Esterya

Parallel to our world ("The Otherworld") lies Esterya, a world bustling with all kinds of creatures, both magical and non-magical. Almost everything that lives here had once been created by Lycilia, their goddess, who controls the light of sun, moon, and stars and had once fought Nocturnis , the god of death and shadows, to give her children a a save and peaceful world to live in.   Humans from the Otherworld had been brought to Esterya and settled there. When the battle between the gods had started, some humans were willing to capture parts of Nocturnis' shadows in their souls, turning them into Shadowkeepers, and to keep them save from the deadly effects of the shadows, a range of gods created by Lycilia gave them a small part of their devine energy, which granted them supernatural powers, such as controlling fire or ice and turning themselves into creatures resembling dragons, hawks or white foxes.   For many centuries Humans and Shadowkeepers lived side by side peacefully, though seperated. They inhabited almost every part of Esterya. From the deserts in the west to the frozen lands in the east, from The Veiled Mountains to The Eternal Forest, almost everywhere you could find either Shadowkeepers or Humans, sometimes even both, as in rare cases they lived together peacefully. Their settlements could be anything from caves to villages, from cities and fields stretching over wide grasslands to grand cities build into the crown of a gigantic petrified tree.   But this peace did not last forever. About 300 years ago a great war broke out between Shadowkeepers , Humans, and Shojorin, a human-like species created by Lycilia herself that inhabits The Eternal Forest. The Shojorin were actually the ones starting the war after humans had violated their sanctuary Yanwe, a gigantic tree that grew where Lycilia had once defeated Nocturnis. The Shadowkeepers decided to side with the Shojorin, as Yanwe had been a sacred place for many of them as well. Many lost their life in the war and now they live in separation more than ever before, hatred for each other still burning inside many. For many decades children who's parents were both Shadowkeepers and Humans were persecuted and extinguished, making them a rare occurrence in current days.   But Esterya is not only inhabited by Humans and Shadowkeepers . Hidden away from the eyes of most you will find magical or divine creatures from demi-gods roaming The Veiled Mountains as wolves to Dryads protecting the woods from anyone who might harm their home.