What does the world emphasize?
The majority of societal problems in Fragrance can be traced back to poor decision-making by the government. Skyrocketing costs of living in the Fragrance Administrative Region and stagnant government salary cause many officials to accept bribes and donations, which lend more power to a small handful of private corporations or individuals.
In addition, the FAR Police Department is constantly understaffed, as the adversaries they face are often more powerful and capable than they are. Regular beat cops and patrol units usually perish in the line of duty before they are even promoted, and as a result there is little incentive to join the PD. However, the FAR PD that have survived to this day are considered some of the most dangerous, deadly, and cunning individuals in all of Fragrance.
To fill the power void that the government left, a handful of prominent factions emerged from the underworld. Some of these factions are criminal in nature, taking the form of gangs, mobs, or rings. Others strive toward a more legitimate approach, labeling themselves as consortiums, networks, syndicates, or trusts.
These factions help maintain and uphold services and infrastructure that the government should typically be responsible for. Some of these services include public transportation, regional security, “law” enforcement, healthcare, waste management, energy generation and distribution, and even military force.
Factions, from the most prominent corporations to the shadiest unspoken cartels, all strive to obtain more power. What they seek to do with that power, however, varies greatly from group to group.
Many individuals in this world (almost 50%) are magic-capable to some degree. However, while the magic-capable (a.k.a. mancers, or sparkles colloquially) developed magical abilities, the magic-incapable (a.k.a. mundane, or square colloquially) continued evolving their basic characteristics. As such, magic-incapable individuals have heightened senses, greater physical prowess, and sometimes greater cognitive ability. Naturally, the extent to which these attributes are reflected vary greatly from person to person.
Technology has evolved to follow the ever-changing abilities that Fragrance’s populous develops. Magisight goggles, for instance, allow the magic-incapable to see magical auras and energy flows, and even deduce what abilities have been used in an area. Another example would be Regenerounds: a type of bullet consisting of divine healing, distilled into liquid form and encapsulated in a ballistic glass pellet. With the invention of Regenerounds, medical mancers no longer need to be in the frontlines of conflict; they instead load several magazines with Regenerounds (that they make beforehand) and hand it off to the nearest merc.