This used to be a fairly normal human world. (With all the overpopulation, pollution, and other problems that entailed.) Then the magic came. It changed most people, one way or another. The Arcane Advent, as it eventually came to be known, changed EVERYTHING.

Suddenly, elves and dwarves, and who knows what else were real, walking around like they’d always been there. (And considering they were transformed humans, they had.) Even people who didn’t become something else were still affected. Black and white became very literal options. (Along with blue, pink, green, and every other color.)

Animals were affected, too. Some of them were uplifted, their intelligence becoming unquestionably equal to humans. And former humans. (If not superior, in some individual cases.) They also gained bipedal bodies, and the power to shapeshift into their original animal shapes, and a nearly human one. Not all animals were so lucky, though. Some were warped and twisted into monstrous beasts. The kinds of things seen in myths and nightmares.

Then there were the half-human species, like satyrs and fauns. No one knows where they came from. If they started as humans or animals. (Or possibly both.) Not that most people really care. It’s purely a matter of scholarly curiosity, now.

Compared to other living things, plants and fungi were almost untouched, though they still experienced a number of changes. They started growing faster, larger, and hardier. (On the bright side, many endangered species—plants and animals alike—were suddenly…a whole lot less endangered.)

The landscape didn’t escape unscathed, either. Huge forests grew in in days. Mountains and volcanoes sprang up without rhyme or reason. Both lone ones and whole ranges. Some deserts were replaced with lush jungles or flat plains, while others sprang up in new areas. Rivers, lakes, and seas were relocated willy-nilly.

With all the upheaval, almost 90 percent of the world’s population died1 and most technology was lost. (Admittedly, this did help solve many of the world’s most pressing problems, so…yay for silver linings?)

Just as things were starting to settle down, the dungeons started appearing, along with the mini-divinities. With them, the magic quickly stabilized, and within a few years, people had gained real control over their magic, and society largely stabilized.

In the 4,000 years since the Advent, things have changed surprisingly little. While we’ve regained many technologies, and developed several new ones with the aid of magic, the world is still stuck at something vaguely like the Renaissance Age. It’s not an exact comparison, of course. Airships are common, as are many magical devices replacing things that, before The Advent, would’ve been referred to as mod-cons.

Also, somewhere along the way, a lot of sexual taboos disappeared, though no one’s really sure when, why, or how. Then again, like the origin of the Manimals, it’s mostly a historical curiosity that almost no one cares about. Rape, both statutory and otherwise, is still a serious crime. (And there are no more double standards, either. It doesn’t matter who does it to whom, it’s all the same.) But otherwise, no one much cares.

And that's where things stand today.

WELCOME TO RUTOPIA!

My name is Applejack. Ah was born in the year 4122 After Advent. Pa was a mercenary. He was a real handsome sonuvagun who was real good with a sword. At least according to Ma. Ah wouldn’t know. He died helping someone else fight their battles when Ah was still in diapers. But he made good money doing it, and he left behind a decent nest egg. Not a huge one, though. Not enough to live on forever.

So Ma moved the two of us from the city all three of us had been born in, to a village that was so small and isolated that it didn’t even have a name. Neither did the dungeon just a day’s trot away. Actually, they probably both did, but no one ever used either one where Ah could hear.

When Ah got old enough to ask why, Ma told me she picked a village because village life is cheap. Cheap enough that she wouldn’t have to work for several years. And she picked this particular one because of the dungeon. She used to be a member of the Delver’s Guild, before she got pregnant with me and settled down. And since she always planned to go back to it once Ah grew up, she never officially quit. Which meant she could still go exploring the local dungeon to supplement the money Pa left us. Which she started doing when Ah entered my double-digits.

You ever hear the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’? That’s how it was in the village. With barely over 200 people—mostly Furred Races, like Ma and me, though there was a family of orcs—everyone knew everyone else, and all us kids were kinda raised communally. So even when Ma was gone for a week or more at a time, there was never not an adult or few around.

Ma never went very deep when she went delving. Not until the last few years, when Ah was finally old enough to move out and live on my own. Not that Ah ever did. There was no need. We were actually one of the richer families in the village and had one of the larger houses. Ma bought it when we moved here, and it had been expanded a fair bit over the years, planning for the future. If Ah’d ever found someone to marry, they’d have moved in with us, not that any of the people in the village ever appealed to me in a marrying kind of way.

But delving is dangerous, even when you’re as careful as Ma was. Cause sometimes, careful just ain’t enough. She disappeared a bit over a year ago. No one knows exactly what happened to her, but when she hadn’t come back after a couple moons, everyone knew she wasn’t coming back at all. No one ever found the body, but that don’t mean much. Ah worked through my grief by working. Or trying to. Ah tried apprenticing with every crafter in the village, but none of them could really hold my attention. Fortunately, everyone was understanding, and they weren’t too upset when Ah quit. Mostly, Ah just puttered around the house.

A house that was meant to someday hold a whole family. It had been too big for two people, and now that there was only me, it was monstrous. Ah was seriously considering selling it, when a merchant caravan came through. Almost on a whim, Ah decided to collect what was left of Pa’s nest egg—which wasn’t much, after more than two decades—and join them. Everyone was sad, but no one was surprised. A couple friends of mine who’d recently married promised to keep my stuff safe and clean, for when Ah came back. Ah think they were just being polite, and don’t actually expect me to come back. Ah know Ah don’t.

Anyways, Ah traveled with the merchant’s caravan for eight moons, mostly working as a washer-woman, and generally keeping things clean. Ah also picked up a little knowledge from some of the guards. Enough to not cut my foot off with a blade, break my wrist punching someone, or shoot myself while trying to draw a pistol.2 Ah even learned how to make a couple little bits of jewelry from one of the merchants. An adorable little faerie androgyne,3 whose dexterous fingers were good for a lot more than just making jewelry. Ah was really sad to say goodbye to them—the whole caravan honestly, but them especially.

But Ah’d been intending to strike out on my own at some point, and a couple days ago, Ah’d decided it was time. So, with the previous month’s wages in hand, along with a few gifts from the guards and merchants, Ah parted ways with ‘em at a crossroad, heading off into the wilds, while they continued on towards the next stop on their route.

Author's Note

1. Of course, ten percent of 7 billion is still 700 million, which is not a very small number, objectively speaking. And is several million people per race.

2. More on this next chapter, but the short answer is: it’s a game. Don’t overthink it. Besides, Gunslinger AJ is a natural fit.

3. Androgyne is an in-universe term for a gender-fluid individual.