Fernia

The Fernia were a race of humanoids that used to inhabit a forest  village centered around an ancient tree. Unlike most mortals, Fernia  tend to be proficient at the use of elemental magic and have a higher  average lifespan. However, in terms of physical aspects they do not  differ significantly to regular humans and up to the age of adolescence  they age normally. Characteristics that tell them apart from regular  humans are their long, feathered ears and the seasonal change of  pigments in their hair (and sometimes eyecolor). 

The Fernia  worship a goddess named Gaia and believe that their aptitude towards  elemental magic and their long lives are a blessing from their goddess.  Moreover, they believe that the sacred tree at the center of their  village is a manifestation of their goddess. At the point of time where  most events of my character's story take place, the Fernia are believed  to be extinct and most mortals treat them as characters from fairy tales  and myths.

Krimoria

Krimoria is the realm of the mortals which is split into different smaller kingdoms and countries located on three different continents. In contrast to Thebel and Solace, the different regions of Krimoria show a large climatic variety.

Eihea is the largest of the three continents of Krimoria. Up in its far north, large parts of the area are covered in snow and ice, while parts of the central region consist out of deserts only. In between, forests, meadows and farmland are most prominent. The inhabitants of Eihea share a common language and alphabet, making it possible to communicate with one another even if they hail from different, distant countries or kingdoms. Scholars assume that once the whole continent might have been one large country with no established form of government, however they lack records on this to proof their assumptions. As of now, kingdoms are most prominent in Eihea, with Arannoth, Mynrha and Elyria being three important kingdoms in terms of strength and resources.

Arannoth

Arannoth is a large kingdom located near the heart of the continent and was named after its capital city. Having its origins as just a minor city, Arannoth quickly gained strength under the rule of King Raine, who guided his people, strengthened his warriors and steadily established the foundation of a great empire. Curious people from all corners of the continent started to come to Arannoth and brought all kinds of traders, scholars, and warriors along with them. Processed metal became its main focus in production, as not only steel, but also rare metals prized for their alchemic properties and even magical compatibility were obtained throughout smeltering ore. Blacksmiths, but also mages and alchemists settled in Arannoth to make use of the abundance of these materials.
King Raine always focussed on solid strength as his main aim, having his generals training recruits to gain formidable warriors, which would later become the kingdom's knights and signature of the Arannothian kingdom. Magic on the other hand was something the king never truly trusted, and while he permitted the use of it, he never really provided any kind of support to those who practiced it.
Blacksmiths and even master blacksmiths used the precious metals of the kingdom to create countless powerful weapons to arm the kingdom's mightiest knights. One of those master blacksmiths, Arthan, was chosen by the king himself to be his personal blacksmith due to his unparalleled crafting skills and alchemic knowledge.
For years, the kingdom's rising glory seemed endless, until one day a mysterious disease slowly started to spread among its people. After caravans from the southern kingdom of Mynrha started to arrive, the people's health would slowly deteriorate, and their condition would worsen to a point of mental insanity. The city guards were forced to put the afflicted out of their misery in an effort to save and protect the inhabitants of the kingdom. Despite the bitter ending one would think that it was, days after the burial, reports would start arriving about seemingly walking corpses roaming the graveyards. As ludicruous as this would seem, such reports were not mistaken as more and more of these undead were spotted. Scholars started suspecting that these events could not be linked to a regular disease, instead they assumed it was the doing of a master of the forbidden arts: a powerful necromancer. King Raine quickly forbid the use of any kind of magic in the city and gathered all known mages for interrogation and/or expulsion from the city (or even execution, if found guilty during interrogation) in an attempt to locate the one responsible for the spread of the curse.

Mynrha

The kingdom of Mynrah, located at the center of the continent of Eihea, used to be a wealthy land as large forests covered the land while plenty of ore was being mined at the mountains at the northern border. Outside of processing ore and exporting lumber and iron, wheat, barley and different kinds of fruit thrived on the fields and in the gardens at the southern shore where the supply in fresh water was secured by several river mouths coming together.

After many years of drought, the fields started to yield too little to keep the inhabitants of the kingdom fed, so the royal order was given to increase the export on lumber and iron to be able to import food in exchange. During this time, Mynrah was supplied with relief aid from the neighbouring kingdom of Elyria, which had a close relationship for many years now. But as the drought continued over nearly a decade, the ground started to corrode more and more, until slowly a desert formed where once the farmland used to be. 

It was at this very time that a mysterious "disease" spread among the citizens, leaving behind a dark stain on their skin. However, as those affected initially did not notice any other symptoms beside the stain, the efforts to study and treat the disease went by slow. The people only realized that what they were dealing with was no mere disease, but rather related to necromancy as the first of the recently deceased rose from the dead. The whole kingdom fell into disarray, and as the king seemed to lose its sanity, war with the bordering kingdoms of Elyria and Arannoth was imminent. 

After their defeat, the kingdom of Mynrah was integrated into the kingdom of Arannoth. Ever since the final attack on the capital, Adressia, the former king of Mynrah, has been considered missing.

Elyria

The kingdom of Elyria, lying adjacent to the sea, benefits from its mild climate as the annual harvest of rice, wheat and several kinds of fruits and vegetables usually yield an overshoot. Alongside with the salt pans at the seaside allowing for drawing salt from the seawater, Elyria has specialized in trading with viands. Merchants flocked to the port cities and brought wealth to the Elyrians - however, they also attracted pirates and brigands who sought to steal the coin and wares from ships and caravans leaving the port cities. As the Elyrian forces  lacked the manpower to provide proper protection to the merchants, many sellswords found work in escorting the merchants savely to their destinations. 

The beneficial trading relationships with the surrounding kingdoms allowed Elyria to remain in a state of peace for a long time. As the drought spread famine across the neighbouring kingdom of Mynrah, Elyria provided relief supplies to the Mynrhian population free of charge as a goodwill gesture since the relationship between the two kingdoms had always been well connected. However, after the mysterious disease - which was later identified to be a necromantic curse - spread throughout Mynrah, the forces of Mynrah suddenly launched an attack on Elyria, forcing its queen to flee to Arannoth to seek help.

After Mynrah was defeated by Arannoth, the queen returned to the capital and Elyria retained its independence. In exchange for the help of the Arannothian forces, Elyria offered any kind of recompensation to the Arannothian king - who never voiced any wish on his own. Instead, after rebuilding the Elyrian infrastructure and townships, Elyria provided Arannoth with the necessary resources to rebuild the towns which had been destroyed in the war while also supplying the population with the food.

Before the rule of the Elyrian queen came to an end, she established a democracy controlled by several individual institutions - the merchant guild, the kingdom’s guard consisting out of the Queen’s former knights and sellswords, and a guild representing the general populus - to ensure the well-being of her people in the future.

Fernian Woods / „Ghostwoods“

The forest once known as the Fernian Woods is located at the border of the kingdoms of Arannoth and Elyria. The Fernian village and their sacred tree were located at its center at the side of a river. The buildings at the Fernian village were mainly build from wood and clay, as those resources were abundant in the surrounding area - only the Temple of Gaia, which was build around the sacred tree, was build from stone. 

After the sacred tree and the surrounding forest had started to wither away, and after all of the Fernia had either left the village behind or died due to malnutrition, old age or illness, the village slowly started to deteriorate, until only ruins remained. Long after the Fernia had vanished, the forest slowly started to recover - yet people still believed that the forest was cursed, and thus they avoided venturing into its depth. Out of those who still dared to traverse the woods, only a few managed to find their way to the ruins of the Fernian village. After they returned, they spoke of seeing spectres in between the trees, and feeling an omnious aura while exploring the ruins. At this point of time, many people saw the Fernian as mythical features from myths and fairytales, and forgot that they once truly lived in the forest. The name „Fernian Woods“ was slowly forgotten; instead people started to call the forest the „Ghostwoods“.  

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Solace

The realm of angels is called Solace. In terms of landmass, Solace is the smallest of the realms as it consists out of several floating islands located in a sea of clouds. As Solacians are - despite of having wings - incapable of flying for an extended period of time they have not made serious advances at discovering what is located below the cloud level. The climate in Solace is overall mild, allowing the Solacians to harvest crops throughout most of the year and thus making it possible for them to sustain themselves without the necessity of relying on resources from other realms. Furthermore, by bringing animals in from Krimoria to their own forests, the angels were able to create their own independent hunting grounds long ago. 

Throughout Solace there are smaller, unnamed settlements whose inhabitants focus exclusively on agriculture or mining for ore while the majority of the inhabitants of Solace live at the capital, Cythis. 

Cythis

The capital of Solace, Cythis, is located at the center of the largest of the floating islands at the side of a lake. Most of the buildings in Cythis are build from sandstone and marble, thus many Solacians refer to Cythis as their „white and gold capital“. Moreover, both the Palace of Cythis, in which their ruler resides, and the training grounds for the Solacian forces are located in Cythis.

The Palace of Cythis and its library

The palace of Cythis is located in the northern half of the city surrounded by the public gardens. The palace itself serves as residence for the ruler of Solace and a few Solacians who take care of the palace itself. Furthermore it houses a library that is open to all Solacians and rooms that are used for strategic meetings of the offensive and defensive forces of Solace. The library itself contains regular books as well as the personal records of the past rulers of Solace alongside the records Solacian scholars and soldiers wrote on Solace itself, Krimoria and Thebel. While their knowledge on Krimoria as well as its cultures and inhabitants is remarkable, they do lack well-grounded knowledge on Thebel and its inhabitants. Most of their scripts dedicated to their "enemies" are based on assumptions and word-of-mouth information that spread among Krimorians. 

Thebel

Thebel is the realm where demons and other races that have been hunted by mortals and angels originally lived in or sought shelter at. As of now, the land is barren, and the lack of a natural light source prevents the Theblians from successfully harvesting their own crops. Many have abandonned their homes and instead try to build a new and better life for themselves in Krimoria while keeping a low profile to not attract unwanted attention; others travel between Thebel and Krimoria to supply their villages with the neccessary resources.  

Unlike Krimoria and Solace, most parts of Thebel lack an established and stabilized form of governance. Smaller groups of Theblians and individuals that stayed behind fight over unclaimed areas for various reasons: some seek more power, others simply hope to find food and resources by claiming new territory. Only a few regions have remained in the hands of the same ruling figure for an extended period of time, as those usually made a name for themselves and thus earned the respect and recognition of other Theblians.

Enyris

Enyris is a small island off the shore of Thebel's main land that serves as the sanctuary for restless souls. The Abyssus family serves as protectors for Enyris and those who sought shelter there, however after Nyx vanished and Thanatos was brought to Solace, all that protected Enyris from unwanted visitors was a magical barrier. 

General Notes

In my characters' story and world, magic is a potent force that finds application both in combat and every-day-life (e.g. healing spells, using fire magic for lighting fires).

While many individuals show the potential to learn how to use magic, only a few manage to master it. Furthermore, both Solacians and Theblians as well as Fernia possess a greater potential to use magic than mortals, often allowing them to cast more powerful spells as well.

The use of magic is limited as to cast a spell, the user needs to bring up a certain amount of energy. As a rule of thumb, more powerful spells will use up a higher amount of energy. Once running out of available energy, the user will feel fatigue. However, they can continue to cast spells at the cost of draining their own health and lifetime, and eventually dying due to overexerting oneself. When the mortals noticed the harmful effects of excessive use of magic, they developed several techniques to bind the effect of spells in items (mostly tomes, scrolls, potions, powders and small gems) for later use.

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Elemental magic

Elemental magic can be used offensively (projectiles, spectral weapons, imbuing an existing weapon with the element), but also in every-day-life (e.g. drawing water from plants, lighting a fire without proper tools). In general, the use of elemental magic is faciliated when the element is already present - allowing the user to cast more powerful spells by using up less energy. Most often, an individual is able to pick up different types of elemental magic, however their talent in using different types of elemental magic will often differ significantly.  

Light magic and dark magic are very similar to one another in nature, as both can be used to strenghten oneself or others or weaken them (the latter is often referred to as hexes and curses) as well as in an offensive manner just like other elemental types of magic (e.g. projectiles, crafting spectral weapons using magic). Among mortals, both light and dark magic are uncommon - furthermore only a few angels are able to use dark magic, and - vice versa - most Theblians are unable to use light magic. While neither light nor dark magic are "good" or "evil", many deem light magic as "good" and dark magic as "evil".

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Non-elemental magic

Healing

Often accounted to as light magic, healing magic is the most common type of magic in all realms, as compared to other types of magic its cost seems to be relatively low. Healing magic can be used to accelerate the natural healing process of wounds and illnesses. However, only a few individuals are able to heal lethal wounds fast enough with magic to avert death. Reviving someone by using magic is deemed forbidden by many, as the more common form of ressurrection spells are part of necromancy - yet there are a few individuals that are able to ressurrect others without resorting to necromancy under the right circumstances.

Opening gates in between realms / "Teleportation"

As mortals are unable to travel to either Solace or Thebel under normal circumstances, the magic that is used to travel between realms by opening gates is exclusive to Theblians and Angels. Furthermore, opening a gate to another realm requires a large amount of energy, usually leaving the user exhausted afterwards. However, more people than just the user can travel through the very same portal - thus, when travelling between Solace and Krimoria, a Solacian squad will usually have two members that are exclusively designated to opening the portals.

Psychic

Casting illusions, seeing visions of either the past or future as well as affecting the surroundings without taking physical action are considered as magic and often referred to as psychic abilities. Among mortals, Theblians and angels this type of magic is very uncommon and those capable of using it are often considered as seers and oracles.

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Forbidden Arts

Among the different types of magic, some seem to have impacted the user negatively, either driving them insane or corrupting their character completely. As this problem became known to more and more people, many kingdoms and both Theblians and Solacians started to deem these types of magic as forbidden, punishing and actively pursuing those who practised them.

Necromancy

Raising the dead by using magic is difficult, and often the price paid for casting such spells affected the psyche and health of both the caster and target negatively. Furthermore, the use of necromancy left the target in a cursed state where the spell would not lose effect over time, continously eating away at their soul and psyche. This meant that from this point onwards, the target would be unable to die and would start to slowly lose themselves. In contrast to other curses and hexes, there is no way to revert the effects of necromancy spells - however, to fight the symptoms of the curse, one afflicted with it could consume souls to avert falling into insanity.  

Hemomancy

Hemomancy, or blood magic, required the presence of blood and thus was often tied to murder or self-inflicted harm. Most hemomancy spells are used to empower the user, often leaving them in a state of mindless rage. Some other hemomancy spells are used for torture or manipulating another's body while having them fully conscious.