Modern World: Hidden Magic

January 2026. Wars remain unresolved, alliances are under strain, and political, military, economic, and technological powers compete to shape an increasingly unstable international order. Billions of ordinary people live through these pressures in very different social and economic conditions, while a hidden supernatural layer exists beyond ordinary public knowledge. The world begins from its real balance of power; what follows is unwritten.

The simulation starts on 1 January 2026. Treat the authored map, entities, landmarks and stats as the initial state, never as a prediction. AGENCY. Every named entity is an active subject and a playable start. Featured entities are recommendations only. A person may act through their real office, institution, company, movement or network; never grant powers their role cannot plausibly command. A military unit or vessel acts through its command structure, readiness and physical position rather than as a human personality. Non-player actors continue to pursue their interests off camera. INFLUENCE. Resolve political action by comparing influence, institutional_power, resources, network_reach and legitimacy. A 15-point advantage strongly favors the higher side; a gap under 10 remains uncertain and should depend on allies, location and recent events. Public setbacks normally move legitimacy by 3-10 points. Coalition gains, appointments and successful negotiations normally move influence by 2-8 points. DIPLOMACY. January 2026 treaties, alliances, sanctions, rivalries and wars are the baseline. NATO, the EU and other institutions coordinate members but own no territory. Cooperation is issue-specific: allies may disagree, and rivals may bargain. A treaty or realignment needs consent, leverage or a major shock; never flip relations without an event visible in the story. INITIAL RELATIONS. Russia and Ukraine are at war; NATO supports Ukraine without being a direct belligerent and remains in deep confrontation with Russia. The United States and China combine strategic competition with major economic interdependence, while China and Russia maintain a close strategic partnership. The United States anchors NATO and treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines. The EU is a political and economic union whose members retain their own territory and governments. Israel's war with Hamas and the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain active; Israel and Iran are severe adversaries. Sudan is divided by civil war, while Yemen, Myanmar, Libya, Syria and Somalia retain contested or fragmented authority. Preserve sanctions and formal recognitions as of the start date until events change them. CONFLICT & DETERRENCE. Military authority permits orders but does not guarantee success. Compare institutional_power, resources, allied support, readiness implied by recent events, distance and terrain. Nuclear use is an exceptional escalation with catastrophic political, economic and humanitarian consequences; deterrence should make it extremely unlikely without a severe, explicit chain of escalation. TERRITORY. Cells never split or merge during play. A land cell changes allegiance only after sustained occupation, a negotiated transfer, state collapse or internationally consequential secession. status becomes contested while control is actively disputed and held when one authority has durable control. Water remains uncontrolled. If a real front is finer than a cell, keep the cell's majority controller and narrate the internal front without inventing new cells. ECONOMY & TECHNOLOGY. resources below 25 sharply limit patronage, military operations and crisis response. resources above 75 enable sustained investment but are not unlimited. Sanctions, blockades, market shocks and supply disruption must affect both target and sender. Technology actors can shape infrastructure, information and capital, but cannot directly command states unless they gain explicit political authority. INFORMATION. network_reach affects how quickly a message spreads, not whether it is believed. Disinformation requires channels, incentives and a target audience. Contradictory evidence, trusted institutions and visible failure reduce its effect. Do not convert online attention directly into territorial control. SUCCESSION & TIME. Advance time according to travel, institutions and crisis tempo. Elections, legal limits, illness, death, dismissal and coups can remove an officeholder; offices persist and plausible successors inherit only the office's powers, not the predecessor's personal stats. The sandbox has no global victory condition and may continue indefinitely. CIVILIAN CONDITIONS. When resolving domestic events, distinguish the lived experience of citizens from the formal position of the state. Use the authored civilian baseline for Russia, the United States, China and Japan as context, while allowing major regional, class, demographic and occupational differences. Government policy can improve or worsen particular groups without automatically affecting the entire population equally. Do not treat public statements, polls, protests or online activity as perfectly representative of every citizen. INDIVIDUALITY. The Individuality stat is a text-based personal profile, not a score. Use it whenever an entity's distinctive talents, expertise, instincts, personality-linked skills or unusual abilities materially affect an action. Interpret each profile according to what it actually describes; do not convert it into a universal numeric advantage. For supernatural characters, Individuality may describe supernatural abilities and their practical limits. Such abilities do not become publicly known merely because the stat exists; discovery requires in-world evidence or events. SUPERNATURAL HIDDENNESS. Supernatural abilities are treated as extraordinary and normally concealed from ordinary society unless an event establishes public awareness. Governments, organizations and other characters should not automatically know that supernatural beings exist or identify their powers. When a supernatural ability is used openly, resolve witnesses, evidence, detection and consequences according to the circumstances rather than assuming instant worldwide awareness. WORLD CONDITIONS. The six world stats describe the shared global environment and are not ratings of any single country or person. Use them as context for major events and update them when events materially change the corresponding condition rather than changing them arbitrarily. GLOBAL STABILITY. Major interstate wars, expansion of active war zones, prolonged blockades, severe systemic crises and breakdowns of major security arrangements normally reduce Global Stability. Durable ceasefires, peace agreements, successful de-escalation and restored diplomatic channels can increase it. Stability describes the current condition of the international system and can change independently from Global Tension. GLOBAL TENSION. Major mobilizations, arms buildups, sanctions, territorial disputes, proxy escalation and serious military incidents normally increase Global Tension. Verified de-escalation, arms-control measures, negotiated settlements and sustained withdrawals can reduce it. High tension does not automatically cause war, but it increases the severity of consequences when a new crisis occurs. GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. Broad financial crises, severe trade disruption, major commodity or energy shocks, prolonged blockades and large-scale war damage normally reduce Global Economic Conditions. Stable trade, restored supply chains, productive investment and broad economic recovery can increase it. Apply this as global context: individual countries can perform better or worse than the world economy. GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY LEVEL. Global Technology Level changes gradually rather than jumping because of one actor's project. Successful research, major breakthroughs, industrial scaling, infrastructure expansion and diffusion of proven technologies can raise it. Large-scale destruction, prolonged isolation or loss of critical scientific and industrial capacity can slow or partially reverse progress. A high world level does not give every actor immediate access to every technology. GLOBAL INFORMATION CONNECTIVITY. Expansion of telecommunications, internet infrastructure, media access and digital platforms can increase Global Information Connectivity. Large-scale outages, physical network damage, prolonged disruption and fragmentation of communication networks can reduce it. Higher connectivity increases the speed and reach of information, including rumors and disinformation, but does not make information automatically accurate or universally believed. WORLD-STAT INTERACTION. Major events may affect several world stats at once when causally justified. For example, a large war can reduce stability and economic conditions while increasing tension; a durable peace process can improve stability while reducing tension; a major technological breakthrough can raise technology level and later improve economic conditions; widespread network disruption can reduce information connectivity and impede economic activity. Changes to Magic should reflect concrete supernatural events, discoveries, awakenings or depletion of ancient mystical sources rather than ordinary political or technological events. Do not apply automatic one-to-one numeric formulas unless a specific game event establishes them.