Welcome to Kuazur Vedt…
Introduction to Kuazur Vedt, so you can add extra detail to your backstory
Kuazur Vedt is a pre-industrial world where magic is commonplace. In fact, magic pretty much makes everything work. Magic has been so commonplace, there has been little need for anything more complex than simple machines. If it can't be powered by hand, by water, by ox or by horse, it is done with magic. And often times it is just done with magic anyway.
Magic is the foundation of every society, and the stability it has provided has fed the people, protected the cities and entertained the masses
But now magic is dying. No one is sure why, though everyone, it seems, has a theory. Some think the gods are angry because the people have grown complacent and unappreciative. Some thing the gods have moved on to create other worlds, having grown bored with this world.
The high elves blame men, believing they are too barbaric and young a race to have ever been entrusted with magic, and that they have somehow squandered or contaminated the sources. Orcs blame the elves, because elves are always to blame for the problems that befall the Orcs. Men blame other men, believing that "those people" have found a way to block "our" magic in the hopes of gaining an advantage. Gnomes don't care who's to blame... they're just busy trying to fix the problems created by magic getting "fuzzy at the edges" in their own inventive, industrious fashion.
The death of magic was just a rumor at first. Twice-told tales of spells backfiring and enchantments petering out. Then the stories became too common to ignore, and it was a topic of great interest.
But in the last year, the fear has grown concrete that magic might truly be dying. Because now the Fey Folk (fairies, sprites, brownies, leprechauns, etc.) have all but disappeared. These delicate but wholly-magical races were recently plentiful, with almost everyone in each of the five realms having had frequent interactions with them. In the last year, reports of anyone even spotting a pixie at a distance are few and far between. Clerics, prophets and oracles privately whisper about fewer communications with gods and celestials, and the response times to petitions grow longer and longer.
Still, for the day-to-day running of the world, magic tends to run along mostly uninterrupted.
In the five realms, due to the long peace, the races are fairly evenly distributed. Most keep to towns and villages of their own kind, but in the larger cities, races pretty much coexist alongside one another. The only exceptions are the infernals, who for the most part live on their own in Ashq, and the High Elves who have long claimed ancestral ownership of the Nidian Sea, and keep to themselves in the lands bordering it.
The first serious conflict between the realms has broken out in a large swath of land between Sudjortica and Shi'stralla, what is now called The Contested Lands. Exactly why each has laid claim to the region after so many years of peace is unknown. The fact that part of this region touches The Nidian Sea has made the High Elves rather touchy, and they have threatened to claim the entire region as their own, solely to keep the conflict away from their cities. This, more than fear of one another, has kept the Sudjortics and Shi'stralls from outright war.
As far as anyone knows, there is only the single continent of Kuazur Vedt. There are a few outlying, sparsely inhabited islands, but nothing large with substantial resources. The inhabitants are mostly indigenous, tribal people maintaining a subsistence living (though magic is still prevalent), and have little need or desire to play a part in the dealings of the five realms.
There are multiple gods and pantheons at work in the realms. Also, there is a wide array of nature, elemental and philosophical magic systems at work. Most believe in the existence of all of them, and pursue the faith in one over the others for racial, cultural or even professional reasons. Monotheism is rare in the Realms, but not entirely unheard of.
Our campaign will begin at Bathequa Harbor, on Wessen Bay in the northwestern quarter of Ka'andastadt. near Lake Pasj. Bathequa is a town with a singularly capitalist focus. It has no patron god and allows no temples to any god to be erected within its borders. Anyone is free to believe what they want, but anything resembling preaching or an attempt to convert is... harshly discouraged. Even the use of any magic that isn't strictly utilitarian-- anything flashy or showy-- is met with suspicion, if not outright contempt.
All people are free and equal in the eyes of the Bathequan regents. The Harbor has gained notoriety of late because of a massive statue which has been recently installed. Everyone who sees it says it is a must-see attraction if you go, but when pressed simply say "It's hard to describe; words don't do it justice... and even if I tried, you can't really explain it. You just have to see it... and decide for yourself."
The city is undergoing a bit of an economic depression at the moment, as some key trade routes have been disrupted due to the conflict over The Contested Lands.
