/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.16567940]

This is my fantasy world. I want you to question me about it and make it better because I am uncreative.

[Anonymous No.16567948]

>>16567940
Looks like europe. Cold nordic shit, a British island and then the rest of the mainland

[Anonymous No.16567949]

>>16567940
Looks like the modern UK

[Anonymous No.16567960]

>>16567948
It's more like a large continent with a massive island next to it. The continent is big enough to have a polar part which is too cold to be effective for growing crops. The island is not very populated but is ruled by an almost immortal king with his direct subjects being the same not human but almost completely human servants.

[Anonymous No.16568043]

Sorry but it looks boring. The world needs more longitudinal detail as simply having a north-south dynamic is barebones.

[Anonymous No.16568053]

That island is ruled by a powerful caste of high priests often referred to as the dreamers, for it is the custom in the island to feed off of a plant that is only know to grow there, which cause them to fall in a state of deep sleep. Some people report that when they fall into such sleep state, they are able to dream of the world and influence it physically, which might explain how they’ve managed to maintain such a degree of independence and power on a relatively small army

The island is actually exposed flesh from a slumbering god. The top elder dreamer is actually a personification of the god who drew humans into the island in order to get them to feed on the plants that grow on him which are actually parasites syphoning his divine powers. The god finds power in the dreamers and the more dreamers he gets, the more power he has to affect the physical world by his own means. The god’s emanations of raw power is what allow the dreamers to affect the physical world

[Anonymous No.16568064]

is it covered with cum or what's with all the white?

[Anonymous No.16568074]

No geographic detail, 30 seconds in paint, 1/10.
Just pull a GRRM and copy some real cartography, turn it upside down, embiggen it and stretch it a little. People will think it's a clever reference.

[Anonymous No.16568079]

>>16567949
Literally all fantasy realms look like Europe. It's a testment to the imagination and originality of their creators. OP is very much part of that tradition.

[Anonymous No.16568088]

>>16567940
>make a whole map
>spend weeks on it
>still not finished
>have already had to reference it for my story
feels weird, but cool
I tried to make it a topographical map, but I don't have the fucking patience for it

You know what I did? I took a shape and then just broke it up into shapes until it's not obvious what its supposed to be. I used a dragon, bc why the fuck not.
Make like, an elephant with weird proportions and then cut it into pieces.

The map also needs to tailor to the story. Give your world a history. How did the strongman island get so strong without the empire fucking them up? Empire couldn't get to them easy enough that it was worth it- add a fucked up monster reef between the mainland and the island.
Are the empire and barbarians a war? The barbarians are living in a cold shitland, how have they managed to hold out against the bigger more unified empire? Mountainrange? The empire is less populated? Where are swamps, mountains, deserts, jungles?

[Anonymous No.16568090]

The first Emperor broke the old world. From the death of the Gods and the birth of magic he put down the fighting kings and Warlords created by a God merciful to humans. The first man to truly defeat the most powerful and find a place among the Gods of men. Each man after wields a spark of his great power with varying strength but as time passes the strength of the old men fade and men become weaker.

Warlords forced to concede to the Emperor now centuries later rally under their first king who was unstoppable to them wished to carve a new land to rule once again. They sailed to the island in what was anticipated to be a conquest like the Emperors simply faded. The Warlords that gathered were lost before the reached land and never found alongside their relics.

[Anonymous No.16568104]

>>16567940
>>16568088
the hardest part of the entire fucking exercise is trying to think up names that sound real and not fucking retarded.

[Anonymous No.16568113]

>>16567940
Needs the mandatory maritime marches of small independent duchies or oligarchic merchant republics that are the nicest urban areas, compete with each other but are in an uneasy tacit alliance not to get absorbed by the empire.
Also needs the mandatory not-Arabs and not-Chinese.

[Anonymous No.16568126]

>>16568113
>Also needs the mandatory not-Arabs and not-Chinese
you say that like it's a bad thing, but what's the alternative? a monoethnic world is boring

[Anonymous No.16568131]

>>16568074
shit, that's a badass map though

[Anonymous No.16568151]

>>16568079
There was no attempt to make it like Europe. Although I assume I subconsciously did it.
>>16568088
My idea for the Empire is one so vast they can no longer take any real acts of expensive conquest in the North.
The island is inhabited mostly by normal people but a caste of Demi Gods who are completely human in form but different and far more powerful in spirit so they are able to personally fight large amounts of men with their king being the most powerful amongst them.
>>16568113
> mandatory not-Arabs and not-Chinese
On another continent they can exist
>small independent duchies or oligarchic merchant republics
I like the idea of republics sitting in between continents which enables them to interact with the Empire but not be able to be overly hostile to either.

[Anonymous No.16568155]

Try this stuff right here, its pretty great:

https://watabou.itch.io/

[Anonymous No.16568159]

>>16568043
Go back

[Anonymous No.16568161]

>>16568104
Look up place names in other languages. Places are usually named after topographical details, so make up words for "hill", "river", "forest" "fort" "bridge" etc. and then use those repeatedly, with the name of a historical/mythical figure attached, that way you build your geography and back history at the same time. Or don't make up a language at all because everyone is going to be speaking english anyway.

[Anonymous No.16568166]

>>16567940
You copied my world

[Anonymous No.16568184]

So a continent once ruled by many petty warrior kings and demi Gods were defeated by a man who founded an Empire over the peoples that once fought each other. The Demi Gods grow annoyed at being unable to rule as they believe is their birthright and one appears from what the older ones believe out of nowhere to led them to a new land were they can rule in arms and be able to defy the Emperor in this new land from the lands they had to flee. Some of these Warlords stay behind untrusting of this new king and stay in the Empire unable to take power.
The North remains unconquered through an almost impassable mountain range which the natives use to raid from into the Empire without retaliation if they return past the mountains.

[Anonymous No.16568185]

>>16567940
Why is the island rich? Seems inefficient to be disconnected from the larger land mass where the people and resources are, unless the island is full of resources which then begs the question why haven't the barbarians invaded them or cooperated with the emperor to take over the land?

[Anonymous No.16568188]

>>16568185
rule the island, the island rule the waves

[Anonymous No.16568190]

>>16568161
>so make up words for "hill", "river", "forest" "fort" "bridge"
That doesn't change the core issue, that coming up with words that don't sound like shitty fantasy words is hard. I have a couple, and I avoided the problem by calling things "capitol" and "west territories" (the territories is huge desert region, so I think that slides). I have a couple names I like, by distorting words that already exist.

It's not something I can't do, it's just tedious. That's why I only pencil in the names of places, so I can change them as soon as I think of something better.

Gonna look up words in different languages in a minute.

[Anonymous No.16568192]

>>16568184
>demi-gods
oh boy, nevermind kid you're on your own

[Anonymous No.16568193]

>>16568184
if you're trying to make the merchant islands like, a beverly hills place where rich people go, it's far too far away from the mainland. You have to think about things like logistics.

>>16568188
how?

[Anonymous No.16568194]

>>16568188
That's retarded, my question still stands

[Anonymous No.16568199]

>>16568190
e.g.

[Anonymous No.16568200]

>>16568190
Just translate words into a different language that might suit the land you are making names for and then change them up in a way that sounds alright to you. For some african-like kingdoms I had to make for a dnd campaign I literally just translated shit like "hold up" and "we were kings" into zulu and then changed them a bit, ended up with names that fit the setting while telling noone how I got them.

[Anonymous No.16568225]

>>16568193
>>16568194
Whats so hard to understand, an island nation lives and dies by its navy, it would make sense that a smaller but more consolidated nation can afford to put a stronger navy in the sea than a big empire that has constant internal struggle/problems with barbarians. Whoever rules the waves gets to control a significant portion of whatever trade goes on at sea and so on and so forth.
The stereotipical fantasy "big empire" tends to have many internal factions and so on and the barbarians are barbarians, not a nation to ally with or make a concerted effort with, the other tribes would sooner raid the empire as soon as you leave with whoever of them wanted to come to an expedition to island nation

[Anonymous No.16568232]

>>16568184
sounds boring and cliche

[Anonymous No.16568243]

>>16568225
>Whats so hard to understand, an island nation lives and dies by its navy, it would make sense that a smaller but more consolidated nation can afford to put a stronger navy in the sea than a big empire that has constant internal struggle/problems with barbarians.
yes, but that island is fucking tiny. It's like saying cuba has a bigger navy than the US, and is therefore richer. Spain, England, Holland, etc are all small countries that had a lot of naval power, but they're part of the mainland, so they weren't dependent on their fleets to support themselves. A small island like that can't support itself and have a stable fleet to control trade routes unless they're all amazing pirates.
Either way, the island is still too fucking small.

[Anonymous No.16568245]

>>16568200
I'll do that, thanks

[Anonymous No.16568246]

Isn't this like Attack on Titan?

[Anonymous No.16568255]

>>16568243
>England
>part of the mainland

Either way, you are taking the empire's political unity too seriously, for all we know its something like the HRE and theres constant warfare/dissension by states smaller than the island nation. And size doesnt mean shit, if they have accumulated power and wealth a tiny nation can do a lot of trouble, plus we know nothing of the geography/population densities, etc., and thats not even knowing wether OP's setting has magic or anything because if it does then its even more of a moot topic.
You're just going through a lot of assumptions on why it cant happen when theres very easy answers as to how it could.

[Anonymous No.16568268]

>>16568255
I suppose you're right. It just doesn't seem like something the OP considered and "empire" usually implies a certain amount of unity, especially in a fantasy setting.

[Anonymous No.16568273]

>>16567940
Why didn't the powerful people take over the big island?

[Anonymous No.16568278]

>>16568268
>"empire" usually implies a certain amount of unity, especially in a fantasy setting
Yeah, but most fantasy "empires" in fantasy settings are also on the verge of collapse/extreme decadence.

[Anonymous No.16568280]

>>16567940
Literally TES

[Anonymous No.16568313]

>>16568126
>what's the alternative?
not-Aztecs
not-Eskimos
not-Mongols
not-Slavs

[Anonymous No.16568326]

>>16568151
>There was no attempt to make it like Europe.
There was no attempt at anything. Like nearly all writers of "imaginative fiction," you just reused the existing template.

[Anonymous No.16568328]

>>16568161
For me Love Princess

[Anonymous No.16568344]

>>16568313
He also needs the furry race

[Anonymous No.16568345]

>>16568313
I have not-vietnam, not-romania, not-hawaii, not-scandinavia...

[Anonymous No.16568357]

>>16568246
How so?
>>16568278
The empire acts more like the HRE than the Roman Empire and is trying more to keep itself together with each region fighting for its own purposes with an Emperor magically inclined or not having to put most of their effort into stamping out separatism rather than going off on a war to fight an island ruled by a semi divine warrior cast.
>>16568193
Most merchant republics ruled through their generally better trained citizens and wealth they could shuffle around. Much like Venice and the Byzantines they had a symbiotic relationship until the Empire could no longer serve their purposes.

[Anonymous No.16568369]

>>16568126
>>16568313
>>16568345
The best way to get "original" factions and shit is just take two random real life civilizations and clash them up, or take a known civilization and put it in a weird setting and try to figure out what wouldve been different in the society if they had been in that area instead and so on, people will love that shit, I do it for DND campaigns.

>mix romans and aztects to get roman armies and shit but with big pyramids and mass human sacrifice, and see what monstruous systems you can come up with meshing them up
>put ancient Athens in the middle of the amazon and explore what wouldve been different
That kinda thing.

[Anonymous No.16568386]

>>16568344
Let's make them goats. Goats aren't sexualized enough.
Also they could be the mountain barbarians and their ability to climb steep walls is why the empire is unable to pursue them.

[Anonymous No.16568388]

Ok my world currently looks like this
"Titans" were simply the first, most biologically potent humanoid race of which only two survived, the first and most powerful one and some random other guy that got lucky. The other human race that came afterwards are the human. The titans mixed with humans and created two god races, depending on which titan was the father.
Now there were two civil wars after the first and last titan had died. Before the land was wild and free and the first titan was a god king and there was no need for any kind of actual government, classes or what have you. After he died the other Titan became king and he wasnt as cool and strong so he couldnt run th world on his pure will and started being industrious n stuff and built cities and such. After he died the Gods basically said "so we like inherited our fathers genetic superiority and will harness the world as your superiors". So feudalism came about with all the land owners and lord being gods and all the humans being peasants.
Now after the first titan had died they burned him and scattered his ashes which made the land affected extremely fertile and a big ass tree grew there which inherited part of the titans power. After roughly three generations of feudalism some peasant dude ate a fruit from that tree and became super cool and strong and essentially unintentionally started a civil war. Because all the humans started eating fruits off the tree the kings family, started by some random God of the first race of Gods, the one consisting titan numero uno + humans, build a city around the tree to guard and hoard its power. It thusly became isolated and eventually ermained the only "pure" god race although it is only as large as a single dynasty, lots of incest will ensue although this serves as a catalyst of the first titans genum so despite being the smallest faction they are the strongest individually. In the meantime the civil war between minor lords and humans doesnt really go anywhere so it kind of settles into these two
areas where the gods and humans banded together respectively and it simply fizzled down into a truce rather than a real peace.

[Anonymous No.16568393]

>>16568074
Where'd you get this, its purty. Are there more?

[Anonymous No.16568397]

>>16568369
Also if on top of that you also change the existing civilizations with x philosophy/religion, its always a fun exercise too and can lead you to come up with pretty original worldviews.

>romans mixed with aztecs but they all read existentialism and took it seriously
>greeks in the amazon but pythagorism actually became the dominant sect in greek society
>england mixed with japanese feudalism but zoroastrian

[Anonymous No.16568406]

>>16568225
What trade is going on at sea then? If the Barbarians are unwilling to cooperate and the Empire is a single land mass, what value is there in exporting goods between a smaller landmass just because it is "consolidated?" IF you wanted advice you should be open to sensible points instead of dismissing them, judging by your responses that is what you facetiously put up. The reason distant island nations become powerful is because they are either A) a colony that has access to new land and resources (ex. America) or B) they are centers of trade and resource that connect separate lands (ex. Britain). Your idea seems more related to Hawaii however, and my question still stands as to why the Empire has any incentive to engage with the island, if they don't, then in what way is the Island at all powerful?

[Anonymous No.16568419]

>>16568406
>What trade is going on at sea then?

Nigger, its way, WAY cheaper and safer to transport goods at sea than in land, its the reason every european civilization ended up making a system of canals and shit, and thats even not considering the empire being unsafe/there being bandits and so on. Whoever controls the sea controls the big movements of goods even within the empire. A southern empire city wanting to trade with a city in the north will definitely do it by sea.

[Anonymous No.16568439]

>>16567940
Is this the world or just a small continent? If the former, it's garbage. If it's the latter, it would help you to picture what else exists in proximity.

Literally nothing about that map is interesting. Not only is it as barebones as imaginably possible, the few details included are so exasperatingly boring that it's IMPOSSIBLE to formulate a question about the setting based in interest.
You somehow made a fantasy map more typical and uninspired than pic related, but at least it was trying. In a way I applaud you, for you have approached closer to the Platonic ideal form of a fantasy map than any other ever has.

[Anonymous No.16568440]

>>16568419
you're focusing on the wrong thing, idiot.

No one is arguing against sea-trade. We want to know how a tiny little island in the middle of nowhere is controlling the trade routes

[Anonymous No.16568446]

>>16568184
>>16568104

So twas in the age of Xearhagox, that the wise men of L'garthee would whisper into the winds of Vorloth, the propechy is at hand.

It would be amidst the war with legion of the Forlorn that a child would be born, and the even the very scepters of the fountain's tears would fall and freeze to ice, as they whispered the name... Ben Affleck.

[Anonymous No.16568447]

>>16568328
Great Part is GOAT

[Anonymous No.16568457]

>>16568440
>e want to know how a tiny little island in the middle of nowhere is controlling the trade routes
Because they have more political unity to field a navy, more incentive to have a big navy as opposed to a big army (given the empire needs to repel barbarians by land and every faction within it to mantain a standing army just to avoid being gobbled up by other factions), they built a reputation on having a big navy, they have more MONEY from controlling the trade which allows them to build and mantain a bigger navy and so on.

Goddamn you are retarded if you cant figure out how it could happen on your own. Its also not that tiny and its not "in the middle of nowhere" you faggot, its right fucking there.

[Anonymous No.16568469]

>>16568440
>tiny
Its like 1/5th the size of the empire, it could easily be bigger than any one faction in the empire.
>in the middle of nowhere
Anon its barely apart lmao

[Anonymous No.16568483]

>>16568469
>1/5th
wait, are we talking about the powerful people island, or the merchant island?

[Anonymous No.16568499]

>>16568483
I'm talking about the powerful people island, ever since replying to >>16568185

[Anonymous No.16568507]

>>16568499
well, shit. nevermind then

[Anonymous No.16568513]

>>16568184
Why doesn’t the empire take over the merchants

Who the fuck are the merchants selling to

Why do the barbarians stay in the north

Why doesn’t the empire invest tons of resources to traverse the mountain range

How are the barbarians able to traverse the mountain range if a fucking empire can’t

Why don’t the people on the magic island just take over and fuck everything up

What is life like for people in the empire/north/etc

[Anonymous No.16568528]

>>16568457
Why would they go through a far out island for internal trade? Not only would those goods get raided by barbarian ships and taxed by this island, but they would be more expensive than simply not passing close to the island at all and sticking closer to the coast of the empire.
How did they get those funds if they didn't control the trade before, is it just because they were fortunate? That does happen in history.
>>16568457
Why do they have more political unity?

[Anonymous No.16568541]

>>16568393
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Mabinogion-Margaret-Jones/dp/1585675563

[Anonymous No.16568543]

>>16568439
The map took me a good 3 minutes to make. I wanted to see people's opinion on how they think such a world would work. I have a good idea of how the world works and I wanted to know how looking at a shit map with some information about what goes on there what would happen.
>>16568388
You nearly hit the bullseye about my world. There was a Titan of sorts but it was a very inhuman godlike entity which existed among many other similar creatures. It happnend to be intrigued enough by humans that it tried making humans with a spirit like it which ended up creating Giants and Warlords both of which are completely human yet spiritually are not and so are far more powerful than normal humans. The inhuman gods were all completely obliterated by the creation of magic which left all of their creations who cannot use magic alongside humans who can.

[Anonymous No.16568549]

>>16568513
>Why doesn’t the empire take over the merchants
Probably the same reason Germany didnt take Switzerland
>Who the fuck are the merchants selling to
Different cities between the empire, its easier to contract the merchant fleets for trade for a small %, they are good sailors and shiet
>Why do the barbarians stay in the north
Cause the southrons keep em there
>Why doesn’t the empire invest tons of resources to traverse the mountain range
Why would it?
>How are the barbarians able to traverse the mountain range if a fucking empire can’t
They know the land and are more used to the rough conditions/enabled by northern magic that lets them withstand cold better
>Why don’t the people on the magic island just take over and fuck everything up
And what would they do after that? They arent interested in ruling the fuckups of the empire, they are there to grow their food and they trade trinkets with them
>What is life like for people in the empire/north/etc
Depends where you are standing exactly

>>16568528
>Why would they go through a far out island for internal trade?
They dont, the merchant fleets of the island dont necessarily have to go back to the island every single time they trade, why would they have to go through the island lmao, ships can move anywhere. And yeah, it couldve been fortunate, couldve been a big storm that wrecked teh imperial fleet and ever since theyve been ruling the waves, couldve been any number of things.

>Why do they have more political unity?
Could be any number of reasons really, cultural, religious, magical based, literally hundreds of reasons you could come up with.

[Anonymous No.16568585]

>>16568513
>How are the barbarians able to traverse the mountain range if a fucking empire can’t
Because they are goats, learn to read. >>16568386

[Anonymous No.16568590]

>>16568513
1: too far away and no real incentive too. The same reason the Byzantines didint annex Venice. They had more to gain from alliance and trade than outright conquest, even if they could.

2:The Empire and peoples from other lands who for the sake of the map aren't in it but still very close to them.

3: Like the Romans with the Germans. The Germans fought amongst themselves and were held in check from settling in the richer lands by the superior imperial armies.

4 + 5: Barbarians can easily traverse the mountains because they know their way around. It's the same reason many hikers and most military manuals advise having a guide who knows their way around, because the foreigners do not and the natives do. A reason not for conquest would just be the the fact it is just not worth it, a big impassible range fighting people with nowhere else to go.

6: The most powerful on the island have lived long enough to have former kingdoms on the continent, in exchange for not being killed they swear an oath not to go back to conquer, most obviously don't care but the magic islanders are more a coalition of fuck the Empire. If they landed back for conquest they would just fight each other for their old lands or the younger ones for new ones which would give the Empire time to mop them up one by one

[Anonymous No.16568598]

>>16568549
I don’t think you understand what an empire does

[Anonymous No.16568605]

>>16568598
>I don’t think you understand what an empire does
Theres more to empires than painting the whole world in their colour like a paradox game.

[Anonymous No.16568609]

>>16567940
this is literally tamriel from the elder scrolls

[Anonymous No.16568619]

>>16568549
Okay, guess your political situation could be plausible. Now you have to incorporate the rest of your world, what the fuck is up with Titans and magic in your world?

[Anonymous No.16568625]

>>16568619
Not OP, was just replying for argument's sake, OP is prolly >>16568590

[Anonymous No.16568643]

How'd I do?

[Anonymous No.16568650]

>>16568079

>Literally all fantasy realms look like Europe.

Earthsea Quartet doesn't agree with that statement.

[Anonymous No.16568662]

>>16568643
B+

[Anonymous No.16568766]

My fantasy map is based on my minecraft world from 10 years ago. Thinking about that makes me cringe internally, but the map ended up really developed and cultivated because of that so it's a double-edged sword

[Anonymous No.16568773]

>>16568541
Thank you friend, here's another pretty map of Wales in turn

[Anonymous No.16569062]

>>16568662
>souther hemisphere
Too weird

[Anonymous No.16569072]

>>16568766
there's no way minecraft is 10 years old
why are you doing this to me?

[Anonymous No.16569446]

>>16567940
how many blacks, jews, and mudslimes are there?

[Anonymous No.16569576]

>>16567940
dude thats literally the UK

[Anonymous No.16570688]

>>16567940
don’t listen to these people, I like it how it is

[Anonymous No.16571128]

>>16567940
this is my fantasy world, it takes place between two ancient empires, one elven one dwarven, that have both exhausted each other allowing humans to start flexing from the south

[Anonymous No.16571298]

>>16571128
So it's the middle east, Rome against parthians, humans are arabs/berbers.

[Anonymous No.16571338]

>>16571128
looks like the eastern mediterranean

[Anonymous No.16571358]

I will make Harry Potter money off my epic new series.

[Anonymous No.16572568]

>>16571298
you're about 500 years too early, it's literally the romans and sassanids directly before the arab conquest
after a decades long war and a wave of plague, both empires were so utterly exhausted and depopulated that the arabs managed their shocking gains, destroying one and reducing the other to a shattered holdout in the mountains
it wouldn't take much to make that fit with standard fantasy shit

[Anonymous No.16572622]

heres your coom universe bro

[Anonymous No.16572792]

In my fantasy world the merchant class, called the boo-joo-wazee of an isolated island that has used abstractions and warfare to overthrow the ancient kings and nobles and turn humanity into labourers for alchemically enhanced paper- called "mana"- which imbibes its owners with immense social power. In fact, you might say the whole "economy" revolves around this "mana".

These boo-joo-wazee are really insidious people, and are constantly plotting to increase their own power. They have even turned against their own kingdom, first dissolving the warrior class, then using mercs in far off lands to destabilize the entire world. This lets them extract more mana from the ground of these far away lands, while also incorporating the ensuring waves of refugees at the lowest rank of their mana-system, essentially creating new slave casts at the expense of the traditional rights and privileges of their own homegrown peasantry.

They traveled around the world so that they could force this mana system on everyone, but even though they have completely taken over everything using their boo-joo-wazee magic their ranks have been infiltrated with a priestly class called the Wablegorps. These Wablegorps control the production of mana, which they lend with interest so that they are constantly gaining more and more mana over the rest. The Wablegorps also control many aspects of the government and media, and use their influence to promote more of their kind within the ranks. They control a fiefdom of their own, which runs on slave labour and genocide, but get away with it without criticism because of their immense power.

What do you think of this fantasy scenario? Is it too far fetched? Pick unrelated, but it's how I imagine my "desert raider barbarian" types will be once I've finished my book.

[Anonymous No.16573838]

>>16571358
I like it