Meta Article for Arcane Realm
The Foundation of Arcane Realm
Motivation for building this world
I want to build a world contains a mix of things I like so that others would enjoy as much as I do. Also exploring aspects of the real world such as natural science, philosophy, geography, history, culture and mythology in a speculative and enjoyable way to myself.What am I hoping to get out of it?
A world that can be the setting for stories and characters that I write and illustrate. To make world that fosters healthy escapism where others can take an intentional break from the hardships of the world until they are ready and motivated to face them head on in the real world.What is the Hook or Unique Selling Point of the world? What makes it unique or different?
The Arcane Realm was once a standard medieval-ish fantasy until invading antagonistic forces resulted in a war that sped up technological advancements greatly but at the cost of severe environmental degradation that had civilization collapse for millennia until the new civilizations became a more sustainable science fantasy world. And there are likely elements of tropes from other genre and mediums in them like TRPG, anime, and video games just due to my fondness of them.Theme
What is the genre of the world?
Arcane Realm is currently a Science Fantasy world that is in the middle of transitioning to Solarpunk in modern times. There are also elements of cross-culturally influenced fantasy such as Wuxia, Shenmo, Afrofuturism, Arabian Nights, and Steampunk.How does the world feel (player/reader experience)?
The world should be one where the reader/player would want to live in, whether that involvesWhat is the tone of the world?
Bright, lively, inviting, truly fantastical. The world itself is Noblebright as adventuring is a tradition that is once again seen as noble and brave by many after some recent period of stagnation. Danger tends to be mostly low level conflicts like solo fighting, raiding, wild creature encounters, and natural disasters. Some stories are Comfybright, where jovial times await since the villains are usually not very serious or are redeemable, and heroism is lighthearted or focuses instead on everyday troubles and struggles.What is the character agency level like?
Honestly, the amount of change that a character can make is dependent on how much they put in. One can leisurely enjoy the everyday happenings of life without for laid-back slice of life stories or role-play. Or one can actively alter society and the mechanisms of the natural and supernatural but most forces will resist the more pressure is applied to them.What are the recurring themes which reinforce the genre, tone, and feel of the world?
1. Discovery is important as much of the advances and progress in the world as come about from peoples who uncovered ancient ruins or reverse engineered ancient artifacts to develop new types of magic and technology. 2. Inclusivity is evident in this world as this fantasy world's characters, aesthetics and story-lines will be inspired by various cultures and mythologies so that others who read about them might just have someone or something to identify with on a deeper level. 3. Happy resolutions can happen from conflicts but they will have to be earned through strife, turmoil and personal/physical growth. 4. Restructuring society to function more like ecology: non-hierarchical, cooperative, diverse, and seeking balance. 5. Eliminating structural conditions which limit personal autonomy and enforced inequality upon people by mixing a spirit of hopefulness with an attitude of practicality.Meta
Tech Level
Lifestyles dictate aspects of life like tech and activity level. Naturalist Lifestyle has low bush-craft or survivalist level tech. Rural lifestyle ranges from pastoral medieval/country with small bits of modern electronics or magical equivalents. Urban lifestyle has full on industrial, medical, agricultural, media, information, electronic technology of modern developed world along with near future tech. Seeded into all tech levels are magical technology from a bygone era called artifices that operate like modern tech to plausible fringe tech to straight up magical effects. Opposed to artifices that function via combustion or fossil fuels, new technologies incorporate solar and other renewable energy, urban agriculture, or organic architecture and design.Magic Use
Ubiquitous in both combat and even partly in civilian and domestic life. Some is inherent, some is race based, and some is developed and learned.Scale
Planetary with parallel spirit dimension. Most stories focus on a settlement or a journey between them in a country, region or continent.Drama
- Restructuring society suffering from an oil shortage and crisis from fossil fuel artifices and original tech to embrace renewable and sustainable technologies and lifestyles.
- Lingering prejudice/stereotypes of various races thought to be monsters by the dominant races of the recent era.
- Culturally/Economically dominant races compete for influence and power but are being challenged by the sovereignty of indigenous races to the areas.
- Economic disparity in urban places is leading to alternate solutions by the working and poor classes, such as returning to the countryside or adapting urban life.
- Cold wars between certain nations occurring using proxy conflicts between their allies.
Setting the Scene of Arcane Realm
Rules of the World
What are the fundamental differences in the natural laws of your world compared to Earth?- There is magic that exists as an ever present force that is strongly connected to life and allows willpower to manifest in a tangible form.
- There are psychic powers from psychokinetic energy that is produced by spirits and intelligent lifeforms.
- Living things have life force similar to chi/ki attacks in martial arts fiction that can be potentially cultivated and manipulated.
- Subtle matter exists throughout universe but intangible to everyday matter and makes up spirits.
- There are multiple parallel dimensions and pocket dimensions.
- Fauna of the world include some extinct animals as well as mythological creatures of folklore.
Cosmology
How did this world come to be? The true origin has been lost; various religions say it was created by their deities. One of the earliest say the world was created a deity as a material reflection of the realm that divinities form to serve as a bridge to the parallel spirit realms.Geography
What does the geography of your world look like? Arcane Realm is mostly Earth-like with a few additions such as more wilderness and small villages and less concrete urban development, tropical rainforests are more common. Does your geography have any special properties and features? There is a large cold plain called the Mammoth Steppe where most large mammals roam. There are various reefs in the oceans including those made by coral, sponges, calcareous algae, and rudists. And the ice desert region contain the only cryovolcanoes on the planet. There are are villages and cities set up in large tree systems, cliff sides, and even underground.People and their history
Who used to live in the on focused place, and what is their history? In the ancient past the dominant species at the time where the jinn who were the first civilization, and elves who were the first fey and humanoids of the world. Deities were also an influence in the world but mostly lived within their own spirit realms separate worlds. What species/cultures live there now, and what is their history? There are humans but rather that just plain earth humans shoehorned in the setting, they exist as 3 different species that are all visually distinct in appearance. There are also plenty of non-human sapient species that belong to 4 groups: henge which are animals that can shapeshift into humanoids, spirits which are intangible and have to manifest a physical form, fay which are various mythical humanoid creatures, and a race of androids. What do they need, and what do they need from each other? Species vying for power generally got it through finding ancient artifices and mining resources to power them or reverse engineer them them to make new technology. The other races especially those of fay, henge, and spirits want to dissolve their forms of social hierarchy and exploitation the natural world for methods that work with natural processes.
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