I was talking with my friend who is really big into storytelling RPG’s about some of the choices and conceits of The Lost Age the other day. He brought up some very excellent points about the setting itself and some of the internal rules of the world. I’d like to share some content from our discussion. I’m going to break some of these into parts as they are pretty lengthy.

What is magic?

“Magic” in Isspera is merely a set of laws underlying reality itself. Deities are beings of power that know some of these laws and are able to bend or soften physical properties by utilizing these laws. For example, Gunragar the goddess of the forge knows the laws of fire and metal. When smiths pray to her she can ease the process of smelting together tin and copper to form bronze, so the smith is able to reliably produce quality copper. If the smith where ever cut off from Gunragars power he would have to rely on only his skill in order to properly smelt the two metals together. If he is a very experienced smith he may be able to properly smelt the bronze, but most smiths receive so much aid from Gunragar that they wouldn’t be able to do so reliably..

How Common is magic in the setting?

Everyday Magic

Magic In Isspera is very common at a rudimentary level, Everyday life is alive with small divine powers. Most important acts that people perform throughout the day will be accomplished with deific aid. Sowing crops, smelting metal etc. The power of the gods in this way eases the laws of nature to accomplish the goal that is being prayed for. Consequentially most blacksmiths have only a rudimentary knowledge of the proper heat and process for forging really excellent weapons and armour because they rely so heavily on divine intervention. This creates an interesting play between characters that are genuinely smart and those that have their problems eased by the intervention of their deity.

Stay tuned for more as we proceed into part 2 next week.

Questions, comments? Leave em below!

-Keith