Information in this thread is far from exhaustive.  It contains only the essentials, as a more thorough post would take an age to read and type, and would be unnecessary for most players.

Geography and History
   Arden Vul is a ruined town atop a massive cliff, located within the Archontean empire.  Though the empire's glory days have lost since passed, it has persisted as a huge, modern nation that spans two continents.  Arden Vul itself is located near the bustling city of Newmarket, a center of commerce that owes its success in large part to its proximity to the ruin.
   The city was named for the two heroes who discovered it: the warrior Arden and the sorcerer Vul.  A city was later founded on the site, and the Archonteans explored the dungeon beneath it, eventually driving out the great evil that infested it (or so go the stories).  Around a thousand years later, rival political groups within the empire caused its fracture, and the city was left vulnerable and sacked.
   Following a lengthy dark age, the fortunes of Archontos seem to have turned around, and they have since resettled the area.  Legends of the mysteries and treasures in and beneath the city persist, and Newmarket sees a constant stream of adventurers eager to earn fame and fortune within.

Languages
Archontean: Native language of the Archontean empire.  In this game, this replaces Common, and for most intents and purposes serves the same function.
Thorcin: Language of the Thorcinga, the native people of the continent on which Arden Vul is located.
Wiskin: Language of the Wiskinga, who live on a continent far to the north.
Khumus: Language of the Khumus, a nomadic people who live on the western part of the continent.
Mithric: An ancient, dead language.  Due to scholastic training, magic users always have a chance to decipher Mithric, but any character can eventually learn it if their Intelligence permits.

Archontean, Thorcin, Wiskin, and Khumus people are available as player characters.  They are all different varieties of human and are statistically identical to each other.  The empire is also home to goblins that they managed to civilize (known colloquially as Imperial Goblins), but these are not available as a PC race.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:24, Sat 02 May 2020.

The world of Arden Vul offers several pantheons of gods from which to choose.

The Ten and the Seventeen: The Ten are the major gods worshipped within the Archontean empire.  They are assisted my a host of lesser gods known as the Seventeen.



The Twelve: The Twelve are the old gods worshipped by the Archonteans of ages past.  Though their worship is not forbidden (except for evil gods like Set and Tiamat), it is quite rare.


The Thorcin, Wiskin, and Khumus Pantheons: These are the major gods worshipped by those humans not native to the Archontean empire.




Demi-Human Gods: Dwarves worship only a single god.  Halflings worship a small, tight-knit pantheon.  Elves have a complex mythology that ultimately precludes worship of any gods; they rarely become clerics but may still do so.

This message was last edited by the GM at 06:34, Wed 26 Aug 2020.