The Bannered Setting

The setting I'm working on is a fantasy setting with mostly Post-Classical (after the fall of Western Rome) overtones, with some magitech thrown in. There are independent kingdoms and city-states, the remnants of a magical empire divided, spirits and old gods feuding with new religions, artifacts from a heroic/terrifying past, and all that jazz.   Influences list (Incomplete): Video Games: Chrono Trigger: Specifically the Kingdom of Zeal as an inspiration for the old Sarian Empire and the Empress. FF VII: The Lifestream is not that dissimilar to how the flow of mana works in this setting. Both are life energy, both can bring power or be used as such. FF IX: The Mists of that cover the land and make monsters from this game are present in this setting too, but still working on how.   Other Tabletop Games: Exalted: The powers of the bannered and other empowered people are inspired by the exalted. The mechanics of mana and spirits/old gods in particular are also inspired by the feywild. L5R: Spirits and kami have a great deal in common. Bigger, older ones have more sentience and all have a somewhat elemental nature. Tenra: Specifically the way they handle Samurai was a BIG inspiration for the bannered and binders.   Books: The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher: Furies from this book were an inspiration for more overtly magical augmentation known as binding.   Television: Dragon Prince: The innate non-magical nature of humans and ideas of how to overcome it (along with what it might cost) Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: many of the themes of spirits of the earth are similar, but it is the Darkening that is truly similar to raw Mana.