Support for free magic remains so popular in Mishara that many of its inhabitants vocalize support of free magic whether they genuinely believe in it or not (though support of free magic is sincerely supported by the vast majority of Misharans, so these trend-followers are relatively rare).

 

The city is considered a bastion for spellcasters of considerable power, though Mishara can still be difficult for outsiders (meaning non-elves), but it has been observed that a pro-magic non-elf can have an easier time in society than an anti-magic elf; the elven tendency to prize ideas over individual identity is largely responsible for this dynamic. By extension, elves with magic abilities tend to be the most socially prominent, and the most respected magical academies in Evanoch can be found in Mishara, most notably the Mishara Academy of Arcane Studies, which is considered almost universally to be the most significant school of magic in the known world. Considering all of this, Mishara is the city most aligned with free magic use in all of Evanoch, and many pro-magic refugees from anti-magic communities fled to Mishara during and after the Magic Wars, which further established Mishara as the heart of magic use in Evanoch.

Finiel: 

The city of Finiel has a complicated relationship with the Magic War cause for several reasons. Firstly, a great number of Finiel's population are elves and half-elves, two groups which broadly supported free magic use. Further, Finiel has a rather laissez-faire approach to social and economic issues; people are allowed and even encouraged to do as they please. At the same time, the government of Finiel opted to officially support the cause of magic regulation--like most of Evanoch's larger government bodies, Finiel saw the Magic Wars as an opportunity to develop revenue by taxing magic use. Behind closed doors, Finiel's leaders did little to actually enact policies supporting pro-regulation forces; they vocally supported regulation but never committed troops or financial backing to the cause. Many political scholars today with the benefit of hindsight have speculated that Finiel's government was afraid to oppose the will of its citizens in action, but wanted the ability to profit from regulation if the Wars went that way. 

As a result of all this, Finiel's citizens widely came to be more skeptical of their government's proclamations and policies. Political scholars have noted that prior to the Magic Wars, Finiel's people and their government enjoyed a rather peaceable and supportive dynamic--for instance, Finiel passed a number of laws in the decades leading up to the Wars that were both driven by and supported by public wishes. This included immigration laws which eased the process of foreigners becoming a part of Finiel (an extension of half-elven support of social egalitarianism) and social support systems including the construction and maintenance of public housing for underprivileged people in the city. However, since the Magic Wars, there has been a more oppositional relationship between Finiel's people and government, as witnessed by the rise of protests and even riots in the decades since the Wars. These protests have centered on public policy, most notably the public opposition to Finiel's government's increase on export taxes (Finiel's populace rejects the contemporary government's isolationist aims) and attempts to segregate housing districts by race (which has been opposed by all but the most xenophobic citizens, which tends to be the more aged elves in the city). By and large, Finiel's government has been greatly weakened by its loss of public support, and there is a growing movement in the city to replace as many public officials as possible with more radically-minded candidates. 

These new political radicals have used the Magic Wars as something of a rallying cry. Identifying oneself as a supporter of pro-magic forces (oftentimes achieved by referring to specific battles in the Magic Wars in speeches) has become a powerful way to gain public support in Finiel. At this time, remaining silent about the Magic Wars has come to be interpreted by more radical circles as an attempt to erase the history of the Wars, and some politicians have begun to mention pro-magic forces as a way to retain public support. Magic itself is regarded as something of a social currency in Finiel; while Misharans value the utility of magic use, the people of Finiel tend to see it as a social issue, and as a result, most people in Finiel have taken to learning a few basic spells of rudimentary value more out of a desire to be able to publicly demonstrate appreciation of magic than an attempt to actual master the arcane arts. Magic use is common in Finiel, and many people there regard magic as indicative of positive traits such as worldliness, cunning, and practicality (whether or not the magic use itself is actually practical).

Curagon:

The halfling capital is, in many ways, an exception to most rules in Evanoch. Curagon has no formal government, as the city is an anarchist collective, and so unlike the other cities in Evanoch's Big Nine, the city had no official position on the Magic Wars. That said, it population was mostly in support of the free use of magic; its anarchist politics practically demand a lack of regulation over any aspect of life, and this includes magic. It is, however, worth noting that there did exist pockets of the city that supported the abolition of magic for the reason that magic use creates a power dynamic where magic users have power over non-magic users; by this logic, true anarchy would demand greater equality in society, making magic an inherently unfair system. Because of this, Curagon was perhaps the only place in Evanoch that considered the Magic Wars from a purely principle-driven perspective (whereas most every other city took the practical realities of magic use into greater consideration than theoretical politics). Due to this intellectualized perspective on the Magic Wars, Curagon became deeply invested in political theory during the Magic Wars, and this has informed a great deal of the city's character since the Wars concluded. 

Before the Magic Wars, the only real political issue that Curagon spent public time discussing was maintaining its position as an anarchist collective despite pressure from the outside world to conform to more regulated politics; the politics of Curagon's people was defined by an identity as nonconformists compared to Evanoch at large, and this meant that Curagon was mostly united against the outside world. Since the Magic Wars, that has changed. The Magic Wars caused a major divide in terms of interpretation of what anarchy truly means, and that led to a more divided conception of what Curagon citizens actually believed. Rather than being united against an outside world, the people of Curagon have come to see themselves even more as individuals, placing the emphasis more on the anarchy and less on the collectivism aspect of things. Here too, the interpretation of this change has been divided. Some people mourn the loss of community unity before the Wars; others celebrate the fact that there has never been more freedom to define oneself and their beliefs. In general, though, the people of Curagon agree that the city has never been more committed to the political identity of their city, regardless of how that identity is interpreted and acted upon. And by and large, the city of Curagon has tried to move on from the Magic Wars moreso than any other city in the Big Nine. Mentioning the Magic Wars is frowned upon, as it brings up the most divisive issue in the history of the city (but even this is regarded as a difference of opinion rather than an offensive gesture). 

In terms of magic use itself, Curagon citizens have come to regard it in much the same way they regard most everything: it is intensely personal, and therefore practiced only in private circumstances unless in cases of emergency. It is a custom to indicate through signage whether a business utilizes magic use in its products and services so that potential customers can make an informed decision. It has also become popular to ask for consent from nearby people before casting spells or using magic items. While Curagon has no formal laws, there is considerable social pressure from the community to respect the beliefs of one's neighbors and associates, and as a result, magic users in Curagon tend to handle magic either privately or in openly-communicated ways. There is no real stigma against magic use itself; only the social element of it is treated as a delicate issue. Curagon's political scholars have classically written more about the social dynamics of the Magic Wars than the actual conflict itself. Of all of the cities in the Big Nine, Curagon's society has been changed the least by the Magic Wars; its people largely moved on from the conflict before the dust had even settled in most other cities. 

Underhar:

The dwarven capital was in many ways the seat of support for the pro-regulation movement, and Underhar is very much still in the throes of that perspective. During the Magic Wars, Underhar's government was the first to take a direct position on the conflict, and it was actually one of the most nuanced approaches to the issue. Murphy Cavedweller, who became the public face of the regulation movement, was the head of one of Underhar's oldest and most prominent families, and his public statement about the position of his clan was quickly adopted by the Dronith of Underhar. Cavedweller argued in essence that there were different types of magic, and their practical uses were rather different from one another. For instance, the use of divine magic by good-aligned churches was considered by Cavedweller to be unambiguously positive; on the other hand, magic aligned with more evil and even neutral churches was to be feared and opposed. And even further, the use of arcane magic was, in his opinion, too varied to be able to made a blanket statement about. Therefore, he reasoned, the only appropriate measure was to consider magic use by individual instance. His proposal was to support regulation as a way of enabling "appropriate" uses of magic (largely that of clerics of Moradin) while preventing the use of "inappropriate" magics (those that did not align with the morals of the established dwarven order). This approach proved too complex to be adopted at large outside of dwarven society, but Cavedweller's full-throated support for regulation in the days of brewing conflict very much set the tone for the regulation movement across Evanoch. 

More than any of the Big Nine's governments, Underhar invested resources and effort into their cause. Underhar's government, led especially by Cavedweller, placed a great deal of power and support in the church of Moradin, and because of this, the majority of magic-wielding combatants on the regulation side were dwarven clerics. Dwarven culture at large was, prior to the Magic Wars, considered by many non-dwarves as fairly confounding; that perception was quite deepened by the regulation position. Pro-magic forces considered the dwarven clerics to be traitors to their own best interest (why fight against the freedom of use of your own power?), and magic abolition forces considered the dwarven clerics to be as offensive to their cause as the pro-magic spellcasters they most directly opposed. Even most regulation supporters outside of Underhar were confused by the dwarven position--the concept of using unregulated magic on the battlefield ran counter to their entire belief system. As a result, dwarves at large and Underhar citizens in particular were ideologically isolated by the war, and this in turn made dwarven society (which was already fiercely insulated in Evanoch) even more divided from the rest of the continent's peoples. In the time since the Magic Wars, Underhar has entered a period of intense isolationism. 

This isolationism has in turn created something of a generational divide in the dwarven capital. Underhar's oldest generations remain strongly pro-regulation, following Cavedweller's dictum that certain magics are acceptable while others are not. Underhar's government empowers the oldest and most established of its citizens, and so the official position of Underhar remains consistent with the Cavedweller approach. The youngest citizens of Underhar, which were too young to have any real involvement or even memory of the Magic Wars, are more radical, calling for a broad abolition of all magic that does not function in a religious of medical capacity. Thus, there is a developing part of Underhar's youth culture that rejects magic use and instead focused on the utilization of mundane knowledge and practical education. And at the same time, those who were old enough to have actually fought in the Magic Wars (but not old enough to have escaped military service due to holding a seat in the government) remember that the most valuable powers on the battlefield during the Magic Wars were the clerics of Moradin who fought alongside them. Due to this legacy, veterans of the Wars and their families tend to lean towards more free use of magic, as a considerable portion of these veterans saw hundreds if not thousands of lives saved through the use of magic. All of this means that dwarven culture has left the unity of the Magic Wars' era and has become far more divided. But dwarven social customs make it broadly unacceptable to openly discuss division, so this tension simmers below the surface in Underhar. Some modern political scholars in Underhar speculate that division about magic use is stronger in the dwarven capital than anywhere else in Evanoch. 

Torga:

This port city's government has been the most turbulent of Evanoch's Big Nine in the modern era, and the Magic War only exacerbated that. In the days when the conflict about magic use was only developing, public support was largely behind free use of magic; the diverse population of Torga had long benefitted from the industries created and supported by magic users of all types. During this period, the Torgan government made no official position but seemed to support public sentiment. When the Wars actually began in earnest, Torga was the site of an early and bloody battle that claimed the lives of many citizens in the poorer districts, which pushed public support toward the side of abolition of magic use. The Torgan government, however, adopted an official stance of regulation for the same reason that most of the Big Nine's governments did--to profit from a widely-used practice which it believed would never truly go away. When the Wars ended and free magic use became the de facto law of the land, the people of Torga tended to believe in a regulation approach because they acknowledged the balance of benefits and dangers of magic; the Torgan government itself adopted laws that straddled the regulation of magic and its outright abolition in certain circumstances. This complicated history of ideologies has made it difficult to concisely describe the role of magic use in the city, and it underlines the fact that there has never been true unity in terms of Torga's position. 

For average citizens since the Wars, magic remains a divisive issue. The three dominant cultures in Torga (orcish, Daltoner, and dwarven) tend to insist on insular religious cultures, and each has sought to control the others' use of magic while boosting their own. Simultaneously, industry is one of the driving forces in Torga, and there is a divide between artisans and professionals who utilize magic in their trades and those who do not (magic users insist on keeping their livelihoods possible while non-magic craftspeople argue for equality in terms of economic stability). And after the Magic Wars, the city of Torga saw a boom in immigration from the western half of Evanoch, which almost uniformly supported free magic use; this influx of pro-magic supporters and magic users themselves has pushed the city's balance towards free magic use, which has deepened anti-magic sentiment among Torga's existing community. All of these factors mean that Torga has never had a direct or distinct unified feeling about magic users or the Magic Wars; aside from a small portion of the community that was directly involved in or affected by the conflict, the issue of magic use is neither a part of the public consciousness nor an important matter to the city of Torga. 

This matter--Torga's lack of public interest in the Magic Wars or their legacy--has puzzled a number of outsiders from more passionate communities. However, scholars in Torga point to the fact that the city has been home to a number of other, more directly pertinent matters during this time period. In the last fifty years (the time period leading up to and following the conflict), Torga has faced intense governmental corruption, massive infighting among the dominant groups, environmental disasters, and rapid growth--Torga only became large enough to join the Big Nine in the last century, making it one of the youngest cities to achieve such size and prominence. The Magic Wars are not necessarily considered irrelevant; they simply are one of many turbulent happenings in the city's recent history. There is still public discussion about magic's use in Torga, most of which is centered around economic matters, but these conversations very rarely include any of the ideology or rhetoric of the Magic Wars. Instead, Torga views magic use in the city as intensely idiosyncratic to the port city individually. Actual mentions of the Magic Wars tend to focus on the loss of citizens in the battle at Torga's northern edge, and regardless of which faction the person discussing it supports, the Wars are considered tragic and a matter of the past which has little bearing on the current consideration of magic use. 

New Dalton:

The capital city of the Daltoners on Evanoch, New Dalton adhered closely to directives sent from the Daltoner homeland on the small island across the ocean to the east. In the early days of the conflict, New Dalton's government privately developed a response to the conflict; this initial response was quite explicitly pro-abolition. The leadership of New Dalton reasoned that arcane magic and divine magic alike were unpredictable and were largely the tools of its many enemies across Evanoch--they rightly observed that Daltoners used magic in much smaller numbers than Evanoch's other groups. But when word from the home island of Dalton arrived, New Dalton's leadership was surprised to learn that the homeland supported regulation. This decision was based on exceptions for the Dalton Church of Pelor's magic use and for the common reason that taxing magic was a lucrative possibility. As a result, New Dalton formally adopted the position that regulation was its aim, but behind closed doors, New Dalton's leadership stoked the fire of abolitionist circles and quietly donated resources and even mercenary crews to abolition forces. Thus, New Dalton attempted to control the Magic Wars from any angle from which it could profit, which in some ways weakened its ability to make a concerted effort in any direction. 

When the Magic Wars ended with neither of New Dalton's interests coming out ahead, New Dalton adopted the strategy of painting itself as the victim of a continent-wide campaign specifically against the humans of their massive city. This was a quite expected move for New Dalton; their propaganda machine had carefully made Daltoners out to be the scapegoats and victims of Evanine efforts since their arrival on the continent less than a thousand years ago. The specific rhetoric employed by New Dalton's leadership described the Magic Wars as a way for the elites of judgmental groups, particularly the elves, to attack the Daltoner way of life. New Dalton had struggled during the Magic Wars to cooperate meaningfully with other groups (in part because New Dalton insists on xenophobia and independence and in part because no other government meaningfully worked towards abolition), so it was easy for New Dalton's leadership to define the conflict as one in which it had been a lone morally correct underdog in the wake of the Wars. In order to save face, New Dalton's government's enacted a series of policies to adopt laws that reflected its position during the Wars, which were mostly a collection of bans on public magic use in most contexts and a tax and monitoring of sanctioned magic use, including on its own temples. 

In practice, these policies have a complicated history of implementation. It has proved impossible to monitor or prevent private magic use without the use of even stronger magic to detect the private use; this infrastructure would be legally impossible given the existing laws. At the same time, Daltoners have been taught a cultural rejection of arcane magic use at large and a hatred of non-Dalton Church of Pelor divine magic, so there is essentially no actual magic use to ban or tax outside of official church business. Further, non-Daltoner inhabitation of New Dalton is outlawed in the case of elves and half-elves, and it is so inconvenient in practical terms for other groups that the entire population of New Dalton already has a cultural objection to magic use to begin with. This means that the laws accomplish very little in reality aside from giving New Dalton an even more negative reputation in the rest of Evanoch. To this day, the Magic Wars only real cultural legacy in New Dalton is a deepening of the mythos of Daltoners as persecuted martyrs on the continent, but even then, the earlier military prevention of New Dalton's expansion across Evanoch is a greater rallying cry. The great practical legacy of the Magic Wars in New Dalton is the considerable loss of lives of Daltoners fighting for the regulation and especially abolition causes. 

Ringsdale:

The highly industrial city of Ringsdale's position on the Magic Wars came as a surprise to the outside world but not to the citizens of Ringsdale. Outside of Ringsdale, people believed that the city would unite behind the abolition cause because the vast majority of the city's populace were non-magic users with relatively low economic standing; outsiders reasoned that self-interest would dictate that this would mean support for abolishing the right to use magic. However, the population and especially the governmental makeup of Ringsdale is and essentially always has been united by the principle that anyone and everyone has the right to support themselves so long as it benefits the larger community. As a result, a sizable portion of the population supported free magic use, but most citizens and the majority of the government felt that regulation fit the city's philosophy best. Ringsdale's government was one of the most outspoken about supporting regulation, but unlike the other cities that opted for this more moderate approach, Ringsdale's position did not include taxing magic use. Instead, Ringsdale supported granting cheaply-obtained licenses to practice magic--these licenses were proposed to be granted to magic users only after passing a test about the safe and responsible use of magic. In time, even the city's magic users came to support this proposed policy, and before the end of the Wars, Ringsdale had already begun implementing these license tests to measured success. 

After the war, Ringsdale publicly debated retaining these magic licenses despite the military victory of the free magic cause. The Magic Wars concluded in 4693 (27 years before the present day), and Ringsdale stuck with magic licenses until late 4695, though enforcement of the licenses was spotty at best. It was only after pressure from the other Big Nine governments to conform to the more standardized approach of free magic use that Ringsdale's government ruled against the license policy. But despite the city's policy of free magic use, Ringsdale's citizens largely believed that their form of regulation was still the best option for everyone, and this perspective led to the development of a new social custom: asking permission before casting spells, with the exception of healing magic cast in life-and-death scenarios. This was never formal policy but rather a social expectation. Magic users in Ringsdale could either practice magic in private in ways that did not affect others or obtain consent from anyone in the immediate vicinity before using magic in any way. Very few magic users took serious objection to this custom, and there was a small but notable emigration of dissatisfied magic users from Ringsdale in the years following the Wars. But most magic users in Ringsdale simply accepted this custom as commonsense and considerate, and this led to a quite distinctive attitude toward magic use in the city. 

Today, the relations between magic users and non-magic users in Ringsdale are perhaps the most peaceful and agreeable of any dynamic in the Big Nine. Unlike in other communities, magic use is neither idolized nor feared; instead, magic is seen as a way of life equally valid and useful as any other way of life. While the poor and powerless of larger cities across Evanoch often avoid magic use except in cases of emergencies, the lowest of Ringsdale's economy regard magic as an important and unique way to solve problems. At the same time, the communities of magic users and social elites in many major cities regard magic use as strategically valuable, leading them to attempt to manipulate magic users for their advantage, but in Ringsdale, magic use is treated with respect and consideration for the caster. As a result, Ringsdale is an attrative destination for magic users who intend to live simple lives and make a living from their craft without the social complications of magic-idolizing societies. Just as the government and economics of Ringsdale are practical and egalitarian, magic use too is given an attempt at fairness and freedom. This complex relationship with magic use is difficult for outsiders to understand, and many who visit Ringsdale are surprised by the public attitude toward spellcasters and their work. 

Vestry:

The gnomish capital's approach to the Magic Wars was idiosyncratic, as the city's approach to most things are. In the years before the Wars, Vestry had experimented with collaboration between magic users on public projects; this was considered an extension of the creation of the city, which utilized the collective efforts of thousands of spellcasters to create the physically largest city in the known world in a shockingly short span of time. In the immediately pre-Wars period, Vestry was employing a large team of magic users to create sustainable food and energy sources for its growing population--these efforts were growing more and more successful by the day. The Magic Wars diverted that attention. Vestry's government viewed the Magic Wars as a threat to its continued efforts to improve the quality of life in the city and threw its full force, both magically and governmentally, into support of the pro-magic cause. This was a tenuous position for Vestry, as it was the only city in the Big Nine to support the pro-magic agenda in the eastern half of Evanoch. The gnomish capital was effectively surrounded by regulation and abolition forces, and it accordingly mobilized the largest military contribution to the Magic Wars for the cause of free magic. It was commonly held by Vestry citizens that they were the main defenders of magic on Evanoch, and that was at least formally speaking true. More gnomes died for the pro-magic cause during the Wars than any other group. 

This created a complicated and sometimes tense situation for Vestry and its people. Magic was a common and accepted part of life in Vestry, though magic was not practiced by a majority of its citizens. However, because magic use had done so much for the development of the city, the public of Vestry almost unanimously supported the pro-magic cause. Mishara's government may have been the most outspoken about free magic use, but Vestry's government contributed more practical support to the military campaigns than any other group. This led to a feeling of isolation among Vestry's people, and the rhetoric of both the government and the common person reflected this. Some of Vestry's people came to resent Mishara for its privilege of vocally supporting the cause without committing combatants; others adopted a humbler approach and chose to speak with actions rather than words. This was a significant change for Vestry's population. Classically, gnomish culture promotes outspokenness and a carefree attitude, but the Magic Wars tempered that by making Vestry's people more staid and solemn. This is not to say that the people of the gnomish capital became truly quiet and serious--to outsiders, gnomish culture remained whimsical and free-spirited. But to the people of Vestry, there was a noticeable shift towards duty, especially to the public, which was a departure from the more independent streak that had characterized gnomish society. 

In the years after the Magic Wars, spellcasters returned to public projects, and the social norms of Vestry began to shift back towards the whimsy and free-spiritedness of earlier, simpler times. But the legacy of the Wars left a mark. Many of Vestry's citizens and even gnomes living abroad lost friends and family members to the Wars, and there was and remains a certain heaviness associated with magic use. It has become not uncommon for spellcasters to dedicate their work with magic to the sacrifices Vestry made for the victory of free magic use, sometimes in words but often silently to oneself. The work done by spellcasters on public development projects is treated less as it was before--as a service to the community--and more as something deeply important: a commitment to self-sacrifice for the common good. In the 27 years since the end of the Magic Wars, there has been a huge surge in the number of students of magic in Vestry, and the construction of a new Academy of Magic Arts in the city has led many Evanines to acknowledge that Vestry's contributions to magic are on equal footing with Mishara's. In fact, spellcasters who intend to use their magic for practical and selfless reasons have flocked to Vestry in ever-increasing numbers, and Vestry's people have accepted outsiders into their society in ways they never did before the Magic Wars. Of all of the cities in the Big Nine, Vestry has been the most transformed by the conflict, though this is not discussed in polite society--the Magic Wars are rarely referred to in the gnomish capital, and then only as a reminder to pursue magic humbly and with a pure heart. 

Talon Gorge:

The youngest city in the Big Nine, Talon Gorge largely attempted to stay out of the Magic Wars as much as it could. The government of the city, the last monarchy among Evanoch's largest cities, did not take a formal position until nearly halfway through the Wars, and many speculated that it would never officially adopt a policy at all. It was only after it became clear that the Magic Wars were bloodier than Talon Gorge had hoped that it followed the example of most of the Big Nine's government and stated that it supported regulation. This declaration was met with almost no public response at all. Very few magic users called Talon Gorge home, as there were no organizations supporting magic use or spellcasters in the city, nor was the highly stratified society of the city made up of spellcasters. It would not be accurate to say Talon Gorge was opposed to magic use; it would be closer to the truth to say that the city was simply indifferent to it. And even this statement of support for regulation was not as straightforward as other cities' declarations--Talon Gorge had no actual policy regarding regulation. The truth of the matter was that Talon Gorge's royal family took a position for the sake of not sticking out, and unenforced regulation was the easiest way to blend in. 

In the years following the Magic Wars, magic use was largely ignored as an issue as it had been before and during the conflict. It was only in 4708 (12 years before the current day) that magic use became part of the public consciousness when a duel between two spellcasters in an open air market claimed the lives of a few bystanders before one spellcaster killed the other. The reality of the ending of this event was that the surviving spellcaster cast healing spells on a few other bystanders who had been injured in the fracas, and that the fallen spellcaster had been the only one to harm the bystanders. But the public understanding of this episode was derived from rumors and hearsay. Two competing views emerged. Some believed that the incident illustrated the dangers of magic, as the two spellcasters were said to have both harmed innocent onlookers; these retellings of the event largely omitted the healing performed by the surviving spellcaster. Other Talon Gorge citizens painted the surviving spellcaster as a hero and defender of the people against a dastardly villain. These polarized accounts resulted in division on the issue of magic use. Despite the division among the people, the royal government neither took a stance nor even acknowledged the incident in any formal way. Within a few years, the public feelings about the duel had receded in the city's collective memory--what remained was the sense on both sides of the issue that the government was unresponsive to their concerns. Ironically, Talon Gorge's government's tendency to not take a stance for the sake of keeping the peace resulted in no one being particularly satisfied with the government. 

In this way, magic use has remained a non-issue for most of the public in Talon Gorge. But the public sense that the government was unresponsive and detached, which was seen in its starkest colors in the spellcasters' duel, did become the legacy of Talon Gorge. This led to increasing public unrest, which although unspoken for the most part, did lead to the political atmosphere that surrounded the city before its very recent overthrow of the royal government. While those in the know are aware that the issue of magic was not what led to the fall of the royal family, the public has come to associate the awareness of public dissatisfaction with the government with the issue of magic use. In many ways, Talon Gorge is the most divided on the issue of magic use today--there are notable factions of pro-magic, pro-regulation, and pro-abolition causes in Talon Gorge moreso than in any other city. The new council-run government of Talon Gorge leans towards free magic use, but it does not have an official position. Talon Gorge remains relatively low in terms of spellcasting population, but this is in large part because the cities nearest to it tend to be more welcoming of spellcasters, and the magic using population of northeast Evanoch tends to be better served by moving to nearby Vestry or Ringsdale or making the relatively short journey west to Finiel and Mishara. But this is not to say that Talon Gorge is devoid of magic users; it is neither a hotspot for spellcasters nor a place to be avoided. Talon Gorge is the only government to take a more neutral stance on magic use, for better or for worse. 

Common Misperceptions About History in My Homebrew Setting

In my never-ending quest to make my homebrew setting more detailed and realistic, I often set out to describe cultural phenomena. What are politics like? What are senses of humor like? What are superstitions and stereotypes like? Along these darker lines, what conspiracy theories are out there? As you can tell, I'm interested in why people are the way they are. In many ways, tabletop games are how I make sense of the real world, trying to construct something that evokes reality despite being unreal. And so, as a trained historian, I'm interested also in the ideas that people believe which are ahistorical. This happens all the time in real life--people refer back to people and ideas that do not match their beliefs. And so this is a guide to historical misconceptions in my gameworld. 

1. Ancestral Homelands

Historians don't agree much about prehistory, but it is generally held that contemporary societies exist precisely where their ancestral homelands lie. The argument goes that each race has held its own territory for the duration of time. However, this is not true, with the exception of the human groups to arrive on Evanoch's shores; Faninites are largely clustered around their arrival point on the northwest coast, and Daltoners are most plentiful in their capital of New Dalton on the eastern coast. In reality, homelands have changed, sometimes multiple times. 

These shifts can be grouped into three general categories. The first is migration. Migration was the main cause for the current state of the easternmost parts of Evanoch. The dwarves began at the center of the Kallett Mountains, not at the tip as believed today. Rather, on the plains surrounding the believed dwarven homeland were gnomes. Further up the coast were halflings near the forests, which were uninhabited by people. However, due to climatological changes, certain crops became ungrowable in their former homes. This led to massive migrations along the eastern coast, where these changes were most severe. First, the halflings moved west across the Kalletts and into central Evanoch, where their home in the Heronal Forest remains today. As this movement ended, the gnomes sought to move north and try to tame the northern forests, carving out what would become their capital of Vestry today. The dwarves, seeking a warmer climate, and knowing that the gnomes had vacated the area, moved south and recreated their previous lives where Underhar is today. 

The second category of territory shift is from war. Elves are popularly believed to have come originally from the northern volcanic islands called Lathien, and orcs are believe to have originated on the southern rocky island of Grob. The reality is switched: elves' original homeland was the rocky island to the south, while the orcs came from the volcanic islands to the north. The switch came just before recorded history, and the effect was that all evidence was destroyed, leaving little indication of the truth. After centuries of warring, both orcish and elven leadership decided to launch all-out assaults on each others' capitals. A new leader for the enemy capital, a small delegation of advisors and leaders, and almost the entire military force of each nation was sent along a circuitous route to the enemy capital. The elven and orcish capitals fell within days of each other. Most of both cities were razed. Each had to learn to live in the other's treacherous environments, and both found that in some ways, they were better-suited to life in their new homes. 

The third category is more conceptual: genetics. A few researchers have put forth the surprising but true fact that all of the races of Evanoch are actually descended from the same common ancestor. Unknown even to those researchers is the origin of this common ancestor. In fact, it was descended from a nearly feral creature that lived on the opposite side of the planet. Increasingly intelligent ancestors burrowed deep under the sea to arrive at Evanoch, some staying beneath the surface and evolving into distinct subterranean races first splitting into a smaller, nimbler ancestor and a larger, more powerful ancestor. These two ancestors further divided and evolved. The smaller ancestor became a taller version called the Drow and a smaller version called the Deepling (psychically-linked and armored beings); the larger ancestor became a stouter form called the Duergar and a stranger long-necked form called the Gant (magical and intelligent creatures). When those groups adjusted and evolved to life on the surface, there was one further notable change. Widely, these new races were less prone to violence and less naturally deadly, though they used their striking intelligence to counteract this deficiency. The Drow became the elves; the Deeplings became halflings; Duergar divided once more, now into smaller gnomes and hardy dwarves; the Gant became stronger and lost their long necks to become orcs. So, from a more distant perspective, all Evanines' true homeland is a terrifying place that the earliest people rallied together to escape. 

2. The Formation of the Continent

It was long held in folklore that the shape of Evanoch was the product of a wrestling match between the gods--its mountain peaks were said to stirred up by a bout between Kord and Gruumsh, for instance, and its valleys mined away by the greedy likes of Vecna, searching for hidden treasure. Over time, this folk belief has disappeared in most places, replaced by faith that shifting earth and erosion can explain why the continent looks the way it does. In fact, the myth is closer to the truth. The shape of Evanoch comes from fortifications for the battle between the gods that never occurred--something of a cold war between deities. In the time before humanoids lived on Evanoch, it was a stomping ground for a gods, a kind of paradise for only them. Their actions to protect it changed it forever. 

The preparations for battle happened generally in three phases. In the first phase, actions to secure the island continent were made carefully and under cover so as to be able to make movements without alerting the other gods. Initially, Erythnul began to create camps near some of the less martially-inclined deities; Hextor mimicked this strategy in opposing his twin brother Heironeous's headquarters; and not long after, Vecna established control of various libraries that contained information needed to oppose him. This set the stage of the conflict, which was only further fed by Vecna's discovery that the continent itself had magical energy. Vecna tried to keep this information secret, but Olidammara discovered the secret and spread it to everyone. With each god in full awareness that the fate of massive magical energy was up for grabs, the cold war properly began. 

The second stage of the diverted conflict involved almost unanimous fortifications from the gods. The evil gods who established footholds early as described above furthered their strongholds (Erythnul building more bases around the weaker gods, Hextor creating a massive fort around Heironeous, and Vecna attempting to broker a deal with Boccob). Many of the good-aligned deities forged an alliance to combat the presence of the evil deities. With some difficulty, the good deities established a base at the center of the continent, and they were soon surrounded by evil forces. The good deities created an emergency team--Yondalla, Pelor, and Heironeous agreed to act as healers in case battle came. Evil forces dug in around them, especially on the east side of the continent and in the ocean to the south. The gods pressed in on each other, magically and physically. From this, the center of the continent gained its mountain ranges on the eastern and southern edges. 

The third stage of the preparations for battle was the execution of a few strikes launched by both sides which caused permanent consequences, but did not result in a full-blown war. Once it was clear that the good deities and their defenses in the center of the continent were not vulnerable, Erythnul suggested appealing to the more neutral deities. This action was further polarizing to the neutral deities, who increasingly chose sides (Fharlanghn, Kord, and Obad-Hai leaning importantly to the good, while Gruumsh, Nerull, and Wee Jas tended to side with the evil gods). Under cover of darkness, Hextor killed an incarnation of Fharlanghn, and this caused a group led by Heironeous to drag Hextor to the same spot and kill him. This site is now the Kraal Desert, and little to nothing grows there. The racial deities tended to help the good gods, but only Yondalla explicitly chose a side. Olidammara helped both sides, and this nearly prevented her from being able to broker a peace. After the deaths, Olidammara (at Boccob's urging, their knowing that only Olidammara could be trusted by both sides, ironically) brought together the gods and agreed that they would leave without further action and allow the island continent to persist without their interference. The heavens were far more spacious than the island, after all. The gods agreed, and they left the continent looking as it does today. 

3. The Magic War

I've written previously about The Magic War, a massive and contemporary struggle fought over the regulation and use of magic. Today, only a generation after the war, there are already considerable misconceptions about it. The most common modern conception of the magic war is that it was a struggle fought by volunteers to end the use of magic which ended with unregulated magic. The reality is that there are three fundamental mistakes in the previous sentence. 

The first mistake is that the war was not a struggle fought by volunteers. It is true that a great many Evanines put their lives on hold and went to fight in an idealistic war. But it is also true to say that a great many of the soldiers who fought in The Magic War were not volunteers. It is estimated by informed historians that over 80% of soldiers were enlisted by either a provincial military or a group of mercenaries, meaning that more than four fifths of the people who served in the war were professional soldiers, paid for their service. Further investigation by historians reveals that the common complaint that ideological organizations were the most frequent to appear on battlefields is unfounded--in fact, the most common organizations represented on any given battlefield were city and town militaries. Contrary to the belief that individuals fought the war independently, the truth is that official local organizations dominated the war effort. 

The second mistake is that the war's central question was not just to end the use of magic. At the outset of the war, the central question of the debate that led to tensions was basically, "Should magic use be free, regulated, or abolished?" And it is true that for the first few months, this was the basis of the struggle. But quickly forgotten or covered up were the changing demands by some of the sides. While it is unequivocally true that the pro-magic side never changed their demands or terms, their opponents did not hold to the same. The regulation cause shifted from public oversight of magic use to private oversight of magic users relatively early in the war, making the regulation cause more in line with the anti-magic cause, and thereby less open to compromise with the pro-magic cause. Later in the war, the regulation camp would shift further, adopting a stance that all magic would need to be cast in the company of an official--many historians believe this to be retributive for the often bloody victories of the pro-magic camp. The anti-magic cause was even more prone to changing positions, getting so progressively aggressive that even moderate members of the army clamored for the execution of all magic users. By the war's end, the anti-magic position called for the immediate imprisonment all of known spellcasters and the execution of anyone casting a spell in the future. So it was not precisely an end to magic, but also the punishment and/or surveillance of magic users. 

The third mistake is that the war ended with unregulated magic. It is officially true that the war ended with pro-magic accepting surrender from the opposing sides, consenting to the terms that magic would be freely available as before without additional terms. However, as many spellcasters in Evanoch can tell you, it is not the actual law of the land. Because the war was ended by representatives of ideas rather than governments with standing armies, the enforcement of the freedom of magic is uneven. In major cities, it is observed, but in smaller towns and less progressive places, magic users are still moved to practice in secret, or at least out of sight. So without a governing body to execute the pro-magic victory, there is little in place to practically protect some magic users from repressive governments. 

One of the things that's most fun to me about the development of information like this is that it's unlikely to be known even by people in the gameworld. That means that I could potentially use this for something. I might build a campaign around being a historical researcher who discovers truths like these, which can be really valuable to a player. I just ran a one-person campaign with a friend and fellow DM in which he personally uncovered evidence that gnomes and dwarves come from the same ancestor, and he said it really struck him to be such a part of the world that way. I think a campaign structured around this information could be really fun. 

Or I could use it to create some real characterization and worldbuilding in-game. I might have characters talking about the world, and have a character who shares one of these ideas and gets called a conspiracy theorist. It would leave an open place for the players to jump in and ask questions and learn more and decide for themselves. Even if they just shrug off the person who shares the information, that's still a far more interesting detail to add than most things that would typically take place. 

Or I could just keep it as out-of-game lore that hold onto. You never know when it might come in handy down the line. Or perhaps just share it out-of-game with your players when the time is right, like after a campaign (players love DMing secrets most of the time). Or use this to build further lore--I could easily write another five pages about the cold war between gods or about the fateful switching of capitals between elves and orcs. I'll say it forever: worldbuilding helps you every time, whether you see the payoff now or later. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: why you don't have to recreate the real world's problems, how to make an in-game newspaper, and why I use a combination of 3.5e and 5e. Until next time, happy gaming!

Epochs of History in My Homebrew Setting

Recently, when I was writing my most recent D&D character's backstory, I found myself describing certain periods of history as part of my character's work at a museum. Though the history was not the focus of my writing, I really enjoyed devising ways to think about history in the world. I want to take that same concept and apply it to my own world rather than my DM's; this article is a guide to the various epochs of history in my homebrew setting, Evanoch. 

One of the most important features of understand your world's history is that it creates a great deal of additional detail you wouldn't have access to without having worked on it. It's especially helpful in understanding social movements, which is very much at the heart of how I write my stories. My goal in devising these periods will be showing a progression of ideas, and most importantly, a guide to the changes in everyday life in my setting. 

How to Use Historical Research for Inspiration

I recently finished developing a tabletop game that takes place in important periods in history. One of the things I learned from the process is that all of the greatest drama that I can create from nothing pales in comparison to the texture and drama of real history. By simply selecting a historical event, you can have all manner of dramatic context and realistic story to build a campaign from. In this guide, I will use a historical event as a basis for a campaign and show you how to do the same from your own research. 

The first step is in coming up with the kind of story you want to tell. As you can tell if you've read my other campaign materials, one of my favorite kinds of stories involve social upheaval. For the example case of historical research, I'll be using one of this variety. But your own method can be very different. Where my social upheaval story involves all members of society, history also has a variety of rich stories involving warfare, diplomacy, invention, and cultural revolution. Once you know the genre of your historical tale, it's time to pick a specific example. 

To start, we can just do a cursory Google search for the general topic. Then we follow up by selecting a few links that can give us a specific look at the issue. This site offers a look into U.S. diplomacy at certain periods of U.S. history. I chose to look more closely at U.S. diplomacy during the American Revolution. There are a number of links on this page that explore the issues in more detail--this one on a secret committee seems interesting and dramatic. Then we can Google for more information about this specific secret committee, which can lead us to Wikipedia's broader treatment of the issue. You can take it further than this and look at more scholarly sources on this committee like this one. All of that clicking around and cursory research took only a few minutes, and now we have the basis for a campaign. We have a colonial civilization throwing off the control over this mother civilization; the diplomatic efforts on either side become key to the progression of the story; the secret committee becomes crucial to the revolutionary effort. This slight framework for a campaign holds more than enough potential for drama and excitement to make it a successful game, and it only took looking back at our past. 

But for the bulk of this guide, I will be turning a different historical event into a more complete campaign. For the event itself, I will be using perhaps my favorite chapter of world history: the Prague Spring. As I mentioned above, this episode of history is one of social upheaval. In 1968, Czechoslovakia (a part of the Soviet Union) elected a man named Alexander Dubček was elected President of the country. This was notable for a number of reasons. First, Czechoslovakia's politics had long been dominated by the people of what would later become the Czech Republic; the Slovaks had little representation. This led to the friction that would make part of the Prague Spring's efforts involve the separation of the two entities. But Dubček was a Slovak. His election was a huge reversal. It signaled that reform was more important to the country at this time than its history of partisan politics. Second, part of Dubček's proposed reforms involved creating some autonomy from the Soviet Union--this was unthinkable at the time, but it caught on quickly. Soon, student-run organizations, newspapers, and radio programs were sharing radical ideas about revolution. Over the course of nine months, stretching into the spring of 1969, Czechoslovakia was an engine of change. In the end, the government held a public referendum: the people of the country voted on a measure to transition from communism under the Soviet Union to socialist democracy as two independent nations. The measure passed handily. Very quickly, the Soviet Union's attempts to negotiate Czechoslovakia back into the Soviet Union were abandoned, and Soviet tanks rolled into the country to enforce the reversal of the Czechoslovak vote. In the end, many of the changes made during this explosion of democratic and community-based growth were hampered. Czechoslovakia would not be able to return to changes like these until the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years later. 

Already, we have options when it comes to exploring this story. We could have our players experience this story themselves: the bulk of the story would be about making societal and governmental changes that reflect the peoples' desires. We could use this story as a prologue: the players would play in the in-game equivalent of 1989, when the imperialist forces are weakened, and the players would be responsible for driving the changes pioneered by the earlier civilization. Or we could flip the script entirely: the players instead play for the in-game equivalent of the Soviet Union, assigned to controlling and sabotaging the revolutionary efforts of the Czechoslovakians. With this option, your players may end up being faithful workers under the Soviet banner, and they may end up sabotaging the Soviets to help the Czechoslovaks. But as you can see, even this short period of history (not even a full year!) bears lots of possibilities for stories and twists on narrative convention. 

It's time to make the campaign outline from the Prague Spring. I'm going to opt for the most direct interpretation of the historical event to help keep this process clear: the players will act as the revolutionaries in the potentially doomed effort to throw off the control of the imperialist forces. I'll provide a campaign overview, a profile on the major NPCs involved, and an outline for each of the campaign's sessions. Like with my mystery campaign, I'll include a total of ten chapters, which would generally translate to about 20 sessions, give or take a few depending on how focused the party is. 

Campaign Summary: 

The party is approached by a social activist, who explains that a revolution is brewing and that they need help. The social activist wants the party to execute a number of goals that will strengthen the movement for revolution. The party is promised several favors from the new government officials if the revolution is successful. 

Major NPCs: 

• Anders Dover - This stand-in for Alexander Dubček is the leader of the reform movement. He promises better representation for common people, greater connection with civic responsibilities, and freedom from the demands of the imperialist power that controls the city. He oversees the overall strategy of the campaign, but most tasks are handled by his second-in-command, Nina Hornback. 
• Nina Hornback - Anders Dover's second-in-command, she tends to the day-to-day issues of the campaign. She gives the party missions to fulfill in order to advance Dover's plans. Hornback is more pragmatic than Dover, and she understands that many of the campaign's goals must be handled carefully and under cover, lest the imperialist forces catch wind of the campaign. 
• Andrew Norris - This stand-in for Antonín Novotný is the leader of the forces that Dover bested to be elected. He is sympathetic to the imperialist regime and will try to observe the actions of the party and report them to the imperialists. Norris acts as a foil to Dover; where Dover is idealistic, Norris is a practical man who doesn't believe change can be achieved. Norris can be treated as the key enemy in this campaign, and his reach can become more intimidating if he has a network of people working beneath him. 
• Englebert Gordon - This stand-in for Eduard Goldstücker is a writer and labor organizer. He is a powerful voice of common people, an outspoken critic of Andrew Norris, and a supporter of Dover's agenda of empowering labor and the voice of the people. He can be a key resource for the party, as ideas that he publicly espouses become more popular amongst the people; the party can work with Gordon to spread word of their goals and receive public support. 
• Lana Vessel - This stand-in for Ludvík Vaculík is a writer and broadcaster who supports Dover's plans for social reform and greater control of the economy, but she also believes that Dover's efforts don't go far enough. Vessel believes that all ties with the imperialist forces should be severed, that the media's role is to criticize power, and that the economy should be more free than planned. In order to completely gain the support of the people, the party will have to work with Vessel to unite the entire city behind Dover. 

Story Chapters: 

1. The party is contacted by Nina Hornback, who explains that a revolution is brewing in the city against the imperialist forces that control it. She offers political favors and a moderate payment in return for the party's support of Anders Dover, the newly-elected leader of the city. The first task is meeting with Dover, learning about his goals, and discussing strategy. The party should also witness Andrew Norris publicly speaking to a crowd about how the imperialists are the city's lifeblood; the speech is met with resistance by some. 
2. Hornback gives the party their first assignment: speaking with Englebert Gordon about Dover's policies. Gordon is grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the new leader, and he is generally excited about Dover's plans. Before he will publicly endorse Dover, though, he requires a favor from the party: they must prove their commitment by criticizing Andrew Norris. Specifically, he wants the party to vandalize Norris' home, leaving behind a message that calls him a traitor. If the party does agree to vandalize Norris' home, they are met with resistance from city guards. 
3. Englebert Gordon is convinced to help the party. He organizes an event where he is to speak about the city's needs, but he fears that he may become a target from the imperialists if he does. He agrees to speak at the event and endorse Dover if the party agrees to guard him during his speech. During the speech, three assassins arrive and strike at Gordon; the players must protect him. The attack raises questions in the public about the morality of the imperialists, who people assume ordered the attack. A new wave of support for Dover results from the outcry against the attack. 
4. Hornback is pleased that the party has gained Gordon's support, and she turns her efforts to building the movement. She explains to the party that some revolutionary writers have messages to publish, but there are not enough printing presses in the city to support everyone's voice. Hornback says that three presses were intercepted en route to the city; she assigns the party to go recover and deliver the presses to the city. The party discovers that a band of highwaymen have taken the presses; close investigation reveals that the imperialist forces paid the highwaymen to intercept the printing presses. 
5. Hornback is pleased that the party has recovered the printing presses. She tasks the party with reaching out to various revolutionary writers and decide on the writers who will have first access to the presses. She suggests beginning the search with Lana Vessel, the most outspoken of the city's advocates for home rule. Vessel is at first cautious but soon grows excited at the chance to spread her message. She also suggests that the party reach out to a few of her colleagues. They are: 
1. Douglas Moore - A Dover supporter who believes that negotiation with the imperialists is the best way forward.
2. Penelope Sign - A former Norris supporter who cautiously supports the home rule movement. 
3. Yancy Willniel - An outspoken critic of the imperialists, he ardently supports the right of the city to publish critical materials. 
4. Cassandra Rogers - Mainly an economist, she believes that an economy planned by the city will always be stronger than an economy planned by the imperialists.
5. Rutger Friedman - An advocate for furthering the strength of democratic processes in the city, he is cautious of sharing his ideas under his own name for fear of the imperialists. 
6. With the presses printing the works of the party's chosen authors, Hornback directs the party to oversee the distribution of the newly printed materials. Hornback recommends working together with local businesses to hand out the materials. The party must then convince various business owners that spreading the materials is worth the chance of being targeted by the imperialists. Business owners should be especially sensitive to arguments about the freedom of economy they would have under Dover's plans. The party should ensure the cooperation of at least three major businesses before completing this chapter. 
7. Hornback believes that the party's efforts are paying off and the people of the city are beginning to rally around Dover's agenda. She proposes a large event in the center of the city, with speeches from Dover and his supporters. The first step is in planning the event. The party must obtain the rights to hold the event in the center of town, find at least two other speakers in support of Dover (these can be drawn from the writers in chapter 5 or from other corners of the city), and spread word of the event. The party should face resistance from public servants who are still sympathetic to Norris and the imperialists.
8. Hornback is concerned that the imperialists may be mounting a counter-offensive. She asks the party to act as defense against any imperialist actions taken during the speeches. The party must deal with these three issues during the speeches: one of their chosen speakers is anxious and reconsidering speaking (the party must calm them and convince them to go on), a fight breaks out in the crowd between Dover and Norris supporters (the fight must be quelled, or it will turn the whole event into a fracas), and three more imperialist assassins arrive and try to kill Dover (the party should be able to save him here; the greater impact is the sense of a loss of public safety following the event). 
9. The event a success in raising public support, Hornback says that it is time to put the public to a test. She asks the party to work with a few public officials to create a referendum on which everyone in the city can make their voices heard. The party must deal with the bureaucracy of the city's government (having players go back and forth between people who push responsibility off onto others will do well), convince a Norris sympathizer to cooperate (Charisma-based skills, bribery, or strong-arming them could all work), and getting Dover's approval (he nitpicks several wordings but ultimately agrees to move forward based on Hornback's confidence. 
10. The referendum takes place, and Dover's measures are uniformly approved. The city enters a short period of celebration, which is cut short when an army and siege machines arrive at the city gates. The party may try to fight, but they should quickly be surrounded. Dover is taken captive back to the imperialist capital, and Hornback watches in horror as most of the writers are rounded up as well. In the real history, Czechoslovakia had to wait two decades before they could truly recover from the Soviet invasion. But for a more satisfying end to the campaign, we can handle this a few different ways:
1. The party leads a mission to rescue Dover and return him to power. 
2. The party takes city leadership themselves and continue's Dover's agenda or their own. 
3. The party raises troops and attacks the imperialist forces in an effort to gain independence. 
4. The party creates an underground resistance to the imperialists. 

So there you have it: a complete campaign created from inspiration from a historical event. Not only is this story driven by a real tale of human resistance, which means that as GM, I get to tell my players about the surprising real history along the way, but the reality of the story makes it more believable and accessible to my players. And the act of writing all this was very simple; I really just had to take the big ideas of the Prague Spring and recalibrate them for tabletop game playing. You can easily do the same. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to use Hope and Despair for storytelling, a one-shot based on the movie Napoleon Dynamite, and a profile on mythology in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!

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How to Develop a Historical Event in Your Gameworld

Your gameworld has a distinct history and vibrant cultures. The forces of history combine to create a variety of effects that govern the way life in your world functions. And a well-developed history can inspire your players and show them that the gameworld is more real than they realize. But developing a sense of your world's history can be a challenge--which details are useful? This guide will show you how to turn an idea for a historical event into a full expression of your world. Read on for the details you'll need to create a meaningful historical event. 

In my gameworld, I have developed a few historical events into world-changing things that every person in the world knows about. Most of these events are designed to show how the origin of my society reached the point where standard D&D ideas can be represented. To that end, I developed historical events like the dissolution of kingdoms and the forging of a shared currency, which give my world a form that lends itself to D&D details. But I have also developed unique world events that make my world distinct from other homebrew settings. This guide will revolve around one such event--the Magic War--and show you how to design an event like it. 

Let's start with the write-up and move into why these choices serve you in your worldbuilding. You can find the document I've prepared here; I'll be using it as a framework for what we're doing here. The first thing that I think we should address is the brainstorming aspect. When worldbuilding and creating historical events, we want to imagine things that have meaningful effects on everyday life. I am in some ways hesitant to use a war as the example here, because often the result of wars is simply that a border changes or a certain group's access to governmental representation changes. These can be interesting ideas, but what's much more interesting is a world event that affects the culture of the world. I developed the Magic War not so much as a large armed conflict but more of an ideological struggle. That's why the conflict of the Magic War is about what people think magic should be treated as; there are forces which say to keep magic free, forces which say to regulate magic, and forces which want to outlaw magic altogether. I like this conflict because it's really about people's beliefs about fairness and power. I would recommend that you too develop events that are more culturally-oriented, if only because it will have much more interesting effects on your world than a series of battles. 

So now we have our main idea--a conflict between people from all walks of life along ideological lines. Then it's time to make a web of the information that will define how the conflict plays out. I started with the names of organizations and individuals who were prominent in the conflict. This gives me the ability to come back to these names when I need someone to do something important; it also lets me start before the conflict with just the ideas of the people who would get involved. Here's my array of important people--note that many are tied to the important organizations, which gives a sense that many broad interests are being served under a single banner: 

Combatants:	Pro-Magic	Pro-Regulation	Pro-Abolishment
Major Forces:	United Academies of Evanoch	High Council of Commerce	Citizens Against Magic
	The Magic User Alliance	Religious Protection League	Nature Preservation Society
	Governments of Mishara, Talon Gorge, Vestry	Governments of Finiel, New Dalton, Ringsdale, Torga, Underhar	Unified Artisan Coalition
Major Players:	Plia Yallo, Magic User Alliance Chief	Murphy Cavedweller, politician	Craig Nerrin, Regent of Such
	Forrester Ridge, grand sorcerer	Preston Rafter, high priest	Vaughn Plouder, CAM Head
	Randall Mintner, UAE Dean	Harley Constance, author	Terry Humbert, UAC Representative
	Torrine Aureli, high cleric	Pauline Foster, HCC Chair	Evelyn Knot, NPS Leader
	Calies Tasselman, scholar	Lenk Prodd, philosopher	Daniel Thorpe, Chief Editor of New Dalton Herald
Major Combatants:	Friella Volinea, grand mage	Julian Harp, famed mercenary	General Grant Taggert
	Laurie Denning, high cleric	Colonel Stephen Holton	Ophelia Dinnir, tracker
	Felix Pilliu, grand mage	Jackie Dustrider, mercenary	Captain Tossul Vark
	Lop Friggle Rind Seppa, grand sorcerer	Roger Gillina, high cleric	Sergeant Knox Bulwark
	Insellor Diesef, mercenary	Private Jop Derritt	Gerald Blademaker, militia leader
Casualties:	9,642	28,382	51,951
Total:		79,975

In addition to the organizations and names (which distinguish between combatants and more diplomatic or ideological players), I included a breakdown of the casualties on each side of the conflict. I figured that magic users have access to more power than the average person who wants magic abolished, and there are generally fewer magic users than otherwise, and ultimately the magic users do win, so I gave them the lowest casualty count. They're followed by Regulation forces, which might have a few magic users but who are more neutral in the conflict and thereby less inclined to be targeted by enemy forces than a diametrically opposed side. Finally, the Abolition forces take the highest casualties, as they are the least able to defend themselves and are the likeliest to be targeted by magic users. Initially, these numbers were just semi-random digits, but having a general idea to start with means that I have a reference point to work with. 

The next step is to create an overview of the information included in your event. In my overview, I talk about the formation of the sides of the conflict; one specific politician's suggestion of regulating magic to resolve sore feelings about magic users caused people everywhere to take sides depending on what they believe is right. I also describe the beginning of hostilities and the close of those hostilities with just enough detail that I have a sense of the framework of the event. You'll notice if you're looking at the description of the Magic War that the opening and closing of the war are really just suggestions of a larger idea. I like that because I'm a GM who loves to improvise and leave areas open in my gameworld in order to let players decide the world's fate. If you're a little more inclined to have everything totally spelled out, then develop these ideas in greater detail. But I think that unless you're having your player characters learn intense historical education, you can use the detail level I'm representing--it's what an average living person who didn't serve in the war would know, and that's enough. 

Next, I include a short section on the war itself. I indicate that magic users had a specific position in the war; many of their governments advocated for Regulation, and many of their neighbors were advocating for the Abolition of magic. This means that magic users were suddenly turned against their communities; it was fight your neighbors or lose your livelihood, and that gave the magic users a certain edge in the fight; they had more to lose than anyone else, and that edge ultimately turned the tide for the magic users. 

The next section in the document is a breakdown of major battles in the war. If you're opting for a more cultural impact than a war, I recommend substituting this section with a list of cultural events and diplomatic actions, or something that similarly serves your event. Such a list might include successful and failed diplomatic missions, public statements, newspaper articles, works of art, governmental measures, or inventions. In the case of the Magic War, though, these events are represented by battles. For each battle, I indicate a date that the battle took place, a location that the battle took place, which forces fought there, and what the casualties looked like. I also include a description of the battle: how it started, who fired the first shot, what actions turned the tide of the battle, and how it ended, as well as impacts of the battle (like changes to the momentum of the involved forces and later battles). 

I include in my list a total of five battles. I think that five is a good number to stick with; less than that, and the event seems abbreviated and unrealistic, but more than that, and the event seems unwieldy and includes too many details for the players to really process and appreciate. In the case of the Magic War, the five battles show the general trend of the war over time; the magic users initially pull ahead, the Regulation and Abolition forces deal heavy blows to one another, and the magic users experience a setback. This general trend sets up the magic users as favorites, but the late Indigar Raid hands the magic users a mixture of a draw and defeat. You can imagine how the culture of the world is affected by all of this. Abolition forces see magic users as uncontrollable liabilities who can overpower anyone they choose, and the early battles of the war bear this out. It was only the increasing ruthlessness of the war that led to the Indigar Raid, as people feared a world in which magic users could go unchecked in their powers. Thousands of Regulation and Abolition forces were dying compared to only hundreds of Pro-Magic forces. It was a troubling time for many. And it all sets the stage for the end of the war. 

I've also included a section called "Important Events." This, like the overview, is not as detailed as it could be; the idea here is to create a sense of what is going on during the war that isn't a direct battle. This is another place you could lean on the many cultural things that we can consider (successful and failed diplomatic missions, public statements, newspaper articles, works of art, governmental measures, or inventions). In the case of the Magic War, I opted for a few assassination attempts and a public massacre. Initially, there are some botched assassination attempts: the magic users fail at the assassination of two Regulation leaders, and the Regulation forces respond by assassinating a prominent magic user leader. This is early in the war, so it adds to the sense that magic users were fighting everyone around them; the early failure to assassinate rival leaders makes the magic user cause more desperate to get the upper hand. The public massacre is a way to show that the war turned the public consciousness violent enough to attack civilians, and it also shows that the war was loudly opposed by even some who had a stake in the war. Finally, I close this section with the Abolition assassination of an vital Regulation leader; this both removes Regulation momentum and shows that Abolition forces grew more violent and desperate as the war escalated and turned away from their favor. 

The final section in this document is about the resolution of the war. I describe the final battle of the war, which the magic users decisively win with the deployment of a powerful spell ("Stop Time" freezes the battlefield, allowing magic user forces to strike at their foes invulnerably). As a result, Regulation and Abolition forces capitulate at a tavern in the nearby city of Talon Gorge, and free use of magic reigns supreme over the land. The treaty signed by Regulation and Abolition forces recognized free magic as the law of the land and dissolved the military forces of all sides involved. So ends the Magic War after nearly a year of slaughter across the countryside, and today, people in my world are still bitterly committed to their cause, but do not speak of it for fear of riling up someone with a different cause. 

So I've developed this whole historical event. No what? Well, there are lots of things you can do with an event like this. One fairly obvious implementation would be a campaign that is set during the Magic War. I've developed it as history, but wouldn't all the fighting and diplomacy and other machinations of the war be a fun storyline? I could just put my players in my world 30 years before the present day and let them serve in the army of their choosing. Or I could have a storyline that echoes that event--perhaps there's a faction of Abolition forces who have been quiet for years but are lurking in the darkness, preparing to launch the first attack of a new war. Or it could be more cultural in scope: perhaps the players are involved at a university where debates over the war are still raging. Or we might get even more cultural and start dropping references to the war in common speech--perhaps a wizened old spellcaster has stories about their old days serving for the right to use magic. Or maybe the appeal of Regulation never went away, and some cities and towns are starting again to push for Regulation--what would a spellcasting player character do? These are all just some ideas about how to include the historical event in the gameworld so that it's more than an idea, but an actual reality for the players. You can do all this and more with a well-developed historical event. 

So get to it: brainstorm your idea, get the big picture written down, and start to think about how the details can reflect the big picture. You'll find that even the most unassuming idea can become spectacular with the right details in place. And remember that these events should honor your players as much as your own interests--try developing historical events that reflect what your players are interested in by personalizing your game's content. And most of all, have fun with it. Creating a history for your world should create interest in the gameworld for you, so if you're not having fun, bring it closer to what you really enjoy. Before long, you'll have a sparkling, rich gameworld your players will love. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: a list of ideas for your next BBEG, a one-shot inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and naming conventions in my homebrew world. Until next time, happy gaming!

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