One Plane

How many planes?

Just the one. In Therovar, the Material Plane is all there is. The world is understood as a singular, closed system: the land, the sky, the sea. There are no gates to other realms or ways to explore the stars. Other planes, if they ever existed at all, are treated as myths and metaphors, not places. The idea of gods dwelling beyond the stars or souls traveling to another realm is seen as outdated folklore or allegory. Concepts and thoughts so old that there are not even names for gods or planes outside of those in Therovar.
 

What about when people die?

The thoughts on the afterlife shift between locations and theologies. In Sanctia the faithful believe that souls of righteous quality are received by Mother Isha and purified to be dispersed into the world as light and healing energy. Blasphemers and heretics meanwhile are said to remain rotting in their corpse, or forced to wander as waylaid spirits creating darkness and shame.
  In the monasteries of Shu’Yun Zhen death is seen as the final exhalation. The soul dissolves into the world’s flow and joins with the endless current of ki that shapes all life. Those who have achieved enlightenment are said to remain as whispers guiding others on their own journeys.
  Among The Forged in Karnatel the souls is a biological enigma. It is defined by memory and impulse and death is just the end of a function, energy to be transformed. Some engineers believe a person’s “essence” can be sustained digitally, though this is viewed as more technical preservation than spiritual continuation.
  Other theories permeate throughout certain circles in Therovar. Druids commonly think that the soul returns to the land and feeds the forest and animals. Herbalists and mystics may believe that when the body dies the soul lives on in dreams, wandering through the earth unseen and making its way into the minds of the sleeping.
 

So nobody believes in other planes or worlds?

Across Therovar there are groups of people that believe differently than common knowledge. Sects that entertain the thought of worlds beyond our touch. They point to ruins with symbols that no modern script can decipher, or creatures that defy all logic of our current world. Others cite the strange behaviour of some magics that react as if interacting with some unseen place. According to these people the planes, if real, are simply waiting to be brought close once again. Long ago they may have touched our world but now they have drifted away, or been sealed off from Therovar. While most places regard these theorists as crazy or delusional, this is a dangerous thought to be had in Sanctia. The discussion of other worlds and outside entities is Blasphemy of one of the highest decrees and sinners are subject to capital penance.