World Influences

As I continue to edit old worldbuilding and add new elements to Lasair, I feel it is important to acknowledge elements within this world that have been influenced by the real world or other pieces of media, whether intentionally or unconsciously (or even wholly accidentally). This list will be updated as the world expands.

Knowing, Intentional Reference

These are instances where a game element was specifically and knowingly influenced by an existing concept or idea from elsewhere.

• The seven tenets of The Virtues were initially cribbed from Bushido. I was searching for an analogue to "The Seven Deadly Sins" and rather than copying Pope Gregory's virtues, I chose to look for virtues that would lend themselves to a more martial order and which weren't tied to a deity-based religious system. The paladins of this world are similarly characterized along the lines of the idealized/romanticized concept of samurai as exists in popular culture (they're probably also a bit influenced by Jedi who are themselves influenced by that same idealized samurai concept).
• The population of Fertile Lands being, well, hobbits? Yeah that's an intentional nod to Tolkien. Above and beyond playing Dungeons and Dragons which would not exist without Tolkien defining the "elves and dwarfs and dragons" fantasy genre.
• The Ratlings of the Savage Lands were directly influenced by the Nezumi of Legend of the Five Rings. There is also likely a small bit of influence from Warhammer's Skaven (especially their mechanical inclination).
• The pre-Dragonscourge (and as yet unnamed) Empire referred to in the history of The Virtues is almost certainly a knockoff of ancient Rome in a number of ways - though the fantasy genre is chock full of "ancient empires that predate the modern world" tropes.
• The Mercenary Guild itself was created before I'd read A Game of Thrones (see "The Wall", down in Accidental) but characterizing it as a place for outcasts, noble bastards, and former criminals to find a home was added after reading about the Black Watch.
• The style of the maps throughout this site were intentionally created to match the style of the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms map, which is my platonic ideal of how a game world map should look.
• Both the Korth'an Forest and Il'yria are taken from the name of my very first D&D character (Korthas Il'yria, wood elf ranger), whose name lived on in World of Warcraft for many years (Night Elf beast spec hunter).
• The Wild Steppes were created initially on their own as a land of nomadic horsemen (literally, in this case - the population is primarily centauri) but adding a central city in which they meet periodically for tribal-related politics is taken entirely from the Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak from A Game of Thrones.
• The "Nublar Jungle" is going to be full of dinosaurs, just like "Isla Nublar" from Jurassic Park. In this case, though, only the name itself is the reference - it being a sort of an isolated "lost world" is closer to that of Un'goro Crater in World of Warcraft.

Unconscious Reference

These are cases where I had clearly read or watched something some years ago but did not intentionally reference the idea in question.

• The sides involved in Dragonscourge were not intended to reference Tolkien's "Last Alliance of Elves and Men", it just ended up that way.
• The Mages having a "Senior Council of Wizards" may or may not have been created before I started reading The Dresden Files. It's not an uncommon trope, regardless - the concept could also have come from Star Wars' Jedi Council.

Accidental Reference

This documents when I added an idea to the world that I am certain was not sourced from any other influence (due to a lack of interaction with that influence, or because it didn't exist yet)

• The force bridge that connects the Mage Islands to the mainland was envisioned as a shimmering, translucent, rainbow bridge. The imagery of this bridge in my head ended up matching the look of the Bifrost from Marvel's Thor movies, but my concept predates those movies by several years (and I was not familiar enough with Norse mythology to be aware the concept of the "rainbow bridge").
• The giant wall separating "civilized" lands from "wild" lands was created before I was even aware of George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Iceseries (aka Game of Thrones). It's a fairly common concept, though, and one repeated throughout history from Scotland to China.

Personal Influences

These are some of the authors and/or works which have done much to influence my particular style of writing and world creation. They may not have directly caused the existence of something in the world, but they still will be in my mind somewhere and should be acknowledged.

• George Lucas and Star Wars (along with Timothy Zahn, Dave Filoni, and others)
• JRR Tolkien and *gestures to the fantasy genre*
• Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files (and to a lesser extent the Furies of Calderon)
• Magic: The Gathering
• Legend of the Five Rings
• Order of the Stick
• Knights of the Dinner Table
• Frank Herbert's Dune
• World of Warcraft
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War and Collapsing Empire series
• Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey+Maturin ("Master and Commander") series
• Naomi Novic's Temeraire series
• Neal Stephenson
• NK Jemisin's Broken Earth and and Inheritance trilogies
• Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch novels
• James SA Corey's The Expanse
• Becky Chambers's Wayfarers series
• Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (he was a fascist jackhole but that didn't really become clear until late in the series; the first part of that series was pretty solid).