The Realms of Aorlis Fantasy Setting

In the time Aorlis and its world has existed, it has served as a table-top roleplaying setting, and then as the backdrop for a series of novels and short stories. It’s a storytelling tool.   When it was used for gaming, I employed different systems for it, from multiple editions of Dungeons and Dragons, to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, GURPS, and even an original, homebrewed system I created. Aorlis is center stage, not the game mechanics, so I present it here as game system agnostic.   Now Aorlis hosts my latest literary pursuits, and real medieval history has been my guide for framing this world.   Aorlis is an invaluable learning tool for me, because I believe that one of the best, most engaging ways to study the medieval period is to create my own setting, yet model it on our world’s Middle Ages. This freedom lets me invoke a very real time, place, and people, all while mixing and matching analogues of our world’s historical figures and events. You can’t really do this if you are writing strict historical fiction, but this is a valid thought experiment for an imaginary world.   If this sounds odd, consider Katherine Kurtz’ Deryini series, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, or George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. They have all used a similar, alternate history approach.   I have read that Medieval fantasy is played out, and that it has become an overused trope.   That’s ludicrous!   I love this period, and still it fires up my imagination. So, I doubled down. I determined early on that I would not regurgitate the usual medieval tropes and stereotypes, or the sanitized Dungeons & Dragons version of this period. I was going to capture the detail, the feel, and the essence of the medieval world as I understood it.   I was to going to highlight subjects other media ignored. This was a time of revolutionary developments in science, industry, philosophy, and law, and that’s just not what you get if you watch most movies, shows, or games. Popular media has focused on medieval Europe’s most obvious trappings, but ignored the society that provides them with context.I aimed to make Aorlis truly medieval, yet most of this will seem new to first-time visitors.   I think I succeeded, but ultimately that’s for you to decide.  

Scott A. Story, 28 June 2021.