The Hole

(Name of world) is an ancient world where each race has forged their culture in various pockets across the flat plains of their earth. The sun never rises nor sets. Instead it merely gets further and further away. At night it is simply a star in the sky: always shining but never gone.

The Rift
The Rift is the main location of the campaign.

History
The Rift was 'discovered' by the people of Osium a few years ago. Located high in the Sirus mountains, it was found on accident by an adventuring party, and then explored. Though suffering many casualties, this adventuring party returned with artifacts of great power. One of them was even appointed the heir to the throne because of his efforts, and consequentially became the King of Osium. The new King immediately ordered a guild be formed and a town constructed around the location; the guild is led by the only other survivor of the original party. It's sole purpose is to explore the valuable depths of the Rift to recover whatever powerful artifacts they can. Since then, many have tried to brave its mysterious caverns- and many have not returned.

The Curse
The Curse references the effects that sentient creatures experience as they attempt to climb out of the Rift. The deeper you go, the worse the effects become. In the upper levels, this means nausea, vomiting, headaches, and general discomfort. Long lasting effects are uncommon. Lower levels have various illnesses; further study must be done to determine the gradient of effects. Nose bleeds, internal bleeding, scratches, and seizures have been reported. Teleporting out of the Rift via magical means often gives you numerous symptoms at once- this often results in a heart attack.

Locations

 * 1) The Immediate Layer- this is the topmost layer of the Rift. It's not that bad idk why you guys are so scared of it. It has funny little dogs and sometimes big monsters crawl out from the mist, but not often.
 * 2) *First Path: The shallow, easy path downwards that's directly accessible from the city. Most people choose to take this entrance into the Rift.
 * 3) *Cliff side Drop Path: A path a small distance from the city that has a sheer drop. A bit dangerous, but it's known by adventurers to be the quickest path to the good stuff.
 * 4) *Wet path: This is the not-so-common path that's the farthest distance from the town. It's difficult to traverse through, and mainly used by people who are illegally delving- that is, delving without being in the guild.
 * 5) *Camp Ashye: This camp serves as the 1,000 foot landmark for downward Delvers. It's a big cavern that's been cleared out for makeshift encampments for whoever needs it.
 * 6) * The Stairs: An extremely tall staircase rising up from the border of the Mist. Created by Guild members Adventure and Qudrah.
 * 7) * The CUBE: A neat cube with a funny mummy in it. Discovered by Qudrah, Tah'sar, Breckham, and Lyonel, the former two of whom had a huge argument about the funny mummy inside. Luckily, there's no god of rage!
 * 8) The Mist- This is where the effects of the curse start truly harming delvers . It begin at approximately sea level. Fog tends to rise from this mist-barrier and impact visibility up on the upmost layer, causing problems for many inexperienced first time divers. The Mist itself is home to huge mushrooms.
 * 9) ???- Only few have gone down this far, and lived to tell the tale. Information about what is beyond the mist isn't well known... but, if you talk to the right people, you may be able to find out.

Religion
Communication between the dimensional planes is difficult. As such, many gods are distant from their followers no matter how devout they are. Yet their powers still shine brightly in Clerics, Paladins, and other blessed souls around the world so their existence cannot be disputed- however, people in different locations will often disagree on specific aspects of their shared gods. There also exist many other divine beings in the pantheon, such lesser gods, demigods, and archangels. These are the people that matter most though.

This chart is Osium-centric. These beliefs about the gods can differ in other countries, and sometimes, even between churches.

Osium
Osium is an absolute monarchy ruled over by its latest, recently appointed King (NAME). Though the country used to be lax in regards to its laws and enforcement, the King has implemented policies that tighten restrictions across the nation. Foreigners have always been decently accepted. Osium claims to own the Rift and all its contents. Most of the land is covered in a deciduous rain forest. Osium has the Sirus Mountains as its uncontested south east border separating it from Hadaria.

Osium has typically been quite weak in political and martial power. The countries current King has changed that. Osium is going through many changes due to the discovery of the Rift and its many treasures.

Hadaria
Hadaria is a non-absolute monarchy that relies on its feudalistic system and wealthy lords to keep power over the country. The land is bountiful in food from its vast plains and very fertile grasslands. They have been a generally quiet and uneventful region. However, the recent expansion of Rift exploration has moved them to action. Rumors are abound that Hadaria wants to contest its long-term norther neighbor, Osium, for domain over the Rift.

Ashlite
Ashlite is a Sultanate which is ruled by the Sultan and his court. It is the westernmost country and is fairly large given how much of it is raw desert. What isn't just sand, however, is a beautiful savanna decorated with gorgeous rock formations and rolling flowering plains. Ashlite has long been a magic-centric country and many of its citizens are versed in arcane studies. The nation is generally accepting of other cultures but opinions vary heavily based on the region you're in. Northern Ashlite is more conservative and is often suspect of foreign imports, travelers, and religions. In contrast, the west is extremely accepting of new ideas. Southern Ashlite is comfortably centralist regarding foreign matters.

Valona
Valona is ruled by a triarchy, with a royal family, the church, and an influential council of merchant leaders supervise the country in equal parts. Valona is well known as the 'melting pot' nation. It's extremely accepting towards foreigners as many Valonian citizens are immigrants themselves.

Gurt
Gurt is a small island in the Northern seas. It's ruled by goblins. If you want to learn more, go there yourself! I sure as hell won't.