The Planet
Planet Avarthrel - from elvish avari and threl, for "blue" and "world" - is a roughly Earth-like planet, orbiting as the third planet of the star called Trinvnil. It has two moons, Envnaur and Othliln. Unlike our planet, which has great continents, Avarthrel's continents are smaller, as if someone had taken the crust of Earth, ripped the continents in smaller pieces, and let the pieces settle.
But aside of little differences, the two worlds are quite similar. What does seem to definitely put Earth and Avarthrel apart is Avarthrel's strong magical field.
History
The world of Avarthrel was originally created by the Three and Half Gods, who are somewhat mysterious deities - but the common hunch is that we will hear about them later, one way or another. According to the Codex of Conversations, the most revered holy book of the oldest religious group in the human lands of Avarthrel, The Three and Half Gods created the world merely out of pure creative desire, and left the world as a present for whatever sentient races might stumble on it.
The first race to arrive to the world were the elves; their mysterious forefathers, the Progenitors, arrived to the world and left their cursed children to awaken under the alien skies. No one knows what affliction the forefathers of Avarthrelian elves were originally struck with, but in their dying world, their children remained ever asleep. Luckily for them, the Children of the Progenitors awoke under new skies.
Humanity arrived to the world as slaves through a magical interplanetary portal. Legends - but regrettably not many scraps of reliable historical records - tell of the plight of the Forefathers under the cruel rule of the mysterious Slaveking who, if the tales are to be believed, kept dozens of worlds under his iron fist. But justice prevailed: with a little bit of help from the elves, the humans overthrew their captors, unshackled themselves, and closed the portal. Soon after, they established an unified Empire.
Over the following millennia, the Empire had its golden ages and dark periods. Kingdoms and grand duchies of the Empire rose and fell. The Emperor sent forth explorers and settlers, and lost contact with distant lands. Great inventions were discovered, only to be lost again in disasters. After thousands of years, civil wars and threats of secessions were always in the air; to top it all, as the Empire crumbled, the heart of Empire had to defend itself against the most monstrous of enemies ever seen.
Ultimately, the Empire fell, but out of the the ashes rose a number of nations. Now, the new kingdoms have, for most part, a mutual understanding; the fall of the empire was followed by an age of peace and prosperity, like of which has not been often seen; even the worst of conflicts of modern era pale in comparison to the bloody wars of the old. But luckily for the warriors, explorers and adventurers, there's as many monsters, bandits and pirates out there, just as it has always been since the dawn of humans...
It is year 630 since the rebirth of the human nations. Where do we go from here, only time will tell.
The Nations
So far, the stories have focused on the heartlands of the original Empire, three continents surrounded by large stretches of ocean. The locals call these the "Northern Continent", "Southeastern Continent" and "Southwestern Continent".
The Northern Continent is the most prosperous one. The Kingdom of Varmhjelm is the most prosperous one, being the former heart of the Empire. Northern land of the Kingdom of Grycia is famous for its arctic ruins, well-trodden trade routes, and best mercenaries in the land. The elven land of Furinel has captivating beauty in both the cunningly crafted cities of south and the rustic, quite surprising architecture in the great woods to the north. Near the continent lie two notable island kingdoms, Treglin which is famous for its fishers, and Aiecaertea which is famous for both the beauty and tranquility of the small island and, at the same time, the populace that kills pirates with their left hand before the breakfast.
The mightiest nation in the Southeastern Continent is Colemia, a land known for its vast deserts, mighty wizards and good coffee - fortunately, one universal law is that the three rarely manage to not meet. Little is known what is happening in the smaller, democratic country of Tharkaia; the folks in the Northern Continent seldom have interest in matters of the philosophers, though they are thankful to their inventions and products, such as the world-famed bean oil.
Southwestern Continent is occupied mostly by the arid wastelands of the warlike Empire of Tachur, of which little is known in the other two continents - apart of their tendency to attack outlanders on sight.