"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength"
Note: Information on this page is OOC knowledge, except with agreement from the Sable GM
The New Oceania Shadows
Shadow Dynamics
The Creation of New Oceania did not go according to plan, and there have been unexpected knock-on effects to the Shadows around it. New Oceania now takes up too much metaphysical "space". Therefore, the universe is adjusting around it, and the seven-Shadow block is steadily compressing into a single Shadow-sized area. This continues to cause problem, as it is compressing the reality of the world, so it is becoming more solid. The flawed ritual in which New Oceania came into being affected three rings of Shadow around the original relocated site of the Maniran Broken Pattern, and these are the ones experiencing major problems. The First Ring became part of New Oceania, leaving the Inner Ring, and the Outer Ring still adjusting. These also have the compression problem, as 37 worlds are trying to cram into the metaphysical space previously occupied by 19. As this occurred, a third ring, the New Worlds, came into being to fill the void.
The New Worlds
These comprise eighteen worlds which, when discovered by Sable forces, were not completely formed. Through the combined actions of King Robert of Sable, RFSS Rupert Delatz and Prime Interface Andrew de Lacy, these have now been solidified, and their original fluid nature has been "set in stone". Each of the three Powers has been given control of six of these Shadows, and a security cordon has been created to attempt to contain the Shadow instabilities surrounding New Oceania.
The three defence blocs are called the Silver Shadows (Sable), the Westphalia Group (the Reich) and the Array of the Quaternary Node (Technocracy). Viceroys have been appointed by each Power to rule their respective worlds. At this time, they are Viceroy Prince Thomas de Lacy, speaking for Sable; General Conrad Berthelmes, Reichsprotektor; and Helena-Maria Latz, Interface of the Qaternary Node.
In addition, the world of Midgard, under the rulership of Warleader Rudolf Lange, is considered to be part of the Westphalia Group. However, it is technically a Non-Reich allied Shadow, which owes its allegiance to the Fürstentum von Valhalla.
The Outer Ring
The Outer Ring was originally made up of eighteen worlds. These were the outermost Shadows originally affected by the central ritual which formed New Oceania, but because they were further away from the centre, they began to recover more quickly. Signs of this are evident on those worlds. However, as the compression effect runs its course, these are beginning to compact and merge. Many of them have indigenous populations which are still able to eke out a living there, although every so often parts of those worlds just disappear - either gone altogether or subsumed into the world next door. Tech levels are variable, although with the destruction from the creation of New Oceania, the playing field was levelled rather, so they now all fall somewhere between seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It is possible to spot the joins where bits of the wrong world have merged into each other.
The Inner Ring (aka The Wilds)
The Inner Ring is compressing even further, as twelve worlds are reducing to six. This makes the area very unstable and pretty uninhabitable, with roiling Shadow storms which are unlikely to go away until the compaction process is completed. A number of weird, wonderful and ultimately very hostile creatures have formed out of the mayhem: all of them shapeshifters, most of them of the chaos spiky bits variety, and all of them hostile to more normal forms of life. These creatures can survive the storms and move between the Inner Ring worlds, and occasionally find their way onto both New Oceania and out into the Outer Ring.
The mayhem and chaos in the Inner Ring make it difficult to get both into and out of New Oceania. To travel with any form of certainty of direction needs Basic initiation to a Major Power, or Advanced initiation to the Manira 1.0 or Manira 2.0 Broken Patterns (including the one rebuilt in Veil 9 by the RFSS).
On the positive side, at least from New Oceania's point of view, is the fact that the turmoil in the Inner Ring is effectively acting as a kind of defence zone, much like the one the Brotherhood of the Martyr developed around first the original Veil 9 Manira 1.0, and later around the pre-rebuild Manira 2.0 - which ultimately was what led to the damage from the inscription of the Oceania Design spreading out so far. However, this time the area is uncontrolled.
New Oceania
Geography
New Oceania itself is undergoing the throes of recreation, as seven Shadows compress into the central one, forming a much more solid, much more real core. Tech levels, etc, vary across the world, as the seven Shadows compress into one. As a whole, New Oceania is roughly the size of Earth, although due to the vagaries of the compaction, the land water split is about 45/55, rather than 30/70. About 6% of the available water on New Oceania is fresh. There is a reasonable amount of agricultural land and natural resources, but at any given time, significant areas of these are unavailable, due to the instability caused by the compression.
The most stable area is the original Manira 2.0 duel continental system of Northern Oceania and Southern Oceania, which were terraformed to be an exact duplicate of Veil 9 Manira, up to and including Martyr's Island. Geographically, this area is roughly the size of Europe and Asia combined, spread latitudinally and centrally, with Martyr's Island actually on the Equator. The remainder of the world is made up of remnants of other Shadows which have compressed into the central one. The naming convention for these relates to their rough geographic proximity when they were all still viable Shadows.
Noreasia/Norwasia, Veil 49
Noreasia was undergoing a significant colonial expansion and industry was moving apace towards late-nineteenth century levels. The society was somewhat militaristic, and inherently defends its own people and places.
Norwasia was more agricultural with developing industry and a tech level of roughly early-nineteenth century.
Eastasia/Westasia, Veil 50
Eastasia was something of an oddity, being rural Medieval. It provided quite a lot of the food which was taken by Manira 2.0.
Westasia was more modern, up at around 1970s tech, which has pulled up the level of New Oceania somewhat.
Soreasia/Sorwasia, Veil 51
Soreasia had a late-nineteenth, expansionist culture, reminiscent of Sable in its early days.
Sorwasia was early-twentieth century, comparable to the Reich, with a similar attitude to life.
Noreasia and Sorwasia have caused the most problems for the New Oceania government, as they aren't giving up without a fight, and both are very capable of defending themselves.
Climate
There is the usual climatic variation across a world of this size, although this is made worse by the amount of dust which has been thrown into the atmosphere as the world compresses. It's not quite as bad as a full nuclear winter, but temperatures are probably five degrees Celsius lower than their Earth geographical equivalents, which also isn't helping the production of food. Most of the agriculture on the Shadow is organised through collective farming, under centralised control.
Magic
Magic is nothing like as strong as the Brotherhood would have liked, but given the problems with the drawing of Oceania Design, they were unable to control and guide its formation. The Talent is not that common among the people who were created with the drawing of the Oceania Design, as distinct from the original Brotherhood group - now the Ministry of the Brotherhood - who relocated here from Manira to found Manira 2.0, and have a higher degree of Talent. The hope is that once the two groups start interbreeding, the general level of Talent across the Shadow will increase. To become an initiate of the Oceania Design does boost magical ability closer to what might be expected somewhere like Sable or the Technocracy. However, except for those members of the Brotherhood who had Instilled BPD3, there are a limited number of initiates.