Various bits:
1. Definitely read some Guy Gavriel Kay, if you haven't. Particularly Tigana (rebellion against sorcerous repression in a setting very like the city-states of medieval Italy) and the Sarantine Mosaic duology (rise of art and culture, a mosaic artist traveling to basically Byzantium)
2. Do we want to consider a "Technology" or "Science' skill? 5e has few skills, but one more might be workable. Not sure it would be appropriate for any of the classes directly (maybe?), but could be a background choice, especially for Sage and the merchant/crafter types?
3. Do we want to have a word to replace 'Saint' for the church? Simply to avoid real-world religious baggage- not necessary, but might be worth a look.
4. Languages: do we want to add any, for foreign nations, since races seem to be mixed in and national lines might be more important? At least one or two might be good- like Latin or Greek for medieval scholars, but not sure about current foreign languages. If we add any, do we want to correspondingly add some extra language slots, especially for certain backgrounds- I don't think it would be terribly unbalancing.
1. I will certainly do this! Sounds up my alley.
2. Hm ... Possibly not a bad idea. I can see this either splitting the
Arcana skill between "Science" and "Magic" (as in this world, Science was spawned from the study of the Arcane), or we literally just add "Science" as a skill. The Sage definitely makes sense, as does a Guild Artisan maybe switching Persuasion out if they wanted it. The Clan Crafter, Cloistered Scholar, and even Faction Agent are definitely applicable for a swap as well. Naturally, Bards with their "Any skill I want" and Knowledge Clerics would be great for this as well. Science itself, like all the other skills, would cover a wide array of intellectual pursuits: Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Biology, etc. The Natural Sciences + Mathematics, essentially.
As with the other skills though, Knowledge does not mean practicality. An Architect not proficient in like Mason's Tools is a great designer of blueprints, but is not physically proficient in shaping the stone herself. A Chemist may know everything about reagent reactions, but if he's not proficient in an Alchemist's Kit, every concoction is based solely on that knowledge, not the technical acumen.
Etcetera, Etcetera.
3. I am fine with changing this. Perhaps "Exemplar" of The Church as a replacement? Still keeping to the idea that these are people that the Church encourages emulating.
4. Also a good question and point. I'd imagine we still have racial languages, like Elvish and Gnomish, and since it's only been a little over a century since everyone has come together, I don't think these would disappear. But I am okay with the idea of additional, National Languages, thus furthering the idea that the City-States are culturally united since they share a Linguistic history.
To further the idea of this being an age of learning and enlightenment, I am okay with
Everyone gets 1 Bonus Language to help foster the idea that though Common is, well, Common, there is still a lot of extra stuff going on. If someone wants to legitimately come up with a language and the nation/region it's from, I'm all for it and will help to incorporate it into the setting.
For Common, we can also break this up (the mention of Latin has hit inspiration). There would be
Abituale which will be Common: everyone generally speaks this, it's the
lingua franca if you will. Then we can have
Magnanimo, which would be like "High Common": your Latin. The language of The Church, the learned, the nobility, etc. This is not so common, and so is generally the mark of either noble blood or education, a quick way to mark "I belong to High Society (or at least I appear to)".