Island Inquest
Scope
The motivation behind building Island Inquest
I will create a narrative Setting (that can be used for Pen and Paper Roleplaying or other Story telling purposes) exploring an Art Nouveau high fantasy / magic world.
It will provide a new perspective on how a society roughly equivalent to our history in between 1890 and 1910 that has access to magic will look and feel like.
The goal of the project
To create an entertaining and interesting way to experience Art Nouveau.
Island Inquest's Unique Selling point
A world that has suffered immensely through the unchecked usage of magic escapes its traditional medieval corset and evolves to a society roughly equivalent to Central Europe between 1890 and 1910.
How does such a society with many species, undead and all other classic fantasy tropes react to urbanization, militarism and new technological possibilities.
Theme
Genre
Island Inquest is high fantasy / magic at its core with contemporary Art and Themes from Art Nouveau.
Reader Experience
The Island is filled with a new type of wonder as many are the first of their families that can decide and think truly for themselves and do so without fearing punishment or prosecution.
New technologies enable people to access magic like never before, adding a sense of excitement and wonder.
Reader Tone
Life is balancing on a knife's tip between magical wonders and the bounds of a fast-growing society. On the surface its easy going, welcoming and bright whereas one must only take a wrong turn on a street to find herself in the depths of a hell never seen before.
Recurring Themes
History and Fate are absolutely man made.
Inquest had many heroes in its history. To some they are a force of nature, spawned every time the world is in danger. But others explain that whenever there was a pack of heroes roaming around, the world had to suffer its worst crimes. Only to have a short respite before the next circle begins.
No one is free from personal motifs, you can never make the right decision for everyone.
Every decision has consequences. Many tried by force or trickery to outrun their fate, but no one ever can. The most benign king will muster all people able to fight and send them towards their doom if he thinks it's necessary. Every dark lord will beg on his knees to have his last child spared or at least to give it a quick and merciful death.
People are people. Empathy is what holds civilization together.
There are so many heroic stories told and recorded that but one similarity can be assured: Empathy is prevalent. To see into an Enemies eyes and to understand his suffering, to drop your weapon and yield instead of driving your blade into his helpless body is what sets people apart from animals.
It is always the common folk who suffer and gain the most.
Many kings and other leaders have learned the hard truth that one does not mess with the crowd. A god may have put you on your throne but even the lowest beggar can put your head on a chopping block.
Character Agency
The main protagonists are common people with their everyday issues that they want to solve by utilizing the new magical technology that rapidly evolves around them.
They are often drawn into issues that stem from the Heroism or Villainy of others.
Focus
Drama
Crisis of the Month
In a play on Monster of the Week most of Inquest's stories will, because of its unique nature and problems, be about many local and national issues that are resolved by heroes. Spawning ever more problems and issues as they develop and grow.
Immovable object against unstoppable force
The common people are self-driven to evolve and escape their bounds by any means and like wild horses dragging a plow, they break open history and fate like a fallow field.
Many issues spawn from this progress as seemingly unchangeable things are disturbed and toppled.
Enemy of the State
Heroes and Villains are troublemakers, challengers of the existing state of affairs and as such they are often hunted in a vain attempt to stifle progress. The line between hero and villain is often thinner than it seems and not every dead hero is a loss for the common people.
Deus Ex Machin~ aplenty
Magic was and is studied extensively but still its precise function or rules are completely veiled in darkness. Any attempt at generalization has led to other people finding a different solution or approach to achieve the same goal and yet others were unable to even replicate things precisely noted in a heavy folio.
Maybe magic is constantly changing, or it has something to do by whom it is wielded.
Changing People
Perhaps due to its size and prevalent magic, the people of Inquest are a varied mix of races and cultures. Even if everyone has something of everyone else in her blood, still there are some who lift themselves above others by proclaiming purity.
Most are harmless madcaps but now and then the poison takes hold in someone important and twists them.