Here's the basic run-down on my homebrew setting, Akasha.
Akasha is a very low-magic setting. Most civilizations are roughly medieval- or renaissance-level in sophistication. Magic is currently no more common in Akasha than it is in the real world. The faith of the Three Gods is followed in most of the world; it involves the worship of the Sun, Moon, and Ocean, though many factions revere one over the others. There are two major landmasses.
One, called Aurelian, is home to the Giant's Kingdom, ruled by a monarch who traces his lineage back to the mythic Alpha, the giant who built the ancient stone castles which stand throughout the kingdom. These castles dot the landscape and have been inhabited since the beginning of recorded history, and act as the seats of the feudal lords and ladies who rule the continent. Aurelian is also characterized by the presence of Mother Trees, massive trees as tall as towers which are the center of the ancient faith of the sky-worshippers. Vast fertile forests can be found surrounding Mother Trees wherever they take root.
The other is called Odyssia. South and east of Aurelian, Odyssia has none of the lushness of the other continent. The Dragon's Desert covers most of the eastern continent; it is a wasteland, with little life in it. To the west, across a massive mountain range called the Lords, is a landscape of fertile rainforest filled with Ocean-worshipping tribes.
An archipelago called the Free Isles is north of Odyssia and east of Aurelian. These Isles are the center of trade and science for the world, and are inhabited by dozens of independent city-states.
Possible ways for gramarie to come into being:
- Study of the properties of the Mother Trees leads to the invention of Geoccultism.
- The decadent Lord Umber of Rosary, one of the cities of the Free Isles, funds secretive research on human anatomy and physiology. These studies, some of them rather questionable in nature, lead to the invention of Biollurgy.
- Scholars in the service of a baron in the Giant's Kingdom are designing new war machines. They begin inventing principles of gramarie, becoming Warmakers.
- The aspect of the Ocean, ever mysterious and fickle, appears to a human or humans in a dream, granting them secrets that form the foundation of gramarie. Its motivations are unknown.
- Natural philosophers in the Free Isles make astonishing breakthroughs, laying the foundation for gramarie.
- An explorer in the Dragon's Desert or an archaeologist in the Giant's Kingdom uncovers old writings and blueprints describing basic gramaric principles.