Lore Dump #1 - Broad View of the 3 Realms

The 3 Realms is what I am calling the homebrew world we are playing currently in the podcast. It is heavily inspired by the Witcher's universe. I am writing everything for the world through an in-setting point of view as if the historians of the world were writing what I am writing. This is a new approach and I like it because it limits the amount of translating that I have to do between my absolute truths of the setting and the information that an NPC or a PC might know. 

Here are the broad strokes that paint the world;

• They call the world, the world or Earth. There is not a fantasy-fied name.
• It is called the 3 Realms because to the denizens the universe is split into the Heavens, the Mortal Realm, and the Underworld.
• The world is split into realms due to the geography of the two continents and we are playing in a region that is largely reflective of "fantasy" Europe. You will hear us reference areas that are basically England or Scotland, etc. This is to give an easy reference and keep it relatable.
• There are 5 main races with subraces that reflect where they have adapted based on their environment. Some of these are homebrew subraces because 5e didn't have any. They are
• Humans
• Elves - Wood, Dark, Pale
• Dwarves - Mountain, Hill, Deep
• Orcs - Snow, Valley, Deep
• Halflings - Stout, Lightfoot, Lotusden
• All magic is arcane, there is no divine magic. Clerics are mages just as wizards are witches. The titles are interchangeable. The only difference is mechanical (class abilities, spell lists, etc.). Magic is magic.
• There are many gods, mostly embodying a very specific ideal and they each have many different names. They do not have a physical presence in the world. This is inspired by the Shattered Sea trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. An example would be "She-Who-Weaves" or "Lady Destiny" for a god of destiny and fate.
• Giants ruled the world before the "little ones". The ruins of the past civilizations that are being explored are largely either from Goliaths or Giants of the past.
• We are playing in the Western Lands of the North, which is the northern of the two continents and is split into many small regions ruled by a variety of governments. The countries are as follows;
• Uthgard - Northern, snow orcs and giants, along the Uthgard Penninsula
• Hiemsgard - Northern, Viking, east of Uthgard
• Helevorn - northwest, scot, along the coast south of Hiemsgard
• Lythia - midwest, Small Russian duchy, southeast of Helevorn and East of Talafar.
• Talafar - midwest, Noble kingdom, along the coast south of Helevorn
• Beverast - central, English barony, along the Great Wall - STARTING HERE
• Confederacy of the White Sea, Mediterranean. South of Beverast along the Great Wall.
• Adestria - Southwestern, French, along the coast south of Talafar.
• Wendover - mid-south, small English kingdom. South of Adestria.
• Black Empire - Southwestern, Nilfgaard south of both the Confederacy and Wendover.
• Broken Isles - Pirates in the Great Sea.

Hopefully, this gives you a better idea of the setting as you follow along on our journeys. If you still have any questions, feel free to comment and I will answer!

- C&D Daniel