Quote by Mendalla
In the other hand, the new fantasy story I am working on has its own world and I am just introducing enough in it to support what is happening. There was a dark lord, he had an army of the undead with which to terrorize the world, an alliance was formed against him, his daughter murdered him and destroyed his palace while the alliance fought his army outside (not a spoiler, happens right in the prologue). And that's about it. No mention of who was in the alliance, or what nation the events take place in, or how magic actually works (in depth, there's a general sense of it being about pacts with spirits). Even the daughter's mother is only hinted at in the daughter's desire for revenge on her father. Not to say I couldn't expand on the world, or even merge it with my other world, but for now it remains just a few key points of backstory for the plot and characters of the present work. So definitely soft.

So as I bring this saga to a close, I find myself realizing how little I thought through the world beyond how sorcery works (and even that kind of got built ad hoc). Tech-wise, we have a blacksmith as a character so presumably sometime in the Iron Age or later in Earth terms. But then again, there must have been smiths making bronze items in the Bronze Age. However, I think Iron Age is about right. The society is fairly decentralized. Tana and her friends live in villages in a river valley. There's mention of a larger community upstream but it never comes into play. There's no sign of governors or other officials, just a reference or two to Lond the smith being a village "headman", which could just mean an elder member of the community who takes leadership when needed. An alliance defeated The Night Lord but who were the allies is unmentioned.

So it is all pretty vague and what I do introduce is purely in the service of the story. For instance, we know there was some kind of ancient history that produced Pras Tola in The Healer's Power but that's about all there is as far as history.

If I was to expand this into a novel or more, then I would have to spend some time to develop these ideas more. But this is likely staying as is (three short stories that I might eventually combine into a novella) so I am not inclined to spend more time on this world for now. But there is a revelation at the end of the final story that could turn into a hook for a sequel (you'll know it when you read it) so who knows?

Forum