Shallar

Shallar is a world that has come back from the brink of complete destruction. 500 years ago an event, called the Exodus by those alive today, took place. Not much is known from that time, but the Gods left Shallar forever. In their absence all clerics and paladins lost their supernatural abilities, and this lead to an implosion of organized religion and churches over the next 50 years. With the collapse of religion came devastation. Impossible weather and geological events ravaged the surface of Shallar. Earthquakes that lasted days and left new mountains in their wake. Hurricanes capable of obliterating cities left hundreds of thousands dead or homeless. Storms raged, and society burned. The people hoped that their Gods would return, but hoped turned to despair as the years rolled on. This period is referred to as the Breaking.  

Roughly two centuries passed before the storms subsided. The peoples of Shallar emerged to find a new world in the aftermath of the Breaking. In the north a fresh water sea rose up in the midst of a massive mountain range. The Goliath and Rishans have made homes in the hostile peaks of the Reef. From this sea The Spine flows southward into rolling grassland. Here the Gnomes, Rishans, and the wandering Kittri live. The Triton make their homes along the coast from the northeast corner of Shallar all the way south to the border of the jungle of Labyrinth. Labyrinth itself covers the bulk of the southeastern region of Shallar. Deep within its tangled branches Jhira-Zul tribes battle for control of vital resources, and Patherins help the jungle flora and fauna thrive. In the northeast The Elderwood with its great trees tended by Patherin and Rishans lies quiet and mostly disconnected from the outside world. The northwest is a land rotting and smoking. Ash clouds come belching from the volcanic mountains in the far north and roll across the barren, cold landscape. In the southwest a vast desert bars the advance of the Orcs that live deep within it. Closer to civilization scattered Jhira-Hadeen tribes and Kittri clans keep a steadfast eye for Orcish invasions.  

As the various peoples began to reassert themselves in the world the Historian's Guild was founded, in the year 223 AE, to secure and protect knowledge and artifacts from the world before the breaking. Evidence of the previous age's technological and magical prowess can be found all over Shallar, but no more prominent examples than the three great towers exist to show the modern world how far they have fallen. Not all was peaceful in this new world however. The Goliath began sailing down the Spine to raid any settlements left unprotected. The Jhira-Zul tribes of Labyrinth and the Orcs of the deep desert also began pushing into the more fertile heartland. They did not desire peace and prosperity however, they came only to take the other settlements food and wealth. To prevent the world from falling back into chaos so soon after the Breaking the gnomes reached out to all the other peoples and proposed a peace. Thus the Gnomish Peace Accords of 377 AE were signed by the Jhira-Hadeen, Kittri, Goliath, Patherins, Triton, and the Rishan. The Jhira-Zul tribes and the Orcs refused, and have been exiled to their wild homes. The Arcanist's Association was founded relatively recently in the year 392 AE to study the currents of elemental magic that flow through the bedrock of Shallar.  

Shallar is very closely connected to Fey and the Elemental Planes. Many of the wild places of Shallar are so closely connected to these other planes that terrain, and sometimes creatures, bleed through. This has made the ability to cast spells and weave magic very common. The most important factor to the ability is the person's belief that they can do so. Thus the methods of casting spells are varied and range from intense study and years of practice, to people who can cast almost from birth.  

500 AE is the current year, and the world is largely at peace. With all the nations working together several great cities have been founded, and Bastion has risen to the world capitol and center for trade. The Historian's Guild is the main force for knowledge and teaching, although many of the races maintain ancient traditions shrouded in mystery, lost arts half forgotten from the Breaking. The Guild has an almost unlimited reach and resources, which it uses to search out lost relics. The Arcanist's Association has members all across the world providing healing and other magical services to all who need it.  

However. in the west a shadow grows, and a storm is coming. One that could shatter the world anew...