Background
Campaign setting
The characters are all young (approximately 16 human years) and completely unexperienced. The characters were orphans or otherwise given into the care of the state.
As wards of the state you have been raised in the small village of Wall. (Hamlet of 20-30 people) Your skills and class training came from self study as well as rigorous training at the orphanage. (The teacher was a former guardsman) Upon coming of age, wards of the state are required to serve a term of service in the military to repay board for the previous years. This is in addition to the mandatory service upon coming of age. That means 10 years of service for orphans, and 5 years for regulars. Time can be remitted at a rate of 150 gp per year pardoned.
Your home barony is currently lead by Baron Laptier, a charismatic human leader whom stayed neutral on the Terino affair. As a result both traditional religion and Terino religion thrive in the baronies. Fall out from the war is still felt. Former mercenaries warder the land as bandits and many of the smaller homesteads have disappeared. The wall still hasn't been repaired since the war and creatures from the wastes beyond the wall now roam the inside of the wall.
Travelling a full day in any direction will probably generate at least one DC 4+ encounter.
Social Political climate
There are many dozens of small nations and cultures. But within a weeks ride there are only a couple nations and most were part of the Lothian empire. The most significant of these follow.
Allied Baronies - You are starting in the allied Baronies. Population is 80% halfmen, but the humans are the dominate social and political race. The baronies are a loose alliance of small kingdoms that each consist of little more than a city or two and the surrounding territory. After the Terino invasion the baronies are in chaos that is only now settling. Some towns are Terino's in all but name, and many are now mixed with both faiths.
Thule - japan-like militaristic dynasty. Mostly known for destroying much of the Lothian military during the Second Invasion. Among the Thule psionic abilities are common.
Sanga-Thule - Open plains which used to seperate Thule from Lothia to the east. Populated by fierces tribes of nomadic horsemen whom worship beast gods. Thule managed to establish a few cities in the plains, but the plains are clearly dominated by the roving tribes and not the foreign invaders.
Lothia - former empire now reduced to a shadow of its former glory. Suffered massive losses fighting Thule in the Second Invasion. During the turmoil following the war the empire disintegrated so that lothia is now only a tenth its original size. Still the largest nation outside of Thule. Most magicians owe allegiance to Lothia. Magicians (i.e. Wizard characters) who do not join the Lothian magicians guild find themselves dead. Or undead. BTW. Lothia has full citizenship for undead. This is due to the undead's role in fighting the psionicists of Thule. Lots of detailed history here but that is what you know.
Terino Territories - Theocratic fundamentalist state. Unfriendly to arcane spellcasters and creatures of Fae blood. The territories have been expanding to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the southern section of the Lothian Empire. Young nation at Only 160 years old.
Kingdom of the Isles - Naval superpower. After Lothia's cataclysmic fall from eminence the Lothian Navy and the wealthier seaports split into the Kingdom of the Isles. A Mercantile state with a virtual lock on southern sea routes.
Free Cities - Independent city states that have so far resisted political powers to pull them into a larger more established nation. No common thread, but they have been described as dens of lawlessness and villainy. Much contraband and black market good flows into or through the free cities. You can find anything in the markets of the free cities.