The game will start in the hinterlands, in a small, as yet unnamed village, have a reason for being there. It has a primarily agricultural and lumber (from the Greenwood) driven economy. The primary religion is shamanic/nature worship.
The capital city of Vara is distant. If you've been there, it will have been “a long time ago” when you were young. There are 12 other cities that make up the republic you can use as an urban setting if necessary.
Magic is only recently becoming accepted again. Anything that stands out beyond basic PHB races will be seen as odd and will attract attention in the hinterlands (primarily negative). In the cities it will be positive attention (mostly).
The concept of flying ships or anything in space is completely foreign (without explicit discussions first)
The republic was forged out of the collection of city states about 50 years ago. Vara won out, primarily due to its walls and economy. The former city states, after 2 human generations, have begun to accept the status quo. However, there is still some resentment in human circles. Non-humans with longer memories will generally have stronger feelings.
The pantheon is only vaguely fleshed out. Ultimately, the deities aren't themselves core to the story, so we have leeway to change them if you have a particular god in mind
Books will be exceedingly rare (to start, until you find them). All history is oral. A character concept centered around “Knowing-all-the-things” will have an advantage over nothing, but will not “know-all-the-things” due to the sundering and gods being more local than global. If this is core to what you have in mind, lets talk.
There aren't any racial states. There is the republic, to the north there is ice, and to the south there are vast plains of grass with disease ridden insects or scorching deserts. The west has the greenwood and the east has impassable mountains