Nimandor Terra

In the year 842, instead of signing the Strasbourg Oaths, Charles the Bald and Louis the German discovered an ancient artifact: the Ark of Aether, a remnant of a magical parallel world called Nimandor. Attempting to use this relic as a symbol of unity, they accidentally activated it during the ceremony. This ritual opened a Veil between Earth and Nimandor, irreversibly merging the two realities. Entire sections of Nimandor appear on Earth: floating forests, singing mountains, inverted rivers... Certain regions of Europe are literally distorted. Humans develop, depending on their lineage and their proximity to the faults, elemental affinities or esoteric powers (such as clairvoyance, necromancy, or transmutation). Elves, sylphs, drakens, djinns, but also darker creatures, appear in the countryside, forests, or cities. The consequences spread to other continents. The Carolingian Empire become the Aetherian Empire, a centralized power blending magic and proto-industrial technology. The emperor is now an Archon, a fusion of human ruler and Nimandorian entity. Some territories reject this fusion (such as England or parts of Scandinavia), leading to religious and mystical wars. The Council of the Arcane Inquisition is an organization founded by the Church to supervise (or eliminate) magic users. Rome becomes an occult center, where faith and thaumaturgy mingle. ... It's the 2020s. Nimandor Terra has more than 10 billion inhabitants. Technological evolution hasn't been fueled by electricity or oil, but by Aether, an omnipresent magical energy channeled through conductive crystals, attunement glyphs, and bound entities. (History details in the story cards)