Lakora
Lakora takes the northern half of the continent, known for it’s swinging temperatures and lovely florals. The seasons are diverse and colourful, the animal population abundant in all the present towns. Even before the official divide, the culture was always about expression and emotions. The people would wear colours bases on their mood or the weather, and swaps throughout the day wouldn’t be abnormal. Lakora is about trust and compassion, sharing supplies and memories.
The magic here comes from the flora, and there have been many theories on this over time. The long-standing idea was that magic existed in the air for everyone to gather and use. However, recent conjoined research between factions proved that it was a cycle between flora and fauna through cellular respiration and photosynthesis. The Lakorites dedicated regions of their land to protecting and preserving the plants and trees that grew there, establishing many government-protected areas. The more plants around, the stronger the energy, and thus, one can find bountiful flowers all through the towns.
There are many ways to use arcane abilities, but fundamentals tend to start in the classic elemental abilities. Children are taught from young ages about channelling fire and water, using them to heal and harm respectively, yet also learning the repercussions from abusing magic. As they grow up, the magic branched out to the limits’ on one’s imagination and skill. Between all the ways of casting spells, it’s become a diverse way of personal expression and freedom, stemming from using runes, playing cards with signals, wands and other objects to channel magic, or even telekinetic-based moves. There are plenty of strict rules in place to keep the creative damage to a minimum, but events do happen every once and then. All the people can do afterwards is work together and rebuild.
Selenium
For all purposes, Selenium regulates all part of society. In the early years, the industrialization, carbon emissions, and plans to expand into wild life already heavily damaged the biological side. On the flip side, All the cities there are interlinked with teleporters and equipped with proper filters and generators inside their artificial domes. All the weather cycles are regulated, the oxygen levels in place, and the same network spanning across. The magic presence is there, it’s just significantly weaker and rarely used. In Selenium, technology represents progress, taking society to future ventures never seen before.
Everything is built for peak efficiency. There are massive railway systems for locations not fitted with teleporters, special dome cities built just for mechanical testing, and a variety of shops for all sorts of projects. Here, the copywrite laws take charge and the plagiarism of inventions can have serious repercussions. Where Lakora defines personal appearance on being expressive, Selenium chooses outfits to show them off. Collaboration is highly recommended between partners or member working on the same field. Everything is about testing again and again until it works.
People choose Selenium because they act as an interconnected community. It’s reliable and messages travel fast. Need help with a new component? There will always be a quick response over the network. The inventions here are gound in hard science and math, and it never deals with the uncertain factors of magic. The level of health care ensures that most incidents can be fixes, and cyber enhancements added for personal improvement. Selenium thrives off creativity with control, knowing one’s limits, and yet knowing when to break them.