Overview of Scarterra in Broad Strokes

Divine Overview

The Nine are the deities of Scarterra. They became gods when they defeated their tyrannical progenitor Turoch. Turoch's death created the malevolent nothingness known as the Void which occasional spawns Lovecraftian soul eating monsters called Void demons. Turoch has nihilist cultists today collectively called Infernalists.
the Nine created an agreement to run the universe world together called the the Compact establishing a Dominion of nature for each of the Nine, but it didn't hold together very long after Turoch died. The first major undermining of the Compact was the establishment of the divine Gifts, major innovations which catapulted civilization forward rapidly.
the Nine live in the Aetherial Realm, aka the sky. They create spirit minions to serve them, roughly equal to angels and demons in many fantasy worlds, and they empower divine casters to act as their proxies in the mortal plane. Favored souls are divine casters who are born with their power and theurgists are divine casters who gain divine magic through piety. While the origin of their powers is different, the application of their powers is practically the same.
In Scaraqua the realm inside the oceans, the nine deities are believed to have been created not by Turoch (who they believe is an impersonal force of malevolent nothingness) but they believe the nine deities birthed by the impersonal cosmic forces known as Sea, Sky, and Sea Floor. As far as they understand, "Land" is not a living cosmic force. Land is essentially a cosmic hairball vomited up by the rest of the universe and by dumb luck life has managed to exist upon it.
Khemra is Lawful Neutral. She her main Dominion is the sun. Her main Gift is writing. Her primary followers are called Keepers ("of the Compact"). She is loosely based on a do your homework and eat your vegetables type of parent which contrasts with Nami. Her alternate Scaraquan personality is Heekma, still a sun deity but harsher and more distant and also male.
Hallisan is Lawful Good. His main Dominion is the planet's crust and volcanic activity. His main Gift is metalworking. His primary followers are called Guardians ("of Valor"). He is a patron of hard work and chivalrous ideals. His Scaraquan alternate identity Mangcha is an industrious builder but has a much weaker martial edge, barely distinguishable from Resona.
Phidas is Lawful Evil. His main Dominion is The Barrier against the Void. His main Gift is the concept of currency. His primary followers are called Masks ("of Phidas"). Phidas is the embodiment of both a greedy merchant and a scheming vizier or spy master. His Scaraquan alterego Resona, is more subdued and focused on peaceful commerce, barely distinguishable from Mangcha.
Korus is True Neutral. His main Dominion is the ecosystems of all life. His main Gift is agriculture. His primary followers are called Stewards ("of the Gift" or "of the Dominion"). He is the patron of bridges, bridging life and death, the mortal plane and Fae Home, good and evil, civilization and wilderness, law and chaos, and even male and female (he is the patron of nonbinary people). Not too surprisingly, his Scaraquan alternate ego, Mubete is gender swapped. Mubete is one of the Seeyirah, or daughters of Sea. She believes in a strict (but peaceful) separation between the people of the land and sea.
Mera is Neutral Good. Her main Dominion is the water. Her main Gift is control over fire. Her primary followers are called Tenders (of the Sacred Hearth). She is the embodiment of the literary archetype of the kindly mother and somewhat embodies the modern archetype of a naïve optimist. Her Scaraquan alterego, Enosha is a still a lover of peace but is better at realpolitik and will fight to protect her values. She wants to bring the people of the land and sea together in harmonic cooperation. While she is one of the Seeyirah, or daughters of Sea, many Scaraquans view her "as the land goddess" because of how she wants to reach out to land folk and a lot of the sea creatures in her domain live part of their lives on or near the surface including sea turtles and marine mammals.
Greymoria is Neutral Evil. Her main Dominion is arcane magic. Her main Gift is wizardry. Her primary followers are called the Children ("of the Dark Mother"). She embodies the literary archetype of a spiteful witch. Greymoria is stuck in a negative reinforcing cycle where she is sad and angry that mortals don't love her as much as she feels she is owed so she lashes out at them with monsters and curses which causes people to shun her more which causes her to lash out again. Her Scaraquan alter ego Taedi is one of the Seeyirah, or daughters of Sea. Taedi is the goddess of deep dark waters and cephalopods among other things. While still evil, she is less impulsive than Greymoria and is more like a scheming mad scientist trope than a petulant child throwing godly tantrums.
Nami is Chaotic Neutral. Her primary Dominion is weather. Her primary Gift is free will. Her primary followers are called Rovers ("on the Wind"). She is loosely based on a "let's go play laser tag then get ice cream" type of parent with a dash of trickster which contrasts with Khemra. Her Scaraquan alter ego Kontona is not well understood. Kontona is a much harsher brand of trickster than Nami, but Kontona (supposedly) has done some benevolent things by accident such as inventing rain, which allowed life to develop on land.
Zarthus is Chaotic Good. His primary Dominion is the the moon and the magic associated therein. His Gift is music and art. He is the embodiment of the positive aspects of individuality and self reliance and he is also a defender of people who are poor and outcasts, including half-breed mortals of many stripes. His Scaraquan alter ego is a well meaning rebel but is sort of a bumbler compared to the other Scaraquan gods, often being manipulated by the others but his susceptibility to being tricked led to him becoming the god of the tides and by accident allowed life itself to exist.
Maylar is Chaotic Evil. His primary Dominion is disease and decay. His primary Gift is animal husbandry and hunting. His primary followers are called Testers ("of Strength"). He is a god of social Darwinism and low warfare and is also the embodiment of negative aspects of self-reliance and individualism. His Scaraquan alterego is female, Bellusk , mother of shark and patroness of all strong predators.
My various gods make and break alliances and rivalries with each other all the time and this attitude trickles down the mortal plane as various factions make and break alliances and yesterday's friend is today's enemies and visa versa.

Locations

Scarterra is the term for the land and the land people of my world are collectively called Scarterrans.
West Colassia is the largest continent in Scarterra and is the main setting for both my RPG and my WIP novel. Because of it's important I put more detail into West Colassia than all other locations combined.
I started adding details to East Colassia including my first real novelette "Unstable Ground", but the other landmasses, Umera, Penarchia, and Khemarok barely have any details at all by comparison to the others.
Scaraqua is my term for the sea and the aquatic people of my world are collectively called Scaraquans. This is not quite as fleshed out as Scarterra but I still have a lot of stuff here including and alternate cosmology that most Scaraquans believe in.
Scarnoctis is my term for the subterranean realms and people of my world. I barely begun developing this setting, but I have great ambitions for making this a fun adventure setting in the future.

Major Historical Events

During the the First Age, were the dominant race on Scarterra for unknown thousands of years until escalating wars unknowingly led to a cataclysm called the First Unmaking where millions of elementals tore up the land and sea.
the Nine created elves to be the dominant race over Scarterra for the the Second Age until one or more elves unknowingly caused a cataclysm called the Second Unmaking where millions of Void demons attempted to wipe out all mortal life.
the Nine created humans to be the dominant race over Scarterra for the the Third Age which is the current age. While every nation on Scarterra uses it's own calendar, all the numerical dates given on this wiki are of the Feudal Era, Year 1 began with the death of the infamous vampire tyrant Vladimir the Conqueror the present year of my RPG campaign and WIP novel is 1837. Any Third Age times before Year 1 are referred to as Scarterra's the Red Era. the Red Era represents an earlier harsher time in Scarterra where the mostly feudal kingdoms are replaced by barbarian tribes and petty warlords to create a much stronger Sword and Sorcery theme.

Creatures of Scarterra

Most animals that exist on the real world exist on Scarterra or Scaraqua plus a wide variety of magical creatures. For simplicity these are all classified as "beasts", some of them have intelligence close to our equaling humans.
"Mortals" is the term I use for any living creature that happens to has a soul whether they be Scarterran Mortals or Scaraquan Mortals. "Beasts" is a term I use for any regular living creatures that does not have sapience or a complete mortal soul.

Spirits are beings created by the Nine of the Nine to be the Nine's eyes, ears, hands, and voices.

Void demons are a sort of anti-spirit born out of the Void. They aren't trying to corrupt anything or pull off any complex schemes, they simply want to snuff out mortal life, preferably by eating their souls.

The intelligent Fair Folk and bestial fae Sprites are from the realm of Fae Home that frequently intersects with the mortal plane. The various fae creatures are not well understood and remain a recurring X-Factor in my main conflicts a the Faeries stick their fingers and claws in the events of others.

Undead are a creature type of mortals or beasts reanimated or reformed after death. Some of them are the puppets of necromancers, others serve the Void demons, and others are random independent monsters.

Golems are artificial creatures created by mortal spellcasters.