[sub]~i'm pushing the line here with a quadruple-post, I know~[/sub]

Extra idea:

- The world could be divided into ages, with the first being the Age of Stars, when the gods walked the earth. To make it even edgier, we could have the resulting ages represent the five stages of grief. 

- Denial could be the mortal races still communing with the gods, albeit not in physical form, but eventually their divine intentions become murkier and murkier. This could be a false golden age, where magic seems to be at its peak, yet decay starts to entrench itself.

- Anger could be an all-out Age of Blood, where the mortal races war with each other, blaming each other for drawing away the gods.

- Bargaining - one empire eventually does dominate the others, and is built upon communing with a dark, unstable deity - a deity who happens to still be the closest to the mortal realm. This age would end with this empire getting overthrown.

- Depression - this is the current age, where magic is dying and the gods drift further and further away from mortal affairs. Magi are ostracized at best, and hunted down at worst. Many of the other races dwindle in number.

- Acceptance - Certain sects of society are determined to not let this age come to pass. All across Kaledan, heroes strive to gain favor from their divine patrons. Magi submerge themselves in study to commune with the gods. The mortal realm will not let the gods leave Kaledan - without a fight.

Actually, stories could be set in any of these ages, for greater plot opportunities. But the main theme of the setting is that the world has seen better days.

Extra idea part 2:

- The elves could be Kaledan's native race, inhabiting a continental forest which the early human settlers cut down. This creates an age-long hostility between the two races.

- The humans could have come from 'a land of dark shadow' in history books.

- Orcs regularly war with the dwarves and are seen as vermin to be exterminated by humans.

- Halflings are greedy assholes and con men.

- Elves are antisocial.

- Humans are supremacist.

- Dwarves are socially and mentally rigid.

- Orcs are either warring themselves into extinction or enslaved by humanity.