Audalis - Silverdawn
452 ER
In the southern part of Antaron lie the five human kingdoms: Ertain, Coria, Sendria, Pardinal, and Drannon. Ertain and Coria large and strong, and currently enjoy a decent alliance. Sendria is a dark land, perpetually at war with other nations. Pardinal is a small coastal nation of traders sailors. Drannon is a small fraction of what was once a mighty empire that ruled the continent.
To the east is the vast expanse of sylvarian forest, encompassing the three sylavri nations. The sylvari are the most powerful nation on Antaron, but political infighting has lessened their strength. While currently peaceful, they view the humans with...distaste. North of the sylvari are the Khordal mountains, and the underground khord cities. The khords and syls have coexisted largely by ignoring each other for the past two or so hundred years. The central regions of Antaron are sparsely populated by barbaric human tribes. The western coast is a wild place, with a few scattered port cities that survive by being much more tolerant of differences. The northeastern portion of the continent contains the Chakran mountains, where a cousin race to the khords once lived, though they were long ago exterminated by the crunaik, gurellok, and assorted goblinoid tribed. A huge amount of land is unsettled and uncivilized, with a a wide variety of inhuman inhabitants. Also, there are more than a few scattered ruins, relics of ages past when humanity controlled much more land and power.
Audalis is to be a 'realistic' fantasy world... i.e., while various fantasy races and creatures populate the world, and magic does exist, there are limits. While in a normal human city, you may see an syl or two, or a khord here or there. You won't usually see them abundantly, though. Outside of human lands is another story... Magic is uncommon, and special. Certainly, mages and clerics exist, but magic is viewed with awe and a little fear by the general populace. Magical items are fairly rare; they must be earned, and they are valuable (unlike some campaigns, where a fourth level character has more magical junk than they can carry). The scarcity of magical items is due largely to the fact that spellcasters must be quite powerful to enchant items; even more so to make them permanent. Therefore, most magical items are usually fairly old and hard to come by.
Magical healing is viewed as miraclulous. Most NPC priests do not have spells, or have few. Death is usually final. You won't find a healer in every town.