Ravenlake is set on Avara, a world in a parallel reality to Earth.

In many ways, Avara is immediately familiar. Its continents, climates, cities, technologies and societies developed along broadly comparable lines to our own world. People drive cars, attend schools and universities, use modern communications, live in large cities, argue about politics, follow religions, build institutions and confront many of the same environmental, social and technological pressures.

But Avara is not Earth.

Its countries, cities, borders, political histories and cultures developed independently. Familiar patterns often have close equivalents, but the names, institutions and historical paths are their own. Most importantly, magic is a real and publicly acknowledged part of Avaran life. Practitioners, ruptures, magical phenomena and the ancient Pathway have shaped science, politics, security and international relations in ways that have no direct equivalent in our own reality.

This section provides background information on the wider world surrounding Ravenlake, from geography and history to politics, magic, culture and everyday life. Some pages also include Earth comparisons to help players quickly understand the rough real-world equivalent of an Avaran place or institution.

You do not need to know all of this to play a Ravenlake campaign. It exists for players and readers who want to explore the setting more deeply, and to keep the wider world consistent as stories and campaigns expand beyond Ravenlake itself.