Hm, let's see...
You'll be playing in the continent of Col, not the largest track of land on the planet, but close, and certainly the most important. The reason for this importance is that Col is largely believed to be the source of not only all life, but also of existance itself, as it is said to be located around the single point where magic first entered the blankness of the plane, and created the world and everything it contains.
Magic is important here. It competes with religion for the most part (there is one major religious segment, and a few less important ones), but it also made for some gruesome history. In the Age of Madness, the realm underwent conquest by out-of-control wizards and sorcerers, one after the other, but all equally twisted and tyrannical, caused by a "surge" of magical power in the area, effectively saturating it, and making the few who could harness the magical forces "overwhelmed" by them, and quite insane.
This was fixed, of course, and the realm returned to normal. Magical users now-a-days are required to register to be able to practice, though, as a result...
But anyway, races live under a general sense of equality. There is a human kingdom, a dwarven one, and an elven/orcish society (halflings as nomads, with only a tiny patch of land for themselves, but welcome pretty much anywhere, and gnomes being very rare, their race comprised of basically a few tribes that travel through Col their whole lives for reasons no one but them actually know).
There is a fighter school in the human kingdom, and a magic one as well. The halflings have a few monasteries on their lands.
Elves and orcs mantain an interesting bond. They live separately in their cities, and they have different jobs. That's as far as the segregation goes, though, as the two races do everything else together. There is a deep spiritual synergy between the orcs and the elves. They consider themselves two aspects of the same thing, and their whole society is built around that...
And dwarves live in cities carved inside the mountains. Their mountains have crazy mineral wealth, so they're doing just fine.
Those are a few things. As you can see, I need more. So, please do ask any questions you might have.