So, once my current (Mistborn) campaign winds up I'm looking at running a DF game in Australia, and figured I should start writing up a nice little background for Australia in this setting.
I've seen a few bits and pieces done by other people around the place so if anyone has any further suggestions, let me know
Dresden Files - Australia - A HistoryUluru. If you wanted to point at one big cause, that's it right there. A massive convergence of ley-lines with an absurdly strong Earth affinity, the mere presence of something so strong was always going to cause some issues with the Veil, especially on such a large landmass with neither physical borders of water to ground out the magic nor country borders for people's minds to create metaphysical borders.
Birthed from Uluru's world-warping power were the Dreamtime Gods, powerful creatures from the Nevernever who walked the land long before the first Aboriginal peoples came. With them came many strange and bizarre creatures and even plants, turning the Island-Continent into their new hunting ground.
Over many long millenia the Aboriginal people learned ritual magics that lent them a degree of control over the Veil between the worlds, and coupled with the power inherent in the land and Uluru managed to strengthen the Veil, causing some of the God's power to slowly wane and the strange creatures to lose their supernatural abilities and adapt to the Mortal world.
The Veil was still thinner than almost anywhere else on Earth but a sort of harmony had been achieved, the Aboriginal people's belief in the Dreamtime kept the Veil calm, and the Elders strengthened small breaches as they happened.
Across the waters in New Zealand the Maori people had gone through much the same with their own Gods, but while the Ley-lines connecting the two land masses were immense, the Tasman Sea mitigated much of their power, causing New Zealand to develop a much more temperate ecology.
Then, of course, Europeans came and everything went (further) into hell.
The more the Aboriginals were driven away from areas the less they were able to steward the Veil when it wore thin, and the more of them that were killed the less there were to maintain harmony.
Slowly, cracks began to form in the Veil. Things slipped through one way or the other, people vanished, Australia's fauna, already terrifying as Mortal animals, would sometimes regain sparks of their inhuman power from the NeverNever. Wizards did their best to ward the settlements and strengthen the Veil but it wasn't going to be sustainable. Some secretly began conferring with the Aboriginal Elders, working with them to regain that balance.
The Senior Council believed that something had to be done to stop the problem at what they perceived to be its source, and finally a Warden was sent, with all the Senior Council's authority, to deal with it. He believed that it was the Aboriginal people's Dreamtime beliefs that were thinning the Veil, and thought that by eliminating this belief they would stop the Veil from getting worse.
His solutions began with Christian missionaries and eventually ended with the Stolen Generation, kidnapping Aboriginal children en-mass to be raised by White people, forgetting the Dreamtime.
Abhorred by this final step the local Wizards who had worked with the Aboriginies betrayed the Council, captured their Warden and handed him over to the Elders. Nobody knows exactly what happened to him, but they say his punishment was commensurate with his crimes.
Severing all ties with the White Council, the Wizards of Australia and New Zealand formed an alliance with both Maori and Australian Aboriginal tribes, creating their own organisation, melding Western and local traditions and magics to shield the unknowing Mortal populations.
Fast forward to the present day and this has been mostly successful, all major cities and settlements have been built in such a pattern as to strengthen the Veil in those areas, channeling the banal beliefs of the people residing there to build a bastion against the Nevernever. In Canberra the great works of Parliament Circle act to ground out the forces involved and tie the wards together, ensuring that most people who live in Australia have no idea about the Magical world.
However the further from civilisation you venture the more the Veil thins and the more the Nevernever seeps into the world, spend too long away from the cities and the constant background presence of the Nevernever permeates you, changing you ever so slightly into a tougher but less civilised individual.
Unfortunately the unknown Warden's damage has echoed through the decades, much of the Aboriginal culture is lost and its people have lost their way. While the Dreamtime still remains a part of their soul and psyche, the knowledge of how to contain it is rapidly being lost.
Across the sea, New Zealand is faring much better, both due to distance and the Maori culture remaining strong, even managing to creep into the Western culture that dominates both countries. As such a great deal of New Zealand rangers do tours in Australia, helping their trans-Tasman siblings to maintain order.
Setting NotesThis bit is more of a list of points right now, but I plan to expand it out.
* The White Council has almost no presence here beyond an embassy in Darwin to keep up communications. They are extremely mistrusted and at times downright hated, Australian magic is enforced instead by
[Dammit, I need a good name!] and the Rangers (local Wardens).
* This organisation is much less formal and bureaucratic than the White Council, with Aboriginal and Maori representatives making up at least half the leadership.
* The whole country is of course dominated by the Summer Court but there is an embassy of the Winter Court in Melbourne which is largely responsible for its changeable weather.
* Most of Australia's fauna and flora are mortal, but every now and then some power from the Nevernever seeps through and causes one or a group to become much more dangerous
* The ghost of Ned Kelly still roams around Victoria, and is all but invulnerable
* Tasmania is much more clement than the rest of Australia, thanks to separation by the Tasman Straight
Laws of MagicNot being governed by the White Council, Australia has its own Laws of Magic, enforced by the Rangers
#1 Do not kill living things directly with magic (For turning the magic of Life back on itself harms both yourself and your magic, and the land around you)
#2 Do not mess with the Veil! (seriously, does this need explaining? Even opening a rift into the Nevernever is frowned upon, and must be fully, manually closed once used)
#3 Do not mess with the Dreamtime (again, really need explaining?)
#4 Do not directly alter the mind of any awakened being (For this causes a resonance with your own mind and brings you mental harm) [Exception, a disciplined, trained individual can willingly let someone into their mind and let them alter it if they wish to]
#5 Do not make thralls of the living or the spirits of the Dead (Clarification: Raising the bodies is fine as long as the animating spirit is either willing, or your own)
#6 Do not attempt to travel through time (For it causes magic to be cut off from its own source, which is Bad)
*Whew*
I'm sure I have more, but I think that's enough for one typing session! If anyone has suggestions or feedback, they would be more than welcome
*Edit*
Potential organisation leadership name, Hapu
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