I'll be more harsh than Devac in my review, in part because I've made several worlds of my own. Don't let this discourage you, however: my goal is to point out where things could be made better. RACES First of all, I think it might serve you well to add a list of non-playable races for DMs. This will not only allow for better master tools but also expand the world beyond what's player-necessary - that is, make it feel more alive and verisimilar. Your dwarves are, basically, alcoholics dozens of generations in - and it isn't an unfortunate conclusion so much as a fact. That they've incorporated alcohol into their metabolism serves to say as much - this is how addiction works; to say nothing of the deep withdrawal effects. All of which I presume because no species begins with such a necessity. That being said, human beings experience similar, though perhaps not as drastic, effects from lacking essential nutrients, like vitamins. I'd like you to explore whether living as an alcohol-less dwarf is truly impossible as well as portray the chemical as a nurtient of sorts for the race. The difference in metabolism will easily explain the sterility of gnomes - which are, as a matter of fact, a hybrid - though it doesn't have to: ligers had been disproven from being sterile after a number of cubs were born of liger x lion/tiger matings. Orcs are awfully selfless with "the desire to give their children longer lives than their own", especially proud as they are. They should've disappeared from the face of the world years ago if they're so careless about the purity of their blood. Every species generally strives towards status quo, biologically, which is why we don't see many crocodile x hippo hybrids. How can a species remain proud yet so willing to share the blood with another? An answer to that question should prove really interesting. How come goblins, with their extremely short lifespan and utilitarian political mind, have become known for their artistry of ideas? Seems to me that to obtain such mastery would require a breadth of experience or some form of mind transfer (so that the later ones could continue to improve upon the legacy). Besides, the goblin backstory nudges us carefully into the territory of... MAGIC Sounds really odd that among the things the first mage would do would be to create a sentient species. Unless they were somehow magically instructed to perform peacefully and/or not to attack the master species, they could easily become a danger not just to the mage drunk with power, but for the whole world (because I assume that their lifespan is offset by much higher rate of reproduction). Not to say that it would be impossible to do so - it's your kind of magic, after all, and you decide what it can do - just odd that the small people came to be so damn quickly and with seemingly so few precautions. I love the real reason behind magic's existence in your world. Can you elaborate on exactly what makes magic exist (how does the entity's presence allow for reality reconfiguration)? What doesn't make sense to me is how can one become magically potent. You write that it's achieved through divine action, but it turns out that deities are merely condensed... "magic", however that works. This means that to allow for usage of magic, there must be deities to grant access to it, but for there to be deities, there must be high magic usage in an area... which implies that there has been such usage before the first human mage (the race which I presume to be among the earlier ones). Does this mean that other races had mages before humans? Who granted access to magic to those, then? POLITICS First of all, state names. There's nothing wrong with a state being known by the common name: Montenegro, for example, has its name directly translated in many languages, with the proper name being "Crna Gora", meaning "Black Mountain" (where "Montenegro" comes from Latin for it). However, having a state known by its proper name - let's say, "Crna Gora" - could be a sign of many things, respect and/or fear from other states and cultures being not the least of them. So, if "Elvenheim" or "P'phakhtanyar" are the proper names for their respective states, there would be nothing wrong with having them known as such both to the political elite and the general population, even with some of the names being difficult to pronounce - in which case, a common name might appear, like with München and it's English-language equivalent "Munich", which for a non-German is much easier to pronounce. The subject of the capital of Dal and the seeming apathy of the inhabiting nation seem off to me. You'd never expect your capital city to be blown up, but... what do you do when it's gone and you still have the state to run? You move the capital. If you need officials, you elect them or let them take reign, which sounds like a good possibility in a fantasy world. Things will settle; but if the people remain passive, the state will inevitably fall - either due to entropy or external factors. In other words, I don't believe there could be such a thing as a "fallen kingdom": it's either history or in reform. As a linguist, I always insist on having the name of the state come from the language its people bear. It doesn't make sense to have it the other way, unless common names are used. With the state of C'ae, I do have a question: what does the apostrophe stand for? Language evolves into simplicity, so using side symbols, especially in (what I assume to be) transliteration, would have to be under a strong enough justification. History knows both coming and going of symbols for various sounds even within a single writing system, as evident with the reforms of the Russian language (some subtle, some overt and officially-dictated), where "Ё" /jo/ became a part of the language after people've already been using "IО"/"ЙО" for the same sound and the infamous "Ѣ" /je/ went away under the 1917/1918 Soviet decrees. What justification does the goblin language and/or the transliteration of it into the common tongue that's used for relaying the world's information have for the apostrophe in the name? Besides, how does one pronounce the state name? All of the, too, will help you improve the world's level of verisimilitude. Congratulations on your first world! Keep up the good work and post frequently about the progress: there's a small community of fantasy nerds here who'd appreciate seeing your work grow and flourish.