REALLY ODD IDEA FOR A MANGA/ANIME

Once upon a time, there was Europe. Then there was the Black Plague, and everyone died. Almost everyone, at least. Then it vanished, leaving the civilized world in a shambles.

Eventually, life returned to some semblance of normalcy, but not all is as it once was. While the Black Plague brought death in its wake, it also brought power--a power that mankind had never seen before. From all over Europe come news of impossibilities: a boy who can defy physics and build wondrous machinery; a young man who can breathe life into stone; politicians who can transform entire cities into willing slaves. These strange beings, products of the times, are swiftly dubbed "philosophers", and the powers of Europe enter a mad scramble to gain the allegiance of as many philosophers as possible.

The War for Enlightenment has stretched on for years, pitting philosopher against philosopher in battles of wit, might and "vim", an undefinable trait that is supposedly responsible for the philosophikal abilities. But though much blood has been shed, the war has only begun; for somewhere in Europe, a new Philosopher has appeared, one even more valuable that all the rest. His name is Nostradamus, and rumor has it he can tell the future...

The philosophers want his power. The church want him dead. Let the Renaissance begin!