Doubt it'll get any takers, but if anyone wants to make a reply I'll appreciate it.

Are there Halflings?

How was the universe created? Gods, random chance, etc?

Why is the village afraid of the volcano?

Do drugs exist?

Do modern, classical, or other physics apply to it?

Well, what's it called? Does the world/country's name have any significance?

What countermeasures are in place to deal with excessively horny bards?

What are the limits to the magic?

Does your world have any pantheons or fictional Gods? If so, tell us a little about them.

What type of government rules in the main continent of the story, and who is the "head honcho?"

Who eats the most fish?

What is the most depressing achievement that this/ these civilizations hit/receive/achieve? Did they develop nihilism yet?

Undeath. The cause?

I will give 3 answers per post.

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Are there Halflings?

Yes and No. I obviously take some ideas and influences from other fantasy universe's, but I dislike copying anyone outright. Seeing as "Hobbits" were created by Tolkien, and D&D used their nickname "Halflings" given by the men of Numenor to put them into D&D, I didn't want to make my Halflings a 3rd generation clone. So I have what you might call "Burrowfolk" or "Burrahobs." They're around 36 to 40 inches in height, though they have a strange ability that lets them grow up to 5 feet in height for small lengths of time. They have cheeks that can store great amounts of food that they'll nom on at anytime during the day. They're master farmers and diggers of earth, with slightly pointed ears and generally they're very merry, though they can be prone to mischief or jealousy.

How was the universe created? Gods, random chance, etc?

My universe is sort of a mixture between Warhammer Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, and historical myth. However, a lot of my world buidling aspects are very Tolkien-esque. I sort of wanted to bridge a gap between our world and this one, and so while it is not necessarily canon, I sort of began by thinking "How would a world look after Dagor Dagorath, which was essentially the "End Times" of Tolkien, where the final battle against evil is fought and at the end of days the world would be remade. I wondered what world that would look like, and since Middle Earth/Arda is a pre-history of our world according to Tolkien, you can think of this as being after the next Big Crunch of our universe where it collapses into itself before creating another Big Bang to restart the process.

The universe is made up of 3 main realities. The reality of this new universe is known as Mannaheimm or Stridheim to some (just made up those 2 names, woo), though it has no true name. It was willed into existence by the one known as the Evergod, who's very spark of creation made the other 2 as well. The Elves like to say that the Evergod created a great 'Ring of Creation' sort of like the Black Hole theorized at the center of galaxies and universes. The other 2 realities are the Great Nothing/Void of Endless Beyonds, and the Perilous/Other Realm, where many 'lesser realms' are connected and intermingle. For example, the Elves come from an unknown Fey realm, before they were taken in by the Gods and went to their realm, where they were cast out into our plane/planet. Some of them tried to remain in the Perilous realm and conquered another realm, calling it the Ele'domhan before it was sundered and the rest were forced to come onto the planet.

The Gods are very much more akin to Arch-Angels. They are known as the Luminar. Below them (though some can rival them in power) are the Valukar, which consist of Physical Gods, Luminar in Avatar states, Greater Demons, etc. Below them are the Avidar, who are like lesser Demi-Gods. All of them are below the Evergod, of course.

Magic is the very runoff of creation, some of it leaking out of the other realms into our own. You can get various types of magic from various places. Some is even within ourselves since we our star-children made from the very dust of the earth.

Why is the village afraid of the volcano?

Because Roth'Maglor the Decimator resides within, the Demon given the name from the Nine Days of Desolation when he destroyed the city that was once Varone and killed 100,000 people in just 9 days. Or a Dragon, maybe.

Do drugs exist?

They do. There's many of our real world drugs, but there's also various drugs undiscovered in the Southlands where dense jungles hide plants and substances unknown to man. The first book I worked on had the hero's village get burned down because the ashes let the Felthalas weed grow to be picked, driven by a savvy businessman who wished to collected the stuff and ship it to the markets of the northern continent.

Well, what's it called? Does the world/country's name have any significance?

The planet is called Maroleth by the Elves, which means "Tainted/Corrupted Land" in the First Tongue. It is called Torek by the Dwarves, who are the first natives to the world, though they also just call the main continent that as well. Tor is a name for their chief deity, and 'tor' rock formations are considered sacred.

What countermeasures are in place to deal with excessively horny bards?

Nirn root. It's literally a birth control.

Do modern, classical, or other physics apply to it?

Idk why I accidentally skipped this. Modern physics apply, though I tend to give mythic explanations for unexplained phenomena in our world.

What are the limits to the magic?

Well there's very many different types. If you mean what the drawbacks are, it depends on the spell. But it will drain your vitality, you'll become addicted to it like a drug, and certain magics will take a stronger and stronger hold over your soul.

Does your world have any pantheons or fictional Gods? If so, tell us a little about them.

The Luminar are the Gods the Evergod has given the world to. There are many of them, but a few examples are

• Baelyr: God of Justice, who uses the Flaming Fist as his sigil.
• Galena: Goddess of Peace, Healing, and Serenity, whose sigil is a Song Bird.
• Gaundet: God of cities and civilization. His sigil is a tower of stone.
• Beornegar: God of the Wilderness, whos sigil is the Bear & Elk

There are also "Pagan" Gods which are really powerful spirits from the Perilous Realm. Some helped fight in a great Primordial Civil War and are allowed to be on the planet, and others have smuggled themselves or were summoned.

What type of government rules in the main continent of the story, and who is the "head honcho?"

There's many nations, but most of them are monarchies and empires. However, the days of the nation states are near at a close and most are veritable city states by this point, making the biggest rulers Dukes.

Who eats the most fish?

The Lizardmen of the Southlands, known as the Ungexes. They along with the Dwarves were the firstborn on the planet, and while they're powerful they still live a basic lifestyle in swamps and rivers and mangrove trees.

What is the most depressing achievement that this/ these civilizations hit/receive/achieve? Did they develop nihilism yet?

I think killing the Prophet of the Evergod and demolishing the Old Praelian Empire by doing so despite the many warnings is likely the biggest. I will say that, while there isn't a huge amount of Nihilism, there are nihilistic groups like the Ashen Stars and the Grey Crows, both shady terrorist organizations.

Undeath. The cause?

Necromancy is the art of connecting a dead body with an unbound spirit. It is not physically possible to halt a spirit from passing on, but it is possible to 'bind' a spirit to a spiritless body, or call back a spirit to its own body for a small amount of time. The cause is magic from the realm of Shadows.

Is the world embedded in some kind of solar system and if so, how does it look like ?

Are the inhabitants of the world aware of celestial mechanics ?