Through the rain, a lone figure trekked beneath an unusually wide parasol. Further armored from the downpour by a hooded straw reed rain cloak that covered from head to toe, this wanderer moved wearily to the bathhouse in determined but exhausted steps. Illuminated under the lanterns’ glow, the figure passed the bathhouse’s bridge and threshold to be greeted by its staff.
Tara swung again at the beast, her hammer whiffing through the air. This time it had managed to dodge her properly, but then, sure enough, it disappeared. Pop! The sound was almost comical, a jolly high-pitched popping sound like one that a small child might make, totally incongruous with the eyeless monstrosity that produced it. …
“Any luck?” he asked. She hesitated. She was trying not to find what she knew would be there. And as she passed the light over the stone carvings, she saw it: a bare spot where the inscriptions, lost secrets of ancient Menurabi, were now truly lost, and a circular marking carved over it instead. She pulled out a mid-sized book from her traveler’s bag, holding it in both hands, and recited magic words; her eyes glowed, and in her field of vision, the magical forces of the world were laid bare and visible. The arcane mark shone a dark blue and was indeed a glyph of a solar eclipse with a stylized zigzag, either lightning coming down or a toothy maw of darkness swallowing the sun.
“You have indeed, again, demonstrated quite the feat of agility,” the teacher began, before Asoka cut him off. He had risen from sitting with a tumbling roll while the master was speaking, unfolding to a standing position, drinking his tea from his tail and holding up a furred hand to pause his speech.
“I do not expect a warm welcome,” the Human Spirit said, as another figure moved into view; it was a familiar face stepping out of the shadows, a man with a large green-glowing wolf walking beside him.
In this write-up, let’s take a look at the setting of the Pacific Rim franchise as a constructed world – rather than examine the story or characters, we’ll look at the setting as an exercise in understanding how it fares as a fictional reality in and of itself.
The Tech Rating system comes from the True20 role-playing game (though it was originally Progress Levels from the d20 Modern system), and the Supernatural Rating system also comes from True20, both of which are reprinted here (with minimal modifications) under the Open Gaming License (included at the end of the article). The subsequent Realism Rating and Culture Rating systems are personal creations of mine; feel free to use them or build on them for your own world creation, but attribution is appreciated.
It had barely been even a day since the volcanic eruption. Most of the streets were still deep with soot. At least, those streets that weren’t completely buried or burned by active lava flows. I had survived, somehow, thanks to this curse. I didn’t dare take shelter with any others, and that turned out to be a good thing. I can usually handle stress, as a medical doctor, but in a life-or-death situation, I can’t always prevent the change that comes with being a werewolf.
She sidled along to another one of the cows, and again no match of what she was looking for. The biotech corporation’s secret files were encrypted onto the DNA of a hovorg, and she had also deduced beforehand that they had to be stored in the genetic code of one of the animals in this farm. But, again, another negative reading.
The room had a domed ceiling of twelve arches. The thick transparent glass floor was the face of a giant six-handed clock, ticking ever so quietly. In the center of the magically lit chamber was a being of metal and feminine shape. It rose from a cross-legged sitting position, and drew sword and shield.
Hundreds of Worlds 