Meravia

The world of Meravia is divided three times. Each divide is deep enough to spark a conflict great enough to despoil the world.   The first is the legacy of the Richardian Empire. While the Old Empire finally collapsed around one millennium ago, its two primary successor states, the Richardian Republic and Uphratus, are among the prime world powers, their outposts dotted throughout the known world. In their never-ending search for wealth and support, they have created two alliance networks spanning the entire globe. As they are bitter rivals over the question of who is the true successor to the Old Empire, any conflict between the two could quickly escalate into a war of global proportions.   The second is the rise of merchants and captains of industry, challenging the dominance of the feudal realms which govern the majority of Meravia. It is the smaller realms who suffer the worst from his. Often targets of political intrigue or outright attacks by merchant companies, their independence is more often than not a risk, rather than a boon. For now, the great kingdoms and empires of the known world have tolerated this, as the smaller realm more often than not begged them for protection and accepted a tributary status to remain safe. However, as the world becomes more and more consolidated, the largest and most ambitious of the trading companies and merchant nations turn their eyes towards the ultimate prize - the riches of empires. But no-one can expect that these titans of old will go down without a proper fight.   The third is a conflict academic in nature, but whose revelations could shake the world to its core. From the birth of civilization, magic was always the domain of the gods. Only by the god's approval could man use his magic gifts. However, in the last decades, a new group emerged. Men and women, searching for truth, not by devoutness and zealotry, but by using rational thought and experiment to prove their theorems. Against all knowledge, they too are able to cast spells and summon servants from other plains of being. Trying to find answers to this impossibility, some have started to ask the unthinkable question: Are gods real, or only figments of our imagination? While for some more cynical folk the answer may seem unimportant, most of Meravia is still pious and questioning the existence of the gods is not only seen as heresy but denial of reality itself. Thus, while the theory of a godless world is still in its infancy, it already carries the potential of a clash of ideology never seen before in Meravia.   And so we enter the year of 1452, a year of progress and unseen opportunities of wealth, all while the world could easily consume itself in conflict unseen ever before.