Background Information

Setup and Interludes

The game begins not long after the establishment of Clocktower as the head of the Mage's Association. Families have yet to fully entrench themselves and there are many opportunities to find great wealth and power in the fledgling system. In the previous season of events, a year passed in which drugs were spread loose devastating Ley Lines, a plague of curses struck down many Magus, a new Pope was elected despite Rome being invaded resulting in a split in the Church and half of it declaring war on all Magus, a Grail War was fought in India and a school was built in Clocktower. The most lucrative future opportunities will depend on finding the right allies to assist you as well as the information of where they are.

Information which is exclusive will be provided to each Magus based on their character creation and, in future summits, on the actions which they have taken previously. There may also be public announcements which will be marked separately. Finally there are interludes, which are intended to provide a wider context and some hints of what is going on for those without specific knowledge. It is important to remember that your Magus does not have specific awareness of the events of an interlude - they are a source of information which is provided out of character. They are included as, in any game based on information and secrecy, it is important that all Magus are aware that events are happening which they may need to find out about in character. This enables some equality of opportunity. The interludes of the previous season are available for reading and discussing with players who were around at the time.

The World of Fate/Clocktower: The Big Three

Fate/Clocktower is set in a world where many mystical creatures exist and there is the potential for certain humans to learn magic, becoming Magus. This process is a slow and painful one, in which the physical nerves are converted to Magic Circuits which can use Prana to cast spells. So slow is this process in fact that an entire lifetime would only enable someone to learn the basics of magic. It is because of this that humans created Magic Crests, allowing the knowledge of a lifetime to be passed on, through children, who can then again increase and pass on their knowledge.

This did not escape the notice of several rival groups of course, the main one being the Church. There are forces other than Magus in this world and they possess great powers of their own. What is more, Magus have a reputation for an obsession with magic, one which transcends morality. The perfect Magus is one which will create the perfect Magic Crest, no matter the cost. When disasters strike, such as a plague of Dead Ancestors or even experiments of rogue Magus, the Church possesses Executors with the power to put down nearly any monstrosity. With time there has been an understanding in place, but not one which excludes skirmishes and occasional full-scale battles for power when the normal world is threatened.

As centuries passed, these families of Magus wax and wane in power. Warfare erupts between them as they vie for control of Ley Lines, places of power, and Mystic Codes, items which contain their own Magic Circuits. Through all of this knowledge was set back centuries at a time when a family was wiped out, destroying their Magic Crest. Eventually the great families came together to create a solution to this. Unfortunately, they did not all agree, and as such the world is broadly divided into the domains of three great powers - Clocktower, the Atlas Institute and the Sea of Estray.

Clocktower, or the Mage's Association, was founded roughly twenty years ago by the Director, who gathered the greatest families of magic from throughout the Empire and based them in London. This has resulted in a wealthy, cosmopolitan organisation which is the only one which accepts and trains students. Clocktower is built on the idea that Magus can make mutually beneficial agreements and as such has strong relationships with the Church as well as with both of the other factions. There are systems of rank as well as significant efforts to preserve advances in Magecraft at the school - whatever the cost.

The Atlas Institute, or the Giant's Prison, was founded in antiquity for one purpose - to prevent some great horror from destroying the world. At the end of this effort they discovered that any force powerful enough to do this would, itself, be enough to threaten the world. The divination and alchemical progress of Atlas is the best in the world and by now they have enough power sealed away to destroy the world many times over. The purpose of Atlas is so remote from the advancement of Magecraft that their relations with Estray and Clocktower are distant at best. Their motivations and actions appear strange at times due to their use of divination which denies the existence of free will - one factor leading them to have a more disciplined, militaristic structure than Clocktower. They have secluded themselves from the current war to save the world from a current disaster.

The Sea of Estray, or the Wandering Tomb, is the collective name for a large number of smaller factions, scattered mainly throughout Europe. Before the founding of Clocktower this was the Mage's Association and many Magus who would not fit into the strict regime of Clocktower find a home there. Their research is often controversial and focused on topics such as self-modification which would be frowned upon elsewhere. The nominal headquarters, the Tomb, has proven impossible to find reliably, based as it is in a mountain range which has a habit of appearing in curious places. Groups under its banner include the Thule Society and the Prague Association and are regarded as being hopelessly provincial, poor and outdated. Estray is currently recovering from a plague of curses which swept through many families but has taken a more mercantile angle, dealing magic reliably between even rival factions.

The Church is the name for the semi-secret organisation which lies behind the facade of most organised religion. Nominally based in Rome, it seeks to protect the ordinary people of the world from the corruption of heretics and demons. Unfortunately for most Magus, their magical experiments often involve things the Church would rather see buried or destroyed. That is not to say that the Church does not use magic - they have relics and Executors, elite anti-Magus assassins. The ancient truce between the Church and the Mage's Association has recently been broken, leading to open war between the two due to a rogue Atlas Magus leading an army to Rome to stop the election of the new Pope. The resulting split in the Church, one based in Rome, the other in Avignon, has meant that both sides accuse the other of heresy and consorting with demons.