The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Creative Writing => Topic started by: John Red Beard on October 22, 2016, 01:49:35 AM
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A couple people have expressed interest in learning more about the fantasy world I'm building, and that my fursonas are based in, so I thought I'd make a thread for it. I'm putting this in the literature section, even though it will include some pictures because I'm making this world for a book I want to write.
I'll be posting new info periodically as I compose it. Please feel free to ask me questions. If I don't know the answer I'll try to come up with something and you'll be helping me develop my world.
Overview
My world is basically late medieval, although it's more advanced in some ways than Europe was in its middle ages, and less advanced in others. The intelligent species who live there are dragons, elves, and several species of anthropomorphic animals. The protagonists are called the Lioren. They're felines, based on lions, tigers, and leopards. There are also the Worvren (based on wolves and foxes), the Maogren (hyenas), the Yolgren (buffalo), the Tsabo (lemurs), the Aogren (bears), the Ukren (wart hogs), the Bakren, (sheep), and maybe a couple others that I haven't decided yet. The Lioren are the only ones I've developed much, so far.
There are three breeds/castes of Lioren, the worker caste (tigers), the warrior caste (lions), and the aristocratic caste (leopards). Legally, the caste system was dissolved many generations ago, but old prejudices run deep, and there's not much social mobility in their society, so most Leoren's place in society is still tied to their caste. Caste mixing is rare, but it does happen.
(https://i.imgur.com/csvBuOq.jpg)
Members of the worker caste are most commonly farmers, fishermen, and manual laborers, sometimes merchants, soldiers, and artisans, and a few lower level nobles.
Most members of the warrior caste are not warriors by profession as was once the case, although many still are. Other common professions are merchant, banker, laborer, and artisan. There are a fair number of warriors in the low and middle ranks of the nobility.
Members of the aristocratic caste make up most of the Lioren nobility. Those that aren't nobles are commonly artisans, merchants, clerks, and servants (being a servant can be fairly prestigious in Lioren society, depending on the exact position).
Post edited to reflect updated names of species.
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pretty cool world :)
I've sort of made a D&D world myself which is more Conan style fantasy based around the early bronze age with elements of classical greece and other time periods.
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Thanks. A bronze age D&D campaign sounds fun. I imagine it has a bit of a Clash of the Titans vibe.
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Geography
Except for the dragons, all of the intelligent species live on one continent and nearby islands. The rest of the world is unknown to them. To the east and west are vast oceans, to the north is a vast frozen tundra, and to the south is a vast desert. It is widely believed to be impossible for anyone but a dragon to cross any of them.
The continent is cut in half by a tall mountain range that stretches almost from coast to coast. The leoren live to the south of the range, where the climate is sub-tropical to tropical. Their land is mostly open grassy plains and rolling hills.
The leoren have two neighbors, the ginde (lemurs), with whom they have a friendly relationship, and the nwagren (hyenas), with whom they definitely do not. They are also friendly and do a lot of trading with the worvren (canine folk). Their nations are separated by the mountain range, but they're both on coast, so sailing between the two is pretty easy. They are also friendly-ish with the southern elves, but the elves are somewhat standoffish and isolationist.
I whipped up a draft of a map. As you can see, I still need one or two more groups to fill out the northern half of the continent.
Edit: Old map reflects old species names.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Culture
When I first conceived of the lioren kingdom, it was a pretty standard western European style medieval fantasy society, and I made it pretty much the way I would want a society to be, to the point that it was kind of a utopia. But I realized two things: first, that as much as I like Tolkienesque Euro-medieval fantasy, it's been done to death, and second, that a utopia would be a nice place to live but it's not very good for storytelling.
So I've been trying to add more non-European influence, particularly middle eastern and Indian. And I've significantly "dirtied up" their society and culture, adding more negatives and conflicts, but hopefully not too much, because they're the protagonists of the story and I want them to be someone the audience wants to root for.
Some of the pros and cons of lioren society:
• They have much better gender equality and LGBT rights and cultural acceptance than most medieval societies, but they are a highly stratified society with a caste system and little social mobility.
• They are generally prosperous and have good relations with some of their neighbors, but some areas of their kingdom are quite poor, and they are in near perpetual conflict with one of their neighbors (the maogren/hyenas).
• They have made a lot of advancements in mechanical engineering, and are beginning to use primitive steam engines, but are lagging behind in chemistry and medicine, because their mainstream church forbids the use of magic, which they interpret to include alchemy/chemistry.
• They are more literate than many medieval societies, and have printing presses with movable type, but the mainstream church has a lot of say over what gets printed, to ensure that forbidden knowledge doesn't get spread.
Edit: Updated names.
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I don't know if anyone is reading these, but they're helping me organize my thoughts, so I'm gonna keep doing it. ;)
History & Magic
A thousand years ago, a series of great and terrible wars were waged among all the nations of the known world, except for the dragons, who remained uninvolved and neutral. The arsenals of the nations included magic and alchemy. The death and destruction were catastrophic. For a time, it seemed as if some of the nations would be wiped out entirely, including the leoren.
When things were at their bleakest, the dragons swooped in across the continent, forcing an end to the wars. For their own good, they killed all the most powerful wizards, destroyed the alchemical workshops, and burned the libraries, so that the knowledge of those arts would be lost.
They then convinced all the nations to give up their magical power. But while knowledge can be destroyed, magic itself cannot. It can only change form. So with the dragons' help, they drew the magic out of themselves and confined it into enchanted gemstones, which they hid in the hope that they would never be found. So far, none have.
Shortly thereafter, the dragons left the content, never to be seen again. The thousand years since have not been entirely peaceful, but there haven't been any wars as destructive or on the massive scale of the Great Wars of ancient times, and the world has been relatively magic free.
Once in a blue moon an individual would show magical ability, though extremely weak, compared to the wizards of old. About a hundred years ago, something changed, and no one knows why. More people began to develop magical power. It it still rare, but not as much as before, and their powers are still weak, but non-trivial.
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Im readin it. ;)
i like lore
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Hello!
I don't have any real commentary, but I decided to pop in anyway to say that I'm finding this all very interesting.
I will continue to watch you shape this world.
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Awesome! Thanks guys. I'm trying to decide what to write about next.
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Today I'm jumping into the deep and dangerous waters of religion. 0:)
Religion: Part 1
The mainstream church in the leoren kingdom teaches history from after the great wars a thousand years ago, myth from before that*, and morality. Moral teachings are mainly focused on maintaining the "natural" social order and prohibiting the use of magic. Men and women can both be priests and are considered spirituality and morally equal.
The church doesn't have any teachings explicitly opposing homosexuality or trans identity. There are some priests and lay people who interpret those as threats to the social order, but mostly it's considered a non-issue in leoren religion, and their society is pretty accepting of LGBT folk.
On the other hand, the church's teachings do oppose marriage between castes, so while such marriages aren't illegal, they are highly stigmatized. It would be a huge scandal if, say, a member of the royal family were to fall in love with a member of the worker caste. ;)
The church also has legal authority over the production and distribution of printed and written materials, so that they can prevent the spread of forbidden magical knowledge. Nothing can legally be printed unless it's been reviewed and approved by a priest.
Because of the revered place of dragons in leoren culture, their gods are usually depicted as dragons, priestly vestments have dragon motifs, and the dragons themselves are considered demi-gods.
* Opinion within the church is split as to whether the stories from before the wars can be trusted as factually accurate or not, given that almost all records were destroyed, but it's not a major doctrinal dispute.
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Religion: Part 2
Ever since people with magical abilities became more common, a new sect has formed, called the Magi. The Magi believe that magic would not be returning to the world unless the gods wanted it to, so they seek out magical people and try to teach them to control and harness their abilities.
The mainstream chuch on the other hand teaches magically abled people how to suppress their abilities. The cultural stigma against magic is strong enough than many choose the church. Even if they manage to completely suppress their powers, it's often difficult for them to find a spouse, for fear of passing on the magic to their children.
It would be a mighty big scandal if, for example, a member of the royal family showed magical ability and chose to study with the Magi instead of the Church. ;)
The Magi also do research into alchemy, a forbidden practice.
Since some of what the Magi do is illegal, or borderline so, and a lot of it is culturally taboo, they meet and operate in semi-secrecy.
In order to preserve the things they learn in their experiments and by working with the magically endowed, without technically breaking the law by printing books without priestly approval, they make books and scrolls the old fashioned way, writing them entirely by hand.
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Weapons and Stuff
Because of the prohibition of alchemy, the leoren have no gunpowder weapons. Religious zealots even look on smelting and blacksmithing with suspicion, due to the way they seemingly transmute materials into different materials. Nonetheless, the leoren have many skilled metal workers. For their finest swords and daggers, they produce crucible steel, a.k.a. wootz, a.k.a. Damascus, not to be confused with pattern welding, which results in a similar appearance but is a completely different technique.
Leoren swords are typically single edged and gently to moderately curved, sometimes with a recurve. Knives are similar, but straight, double edged daggers are also common. Swords range in size from about 2 foot blades up to about 4 foot blades, the longer ones being two-handed.
In addition to swords and daggers, leoren soldiers use a few different kinds of pole arms, battle axes, maces, bows, crossbows, and shields of course.
When leoren females join the army, it's usually, but not always, as archers. This is because women are traditionally the hunters in leoren society. Since the bow is a hunting weapon, archery is perceived as a primarily feminine pursuit, and since hunting is still a popular pastime among females, many of them already have years of experience with the weapon by the time they're old enough to join the army.
Sport fighting is a popular pastime and spectator event for both genders. In addition to archery contests, there are four combat sports practiced: wrestling, quarterstaff, short sword and buckler, and long sword. Wooden swords and leather armor are used.
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It would be a mighty big scandal if, for example, a member of the royal family showed magical ability and chose to study with the Magi instead of the Church. ;)
Oh gee, I wonder if this will be a relevant plot point in the story? :P
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Are swords the most popular weapons of the army infantry then?
Mainly because I seemed there was a focus there over polarms, axes, etc
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They're the most culturally prestigious weapons, but pole arms are much more common as primary weapons of war, with swords being worn for backup. Swords are also worn in civilian life for fashion and self defence, especially by the warrior caste, because you can't carry a halberd around all the time. Tsaenoa often wears a sword, for example.
But I mostly focused on swords because I like them.
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How badly persecuted are those who practice things deem inaproperiate by the church?
Is it a threat to their life, or something less like being sociality shunned?
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It's more on the being socially shunned side of the scale, but it wouldn't be unheard of for a magic user or suspected magic user to be attacked and beaten, especially if there was a disease going around, or a bad harvest, or something like that, that could be blamed on them. And in some cases, someone caught doing magic or alchemy, or printing or distributing unapproved books can be arrested and punished by law.
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Language
There are three language families in my world, draconic, elvish, and lemur.
The draconic language was originally invented by the dragons and continues to be their native language, but forms of it are spoken by many of the people of the continent. These versions are called northern and southern liturgical draconic, and they hold the same place in society that latin held in medieval Europe. They are languages of religion, ceremony, and higher education.
Elvish-based languages are spoken natively by almost all the people of the continent, with each nation having its own language/dialect. Broadly they are devided into northern and southern varieties.
The only nation (besides dragons) that doesn't use an elvish-derived language is the lemurs. They have their own language that's not related to any other known languages.
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I haven't written in a while and I realized that I haven't talked about how the leoren and the rest of the intelligent animal species came from, so here we go.
Where They Come From
Thousands of years ago, there were only two intelligent species in the world, dragons and elves*. For a long time they lived in peace, but eventually a rift in the elven community started a war between the elves of the north and the elves of the south.
In those days, the elves had powerful magics that were later lost, which allowed them to create armies to fight their war for them. They imbued elven attributes, like bipedal walking, speech, and hands capable of using tools, to the animals of the land to create soldiers, laborers to supply those soldiers, and servants to care for their own needs and wants.
The elves of the south used big cats, so the ones in the north used wolves, the ones in the south used buffalo, so the ones in the north used bears, etc. By the time the war was done, there were a dozen or so new species in the world. They eventually left the elves' service and founded their own kingdoms.
* as far as they realized, but that's a story for another time, as well as the story of where the dragons and elves came from
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I like this a lot! Will keep an eye on the thread
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I haven't updated this in a while, so long that in that time, I changed the spelling from leoren to lioren. This comes from the overhaul I'm currently doing to their language. Anyway, I thought of something new to add:
Lioren Cuisine
Cats are obligate carnivores. Elves are omnivores. Lioren are in between, omnivores with a meat-rich diet.
Fish, chicken, and pork are the most widely available meats. Game animals include rabbits, antelope, and various wild birds. Beef is not commonly eaten because cows/bulls are valued more for dairy, for doing work, and as mounts. In addition to meat, Lioren also eat vegetables, rice, bread, and cheese. They cultivate fruit orchards as well, but mostly use the fruit for export and for making alcoholic ciders.
Lioren sense of taste is not as keen as that of elves (or humans), though their sense of smell is better, so they tend to heavily spice their food, with a special focus on making it smell good.
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Lioren Government
The lioren kingdom (called Yashako Najonam or just Najonam) is currently ruled by Queen Nemve VerSanna. Her husband has passed away, but even when he was alive, she was the primary ruler, having inherited the throne from her parents. She has two children, an older son Kime and a younger daughter Sasha.
The bulk of the kingdom is divided among 12 provinces, each ruled by a governor or governess. Technically they rule at the pleasure of the monarch, but by tradition, the position is usually inherited. The provinces are further divided into many counties, each ruled by a count or countess. They rule at the pleasure of their respective governors but their post are also usually inherited.
Each noble family owns an estate which is inherited. Grown children who do not inherit or marry into an inheritance keep their titles but don’t pass them on to their children, unless they acquire an estate of their own. Estates usually include one or more villages.
Towns are another matter. Each town is collectively owned by the guilds that operate there, being established by a charter with the county, province, or kingdom. They are governed by a mayor and/or city council elected by the guilds.
There is a part of the kingdom outside the provincess and not ruled by any governor, but that’s for next time.
Edit: Updated names
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The Outerlands
The outerlands are the part of the lioren kingdom that is (ironically) the farthest inland. It’s called the outerlands because it’s outside of the provinces. It’s still part of the kingdom but it’s not part of the usual governmental structure. Because of this, it’s more independent than the provinces, but receives less support and guidance from the power structure and has no official representation at court.
The weather in this region is drier than the rest of the kingdom and many crops don’t grow well. Between that, the lack of much trade with the rest of the kingdom, and the lack of infrastructure, the outerlands are quite poor.
In outerlands are very clannish, with many small regions ruled by powerful or charismatic chieftains, or sometimes councils of elders. There is frequent fighting amongst the clans.
Last but not least, the outerlands are on the border between the lioren kingdom and the maogren kingdom, and they suffer frequent raids across the border.
Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, outerlanders are very proud, and most would never want to live in the provinces. They are tough and scrappy, and consider themselves morally superior to the provincials, who they consider spoiled, soft, and too tolerant of magic.