Once known as Magickera, Antigone was once a utopia for those skilled in the use of magick. All types of mages, psions, and even healers lived in harmony with those whose only magic lay in the gift of technology.
Even now, Antigone is renowned for its quick and steady advancement in technology, harnessing the powers of electricity, static, and light, turning these into sources of energy. Mages worked to combine these resources with magic, and soon the magitech of Antigone resembled not the fantastical and mystic scenes of mainland Genesaris, but a futuristic island of iron, steal, and adamantium. Still, it was a paradise, a dream of growth and power.
No one expected the change that would turn Antigone into a horror.
The leader of Antigone was a queen whose family had been killed by a mage gone mad, intoxicated with his own power. She distrusted all magickers (magic-users) and sought to bring them under a control that would never again see the murders she beheld. Her charisma and oral skills saw her in not only place of power, but a constant place in people's minds and hearts. She was trusted, and no one stood against her as she increased economy, jobs, and technological advancement.
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Over time the queen created a caste system for all magickers. At the first display of an affinity for magic of any kind, they were to be hooked to a machine created to judge the subjects degree of power. Lowest to highest, these four classes were dubbed Grey, Amber, Crimson, and Indigo. Those of Crimson and Indigo were made to wear collars that would restrict their powers, at the same time announcing to the entire nation that they were a danger to themselves, and most importantly, to others.
This gave the effect the queen desired when one of Indigo power broke free of his collar and decimated a building filled with people of no magic.
The incident inspired fear and distrust of magickers among the regular folk. Soon it was demanded of the queen that all magickers were to be collared, a request to which she gladly complied. These collars, magi-locks, were produced in frighteningly large numbers, and with their growth grew the segregation and prejudice against magick users. Some magickers fought back, but this only increased the steadily rising hatred toward magickers. The hate grew and grew, and has never ceased since.
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Today Antigone Isles is a nightmare world for anyone associated with magick, to the degree that anyone born or caught inside of Antigone is never allowed to leave. A great wall of mixed metals and steels surrounds the entire island, the only entrance a back gate used for the extremely limited trade with the mainland and a sewer system that runs throughout the city, providing running water and a place to flush out waste products. The interior of the city is of great buildings, fortresses, skyscrapers and hospitals, with every street patrolled by security whose job is to make sure all magickers wear their collars. Those caught without it are arrested and taken to what is known as the Laboratory Arcanist, a massive prison at the head of the city where they are imprisoned and never seen again. Although nothing is conclusive, it is said that captured magickers are experimented on like animals until death.
It is also said that some magickers have gone into hiding in the woods hiding on the outskirts of Antigone, preparing a revolt.
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Technology on Antigone includes systems rarely seen on Genesaris. This includes sensors, security systems with laser, steel electronic doors with identification requests (fingerprints, eye scans, even blood scans). Motorbikes, known as spellcycles, are a common sight for local police. The most common technology exists around magi-locks, the collars worn by magickers. Some magi-locks are not worn but are increased in size and set up around popular local areas to ensure no potentially harmful magic of any type can be used. It is however important to note that almost all technology is made possible with magic, essentially making almost all technology magitech. The only magickers allowed to use their magic on a somewhat daily basis are specially privileged inventors and scientists to create these magitech systems.
