Hey all I read over Chris B's and c__beck's posts and got excited to share what I have come up with so far. Wall of text incoming
First is the world Map
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B58LiHC8BwZySVN0aWQzQmYzRDE5ZGVfNXdGRVVpM1NoS3VZOria is currently vaguely defined, I wanted to leave "blank spots" for my group to fill in as we play. So far the only area that is mapped out with any detail is the large island in the Sea of Radiance.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B58LiHC8BwZyNlQtVnc0Qk1IV0ZRcU5XanJ5aF9pX0NOX21rOria has been inspired by so many things I don't quite know where to begin listing them, but if it seems familiar it probably was sparked by something you have read or seen.
Here is my creation myth (and pantheon)
In the Beginning, there was Ao and the Gem of Creation.
Ao decided to use the gem and broke it into 8 parts, but chose to not break the Gem cleanly, and the small shards and dust became the Devils and Demons
Taking 4 parts of the Gem Ao made the 4 Elemental Nobles
Fotia, the Lady of Fire
Aeras, Lord of Air
Edafos, Lord of Earth
Okeanosi, Lady of Water
Taking three more sections of the Gem Ao made the 3 Major Gods
Ava, Lady of Creation
Drynn, Lord of Balance
Ket, Lord of Entropy
The 8th Shard of Creation Ao hid away in the Planar Temple to be used by mortals when the need was high enough.
Later Ava created for herself 3 lesser gods to help her in her mission
Amaterasu, Bahamut, and Gwydion.
Drynn saw this and convinced Ket to make three as well, while Drynn made three lesser gods to help it's cause.
Ket created Tiamat, Baleros, and Crom Cruach
While Drynn brought forth Nui ka ike, Nesserat the Phoenix, and Joi Ahwi.
I also made a basic timeline for a few reasons, Oria is cyclical. There is a Great cycle where Oria is born, grows through many ages, and then is destroyed and rebuilt. i like the life cycle idea and it's a big thing that I like to put into the games I run (and want to run). Also it allows me to keep Oria and the gods and probably other stuff not related to the Prime Material plane and make new maps. It's just a different great cycle
I also did the timeline to help me get an idea of what the world looks like and why it does. Why does everyone speak common, use similar currency, etc? Well there have been a few world spanning Empires, as well as some story stuff. Here is a condensed First Age.
The First AgeMuch of the first age is the set up for many of the races. Dwarves, Humans, and Orcs have a kind of evolution but influenced by the magic that is in the world.
Elves, Gnomes, and Halflings are Seelie Fey who stay in the mortal realm too long and become new races
The same for the Hoilin, MaHoilin, and Utaquin who are Unseelie fey. During the first age their kingdom is infiltrated by Devils and their peoples are corrupted and become Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. They form an Empire that begins to expand, their first people to encounter are the Orcs, who in Oria are more like the Nordic peoples (they go a viking too).
There are wars between the "good" races as they encounter each other, but before they can become something too bad the devil powered Gutai Empire begins to cover the world. Asmodeus creates a powerful artifact (The First Obscenity) to create a permanent portal to the 9 Hells.
The "Good" races are all pushed back to the Ancient Elven capital and a group of Heroes leave on a desperate journey to find a way to save them all.
It is assumed they succeed because all of the devils in the army are banished at once (exploding and killing many around them) this weakens the Gutai imperial armies so much that over the next few centuries they are pushed back to their ancestral lands
End of the First AgeThere are currently 4 more ages, Age of Giants, Age of Dragons, The Walking Age (the Gods get banished to Oria), and the Second Age.
The end of the Second age is where I am starting my players off. I can expand of these ages if you are interested.
I'm out of lunch break! Question and Comments are appreciated.