Setting Overview

Why Build This

This project's main goal is to create a Library for GMs. A place where you can find assets for your game; whether it's as simple as a map or NPC portrait or as complex as a city or mega-dungeon.
The goal is that GMs can share what they love to create and others, who don't enjoy that process of GMing, can use it. So, if you're not a map maker, you can find maps; if you're not great at coming up with NPCs, you'll find ones that you can pull into your game.

Games Supported

When it comes to rules, the two primary games that are supported are the Bonfire TTRPG and HackMaster 5e. D&D and Pathfinder already has enough support when it comes to rules and, frankly, I don't play them so I don't really care about them but the art assets should still be good to recycle.

Principles of the Setting

While you're free to change whatever you want, the setting, as a whole, is designed with the following principles in mind:

Small Scope

The scope of this setting is very small; the entire setting being comparable in size to Switzerland. This is the keep things focused and allows probability . While there are many nations, they're all a subset of a single culture and are familiar with each other, sharing similar traits and language.

Drag & Drop

The setting is ringed with impassible mountains that nobody have been able to get over (and returned to tell the tale). In game, there are mainly explanations about what is beyond those peaks but, out-of-game, this was designed to be left vague for you.
If you're a new GM, you can simply leave it as a hanging question, while you learn to run games. As you get experiance and learn your tastes, you can start building out the world beyond. Additionally, if you already have campaign world, you can slot the Middle Realm in.

Heroic Low-Fantasy

This setting was designed with the idea that even a 20th level character, while exceptional, can still be killed by a mob of commoners with a grudge but, even still, the world is infused with powerful magics beyond mortal comprehension.
Think Lord of the Rings: while there was awe-striking magic and power to rival the gods, the Fellowship were still within mortal limits or slightly above it (Gandalf not withstanding).

Non-Human Dominance

While humans are the most populous race, they're not the dominate one and, it appears, their age is coming to an end. Instead, orcs, conquerers from another plane, make up the ruling elite and top of most feudal power structures.

Points of Light

Civilization is a precious thing and travel is dangerous, even on the roads. Population tends to be concentrated in fortified settlements, rather than spread out. These areas are refugees and exceptions to the rule.

Foreign Familiar

The setting usings mutated German names for the humans, Hungarian for the orcs, and Hausa for the elves. The names are based on places and cultures so that you can easily generate them but mutated to make them more fantastical.
The races themselves are not meant to be based on those cultures, however - after all, the Germans never rode lizards into battle as far as I know - but they're meant to be loose pastiches of large regions to give GMs something to base things on but not to sterotype a specific culture, time, and/or place.

Dangers Older than History

The orcs are newly arrived, the elves arrived before them, and the humans arrived before that, although the history of man is too short to encompass all the events the Middle Realm has seen. As such, the land is dotted with ruins of bygone ages and remenants of civilizations now lost - not all of which are human in origin.

Weak Walls of Reality

There is something about the walls of the plane that are weak and Invasions, incursions from other realms are common. These can be major, like the Orc and Elf Invasions, but they're most commonly very small and very localized, introducing one or two creatures. This allows you, as the GM, to introduce new monsters and threats for the players to face - some of which are alien strange and upsetting.

Organization

The Middle Realm is separated into multiple folders, a summary of which will be given below. Each folder will have an Overview article that gives you a summation of all the information at a very high level. Usually each item will be giving 1 - 2 sentences so you can orient yourself.
But these Overview articles will also contain things you might need when you're running the game - specific rules, for instance - so don't sleep on them.
But the best way to start is by Creating a Character. Even for GMs, this gives you one slice of the setting, instantiated in a character, to focus on. This allows you to filter a lot of information and helps ground you as you learn about things.

Overview

This is the section you're in now and goes over a lot of meta things about the setting. It covers ways to integrate your character into the setting and, also, how to use the assets provided.

Nations

This section goes over the subcultures of the setting, divided by race; what their values are and beliefs are.

Factions

This section goes over the political powers of the setting: religions, duchies, guilds, etc. It covers their organization and beliefs.

Regions

This section goes over the different regions and subregions of the Middle Realm; their wealth and possible random encounters you can use to bring them alive.

Settlements

This section goes over the different cities, strongholds, and villages; their details, maps, and peoples.

Interesting Locals

This section goes over adventuring sites; places of historical significants, dungeons, legendary monsters, ruins, and just scenic views.

Rogues Gallery

This section goes over the important NPCs and personas of the setting, both living and dead.

FAQS

This section will collect fequently asked questions about some of the general stuff about the setting and further elaborate things. If an answer is too frequently asked and its answer becomes too long, it'll be moved to its own article.

Beyond the Mountains

As stated, you can do whatever you want with what's beyond the Mountains at any time, but, if you're not ready, you should just tell your players to ignore it.
When you're ready, you can either center a campaign around discovering what lies beyond (since it will have setting-changing ramifications) or do a time skip to the next status quo.

Introducing New Components

If you want to induce a new component (like a new race), you can do so easily through Invasions. A tribe of gnomes could Invade and set up shop, thus allowing the players to be gnomes in an otherwise gnome-less setting.

Invasions

There are major and minor Invasions.
Minor Invasions involves a smaller area, usually no larger than a single village in scope, although it can vary. These happen almost daily but since they only affect one area at a time, they're only really remarked on as a passing curiosity. '
Major Invasions usually incompass a whole region. There have been only two recorded Invasions that have affected more than one region and that's the Orc and Elf ones, although setting a campaign during the time of another Major Invasion is a great idea. Typically, Major Invasions happen once a year (1d12! months).