Danaan

Once home to the vast, magical civilization of the Shie, the world of Danaan was, in its prime, lush and beautiful. There were great cities and sprawling forests. Then there was a great catastrophe and world is still recovering from it ten thousand years later. Much of the world is barren wastes, but there are large pockets of greenery. However what the catastrophe gave is just as important as what it took. Before it Shie used magic mainly through runes and potions, only dragons could use magic through will alone, now nearly everything can use some form of magic as easily as they can flex a muscle. Many creatures were also fundamentally changed by the magic which now permeates the land. The Faril, large beasts resembling saber-toothed cats, were one such creature and they bonded deeply with a small group of Shie who are now called Faril Riders. In the ten thousand years since the Last Catastrophe the remaining Shie have broken off into separate groups and become very different from both their ancestors and each other. Life has gone back, largely, to a more rural existence than what they had, but they are adapting and learning to live with their new magically altered neighbors.