The story so far....

When the campaign started out, I decided not to launch an overarching plot for a bit and simply to let the PCs wander a bit.

We started out with 4 players. Their characters were:
-Hoda Na-hooldra, a female Vassan (human) Fighter//Scout
-Godwin Haraldsen, a male Lastlander (human) Fighter//Rogue
-Galen Wolfharen, a male Vassan (human) Bard//Cleric
-Cadian Rothem, a Lastlander (human) Rogue//Swashbuckler

The human race has different ethnicities as do the other races. I.E. unlike many campaign settings, the non human races of country/region A will be different from the non human races of country/region B.

Two of the PCs are Vassans (think Arabian ala Egypt). Vassans are from the northern continent of Magnamund on the eastern coast. Vassans are mostly concentrated in the Vassagonian Empire, a sprawling desert nation ruled by a dictator from its ancient capital of Barakeesh. The empire is old, having been forged from different nomadic tribes into a single body politic. The city of Barakeesh also serves as the the center of the Vassan faith, the Dragon Temple. The Empire has a taste for conquest and frequently threatens its Vassan and non-Vassan neighbors. It can back these threats up as it has a sizable army and navy.
Hoda and Galen hail from smaller Vassan nations to the south of the Empire. Galen has a Vassan name but choose to cast it off once he left the Vassan lands and became a priest of the True Faith of Aon. Galen was an odd duck as he started as a bard in the Bardic Academy and graduated but then found religion..but not the religion of his parents and family in the Dragon Temple. He left and entered the seminary of the Aonese faith. The Church of Aon is much like the medieval Catholic Church, very powerful and influential. It currently is the largest religion in Magnamund.
Hoda kept her faith in the Dragon Temple but choose to go into a calling that women were not normally called to do in Vassan communities: that of a warrior. After some deep emotional problems within her family she took flight from her home and sought refuge in the north.

The other two PCs, Godwin and Cadian, hail from a far northern nation called Durenor. Durenor is one of the Lastlander nations. These humans are called Lastlanders because they were the last great human migration in the north. The Lastlanders are nordic in appearance and have a very Rohan-like culture. Durenor is a traditional monarchy ala many D&D kingdoms.

One would think this group being brought together would be difficult...
There is a city that lies at the crossroads of the Vassan lands to the east, the Lastlands to the north, and the Stornlands to the west. The Free City-State of Casiorn. An economic power, the many peoples and goods of northern Magnamund mingle freely there.
It was here our noble PCs met.

More on that later.

A note on clerics:
In this campaign, clerics in the D&D sense, are specialty priests of their religion. In the largest Church, the Church of Aon, clerics are handpicked from the rank-and-file members of the priesthood to be given training in spellcasting, taught the secret of undead turning, and recieve combat and arms training. So, all clerics are priests but not all priests are clerics. They are rare amongst the priests and Church leadership, thus they are looked up to and respected. Clerics are given special missions/assignments and normally aren't assigned to a specific church with a normal priests' duties.

A note on bards:
Historically bards are wandering minstrels and storytellers. In D&D, the name bard has a different connotation as an adventuring class. I've renamed the bard class to Oathsinger. Oathsingers are your typical spellcasting, adventuring, magic-within-a-song D&D-style bards. The title bard once again just applies to roving minstrels. The Oathsingers of Magnamund are a fraternity of information gathers and brokers. They are primarily schooled in the eastern Vassan country of Dessi in the capital city of Elzian. A great Oathsinger academy educates those who meet their strict criteria and share their worldview. Information is to be collected and collated, catalogued and made available. Oathsingers swear oaths to each other, to the mission, and to the Brotherhood above all else.