Aether Spira
The Aether SpiraTM campaign setting is a high fantasy alternate history of Earth where magical creatures exist.
In this version of Earth, places are often renamed based on the mythological beings associated with them. The elves come from Alfheim, the dwarves from Nidavellir, the giants from Jotunheim, etc. Because these myths originate in Norway and surrounding regions, these realms are located in the northern areas of the central continent. In general, wherever a myth originated in our world corresponds to its equivalent location in Aether Spira.
Parallel planes of existence are connected through the World Tree, Yggdrasil. It is not a literal tree but a vast network of interdimensional pathways and gateways. Early discoverers accessed these passages through druidic magic, which led them to describe the system metaphorically as a tree.
Just Another High Fantasy World?
Aether Spira is the name of the planet where the campaign setting takes place. Many simply call it “Aespira” or “Spira.” The planet occupies a convenient position in the multiverse where numerous interdimensional routes intersect. As a result, it often serves as a waystation for interdimensional travelers, time travelers, and other unusual visitors. This convenient location may explain why so much magic and strange phenomena occur here—and why the world is constantly at risk of catastrophe. At least, that is the explanation scholars prefer.
CORE GAME MECHANICS
Magic is the manipulation of spiritual essence through mental exertion to produce physical effects. Because of this, the system uses Mana Points rather than spells per day. Casting magic causes fatigue, but you do not suddenly forget how to cast a spell simply because you have used it several times already—it is not a card game.
Classes also do not have individual spell lists. Instead, spells are organized by schools, and characters must gain proficiency in a school of magic in order to learn its spells, much like taking feats for weapon proficiency. Spell-like abilities (now called "innate powers") bypass this requirement, but without proficiency your spell DCs and attack rolls are lower.
Spells and caster levels are categorized by traditions rather than class lists. If you multiclass between classes that use the same tradition, their caster levels combine. For example, clerics, oracles, and paladins are all divine spellcasters and share a combined spell list. In-world, people rarely refer to such individuals by class names; instead they would simply call them “divine casters,” acknowledging the shared magical tradition. Additional details are provided in the magic section of the game.
DRAGONS
Many draconic or dragon-like creatures exist in the world, but only 12 true dragons are recognized as the Great Dragons. Each of these ancient beings possesses many names and titles, and they may vanish for centuries before reappearing. Their immense power leads many mortals to regard them as a pantheon comparable to the Olympians or the Aesir.
Lesser dragonoids are typically categorized by body type: drakes (four-legged with wings), grootslang (four-legged without wings), guiverde (serpentine with wings but no limbs), lindwyrms (serpentine with two legs), serpents (no legs), wyverns (two legs and wings but no arms), and wyrms (serpentine with four small legs and long flowing manes). Only the uneducated refer to these creatures as “dragons.” Scholars instead use terms such as “dragonoid” or “draconic creature.”
GODS AND PLANES
The known cosmos can be imagined as a vast tower with many layers extending upward and downward. No one knows how far it truly extends. The tower also has two sides: the Material and the Mental. At the central layer and midpoint between these sides lies the Material Realm, where realities intersect.
Travel between planes through portals is like climbing stairs or ladders within the tower. Some locations function like elevators or chutes, allowing faster movement between layers. Teleportation is more like discovering hidden passageways that connect distant rooms within the same level.
Immortal beings—outsiders, gods, angels, demons, and similar entities—are conceptual spiritual beings. They are immortal because they are more idea than creature. Destroying them merely ends their current manifestation; they eventually reform elsewhere, usually on their home plane. Such “death” may erase memories of their mortal interactions, leaving them otherwise unchanged. Because they rarely return to the same place afterward, mortals often mistake this disappearance for true destruction.
MAGIC
A mortal who wields magic has absorbed or been granted spiritual essence from these conceptual beings, or has formed some connection with them—whether through possession, friendship, lineage, or other means. Every practitioner of magic has such a connection, even if they do not realize it.
Bloodline magic is often conceptual in nature. For example, if a spirit grants a mortal power “until it is reclaimed,” and that mortal dies before the spirit returns, the power must go somewhere. It might pass to an apprentice, an offspring, or even a creature that consumes the body. In this way, magic spreads into the mortal realm.
Magic is therefore unnatural to the Material Realm; every use of it blends the mortal and immortal worlds. Some consider this dangerous, while others see it as a necessary part of existence.
RACES
Many humanoid beings from real-world folklore and mythology appear as races in Aether Spira. Similar creatures are usually treated as cultural variations, tribes, or bloodlines of the same species.
For example, bird-like humanoids are collectively known as Avians. Their many cultures include Harpies from Greco-Roman mythology, Kinnara from Buddhist and Hindu mythology, Impundulu from African mythology, Sirin from Persian and Russian mythology, Tah-tah-kle'ah from Native American folklore, and Tengu from Chinese and Japanese traditions.
More magical or monstrous bird-people are typically considered special variants, templates, or mutations of Avians. Examples include Sirens and Garuda, Avians who possess distinctive magical abilities and traits.
THE SHIMMERING
Years ago, a cataclysmic event nearly destroyed the world. A massive shimmering field of energy appeared, and strange creatures and phenomena began emerging from beyond it. Chaos spread for months, and many believed the end of the world had come.
The revelations uncovered during the Shimmering reshaped cosmological understanding among scholars worldwide. Heroes on many worlds worked to close the rifts and restore stability to reality. During these events, countless people vanished into other realms while many outsiders became trapped here.
Today, the Shimmering is considered history. The rifts were eventually sealed—supposedly permanently.
RELIGION BY TERRITORY
In Aether Spira, a “god” is a spirit—or spirit-empowered mortal—who has accumulated sufficient magical power and followers to control territory in both a spiritual plane and the Material plane. A pantheon is a cooperative group of such beings that governs an entire plane (or nearly so), with each member ruling a particular domain within it.
For example, the Greco-Roman gods—collectively called the Olympians—control the plane of Olympia. This realm contains territories such as Arcadia, Asphodel, Elysium, Olympus, Panchaia, and Tartarus. Some of these have counterparts in the Material Realm, including Atlantis, Chryse, and Argyre. Because portals often connect the two versions, travelers may easily pass between them.
The world itself is divided into territories controlled by different pantheons, each maintaining agreements not to encroach upon the others. Characters must originate from one of these territories.
North: Aesir (Norse), Yazata (Persian)
Midlands: Dodekatheon (Greek), Devas (Indian)
East: Amatsukami (Japanese), Celestial Bureaucracy (Chinese)
South: Pesedjet (Egyptian), Loa (Voodoo)
West: Atzlanti (Aztec)*, Tuatha (Irish)
*From across the great sea
Other options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pantheons
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Titan_(Scion)