The War

From Ars Arcanum Wiki

The War, which may or may not merit status as a proper noun, depending on who you talk to, is the conflict between magical supremacists and technological supremacists which has been going on in one form or another for the past five hundred years.

The most recent incarnation of the War features the Key Corporation on the side of magical supremacy, and Heart Industries on the side of technological supremacy.

For the most part, it's been a cold war, each side quietly making advances and trying to outdo the other, but with the dawn of the Corporate Age, what had been small factions of mystics and scientists turned into massive, powerful conglomerations with the financial, magical, and technological means to bring about the apocalypse...

And that's precisely what they seem intent on doing.

In response to this threat, the Powers That Be appear to have decided that the War must be stopped at all costs, for the sake of the world as a whole. Various strategies have been attempted, all with no success, and their latest tactic is bringing in supposedly neutral outsiders, offering them return passage back to their own worlds in exchange for a speedy resolution to the conflict.

A theory currently making the rounds states that previous attempts to stop the War are behind the City's current lack of a name, but there's no concrete evidence -- only speculation. No two rumors agree on who, precisely, is responsible.