I'm in the final planning stages of my story Archmage Reborn and as a part of the latter half of the story an entire super-continent of various nations, kingdoms and city-states (the entire world, really) are forced into an emergency partnership in order to combat the Big Bad and her army.
Let me just explain the political situation first:
There are thousands of nations that exist on The Haven's main continent, some of them are democracies, many more are monarchies, still others are simply oligarchies. Regardless of their government type, the nations themselves all swear allegiance to one of two vast factions that dominate the world with their beliefs and ideals: the Conclave or the Iron Legion.
The Conclave is ruled over by the Magisters, five witches and wizards of immense power in their respective fields, and generally tries to present itself as The Federation. Nations under the Conclave are generally at "our" current technological level with a few tweaks here and there. There are no cars, only rather low-tech transports like wagons (though they do have motorized hovercrats). Long distances can easily be crossed via teleportation magic, so this is not really a problem. Other than that they are again pretty much like us; they have electricity, phones, television, security systems etc.
They generally treats the nations under their control well but they are not even close to being as benevolent as they try to appear. Allegiance to them requires absolute obedience, and when they have wars with the Iron Legion, nations under them must send out soldiers to do battle or risk being abandoned by the Conclave and all support taken from them. They have also conducted numerous involuntary human experiments on prisoners and such, but they are all secret and any witch or wizard discovered doing them outside of the Magisters' approval is punished and disavowed.
The Iron Legion is similar in that it gathers nations under them while allowing the countries to have their own governments. However they are anti-magic in the extreme, viewing it as unnatural and borderline evil. They are fiercely obsessed with technology, having invented such things as cybernetic limbs that flawlessly interface with the brain, tanks, poisonous gas, powerful firearms (though the Conclave has firearms, they are not common). They also have constructed robots, flying Final Fantasy style airships and many other cool toys. They are ruled over by a single family and have been passing it down that line regardless of whether the heir is male or female. They are much less tolerant however and their laws, especially for using magic, are harsh, resulting in public maiming or execution.
With that out of the way, understand that these nations have all been locked in a Forever War and are now being forced into helping one another on short notice in order to save the world from a disaster where billions could be wiped out.
I'm trying right now to gauge just how difficult this should be. I don't want everyone to just instantly set aside thousands of years of hatred but at the same time, they are on a bit of a tight schedule. I was just wondering if anyone had ideas on that.
If it helps any, the war isn't really about conquering land or resources; it's to protect a person who, if captured, would give the enemy what they needed to cause the end of the world. There's also very little diplomatic options as their leader will not back down and her army consists of a Religion of Evil interspersed with horrific Magitek constructs...oh and one of the protagonists who pulled a Face–Heel Turn.
edited 23rd Oct '13 9:59:40 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake.
— Edgar Walllace
I'm in the final planning stages of my story Archmage Reborn and as a part of the latter half of the story an entire super-continent of various nations, kingdoms and city-states (the entire world, really) are forced into an emergency partnership in order to combat the Big Bad and her army. Let me just explain the political situation first:
They generally treats the nations under their control well but they are not even close to being as benevolent as they try to appear. Allegiance to them requires absolute obedience, and when they have wars with the Iron Legion, nations under them must send out soldiers to do battle or risk being abandoned by the Conclave and all support taken from them. They have also conducted numerous involuntary human experiments on prisoners and such, but they are all secret and any witch or wizard discovered doing them outside of the Magisters' approval is punished and disavowed.
- The Iron Legion is similar in that it gathers nations under them while allowing the countries to have their own governments. However they are anti-magic in the extreme, viewing it as unnatural and borderline evil. They are fiercely obsessed with technology, having invented such things as cybernetic limbs that flawlessly interface with the brain, tanks, poisonous gas, powerful firearms (though the Conclave has firearms, they are not common). They also have constructed robots, flying Final Fantasy style airships and many other cool toys. They are ruled over by a single family and have been passing it down that line regardless of whether the heir is male or female. They are much less tolerant however and their laws, especially for using magic, are harsh, resulting in public maiming or execution.
- With that out of the way, understand that these nations have all been locked in a Forever War and are now being forced into helping one another on short notice in order to save the world from a disaster where billions could be wiped out.
I'm trying right now to gauge just how difficult this should be. I don't want everyone to just instantly set aside thousands of years of hatred but at the same time, they are on a bit of a tight schedule. I was just wondering if anyone had ideas on that.edited 23rd Oct '13 9:59:40 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace