Theme:FFAC-1 Ramuh

RAMUH, THE THUNDERING PLAINS

OVERVIEW

Ramuh is the most technomagically-advanced continent on Galianda. A single massive city divided into thirteen sectors, Ramuh is a center of manufacturing, of production, and of cultural development. Its sweeping glass-and-steel towers channel the constant storms into the fuel that runs the City Without Sun, ensuring that no matter where you are, no matter how heavy the rainfall, there are lights to guide your path.

CLIMATE

Ramuh’s most popular nickname is the City Without Sun for a very good reason. The constant, endless storms that affect the continent leave no room for the sun to peek through the clouds, except in very brief instances - once or twice a year, at best. The rest of the time, the weather is an endless downpour of varying severity, generally depending on the season. It’s a common saying among those who live on Ramuh that the Ramuha are more waterlogged than the Levitani, more familiar with wind than the Dragons, and more friendly with fire than the Ifriti.

The lower down one goes into the City, the less this becomes true. Below the Highway Point, the ground experiences only slightly drizzles of water, drained away from the upper roads by necessity and simple physics. The lower streets are a frigid network of artificial tunnels, stalls, and skyscrapers, lit by lines of fire and hovering magic signs.

PEOPLE

The Ramuha are a people of innovation. They had to be, just to survive on a continent so very determined to drown them, burn them, and buffet them over the side. They mastered the power of Lightning before any other subrace could; they built the towering steel towers, the glass citadels that channel power from the sky itself to keep their city alive; they are the primary technologists, the primary inventors, the primary idea-men. Every Ramuha, it’s said, has a single great idea, born from the blood of Grandfather Ramuh himself. Ramuha schools encourage innovation, exploration, and independence.

Independence more than anything. The Ramuha are a people of independent thought and independent action, and many would say that it is their greatest weakness. They are culturally predisposed towards looking out for themselves, thanks to the blood-soaked capitalist powerhouse that they have crafted for themselves. Skill, innovation, and personal accomplishment are prized over all else among the Ramuha. The City Without Sun teaches its children to be like lightning - to strike swiftly and decisively, or not at all.

Ramuha tend towards pale skin and fair hair. Many Ramuha have bright colors in their eyes and hair, especially those who actually live on Ramuh, and frequently will express patterns of various natures (such as lightning-bolts of a different color) on their bodies. Rarely are muted or earthy tones present on their bodies at all - instead, hair and eye trends towards blonde, white, blue, bright green, and bright yellow. Ramuha also tend to be slightly thinner than most other subraces.

ON THE STREETS

The people of the streets never stop moving. Like the lightning trains, like the electric lights and displays that crackle to tell people of their wares, the city people never stop. They are always moving, always looking for the next big thing, the next trend, the next idea to back or be part of. The fashion scene of the Ramuha Streets is perhaps the most exciting and varied subculture, with a million big ideas all trying to push their way forward to prominence. New fashions flare up and die in the span of a week, keeping everyone - everyone - on their toes.

Food is also extremely important in the Streets. Various stalls abound, fusion cuisine from all across the continents and the minds of the owners. Stalls and restaurants frequently grow their own supplies using accelerated magical gardens and Haste Lamps (identical to the lamps used on the Great Span, in fact), because to be less than fresh in the undercity is to be out of business in no time. Word of mouth flows like the lightning signs, fast and decisive.

Slang is rapid and fast-paced on the streets. Terms like “to buzz” and “to fray” are thrown around, changing meanings based entirely on context. Dialects between the sectors varies heavily, particularly further out; it’s often easy to tell where someone is from just by how they use particular slang words. Since slang is primarily communicated by the MogNet and graffiti, this isn’t surprising.

IN THE TOWERS

The towers are the centers of industry and nobility among the Ramuha. The people of the towers are almost an entirely different breed from the people of the streets - refined and subtle, like the charge building in the air, the nobility wait to strike until the time is absolutely right - until they can be certain that they will succeed. The Council Of Mayors rules the thirteen sectors with a velvet glove, elected by the people to represent them before the King. The current King is Rycharde al Cid (Judge/Samurai), fifth king of the al Cid Dynasty. His son, Prince Landon al Cid (Judge/??), is quickly gaining prominence among the younger populace as a fair-handed young man.

The nobility is a storied lot. Between the families elevated by the rise of the al Cid, the families who lost prominence when the al Cid took power in the rebellion two hundred years ago, and the wealthy commoners who now sit in the king’s court, the only real common thread is the power of money. Gil moves lightning, goes the saying, and nowhere is it truer than amidst the families. Children are bought and sold into political and economic marriages in the blink of an eye to increase standing. Powerful families back powerful politicians to form alliances against other families. An ideally-bloodless war is fought under the nose of the King and his son, a deadly ballet in which each participant is a willing and eager member. For the nobility of Ramuha, the world may be modern, but the methods are as medieval as they have always been.

THE CORPORATIONS

The problem with gil moving lightning, of course, is that those without sufficient blood can frequently find themselves in places of immense personal power. The “Trader Princes”, as CEOs and wealthy merchants are often known, are often at odds with the “Old Blood” for reasons that are obvious to anyone with half a brain. Unfortunately, the corporations continue to grow in power, often touting themselves as proponents of what the common man is capable of if he just applies the principles of capitalism and lightning to himself. This makes them wildly popular with the people of the street, leading to the corporations acquiring even more power in the government, leading to a vicious cycle in which the nobility finds themselves losing power at a rapid, rapid rate.

Fortunately, corporate competition is just as bloodthirsty, if not moreso, as the murderous ballet between nobility. Headhunting, corporate sabotage, and dirty deals have become a common means of getting things done among the corporations. The polite rules and restrictions of Law that keep the nobles in line often forget to account for the bloody corporate challenges, making the “Trader Princes” even more adept at shifty business than the Old Blood.

THE JUDGES

It is said that the true masters of Ramuh are the Judges. It was a pact with Carbuncle that sealed the fate of the rebellion and put the al Cids in power; they abolished the previous systems, discarded the old ways, and created a power derived from Carbuncle’s mighty magic - the Law Cards. The Law Cards derive their power from the al Cid throne, symbol of the Lawmaker’s pact; they allow the Judges to wield immense power over their immediate area, so long as those powers are in accord with the King’s Law. The cards establish a field of Absolute Law, in which the Judge can call upon certain effects, depending on the severity of the crime in question.

Judges are also granted the unique sword known as the Judge’s Blade, a weapon that cannot slay the innocent, no matter how hard they try, to help them keep the peace. Their heavy, face-concealing armor is a symbol of the al Cid dynasty’s strength, and more than one crime family has found themselves on the wrong end of that armor and sword since the al Cids ascended to power.

Judges wield immense power over the setting and Matt/Assassin is uncomfortable with allowing people he doesn’t personally know very well to play such a thing. Please ask him if you have ANY doubts about how well he knows you.