This is another draft I made with AI about a medieval world setting for a story set in an alternative Middle Ages-era Earth, complete with magic, monsters, and an original twist on history and society.
World Setting: "The Shattered Age"Introduction
The world of The Shattered Age is a fractured mirror of our own medieval Earth — a place where the rise of kingdoms, empires, and faiths clashed not only with each other, but with magic, monsters, and the remnants of a forgotten divine war.
It is the year 1274 Post-Sundering (P.S.), centuries after a cataclysmic event known as the Sundering, when the Veil between the mortal world and the otherworldly Realms Beyond was torn open. From this breach poured magic, divine spirits, abominations, and ancient entities lost to time. Kingdoms fell, new orders rose, and the age of sword and sorcery was born in fire and shadow.
Geography & Realms
Earth's continents are roughly as they were in the 13th century of our real history, but reimagined through the lens of magical upheaval and mythic war.
Avalith (Europe): Once the heart of the ancient human empires, now a land of fractured kingdoms, crusader-states, and cursed ruins. Magic is feared and regulated by both Church and Crown, yet secretly used by noble houses and warlocks alike.
Zan-Kareth (Africa & the Middle East): A sun-scorched continent of deserts, jungles, and forgotten god-cities. Home to powerful bloodline-mages, sand-bound titans, and spirit-bound dynasties.
Eiran'del (Asia): A land of dragon-worshiping empires, floating monasteries, and immortal sorcerer-kings. Here, magic is seen as a divine right, and those who wield it rule with celestial authority.
The Veilscar Lands (The Atlantic Rift): A chain of islands torn straight from the Realms Beyond and thrust into the ocean during the Sundering. A chaotic place where monsters breed, time bends, and entire armies vanish.
The Sundering
The Sundering, which occurred over a millennium ago, marks the dividing line in history. Before it, the world was as we might imagine—a mundane medieval Earth dominated by feudal warlords, religious conflict, and emerging trade routes.
Then, something broke.
The skies burned. Stars fell. Mountains split. In a single night, the Veil — a metaphysical barrier separating the mortal realm from the Realms Beyond — was torn. From the tear came gods and devils, fae courts and nightmare beasts, forgotten dragons and alien intelligences.
Much of the world was destroyed. What remained adapted… or died.
Magic entered the bloodstream of the world itself, warping forests into living, sentient entities, turning animals into monsters, and cursing bloodlines with power and madness. Civilization had to rebuild from the ashes — with sword in one hand and spell in the other.
Magic System
Magic in this world is not a science, but a pact — a dangerous flirtation with forces beyond mortal comprehension. The source of magic is called the Aether, a raw current of energy that seeps through the Veilscar rifts.
There are five known paths of magic:
Pact Magic – Derived from bargains with otherworldly entities: demons, archfae, forgotten gods, or elemental lords. Every spell comes at a price — sometimes in blood, sometimes in memories, sometimes in something far worse.
Blood Magic – A hereditary gift passed through noble or cursed bloodlines. It allows the user to manipulate flesh, bone, or vitality. Blood mages are rare and often feared or hunted, especially by the Church.
Runecraft – An ancient dwarven and human tradition that engraves magical runes into metal, stone, or flesh. This school allows for enchantments, magical weapons, and defensive wards.
Spirit Binding – The magic of shamans and druids, calling on spirits of nature, ancestors, or forgotten beasts. Spirit-binders serve as intermediaries between the mortal world and the unseen forces around them.
Voidcalling – Forbidden magic that draws directly from the Realms Beyond. It offers unmatched power, but madness and corruption are inevitable. Users slowly become something else.
Magic is rare in most places, and heavily persecuted in some regions, especially under the influence of the Sanctum Ecclesia, a holy order determined to seal the Veil and purge all magic from the world.
Monsters & Beasts
With the Sundering came monsters—both from Beyond and born anew in the world.
The Hollow – Once humans, now empty shells possessed by spirits of despair. They wander ruins whispering forgotten truths, feeding on joy and hope.
Wyrmkin – Offspring of dragons and mortals, cursed with partial forms and overwhelming hunger. They serve no master, only instinct.
Nightborn – Creatures that only manifest at twilight, vanishing with the dawn. Rumored to be memories made flesh, they haunt places of great trauma.
The Bound Titans – Massive beings imprisoned beneath the earth or sea. When they stir, earthquakes and tempests follow. Entire cities have disappeared when one wakes.
Fae Courts – Divided into the Seelie and Unseelie, these beings are not monsters in form but in nature. Beautiful, terrible, and bound by rules only they understand, they steal children, twist fate, and rewrite reality.
Kingdoms & Factions
Several powers vie for control in this dangerous world:
The Sanctum Ecclesia – A crusading holy empire based in Avalith, determined to "cleanse" the world of magic and close the Veil forever. They wield relic-tech, anti-magic weapons, and blessed knights called Paladins of the Flame.
The Vyr-Khanate – A nomadic empire of blood sorcerers from the Zan-Kareth deserts, whose rulers are reincarnated warlords chosen by ancient spirits. They are expanding rapidly, converting or destroying all in their path.
The Concord of Mages – A secretive alliance of mages, sorcerers, and warlocks who believe the Sundering is only the beginning—and that the world must ascend into a magical age, no matter the cost.
The Fae Marches – A neutral zone ruled by the Seelie Court, where reality shifts and time folds. Some kingdoms send ambassadors here; others burn the border on sight.
The Black Library – Hidden in a moving tower across the Veilscar, this rogue faction seeks knowledge of the Sundering's origin. Its librarians are part-scholar, part-assassin.
Daily Life & Culture
In the towns and cities, life continues much like it would in the historical Middle Ages — farming, barter, feudal obligations — but overlaid with a grim awareness that magic and monsters are real.
Travelers carry ward-charms against spirits.
Children are tested for magical "taint" at birth.
Bards are more than entertainers — they are keepers of spells woven into stories and songs.
Inns have "iron circles" embedded in the floor — to keep out fae.
Castles are built with runestone foundations, to resist magical siege.
Festivals blend old-world pagan traditions with new protections against supernatural threats. Religious cults both for and against magic spread like wildfire. The people endure — but always watch the skies, the shadows, and the shifting of the Veil.
Themes & Tone
The Shattered Age is a world of lost glory, haunting beauty, and ever-present danger. It is a place where:
Faith battles against the unknown.
Monsters wear both bestial and human faces.
Magic is both salvation and damnation.
And every legend… was born in truth.
This is not a world of balance — it teeters on the edge of something worse. Or something greater.
The next Sundering may come — or perhaps a reforging of the world.
But whether by blade, spell, or sacrifice — the heroes will rise.