Prominence
Year 530 of the Tarnished Age
Scope
The motivation behind building Prominence
This world is built for two reasons.
1.) It's a world to be enjoyed by my readers when I eventually finish my novel.
2.) It's a world to be physically experienced by my close friends in a D&D campaign. I won't be using any of their exploits to inform my writing above but I will be continuing to write the world in existence as we play the game.
The goal of the project
I'm creating a novel. I want the audience to experience terror and wonder.
Prominence's Unique Selling point
The world's hook is that it is so vast that it needs its own magical communication network in order for humans to function like they do on other worlds. For me the bide stones really are the unique selling point.
Theme
Genre
The Genre of this world is Grim Dark meets High Fantasy. There is always a darker element to everything that I write. In true Tolkien fashion, we cannot hide the dark if we hope to exploit it for adventure's sake.
Lots of magic when we play D&D, it's difficult to run away from that. But, when I'm writing this world into existence, I'm only using the darker elements to communicate the magic level.
Reader Experience
The world should feel expansive with a subtle layer of creepiness just under that vast crust. There should be a certain level of unease in the reader's mind as well as in the player's.
Reader Tone
I'm somewhere near grim-dark. There is always an underlying darkness to anything that I write. Prominence is a pretty enough place but the conditions for some people are downright horrible.
Recurring Themes
Family as both a blessing and a curse.
The power and significance that communication has in the lives of regular people.
The role that religion plays in controlling the way individuals communicate with others.
Character Agency
Characters do not have much agency in this world. The bide stones have a way of manipulating their choices.
Focus
Drama
There is a fight for the throne on the Venetan Peninsula.
A royal family member must ascend to the throne but they have doubts on their own capacity to rule.
It's near impossible to travel the Far Fetch but those that make the journey return with riches beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
The giants remain dormant on every continent sleeping in the stillness of mountain valleys and do not appear to be waking anytime soon.
The Soan are leaving their dens and attacking people that live above ground.