Setting

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Deities

There are six gods that rule over the lands of Aerth. They are sometimes referred to the as the opposing groups of the Gods of Order and the Gods of Chaos (sometimes Gods of Freedom by the more generous). Listed here by their titles, they are given more personal titles, genders, or names depending on the region or culture.

The Gods of Order

• The Justicar - The god of laws, order, cities, and the taming of society
• The Hunter - The god of family, farming, hunting, and the taming of nature
• The Smith - The god of crafting, wealth, protection, and the taming of the elements

The Gods of Chaos (Freedom)

• The Traveler - The god of travel, dreams, trickery, and personal freedoms
• The Dread Wolf - The god of plants, animals, and the natural worlds
• The Elemental - The god of air, earth, fire, and water.

Languages

The people of Aerth speak many different languages, along with hundreds of dialects and regional variations. While a character can generally get by with Taldane, knowing another language is vital in some regions.

Your ancestry entry states which languages you know at 1st level. Typically, this means you can both speak and read these languages. Having a positive Intelligence modifier grants a number of additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier. You can choose these languages from the list presented in your character’s ancestry entry and from those available from your region or ethnicity. Ask your GM if there’s a language you want to select that isn’t on these lists. If your Intelligence changes later on, you adjust your number of languages accordingly.

The languages presented here are grouped according to how common they are throughout the Inner Sea region. Languages that are common are regularly encountered in most places, even among those who aren’t native speakers. Languages that are uncommon are most frequently spoken by native speakers, but they are also spoken by certain scholars and others interested in the associated cultures.

Druidic is a secret language and is available only to characters who are druids. In fact, druids are prohibited from teaching the language to non-druids.

Common Languages

• Common - The common tongue of the world. The language gained popularity for facilitating trade and, after making inroads into the merchant class, it eventually became the dominant language of the land.

• Hallit - Language of the northern lands.
• Kelish - Language of the lands to the eastern deserts.
• Mwangi - Language of the southern jungles. 
• Runic - An extremely old language of harsh sounds and hard consonants. It is the language of dwarves, orcs, goblins, giants, trolls, ogres, and other such creatures.
• Sylvan - The Sylvan tongue, sometimes called the Fair Speech or Elvish, has a musical sound and flowing script that lacks punctuation. It is the primary tongue of the elves, fey, plants, and other such creatures.

Uncommon Languages

• Abyssal - The language of demons, daemons, devils and other creatures of the lower planes and those that worship such evil creatures.
• Arcane - The principal language used for magic-use, one often encountered in magical tomes, inscriptions, and other writings about magic. Magic-users speak in Arcane when they cast spells.
• Elemental - The language of creatures from the elemental planes.
• Enochian - The language of the angels, creatures of the higher planes, and those that worship such goodly creatures.
• Old Tongue - The language of the previous and fallen empires of the land. Some current cultures (ones that have been mostly cut off from the world) might still speak the Old Tongue as part of their day-to-day lives.
• Ranger Signs - Rangers, scouts, and other travelers through the wild devised a language of signs and markings to communicate with other travelers who come after them. Such signs indicate danger, aid and comfort, different kinds of animals, and safe places to make camp.
• Undercommon - The common language of underground civilizations, such as caligni, urdefhans, and xulgaths.

Secret or Rare Languages

• Druidic - Druids use their language for magic and to invoke favor from the gods, but also to communicate the mysteries of their secret society.
• Thieves' Cant- A way of speaking freely about criminal activities (or anything really) without arousing suspicion. Effectively a form of double-speak, speckled with lingo and jargon. This is really a modifier to another language, and anyone that can understand the base language you're using can understand the words, but not the meaning. It either sounds like nonsense or it means something other than what the speaker intends. 

Sign Language and Reading Lips

The language entry for most characters lists languages they use to communicate in spoken words. However, you might know the signed languages associated with the languages you know, or how to read lips. You can learn these by taking the sign language of a language you know as language choice or Read Lips skill feats, or both. If you are creating a character who is deaf, hard of hearing, or unable to speak, discuss with your GM whether it makes sense for your character to know sign languages or lip reading.

Monstrous Tongues

Many sentient beings found in the world have their own languages. Algholthus, ettercaps, dragons, and such communicate in their own languages. Mastering these languages proves difficult as their speakers have anatomical differences that make it nearly impossible to pronounce the words. For this reason, few people study monstrous tongues, let alone master them. 

The Planes of The Great Wheel

Beyond the world of Aerth and the void of space beyond it lie the four outer planes of existence known as the Great Wheel. Three of these planes serves as a home to two of the six gods of Aerth, while the fourth is the home of the unclaimed dead. These planes together are sometimes referred to as "The Rim of The Wheel" and are:

• Mag Mell: Home of the Hunter and the Dread Wolf as well as the fey creatures.
• Elysium: Home of the Justicar and the Traveler, as well as the archons and azatas.
• Axis: A mega-city, around which the elemental chaos rages. Home to the Smith and the Elemental.
• The Shadowfell: Home to no god, but maintained by psychopomps, this dreary plane is the home of various unclaimed souls or those who've tried to cheat death and failed. Many such souls devolve into various types of undead creatures if they don't find a way to move on to their next lives (or manage to make it into one of the other planes).

Connecting the central axis of the Great Wheel (the prime material plane) and The Rim planes is the transitive plane known as Astral Plane. This plane makes up "the spokes" of the Great Wheel and provides the backdrop against which the River of Souls flows from the Material Plane, ushering departed spirits toward final judgement.

The Breaking of the Wheel

There is another plane of existence, if you can call it that, that is not part of The Great Wheel at all - The Abyss. The Abyss is a rift in the fabric of reality, a crack in The Great Wheel. The cause of this rift is unknown, but many (especially those who primarily venerate the Justicar) blame the Traveler.

Regardless of the source, the Abyss exists and from it's maw spews forth manifestations of all mortal sins. Some claim that mortals did not know sin before the rift opened.