The Shattered Worlds

A thousand years or more ago, there were many worlds, whole and beautiful. Each world was linked to those around it, and they were rich  with trade and civilization. There were many peoples, many Gods, and many cultures. There were, of course, conflicts, but for centuries the only wars were internal, each world having its own feuds and spites and upheavals. Because travel between worlds was restricted to the gate-ways, war between worlds seemed futile and unwinnable. Any world could blockade a gate-way from its own side, and hold it with practically no defenders. But then, war between the Gods somehow sprang up. When gods warred, gate-ways were no defense.  The interworld became a battle-ground in and of itself, and worlds were won and lost in sudden bursts of godfire. 

Eventually, these wars became so horrific that the whole of existence began to buckle and shred. Worlds shattered and were eaten by darkness. Gods died, or were blasted into fragments. The interworld convulsed and many gates became unusable. Eventually, exhaustion came over the worlds, and war died away. That was more than three hundred years ago.

Now, worlds have begun to reopen their gateways. Travel has begun once again. Worlds are re-establishing trade, and civilizations are once again beginning to thrive. The shattered remains of various gods and goddesses are being regathered. 

Geography

What are worlds like? Each world is essentially a pocket plane. Some are very large, hundreds of miles across, with forests and plains and oceans and large land-masses. About 500 miles in diameter seems to be the largest remaining world. Most worlds are smaller, around 100 -200 miles in diameter, usually with one general sort of terrain and geography, varying slightly across the world. Some worlds are perfectly round, while others are shaped by their terrain, such as a long narrow river valley, or a series of islands on an ocean. 

Worlds are bordered by foggy boundaries. Wandering into the fog is pointless and dangerous - anyone who does so either ends up exactly where they started, or vanishes, never to be seen again. Speculation is that they simply wander forever, until they die, but no one knows for certain. 

Every world has at a minimum, one gate-way. Gate-ways seem to be located in spots that naturally facilitate travel - they are at the mouths of rivers, or on the edge of a deep forest and a river crossing. Gate-ways are massive stone rings, about 70' across and 10' thick. The 10' wide stone rings surround a shimmering silver curtain. Some gate-ways are on the ground, and seem to be arches rather than rings; others float just above the ground. A rare few are floating, sometimes a hundred feet in the air. 

Most Gate-ways are surrounded by ancient structures; in most worlds, these structures are now part of modern towns or cities; on abandoned worlds, these are favored sites for exploration by adventurers and knowledge-seekers. 

Some worlds are healthy and stable, others are damaged and decaying, and there are all stages between. Some worlds seem to be shrinking slowly, being nibbled away by the fog; others are in more chaotic and advanced stages of decay, with earthquakes, eruptions, and terrible storms ongoing. Refugees from dying worlds are often forced into poor living conditions on worlds that will accept them; not all worlds do so, and some even enforce slavery on newcomers without means of support.

The Interworld; the gateways do not lead directly from one world to another.  Instead, they all open onto a strange zone that is neither world nor fog. The interworld is a desertlike place where no native life originates. Deep canyons, vast wastes, fields of boulders and mazes of intricate channels are all found in the interworld. There is no water, no plants, and no living creatures. Entering the Interworld is very risky, if you do not know exactly where you are going. Common routes are clearly marked; transit from "nearby" worlds is relatively easy, even on foot, if one stays on the marked routes; however, anyone venturing off on their own may find they have lost their way and suffers the consequences. Some routes between worlds that are further apart can be reached via air-ship; these vessels sail out of their home-world, through the world-gate, and into the air beyond. The interworld appears to have no boundaries, and extends upward forever; however, digging in the interworld is also useless, as the ground is featureless and there are no caves or minerals found there.

The Gods:

Once, each world had a God or Goddess, or perhaps several. They were worshipped for many centuries, but eventually they demanded more and more of their followers, and finally they grew angry. They began to struggle against the bonds that held them to their own worlds, and fought to conquer each other, to steal followers and build multi-world empires. In the disaster that followed, which no living being remembers, and of which no records remain, worlds were shattered, and so were the gods. They were splintered, wrecked and scattered across the multiple worlds. Now, only shards remain. Immensely powerful shards, but nothing like the titans of old. 

Those who choose to worship one of these shattered gods will find that they can be granted power by it, and that power will follow them, wherever they go. When they are within a temple or shrine to their god, they may find themselves with uncanny abilities beyond their norm, but on the whole, their power will only grow as they become more powerful, deeper in connection to the being they worship, who will in turn make demands of its worshipper. The relationship is far more like that of a warlock and patron than cleric and deity, yet there are places where large numbers of worshippers have traditional temples and priests and religious services. Still, the largest and most encompassing goal of any god is to find and reunite each and every shard of their power. Many people think that this is a dangerous goal.

Peoples and Cultures:

Every world has one or more dominant cultures; each of these may be made up of one or, often, several species living in close proximity and with shared cultural unity. Two cultures on a given world may be at peace, in uneasy truce, or actively at war, for any of the usual reasons. Also, as travel between worlds in some regions is quite common, there are both pockets of foreign world cultures on many worlds, and pockets of strange species who have migrated to and adopted the culture of a new homeworld. 

Player Characters; 

When choosing to play in this world, I envision each player selecting a culture, a species and a class. These are pretty much independent of each other, and can be developed in as much or little detail as needed. Standard PH races and some additional ones will be available for choosing from, and backgrounds can be developed from there. How and why PCs are together, and what their initial goals are is something that will be arrived at organically from the players' choices.

3 initial worlds: