Dickens and magical realism

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>>50402551
As it was stated earlier, basic platform for setting is Victorian England with Dickens vibe to it. Victorian fantasy settings are mainly associated with steampunk, so I think I need to state that thematically it would be close to magical realism rather than fancy machinery. Magic is not completely absent, but not a common sight either. It is divided into three forms: faerie, holy and demonic/occult. People are extremely rarely seen as magic users, and not all types of faerie are able to use faerie magic. Overall ratio of mythical creatures to people is 1:3.
For the lack of correct word, term "faerie" covers creatures from folklore of Western Europe, be it elf, dwarf, boggart, kelpie or basilisk (Term may sound annoying, so it would be great if anyone knows a better alternative). A lot of faerie are adapted into society, while some are still living in wild areas. Socialization slowly begun somewhere around one or two centuries ago and it was forced by growing human expansion. Attitude towards faerie (At least to civilised ones) is basically the same as to outlanders. Portrayal of creatures should be more akin to their description in folklore rather than to their Tolkien or D&D archetype.

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>>50402554
Angels and demons are constantly in conflict and rarely act in open mainly using people and faerie as mediators in achieving their goals. This conflict should serve as a kind of big picture that will bring some degree of polarization and antagonizing in setting. It doesn't have to be completely black and white (Though Dickens was pretty moralistic in his books). For example, the landmark to angels behaviour may be more similar to Old Testament rather then to New one, and demons are simply subverting celestial order on Earth.
Some faerie are neutral while most of them are more or less aligned with one of the ends of angelic/demonic spectrum. Logic of treating faerie creature as associated with one of this ends is similar as if they were described in medieval bestiarium. For example, unicorns were treated as pure creatures, therefore, if they will exist in the setting, they will be associated with angelic spectrum, while dragons were synonymous to Devil, therefore, if they will exist in setting, they will be strongly associated with demonic spectrum, and so on.

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>>50402560
The goal of setting is to preserve historical feeling to it without being Tolkieny and overly perky Dickens-with-elves while maintaining mystical atmosphere with inclusion of mythology in everyday life. PCs are supposed to be either people or civilised faerie.
I am more interested in exploring social aspect of setting, i.e. 'What roles do faerie fill in society?', 'How does little amount of magic adapt in everyday life?', 'How does big picture of angelic/demonic conflict affect history?', 'Which mythical aspects should be considered relatively ordinary and which would be viewed as rarity?' etc. Yet I have stumbled with lack of ideas on that front. I would be very grateful if somebody can throw concepts or research material to work with. May dump some Gustave Dore's engravings if it will help.
TL;DR Basically idea is somewhat similar to Ars Magica's Mythic Europe but set in different era with socialized mythical creatures and without big focus on magic in it.

Do you have any concerns or questions in particular? It seems like you have a lot of ideas already.

Also, incoming literary pedantry.
"Magical realism" refers to something quite different from the setting you describe. Magical realism describes works (or, perhaps, settings) that seem perfectly mundane and are described nonchalantly despite the fact that something impossible or fantastic is included. Your setting is straight-up fantasy - nothing wrong with that.

>>50402551

Remember that Dickensian England is very different from the popular conception of the Victorian period. Bits of it get mashed into the 1880s+ view of the period that most people have. Instead you're looking at the early decades of the period, which means dealing with social movements like Utilitarianism and the Chartists and the rise of the early Communists. This is the period where the crippling poverty commonly associated with the Victorian lower classes derives, so that much is at least solid.

You're going to be dealing with a young queen who's seen as the mother of the nation rather than a dowdy old grieving monarch and a social system that's still transitioning away from the landed gentry of the Regency into the Victorian industrial middle class. The Irish Potato Famine is happening over on that other shitty island no good Englishman really cares about (and that should probably have a big effect on your fae population accordingly). There's lots of other stuff but in general try to avoid anything that would be more at home in the later Victorian than in the early.

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>>50402657
>Do you have any concerns or questions in particular? It seems like you have a lot of ideas already.
I stated some questions in my last post, but now that I look at them, they might be a bit broad and abstract.
My main problem is to make presence of faerie to feel more mundane. Simply stating 'Here is Victorian London and there are some fairy tale creatures in it' sounds to me more like combining apple and pen and calling it applepen. I tried to question myself 'What will they add to society and what human roles will they change or replace?' and I had a hard time figuring that out, so I hoped that /tg/ will help with some inspiration.

>Also, incoming literary pedantry.
>"Magical realism" refers to something quite different from the setting you describe. Magical realism describes works (or, perhaps, settings) that seem perfectly mundane and are described nonchalantly despite the fact that something impossible or fantastic is included. Your setting is straight-up fantasy - nothing wrong with that.
Well, yeah, 'magical realism' is likely not the correct term. I simply used it to distinguish mundane nature, because I was not comfortable enough with calling it 'low fantasy' at the start.

How did faeries integrate to society before industrialization? Do they live in their own communities? How did the industrial revolution affect them?

>>50402884

If I had my druthers I'd say they were probably very popular during the regency thanks to the Romantic movement, but the growing conservatism of the Victorian age and their distressing connection to the Irish now has them on the social outs in favor of more divine beings like angels.

>>50402848
I think the best way to integrate faerie into your society is to do just that - make them integrated, at least partially, rather than being completely distinct. Have a group of friends consisting of Sam, Dean, Bill, and Éarendil. Make Sam's boss be human, HIS boss be a dwarf, and HIS boss be a human.
Think of them roughly like a racial minority - they are distinct, and in many places live in segregated neighborhoods/ghettos, but legally speaking they can hold many positions in society, even if it's more difficult for them to reach those positions. Except there might be a few fields in which they ARE the majority (or at least an overrepresented minority), and in which it is easier to find a position or advance (e.g. Thai and pedicures, Jews and banking).
For example, dwarves are (presumably) stocky, hardy, and strong, so they're probably overrepresented in labor-intense fields like construction and mining. Elves might have delicate and precise hands, so perhaps there are many elf musicians, and perhaps some nobles want to sponsor an elf artist or musician. Or maybe they're discriminated against, so they are great musicians but mostly play in folk groups and seedy taverns.
As long as you avoid sweeping generalizations ("all Rodians are bounty hunters") and explicit attention-calling ("Bob entered the bar, and was shocked - SHOCKED! - to see a GNOME, of all things! What was he doing here, so near the gnomish ghetto?") you'll probably be okay.

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>>50402916
>>50402804
Thanks. I will definitely use this.

>>50402884
>How did faeries integrate to society before industrialization? Do they live in their own communities? How did the industrial revolution affect them?
Before expansion more social types of faerie lived in isolated communities, while more solitary ones were living mostly on their own. Presence of faerie was acknowledged, while interactions with them kept minimum because of their mystical nature.
When people were faced with problem of dealing with expansion towards faerie territory, they decided not to act aggressively, because rooting them out will likely spill a lot of human blood. So it was decided to let more social faerie to integrate into society.
At first they were pretty isolated and autonomic, but as time passed they changed their way of life towards more human-like while still preserving some of their unique qualities. They started to fill some practical roles in society. This process was even more active in times of industrial revolution as new abilities and qualities were required for changing way of life. While effect of urbanization in latter period was pretty harsh to some species, most of them were still able to adapt.

Basically OP should play Arcanum for inspiration.

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>>50403025
Then I suppose that I need simply to list types of socialized faerie, note their main strong and weak sides and apply it to more suitable role in society or create a new one for them.
Maybe I need to stop to overthink some problems.

>>50403091
Already played it. Actually, idea for setting is partially inspired by Arcanum. I simply wanted to play something similar, but more down to earth, without crazy machinery and overpowered magic. Basically, I wanted to explore social aspect of setting.
While I deeply in love with this game, I just don't want to copy it too much.

>>50403206
Basically. Just remember not to shoehorn any race into only one or two roles, and that exceptions always exist.