Cyrano

Psionic French knights fight battles among the inner solar system!
== Fandom Summary ==
Cyrano is best described as a hybrid of romantic swashbuckling, pulp science fiction-fantasy, and a little bit of Star Wars (although it, itself has a lot of the previous two). Genre-wise, Cyrano is likely very similar to the sensibilities of Tales of the Solar Patrol, but with a retro-futurist twist and quite a bit of anachronisms.
== A Brief-Ish History ==
=== The Methods of Necessary Grace ===
In 1638, Catholic bishop Cornelius Jansen didn't just write up a manual that would inspire later religious doctrine—in this timeline, he also discovered and codified techniques for psionic disciplines—the Methods of Necessary Grace.
Though condemned by the Pope himself, Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII embraced Jansenism, and it is with this new psionic power that France conquered Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Italy—even making Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal satellite states. They handily trounced Russia, and a psionic monarchist France effectively ruled Europe. New psionic technology linked their empire together, and eventually helped develop the Pascal drive and colonized Mars, Venus, and the moon... but such a monolith was never meant to last forever.
=== The Rise of the Han Dynasty ===
In the 1850s, European adventurers were captured inside China—likely because China at the time was quite finished being occupied by an ever-growing French Empire. China's forces gathered over the decades, and by 1892, Chinese armies and airforce sent France reeling. City after city, province after province, Han China shattered the old empires of Old World. The courts of Europe fled to the "New Worlds"—Mars, Venus, and the Americas. 
The current year is 1956, and Louis XXV of France rules over the splintered fiefdoms of Mars, alongside minor factions on Venus, the moon, and the Americas.
== Great Powers ==
* France Outremonde (feudal, CR3)
* Han Empire (clan/tribal, CR4-6)
* Dutch East India Company (corporate state, CR5)
* Kingdom of New England (dictatorship, CR4)
* Brazilian Empire (oligarchy, CR4), 
* Holy Mexican Empire (theocracy, CR5).
=== Great Powers — Fandom Expanded ===
* France Outremonde controls much of Mars (although the empire is still poorly unified), as well as trading settlements on Venus and the Moon. These civilizations were effectively colonies until France was booted from Earth and moved to Mars. The Venus and Lunar colonies are still their own entities, and the American West Coast Dukedoms of Calyferne care little for the King.
* Han China has control over China (of course) and major chunks of Europe. They also conquered the East Indies.
** It is likely that most major conflicts or threats of a new "World War" will involve France and China.
** As the Great Sino-European War began in earnest in 1892 (64 years ago), only the elderly remember a time before the Great War. Before the airships, the aircraft, the violet death beams.
*** Armies led by Kiang Ho, Prince Tsa, and Yue-Liao.
* The Dutch East India Company is an ocean-going corporate state that managed to become even more ocean-going and corporate after loading their towns upon fleets of mega-whales.
* We know little about the Kingdom of New England, although it's likely the seat of the English monarchy, re-established when the courts of England fled to America, effectively turning the colonies into the "new homeland". They take up much of the North American East Coast, and likely share some amount of border with the French colonies, the Dukedoms of Calyferne (see above).
* The Holy Mexican Empire likely stretches from Chaco (New Mexico) to the jungles of Brazil. Their architecture is a fascinating mix of pre-Colonial and Colonial Latin styles—it seems the impending "end of the world" from the East had startled the colonists into cooperating rather than competing with the natives, leading to a powerful hybrid civilization. While their space program is still in its early stages, the other world powers are surprised at their progress on Venus—it seems that the Peruvians were already quite experienced in utilizing warm, mountainous terrain. 
== Stories of Interest ==
=== The Voice of the Phantom ===
A mysterious and powerful force, be it human, alien or space-god. The Voice's main goal in the last several decades(?) has been the corruption of the Jansenist Order and the aristocracy. Through corruption, it would "Shut the gates to the City of God", effectively depowering the monks and their psionics."Haut-Cornet d'Antares" by Kenneth Hite, Pyramid 2e, 2004 The Voice reached as high as King Louis XXV before the efforts of Louis d'Antares loosened its grip on the French empire as a whole. It will take a heroic effort by numerous characters to find the next hive where the Voice hides. Last time it was the Gobi Desert—perhaps it is waiting in some other dark corner of the Earth. 
== Reality Shards ==
=== The Prime Crystal ===
The main crystal ball of the Jansenist Order's high chapterhouse.Collegio Januari, p.5 It can (theoretically) scry any part of the known solar system. When the stars are right, it can see even further... into worlds beyond. 
== Outworld Operations ==
=== Cyrano's Strangeness ===
The worldline of Cyrano itself seems to be a bit of a Weirdness Magnet, attracting all manner of world-jumping madmen and powerful sorcerers who seek the Jansenist's secrets of psi and magery. There are even tales of hungering gods, bloody and violent, who were banished here from realms unknown—so far, it seems even these entities are bound by the romance of the setting's "genre inertia", and are limited in how much damage they can inflict. For now.
=== ISWAT Operations ===
On a normal day, ISWAT simply deals with outworld smugglers looking for cultural artifacts or unusual animals, but there have been sightings of Centrum's Interworld Service. So far, they've been tangential skirmishes at worst, with Centrum's I.S. cleaning up issues before ISWAT even gets there. While useful, it still begs the question—is Centrum setting up their own version of ISWAT? And if so, will this be an opportunity for cooperation against truer villains of the multiverse, or will it lead to more dangerous confrontations between the two? 
== Trivia ==
* Haut-Cornet Louis d’Antares comes from here.
== References ==
* Basic Set, p.312
* Infinite Worlds, Lost Worlds, p.3-4
Category:Infinite Worlds
Category:Quantum 6
Category:Reality Classification
Category:Low Mana