Peven

In a land on the cusp of a renaissance, explorers venture beyond old horizons and innovations are coming forth that strive to push the world from a dark age that has lasted tens of millennia. On the vast continent of Peven towards the centre of the world, the grand, sprawling, and stagnant Peveniric empire dominates world affairs from the capital of Pelradan. Yet others have risen up that resent Peven's position of power. To the southeast, in the warm empire of Sabre, a usurper has risen to the throne who intends to achieve magnificence that his deposed brother could never hope to gain. In the snowbound north of faraway Ch'ing-tu, the realm of Kvaskrav has fallen under the spell of a bloodthirsty cult which purports that glory can only come in combat and conquest.    Peven is a world of sorcery and mystery, where humans are numerous but surrounded by beings of queer shapes and minds. It is the domain of no less than six species of elf  (two species of which have tails), a degenerate dragon race with approximately the mental capacity of Australopithecus, and no end of kingdoms, fiefs, and human peoples. Magic is a natural fact of life in this world, alongside trade, politics, and colonialism.