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[ShadowHammer]

A meritocracy, wherein the citizens who contribute the most to society (evaluated using a very complex mathematical system) have the most say. Note that most contributive does not by any means mean richest.

What was the greatest, most powerful spell ever cast in the world?

[~Neri]

Ascendence Of The Death God.

Originally there was no Death God, during the last days of the ElvenGnome war, an Elvish Necromancer ascended to Godhood, killing the majority of his race in the process, leaving them easy pickings for the Gnomes.

Why did this elf do such a thing? What made him turn down that path? What is his name?

[darkpaladin109]

The elf did it because he wanted to fulfill a great prophecy of a "Dwarf Fortress". It was greed and insanity that turned him down the path. His name is Toady, the first of his clan, or to put it simply, Toady One.

What is the "Dwarf Fortress" prophecy that the elf searched for?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Spoiler: Compiled Answers (click to show/hide)

Humans are present in the setting. They are nomadic peoples (albeit with cities for religious and economic activity) that are in a world war II technology era. There are around 17 million of them. The Humans traverse a group of islands just off the coast of a greater landmass, mostly the eastern ones. They travel using simple boats sometimes powered by motor. Human culture is xenophillic and open-minded. Humans are organized into clans, which due to orcish influence act a bit like their guilds, but with familial ties.
Orcs intermingle with the humans, living on the more western islands as well as crossing the continent via a fleet of blimps and other aircraft. Orcish traders usually supply humans (and other orcish nomads) with resources from the continent found on their journeys. Generations of surviving together against the spider/human beasts has created a bond of friendship between the orcs and the humans. They are organized into mercantile guilds; they're kinda like megacorps, but murder is strictly prohibited as a business tactic and if you bring down a rival guild financially you are required to clothe, feed, and house the members at no cost to them until they find a job.
Dwarves live under the continent.
The continent is inhabited by an unnamed race of soul-eating driders¹. They drove the surviving humans off the continent, where they became nomads. The driders have a hivemind, though other races are ignorant of it. The hivemind wants to figure out how the driders can subsist on something other than souls, so they can peacefully coexist with the other races. They have no ability to cross water, whether with boats or airships.

Drakes, pterodactyl-like reptiles, exist. They only feed on the driders, due to subsisting in large part off of the souls the driders consume.

Orcs and humans live under the same government, lead by the High Council at Vihek Harbor Mountain. Each clan and each guild has a representative (sometimes more, for large ones); from there policies and laws are put into effect, majority votes are required, and no law is allowed to cause repression of any sort or strike down said anti repression law, in times of war, repression of the enemy is allowed until they submit.

Magic varies between the species. The dwarves use the magic of the earth and fire. The humans use the magic of the air and seas, the orcs use the magic of life and nature, and the spiders use the magic of death and darkness. It comes from wherever its aspects can be found in nature--fire from flame and lava, water from rivers and seas, and so forth.

Rain is normal.

There are gods and goddesses for just about everything.

1: The generic term for human/spider hybrid, not the specific monster.

Spoiler: Continuity Errors (click to show/hide)

Nay, in fact, the spider/human beasts have always been on the mainland.

Ignored as it contradicts previous lore. If you can reconcile this with the driders driving the humans off the mainland after they developed advanced societies and technologies, I'll add it.

Yes, Chaos Magic, and it is wielded by the Gnomes of the Northern Wastes.
The spiders don't go there as they would rather not be turned into chickens and eaten.

Why have the gnomes done nothing to strike at the spiders?

Because they don't exist. Previous lore indicated that the only races are humans, orcs, and dwarves.

Runic etching is an artform normally used for entertainment. Its origins, lost in time, come from the extinct race of elves, who could cast spells of great power with large complex patterns.

Dueling with wooden weapons is also a favored passtime.

Why did the Elves die?

They didn't. As noted, only humans, dwarves, and orcs exist.

Cities exist amongst the isles mainly for religious activities or trade, usually both.

And also factories and stuff.

Pterodactyl were made by the Elves in an attempt to colonise the mainland. It didn't end well.

If the elves somehow manage to fit in with "there are only these three races" tidbit, I'll add this.

A meritocracy, wherein the citizens who contribute the most to society (evaluated using a very complex mathematical system) have the most say. Note that most contributive does not by any means mean richest.

Ditto for gnomes.

Ascendence Of The Death God.

Originally there was no Death God, during the last days of the ElvenGnome war, an Elvish Necromancer ascended to Godhood, killing the majority of his race in the process, leaving them easy pickings for the Gnomes.

Reconcile this with the lack of elves and gnomes (and explain the absence of a death god previously), and we're good.

The elf did it because he wanted to fulfill a great prophecy of a "Dwarf Fortress". It was greed and insanity that turned him down the path. His name is Toady, the first of his clan, or to put it simply, Toady One.

What is the "Dwarf Fortress" prophecy that the elf searched for?

That GreatWyrmGold would refuse to answer this question, partly because it's silly but mostly because of continuity errors.

Alright. There we go. The answer to that last question can be found in "Continuity Errors," along with a lot of other things.

Instead of asking a question, I'm going to ask for answers to the continuity errors.
Also, you're welcome.

[Lyeos]

((Whoops! Ch-ch-changing that answer! Funny, I looked back specifically to make sure I wouldn't mess anything up with that answer. Guess I missed that post with the weird scrolling. Here you go, a modified answer to that question!))

Yes, the nation of Cheesistan! Despite the name, they did not make cheese.

Are there any major universities in this world? If so, who is allowed to attend them and what do they teach?

[Prophet]

((I thought that we were talking about living races. The elves aren't alive in the present so the only races are humans, orcs, driders, and dwarfs but the elves were a race so they can exist their just not one of the races now.))

[splehpnala]

There are no universities, as the races' nomadic lifestyle would make that very hard/impossible to accomplish.

What are the feelings towards the dwarves by the orcs and humans and vice versa?

[ShadowHammer]

Spoiler: Addressing continuity errors (click to show/hide)

The dwarves/humans/orcs/driders don't know about the gnomes, and the post that stated that they were the only races was written from the IC POV of one of the main 4 races. A bit of a stretch, but it's the best justification I can think of right now. If anyone can think of a better one, go for it. As for elves, they are extinct, so they don't currently exist.

Also, when you said

Previous lore indicated that the only races are humans, orcs, and dwarves.

presumably you meant driders _{(which is apparently the new canonical name for the spider people, despite the first instance of its use being in GWG's 'continuity errors' post?)} as well? They were added in the fourth post.

In answer to the question above me, the orcs are bros with the humans, the humans dislike the dwarves, and the dwarves are indifferent to the orcs.

Why do the aforementioned races like, dislike, and feel indifferently towards each other, respectively?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Also, when you said

Previous lore indicated that the only races are humans, orcs, and dwarves.

presumably you meant driders _{(which is apparently the new canonical name for the spider people, despite the first instance of its use being in GWG's 'continuity errors' post?)} as well? They were added in the fourth post.

Aye, them too, though between their hive-mind, their inherent hostility, and their lacking of any trappings of civilization, they aren't much like a sentient race. Certainly, the other three (four? five?) races don't think so.
I'm interested to know how the race that had and won a great war with the elves--a war that wiped them off the map--is unknown to a group of races which learned runes and presumably more from the elves.

The orcs and humans have a peaceful history stretching back generations; these days, their societies are functionally integrated to commoners and bound to the guildmasters and nobles. The humans once had similar relations with the dwarves, until the driders* came; then, the dwarves retreated underground rather than joining the humans. When the orcs migrated to human lands, they also met the dwarves, who they occasionally trade or squabble with but don't see much of either way.

What are the "driders" called?

[~Neri]

The Driders call themselves the Keivi Nalvorthik. The other races just call them spiders, or some variation of the name. Or the gnomes just go on and describe every physical feature and trait until interrupted.

The majority of the Elves were killed by the Elvish Necromancer Vihui Necolik (We are not using a trollollol joke name Dark) when he ascended as the new god of death. The Gnomes killed the rest of them. The old god of death manifested himself physically upon the world as the Driders in a ploy to kill all life and promptly lost his memories of godhood and therefore most of his power.

Continuity errors fixed. ...Sorta.

Why did the old god of death think it was a good idea to manifest?

[GreatWyrmGold]

The majority of the Elves were killed by the Elvish Necromancer Vihui Necolik (We are not using a trollollol joke name Dark) when he ascended as the new god of death. The Gnomes killed the rest of them. The old god of death manifested himself physically upon the world as the Driders in a ploy to kill all life and promptly lost his memories of godhood and therefore most of his power.

Which doesn't answer the question of how the other races don't know the gnomes exist.

Why did the old god of death think it was a good idea to manifest?

Vihui drove him out, and there can only be one god of any given type. He didn't have any other choice, save to try and usurp some other god or fade from existence.

What is the continent the Spiders live on called?

[~Neri]

Bob Kivialik in the Spider's language, The Throne of Spines in human tongue. The Dwarves call it simply "The Anvil." The Gnomes go on a rant describing the physical features and lore of the land for hours upon hours until interrupted, the Orcs call it the Shattered Tomb.

The Spiders did know the Gnomes existed, as was explained earlier on, cause the Gnomes enjoy turning the spiders into chickens with their chaos magic and eating them, we were watching from the viewpoint of the humans and orcs when this was stated.

Why did Vihui need to kill his race to Ascend?

[stabbymcstabstab]

None of the other species know/believe Gnomes exist because as the mainland and Drider hordes separate them, the few sightings they have are from Orcish airships making it impossible to verify they exist with out incredibly danger.

[Epichighfive321]

Because to ascend to godhood requires having all the other gods associate you with what you are god of. The first gods ascended by being the first peoples to become associated with whatever they are god of by their people.
Vihui used magic to perform a genocide of the elves, and was associated with death by the gods. Pushing the former death god out of godhood.
What are the most powerful gods, and how did they ascend?

[GreatWyrmGold]

The Spiders did know the Gnomes existed, as was explained earlier on, cause the Gnomes enjoy turning the spiders into chickens with their chaos magic and eating them, we were watching from the viewpoint of the humans and orcs when this was stated.

And how did the humans and orcs (and dwarves) not know the gnomes existed?

None of the other species know/believe Gnomes exist because as the mainland and Drider hordes separate them, the few sightings they have are from Orcish airships making it impossible to verify they exist with out incredibly danger.

And before then?