Notes and Errata of Mark of the Asphodel

OK. So, sixteen-year-old Merric is a student at Khadein University studying wind power applications. He's a well-regarded student and a favorite of Professor Wendell, but he keeps getting into scrapes with a fellow student named Ellerean, whose study focus is the dangerous fringe field of electrical technology.

Anyway, things are going along well enough when a horrific act of industrial sabotage takes place in Merric's homeland of Altea-- a regional center of steam and hydropower thanks to its abundant water supply. An attack on Altea's great steam engines causes chaos and destabilization; Merric's attempt to get to the bottom of things leads him on a truly bizarre odyssey involving airships, gears, arc lights, goggles, and Linde.  Oh, yes, and the permeable boundary between technology and magic.

Basically, the underlying premise is that the dragons of Archanea fostered technological development among humans instead of tutoring them in access to magic.  Canonically, the dragons had technology they used themselves, and the magic seen in the games is a substitute to bring humanity up to an equivalent standard of living.  So this would be an alternate timeline that assumes that the dragon technology, whatever that consisted of, wasn't lost.

Anyone interested in working on this, for a big bang or anything else, sign up right here.