I'm giving it a working title of "Magic Returns" and that's its tag.
For the past ten years, the world has been normal mana. For the previous fifty they'd been low mana. Before that, for hundreds of years, there was no mana.
The end of mana also ended civilization.
The return knocked it back on its heels as forgotten artifacts and dormant creatures returned to life.
The start region is one of coastal city states. They mostly share a language, religion and culture, but there are sharp dividing differences.
Inland there is terra incognita.
The sages and scribes insist there was once an empire that spanned the entire world. They have fragments of the histories in mouldering archives.
Local tech level is TL 1. Science has been advancing, so there's some TL 2 happening.
Magic was stubbornly preserved and there are a few users of mana.
In game terms...
Buying TL2 comes as a 20 point package with wealth and status. TL +1 (TL 2) [5]; Wealth (Comfortable, $1,000 starting) [10]; and Status 1 (Iron User) [5]. Of course if you are TL 1, you can buy TL2 stuff at double the price... which is worth it considering bronze armor is 4x the price of iron.
Mages are a bit more complicated. For a very long time the people preserving the secrets of magic couldn't show anything for their efforts. Even when mana returned to low levels, the meager skills developed via rote learning didn't yield results discernible from when there was no magic at all. This served to make mages look like fools, or worse frauds, who'd not managed to save any knowledge at all.
What has remained since before the collapse of the lost empire has been the guild. Through rote learning and clever apparatuses they've managed to save a great deal of magic. They even held control of small pockets where the magic never died. The locations of these pockets are a guild secret.
Every mage has a silver dagger (see Silver Weapons on p. B275).
The day they begin their apprenticeship (and thus join the guild), their master enchants a that dagger with Staff (Magic p. 70) and Soul Jar (Magic p. 154) to place their soul into the dagger. This is how much of the magical knowledge was preserved, the souls of long dead master mages then possessed young mages... This is a secret of the guild too. I am not sure what the point cost of being encased in a soul jar is. Magery is bought with Breakable (DR 4, SM -5) -25%; Can Be Stolen (Quick Contest) -30%; and Unique, -25%: for a total limitation of -80%! [1] for magery 0 and [2] per level after that (maximum 3 at character generation; higher levels can be obtained during play). Take note that someone breaking your dagger is a lot worse than losing your magic, you're dead! Shatterproof (Magic p. 118) is a popular enchantment to place on one's soul dagger.
Total cost of the dagger is $438.
Actual rule changes from the standard model on magic...
If you're going to wear armor, there is a penalty equal to the holdout number of the armor worn (as listed with the armor types in GURPS: Low Tech: Instant Armor). Take all modifiers and add them... So for a sleeved shirt of medium leather... -2 for the torso and -2 for the arms for a total of -4.
The Magic Ritual rules on Magic p. 8 are amended...
Skill 9 or less - You must use your dagger, drawn as part of the ritual as specified.
Skill 10-14 - if you use a different item with the staff spell on it, you merely need your dagger on your person, otherwise you must have it drawn as part of the ritual.
Skill 15-19 - You must have your dagger on your person but don't need to use it as part of the ritual; however you lose the cost reduction if you don't use something enchanted with staff.
Skill 20-24 - your dagger must exist and doesn't need to be on your person; however the cost is only reduced by 1 if it's not on you.
Skill 25 or more - as written on Magic p. 9.
More as I think of it and get feedback.
For the past ten years, the world has been normal mana. For the previous fifty they'd been low mana. Before that, for hundreds of years, there was no mana.
The end of mana also ended civilization.
The return knocked it back on its heels as forgotten artifacts and dormant creatures returned to life.
The start region is one of coastal city states. They mostly share a language, religion and culture, but there are sharp dividing differences.
Inland there is terra incognita.
The sages and scribes insist there was once an empire that spanned the entire world. They have fragments of the histories in mouldering archives.
Local tech level is TL 1. Science has been advancing, so there's some TL 2 happening.
Magic was stubbornly preserved and there are a few users of mana.
In game terms...
Buying TL2 comes as a 20 point package with wealth and status. TL +1 (TL 2) [5]; Wealth (Comfortable, $1,000 starting) [10]; and Status 1 (Iron User) [5]. Of course if you are TL 1, you can buy TL2 stuff at double the price... which is worth it considering bronze armor is 4x the price of iron.
Mages are a bit more complicated. For a very long time the people preserving the secrets of magic couldn't show anything for their efforts. Even when mana returned to low levels, the meager skills developed via rote learning didn't yield results discernible from when there was no magic at all. This served to make mages look like fools, or worse frauds, who'd not managed to save any knowledge at all.
What has remained since before the collapse of the lost empire has been the guild. Through rote learning and clever apparatuses they've managed to save a great deal of magic. They even held control of small pockets where the magic never died. The locations of these pockets are a guild secret.
Every mage has a silver dagger (see Silver Weapons on p. B275).
The day they begin their apprenticeship (and thus join the guild), their master enchants a that dagger with Staff (Magic p. 70) and Soul Jar (Magic p. 154) to place their soul into the dagger. This is how much of the magical knowledge was preserved, the souls of long dead master mages then possessed young mages... This is a secret of the guild too. I am not sure what the point cost of being encased in a soul jar is. Magery is bought with Breakable (DR 4, SM -5) -25%; Can Be Stolen (Quick Contest) -30%; and Unique, -25%: for a total limitation of -80%! [1] for magery 0 and [2] per level after that (maximum 3 at character generation; higher levels can be obtained during play). Take note that someone breaking your dagger is a lot worse than losing your magic, you're dead! Shatterproof (Magic p. 118) is a popular enchantment to place on one's soul dagger.
Total cost of the dagger is $438.
Actual rule changes from the standard model on magic...
If you're going to wear armor, there is a penalty equal to the holdout number of the armor worn (as listed with the armor types in GURPS: Low Tech: Instant Armor). Take all modifiers and add them... So for a sleeved shirt of medium leather... -2 for the torso and -2 for the arms for a total of -4.
The Magic Ritual rules on Magic p. 8 are amended...
Skill 9 or less - You must use your dagger, drawn as part of the ritual as specified.
Skill 10-14 - if you use a different item with the staff spell on it, you merely need your dagger on your person, otherwise you must have it drawn as part of the ritual.
Skill 15-19 - You must have your dagger on your person but don't need to use it as part of the ritual; however you lose the cost reduction if you don't use something enchanted with staff.
Skill 20-24 - your dagger must exist and doesn't need to be on your person; however the cost is only reduced by 1 if it's not on you.
Skill 25 or more - as written on Magic p. 9.
More as I think of it and get feedback.