Gaia

This world is undergoing an industrial revolution, and it is not one unlike our own; the cultures, languages, and even histories of this world bare many resemblances to those of ours during our 19th century. Here on Gaia, however, there is a notable difference. Here on Gaia, you will find it to be as our world, but fantastical. A world populated with the fantasy standards of elves, orcs, and dwarves, but featuring a broader variety resulting from a realized globe, incorporating the myths and religions from its counterparts in reality.   With truth in myth comes the existence of magic. Magic seeps out from the planet at fonts across the globe. It imbues itself in the ground and the people and animals that live there, resulting in monsters, and necromancers, and other such fantastical elements.   Magic as practiced, however, is low, and is only present in those who are born with an innate talent for casting, and they are a rare few. It is also dangerous, taking many forms and spreading many ills. Prolonged exposure to magic has demonstrated carcinogenic and maddening effects to those who do not posses the gift.   In a world where scientific study is accepted as the standard, it is only natural that magicologists would exist, and though they are still so far from understanding its truths, they have uncovered patterns and trends, hinting at a larger set of magical laws. Perhaps the proof of a god, or simply an extension of the natural laws they seem to defy. What magic can achieve is usually very little, and technology has been able to catch up, at least for the most part.   And so the world stands, with empires sowing their colonies into the bellies so-called uncivilized lands to feed themselves with their resources. Exoticism is dying as explorers, travelers, diplomats, and missionaries spread from the rolling planes of Great Westland, to the exotic east.