Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Welcome to Arcanum, a land of possibilities, a place where many races live together, and a place where magic and technology coexist in an uneasy balance. Arcanum was originally the land of magic until the industrial revolution started, kickstarting the supremacy of technology. Unified kingdom embraced technology and became a very powerful nation, eventually, they decided to unite entire arcanum under their banner. Kingdom of Arland, also embraced technology but unlike Unified kingdom, they retain their traditional ways including the continued reliance on magic while at the same time relying on the latest technology. Sadfully, Kingdom of Cumbria, a nation that used to be most powerful nation in past, continued to go according to their traditional ways, relying only on magic and pre-industrial technology only, this only result in Cumbria to degrade both in economy and military, but the it's monarch didn't learn from his mistake and blame the technology for the weakening of Cumbria, and banned all form of modern technology in his kingdom, which ironically, could have saved Cumbria.
Thomas White, an inhabitant of Arland, is child born into wealthy noble family, his father is a renowned technologist, while his wife is a prodigy in four elemental spells. When Thomas was a kid, his both parents as well as his relatives from paternal and maternal side debated whether he should learn the great art of magic or he should throw away the old ways in favour of mastering the way of technology, while one side family wanted Thomas to become a powerful mage, the other side of family wanted him to become a learned technologist instead. In the end Thomas's family couldn't determine Thomas's path, so, they left it to Thomas instead. Thomas being quite mature for a kid, told them that he will think about it once he grew up, and chose to learn the basic knowledge of both magic and technology.
When Thomas rached the age of 20, he booked the flight for Tarant the capital of Unified Kingdom, in hope to find a job as well as to determine which path he will take, suddenly two unknown aircraft attacked the IFS Zephyr, the flying vehicle, he was travelling. Luckilly, Thomas was the only one who survived, while looking for survivors he found a dying gnome named Preston Radcliffe, he told Thomas to find the 'boy' and give him back his ring and that he know, what's need to be done, he also told about a certain evil returning and that he escaped from this evil to warn the 'boy' about the danger, hoping that the boy can stop him. Soon, the gnome took his last breath while telling Thomas that everything is all up to him.
After the gnome died, a mysterious man came, told Thomas that he is 'Living one', the reincarnation of a powerful figure who is destined to fight a powerful evil that threatened all life in the Arcanum by either walking on path of magic or technology, disregarding the fact that he was a mage in his past life. Thomas realising that he got himself into something, choose to face the trouble lie ahead, and find the 'boy', the gnome mentioned.
PS: This a fanfiction, I wrote, after being sick and tired of the fact there is no fanfiction about my favourite game. Also, I don't own Arcanum and it's logo I uploaded, the game and the logo is the property of Troika games and Sierra entertainment. Also few things in this story may not match with the story, it is intentional to prevent the story become too simple and unrealistic for the readers.
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Thomas White2025-05-08 21:35
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