Living Empires is the fantasy setting that lays the foundation for the entire Living Saga experience.
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It takes place on the world of Evorstrom where two distinct lineages of people have built enclaves, towns and cities across the world. There are goblins, trolls and ogres who evolved from gazelle-like ungulates and there are humans, dwarves and elves who evolved from ape-like primates.
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What divides people and cultures in this world is not species or gender, but SIGN. Every living thing - plant, animal and person - is marked with one of 8 Signs which are believed to be a divine being's mark of ownership.
Wave landscape - blue
Wind landscape - purple
Flame landscape - orange
Wave landscape - blue
The relationships between Signs and their cultures are complex. A Flame-Sign goblin has far more in common with a Flame-Sign elf than they do with a goblin of a different Sign. In fact, a Flame-Signed person and a Wind-Signed person might feel actual aversion toward each other on a genetic level.
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There is an esoteric component to each Sign. Eating food derived from plants and animals of one's own Sign provides full nutrition. However, the further away on the circle of Sign relationships one's food comes from, the less nutritional benefit a person receives. Opposite-Signed food can even be poisonous.
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The other most notable aspect of the world of Evorstrom is that once a generation or so, a person is born marked with TWO Signs! These remarkable individuals, called Saints, are revered by the populace, manipulated by the churches and exploited by governments.
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Each Sign has its own distinct forms of magic. Saints wield supreme levels of magical power. If the two Signs of a Saint are far apart on the circle it is not uncommon for that Saint to go mad and unleash continent-spanning devastation. Saints with closely-related Signs have been known to make great scientific or academic discoveries or to have engendered lasting peace between conflicting peoples.
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With all society, culture, magic, technology and religion based exclusively on Sign, imagine what happens to people's most fundamental beliefs when more than one Saint appears in the world and new Signs emerge challenging the very foundation of everything that is held to be sacrosanct and true!
