Spoiler Show Eternus is dark fantasy, where the world that players know is threatened almost constantly with destruction. The Prime Material Plane is dying, due to giant magic-extracting devices built by a civilization long forgotten. It's not clear where the magic is being sent, simply that it is being drawn out of the plane.



Magic in this setting is the essence of life. Those with excess and/or who can bend the external magic around them can cast magic. You can imagine what kind of a premium that is becoming.

Races

Spoiler Show Dwarves: Dwarves are hearty, and in spite of their slowly declining numbers have become more active members of their world since the fading of magic. If nothing else, they want to do what they can to save their existence. While they are excellent craftsmen in their high mountain cities, they have grown lavish and decadent in their years.



Elves: Nearly extinct. Magic being pulled from the plane crushed these nigh-immortal people. Very few young elves are around, with a majority of their population aging and dying. They have be come reclusive in recent years, so not many people believe they exist now. Known only to the select few that are allowed within their valley enclaves, the most powerful of the elves are donating their power and life to slow the drain of magic.



Gnomes: Similar situation. Being so innately magical, they've been hit hardest, but they've taken the same mentality of the dwarves: If we're going to die, we're going to die trying. They live in mountains, digging and mining to their hearts content. After discovering that the world was like a coin, they began worshiping coins and wealth.



Half-Elves: Ironically, there's more half-elves living than elves. The last vestiges of a more prosperous time, these 'modern elves' are almost all of older age with the retreat of elves. There are young 'pureblood' half-elves, but only the elders really remember the bright days of the world.



Half-Orcs: Still uncommon, moreso now that the crisis has people paranoid. Orcs and half-orcs aren't as magical as the other races (even dwarves), so they haven't been hurt as much, but panic and racism are at an all time high.



Halflings: The world has become much more dangerous to traveling halflings, so these little folk aren't as common as they once were. However, they are go-getters, and are willing to risk life and limb to help the efforts. Tribal, they live in forests, making their villages high in the trees.



Humans: Also in decline. More paranoid than anything else, they have become insular compared to their normal curious and exploratory racial nature. Some towns have become territorial, almost tribal, hoarding resources to 'tide them through the worst'. Others are twitchy, but receptive to aid in saving their home.

Class Fluff

Spoiler Show Cleric: The voices of the gods, clerics call forth a portion of divine life-power into the world. Deities, immortal beings that they are, can spare this small bit of essence... most of the time. Out in the Waste, where the devices have already drained the life from most things, even the gods are leery.



Druid: Druids have long followed what they call The Voice, an omniscient power of nature. The Voice takes on different aspects in different natural locations. The life being drawn from the plane immensely worries druids, as their lands recede and, most importantly, The Voice fades.



Paladin: The hands of the gods, they feature the same power of the cleric. However, they also suffer the same problems with the Wastes. Even their mount is careful about entering those lifeless lands.



Wizard: Benders of the power of life, they themselves cannot create or restore it most of the time. However, they can take the ambient energy of the world (and themselves) and shape it into effects to aid them, which normally means blasting their enemy to bits. With the drain becoming more and more obvious, even the best have begun to rely on their own lifeforce to cast; a dangerous prospect indeed.

Necromancer: Manipulating the 'lack of life', necromancers have become grim heroes in a sense. They take the death around them and turn it into something like it was. If that's not cool when you are close to going extinct, I dunno what is.



Warlock:Warlocks manipulate a strange "middle ground", where Magic and The Between meet. An Invocation, put very simply, is the event that occurs when you cross magic with Between energy and then directing the burst. Both Magic and Energy carry on as though nothing happened. And with a much larger pool of Energy to work with, Warlocks are discovering new Invocations quickly. But what happens when there is no more Magic?

Types of Magic

Spoiler Show Arcane Magic: Known formally as Essence Magic, arcane magic is powered by life energy. By manipulating this energy, it creates many wondrous effects and spectacular powers.What is known to some as Incarnum is also essence magic.



Divine Magic: The layman calls it Faith Magic, it is also powered by life, but it is powered by the life of deities, freely given to their followers. Casting divine magic does not increase the drain of life. If anything, it brings more in, though, the amount is small enough to make almost no difference in the short run. Acquiring divine magic within a drained wasteland is harder than normal, as the divine connection can drain a god by proxy.



Between Magic: This is magic that is powered, even partially, by the energy of The Between. Several types of magic fall under this, nercomancy, shadow magic and invocations to name a few. Often times, they do not explicitly affect the drain of magic, but they may emulate other types of magic.



Eternal Magic: Ancient magical spells used by the creators of the devices. The commonfolk call them Eternals due to the solidarity of the devices, and their magic has taken their name. Extremely powerful, it is also extremely rare. Each individual spell is jealously guarded by the wizard that found it's hiding place, and many more have never been found... At least, in theory.

Cosmology