THE LOOOOOOOOORE

Disclaimer: players should not read unless they're jackasses and love to ruin the fun. But I'll never stop you.

THE PLANES

There are multiple planes of existence in Demia, which many of the threats to humankind come from.

• THE GREAT BEYOND: The place beyond the stars, where the unimaginable horrors come from.
• HEAVEN, or, THE FAIR ISLE: The place where all good souls go to rest. A place of great beauty and tranquility, and home to the patron saints of humanity as well as the sleeping god-machines known as Angels, waiting to one day end the world. God is mysteriously absent (but you shouldn't know that.)
• DEMIA: The plane of humanity.
• OTHERLAND: The home of the Fair Folk and the pagan gods, spirits of nature and all that. They each have their own kingdoms and sometimes have their disputes, but they generally prefer to make humans miserable instead.
• LIMBO: The place where lost souls arrive between Demia and Hell, practically Purgatory. This is where ghosts and the horrors that feast on souls come from.
• HELL: Where the damned souls of humanity go, home to the devils and demons that corrupt and destroy. It is ruled by the 10 Lords of Hell.
• THE VOID: Not really a plane, more of a space between planes, the elemental plane is pure energy and is the source of magical energy. It cannot be visited without being destroyed.

Each of the planes lay over each other, particularly Demia, Otherland, and Limbo, and as such portals can be found or made at specific places where the planes come closer together.

DEMIA

Humanity is the primary mortal species in Demia. The players are most likely in the center of the known world, which is kind of close to pre-renaissance medieval europe. There have been technological advancements but they are not widely distributed since as a whole humanity is divided and weak, constantly being preyed upon by outside forces.

• There are an unknown number of fiefdoms and kingdoms constantly at war with each other. It's pretty common for allegiances to overlap and clash.
• The Church (yeah it needs a better name) is the major unifying force of Humanity. Every kingdom, regardless of their conflicts, is willing to work with them. Yeah, they can have bad apples and the Inquisition might be too quick to burn down a village, but they get shit done and generally keep everyone safe. Well, safe-er.
  Spoilers

  God is absent, so it's actually the Lords of Hell who are organizing the church and providing "miracles." The Lords of Hell are former angels who don't really like their job. They have a better understanding of what it is to be human and want to keep them alive. Also if humanity dies out that's bad news for them. But on the plus side, christian deification of Saints means that humanity has formed new lesser gods to help them out.
• The "Pagans" are the direct human opposition to the Church, preferring to stick with their previous nature deities and such. They're not really unified at all, so some sects and tribes are assimilated or accepted while others resort to warfare. Aggressive sects are impossible to wipe out completely since they can retreat to the Otherworld with their Fae and Spirit allies. The Church also has a tendency to instigate conflicts with Pagan sects whenever their missionaries start getting eaten. The Pagan sects were here first, and they want you to remember that.
• Don't go North, you'll die. Between Northmen raiders, Orc half-demon warbands, and the Rus/Wildmen that are basically werewolves, you're dead meat. Also there's a lot of old spirits around, and you'll die of frostbite. Did I mention that the House of Winter lives up there and will either enslave or kill you?
• The Romani. Yeah, good ol' gypsies. You want to buy something exotic? You want to sneak across a border? You want to get somewhere without dying? You HAVE to talk to them. Even with all the horrible monsters around, the Romani somehow find a way to travel and survive where the Church has no protected roads. Also, fun fact, the Oracle of Delphi might be hanging around with them. I don't know.
• Knightly Orders. There are a few of 'em, basically crusaders decided to start working for the glory of God instead of killing each other. They're helpful.
• Hunters Society and Ratcatchers Guilds: Hunters are a secret gentlemen's society for ghost-killing, magic, and guns. They overlap well with the Inquisition. Ratcatchers are the lower-down, common man's guild for killing anything that's troubling the city.
• Merchant's Guild: They constantly need hired help. Bandits are bad, but so are ghouls, skeletons, wraiths, vampires... you get the idea.
• Witch Covens and Magic Societies: Always secretive societies, they range in quality from magical academia (lol there's no magic books actually around) to hedge witch fanclubs (wait did they just summon a demon?) They're the reason the Inquisition exists.
• The Inquisition: So you thought magic was cool? Well, have you tried being tortured to death? Oh yeah, they're gonna find the magic books, they're gonna burn em, and they're gonna burn you, and they're gonna burn anyone you ever met. Yes, they work for the Church. And yes, they are damn good at their job. They just tend to attract murderous freaks. Religious, zealous murder freaks. But on the rare occasion they're not burning witches, they actually are quite good at banishing spirits and the undead, as well as organizing Knightly Orders to take out serious threats. They know the things most people should never know, including sometimes heretical magic. (Ironic, I know.) But if they claim that it's a miracle from God, who's to tell the difference?
• The Red Hands: Specifically missionaries, usually based in a capital city, who give out a cure to Vampirism. It could be a specific saint's blood, or it could be demonic magic, nobody really knows, but if you get the cure within a week you won't turn into a fully fledged person-eating vampire more reminiscent of a ghoul or werewolf. You'll just have to suffer the rest of your life in a half-vampire humanoid state constantly hungering for blood and fearing the sun.