The Otherworld
Imagine a world parallel to our own. It's like ours except this world - Vecta - is built on magic in place of science. Various races of monsters coexist with the 'Morai' (More-I), Vecta's equivalent of humanity. This world is overseen by the Twin Gods: Drasil and Morganna. A brother and sister pair who rule over darkness and light respectively. At first, the brother and sister shared in their dream of creating a perfect world, but clashing ideals about how to go about it drove the siblings apart. For millennia, both have dedicated their time into creating the 'ultimate' beings who will turn Vecta into the perfect world they envision.
Morganna, with her warm and caring demeanor, believed that it was her duty as the goddess of light to oversee the day to day affairs of her people. She would personally ensure their needs were met and that they never wanted for anything. Drasil on the other hand, saw his creations as things to be left alone. They would need to grow strong without having a god stepping in over every minor inconvenience. Over time, the world of Vecta began to descend into a long period of stagnation. Neither god's creations could be viewed as "better" than the other's, and it seemed as though the people and monsters that inhabited Vecta were getting worse with each passing year. A new sort of creation was needed in order to bring a spark to this world.
A new idea would arise by happy accident one day while Morganna was watching our world. She noticed an unsually high number of humans were dying in random accidents or being killed before their alloted time on Earth was up. Feeling pity, Morganna suddenly had an idea! She decided that she would personally take the souls of these unfortunate humans to Vecta and reincarnate them into a new life. This way, they could live out the remaining years of their lives, and she would even have something new to challenge her brother with. Over time, these "Children of the Otherworld" were discovered to have high aptitude for magic, skill acquisition, and warfare than a common resident of Vecta. Upon discovering his sister's plot, Drasil began to watch our world as well in the hopes of finding Otherworlders of his own.
Over time, the frustrations between the siblings began to boil over into all-out conflict. Neither god will admit the other is superior and the balance between light and dark is in constant flux. Will your characters join a god and champion their side? Or will you find a different path to stem the conflict? The choice is yours in... The Otherworld!
Welcome to the Otherworld
In this story, your character has just died a tragic and unexpected death on Earth. In your final moments, you are visted by one of the Twin Gods who offer you a chance at a new life in the world of Vecta. The catch? What life you get reborn as isn't going to be human. In taking a soul from our world to Vecta, it seems the flow of mana between the realms has an... unusual effect on passing souls. In order to pass through, the god will have to reincarnate you as a being of Vecta. Upside, you'll get to build a whole new life AND you get skills!
As you spend your final moments on Earth, your characters last thoughts, desires, wishes, regrets, etc. are going to become the foundation of your new life once you cross over. This will influence your skills, magic, and even what sort of creature you wind up becoming! You could be something as simple as a Morai, or something completely out of pocket like a slime! (Note that this random element is meant to be a unique take for writers would would like a small challenge. An opt out is available if you just want to enjoy the fantasy element)
First posts will act like a "Day in the Life" scenario for your character as a human. Give us an idea of who he/she before they die so there's a compare and contrast element when it comes to designing your character's new life. Upon arriving in Vecta, the adventure is wherever you want to go. Depending on which god visits you, you'll be reincarnated into the light capital Lumis, or the dark capital Sombros. Your reincarnated character will remain the same age as when you died (relative to the race).
Races
Vecta is inhabited by a wide array of people and monsters. While many were created by Morganna or Drasil respectively, there still remain a number of beings the gods created before their differences drove them apart. These are viewed as the "Neutral" races. They aren't drawn towards the light or dark exclusively and this grants them more freedom when it comes to moving around the continent. Examples of races you COULD be are provided below. If there's one not listed, please DM your GM.
As the story goes on, your character will also have the chance to "Evolve" as a race and gain access to more skills and more powerful abilities. An example would be if your character was reincarnated as a Primal race (i.e. a Goblin). Given enough time and experience you could start as a Goblin and evolve: Goblin -> Hobgoblin -> Goblin Lord -> Goblin King. Bear in mind the Morai cannot evolve (as they're human equivalents), but instead they can access new "jobs" in order to strengthen their respective skills. Should you choose Morai as your race, play this carefully as this can be very beneficial.
The Gods
Character Sheets