Valenth

The Civilian and the Serviceman

One of the key things to remember when taking part in official RP is that, in most urban settings, life has a certain standard of normalcy. Even in SRO territory, mutant beasts don't roam the streets; shady business is kept away from the public eye, if only to give a sense of a safe, typical community to ousiders.

In the real world, most city people do not witness dangerous animals such as tigers, wolves, or rhinoceri wandering past. Even something more common such as a bear wandering through a town is an uncommon situation, and it causes a commotion among nearby people who see it happening.

In Dremish cities, all manner of non-monstrous, non-undead races are common. Humans, Aeneski, chimaera and silisk are all accounted for, and one may even see the occasional leupak or erosion in a humanoid form.

On the other hand, strange things cause a disturbance among the common folk. Vampire and werewolf sightings are frightening, and will usually get the local authorities on a move to find and neutralize the potential danger. Monsters wandering in from the wild areas are also a concern... and non-factional dragons are a cause of immediate panic! Even flarion and boralion are scary, both for being dragons to begin with, and because their presence usually marks a serious event.

Ancient, powerful beings, gigantic monsters and feral beasts don't roam the streets of cities in Valenth. This isn't because they don't exist; it's simply because such creatures have greater impact when they're not the norm!

The character you play will likely not be a civilian (though playing a civilian is not only okay, but likely a fun change of pace!). They may be exposed to different phenomena from their travels, from working with a faction or other background.
Keep in mind that what they're used to isn't typical for everyone, though; for example, Cylle the mercenary has seen her share of rampaging monsters, shady dealings and bad company.
When things go down, she likely wouldn't bat an eye, while the local constabularies may be paralyzed with terror.

Valenth and its Technology

In Earth terms, modern Valenth most resembles the late 1800s-early 1900s in terms of basic setting and fashion (the key word being resembles; it's for comparison!).

Electricity does not yet exist as a commercial form of power; Valenthian energy is primarily gas and steam, with miracrystal energy making advancements in small devices in areas where people are not too frightened by it as a source.

Trains run on steam, and some ships do; steamships are a more recent development, and many are still wind-powered ships. Zeppelins are powered by miracrystal; while rarely privately-owned, many organizations provide zeppelins for public travel between specific points.

The most common and inexpensive ground transportation is mounted travel or via drawn carriage; these are most often pulled by horse, stag, or drake (also the most commonly-used mounts).

Computers exist, though they are a) extremely rare b) extremely expensive c) extremely large and d) do not work like Earth computers. 95% of all computers on Valenth are created by MIRACLE, being miracrystal-powered, and all of them are owned by large organizations and companies (no privately-owned computers yet!). This also means devices powered by small computers on Earth do not yet exist on Valenth, as technology hasn't come that far.

Technological constructs and devices humanoid-size or smaller are always powered by gas or miracrystal-- miracrystal is always used in robotics.

Automobiles as we know them have not yet been invented; the most comparable vehicle is the robot-drawn carriage, which is miracrystal-powered and most typically used by Chimrean and Luxi nobles.

The most important piece of Valenthian technology is the varanius-- it is found in every home in the civilized world (barring those places that shun mirajin energy, of course), and is considered one of the greatest advancements to robotics and technology as a whole.

Communications-wise, the radio (miracrystal-powered, of course) is significant. Valenthian radio tends to be large and bulky, however, and not suitable for portable use.