Kingdom of Avelierys and Averine City
Averine city is the largest nation in the Empire, considered to be the centre of the known world the capital and boasting temperate climates is a huge sprawling port town made up of many districts, listed clockwise beginning at the northeastern corner against the city wall one will find: House Sauvage, a huge castle which once belonged to Empress Aveliere, now owned by Lady Anya Sauvage; The residential district, where wealthy townsfolk live, also the location of the grand library and many an inn and shop; The market district, a bustling marketplace and the location of many a shop, with a number of side streets and large houses snaking off, this district is also the location of the main city gate; The city docks, where the city is often busiest is a hub of commerce and trade which puts all others to shame, it just so happens the docks are also a breeding ground for poverty; And finally the Delucian district, a large residential district for the city's elite and the location of Lady Runah Delucia's manor. Oh yes, it's also where the brothel is located.


Velucian Peninsula
To the west of the city is a massive, nigh inhospitable mountain range of deadly crags and sheer, crumbling cliffs and further still is the beginnings of a marshland which stretches far into the west populated only by northern Velucians, Sethkra'Vesh and nomadic tribes. Located to the southwest of Averine City, cut off by land by the neighbouring mountain range is a peninsula and series of neighbouring islands known as Velucia, a puppet-state of the kingdom of Avelierys typically populated by olive skinned and black haired Humans. The puppet state boasts a warm, moist climate and is the home of the prestigious Silver Shield academy.


Surrounding the capital city to the east are miles and miles of farmland which spread off into the distance, as one continues further afield farmland eventually gives way forest with the occasional nameless townstead here or a lonely farming hamlet and further still one will find birch and pine forests which give way to frozen tundra.


To the north of the city and stretching as far as the farmland is an expansive forest of mixed trees dotted with the occasional market town but populated mostly by the elusive and reviled forest folk, the Sethkra'Vesh, or as Humans know them, Dregs. Further north still is an endless desert which modern folk consider inhospitable and impossible to cross.


South of Averine city is an expansive salt water ocean dotted with sparsely populated islands, one of these, south of the Velucian peninsula is the island of Delucia, a small port city build upon an island and the original home of House Delucia.

Queen Aveliere the conqueror
A great warrior, diplomat and battle-mage, so much so that her life is one of legend. She is the woman responsible for creating the world as it is today.

Lady Anya Sauvage
Head of house Sauvage, a calm, calculated and often condescending woman. Often considered one with radical ideas which never quite seem to come to fruition, just one of which is to give the Sethkra'Vesh people equal standing as citizens of the kingdom with the same opportunities and rights as Humans.

Lady Runah Delucia
A brash, fiery youth with olive skin, white hair and the yellow eyes and facial tattoos of a battlemage. Despite her young age she seems to have full control of House Delucia, for better or for worse.

The Academy of the Silver Shield
An large military academy on the Velucian peninsula known for training some of the most skilled and dangerous soldiers in the entire Empire, the Silver Shields. By royal decree, once a Velucian child reaches 12 years of age they are taken by the Academy and tested, and the small number who pass the initial test become students for between 5 and 6 years during which they follow a secret training regimen under the watchful eye of strict instructors. Those who finish their time in the academy are granted the title and armour of the Silver Shield and are often bought as personal bodyguards, assassins and enforcers by the richest of the rich. In times of strife and war the Silver Shields are called upon by the Noble Houses to serve as their vanguard to extraordinary effect.

The Grand Library
The Grand Library of Averine city claims to contain the complete collection of every book, scroll, tome or piece of writing ever written and published by Humans, it's no wonder that the building is closely guarded by a quartet of masked battlemages at all times.

Human
Most of you probably know what a Human is, you might have even met one before! Humans are the standard against which most other fantasy races are compared. Within the world of Avelierys Humans are a common, diverse race who come in many shapes and sizes, with a distinct look and society depending on where they come from and their racial bloodlines.
Aleviaryan Humans are typically fair skinned, with varying natural hair colours and blue or green eyes.
Cold Humans of the east typically have pale skin, blonde, white or brown hair and blue or white eyes.
Warm Humans from Delucia and the southern islands typically grow darker skinned the further south they hail from, and their hair and eyes are almost always black.
Velucian and Mountain Humans have olive skin, black or dark brown hair and brown or green eyes.
Humans have all sorts of first names, with surnames often based on places, deeds and professions.
Humans have no official religion, but some choose to see magic as a godly force.


Sethkra'Vesh
The forest folk, dregs or Sethkra'Vesh are a tall, lithe Humanoid people. Larger, stronger and more agile than Humans they are typically reclusive and avoid contact with Humans for good reason, though some find their way into Human cities usually as slaves or servants and only very rarely as anything else.
Sethkra'Vesh have rough, dry skin which can be any variation, shade or pattern of black, grey or brown, they have no hair and yellow, green or blue eyes.
Sethkra'Vesh have Gaelic sounding names and no surnames.
Sethkra'Vesh culture typically holds nature, natural forces and emotion in extremely high regard, though they do not necessarily worship concepts such as the seasons, the wind, the sea, anger and happiness for example, so much so, that they are often perceived as nature worshippers.

Oppression
The Sethkra'Vesh are horribly looked down upon in modern Aleviaryan society, considered beasts of burden by Human law, and occasionally kept as slaves. Officially there is no punishment for killing one and even doing so in the poorer streets of larger cities carries so little social stigma it is considered akin to littering. One exception to this is the easternmost town in the Empire, a town called Warcho where the Sethkra'Vesh occasionally hunt with and live among the Human population but know to make themselves scare whenever Imperial eyes and ears come snooping. Playing a Sethkra'Vesh character will be difficult, and you'll face strife every step of the way on your journey, but don't let that put you off. What is it they say? After the rain, the earth hardens.

Mages and Magic
In the world of Avelierys, magic is not something anyone can learn. Exceptionally rarely, a Human child can be born a mage and are easily distinguishable and identifiable as Mages by their unnatural eye colours, often red, purple or yellow. By Imperial law these children are given up by their parents or taken away from their parents at birth by hired Mage-Hunters and made further distinguishable from normal Humans with vibrant facial tattoos. What happens to them after that very few know, but the kingdom of Avelierys never seems to be without its masked, silent battlemages.

Currency
The Empire uses 4 distinct types of coins each of a different metal and shape: Circular coins made from copper called Shards, silver triangles called Bells, gold squares called Gems and extremely rare platinum diamonds simply called Platinums. Each type of coin is worth 100 of the former except for Platinums which are worth 10 gold Gems. A good drink and a filling meal will cost about 10 copper Shards.

Gods and religion
Religion is outlawed by Imperial law and has been since the days of Empress Aveliere. It is said that she used magic to either slay or disprove the gods, and many a scholar argue about which it is to this day.

Fiction, fantasy, monsters and technology
The world of Avelierys is set in a late medieval fantasy, a world of plate armoured knights wielding all manner of medieval weapons, castles, wind powered ships and big, ugly and clumsy firearms. Monsters aren't a common sight but do exist, and when they do are often the subject of bounties and hunts.