Hello. C J here. Welcome to my second product update for April 2025. My plans for the first couple of Expansions for my card game are being reordered. Roads to the Spirit World will now be a book line since Roads to the Spirit World is in the spirit world and by both the rules of real life mythology and my setting spirits can’t die. There’s no conflict so I can’t give them armour or weapons. I’m moving it to the Heart and Fur World game line. I’ve had to pick what of the next two Expansions I’m doing. I will do the Starter Set first but the Starter Set is done being planned.
I decided on Expansion three instead, Five Million Strong. At least that’s my plans so far. I’m done finally planning out Dragon Engine and from now on I’m just going to make the card game and Heart and Fur World and port the stuff over into Dragon Engine. I’m not used to having this much working time that isn’t learning Blueprints. So, could I handle more than one project at once? We’ll see. I guess I don’t need to learn Blueprints again. It’s done once. My job is never normal is it?
I’m really aware that we know here on this website almost nothing about Ascala, the subject of Five Million Strong. I mean there’s stuff about Ascala. It’s not enough. I’ve spent almost 20 years designing it. There’s five million people in the city. It has 21 Districts and I’m planning on detailing 19 of them and letting the players of the games make up their own 20th and 21st. I need to show you all my Ascala, the Ascala that isn’t just maps and history, that has a beating heart and an electric soul. Sure, that heart is made of concrete and steel but it’s a heart. Heart is kind of the thing I do.
Here’s some of my plans I haven’t used, mentioned, or touched. I needed the maps and history done for the video game. Now it’s time to have fun. Mandatory fun.
The corporations run like small nations and have their own wars, armies, knightly heraldic devices, colours, gameplay styles and proprietary combat and sex toy technology for their own employees. Their playstyle is Silver with maybe some Ruby if I can find room.
The Emperor of Vantara is a lion folk and he’s really fond of being gay and loves the fact that his rank means he gets the best clothing. Their colour scheme and playstyle is Quartz.
There’s an entire city or three filled with Fargather canine who are all about as stuck up and also romantically obsessed as our friend Blue the canine. Their playstyle is Quartz.
There are at least four Fair Folk Courts operating in the city limits of Ascala. These Industrial Courts include the Court of Neon, who run most of their nightclubs, the Court of Glass, who are an incorporated business guild who do particle physics, the Court of Concrete, shapeshifters who do construction work by hand and the Court of Chrome, a motorcycle gang with secret routes through the city no one else knows. Their playstyle is Emerald.
There are entire species, subcultures and monstrous races in the city of Ascala who operate hobby witchcraft covens, moots and ceremonial rites. These urban witches are a strong presence in their culture and despite the fact that almost none of them are mages or have any real skill at magic they’re a popular pastime among teenagers. Their playstyle is Onyx.
Oiwan is a modern day Japan and anime themed nation to the Northeast that invented sushi. Their Clans of dog folk operate the continent’s best run spy network and have their own internet separate from the one Ascala has. Their playstyle is Onyx.
The older religion that existed on the continent before the Three Peoples settled the southern shores still exists. Called the Old Ways by the humans of House Wander and the rare animalia techno shamans who take part in it, it worships a number of large, immortal elemental beings who helped establish farming and masonry as professions on the continent thousands of years ago. Most masons are at least aware of it. Their playstyle is Amethyst.
The actual military is called the Ascalan Guard and is a mixture of heraldic knights in power armour and a fitness and body enhancement obsessed fraternity of gay wizards. Their playstyle is Sapphire.
The Interior is an artificial desert that takes up the central third of the continent. It’s not really wild west and is more like the African Savannah. It is home to entire nations and cultures of wild monsters and wilderness species like reptile folk and bird folk. Their playstyle is Emerald.
The farmers who live inland from the coastal city that is Ascala have their own culture and often turn their people into livestock or animal forms to help them get along with their animals. Their playstyle is Topaz.
The city mostly works with the Young Gods, a pantheon of inexperienced deities who represent modern day or industrial concepts. These include wealth, nutrition and knowledge. Their religions compete for attention and wealth like normal corporations do. Their playstyle is Alabaster.
Ascala itself has a ton of stuff I haven’t mentioned that I need to add to the region cards. The region cards were needed to set up the other game lines but they’re really not done yet. Northmarket is a Northern suburb District. Governance is office towers, overpasses with monsters under them and museums to the city’s history. Eastbay is the official beach, luxury vacation and film region of the city. Shadow District was destroyed in a violent gang war that left it cursed with Dark Magic. I’m contemplating an artificial island called Neo-District where the high end corporate research bases are.
These are some of my notes. This will take a while and I can probably work on detailing all of this on cards and also in Heart and Fur World as I slowly put together the pieces for the other games. Heart and Fur World does have a really fun combat engine and is also designed so all the combat moves are also usable in social encounters. There will be rules for consensual sex. Each of these subjects or factions might get their own book. This is where I am so far.
C J Mcpherson
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