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Background
Nearly a thousand years ago there was a great and terrible war. This dread conflict culminated in what can only be termed as a Cataclysm. The carnage that occurred at the war's end was worse than all that had come before. Now countless ruins dot the land. Since the cataclysm, a deadly Miasma stains much of the land, it's toxic vapors tainting all who dwell too long within it. Many fell beasts roam the land, spawned from within the Miasma.
It is generally thought that the Miasma and the Fiends that it spawns are a penance inflicted upon the world for the harm done during the ancient past. In antiquity a priest/philosopher started a religion that today dominates much of the land. Yevon, and his teachings, have had a profound effect upon the world.
The priests of Yevon teach the people to repent, and to pray for the forgiveness of their sins so that the scourge of the Miasma and the Fiends will be lifted. A select group, the Summoners, have arisen to keep the more horrible of the fiends at bay. These individuals have gained the power to summon the Incarnation of various powerful spirits.
A young Priestess is about to begin her Summoner's Pilgrimage, traveling to the Temples throughout the land to pray at the shrines of the spirits in order to be able to summon them. But such a journey is fraught with peril. As is her right she has chosen a small group to be her guards. Many question the wisdom of her choices, but it is her prerogative.
Common Knowledge
Yevon
The followers of Yevon hold that only through prayer and repentance can the peoples of the world atone and lift the Miasma. Yevon's Teachings is a simple gospel that is held to be the path of atonement. The teachings also proscribe several things as well. Certain types of magic (necromancy for example) and the use of more advanced sciences, as these things were instrumental in the war that brought about the Miasma.
The followers of Yevon have built many temples, most of which are on or near the shrine of a powerful spirit. While the temples have no official secular authority they have great influence. Most courts have a priest of Yevon as an advisor. The temples are often a center of culture and learning in a region.
The Church of Yevon is lead by the Grand Maester. Each region of Spira is presided over by a Maester. Under the Maesters are the High Priests, who head the individual temples. With the Priests tending to the day-to-day operations of the temples and the normal concerns of the people. And below the Priests are the warrior monks. More militant than holy, they are sworn to the protection of the Temples and the clergy.
Summoners
A select few, summoners have gained the ability to call forth the avatars of powerful spirits. By doing so they are able to battle the Fiends of the Miasma. But being a summoner is a martyr's path. Many spirits demand something in return for their service, many of fiends are truly terrible in their power, and others are cunning enough to realize that the Summoner would be easier to kill than the Avatar.
Miasma & Fiends
The Miasma is nearly all pervasive. It manifests as a grey mist of varying intensity. In some areas it is nothing more than slight ground fog, a foot or two deep. In other areas it is like a heavy fog that limits visibility to a few yards. At it's lightest the Miasma is harmless, but when it starts to thicken it causes illness and at it's worse will cause madness and deformity. There are a variety of means to ward of the taint of the Miasma, but none of these are permanent.
The Miasma stays to low lying areas, and appears to be dispersed by running water. There are some areas where the miasma is a permanent presence, but in most places it waxes and wanes. Where life and death go, so to goes the Miasma.
While it is not clear how it happens, fiends appear to be born out of the Miasma. The occurrence and strength of fiends increase as the Miasma thickens. The nature of the fiends varies greatly, as do their abilities. Some are simple brutes whereas others are capable of powerful magic. Almost without exception the Fiends are malevolent and seem to revel in death and destruction.
The peoples of Spira
Settlements of a significant size tend to attract a heavier Miasma, and thus a greater presence of Fiends. Thus settlements that have survived have been in very defensible locations in places that discourage the Miasma, or centered about the shrines of particularly powerful spirits.
The Dwarves live mostly in a number of City-States in the Gagezet Mountains, their ancient empire broken at the wars' end. Despite their long memories the Dwarves have little knowledge of the world before the cataclysm, xenophobic in the extreme they rarely came down out of their mountains.
The forests of the world tend to be thick with the Miasma, and are very dangerous places. But the Elves still cling to these forbidding lands. Indeed the Elves have turned their dangerous surroundings into a veritable fortress.
The once pastoral Halflings are mostly a nomadic people now, although the city of Cataract is supposedly ruled by one of these diminutive people. Hunter-gathers, traders, or simply vagabonds, each tribe is unique.
The Trolls (half-orc) are now live mostly in nomadic bands in the Sandsea, west of the Djose Mountains. They come out of desert to trade and then go back to their harsh lands. While the desert is a hard home, the Miasma is sparse there.
Humans have recovered from the war more quickly than most. They have spread through many areas, and many diverse cultures have sprung up to replace those that have fallen.
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