Ask me anything (about Endless Horizons)

[Xeviat]

Cracking the whip upon myself again, I am getting back to working on my setting. It comes and goes, but as I reach a stable part in my life, I want to start working on my novels. To work on my novels, I need to have more of the setting narrowed down.

As the structured, borderline ocd, person that I am, I work best within boundaries. As I piece together an outline for my setting, I'd like to hear some of your questions. My setting's been making it's rounds around here for as long as the CBG has been around (both on the wotsea boards and here), but we've grown quite a bit since then. Rather than cut-and-paste the old primer, I'll talk a little bit about the setting originally (with inspiration brought to you by a bit of drunkenness).

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Endless Horizons is a fantasy world built within the constraints of science fiction. It's trappings are definitely fantasy, with castles, swords, dragons, and magic. But the setting is being designed as if it were science fiction, with a focus on the setting's others, and how those others (fantasy creatures, magic, other humanoid races, ect.) affect the world. This is more of a plot constraint for my the novels (I intend to follow different characters with each novel, unless popularity dictates that I follow a character for multiple books) than it is for the rpg, but it is a device I want to focus on for the creation of the setting: everything has its reason, even if that reason is unreasonable.

The base of the setting is centered around its elementalism. I started out with a classical 5 element system (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Void), and then adapted it for my setting's western vernacular (swapping out Void for Aether). I have always wanted to have mixed elements (para-elements, whatever you want to call them), and recently I have begun considering a 9 element system (incorporating the mixed elements into the mix right away) as a way of differentiating the inevitable rpg system from the others.

The 9 alignments shape out like this: Air, Lightning, Fire, Metal, Earth, Wood, Water, Ice, and Aether. In order to utilize these nine elements, I need to give each a non-overtly elemental effect. I am leaning towards air having perception (spells that alter it, such as illusions and some sense heightening effects), lightning having speed (haste, teleportation, plane shifting, ect.), fire with emotions (charms and some buffs), metal has defense, earth has strength/destruction, wood has ..., water has transformation, and ice has divination. It kind of falls apart at the end, so I'm lost. Some input here would be appreciated.

Now, there are some bits of information (things that the people within the setting don't know) that are important to it's formation. First, Terran (my current placeholder name that I'm not wholly married to) is Earth 50 million years in the future. I've worked out the plate tectonics and climate maps to create a setting that I'm happy with. It also means that I get to play with evolution and extinction: I'm having most large, specialized mammals die off, such as dogs, cats, bears, and whales. Those animals are partially replaced by rodents, mustelids, pigs, and bats, but also largely by a new Class of animal: Drakes.

Drakes are evolved birds. Due to conditions after the cataclysm (alien invasion followed by an ice age ... wut?), some birds (probably raptors) grew larger and reverted to some more reptilian traits. They also evolved a 3rd pair of limbs, ending up with 4 legs and 2 wings. Griffins are proto-drakes, while dragons are more modern drakes. Yes, dragons aren't ancient, though the introduction of magic means dragons live a long time (no, I'm not sciencing up magic). Drakes are the dominant class of animals on the world now, filling many niches.

As every good fantasy setting has, there are many humanoids on Terran. The civilized races are:

Dwarves: The race of Earth. Dwarves are evolved badgers (whether or not it was natural evolution or aided by the ancients, I'm not certain). They're very communal and xenophobic. Otherwise, they're fairly classic.

Elves: Every fantasy needs elves, though I'm looking at strengthening their ties to the fey. I may make elves even more fey than most, with near immortality and almost deific power at later years (player elves would all be teenagers or so). Elves have always been around, and are natives of Avalon, Terran's spiritual sister world.

Halflings: The little people, evolved from spider monkeys (again, haven't decided if it was natural or influenced by the ancients). They have tails, and are largely nomadic. Their own culture is very influenced by gypsies, but they also exist within ghettos inside of human societies.

Humans: Need's no explanation, though I am seeking to make them unique and stand-out-ish in the RPG stats (some racial abilities that make them the most heroic and most corruptible people, likely associated with the alignment system, and other racial abilities that make them the most adaptable and diplomatic of the races). Humans are the descendents of the ancients (ancients were evolved humans, and the current humans are a degenerate version of the ancients).

Ifriti: The fire race, Ifriti are evolved lizards. They are aggressive and warlike, and are only barely considered civilized by the other races. Their number and strength is largely what brings the others to the diplomatic table with them.

Valkyries: The air race, Valkyrie are evolved griffins. A significant portion of their society migrate to their ancestral home, while another portion sells themselves out as mercenaries during the spring and autumn. They are largely considered be an all female race, and knowledge about their culture is sparse amongst the other races.

There are also three kinds of half-humans: half-elves, half-giants (ogres), and half-goblins (hobgoblins). Elves and Goblins are reflections of humans, native to Avalon. Giants are close relatives of humans, modified by the magic inherent to the world now.There are likely going to be other combinations between these 4 closely related species (I suppose they're all the same genus): giant/elf, giant/goblin (bugbear?), goblin/elf (drow? unseelie?), everything (mutt? aberration?).

The primary campaign setting is known as the Holylands. It is a human country (Hunurst) and it's surrounding area, an area which was once part of an empire that fell just over 200 years ago. Imagine if the Roman empire had regrown out of its own ashes, and was striking out to reclaim its ancient borders. Each of the chief races has 2 cultures nearby: one protagonistic, one antagonistic. The Holylands are dominated by the religion of Chivalry, which follows the tenets set forth by the Five Knights who freed humans from enslavement to the giants: the code of honor is made of loyalty, courage, justice, prowess, and honesty.

Lastly (because I have to end this stream of consciousness eventually), the setting is going to focus largely upon the conflict between civilization and the wild, and the old and the new. Good and evil are blurred in favor of shades of gray. My first novel plot, for instance, involves a building war between humans and elves, where neither side is "right". Other chief plots involve the uncovering of ancient history, the search for holy relics, and the exploration of the spirit world.

So, before I go on forever, what are your questions for me?