A review of these questions may seem like an exercise in
futility; I mean, after one novel written, you’d think these questions would have
been answered already, right? More to
the point, it’s a chance to do some worldbuilding detail-work that may have
gone unnoticed, yet it also provides the opportunity to draw on your second-
and third-order effect answers and develop story ideas. Case in point: in the Ochra series, the J’in
Empire is a caste society. Mages/sorcerers,
which are considered samurai caste, were born with their abilities, able to tap
into a sub-current of energy they use to shape their spells. Not everyone born with the ability develops
the potential to tap into this energy. If
they are born into the ability though, what if a peasant-class child was born
with this spark? This led to the
development of a secondary character, a samurai bounty hunter of sorts that
sniffs out these waifs born with the ability.
This leads to other questions:
how does he sniff them out? What
does he do when he finds one? Does he
pay the family for the child? If so,
does this create a sort of lottery system?
How would that impact the society?
How would that be interpreted by the samurai?
Part One, The
World
The Basics: Largely an Earth-like world, most questions
like gravity, basic flora and fauna and the like are already assumed to be the
same (no need to recreate a pine tree, or call a maple something new). Then we get into the specifics of races. An epic fantasy, the Ochra series includes a
gamut of other races like elves, dwarves, dragons, ratmen, orcs, goblins, et
cetera. The realms of Ihr’Vessen are
currently in a post-cataclysmic era, the two pantheons of gods having fought a
war that was finally brought to an end.
The elves are the sole remaining superpower among mortal beings.
Humanity is actually in a relatively nascent stage. The tribes scattered across a region of the
continent ‘recently’ vacated by the elves; recently is something like 1000 years
or more. The three major human kingdoms
have diverged into their own specialties, their cultures developed to reflect different
worldviews. The primary human kingdom
the Ochra series follows in the J’in Empire, a samurai culture that is based heavily
on Sengoku period Japan, with Chinese and Korean myth and culture woven in as
well. As this differs radically from the
Euro-centric standard for most epic-high fantasy, it brings with it some unique
idiosyncrasies: names are particularly foreign, yet this poses the problem of
keeping names straight, particularly when most Asian cultures speak family name
prior to given name. Most readers are
likely to also visualise against the backdrop of popular films or anime. Films like The Last Samurai and 13 Assassins
are actually rather good pieces to draw from, in that they at least tried to
make things as culturally and historically accurate as possible; films like
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a plethora of anime tend to stray a little
too far into the fantastical for my taste (I must admit I absolutely adore the
imagery and action sequences from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
Population: These numbers are something I’ve had to put
some research into. Taking a cue into
the middle ages of Europe, a continental region the size in question for my
manuscript could handle a population of several millions. The actual figures are neither directly
pertinent not required for the storyline.
That said, as background information it provides a baseline to work
from. I found this site, which boils down demography in a fantasy setting into a rather intuitive
system that works for me. It is geared
towards a Game Master developing his Role-Playing Game setting, yet the
parallels remain – author or GM, you’re both telling a story.
In the European Middle Ages, the population was curbed for
some time by Viking, Arab and Slavic or Magyar expansions. In my case, the elves vacated the lands but
oversaw the ‘lesser’ species development.
This over watch would also have to include some form of protection from
the predations of the surviving rival factions of the elves, namely the goblins
and orcs. I’ve used this as a bit of a
cheat to help along the development of humanity in a slightly compressed time
span. Once the human tribes had diverged
into their own distinct paths with regions of their own, the elves withdrew to
a supervisory role of sorts.
Source of Magic: Another issue worthy of thought, particularly
if it plays a significant role in your story.
In my case I’ve both mages/sorcerers, as well as clerics/priests. The former draw their powers from the underlying
current of energy that they alone are able to recognize, tap into and mold to
their spell forms and abilities. Mages
use spell forms and rituals to carefully construct the conduit that the power
gets siphoned through with predictable results.
Sorcerers on the other hand draw the power into themselves, their instinctual
drive the conduit for the power, which makes their magic less predictable but
easier to access. Priests and clerics
are largely the exact same thing, just a question of title, yet both draw their
powers from the grace of their gods. Since the cataclysm ended, the gods were
limited in their direct influence. Their
latent power could be drawn upon if a cleric met the phantom presence’s....
entry requirements, for lack of a better term.
Again, none of this is essential to the actual story, yet it
creates a good baseline and reference point for the plot whenever things seem
to be drawing off course and into territory I’ve not explored. A quick reference back to my notes and more
times than not, I’ve got a place to go from, or a new plot point to exploit.
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