A few Notes About the Campaign

This is a medieval fantasy game. Swords and sorcery, monsters and heroes. That said, there are several differences.
Technology is ostensibly medieval. But there is magic, and non-human races, that modify this in several ways. Plumbing, ventilation, waste treatment, and hygiene all exist. Many parts of Dwarven cities feel sort of Steampunkish, due primarily to the infernal combustion engines they use to pump air and water. Elves have an organic technology that uses specially bred plants to do various things, such as waste treatment and home building.
I have two areas that involve the liberal application of handwavium: multiple sentient races, and gender equality. The first is necessary because I want multiple sentient races, and as history has shown, one sentient race will typically consider all other races to be competition, and wipe them out. The second is due to the fact that I don't want sexism in the game world. I didn't want a patriarchy; I didn't want a strong gender always making a weaker gender second class citizens. So I eliminated that little bit of human history, and used GM Fiat to say that women in society are the same as men in society. For the purposes of the game, everyone starts off the same; individuals will, of course, vary. I basically used Skyrim as a model for this.
The campaign starts in the area of Port Karn, a coastal port city situated at the mouth of a major river. It's the seat of one of the twelve Grand Duchies, and a major city in the Tondene Empire. The Tondene Empire is a cosmopolitan empire that encompasses a large area of what used to be several countries, inhabited by Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Hobbits, Elves, Goblins, and Aarakocra. They are all citizens of the Empire. Special note about Orcs and Goblins: they are not an "enemy" race; there aren't any of those on Velyri. Those kinds of societies rarely last long enough to have much of an effect on a world's history. There is no horde of mindless foes determined to destroy civilization. There are other countries who have political goals that might result in conflict (military or otherwise), however, but none of them could really be called "Evil". And no horde of demons amassing at portals waiting to be opened (that anyone is aware of, anyway).
Where the campaign goes will likely be determined by the player characters. Whether they get involved in events regarding the Shards is completely up to them. It is only one possibility; it's up to the players to determine how "big" their stories are. They could be perfectly content to help their neighbors survive, or go exploring ancient ruins, or set up their own mafia organization. Or they could involve themselves with politics, or dive into the mysteries surrounding the Shards. It's an open sandbox.