Nations
-Zenorian Empire: Human ruled nation. The most recent. The Empire his highly xenophobic in nature, considering humanity to be the Superior Race due to the fact it is the only one to rule such a higher surface of the world. The Empire is highly advanced in magic, ingenery, warfare and exploration. The Empire has a expansionist doctrine, and sought to subject every rich land to its rule. The Empire is ruled by Holy Emperor Augustus, blessed ruler of humanity. Under his rule, the Empire is a regim of terror and propangada.
-The UnderRealm of Val: The nation of the dwarves and gnomes. They rarely go outside of it and interact with humanity only for commercial reasons. The entrances to this realms are fiercely defended by advanced ingenery surpassing the one of the Zenorian Empire. However, the citizens of Val have no knowledge of magic, considering it taboo and even blasphemous for warriors to use it. The UnderRealm is governed by a monarchy of two. Thar, the War-father, govern the dwarves and warriors, while Lyam, the War-Architect, govern the gnomes.
-The Unseen Land of the Taldar: The land from which the eladrin and the elves come. The Unseen land is a pocket universe created by them to watch the material world from afar. Long ago, the first Planeship came in it, carrying many eladrin and elves explorators. They have many times in the past visited the material world, interacting and experimenting with it. In this realms, the eladrin have superior status than the elves. The Eladrin are considered the Highborn (for being born with the superior ability to manipulate arcane and psionic magic), while the elves are the lesserborn (the ones being born with the ability to communicate with the spiritual entities of the material world). The eladrins serves as Templars (from DS), enforcing the law trought arcane or psionic magic, as scientifics and as rulers trought the High Council. The elves serves as foot soldiers and agent to interact with the material world.
The Savages: Those who lives in the wilderness and forms several clans that are in constant conflict. Amongts them are humans, mul, goliath, orcs and worse. Each clan has its own structure and culture. They are often in conflict with the Zenorian Empire who battle them for their lands or to enslave them.
Major Races
Humans: One of the variety descending from the original inhabitants of the world, the Titans. Humanity as thrived into several different kingdoms in the past, who, in time, formed the Empire. Those who refused to join this alliance for whatsoever reason where crushed to the point that if anyone of these realms survived, their descendant ether became citizens of the Empire or savages. Humans from the Empire ten to be arrogant toward other races. Humans can be of any classes.
Dwarves: Another variety descending from the titans, dwarves still worship them but under new names. In the past, the titans themselves were with them, teaching them how to shape the material world around them to serve their needs. Dwarves consider magic something reserved to their gods, and it is blasphemy to try to steal it. Dwarves rather prefer to prove their worth in battle againts the duergar and other monstrusity. Dwarves are also distrutful of the other races for their use of magic, but accept that they may not follow the same deity as them, so their rules may not be the same.
Gnomes: Gnomes are proto-dwarves created by the titan to reach locations they could not because of their physical size. Not as durable as dwarves, they are more intelligent and cunning, and serves as scientist and engeneers for the Valian civilization.
Duergar: Dwarves that decided to side with Aragnos the Fire Titan after his betrayal of the other Titans. These dwarves are violent and utterly evil, believing that all life should kneel before Aragnos.
Eladrin: A race of Extraplanar beings coming from another plane of existence. They are the most elvoved race of all the material world. Their knowledge is so vast that they fused magic, engeneering and their science of physics to travel between space and time. The eladrin are highly confident that they are the most civilized race in the cosmos, and consider the race of the material world to be nothing more that primitives savages. The eladrins do not believe in divinity, because their notion of it is a being capable of creating something from nothing and vice versa. However, they never encountered such a being anywhere in the cosmos, and they doubt they will. They howeber acknowledge the existence of superior beings to them, but they regard them as a gnome would regard a dwarf: bigger in power, but not invicible and totally superior. Eladrins interacts directly with these beings, often negotiating with them for different reason. Eladrins sometimes go to the material world to conduct experiments on the material substance, or to prevent one of their experiment to go wrong.
Elves: the lesserborns of Taldar. They are inferior to the eladrin because they are less proficient with arcane and psionic magic, but however are greatly superior to communicate with the spirits of the material world. They act as agents between the Taldarian civilization and these primal spirits, and as soldiers. Elves aren't resentful for their position in society, considering it to be perfectly normal for the Greater Good.
Drows: Drows are the result of eladrin conducting experiments with energy coming from the void (the shadowfell). The energy in the end corrupted them physically and psychologically, turning them into an evil version of the eladrin. Where Taldarian society consider itself more advanced than any others, Drow, or Nezarian, society consider itself utterly superior and by right the master of all creation. After a short but brutal conflict on the question of how the Taldarians should act morally toward the material races, the Nezarian left and find refugee in the shadowfell, where they erected an evil oligarchy of eight rulers, all sorcerers. Drow consider that magic should be used like an art, not a system, and that an arcane user should use it as he see fit, not by following rules. Drow often interract with the material world to enslave major settlement or to ruin a Taldarian experiment.
Goliaths: Goliaths are another breed that descended from the titans. They revere the primal spirits and are fierce warriors. They acknowledge the muls as distant brothers in arms. They are often members of the savages people, but are honorbound and loyal comrades that honor their life debt. They often become mercenary toward someone who is ''marked by the spirits'', which mean that they must follow him and protect him. They are also frequently taken as slaves by humans.
Muls: Another breed coming from the Titans, muls are descend from an experiment trying to balance dwarves physiology with that of the humans. The result was considered a succes. The muls are another race often member of the savages. Like the Goliaths, they are honorbound warriors, but not as close to the spiritual world as them. Also, the rarely interact with other races except the goliaths. Mul society is all about fighting and achieving rare feats in battle, so they often engage in conflict with monstrous creatures.
Dragonborns: Dragonborns are the result of the Zenorian experiments to product fierce and loyal footsoldiers. The result was somewhat succesful, but they were less obedient that the warforged who were less sentient.
Warforged: Inanimate mater giving life and a little sentience, they are the front line of the Zenorian Empire.
Tieflings: Heretics who have made a deal with Asmodeus to gain evil powers, tieflings are the worse of humanity in the eyes of the empire. They are often mistrusted for their appearance by all peoples. They also tend to life with the savages or in the underworld of the Zenorian Empire.
Half-Elves:An experiment of the eladrin to see if their genetic heritage could be given to one of the material race in the goal of leaving a sentry on this world when they would have to leave. Half-Elves secretly serves as observers of the Taldarians.
Three-Keen: Long ago, far away in the multiverse, the Keen Imperatix spanned seven matriarch that created seven broods. In each of these broods there was a warrior caste dubbed the Three caste. Along with the other members of the Keen race, the Three-Keen were gifted in psionics, and there talent in battle soon made them the favorite of the matriarchs. The Keen race was vastly advanced in science like the Taldarians, but instead of being explorators and scientifics, they were expansionist conquerors, always searching for new world to colonize and enslave to further ensure the survival of the Imperium. But one day, the Imperatrix died, and the psionic bond that united all the Keen minds was shattered. Some Keen even lost all ability in psionic. Divided and confused, the broods turned on each others, unable to communicate between themselve in their usual manner. Some Three-Keen warriors that were on mission in the far corner of the multiverse found themselves brutally separated from their kindred, and found themselve isolated. Many small group degenerated in brutal mindless beast, the psionic link been the only thing keeping themselve civilized. Now, many Three-Keen herd can be found across the multiverse. Some are civilized, yet still hostile to other life forms, while other are barbaric cannibalists that prey on anything, even other Three that aren't from their group. Some try to go back to their matriarch by any mean, but the rare are those with the psionic gift required to use Keen technology.
Other races
The Titans: The Children of the Primordials, the titans shaped the material world into what it his actually. They are also the ancestor of many of the race living on it, many of whom were the result of experimentation. The titans were actually pretty good and benevolent, but one of them, Agnaros, the Fiery One, whished to rule all alone, and battled the others violently. He was unsuccessful in his ambition, and was cast down in a fiery volcano, chained to its core. After that, the titans had to go in hibernation to rest, leaving the material world to their childrens.
The Primordials: Powerful Being of colossal power but unknown of any. The were the ones that gave their flesh from which the material world was created.
Dragons: Fierce and savage monsters. Some are domesticated as mounts by the Empire.
Abberations: Horrors that are the result of dangerous experiment with magic.
Devils: Fallen astral entities.
Religions
The Creators Pantheon: The Leaders of the titan race as they are remembered by the dwarves and gnomes. This religion demand from it followers to be brave warriors and to shape the world into order and perfection. Mostly followed by dwarves and gnomes.
The Church of Light: The humans follow the idea that the universe began in a bright flash of light, that was a benevolent entity and that humanity was its greatest creation. Purity and justice are the basic values of it. Obedience to the higher authority also.
The Primal Spirits: many savages interact with the spirits of the material world, lesser beings that are in fact the manifestation of the primordial known as the dreamer. Each tribe has its own Protector Spirit to which it answers. Elves also interract with them for several reasons, from asking simple questions to permissions of conducting experiments on the material world.
The Greater Good: Taldarians believe in the concept that the world is following a clear order of things, and that everything is at it is supposed to be for a reason. To disbalance this order is a grave crime. Natural order must be preserved at all cost. This is why some experiments are considered illegals.
The Cult of Darkness: Asmodeus and his followers have succeed in tempting some mortals with the promise of power in exchange for their eternal loyalty. This cult is primarely underground.
Regions
The Zenorian Empire: The largest region. Within its limits, there are almost no threats compared to the outside world. The center of it is Zenoria, Holy city of humanity. Ironically, it is in the city walls where danger lurks. From mere thugs to evil tiefling cultist searching for a worthy sacrifice, the best of the worst can be find in the hearth of the Empire.
The UnderRealm: a vast region of caves and tunnels, it is a vast realm. However, it isn't safe down there. Monsters coming from the debts of the world thrive there, from minotaurs to the mysterious mind flayers.
The Savage Lands: Any place that doesn't belong to the Empire is considered a savage land. In these territory, there are many culture, from a primitive barbarian clan to a modest city. From the fiery wasteland to the luxurous forest, any kind of landscape can be found there.
The Unseen Land of Taldar: A pocket universe that seem to be located in space, where the laws of physic is subject to the will of the Taldarians, and were size and shape doesn't matter. Incredibly little Worldships can house colossals palace where there is only one Taldarian and a few guards with him. The only way to access it is to be brought by someone from the inside.
The Nine Hells: In the past, The Light created angels, the First Borns. But one of them came in contact with the madness beyond the unknown, and was corrupted. This angel, Asmodeus, attempted to claim the material world for himself, but was cast with his followers in the hearth of a fiery prison. There, he and his kind became monsters and created a world of nightmare, intending to make themselves a world they could govern as if it was the material one, tempting mortal souls to populate it. In time, the devils created demons, beings of pure evil contrary to the devils, to serve in their war againts creation, as they could not leave the Nine Hells but they could. Asmodeus, while taking comfort in his domain, has the ambition of destroying the material world as an act of revenge againts the angels and the Light, and to become the god of his own cosmos after that. But first, he needs to discover the secret of Creation.
The Void: a strange realm of nothing and something. It's existence is still a mystery for the Taldarian, second only to the one of the Far Realm. The Void seems to be a space between the space itself, all the while beign infinite. It is full of negative energy that seems to come from the act of death itself. When something dies, the void become stronger, for whatsoever reason. The energy of the void grant its wielder power, while corrupting his soul. The void is populated by beings of negative energy, made from the blackened thoughts, emotions and acts of anything existent.
History
-Unknown time before present: The Void is the only thing existent. Then, the Light emerge from it by sponteneous reaction.
- 10 million years before present: From the Light come two lesser entities: the angels, the primordials. The Primordial give a part of their composition to create the material part of the cosmos. They then give birth to the titans.
-9 million years BP: The Titans begin to shape the world and experiment with it, all while ignoring the existence of the primordials and the angels. They create their first offspring: the gnomes. Also, the material world began to create life from itself: dragons and reptilians race are the first to appear, offspring from the Great Dragon, mother of all reptiles.
-8 million years BP: Asdmodeus venture to far away from the cosmos into the unknown. He encounters the madness of the Far Realm and return changed, intending on conquering Creation. Thus began the Celestial War; The Titans and their childrens, now numerous, have finished the basic of the world. Now they begin to create their realms. They enter in conflict with the reptilian peoples who worship the primal spirits.
-7 millions years BP: Asmodeus and his frethen are cast down in the Nine Hells, a prison made of negative energy coming from the void. The Nine Hells further twist the fallen angels, but the celestial nature stop them from escaping; The war between the titanic race and the reptilian one is over. The reptilian peoples disappear into myth, some of them becoming barbaric and primitives.
-6 millions years: The Fire Titan Aragnos betray the Titans, leading a massive war againts them with the ambition of becoming Overlord of Creation. This war divide the titanic race, and after it, many go their own way after the disappearance of the titans who have gone in hibernation.
-7 millions BP:The devils have found the way of psychically escaping the Nine Hells, sending their projection in the material world, tempting mortal to enslave them to their will to obtain their souls and gain enough power to destroy their prison. Asmodeus creates the demons from corrupted elementals that were part of the Nine Hells, mainly shadow and fire elementals.
-1 million BP: The dwarves reunite their civilization in the ancestral domain of the titans, the Kingdom of Val. They also welcome the gnomes as their cousins.
-10 000 BP: The Giants, another of the titanic races declare war on the Kingdom of Val, considering the dwarves and gnomes unworthy successors of the titans. With them they bring dragons as warbeast and lay siege to many entrances of the UnderRealm.
-9995 BP: As the war againts the giants is getting worse, the dwarves find a suprising ally in the person of Alarac the Strong, Warlord of a human Kingdom. Alarac, who had been witness of the war between the UnderRealm and the giants since his birth, considered that if he helped the dwarves, they would maybe share their technological knowledge with his kingdom. The valiant attack flanked the giants who weren't prepared, and within 30 violent years, the longest war in history was over. The giants were sacterred and divided, almost extinct, and humanity had found an ally. With the knowledge of the dwarvend and gnomish people, Alarac kingdom became the strongest of the human nations. With his advanced military might, he forced other kingdoms to either side with him or be conquered, and thus the Zenorian Empire was born.
-9800 to 8000 BP: the Zenorian Empire launched a violent series of campaign to conquer all that was seen as appealling. At the end, all of the ''Zenorian'' continent had been conquered, with only some small territory still being ''savage''. The average zenorian citizen evolved from a mere grunt to a raffinate educated man due the the prosperity of the Empire, and with the unity that came with the Church of Light, who promised salvation to all that were good, just and obedient, the Empire was as strong as it could be.
- 200 BP: The Taldarian arrive in the material world. They discover the many races of it, and began experimenting with it, resulting in the creation of the Genasi and other races.
-Present Day: The Zenorian Empire have developped the engeneered naval and air Warship, intending to explore other continents to conquer because the ressource of its territory isn't able to respond to the demand of its population. Many cities have fallen to crime, natural dangers and anarchy, and the savage territory is getting more and more bigger. Meanwhile, the UnderRealm as entered in war again with the duergar who which to find an ancient titanic artefact to liberate Aragnos. The Drows have begun to compromise several Taldarian experiments, litteraly creating unnatural horrors that ravage the world. The monstrous races are proving to be a match for the goliaths, muls and humans clans of the savage lands, and in the Nine Hells, Asmodeus has finished the weapon with which he will break free from the Nine Hells to claim Creation as his own. The Reptilian people are coming back, whishing to reform their lost empires, and dragons are litterally becoming to numberous, directly attacking settlement to feed on anything.
Next post: An idea for the first adventure.
It is interesting enough though and very well developed.
One question, what is ingenery?
Most excellent framework you have gotten laid out. It is an interesting and exciting creation story and it sounds like you have put a lot of time into it. However I think there is some room to improve it and make it a more playable game world. Since you asked for opinions, here are mine:
First and foremost, you have to shrink the age range. Unless your years are like months, an epic amount of history happens in a million years. Think about all the history that has occurred in human history which is only a fraction of that. I find it highly doubtful that any empire could last for 4 million years, especially in a world of great and powerful beings. What I would do is start the history of the civilized mortal races no more than 10,000-20,000 years ago. Probably more for the reptilians and I guess the gnomes. If you have everything be as ancient as you suggest, it will be incredibly difficult to connect events (I have trouble with this even dealing with a timeline of around 5,000 years in my homebrew).
What have the Taldarians been doing for all of history? They are obviously powerful beings, so they shouldn't have just been sitting on their butts. Where did they come from, how does their story fit in with the titans, devils and the light? Also, you said that this world doesn't have a name since it is the only one they've ever known, but then you go on to say that the Eladrin are extraplanar and come from another plane. They know at least two planes, probably more, so they will have a name for this world.
Do the drow share Taldar with the elves and eladrin?
Is the Void the Shadowfell or are they different?
The Dragonborn already have a beautiful niche to fit into your world as the descendants of the original reptilian empire, but you suggest that they were warriors created by the Zenorians. I find it hard to believe that a xenophobic empire would want to mix their pure blood with a lesser race. Certainly the Zenorians might have used dragonborn mercenaries but unless it is a major plot point, I would stick to the simpler explanation that they have always been around as the reptilians.
And probably of greatest importance is to figure out what the world is like today before working back. You should leave lots of room to add things and make up new histories as you come up with them. It's a lot of fun to create a whole world in your head, but when you put it in a game you'll find that there is always something you didn't think of. Give yourself flexibility and remember that your players and their characters will only experience a slim percentage of your world and only will be interested in the parts that are relevant to the story. As kalfalnal said, you have enough to choke a horse :P
I hope the way you write your story wil involve learning about this world :D
So yeah, the shadowfell is the void. In the game world it's something that cannot be comprehended by minor beings, not even the lessers gods, the devils, demons or anything else. The only thing that could comprehend it is the Light because it is the exact opposite of it. Many human priest believe that if they try to fully comprehend the light, they will understand the void, but accept the fact that they will never truly understand the Light before becoming one with it (after their death). The void seek to corrupt and push toward destruction so that it becomes universal again. As for the dragonborns, they are a slave race. They are merely canon fooders for the Empire and have no real rights (for exemple: the chazrach slaves serving the yuuzhan vong empire in star wars EU). Most of them are males.
For the Taldarian, their origins are rooted not only outside this plane, but litterally outside this universe. They are explorators that travels from universe from another for scientific reasons. They rarely interfere with the history of the others because they want to make an observe the natural order of each universe they visit. They sometime make some experiments, but only if they consider it will not endanger the natural order. When it does, they takes matters into their hands to deal with it.
For the drow, they reside in the shadowfell itself (which cans seems confusing), having learned to move accross the void and reside within it when necessary. However, this continue to corrupt them. They have their own version of Worldships which are dark havens of sinister experiments. Like the Taldarian, they experiment with the material world but with no regard to the natural order. Since this endanger it, the Taldarian often clash with them.
For the name the Taldarian give to this world, the may call it in a scientific way like this:
Material Plane of Universe 1000025
Calling it material for being made of material.
For the first adventure:
The action take place in the town of Damarcius, a Imperial town. The region is on the brink of felling to the savages threats because the Legions have been mobilized in Zenoria for the exploration of other continents. The land is suffering from a plague that is the result of the experiment of a drow whishing to develop a new kind of organism (an abberration). Meanwhile, some of the other guinea pigs of the nefarious sorcerer are plaguing the city, endangering the population. The Governor, Cassius, has decided to pay the high price for anyone that could discover the source of these monsters a root it out. At first, the pc's may just venture the countryside, looking for monsters fiiting the descriptions and battling other threats. Then, they may track down one of them to the drow experimental ground that is a small shuttle hiding underground. In it, they may battle additionnal monsters before facing the evil dark elf, who release his incomplete creation on the pcs before teleporting away. After the pcs defeat the abomination, they hear an alarm and sense the shuttle shaking, having to escape it before it makes a teleportation jump in direction of the void.
If the pcs escape, they can bring back the monster head, assuring the Governor that the threat is over. With time, the Cassius realize the pcs said true as the land begin to heal and no more abberations run accross the countryside.