Setting: The Gates To Faerie

Gates to Faerie is an urban fantasy setting. On one side is us, the Earth we know. On the other is an unknown parallel Earth inhabited by others, beings which are not quite human.

In between, are Gates consecrated by various beings which have some aspect of divinity in their nature. Think of them as being roughly equivalent to the Greco-Roman or Norse or Hindu deities. Most of these are known by their godhead: The Mother, Skyfather, The Huntress, The Lord of The Dead, The Smith, The Healer, among many others Each of them consecrates a Gate in a different way, and using different materials (The Mother uses arches of vegetation, the Smith, of metal, while Skyfather prefers actual doors and and The Lord Of the dead uses stone). Among these beings is The Mad God, whose cult furnishes the antagonists for the first novel, The Gates To Faerie.

Of the beings on the other side, thus far we have met the Elves the most. They are descendants of humans, who lost a war a long time ago, and were enslaved by some beings of elemental power who changed them in order to be able to survive in the same environments. The results were first, that they have developed certain powers of their own, and second, that their fertility is limited to the point where they have difficulty even keeping their numbers constant. There are seven breeds of Elf, the most noteworthy being the Elemental purebloods: Star (air), Bright (fire), West (earth) and Sea (water).

There are also known to be the Smith's People, who live in two different sorts of communities, depending upon temperament. Forest daimo live in forest hamlets or villages of no more than a couple hundred. They farm and create mostly from wood and other living things. Mountain daimo live in underground communities ranging up to thousands or possibly tens of thousands - it's hard for outsiders to get an accurate estimate. They mine, farm, and create mostly from metal or rock. They are physically identical, intermingle freely, and it is not uncommon for them to intermarry or for children of one daimo to decide they would rather live in the other - or alone, for that matter. They have talents in much the same way the Elves have powers.

Both Elves and Smith's People can (under some circumstances) produce offspring with base stock humans, and these offspring can be interfertile as well. Unfortunately, these offspring tend to face discrimination from both Elven and Smith People societies, as do Elves who are a mixture of two or more types.