Common Knowledge of the World

Torn in Three

Darkness, a single word that perfectly described the world. It is what this world was plunged into several thousand years ago when the material world tore itself apart. The realm of the divine was separated from the mortal plane, the power of the gods, gifted to the mortals, stripped from them. Their every plan put to a stop. Their watchful eyes closed. Good and evil gods could no longer guide the mortals so what hopes could they have. To make matters worse magic is incredibly weak, the essence which use to mingle with air has gotten so weak that only the most powerful can cast spells anywhere. All this due to the realm of the fey being ripped from the mortal plane which when they use to mingle the essence of magic would leak into it. And with the fey gone all the elves, fairies, magic beast, and every other creature that came with the fey-wilds disappeared too. So long ago that they are only myths and legends.

Descent into Darkness

With the mortal realm separated the golden age of the continent of Alune vanished. 3 mighty empires that controlled the land splintered into nothing as the technology that keep their fast borders safe faltered due to with the disappearance of abundant magic. Without the magical beast that prowled the land, protecting their territory from other bigger threats then mere mortals, or the Gods to combat them the first horror descended onto them.
Demons and Devils began to crawl their way from hell, no longer hindered by the fear of Gods and their forces. Though the most powerful of the creatures from the abyss could not manifest themselves, lessor beings still greater than the magicless mortals placed themself among them. Some outright slaughtering and consuming their souls to grow in strength, while others plotting the downfall of kingdoms by seeding infighting. It is said the alliance of the three kingdoms broke due to hell spawn and that's why it could not prepare them for the massacre to come.
Ancient creatures from the time before gods crawled from the depths of the earth. Able to cast their cruel tragic magic despite mortals unable to defend with their own due to the thinning of essence. Feasting on entire armies, cities, and even the largest of the three countries. Humans, orcs, and dragonborn threw themselves at the mercy of these creatures. Forming cults and army around them to protect them so they might be spared even for a few years.
Though even the Ancients ones could not protect them from what came next. Dragons, a rare powerful creature that had been driven from Alune came from across the ocean. The powerful magics and kingdoms that drove them away so that mortals could rule unhampered by the greedy and power lusting creatures. Like the ancients they came with their own cruel magics not effected by the essence which no longer leaked from the Fey or the lack of the divine. They claimed land and ruled over the mortals. Driving back all but the most powerful Ancients who retreated to territory they controlled or back to the depths to plot out of the sight of the dragons. And some peace came with the rule of dragon kind, though mortals where broken up into almost tribe like rulings. Following, worshiping, or being enslaved by the different races of dragons. Their was more fighting then ever. Mortals spilling the blood of mortals for these large super-intelligent beast to form new kingdoms on the ruins of old, but even the golden era of dragons in the darkest time of mortals must come to a end.
And thus the thunderous steps of giants came marching into Alune. From the north; frost and stone giants who lived with humans and goliaths came in massive boats to raid the seasides. From the depths; fire giants erupted raiding gold, metal, and gems from dragons hoards to bring back to their mighty fortresses underground to forge more weapons. Mountain and hill giants grew in numbers and plagued the land. Last from the sky; giants from the clouds who only the best of the dragons could face wrecked the little civilizations the humans had.

Lights in the Darkness

People will always gather around light in the darkness, and if there is none they will create it. During this dark time the horrors that descended on mortals dwindled each others number enough to create the first sparks of light. The dwarfs would benefit from this first ember; the underground the most vacant it had ever been as ancient ones and giants had tunneled to the surface. Their numbers thrived, they build large highways between fortress of rock surrounded by moats of magma. They mined ore with enough infused essences to make powerful weapons that would be used to defend their homes from those who would attack it.
For the dragonborn a clan of dragons of varying color gave a promise to protect them. Forming an empire to the north where dragonborns could be free from the plagues of other mortals. Other mortal races in the south found themselves in the protection of Cloud giants, who are said to help build entire cities for them. Teaching them how to fight as an army once again, how to build huge walls around vast cities that could sustain life for years before opening their gates if they ever needed to close them.
From this dark time another flame was born; An entire race infact. Tieflings, the chosen race to lead us from these times. Said to once be humans who either tamed or made pacts with daemons on the surface. Building large devices of power and magic that anyone could tap into if they new how to use magic. While the range was limited 13 of them where built and thirteen covens where formed; each was led by a tiefling who had a pact with a demon. Allowing pockets of land for all mortals to fight with magic if they had the will to.  
Though this was still not enough to prosper, mortals where little more than servants, slaves, or food to other creatures; or prisons in locations they where able to establish. They couldn't expand, and living was tough. The gods forced to watch and unable to put their divine power in righteous people fretted on what to do. Three where elected amongst them to come to earth in order to return balance to the world. A god of evil; Arc, a goddess of good; Lenia, and a neutral goddess; Ominum. All the gods pooled their power which was dwindling due to the lack of believers growing more and more with their absents and the 3 living gods descended. The cost of returning to the world was grave, the gods lost their immortality. Lenia used her life to purge as many evil beings she could. Paving a bloody path killing demons, dragons, giants, and even ancients. Ominum settled in the middle of the Alune, she protected those who gathered around her and had children. In her old age before she died she passed her power into her strongest child for them to rule the land and protect their people.
Though it is due to Arc, a god who is said in the past strives for death and destruction of mortals, for the new age to come. It is said he spent thousands of years studying and prolonging his life till he learned how to bind the three Realms back together. No one knows what happen to arc, many believe that he sacrificed his life in order to bind the realms together, others believe that he is stuck forever binding the realms and when he dies the realms will split again, and the last believe he had slipped into the darkness to avoid his enemies till he could regain his godhood. No matter what one believes it is thanks to Arc that mortals can rule themselves at all.

A Reforged World

With the realms combined it was thought the age of darkness would end, but only in the light can you truly see the horror around you. With the Fey now mixing with our world several problems emerged. The magic essence unable to go anywhere built up to be beyond what anyone in the past could ever use. Mortals could easily kill themselves when using magic or the spots where the veil between the material plane and the fey was thin mortals found themself with strange mutations or changing entirely to a different race.
Fire giants and all but the most powerful ancient ones returned to underground plaguing the dwarfs, and infighting in the dwarven kingdom when different religious sects from the return of the gods came. New kingdoms formed on the surface of Alune, and grew till ten kingdoms borders had been drawn. Most led by mortals, two by dragons.
With the forming of kingdoms and empires, the gods speed up their campaign for believers again. Gods who had long since seen the races they created struggled to reconnect. New gods where born as believes etched in superstition of the dark ages took life of their own. And with the play of gods for souls, even the demons moved to garner favor with humans. Conflicts formed by the day, but over the next thousand years everything settled down. Borders where establish, wars ended, populations grew. Though nothing last forever.

Age of Sunder

200 years ago it happen. Fast and all at once the veil between the fey and the material world blended to much. Entire sections of the fey merged themself with the part of the land where the veil was thin. Vast forest of untold magic, appeared overnight. Kingdoms more complex appeared next to castles out of no where. The Elves and the Fey-folk had emerged.
Much confusion happened, in these days. Elves had not seen mortals  in so long only the oldest of them could recall them, and they found themselves next to an entire new civilization. A kingdom of men, fell in a week to the powerful Golden Elves who out of fear or misunderstanding destroyed them to claim their land. The elves at first where almost as powerful as the living gods of old were, but there where hundreds of thousands of them not just 3.
To the north across the ocean, the nordic people and their frost giant brothers had the land split in two by vast frozen forest with magical beast more powerful than they had seen before. Elves as pale as the snow also came, though they where only hostile to those that harmed their forest. A pact was made with the elves and the mortals to split the land in three. One for the forest, one to drive the magical beast to, and the third for all to live. Though they invaded Alune again to gather farm land for their new people causing more conflict on the land.
To the south of elves as dark as night appeared, some became horrid pirates. Their navy wrecking borders. Others became peaceful traders living in a land to tainted for mortals to endure and protecting them from horrors escaping. Other elves appeared randomly around the map, some appearing mid travel some cities forming in wilderness. They seemed to be more peaceful than all three of the others.
Eventually Golden Elves marched upon the land, and where met by the other races. A large war rained for 20 years. Primarily between golden elves on one side and dwarf, tieflings, and men on the other. The main source of conflict was the kingdom of descendants of Ominum. Though through the twenty years the elven people found their might power dwindle to that of the mortals they invaded. The blessing of the fey leaving them as they had stayed to long in the material plane and could no longer go back to the fey with ease. Their mighty land ravaged and as this drained the kingdoms the dragonborns empire to the north grew in power, and the bid their time to expand.
40 years after the war with the elves was over a powerful dragonborn army marched down on the descendants of Ominum, taking vast stretches of their land. Led by the dragons who ruled them. This war came to a standstill and horrible losses on both sides fought nearly every day for 120 years. Only to come to a cease fire after the Dragon king was wounded gravely.
A relative peace had formed in the next 20 years, a world torn asunder given time to rest. Vast cities and even kingdoms lost to time. What is real and what is myths and legends can barely be told apart. What adventures will happen next, what kingdoms will fall and rise, what new horrors will descend no one can know. But perhaps you will be written into history.

Types of Magic:

Essence:
The most common magic, it flows from the fey and can be used by anyone.
Divine:
Power giving from the Gods
Demonic:
Power giving from demons
Draconic:
Power from dragons
Ancient Pacts:
Power granted on behalf of things older than gods
Species Specific:
Power that a species can use only by a species and isn't reliant on others. Such as Giants magic.