I originally did this off the editor and a friend of mine formatted it wonderfully, it really is so much better and if you'd like to read that version, you can find it here

Her Fiery Heart

A Guide to the World

Set in a modern fantasy world, Her Fiery Heart contains a vast amount of fantasy inspirations and ideas. Dungeons and Dragons inspired many of the elements surrounding the world of Her Fiery Heart but within everything is shaped by my own ideas and a makeup of the world.

Locations, races and most elements of society within form up a modern world, filled with magic, races and cultures coexisting. Where legends of adventurers and great evils once ruled the lands, now only the time of legend, the old arts. Left to history in a world now of bustling cities, progress and shaped by the people within it, from Goblins to Goliath’s, Humans to Elves, Tiefling to Aasimar.

The world has many names, but inside it is a great many cultures, people and histories.

The Races of the World

The history of every people is as long and ancient as the world itself. Each as varied as the next and no two alike, each working out their place in the world from the times of legend, to the rise of a modern age.

Elves

Elves were once said to be immortal, the seers of the world and historians of the forest. The first keepers of tales, running when others were only beginning to walk. Said to have been immortal by a tree at the center of the world, blessed by their goddess Yasmira, the queen of summer.

Others that say they were simply long lived, magic that kept them eternally youthful. Now whether the Elves were truly immortal or ever long lived obscured by legend. Living much the same time as other races of the world.

Though known for their long ears, graceful beauty and magical prowess. Elves are a varied people with a great many traditions and ideals.

Though there are many kinds of Elves, three kinds are most common:

Wood Elves: People with a deep connection to the forest, with nature and all the life within. Often considering themselves as much a part of the forest as an animal within it. Though most live with modern amenities, wood elves remain profoundly connected with the world around them. Whole cities that meld with the forest with great care.

To be at peace with nature and the world around you is to be a wood elf.

Dark Elves: The origin of dark elves is one shrouded by mystery and time, from the shrouded forests, their home always in eternal night. Dark Elves once were raised in tradition and ritual, enclaves kept mostly from the outside world but now as spread into the world as every other race. Often a morose people, legends of great wars between their people and magic that had once threatened to tear them apart. Dark Elves while not as connected with nature as their wood elf cousins, they remain greatly attuned to magic, casters of their kind able to reign in the most powerful magic.

Millenia spent under eternal night, Dark Elves skin colors from dark blue to purple. Their eyes a bright red and ears slightly shorter than most Elves. Unlike all other kinds of Elves, each of their kind sporting a pair of fangs, people who once hunted with every tool available to them.

Dark Elves set out into the world to seek its mysteries and study every intricacy. Once hidden from the world, now filled with curiosity of a world beyond them.

Seasonal Elves: In a world dominated by magic, times of legend and mysteries long since overcome, Seasonal Elves remain unlike any others. Where Wood Elves remain connected with nature and live as close to it as they can, Seasonal Elves embodies the very spirit of the world and the passing days.

Moods, personalities and their very appearance shifting with every change of the seasons. Connected with the spirit of the Elven pantheon, seasonal Elves embody the four gods of the seasons and their many traits.

The wild passion of Yasmira, summer. To the bitterness and cold attitude of Graeli, winter.

While said to be a predictable people, at the command of the seasons. They remain a unique people and no two are ever alike through the seasons passing. One with the world, one with the spirit, seasonal elves remain a always contemplative people looking to the cycle of the world to guide them.

Goliath

The mountain born, forged by the lightning peaks in the mountain mother’s image. Goliath, a strength unlike any other, legends of a people of stone shaped by the thunderous mountain tops and their goddess.

A legend not so hard to believe. Goliath remain the naturally tallest and strongest of all the civilized races, said to be able to crush anything in hand, move any boulder and summit any peak with ease. Often exaggerated, but Goliath’s remain a pinnacle of strength, short goliath taller than most races could dream of and their tallest towering over most in their sight.

Though Goliath long since moved from the mountains since the time of legend, they are a people with a great connection still to the highest peaks, the coldest environments and the thunderous peaks they call their origin. Most Goliath remain with a strong connection to their tribe, tattoos they wear proudly. The symbols of their tribe, their achievements in life, their family, friends, the lost. Goliath wear their life stories on their body, inked into them and melding with the lines so similar to their tattoo’s that originate at every Goliath’s birth, the symbol of their blood, the marks from the mountain mother herself.

Coming from harsh environments and a history that tested their strength, the Goliath embody the ideal that it is the strong that survive, not in leaving others behind but leading others into the same strength. People who value fairness in all things, that whoever is strongest will overcome any obstacle. Bravery through the most fearsome moments.

Though Goliath most closely resemble humans, their form almost like it’s chiselled from stone is ever imposing. Speaking Giant, the tongue of the mountain mother their voices are as thunderous as their origins.

People proud to wear their origins in the ink they display so openly. To paint the canvas of their life and be strong doing it.

Aasimar

The descendants of the heavens, the ethereal. Aasimar were once said to be the spirits of angels, the embodiment of the gods. Physical manifestations of a plane beyond knowing. In truth, none know the true origins of the Aasimar, whether they’re angels come from the heavens or from the same material plane as all others.

Worship, duty, honor. The principles of the Aasimar seldom vary, thought to be incorruptible. Paladins for a greater world, legends of Aasimar warriors embodying the values of the good. Though their story remains a point of admiration for Aasimar, it is as true as any other myth. Aasimar as viced and corruptible as any other.

The time of legend long since passed, though the admiration of these ‘fallen angels’ remains high. Some who believe against all things that Aasimar are still the paragons of good and will bring every race into a new age of peace and enlightenment.

Ethereal, often with wings of spirit, runes that by each Aasimar are never alike, what some called inscriptions of the gods. These glowing lines run through every Aasimar though a reason for their being stays disptuted. The faithful believing every Aasimar’s runes to be a message from the gods, others believing it to be nothing but their natural appearance.

Whether an Aasimar truly is a messenger from the gods or simply another race making it’s way in the world, some are often left still revering them and there is no shortage of Aasimar willing to bask in the attention.

Tiefling

Made in sin, spawned in the pits of the deepest hells and darkest despairs. Demons, monsters and sinners, Tieflings.”

Where most remains shrouded in the past, in legend and stories. The origin of the Tiefling is a tale retold for thousands of years, one to scare children, to stir anger and shame. People who had once made pacts with demons or committed to acts of lesser temptation.

Brought to the world through manipulation and evils, Tiefling’s are more often than not, thought as nothing more than the demons from which their heritage started.

Cast out, forsaken or at best barely tolerated. The history of the Tieflings is a long tale of a reviled kind and common prejudice. To live under the scorn of others, is to be Tiefling.

Eeking out their own way in the world. Tiefling culture spread across the world and appearance varying just as wildly. From the first demon that influenced their heritage, to their parenthood.

Tiefling’s coming from all races, who had ever deigned to make a demonic pact or bear the child of a Tiefling. ‘The curse of the demon blood’, Tieflings coming into the word to parents who had never so much as heard a whisper of a pact or demonic heritage, the birth of a Tiefling an awakening to a long lost past. Parents who care not to have a child upon learning of the curse in their blood. To so many, better to be without than to raise a demon.

With great resilience though, Tieflings have always persisted. Enclaves amongst their own kind, often the only ones who understand them, those who have managed to find a place amongst their first home and others who wander in search of acceptance.

And the few, raised in family who had never expected them but raised them just the same. Though even in the modern world, a Tiefling loved beyond their own kind remains still a rarity.

Embracing their demonic heritage, Tieflings reclaim the things used against them. The fangs, horns and tail that makes them look like their long past demon kin. Taking hold of what most use to judge them harshly to give themselves strength. Wear their pain like armor.

Though Tieflings are a thousand generations flung from the first pacts, the curse of the demons, the ire remains still. People searching for a way in the world, spread across a thousand cultures, brought together by what they strive not to be.

Gnome

Carefree and spirited. Gnomes embody curiosity and the urge to explore the world so much larger than themselves. Gnomes often dare not to stay in any one place, to see everything they can and experience everything at least once.

When or how Gnomes came to be is rarely a point a Gnome cares for, since the time of legend a people with hardly a concern for their past, an aching want to learn, to explore and bring the world into their view. Small legs they intend to walk around the world with.

Carrying great intellect, Gnomes strive to innovate, to bring something new to the bright and curious world they inhabit, to be unoriginal is left to others, a Gnome seeks to dive head first into anything they hope leads a new experience, new moment. Constantly driven, the energy of a Gnome is often far more than that of any other race, though they might be twice as small, they care twice as much.

With long ears pointed to adventure and no gnome taller than four feet, they strive head long into any adventure possible.

Dragonborn

From creatures who had once ruled the sky, shaken earth under the very flight of their wings and bellow of their fiery breath, come the dragonborn.

Though without the wings and tails of their ancient ancestors, the dragonborn embody the fiery creatures still. Able to spit fiery breath like their larger, flying cousins and speaking the same tongue as those of the now rare creatures that roam the skies.

Eternally proud of their draconic heritage, dragonborn clans are bound in the flame of their ancestors and for each and every dragonborn, it is their pride to come from creatures with no equal.

Embodying the traits of their ancestors, dragonborn appearance varies wildly by the dragon of their origin. Beyond appearance, working to adhere to their draconic ancestors, a great deal of worship to the dragon flights of their origin.

Dragonborn traditionally raised among clans of their kind, though in the modern world they form communities made up of many different clans, wherever dragonborn go, searching for a sense of a community sharing in the dragon’s bond.

Driven by the values passed to them by the dragons, to endeavour for greatness in all pursuits, to always learn and always improve is among the core values of all dragonborn, to never give up pushing to be better, every day, every moment. Driven is this proud race, to achieve the same legend as their ancient ancestors.

Dwarves

Underneath the mountain, by the anvil and raging forge. Said to be the watchers over the world, the forgers of the mountains themselves. Though the dwarves are perhaps less grandiose than the legends of them forging the world whole, it is the pinnacle of dwarven society to forge the world into a new view, to grand visions.

Cities built into rock, whole mountains carved in their ideal. Layer upon layer, places built so intricately and by the work of a thousand generations of dwarves. Crafts from a dwarf never daring to lack in excellence.

As stubborn as the stone, dwarves are slow to change. Though spread out beyond their mountain cities with the dawn of the modern age, most dwarves stay true to the old traditions of the forge and the gods of metal and creation.

Short but stout, dwarves are a sturdy kind. Where gnomes move out of the way, a dwarf stands stubbornly afront, to move a dwarf is harder than to change their mind.

Endlessly proud of what they’ve built, dwarves revere their ancestors for the contribution they’ve made in stone and looks to the future for greatness.

Orc

Ferocious, strong. Orcs once carried a great fear among others, warriors more furious and deadly than any known, to die in battle, with fury in heart and honor by the blade. These values remain in every orc, even in peace, to live by the honor of their god Kraax is a code any orc will work to abide.

Once thought nothing but a barbaric race, one with naught but violence in their hearts and on their minds. From early wars fought to keep hold of the same honor they hold dear. Though to be an orc is to not always love peace, though it is to appreciate the journey of life, the gift of every waking day. Life to orcs is never meant to be lived safely, to be in danger, to fight through pain and give all they know is living, for life is short and it would be a shame without a little spilled blood.

Large and powerful, orcs are a mass of muscle and stregnth. Often slightly taller than a human, the orc remains as imposing a presence as a goliath. Tusks that jut from their lower teeth and skin that ranges from dark green to grey.

Orcs are a people once made in war and honor. Making their way in the world, often finding their way in the more physically demanding roles of society. Honor, death. Asgruul, ikrax.

The World

Aalisaria for the wood elves, Taxkrio to the orcs or Grashe to the Goliath. The world goes by many names, to every race a different meaning a different view of their home. It is a wide and varied world, habitating life of all kinds. Environments that range from the depths of the underdark, where creatures who have never seen light and old evils are rumored to lurk still, the mountain ranges that drive along continents whole like a spine of the world to the forests of the elves. For all that claim the world was shaped by the gods, it is often hard to not believe the land was shaped by forces far greater than nature.

As much as magic runs in the people, it lays inside the land just the same. Trees that glow, skies that change color on a whim by the very flow of magic. Rivers that glow, by the magic that seeps through the water, forests with trees alight in lines of mana running up from their roots.

Magic

The very essence of the world, magic runs in all things. Through the land, through all life there is always a connection to magic. Though it runs in all life, not all life learns or can manifest it’s power.

Arcane arts studied since the first soul had learnt to bring a spark to their fingers. Though the more magical beings of the land either vanished long ago or were hunted to extinction for the danger they represented, the art of magic remains and wielders of it are as present as any moment in history.

It is magic that powers the modern machinations and everyday there are new things brought about only by the powers of magic and mana, the energy innate in all things, what runs through all people in some way but remains most present in those with the ability to cast spells.

Though mana is produced naturally, consumed through other means and with too much is an often lethal concoction, a rush of power to a strong caster and lethal to one who can’t cast a single light.

Channeled into machines, every engine of the modern world, it is mana that gives life to the inventions of the mechanically and technologically minded. Though the focus of magic and casting has turned towards uses in this age of progress, it was not always so and is not always used to power the world as the future carries ever onward.

The spells in any casters repertoire remaining dictated by their pursuit and knowledge of magic, whether towards the destructive realm of fire or mending wounds by focusing on healing, the pursuit is a lifelong one for any who choose to study it, a mage wizened through the years so far apart from those first learning to take hold of the power within them.

Though the use of more destructive and maniacal spells has fallen to the wayside in a world less dangerous than that of the time of legend, to know the whims and ways of magic is a skill still eagerly sought after.

Legend

Now ancient history, the time of legend, also known as the age of heroes remains a time deeply embedded in the formation of almost everything in the modern world. The days when whole kingdoms could be cursed, when evil kings and violent demons oft tried to lead the world to its destruction or under their terrorizing grasp.

Parties of adventures, set to right the wrongs in their land, fight evil or simply set out to see the world, though the legends they made remain in the history of people even millenia past.

Dragons that would raze cities whole, vampires enslaving lands whole to their thirst for blood, demons whispering in lords ears for their nefarious plans. Tales numerous, evils slain by a brave few who took the call to adventure.

For what tales are true, often remains a mystery, though the impact the time had cannot be denied, a world in reverence of a brave past and mythical age, when legendary battles were fought, kingdoms that would rise and fall with the dawn, when great evils fell by sword, bow and magic.

Home

Though Jessica and Taeyeon never grew up in the city of Analiria, they now have called it home for years. With the hope of something new, with a shot at a new perspective and opportunity.

Built along the river of Shalaine, a once mostly human village in the time of legend. Now a bustling city of every race known. At the center of the continent, Analiria quickly became home to many people, for commerce, trade and with it a city that came to be one of the greatest cities known.

The old city that melds with the new, facades kept up for thousands of years, to keep what made the city so beautiful and now merges with the same buildings that head towards the sky. The very monument to a world in reverence of old tales, seeking a way forward.