Maple World is actually a place from a game. A really big place. There are many areas, big and small, which include Victoria Island, Leafre, Edelstein, and Ariant, among many more.

     "Master Thief" and "Halves of a Coin" take place in Maple World. Shown on the right are images of the game's logo and a "present day" map of Maple World. I don't own these images, they come from Maplestory which is owned by Nexon.

     Magic DOES exist in Maple World, but it's kind of different than the way you probably think of magic. It mostly can only be used in battle scenarios. And the fighting comes up because Maple World is populated by mindless, soulless monsters. These are litterally monsters, without fear, reason, or any of that, and they will attack people without provocation. The other races in Maple World are much better. There are also humans, 3 kinds of fairies (the nymphs of Orbis, the sylphs of Ellinia, and the Elves frozen and forgotten in Elluel). I should also probably point out that people can live reaaaaally long in Maple World, not just the fairies.

     There are 'maplers' who dare to venture out into the dangerous world and face the monsters. Most of these are normal Explorers, but there are some special ones, like the Resistance in Edelstein and the Cygnus Knights. There are 6 classes of Maplers: Beginners (who haven't yet chosen a path), Warriors (who fight close range with a variety of weapons, like swords, axes, polearms, and daggers. They use magic to strengthen their attacks), bowmen (who fight at a distance with magic-enhanced arrows. Some use bows, some use crossbows, and one of the famous heroes of Maple World used bowguns (sort of like crossbows)) magicians (with magic based attacks that can be short-range or distance), theives (mid to close range fighters, with ninja stars, daggers, and clawed gloves. They also have some magic skills that allow them to sneak past monsters unnoticed), and the newest group, pirates (they came to where other people were to warn them about the threat of the Black Mage (more on him later). Until then, there wasn't a pirate class. Pirates fight with knuckles (like brass knuckles), guns, and cannons.)

     At the time when some of the stories start out (i.e. Halves of a Coin and Master Thief), Maple World is not a very cohesive whole. There is one true ruler, the Empress Aria, but the different lands are sectioned up and have individual rulers (for example, Ariant has a king). The Empress is a very gentle woman who does NOT dominate the world, unlike the Black Mage, a growing threat who wants to take over the world and rule it heavy-handedly. Humans and faries alike are threatened by him, so the Elves (not yet forgotten by the rest of the world) join in the effort to repel him.

     The Black Mage is the big bad guy in Maple World. A magician who grew power hungry, he turned to darkness and evil and seeks now to rule the world.