The people of IDK YET WORLD build their city-state nations scattered across the continent. The Wilds outside settlements are a constant deadly pressure, making long term nations and large scale trade difficult to achieve. Instead these communities all find their own ways of surviving, often with blessings from their own holy traditions, occasionally with great relics and artifacts from before the Divine Calamity, or with magic-imbued Blackstone, a commonplace source of magic and blessings used all around the world.
Belief, though not necisarly worship, of the gods is commonplace here. This is owing to the once-a-decade Stonewake Festival, the night when the gods briefly descend to the Mundane World to once again flood it with their blessings. This is the most important day for all of society all around the world, but especially to Lumenhold. Built on the very spot of the gods decennial descent, the city sprawls over the peak of the mountain and is a beacon of prosperity and triumph against the wilds. This mountain is also the source of the Blackstone which absorbs and stores Illumination during the visitation. The flow of both Blackstone and pilgrims follow a decade long cycle: the start of the decade is always marked with prosperity and a time to take ground from the wilds, and where austerity and hardship often ring in the end of the decade as stores of divinity dwindle.
This fragile balance between the gods and the wilds make traversing the wilds both very difficult and very important. Pilgrims travel the roads to bring divinity to their homes, to make good money trading or as protection, even just to lay eyes on a true god for one brief evening.
Our story begins before Stonewake in the year 2489. Our adventures, like countless other merchants, worshipers, adventures, and pilgrims have joined one caravan of many to ascend Mount Steradian to Lumenhold to attend the festival. It has been a hard end to the decade but hope is high to ring in the new year
The Nations of the World
The city-state nations very significantly place to place (read: Room for collaborative world building for your character). They all need to figure out both their defense from the wilds, and how to provide for their denizens, but beyond that they can be any kind of settlement, though no giant cities besides Lumenhold. Any kind of government, beliefs and relationships about gods and magic, small village, live underground, whatever.
Magic in this world
Simple holy magic is very commonplace, cantrips and low level spell casting as well as very slow acting ritual or blessing magic is achievable with Blackstone or standard holy stuff. Outside that, you certainly can have a character that uses other forms of magic (any class is valid) but they will be somewhat unusual in settlements that largely rely on the divine. We’ll flavor it however we need to. Otherwise settlements will all have their own relationships and beliefs about magic. In the wilds magic is common and unpredictable.
If you pick a class that relies on a god or patrion, that part of the lore is going to be a little more on rails for you, and we will have to homebrew flavor. If you’re into that talk to me
Common historical knowledge
The Divine Calamity ended 2489 years ago. The Gods fought the The Void over the fate of the world. The old gods used the mortal plane to enact their every whim, which naturally escalated to nations toppling and unparalled disaster. Arecenia - The Bright Mother joined 4 of her children in defeating the Void. As both penance and a form of protection, the Bright Mother forbade all gods from interfering in the world at all, save for their once-a-decade procession when descend to expend their divinity one long night every decade.
At least some knowledge of all the Gods would be standard for most people, ie: basic stuff is not the kind if thing you’d have to roll for