The Kingdoms

Keras, the City of Sin is located on a huge continent known as Pangaea. Sharing Pangaea are three kingdoms; Amallia, Soto, and Elkand. Keras belongs to none of them - truthfully, none of the kingdoms want it - and exists along the ocean, in between Amallia and Elkand’s territories. Each of these places have their own unique and diverse histories and traditions, and they’re going to be detailed here for your benefit.

Pangaea is located in the northernmost hemisphere, and roughly three quarters of it is blocked from Amallia, Soto, Elkand, and Keras by a massive mountain range; unpassable by any of the existing technologies. For our purposes, I will refer to the accessible part as Pangaea. The eastern part of Pangaea is covered in mountains and vast forests, and the southern dominated primarily by deserts. Along the western coast there are rolling, fertile plains, and a chain of tropical islands extend beyond and below the coast. There is a southern coast as well, belonging to Amallia, although it is desert.

The kingdom of Soto exists on the tropical islands to the west of Pangaea, and is ruled by the native populations who existed there long before settlers came. In ancient times, the islands of Soto used to be at war with one another, but were united under a single Shaman-King. However, an island much further away from the islands of Soto, along the southern coast, called Mosali, was not united under the Sotoan banner. They were pirates; the inhospitality of their homeland forcing them to steal and plunder from the Sotoans and the natives on the continent of Pangaea in order to survive. The Sotoans wear lots of belts, tattoos/body paints, and long, draping clothing, specifically ponchos. They wear their hair in dreadlocks, and usually have little body hair. The Mosali wear lots of animal parts, and cover their whole body. They shave their heads. They also use masks a lot, typically depicting various animals. Sotoans are pale skinned, with dark hair and light eyes. They have a lot of birthmarks and are generally tall. The Mosali are similar, but usually shorter. All Sotoans are master seamen.

Amallia is the largest of the three kingdoms, but by no means the most powerful or influential. Wracked by civil war, it has now attained an uneasy peace with the Elkandish military occupying them and forcing peace. Amallia is mostly unexplored and unsettled by the settlers, and the native people there, although a minority, possess a great influence, particularly the Alo tribe. They wear casual, medieval european-style clothes (tight, wraps, tunic, fur, pants, boots, and leather). They wear a lot of braids and pulled back hair. They have dusky skin, with dark hair and dark eyes, and are generally pretty short.

Elkand is the richest and most powerful of the kingdoms, living in the bread basket of Pangaea. They possess lush prairies that make for wonderful farm land, and are able to take from Amallia and trade with Soto. When settlers first arrived on Pangaea, they arrived in Elkand, and murdered most of the native people there; the Kretchen tribe being one of the few that escaped their wrath. However, native beliefs and traditions are a very significant and unspoken part of Elkand culture. The Elkandish are tall, with dark brown skin. Their hair tends to be fair and straight, and a trademark Elkandish has piercing green eyes (heterochromia on occasion), although those traits are not universal in the least.

History

The universe was born with an explosion, as primal forces danced in the abyss. Such a powerful eruption of dynamism created an imbalance in their world - as energy pooled intensely into creation, it was extracted as well, creating asymmetry in the fabric of the universe. Spirits; almighty beings born from the energy (known as Hekate) formed a world for themselves, and on it, Pangaea. They created humanity, but left eventually for reasons unknown.
In Pangaea, native people settled in Soto, Amallia, and Elkand (although those kingdoms did not exist then). However, settlers from a southern continent arrived, and took over, creating their own distinct lands. At first, only Elkand was controlled, but settlers soon moved to Amallia, where they had a much better relationship with the locals compared to Elkand. However, a drought caused a decrease and disparity in resources, and Amallia split apart, a civil war destroying it as they all waged destruction in order to claim natural assets for their own. Elkand suffers from a inequality in education and wealth, as well as past tragedies regarding mass murder of native populations. Soto has very, very strict rules, rules that are decided by a religious leader and various theological texts.
Most settlers do not remember where they came from, or why they moved, and none of the people know of magic and spirits. Those are just fairy tales entrenched in religion and mystique.

Keras

Keras, known as the City of Sin, is situated right on the convergence of the west and south coasts. It is a lawless place, and is filled with so many problems that no kingdom wishes to claim it as theirs. Order is kept by gangs, cults, and corrupt Merchant Tycoons whom the civilians have to pay to stay safe. Only the extremely rich or extremely poor manage to stay out of this vicious cycle. All people in Keras wear masks depicting a bird. The masks define a person's habits and skills. For example, a performer might have a peacock mask, or an assassin might have an owl mask.

Harbor district: It is divided into two sections; a lowlier, fisherman dominated bay, and a cove taken over by rich nobles. There are many party houses and beach mansions there, and it is an important seat of wealth. The cove is known as Pearl Cove, and it is where the fishermen used to get pearls from. Nowadays, it is a common party trick for foolish young nobles to go diving for pearls and swim among the rich flora and fauna located there. The bay is known as the Crystal Bay, and it is called this due to the impressive clarity of the water. It is where the fishing society and the dock/harbor are located, and it is where all new arrivals to the city come in. The people there are relatively distant from all the murder and whatnot happening in Keras. Those in Pearl Cove have short, pale hair. As little hair as possible. They shave often. Rather tall, smell nice. They like to wear more british regency clothes. They are also obsessed with looking as clean as possible, with clear, pale skin. No makeup, unless it’s concealer or whitening. Obsessed with the notion of chivalry, and being as noble as possible. Those living in Crystal Bay have long dreadlocks or braids, red hair. Big coats.

Forest/Mountain (FM) district: A largely natural place. It contains the large forest, and the dormant volcano along with the small bit of forest located on it. It is where the nature-lovers and retired elderly live, but there has recently been an outbreak of illness around there. There are some private mansions, but they’re usually for displaying wealth rather than living in. It used to be where a lot of the nobles lived before they moved to the Pearl Cove, and so there are a lot of ruins.

Downtown: Where a lot of the Merchant Tycoon’s businesses are located, along with restaurants, shops, stores, and the market. However, it has a dangerous dark side. After dark, the Downtown becomes a criminally infested cesspool, and violence reigns supreme. However, in the morning, it is a busy workplace. There is an unspoken rule among the civilians and the big time gang members that the gangs will not be present in the daytime, and the civilians will not be present during the nighttime. They try to imitate the Pearl Cove-ers, but display their wealth and power in ways that the nobles would most likely find appalling. They also really like big things; big pants, big beards, big hair, etc. Even the smallest hat shop owner needs to have something about them “worth it”, like a really long beard or massive shoulder spikes. They also really like colors. 

Slums: A small district, and yet the most populated one. It’s where people go to get forgotten, and there are some illegal slave rings that go on. Children there are often kidnapped, and a lot of people there are those with nowhere to go - those who cannot work (elderly, disabled, young, criminal, addict, etc.) and those who work the lowest paying of jobs (mainly the workers being taken advantage of by the Merchant Tycoons). Many of them have little or no education. A lot of small-time gangs start up there, and the living conditions are terrible. However, there can often be a strong sense of unity found among the communities there, and everyone shares in order to survive. Their hair is usually long, and in very elaborate designs. They don’t have much, but they have hair. Also, tattoos and body paints. They generally wear loose, comfortable clothes.

Residential district: Where all the normal civilians live. These people make their livings off of working hat shops, selling fruit at the market for the Merchant Tycoons (whereas the people living in the slums would be the ones picking the fruit), and teaching at schools. Many of these people are paying various gangs to keep themselves safe from violence and the gangs themselves. It consists of houses, schools, libraries, and other public facilities. Edwardian style clothes. Certainly less corsets, though - fatness is a sign of wealth and prestige, and generally wholesomeness and generosity. Grunge is more popular among the newer generations.

Magic

Magic is Hekate - an energy existing in this world that only spirits can manipulate. The magic the humans use would be “left over” magic. For example, if a spirit manipulated a pool of water, the pool would then be saturated in the energy. A human could take the water and use it to cure their wound, along with chanting necessary words or using other magic items besides the water. In that way, humans can cast spells, but only stuff like potions or enchantments, or with magical objects made from energized items. For an item-wise example, if a spirit were to make a tree grow, then a human could fashion a broomstick out of it, after doing various chants and preparing the wood so that it would both be comfortable and fly as a rider directs.