• 5 eastern nations - Forests, grasslands, hills, coastal. Factious but (recently) loosely bound by the Church of the Flame. Predominantly human and somewhat intolerant to other races/religions/etc.
• Northern expanse - Untamed lands. Mostly cold hills and tundra. Barbarians, nomads, tribes. Raiders. Deemed a moderate threat to neighboring realms. However, the land isn't very valuable due to climate.
• Western “wildlands” - Forests, jungles, mountains. Predominantly non-human. Home of the some of the largest non-human kingdoms.
• Free cities - Notable river, arid plains, rocky terrain. South of wildlands and west of eastern nations. Demographically diverse. Run by merchant families. Trade mecca between the 5 nations, the wildlands, the southern empire, and the far-western kingdoms.
• Farwestern kingdoms - Far to the west of the Free cities, across a large desert, are several exotic kingdoms. Trade with these kingdoms is both dangerous and lucrative.
• Southern empire - Very large kingdom spanning many different climates/biomes. The major power is this part of the world. Separated from the north by the blue sea. Strong culture and military. The country is caught up in a political war with a nation to its south. However, the growing wealth of its northern neighbors draws ever more attention.

• The barrens - A great desert spanning between the free cities and the farwestern kingdoms. Several trade routes span the barrens connect the two regions. However, the way is very dangerous and stories of demons, serpents, raiders abound.
• The blue sea - Large sea that separates the Southern empire. The Sea connects the Southern Empire, Fre cities and 5 kingdoms.
• The Western ocean - Large ocean to the west of the 5 kingdoms and southern empire.

1. Church of the Flame
   • Holds 5 kingdoms together enough to resist raiders from the northern expanse and minor Southern empire incursions
   • Sun god - monotheism (mostly)
   • Beliefs focus on a divine god of flame who scoured the world free of evil with its flame
   • The sun god (need name) spends half of its time in the mortal world protecting its followers from evil (day time) and half its time (doing something else) (night time)
   • Promotes purifying pagans with fire (but not often practised)
   • Human-centric
   • Strongly antimagic
   • Divine magic is allowed by a certain branch of priests. However, this branch is shunned and feared by many, including from the church itself
2. Old gods
   • Largely fallen out of practice. Believes that the old gods created the world and have largely gone silent. However, they occasionally visit the world and answer the prayers of their followers.
3. Misc. pantheons
   • Each race has its own pantheon that it worships. These pantheons are aware of the other pantheons. These pantheons sometimes helps its people and sometimes uses them for their own pleasures and purposes. It is often believed that these pantheons are the children of the Old gods, left behind after the Old gods disappeared.
4. The Elements
   • Dominant religion (belief) in the Southern empire
   • Elements are wild spirits that inhabit raw materials in the world and sometimes interact with humans (in both good and bad ways)
   • Elements are real (people actually encounter them) but not obviously sentient. Worshipers of the elements believe that worhshiping these spirits bring good fortune. The spirits are largely ignored by non-followers or viewed as curiosities.
   • There are many elemental types, and worshipers follow the philosophies of a particular elemental type, often for decades. This often influences their path (occupation, etc) in life.
   • It is common practice for followers to change their focus across several elements throughout their life. Changing too often or not enough is frowned upon.
   • Each elemental type (typically inhabit raw materials) has an associated philosophy
     • Iron - Militaristic. Aggression, protecting loved ones, etc.
     • Gold - Ambition. Trade, political power.
     • Soil - Growth. Farming, family, etc.
     • Wood - Creativity. Craftspeople, construction, etc.
     • Water - Exploration. Knowledge, exploration, travel, etc.
     • and more…

Most religions/histories agree that magic is the tools of the Gods that the Gods have allowed (intentionally or otherwise) mortals to use. After the (mythical) Age of Gods, the mortal races embraced magic to protect themselves from many of the dangers in the world. Over the centuries, they mastered the arts. However, the magic practitioners consolidated their knowledge and stopped sharing with their brethren, and this lead to stark class system based on one's access to magic. Many people suffered during this time. Most histories/religions argue that the magic also corrupted the users and made them evil. Protests eventually overthrew those at the top, magic was banned throughout the world, and the Age of Magic ended.

Despite this, the practice of magic continued throughout the world albeit mostly in secret. Those who practice magic tend to fall into one of the following:

• True magic users - Everyone is believed to be able to practice magic should they learn in a “correct and balanced” way. These users often progress very slowly in their abilities, but have a breadth to their abilities that no other can claim. It's not clear if the slow pace is due to the limits of mortals or that the modern understanding of magic is at fault. High magic users typically practice their arts in remote corners of the world and are careful about revealing their abilities should they choose to travel the lands of non-magical.
• Wild magic - Many people stumble into magic accidentally at a young age (and sometimes later in life). If they pursue their abilities (and aren't killed by the numerous anti-magic factions), they typically learn a very nuanced path of magic very rapidly but find themselves unable to learn anything outside their specialty. Sub-disciplines include: diviners, shamans, pyromancers, shapeshifters, etc.
• Divine magic - Magical scholars (those who survive at least) typically consider divine magic to be a subdiscipline of true magic, but because most religions vehemently denounce true magic, it is very dangerous to suggest this. Many religions allow a select few of their flock to practice divine magic in name of their god/gods. This grants them access to magic that closely aligns with their beliefs and no other magic is allowed. Despite this form of magic being condoned by various religions, is typical that most regions harbor a distrust (if not fear and hatred) for their divine magic practioners.
• Artificers - Somewhat recently, the art of artificery (binding magic to physical items to perform specific tasks) has become partially accepted, particularly in the free cities where they see the benefits of it for commerce. In addition to commerce, the typical explanation that sets Artificers apart from True Magic is that they don't truly use magic. Instead, they bind the magic to items without internalizing it, and therefore are free of its corrupting influence. There are many heated arguments about this topic around the world (particularly in religious circles), but Artificers are growing in acceptance. Practicing Artificers have created the Artificer's Guild both for protection of its members and also to protect the its intellectual property and therefore increasing their worth. The Guild also limits the spread of Artificery for fear that spreading too quick will result in a severe backlash.

• Church of the Flame - see Religions above
• Sweepers - “grassroot” movement in many parts of the world that strongly hates magic users. They see that the world is loosening its restrictions on magic users, and they believe that they must correct this. They often hunt down anyone accused of using magic, “test” them, and hassle, drive off, and sometimes kill anyone found guilty. Many parts of the world, particularly the Church of the Flame, choose to look the other way or provide mild punishment on Sweeper's actions. In the Free Cities, Sweepers often target Artificers, but the Cities crack down on this harshly when possible (the Artificers are important from commerce even if they are slightly distasteful). The Cities are much less protective of other forms of magic users.