France France Population 69,850,000 SINless Population (est.) 10% Per Capita Income 30,500 Below Poverty Level 8% Megacorporate Affiliation 19% Education: Less than 12 years 5% GED 67% 4 year degree 20% Masters or higher 8% Major Language French (97%) Currency Euro Capital Paris French society is based on a social system artificially maintained for sixty years that is now slowly decaying, eroded by growing rivalries among the ruling nobility and the economic realities of the modern world. The country is on the edge of a drastic transformation. France's ruling class is in turmoil. In addition to the numerous clashes between houses over personal and financial interests, the rogue President Aurelie de Paladines threw oil in the fire when she single-handedly pushed France into the NEEC, following her own righteous rhetoric and the advice of Yohann de Kervelec. The extent of Lofwyr's manipulation is unclear, as it's unclear who is manipulating whom. Compare a map of France from the turn of the century to a current one, and you'll wonder if you're looking at the same country. The major changes are Wallonia, which joined in 2028 as a semi-autonomous region (the new border is the former border between Flanders and Wallonia, with Brussels E.C. in the middle); the hideous scar of the SOX (or SSNL-Secteur Securise Nord-Lorraine); Corsica, now independent; and Euskalherria, which absorbed the French Basque country. Ever since the Awakening, Brittany has been a special place - as anyone who visits can tell you, certain parts of the region just feel otherworldly. "Faerie" sightings, spirit encounters and unexplained phenomena became a regular occurrence. Then, in 2023, things turned from strange to deadly when the inscrutable magical phenomenon known as the Mist first appeared. An unearthly fog, the Mist quickly covered large rural areas of Brittany, surrounding larger towns. Metahumans within the Mist found themselves uneasy, haunted and easily' lost. The Mist seemed to disrupt the use of magic and attract paranatural creatures. Finally, five years later, a grassroots movement called the Druidic Revival of Brittany (Aznevezenti drouizel Breizh) managed to contain and dissipate the Mist, reclaiming the land. But the Mist is not entirely gone. Patches of Mist recur throughout Brittany in an unpredictable pattern, wreaking havoc before the druids can drive it away, or it fades on its own. And despite official statements, a thick Mist remains in certain remote locations, protecting them from prying eyes or interlopers. Due to the unique danger the Mist poses, the French government had no choice but to treat Brittany as a special jurisdiction. Under the charismatic leadership of Gwendal Le Pellec-and the financial and political support of the Rohan family-the Druidic Revival managed to place itself in power and have Brittany designated an autonomous region. As the only force capable of containing the Mist, the druids were the only ones who could legitimately claim it. It's important to remember, though, that Brittany is not all faeries and magic and Avalon returned. It is a dynamic, modern region, with sprawls like Nantes, Brest and Rennes, an important shipyard in St-Nazaire, and sadly, its share of pollution. Even within these sprawls, though, magic is unpredictable at best, and the threat of the Mist always lurks around the corner.