The Avyon Archipelago is a small grouping of islands on a far distant planet.  There are six main islands and several smaller satelite islands surrounding it.  
In the Avyon Archipelago live five Clans of hereditary magic-users, as well as various other people not inherently magical.  But magic CAN be taught, and is, at five Academies, each one specializing in one particular element of magic.
There are grand Cities and many Citizens within them, just as there are many Clan members.  And the two walk an uneasy tightrope of balance between nature and progress.
The archipelago is just north of its planet's equator, and so the islands are home to a variety of climates, with forests and mountains being the most common.  
The islands have occasional visitors from other lands, and they do welcome tourists - as long as that is all they are: visitors and tourists.  Few foreigners feel welcome enough to try to set up shop in the Avyon Archipelago.
If you are not a Clan member, and wish to learn the magic of an element, you attend the appropriate Academy.  But you must not only choose your element, but the way in which you choose to wield it.  Once you are a full-fledged magician, you will wear clothing of the appropriate color for your element, and over this clothing you will wear a robe of either white or black: white for creative magic and black for destructive.  This is not to say that those who wear white cannot destroy things; merely that they are stronger at creating than at destroying, that that is their specialty.  Nor is destructive magic looked down upon; in fact, black robes are highly sought after as guards, sentries, and soldiers.