Exactly as the title says - I'm looking to write a medieval fantasy book (gotta strike while that iron is hot /s) with a tone somewhere between Tolkien and GRRM - not too idealistic but also not too realistic. I don't want you to vomit rainbows or vomit...vomit
Knights do exist, and they are valiant on occasion, but they usually fight other knights and dragons don't exist (afaik). Magic is rumored to exist and some seemingly miraculous stuff sometimes does happen (like a certain fungus that can cure even grievous wounds which glows blue in the night (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorhabdus_luminescens) - though the stories may have been slightly exaggerated). Does magic exist? Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. It's all very subjective.
Here's where you come in, I need your help to design some city-states and/or empires.
I want to know their climate, culture, religion, technological level, political structure, dealings with other regions, critters, etc. Hell, even throw in a national cuisine. Gimme everything you got, but all the main points should be able to fit in a single page.
Bear in mind that I'm looking deeply into geography and how that affects society and I want geography to heavily influence everything else.
Here's an example: An arctic but mineral-rich mountainous area developing from a hardy band of colonists thousands of years ago to a series of mining towns hundreds of years ago to the current technologically advanced city-state with grand ambitions. I ask myself what qualities they'd highly esteem (grit, ingenuity, teamwork) and which they'd despise (sloth, deceit, betrayal). What resources they'd have in abundance (iron/steel, fish) and which they would lack (horses, spices, coal) I even want to know what an average day would be like for the average person, which I think would be arduous but steadily less labor-intensive as technology advances. I also imagine that they'd initially be distrustful of outsiders but steadily more welcoming, particularly if the outsider is very useful. Also, they're unusually frank (they will not hesitate call a spade a spade and be confused/suspicious with people who use flattery or even "white lies") which I think I could leverage for some comedic moments. They're also honorable to a fault, yet quick to anger if they even so much as sense insult or duplicity. Finally, the national dish would be some sort of salty stew with fermented fish, some potato-like tuber, sliced velvet shank mushrooms, and some sort of grass-like green veggie. (the distinct lack of non-fish meat and meager veggie offerings should be a big clue about their climate and frustrating lack of large agricultural yields)
Industrious, honorable, knowledge-seeking - that's their societal "hat" so to speak. Every other society should be able to be summed up as succinctly.
Will check in on this thread after my holiday.
Can't give you any for the novel i am trying to write myself, but would love to help.
Might help my noggin get going, too.
Edit: what the hell, the gf is asleep after the trip anyway.
I had this idea for a city in the campaign i was making for dnd. Wouldn't mind you using it instead.
Named it Bastion, for being the lone hold-out after a long siege by the evil or antagonistic forces in your world: the shield upon which they destroyed themselves.
Using a city named bastion in my novel too, but it is a different one.
The bastion i would 'share' is built into a the foot of a steep and practically vertical mountainside, giving it ample protection from the back and the sides.
High up in the mountains is a lake. It is saiw the founders od the city hewed a side of the mountain using great magic, so that now, rather than through the ancient river-bed, a waterfall flows from the mountainside: providing the city with fresh drinking water from high up above.
The waterfall pours into the sacred temple, which sits high above the rest of the city.
The city itself is is made of 4 layers.
Each roughly a rectangle. The highes is the smallest, that of the clergy and the ruler of the city. With lush gardens. Which some might find a waste of agricultural space.
Bone level below, is the home of the elite of the city. The magistrates and nobles. The rich and afluent. A high wall blocks them off from the highest rectangle, like an ovegrown step.
This proces repeats itself with the lower level of the merchants and scholars. And the rectangle below, that holds the common folk, and inns of ill repute.
The level of the merchants has universities and markets and such.
The common folk hold plenty of farming land inside the walls of the lowest rectangle.
And outside the city walls, the poorest of farmers and wretches, living off land that can hardmy sustain them.
If i could figure out how to post a selfmade picture, i could try drawing it out for you.
Without reading the OP, so I won't get biased: Mountains caves were expanded centuries ago, producing underground cities that have banned together to a series of cooperative city-states, each with a special mineral or metal (or some combination thereof) that is found in their area. Humans have settled outside the entrances to these subterranean states, providing food (crops and animals) in exchange for the products of the mines.
Want more on this?
A young child kidnapped and sold into slavery is forced to push this well wheel for years until he is very muscular, then gets freed, learns how to use a sword and kills everyone....and has a German accent.....
Not exactly what you are asking, but I think a well written somewhat comedic "slice of life in The Shire" would be a smash hit. No epic struggles, just a back to the garden, feel good thing is what people are craving.
Quote from: Cassia on January 03, 2024, 10:59:56 AMNot exactly what you are asking, but I think a well written somewhat comedic "slice of life in The Shire" would be a smash hit. No epic struggles, just a back to the garden, feel good thing is what people are craving.
FRODO: Trust me, Sam. Rosie knows an idiot when she sees one.
SAM: (Looking panicky) She does?
Quote from: Cassia on January 03, 2024, 10:59:56 AMNot exactly what you are asking, but I think a well written somewhat comedic "slice of life in The Shire" would be a smash hit. No epic struggles, just a back to the garden, feel good thing is what people are craving.
So, a book about nothing?
😉
Quote from: Unbeliever on January 03, 2024, 11:41:09 AMSo, a book about nothing?
😉
Show us the charming way of life that was so worth fighting for. Show us why it was only Hobbits could save the world. Show all the non-readers the glorious detail in the books that made me want to just lie down in a golden field by a bubbling stream and read all day, LOL.
Sounds like Seinfeld in the Shire...
🤣
Well, we certainly have mountains covered and a city built into the mountains. I'm sensing a theme...
But I need a bit more variety. Grasslands, forest/rainforest, desert (I'm sorely tempted to build a mystical, anti-technologist society living in the desert but I think that's been done before once or twice)
I would also like to create a stark contrast between societies. So, if one is peaceful, another is warmongering. If one is isolationist, another is nomadic and with strong trading ties. If one is frank and honest, another has an emperor with no clothes and society full of unstated social rules and "polite" flattery ("Those trousers are delightfully rustic" to an outsider's worn-out and cheaply-made pants, which stand in stark contrast to natives' attire and are truthfully anything but delightful)
Well, since you're all over the map and it IS fiction, you could incorporate the aborigines, they got no good fan fiction and...according to The Fatal Shore...forgot who wrote it...they had a custom of sending the women into camp of the enemy. and if the men had sex with them war was averted, if not...well....now that sounds worthy of some fun.
Quote from: Hydra009 on January 03, 2024, 01:50:45 PMWell, we certainly have mountains covered and a city built into the mountains. I'm sensing a theme...
But I need a bit more variety. Grasslands, forest/rainforest, desert (I'm sorely tempted to build a mystical, anti-technologist society but I think that's been done before once or twice)
I would also like to create a stark contrast between societies. So, if one is peaceful, another is warmongering. If one is isolationist, another is nomadic and with strong trading ties. If one is frank and honest, another has an emperor with no clothes and society full of unstated social rules and "polite" flattery ("Those trousers are delightfully rustic" to an outsider's worn-out and cheaply-made pants, which stand in stark contrast to natives' atture and are truthfully anything but delightful)
Introducing:
Al-fara, the land of the lost.
A vast plane of waist high grass upon mounds and craters. All as red as the blood it has grown from.
Once the home to an enormous battle between two forces. One adherents of magic, an alliance between alchemists and sorcerers. The kathel. The other side, the macha, fought with forbidden machinery and explosing weapons.
The abandoned fields now lay strewn with bones picked clean by the crows ages ago, heaps of metal a reader might recognize as tanks or aircraft and ancient stone golems.
Both sides lost.
Now lawless tradesmen roam the lands between both forces, esdentially a black market. And highwaymen and bandits thrive there too, without any kings to lay claim to the fields.
Thanks for the good ideas, everyone. I'm incorporating parts of them into what I'm cooking up.
Read the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories for inspiration.
Still working on this hydra?
I sure hope this world has some 7-headed monsters in it!
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on February 18, 2024, 03:47:32 AMStill working on this hydra?
Yes. Sketched out a rough outline of the world but still lots of holes to fill. Trying to work on mythology and major characters to help make it more believable and "lived-in"
Great to hear.
Just saying, thiugh. If you want more help and idea's sharing what you have might be a good idea.
In order to not have blind suggestions be a complete mismatch.
To be honest, I have embarrassingly little to share so far. And I truly am looking for as many off-the-wall ideas as possible - no bad ideas - throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. That's why I came to you guys. Didn't realize that everyone loves mountains LOL. Well, at least I know that'd be a popular thing to develop.
Might I suggest an ancient race of Gods who were displaced by the current crop. Gives you a never ending supply of "popups" who "want to bring back the OLD GODS!" Distraction or mainline, or have them ambivalent about the new world they live in.
Reminds me of a book called American Gods.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on February 18, 2024, 01:04:56 PMMight I suggest an ancient race of Gods who were displaced by the current crop. Gives you a never ending supply of "popups" who "want to bring back the OLD GODS!" Distraction or mainline, or have them ambivalent about the new world they live in.
My setting is without a definitive answer about gods or even the history of the world beyond the past few thousand years. Like real life, people fill in the unknown with their own conjecture and ideas and many of their stories are fantastical and involve supernatural beings, but there is of course no evidence to support anything.
As a tongue-in-cheek gag, I plan on having a few characters give their theories ("moon is egg, khaleesi" type stuff) and then have another character come up with a guess not far off from the modern scientific understanding only to be met with groans from everyone else at its departure from "common sense".
I also wanted to incorporate a few things that seem as if they might be magical (healing fungus, for example) but I will always keep it ambiguous and never definitively say that something is or is not magical or supernatural. The reader will have to grapple with the ambiguity just like the characters.
My one big departure from the real world is going to be a few plants and animals that definitely don't exist in reality. Obviously, I plan on incorporating a hydra or two. But no pokemon or fantastic beasts (I don't know where to find them). More like the occasional oddity than an ecosystem filled with crazy stuff (though I would like to pass on rumors of an island full of giants the size of titans that eat unwary explorers that may or may not be partially true)
Quote from: Hydra009 on February 18, 2024, 01:32:04 PMMy setting is without a definitive answer about gods or even the history of the world beyond the past few thousand years. Like real life, people fill in the unknown with their own conjecture and ideas and many of their stories are fantastical and involve supernatural beings, but there is of course no evidence to support anything.
As a tongue-in-cheek gag, I plan on having a few characters give their theories ("moon is egg, khaleesi" type stuff) and then have another character come up with a guess not far off from the modern scientific understanding only to be met with groans from everyone else at its departure from "common sense".
I also wanted to incorporate a few things that seem as if they might be magical (healing fungus, for example) but I will always keep it ambiguous and never definitively say that something is or is not magical or supernatural. The reader will have to grapple with the ambiguity just like the characters.
Sounds like some good hammer-and-tongs fodder. Have fun.
Quote from: Hydra009 on February 18, 2024, 01:40:10 PMMy one big departure from the real world is going to be a few plants and animals that definitely don't exist in reality. Obviously, I plan on incorporating a hydra or two. But no pokemon or fantastic beasts (I don't know where to find them). More like the occasional oddity than an ecosystem filled with crazy stuff (though I would like to pass on rumors of an island full of giants the size of titans that eat unwary explorers that may or may not be partially true)
You could have a mysterious 'deadly' and accursed swamp.
None who enter the bog, ever make it out.
But it turns out, during winter, smugglers use the swamp for their misdeeds. It being safe when temperatures are cold enough, for some reason.
What turns out, is that people tend to die there when the warm temperature helps release a hallucogenic swamp gas, allong with a monstrously huge species of frogs inhabbiting the swamp.
They hibernate during the winter and devour any human that enters, during any other time of the year.
If you would face a larger than man-sized frog, with mideaval weaponry, especially if it were camouflaged, you'd stand no chance.
Nice, love it.
It's somewhat similar to my current also unfinished story that involves a small town near some haunted woods.
The new guy thinks the haunted woods are just a local superstition but he quickly finds out that it is actually haunted and extremely deadly. If anything, it's undersold. And it only gets worse when you venture down into the old ruins...
Quote from: Hydra009 on February 18, 2024, 01:32:04 PMAs a tongue-in-cheek gag, I plan on having a few characters give their theories ("moon is egg, khaleesi" type stuff) and then have another character come up with a guess not far off from the modern scientific understanding only to be met with groans from everyone else at its departure from "common sense".
I once tried to write a story in a fantasy setting, with magical creatures and alchemy/magical powers and the likes.
The lead character was a member of a pacificst cult, who was getting a bit of the sgink eye because he joined the city guard/watch. Whilst not dtrictly forbidden by the creed of the religion to defend oneself or another, wearing armor all day is concidered bordering on heretical and at the very least a bad influence on the moral character.
But, he is a devout believer. And with 8 siblings, there was no work left in his parents tailoring business, so he had no choice.
His struggles with his profession were not aided by his coworker, the deuteragonist: An actual apostate who left the cult and jokned the guard as a sign of defiance. A man who stopped believing in the sacred texts and even in the concept of gods and spirits and the supernatural.
A man who, despite his harsh stance against the cult, our lead grows to like.
Their relationship in the beginning revolved around them dissagreeing constantly and finding the other naive and misguided, whilst unable to escape one another, as they were teamed up.
I thought it would be funny to write, as an atheist, a deeply religious character interacting with an atheist and a sceptic in a world in which one would be far more justified in entertaining the idea of gods and the supernatural.
Never got too far with that storyline though.
Hot air balloons for transport. Not seen that since The Flying Sorcerers.
I came up, many years ago, with a concept I called "SkyHomes." Basically, they are giant derigibles that are large enough to support habitats that people and their animals can live in. They use hydrogen for lift, but the technology is such that accidents don't happen. The hydrogen is replenished, when needed, from the oceans. They can rise above any bad weather, and have craft that gives the occupants access to the ground when needed.
Quote from: Unbeliever on February 18, 2024, 06:46:57 PMI came up, many years ago, with a concept I called "SkyHomes." Basically, they are giant derigibles that are large enough to support habitats that people and their animals can live in. They use hydrogen for lift, but the technology is such that accidents don't happen. The hydrogen is replenished, when needed, from the oceans. They can rise above any bad weather, and have craft that gives the occupants access to the ground when needed.
Have you ever read the Gaea Trilogy by John Varley? He has HUGE zeppelins in the second book.
No, I haven't! I guess I'll have to have a look, when I can get hold of them. 👍
Quote from: Unbeliever on February 18, 2024, 08:18:36 PMNo, I haven't! I guess I'll have to have a look, when I can get hold of them. 👍
They have whole ecologies living on/in them. They are ALIVE.
(https://file770.com/wp-content/uploads/Themis-art-2-584x329.png)
I tried to find an audiobook on YouTube, but so far, no luck. 🥸
https://www.audible.com/series/Gaean-Trilogy-Audiobooks/B00CMCC24Q
https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Gaean-Trilogy-Book-1-audiobook/dp/B001GN359S
Quote from: Unbeliever on February 18, 2024, 06:46:57 PMI came up, many years ago, with a concept I called "SkyHomes." Basically, they are giant derigibles that are large enough to support habitats that people and their animals can live in. They use hydrogen for lift, but the technology is such that accidents don't happen. The hydrogen is replenished, when needed, from the oceans. They can rise above any bad weather, and have craft that gives the occupants access to the ground when needed.