Core Assumptions

Core Assumptions

Core Assumptions are what you and your character's should know if they had been born and raised in this world. This encompasses both expectations that you should have as a player, and experiences that you should assume your characters have had. This includes information on: magic, technology, race/identity, religion, world state, the material plane, etc. 

Magic

Magic and arcana is simply referred to as "essence" in Annam. Essence is naturally occurring and, as far as anyone in the world knows, flows between everyone and everything around them. Essence is not rare by any means - everyone has essence and anyone could technically learn to harness it and use it to cast arcana. However, this is incredibly difficult without formal education or extreme dedication. Most of the more competent magic users in Annam were born with a knack or natural skill, some semblance of ability from a young age - and most of them aren't adventurers, but rather scholars, researchers, and engineers. Technically, anyone you run into could theoretically cast spells and use them, but it's a rare skill. 
Most of the essence that the average person uses in the world comes in the form of arcane technologies: things like Emergen-C, improved cybernetics, and other similar items are all integrations of essence into existing technologies, or vice versa. 

Technology

Technology, in Annam, is at a futuristic point to a degree: to explain, imagine if computing technologies and similar systems froze in progress in the early 90s, but other technology continued to develop. The internet is filled with basic html-esque forum pages, computers are blocky and heavy, and most portable technology is either based in radio or not very portable. The net is also not an interconnected network: instead, the net is one server located in Kunari City - net connections have to be made physically. Read "the Net" for more details.
As stated above, magic and technology are inherently intertwined. Hence, magic can be use to interfere with technology, and, often, vice versa. Spells can mess with technology, and I will be going through many of the spells in base dnd to add interactions with tech to them. 
Robots do not exist. Robotics is a studied field, but not to the degree of sentient robotic lifeforms. Robotics is more so geared toward the production of more complicated, extensive cybernetic augments and is generally headed towards a transhumanist outlook. There are robots similar to what we have in real life, and a few more complicated than that - but nothing remotely sentient. 
Artificial Intelligence is much more barebones than you may expect at this level of futuristic development. You can read the Artificial Intelligence articles for more concrete information, but A.I. is largely at a non-learning, non-generative point. This was a purposeful decision, as Artificial Intelligence nearly caused major social collapse in the early 21st century. 
Large, expansive machinery is commonplace: infrastructure and industry have both outpaced real world development in Annam. Agriculture is done at extremely large scales, buildings are way larger than they normally are in real life, and minor terraforming is possible at this current stage of technology.
Netrunning opens up another reality - a sort of augmented virtual reality in which you see net connections, other users, and other computer signatures as physical entities. When you access this reality, not only do you have to have a cyberdeck that can be fully jacked into a physical net connection, but you also cannot move in the material plane at the same time. However, since most people have cybernetics or cyberware, accessing cyberspace can allow you to interfere with their cybernetics, mess with their biometric systems, and even kill them. This is also how netrunners hack.

Race

Systemic racism did not exist in Annam in the way it did in the real world. Humans of varying cultures interacted at a very early stage historically, and grew accustomed to coexistance. More often than not, racism has been replaced with nationalism and ethnocentrism. The societal concept of race is moreso in reference to the differences between elves, humans, orcs, etc.; though, all of the major races coexisted and coevolved, having taken part in each other's cultures to some degree. That's not to say there isn't othering and hate between certain groups - it just doesn't come from a false societal construct like race. 

Identity

Modern day Annam is generally accepting of all identities - gender and sexuality included. Obviously, this generalization is not true for every single individual in existance: some people may be hateful. But, again, this does not come from a systemic origin like religion or culture - just more behavioral instincts to other and refrain from interacting with those who seem different. Generally, intolerance is frowned upon.
Due to the implement of essence wielders into human, elvish, and orcish cultures early into their nomadic origins, the stakes of permanent settlement were not as dire and social stratification based on biological niches was not as ingrained into culture; meaning, generally, gender roles were not as strict as they were in the real world.

Religion

About half of Annam's population is religious to some degree. Many people in the world find comfort in a morally guided and ordered life, while others see the world in a more spiritual light. Regardless of reason, there is a large population of religious individuals pretty much anywhere you may go. These range from more spiritual faiths based on magical energies to animistic faiths to more ordered denoted religions. Kunari City, itself, is less religious than the rest of the world.
There is no indisputable evidence of divine beings in the world. While there are various religions and various theories on the creation of life - there is no answer in this world that you or your characters know of. 

World State

As of 2101, the world is more stable than it has been in recent years. Conflicts over water and other precious resources have died down, the global economy has stabilized, and there is a higher degree of global peace than there usually is. Regardless, much of the world's population lives in extreme poverty, with a majority of the population being at or below the poverty line. Personal rights are diminishing, technology continues to grow in power, and corporations continue to reinforce their modern day cryptocracies. The world is not in a state of immediate turmoil - it's slowly rotting. 

The Material Plane

There are no other planes beside the material plane that anyone knows of. The closest things to other planes are space and the augmented reality of netrunning. Now, yes, space is known to exist; however, space exploration never took off as a concept due to economic troubles and global warfare in Annam. There are spaceports and sateillites and basic spacecraft, but not commercially available. You have to be WEALTHY to get that kind of access.