D & D, The Old World, The Sword Coast

The Old World. A world where magic is both respected and feared in equal measure. A world where grudges run deep, where alliances are temporary and hollow. A world locked in eternal war and strife. A world filled with adventure, but also mortal peril. In the Old World, the separate races which populate the surface live in a tense harmony. Old grudges and animosity exist between all people, even between races who typically are in alliance with one another. In the human Empire, for example, Dwarves, Halflings and Elves are more or less accepted in society, but they are typically regarded with heavy suspicion, in some more superstitious villages, even reviled. As such, the governments of the world tend to be of a specific race, and if an individual were to live in the kingdom of another they would typically live in communities of their fellows. Some races, such as the Elves and Dwarves, have such a deep seated animosity that they will virtually never be found in one another's cities even under extraordinary circumstances.   Magic in the Old World is somewhat emblematic of the world, wondrously powerful but unfathomably dangerous. Magic derives from a plane beyond the material realm, known as the Sea of Possibilities. This realm does not follow a sense of logic like the normal realm; rather it can be likened to a web of infinite worlds. In it is every single possible future and every past, worlds that are fundamentally alien to the current and others that are the same except that a certain individual has been set on fire. Magic users are able to peer into this morass of possibilities and will one into existence. As such, the power of a mage is dependent on how far they can see into this sea and pull these alternate realities into being. However, caution must be taken by these mages, as if one plunges too far into study without the proper mental fortitude or planning they can become beset by madness, lost in a maze of infinite timelines and alternate realities.   Faith is another strange magic resulting from the Sea of Possibilities, for there are entities that do exist within this strange, bizarre world. These beings, however, do not sustain themselves through physical food, but through emotions and belief. These entities are often referred to as "Gods" by the mortals of the Old World, and the power that they wield and convey to their followers is entirely based on the echoes of the physical world. They thus seek to sustain themselves and increase their power by influencing the mortal realm, accruing more followers or furthering the emotions that underlie their existence.