Life is a mid- to late Renaissance based fantasy world hinging on principles of hard science, science magic, and hints of steampunk, dark fantasy, and dystopian speculation.
With humans far past their prime, the volatile event that led to their near extinction eons ago made way for the many magical creatures that inhabit Life today. Human-like demons, beasts who walk and talk like man, and the intimidating scalebeasts that are dragons make up the largest part of the world's population, and even they are threatened by the still volatile remnants of mana that make many regions inaccessible.
The worldbuilding focuses on the demons who inhabit the northern reaches of the two largest continents. As the most abundant sapient creature in their region, they largely define what is found in the history books and what is seen as reality.
Life is an original medium fantasy world set in the mid- to late Renaissance. Built on principles of hard science and science magic, it's an extension of our own world with its own geography and added laws of physics. Its level of technology is comparable to the 14-17th century, depending on the specific area and how rural an area is. Though once similar to our own planet, it has a vastly different history due to the presence of a volatile energy with the ability to change the structure of matter and energy.
The planet of Life is roughly the same size as earth but is on average 4°C colder than ours. Technology is in bloom as its denizens are entering a high period of Renaissance to improve their more medieval technology with new techniques such as steampower and previously undiscovered metals, though its age means this technology is widely unknown and still requires a lot of development. Many locations still work with the old ways, especially more rural areas and countries further away from the scientific hearts in the world.
The world is divided by cultures and conflicts, and several large factions have formed among the demons which severely halts process that could've been made if the world's researchers were united. War constantly breathes in everyone's neck and often is about more than just species. The threat the volatile magical energy poses is yet another problem that needs to be dealt with, but no one knows how. This also makes some places in the world impossible to explore without taking large risks.
Life was once a world that only hosted regular humans and animals, albeit with a magical capacity. When a god carried out a purge upon the humans of the world, he set free a large amount of volatile magical energy that merged some species and mutated others, creating for the rich diversity of magical species that can be found on it these days. The main species are the following, listed from most to least abundant:
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Demons - Not the evil denizens of Hell, but a much more human version of them
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Beast people - Creatures merged with humans who now have similar intelligence
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Dragons - A type of beast person known to be tall, fierce, and passionate
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Humans - Much smaller in numbers, humans were nearly wiped out in an event that started the creation of other species
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Island elves - Technically a rare race of humans and not a species, they're found only on certain islands
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Angels - Although native to the world's afterlife, angels can rarely be found on Life itself as well
While most of these species keep to themselves and don't really mix their populations all that much, it's not unseen for them to band together and even create homogenous societies together. When demons first appeared on Life, they banded together with and learned from primitive dragons, and they have their success to thank to them. Dragons still share lands in the south with demons. Elves mix with the minority of humans on their islands pretty well, and angels have slowly started accepting other races within their cities.
On the other hand, many cultures only have one species, even one race of the same species, among its members. Northern dragons and demons are notorious for their war and it's therefor rare to see a free member of one in the other's lands. Island elves stay isolated from the rest of the world purely not to mix with anything other than humans, and angels were long known for their distaste of any non-human species. Even in modern times, most places frown upon people of another species. The only up is that most places don't outright ban these species, they just look at them weird, may legally refuse service, or could even threaten them with violence.
Life has several sets of rules that define what sort of fantasy world it is and what its internal logical consistency entails. To give you a broad idea, here's the gist of its rules, what can and can't go, and what can be expected of its worldbuilding.
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On Life, one of the biggest rules is that everything, from creatures to events to geography to magic, must have a solid reason to be the way it is. That reason isn't always known to the ones involved with the situation, but behind it there is a solid reason, a pattern that would always yield the same results were the thing to be replicated under the exact same circumstances.
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Nearly all laws of nature apply to Life, but there is one thing that is different: mana energy exists. This is a raw energy that can change into other types of energy, for example kinetic energy to move an object, and as a result has a ton of applications that explain the 'supernatural' that exists on Life.
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Keeping in mind the previous rule, everything that happens on Life should be able to happen on earth if magic existed on earth.
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Life exhibits three types of creatures: naturally evolved creatures, magically created creatures, and a mix of the two. Naturally evolved creatures can be influenced by magic to become magically created creatures, and magically created creatures can evolve over time if they are capable of reproduction. The mix involves naturally evolved creatures who were merged with magical creatures.
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Naturally evolved creatures will always follow the colour schemes found in earth creatures, meaning that they mostly rely on brown pigments, or they are colourful but in turn sacrifice their survival chances.
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Magically created creatures always have something or someone that created them. Because of their nature, they can have any shape and any colours but there are a few things that need to be kept in mind:
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Creation does not ensure survival. Even if they were created brightly coloured, they still wouldn't necessarily survive in their habitat. Could they have as many generations as they do without being predated to extinction due to bad camouflage or a faulty survival mechanism?
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Even if on paper they work, if their physiology and anatomy don't work, they don't work. Floating creatures would need a source of energy to float or they'd fall even if their design implies they'd float. Creatures who are pure energy would need a way to keep their energy together or they would just disperse and be lost. Creation is a tool to construct things that can't occur naturally, but they need to be constructed so carefully that they can live in the natural world.
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Under all circumstances, sapient creatures can't be reduced to just one trait like they are in some fantasy. Demons can be good people, bad people, or the most common a mixed bag of good and bad actions just like angels, dragons, humans, and any other race can be.
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Magic, too, relies on laws. Under the exact same conditions, two different experiments should yield the exact same results with little to no variation. It can't just be random.
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That being said, quantum magic exists to a degree as physics and magic rely on each other and dip into one another. This is the only case where the outcome may be random on a microscopic level.
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Magic is not sentient nor sapient; just like heat energy and matter it follows certain rules. The reason that mages exist is because they have the right tools to manipulate magic the way they see fit, in the same way flint and steel can create a fire where one would need it but the fire has no idea that it was used to cook meat or was sparked by flint and steel.
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The multiverse is a canon fact; our Life is one of the many possible versions of the world out there. These worlds are weakly linked together and only accessible to each other through usually divine means and a good knowledge on how these worlds work.
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Universes are complex. Of each version of the world, there's simultaneously one single universe and infinite identical universes. It's impossible to define where, when, and how these exist because of humanity's current lack of understanding of even our own universe, but keep in mind these exist in the story.
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All non-identical universes are independent from each other and are unlinked. Identical universes can't be changed unless something or someone from a different non-identical universe were to go to that dimension. Universe travel is where the one versus infinite comes into play; when universe travelling, the changed universe splits from the original and takes one of the infinite slots, so the identical universe gets split into two non-identical compartments. The only way to detect a unique universe would be by how it is different in total energy levels from the other universes, but since the differences are so small they never really get detected.
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Time travel is nearly the only way to universe travel, since it's very hard to go to an exact moment without being off by a few years, months if the one carrying out the travel is experienced in calculating the time they land in. As stated before, time travel doesn't change the original universe, only a copy. The ability to change every single identical universe belongs to Deimos, which is why he is such a coveted god.
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There's a possibility for people to travel to an unlinked universe, usually by chance but sometimes coordinated and with a specific world in mind. Magic can make temporary links between universes, or it can establish a permanent link that won't be broken and results in more travel happening between the two universes.