It is the year 601 AR, 600 years since the great rebellion was declared and the Orgoth Empire was openly opposed, 400 years since the last of the Orgoth departed the shores of Immoren.

This game starts in the North Eastern corner of Cygnar, close to the borders of Khador and the Bloodstone Marches. In practice the occupation of the widowers wood which, stretches from the NE of Ord to the SE of Khador is unpatrolled lawless forest so this area is Khadorian in name only.

Far to the South are lands that surrendered fealty to the protectorate (484 AR).

To the east is a vast expanse known as the Bloodstone Marches, it is home to the Idrian(human), Trollkin, Fallow and all sorts of unknowns.

Off the coast to the south west, the islands have been almost completely taken over by an undead race that have their own mechanika known as Cryx.

AR - After Rebellion.

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It has been 18 years since unlawful magic (witchcraft) was made illegal. While not all are killed, over 250 sorcerers and witches were executed in the first year alone. The Orgoth were defeated because humans learned ho to wield magic. Magic taught and developed through study and practice. Magic is openly taught at the Arcanist's Academe and it was the Academe's founder (Sebastien Kerwin) who laid the groundwork for the first mechanika through magical study.

Witchcraft and Sorcery and any magical ability that is developed unnaturally, by pact with an infernal, is punishable by death. It is the only way to expunge that blight from the world. It is known that although some seem to develop magic naturally without tuition or study they are in fact gifted their power by an infernal demon. Not knowing how one developed their power is the same as knowing the name of the demon the pact was made with.

Proof of tuition must be held by all practitioners of magic, though the act of daily study from a magical tome to develop a fixed set of spells each day is clear proof to the truly initiated only the diploma or other document from a recognised academe will be acceptable to an inquisitor.

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There are five gods commonly worshipped by humans, though it is not a single pantheon. There is the religion of the twins - Morrow and Thamar, the Proctectorate of Menoth, the Devourer Wurm and the cult of Cyriss.

Morrow - The teaching of the path of light is to aspire to free your mind, body and soul and to seek enlightenment. The lessons typically offered for this path are benevolence, selflessness and striving to do the right thing. The church is open and trusting, it has even welcomed several Ogrun from Rhul into it's clerical ranks. The church builds big and bright, seeking to draw people to them so that the path of light can be heard. Those who have 'ascended' through the path of light are revered by name.

Menoth is known by many names; the Lawgiver, the Lawbringer, the Creator of Man, the Hunter of the Wurm, Wallmaker, the Masked Giant and in Khador 'the old faith'. In the last few decades, Menoth has returned in force to Immoren, revealing his anger over neglect and igniting the fires of zealotry. The Canon of the True Law is wielded like a weapon by the priests of the protectorate. This doctrine is possibly the oldest example of any kind of writing pre-dating even Rhulic runes. Written on stone thousands of years ago it is now transcribed into scrolls for ease of transport.

The Cult of the Devourer Wurm - Technically not an evil god, it is a force of raw but, natural, chaos. Most commonly found in the wild places of Immoren, particularly in hostile landscapes. It's worshippers clash with the modern world reviling even roads and especially mechanika. Nearly as popular with Trolkin, Gobbers, Ogrun and Farrow as Dhunia.

Thamar, the dark twin, whisperer in shadow, guide of the damned - Do you want to be freed from the shackles of morality? Thamar openely advocates cruelty, bloodshed and torture but her priests caution temperance. They seek time to build their cell and to subvert the church of Morrow, to twist it and to control it from behind the scenes. Although pervasion is the ultimate goal, tearing a morrowan's faith down and having them beg for the mercy of Thamar in their last breath is one's holy duty too. Those who have left their mortal shells to join Thamar are revered as Scions of the faith.

Cyriss, the whispering voice of reason and logic - a secretive cult that seek to understand the principles of science and nature, and in doing so understand the goals and motives of their goddess. For she imparts knowledge only through cryptic means, ciphers and enigma. The cult is tolerated and considered mostly harmless by the church of Morrow. Priests of the great father's of Rhul and the protectorate however hold a dim view of them.

Dhunia, the Great Mother of Caen - worshipped by Trollkin, Gobbers, Ogrun and Farrow. A primitive reincarnationist religion that is fairly peaceful.

The great Fathers, the gods of the Dwarves - There are 13 stone fathers, they are all worshipped as a single divine entity. To the Rhul, the gods are paragons that guide them as to how they should lead their lives. Each has a day on which they are honoured individually however, except when there is something very specific in a prayer or vow a god is not singled out from their peers.

Gods of the Elves - There are 8 gods in the Divine Court, the Pantheon of the Elves. The religion still exists although, there are no spellcasting Clerics. It is as if the gods have left them. Some others say that all but two have left Caen, and that it is Scyrah and Nyssor that remain.

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Flintlock-like pistols and muskets are uncommon in Western Immoren but they do exist and you will encounter them. Typically only used by the military. Black powder does not exist. Instead alchemists create what they call blasting powders. They put two chemicals into a little silk pouch along with a lead ball. They decorate the pouch and label it with their makers mark, the date and the gun the 'cartridge' was made for. A gunman pushes a crank at the back which, opens the gun's breach (an opening on the top or side) and pops the pouch in. They then pull the crank closed again sealing the cartridge in while also lifting the hammer to the ready position. When the trigger is pulled the hammer falls and it's needle tears open the silk pouch, exposing the two chemicals to one another and in a flash the silk burns away and the bullet shoots out of the barrel.

Steam power can be used and is used to make many marvelous machines perform repetitive and often heavy load bearing tasks. Steam is created by burning coal to create heat and passing a pipe of water through the chamber creating steam.

Mechanika is the fusion of magic and science. Simplistically viewed as whenever you add a magically imbued rune plate into a machine though the reality is quite a bit more complex than that.

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A character starts the game knowing as many languages as their bonus to intelligence (INT) plus their ranks in Linguistics.
Thereafter a character may learn a maximum number of languages of that formula
Some races denote (spoken only), when that is so the (+written) languages must be learned as separate languages
Some races do not state (spoken only) nor (+written) for a language, where that is true the language is learned in both spoken and written forms at the same time.
There is no bonus for knowing the lettering script used by a language when learning a written language that uses the same letters as the usage and pronunciations vary considerably

Each language must be learned after months of study and immersion, with penalties if either is not possible

Cygnaran - Spoken in Cygnar (the region the game is going to be in)
Caspian - A dead language, this is the old form of Cygnaran it is the Written script used in Cygnaran and a load of other languages too
Sulese - A dialect(1) of Cygnaran. Spoken in the nation of the Protectorate of Menoth
Khadoran - Spoken in Khador
Llaelese - Spoken in Llael
Ordic - Spoken in Ord
Idrian - Spoken by the Nomads that live in the Bloodstone Marches
Khurzic - A dialect(2) of Khadoran used by Khards, Umbreans and some Kossites. This is also used by Khadoran and Menite Scholars
High Tordoric - A dialect(1) of Ordic spoken by Ordic High Society

Five Cant - A dialect(3) of Cygnaran used by Pirates and Criminals all over the continent
Swampie - A dialect(3) of Cygnaran used by swampies and other river folk
Urnyak - A dialect(3) of Khadoran spoken by some Skirov
Molgur - Spoken by many barbarian tribes
Gobberish - A dialect(4) of Molgur spoken by Goblins
Molgur-og - A dialect(1) of Molgur spoken by Ogrun
Molgur-trul - A dialect(2) of Molgur spoken by Trollkin
Rhulic - Spoken by the Rhul(dwarves). Due to it's complexity the (spoken only) and (+written) variants cost 1 rank each
Miner-Rhulic - A dialect(1) used in distant Rhul mining colonies
Farrow - Supplementing a dialect of Caspian with snorts and grunts seemed natural for the porcine Farrow, they even invented a written form of it
Tharn - Spoken by the Tharn. Almost a blend of Khurzic and Molgur, it has no known written form
Zunus - Spoken by the Zu, who reside on another continent. Always learned (spoken only) first and (+written)
Scharde Tongue - A dialect(4) of Cygnaran. The language of the Cryx
Shyr - Spoken by the Iosians(elves). Due to it's complexity the (spoken only) and (+written) variants cost 1 rank each

Aeric - The language of the Nyss
Orgoth - Only known by students of ancient history
Dohl-Rhul - A dead language, the old form of Rhul and Rhul-Runic
Quor - Spoken by both the Bog Trog and Gatormen, though each has their own dialect Quor-Og and Quor-Gar
Thrallspeak - Used by the more advanced thralls to command others ,who do not usually speak at all. Costs 4 ranks to mimic the complex sounds when speaking. there is no known written form
Skorne - Spoken by Skorne

Dreggi - Costs 3 ranks and a lot of suffering
Nokiri - The only known infernal tongue
Saelaan - The Fey and the Grimkin seem to have compiled a language together using sounds they have heard when others speak, there is no correlation of any word except by accident
Satyxi - a sweet and beautiful language known only to the Satyx
Telgesh - the secret language of the clerics of Thamar
Tkra - Spoken by Lord Toruk of the Cryx and his top servitors