Cryptomancer takes place in a fantasy setting very similar to most fantasy settings you are accustomed to. This was by design. We kept things simple so gamers both seasoned and new can jump right in and start hacking things. We have made some subtle tweaks to fantasy norms, based on what we think fantasy races would look like in a connected fantasy world.
The elves of Cryptomancer are a race of expansionist industrialists who decimate great forests to harvest soma, a highly-coveted and profitable commodity. Elven tribes leverage the Shardscape to manage their soma supply chains and control massive swaths of forest that would otherwise be impossible to hold with their limited numbers.
The dwarves of Cryptomancer are a race of merchants, mechanics, and master cryptomancers responsible for the proliferation of the Shardscape. Dwarven clans leverage the Shardscape to coordinate guerilla warfare against endless waves of orcs threatening their underground strongholds, as well as participate in the intrigues of the surface world, playing human versus elf to their own advantage.
The humans of Cryptomancer are a young race of mortals struggling to reconcile their feudal imagination with the Shardscape, a realm where birthright and conventional power mean nothing. While humans of limited means leverage the Shardscape to establish and organize labor guilds, crime syndicates, and other resistance communities, those in power leverage it to surveil the restless masses and control them though propaganda.