[Cary]

Hi,
In answer to the reason for the magic, I have followed the books the game is based on. In them it is assumed that the magic has always been there. Note that the magic is not the traditional gaming Western 'cast a spell' type. It is more Voodoo/ Dreamtime/ Oriental. It is more subtle and usually takes longer to work.

Magical creatures do not exist as such. This does not mean that fantastic life does not exist. It is a cyberpunk work out on the edge of tech reality. You have to remember the truism that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'. Would a gene spliced human-animal hybrid be regarded as being magically created now? In the 1960s? In the 1920s?

Attributes are closely tied to skills. Any attempt to perform an action will be tested against an attribute modified by Degree of Difficulty and skill in the area. Mostly these will not change and so will not need to be recalculated until skill improves.

This is not a world of huge levels and invulnerable characters. It is a Hobbesian environment just a little way down the track from real life today. It is a possible (hopefully not probable) future.