Derlavai Profile

*I own nothing, The Darkness series belongs to Harry Turtledove.


Name: Derlavai
Status: War has began

Near twenty years ago, the kingdoms of Derlavai were upon each others throats after the murder of a great Archbishop, with all manners of allied nations stumbling into the fray and laying waste to empires and dynasties. From the outcome of this war came the Treaty of Tortush,which economically and politically hamstringed the one who started this entire goddamn mess- the Kingdom of Algarve. It has been twenty years since than, and the world has changed- the world has seen both great rise and decline in the economy, Unkerlant had a vicious civil war with a more deranged and isolationist man obsessed with efficiency ruling the land with an iron fist and, most disturbingly, Algarve has been becoming far more powerful and arrogant.

Already the treaty has been broken, and the soldiers of Algarve go out to march into Forthweg to reclaim their former territory- and they shall not stop there. At the end of this war, a new magic will be discovered- one with capabilities that can end entire countries in bursts of balefire and time.

... Am I making the references too vague, per chance? Because I think you all have an idea of what's going on here.

Algarve is Nazi Germany, Unkerlant is Russia, Kuusano is America and Lagoas is the United Kingdoms. They're histories are similar to their real life counterparts, but still unique (Kuusano is culturally Asian, for example). But for anyone who's read a history textbook, you know how this'll end- just whitewash out the names and you have this war in a nutshell.

So why not change things up a bit? Let us free this world from the constraints of history, and fall upon it forces unlike anything it has seen. Let the Mages of Derlavai ponder on why the stars have changed, and whom the foreigners beyond any sea could be.

He was just a rookie conscript and he surely shook with fright,

He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight!

He had to sit and listen to that awful dragon roar;

You ain't gonna jump no more!

===Geography===

*Comparison time since I'm lazy, and this also doubles as the factions list in a manner. Also, red colors are those allied with Algarve (the darker the shade, the more concrete the alliance), and blue (shade effect still applying) represents Forthweg. Yellow is neutral, with darker shades meaning they like Algarve, lighter meaning they like Forthweg.
**Oh, also, the people of Derlavai have very self dependent genepools, as you can tell someone of their country of origin by skin tone or HAIR COLOR. Algarvians and related are red-haired, the Jews Kaunians are tall, slender, fair skinned and blonde, the Americans Kuusanans are of Japanese appearance, the Gyongians(?) are thick, bearded men of dark hair with slanted eyes, Unkerlanters are clean-shaven and dark haired, and the Lagosans have wild red hair and usually flamboyant facial hair and tied ponytails.

• Algarve (Germany) has a geography you would probably expect (it's Germany and heavily urbanized), 
• Forthweg (Poland) has a subtropic climate with varying ferns and such growing everywhere, 
• Gyongyos (Imperial Japan) has a climate and general landscape you'd expect from the Ukraine,
• Jelgava (Spain/Portugal) is in a subtropical climate and separated by the rest of the continent by a large mountain range. They also have colonies in Siaulia (South America equivalent?)
• Kuusamo ('MURICA!) is... unknown, as we never see what it looks like (I'm assuming not too dissimilar from Florida).
• Lagoas (Great Britain) is just covered in cities, it's got the geography you'd expect from the Emerald Isles and is rich in leylines which allow them great power over navy and trade.
• Ortah (Switzerland) is surrounded by swamps and is generally just kind irrelevant here. 
• Sibiu is Scandinavia. 
• Unkerlant is basically a rockier Russia.
• Valmiera (France) is heavily urbanized, and it's France
• Yanina (Italy). Imagine Italy. Done, that's what the geography of this place is.
• Zuwazya (Finland) has a very dry climate and is hot enough that wearing clothing is considered more trouble than it's worth and thus most citizens go nude. Basically your stereotypical middle eastern/African Sahara biome.
• Land of the Ice People (North Africa) is an icy wasteland with sporadic spouts of grass, and is also essentially a magic-free zone. Magic does not work as well here.

Also an important thing to note is that in Derlavai, magic is gathered from leylines that are scattered across the world in a grand network- due to this, many Derlavai ships powered by magic have very limited maneuverability, and for Mages (who gather magic, they don't create it), the capabilities of a spell differ from place to place in minor ways (although animal/human sacrifice helps boost the power of a spell immensely).

===Important Technologies===

Usually this would be where I'd put in the Important Factions list- but it's everything from WWII under a new coat of paint so to speak- the story is very much following the broad strokes of the second world war, so we can all guess onto the alliances and such of these people.

Sticks

The analogue to a gun in this world, a Stick is a magical artifact more-less shaped like a thin block of wood with a 'blazing hole' around where you'd expect to see a trigger. All it requires is for uncovered flesh to enter this hole and suddenly a blazing beam of energy similar to a bolt of lightning will flash out and char a hole through any unfortunate bastard unless they are heavily armored or naturally durable (a soldiers stick ain't gonna do shit to a Dragon or Behemoth, but will cut through a person and a unicorn). There also exist larger sticks that are carried on Behemoths, able to cut through several men with ease, shoot through armor and take down dragons, and there are even larger sticks outfitted on ships or as turrets or main guns.

All Sticks used away from a power point or ley line require periodic recharging, which can be achieved in some unspecified way through the delivery of what is only described as 'charges' in supply wagons, or by the interventions of a mage drawing energy from a power point or sacrifice (for example, if you kill a man who's holding a stick, you can reliably pick that Stick up and expect it to have a heightened charge).

Eggs

The name given to the Derlavaian equivalent of bombs and shells, eggs are thin metal shells filled with magical energy which burst, or explode, when they impact a target or are triggered by an appropriate spell. A variety of uses for eggs are seen in the series. Armies launch them like shells from magically powered 'egg-tossers', which may be standalone devices or mounted on ley-line ships or behemoths.

Dragons can carry eggs beneath their bellies for their fliers to drop on enemy forces or cities. Eggs may also be buried in the ground and enchanted to explode like landmines if they sense pressure, or can be buried along ley lines and set to explode if a ley line caravan passes over them, which simultaneously destroys the caravan and overloads the ley line's controlling spells, making not only an impressive explosion but also has the ship go flying out into open sea. Leviathan riders also use eggs for mining enemy ships.

Dragons

Dragons are Dragons- borne and raised, trained (with some difficulty, as they are wily and aggressive creatures) and can breathe fire. What do I need to say, besides that Galbatorix will enjoy their company?

Behemoths

Behemoths- bid, dumb, dull and tough, it's essentially a Wooly Rhino the size of a house, bristling with soldiers. They're the equivalent of a Tank, and are typically equipped with a very big stick capable of punching holes through buildings.

God, it's sad how little I can write on these.

Leviathan

The equivalent to a U-Boat, Leviathans are a distant relative of the Whale shaped somewhat like a Serpent and are trained to act as scouts and aquatic assassins, with their riders having an enchantment that allows them to breathe underwater.

A single Leviathan with a smart pilot can spell the end for an entire port.

Crystal

Smooth spheres of glass, crystals are imbued with spells which allow them to be used for communication, and thus take the place of radios in the world. If operated away from a power point or ley line, they require regular recharging by some other means, which in one instance in the series involves the sacrifice of captive humans for their life energy which is used to power the crystal. Crystals can operate as videophones, showing an image of the person at the other end, as well as in audio-only mode. The emanations by which speech and images are transmitted between them are subject to interception by other mages.
The Naantali Project

PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR ATTACK!
Warned but did not heed,
PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR ATTACK!
Extermination!
Strike back!
Chose not to believe-
ANOTHER NUCLEAR ATTACK!

Yup- these fuckers can make Nuclear Explosions. And, in what is a fucking terrifying move, it's more devastating than a nuke of our own world. You see, we have to use missiles, bombs and targeting for such a weapon to take effect.

With the Naantali Spell, 

YOU NEED TO HAVE A MAGE JUST POINT ON A MAP 

AND SUDDENLY EXPLOSION

However, this is not a spell that can be done just willy-nilly, it requires extensive work and preparation. The weapon requires grandparent and grandchild rats, rabbits or any other living creatures. Given the appropriate spells and mages able to perform them, the grandparent is pushed forward in time and the grandchild backward, killing them in the process and deriving enormous magical energy. Moreover, the mages themselves can deliver the energy to any target, by simply pointing out the spot on the globe. 

The magic can also create a protective spell to defend a city and deflect the magical energy hurled against it, so using such spells is now even MORE Mutually Assure Destruction- with a single genocide, I can make the magical equivalent to a Holtzmann Shield, where your nuke is flung at me, bounces off and than hits you in the fucking face. 

It is speculated that using humans (and hypothetically other sapient beings with truly 'tangible' souls) may make a more powerful magical explosion, but was never proven as Algarve was never able to complete their own Naantali project.

===How Magic Works and What It Can Do===

Magic in the Darkness series is not created by mages but rather harnessed by them. The mages of Derlavai gather magical power from the various power points scattered around the planet and the ley lines which link them, a recent discovery made only 200 years before the start of the books. Mages can also gather magic from human sacrifice. As such, the operation of magic is heavily reliant on location. Large, modern cities tend to be located on or near strong power points which provide the energy for the operation of the city's lighting, heating and other comforts. In addition, large power points tend to be linked to greater numbers of ley lines, which are utilised for transportation between cities and towns.

Magic is also nothing innately skilled- There are fundamental laws of magic, which require intense studying to master in order to become a mage. Though popular "how-to" books for the general public do exist, the spells published in them are not always reliable, and can backfire in dangerous or embarrassing ways. Professional mages are divided into "theoretical" and "practical." Theoretical mages research the relationships and underlying laws governing the behaviour of matter and energy, formulate hypotheses expressed in complicated mathematical formulas, and devise careful experiments in order to prove or disprove these hypotheses empirically. Practical mages use the theories devised by theoretical mages to make devices that can be used by the general public.

Because of magic, there appears to be less of a need for mass industry. There are plants producing pottery, for example, in large amounts, but behemoths and dragons are bred on farms and clothing appears to be made by tailors instead of in factories.

On the civilian scene, magic is much less important, being limited to applications such as rest boxes (an analogue to the refrigerator which operates by slowing the effects of time on its contents), lighting (in places where such sorcerous power is available) and ley line ships, while in the military magic is involved in the production and use of almost all their weapons and supplies.

Most of the magical items in the world of Derlavai are analogues to everyday, or military, devices in our world.While the series is more concerned with military affairs than with economic ones, it seems that there are three competing ways of producing things:

• By direct magic, using the law of similarity which can obviously be applied to mass production. This method is fast, but can produce inferior goods if not conducted with skill and effort.
• By artisans, who work by hand and use a limited amount of magic. Each profession has some spells, and the knowledge and use of them is considered a normal part of that trade rather than a form of magecraft.
• Mass production by machines, as in our world.

There is also mention of the Kuusamans rapidly building a new port in a newly conquered island by magic, which is evident from all buildings being the same (indicating that the spells made extensive use of the law of similarity). It is noted that only a country with many skilled mages could have spared the resources for such construction. In another place it is noted that printing is usually done by mechanical means, but the Valmieren resistance utilizes magic for reproducing a propaganda sheet in order to avoid detection by the occupying authorities.

The result of this magical duplication is readable, but the ink smudges easily as it was produced without the aid of a power point or an experienced mage.

===Important Individuals===

As lazy this will sound, I'm not really going to do this section aside from translating the real-life people to their Derlavai counterparts. Because that's all these people are.

• Adolf Hitler = King Mezentio (Algarve)
• Joseph Stalin = King Swemmel (Unkerlant)
• King Donalitu (Jelgava) no equivalent and nothing of note (the one original Person, and he has no interesting character traits. GOD FUCKING DAMN-), to be replaced by Mezentio's brother (Francisco Franco equivalent- why he's Hitler's  Mezentio's brother is anyones guess) when Algarve conquers the area
• Winston Churchill = King Vitor
• Benito Mussolini = Yaninan King

And that's all I got: Also, Gyongyos is ruled by an Ekrekek (Emperor), and Kuusano is ruled by Several Princes who share power.

I hope reading through this was as exciting for you as it was for me.

Danger Status: 5/5: Every soldier uses a wand the shape of a rifle that shoots energy weapons (that can only be reflected by silver or similarly reflective metals), they've got living tanks which are essentially a Woolly Mammoth, an utterly bullshit magic system (Genocide now equals Nuclear Weaponry. Need I explain how this could be dangerous, especially if someone learns this magic system?) and can aerial blitz cities with magical bombs. Even The Alliance is going to call fucking bullshit on these people, and whomever wins here will have some terrifyingly potent gains.