So I have a question: is there a timeline for the 2nd Edition? At one point in the Castille write up it indicates that the War of the Cross is 20 years old ("Castille has a great number of disenfranchised nobility since the War of the Cross ended twenty years ago"), but other comments (such as the line in the Eisen writeup that says "Everyone in Eisen—soldier or otherwise— is a veteran of the War of the Cross" : Really? the population of Eisen is all over twenty-something?) seem to contradict that.
Apologies if I am asking a question that has already been covered: I skimmed to find my answer but came up short. I'm aware I can set the war whenver works best for my campaign, but I am curious as to the existance of any official or semi-official answers on the topic.
Perhaps so. But on page 16 they say "Théah has only just emerged from the thirty year long “War of the Cross,” a struggle between traditional Vaticines and a reform movement known as Objectionism." And on pg 35 it also seems odd to say "Thirty years ago, there were 24 million people
living in Eisen. Today, there are 10 million." Picking a spot twenty years into the war for a population number isn't impossible, but it is unusual.
None of this invalidates the "it ended 20 yrs ago" line, but it does seem to, at a minimum, weaken it.
I do agree that it is a bit rough and doesn't make much sense to me either. The way I'm looking at it:
1) The war ended 20 years ago.
2) In Eisen, the war hasn't really ended due to skirmishes (border disputes, fighting new rule from a foreign country, etc) and the monsters. The phrase "Everyone in Eisen—soldier or otherwise— is a veteran of the War of the Cross" could denote that everyone has suffered from the war in some way, and everyone has, or is, fighting some remnant of it.
Also note that a larger-than-expected portion of the text was ported right from first edition, and in first edition, the War of the Cross didn't end that horribly long ago (IIRC, it was about 2-3 years). This could be an oversight on their part (they had a bunch of these in early printings and I believe quite a few made it into the final), so it does cloud just how the timeline is supposed to pan out.
"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic
I kind of go with the whole "people are still fighting" the war. For me Eisen is a darkness that the rest of 7th Sea steers away from. PTSD and such are prevelent and the whole country is tragic in a way no other country is. I really enjoy the light hearted heroes that 7th Sea promotes, but for me Eisen is the darkness that throws the heroes into stark relief.
"...for it is the deeds of weak and mortal men that may tip the scales one way or the other..."