Ysireth

Ysireth is a high fantasy setting enjoying its utopic golden age in a world where the understanding and use of logical arcana has always been the foundation of civilization. The known world boasts nearly 100,000 years of recorded history from still-living civilizations, led by sophisticated Aeldvari and stabilized by industrious Duovari. Warfare, tyranny, and poverty have largely been eradicated. Even the last world-changing catastrophe was over 11,000 years ago.   In the wake of the elder races, Hymvari are over-ambitious children, but they have been adopted into established society nonetheless. Meanwhile, similarly-short-lived Urkvari are considered barely more than savage beasts. Diverse Mervari haunt the deep oceans, nearly as ancient as Aeldvari but ignored by the landwalkers, and amphibious Nagvari are viewed with suspicion and mistrust wherever they intersect with continental society.   Even under the umbrella of prosperity and safety, not all is content. Eldritch energy, a viral strain of magic that consumes standard arcana, offers immediate power and eventual destruction to its users, who may choose it out of ambition, desperation, or a willingness to combat their fellow practitioners with looser morals. Like outbreaks of plague, Eldritch magic can spiral out of control and wreak unchecked devastation on living things; its only counter is Abyssal energy, another entropic strain of magic that inevitably erodes everything it touches, including a mage's very soul.