Setting

Content

Introduction

The inhabitants of the planet Lavarel are doomed. With each passing year, temperatures continue to drop. Soon, even the last remaining crops will perish.

But deep inside Lavarel there is a giant machine. A machine that, once put back into operation, will finally bring warm weather to Lavarel again. At least that’s what war refugee Scarlet Carolus believes. Join the brave girl on her long and dangerous quest to find the Machine of Eternal Summer!

The World

Lavarel is a dying, cold planet. People constantly struggle for survival before the seemingly inevitable total collapse of the biosphere. Fortunately, there are also some years with warmer summers or winters. In such warm years, people can store a certain amount of supplies for (even) harder times. While Lavarel’s winters are long and cold, there’s not a lot of snow. Even in the middle of winter, the snow cover on most of the planet’s surface is usually thin.

Despite its cold climate and the bleak outlook, Lavarel is not without beauty. The planet is rich in both breathtaking landscapes and mysterious magical artifacts. Lavarel also has a spectacular night sky with differently colored stars and frequent light phenomena that resemble Earth’s northern lights.

Plants

There are only two major crops left that can be eaten by the humanoid races and other animals, bloomrabi and firebeets. They provide all the nutrients needed to survive. Of course, food consumption isn’t exactly fun with such a limited choice of product. Some other plants are also edible, but they can’t be cultivated in large enough numbers or are toxic when eaten in larger quantities. While bloomrabi is very resilient, firebeets will likely perish if temperatures continue to drop in the next decades. This would mean the end to all animal life on Lavarel.

While heating is vitally important in such a cold world, it’s less problematic than the availability of food. Various sources of power and heat are available: wood, a coal-like substance, a wax-like substance, energy crystals and heat gems. Some endeavors to grow food indoors exist, but there’s not enough heating material available for widespread application. Still, these greenhouses ease the situation at least a little.

Races

Apart from humans, there are two other humanoid races: anthropomorphic foxes and wolves. For every wolf on Lavarel, there are about two foxes and six humans.

Foxes

Foxes are slightly smaller than humans. The color of their fur is usually closer to yellow than to orange. Foxes have rather large ears, which isn’t optimal for the cold weather on Lavarel. They are lean and dexterous, but they’re weaker than humans and don’t have a lot of stamina. They typically live 5 to 10 years shorter than humans, but the oldest foxes can get as old as the oldest humans. Almost all foxes are integrated into human society and take the same jobs as humans. However, they’re not fit for particularly demanding physical work. Foxes are more solitary than humans and usually not fond of big, loud gatherings. They’re loyal companions to everyone who has earned their trust. Some foxes have their heads in the clouds, which isn’t the best prerequisite for a world in which daily life is a constant struggle for survival. Male humans sometimes take an interest in female foxes for their long-lasting beauty and friendly attitude.

Wolves

Wolves are slightly taller and more muscular than humans. They’re significantly stronger than humans, but they also fall short on the unmatched stamina of humans. They have the typically gray fur of Earth’s wolves, sometimes with a hint of blue. They typically live 3 to 6 years shorter than humans, and the oldest wolves only get a few additional years on top of that. Wolves have fallen back to a predominantly nomadic lifestyle, living in small, tight-knit tribes that often only consist of wolves. However, there’s also a good number of wolves living in human society. Wolf tribes are typically allowed to freely cross country borders. Wolves in a tribe are not considered citizens of a specific country. Wolves are the most aggressive race, but on a smaller scale than humans. They usually want no part in the humans’ big wars. But if you cross a wolf or even a whole tribe, you better have fast legs or a loaded gun. Female humans sometimes take an interest in male wolves for their muscular body and confident attitude.

Relationships

Mixed–race couples are quite common and usually not talked about much. The frequency of the various combinations is like this:

  1. [common] Male human + Female fox
  2. [common] Male wolf + Female human
  3. [rare] Male fox + Female human
  4. [rare] Male human + Female wolf
  5. [very rare] Male fox + Female wolf
  6. [very rare] Male wolf + Female fox

The humanoid races can procreate with each other. Just like the child’s sex, the child’s race is random. The combination of male wolf and female fox is problematic in this regard since a wolf baby can grow too large in the fox mother’s womb, endangering the lives of mother and baby during childbed. That’s why couples consisting of a male wolf and a female fox are the rarest on Lavarel.

Animals

There are some other animal species on Lavarel. Most of them resemble small mammals with fur and four legs. But there are very few that closely resemble any species on Earth. Some animals are hunted for their meat and pelts, especially by wolf tribes. But there are so few animals left on Lavarel that game is not a stable source of food.

Magical Artifacts

There’s basically no distinction between advanced technology and magic on Lavarel. Most magical artifacts have the appearance of high-tech devices in science fiction stories. But there are also some which more closely resemble magic items from fantasy stories. They all have in common that the inhabitants of Lavarel understand their internal structure and mode of operation only on a surface level.

Magical artifacts from past civilizations come in many forms, from small gems emitting only as much light as a candle to gigantic structures whose purpose has long been forgotten. Apart from the ubiquitous light gems and energy crystals, weapons are by far the most common and useful type of magical artifact. Most of them are remnants of the big war between Arcadia and Ilium that was fought at the end of the second age. Historical records are sketchy, but the main events of the war are known to most people on Lavarel. Almost all history before the world war is lost in time.

Weapons

Most magical weapons resemble guns and rifles with a handle, trigger and barrel. However, they typically don’t eject metal projectiles but magic plasma, somewhat similar to Star Wars’ blasters. The weapons therefore differ greatly in detail, as there are many ways to construct such weapons.

Politics

The political landscape of Lavarel doesn’t differ much from what is often seen in fantasy settings. Most countries are organized as kingdoms with a powerful military and associated paramilitary units serving as police. What’s missing, though, is the whole caste of lesser nobility. A kingdom typically consists of several counties that are administered by civil servants, often in cooperation with the regional military leaders. This gives the regional leaders a lot of power and the kingdom’s laws are often only fully enforced in the capital city and other particularly important parts of the country.

Religion

There’s no centralized religion on Lavarel. It’s hard to say, even, if there is something like religion on Lavarel. The most common belief is that the gods have abandoned Lavarel, probably for some unspeakable sin conducted by the inhabitant’s forefathers. As their pleas for clemency apparently fall on deaf ears, some people belief that the gods are truly gone and the sin was too big to ever be forgiven. It doesn’t help that people have no knowledge about the nature of the sin and so can only guess what kind of actions might please the gods.