World Building #13: Nations of Man

Let's start fleshing out the human societies of Makara.

If you'll look to Makara's map you'll notice that humans are concentrated on three different regions: north, west, east.

The northern region is what lies between the Selkie Empire and the Dwarven Republic. Given that the nations are fantasy counterparts of Rome and China respectively, its natural to make the nothern region a fantasy counterpart of the Middle East, complete with a Silk Road connecting the two nations.

With a vaguely dry and warm climate and a mountain range to create rain shadow, the area immediately to the west of the Dwarven Republic is a perfect place to put a desert. I've decided that the Dwarven Emperor-in-Exile doesn't hold his own nation, but is instead stays at the leisure of one of the rulers in that desert area, interfering with the local politics and gathering strength to take back his nation.

I like the idea of placing a river flowing through there where civilization can gather. Perhaps with a Mesoptamian feel, with city states dotting the river and a single large powerful city holding dominance over the others.

To the south of the river valley is a region bordering the elves, with only a series of hills separating them from the point-ears. Here is a militaristic and perhaps theocratic nation, united and strong to be able to fend off elven and selkie incursions. Let's give them a priest-king and call it the Caliphate.

The rest of the regions are hot dry plains, with lakes, streams, and oases dotting the area. Let's putting some nomads there, nomads that regulate the trade within the region and between the Selkie and Dwarf nations.

To the west we have a human region that is caught in the middle between the Selkies and the Orcs. Now, we need something there that is tough enough to weather invasions by both Mongol-Viking-Russians and the Roman Empire. I decided to put a Mesoamerican-ish nation there. Heart ripping Aztecs are terrifying enough to fend off other nations, right? Plus, heart ripping might have a qi-based purpose.

A friend of mine mentioned that the Incans had legends of mummified kings ruling the emprie from beyond, so why not give the Western Humans a pantheon of lich-god-kings ruling their nation, drawing qi energy from the hundreds of sapient sacrifices performed by their priests. That qi sustains their unlife and also gives them the ability to empower their warriors with incredible strength, at the cost of countless lives. Frightening and powerful, well enough that orcs and selkie alike stay away from their borders.

Finally, to the east, let's place our traditional European fantasy kingdoms. Knights, kings, princesses in peril, etc. There's plenty of room there for a multitude of nations, with perhaps three or four large major kingdoms and a dozen or two smaller kingdoms that swear fealty to the others.

I'm not quite sure what kingdoms I want to place on the east yet, but I like the idea of putting a Camelot-ish kingdom up to the northernmost portion of the region. An peaceful countryside defended by an order of Arthurian knights against the Celtic elves and Roman selkies.

Also, to the south, there's a small grouping of human-controlled islands. I like the idea of these being mist-covered mystical islands of mystery, with qi wizards holed in their tower, looking out upon the world.

World Building #12: Makara

Time to give you a cartographical update:



As you can see, I've finally named my setting. Now, some of you might be wondering where this name comes from. Some obscure piece of myth? Some literary reference? Some fascinating etymological search?

Nah. It happened mostly by happenstance.

I was discussing what I should name my setting with a few IRC buddies when my good friend Makari came into the channel. Hilarity ensued.

[9:44pm] [Ominous] Let's name it Makara.
[9:44pm] [Ominous] After Makari.
[9:44pm] [Makari] o.O?
[9:44pm] [Virgil] Right place, right time. :)
[9:44pm] [Makari] What are we naming now?
[9:44pm] [AdStroh] >.>
[9:44pm] [kpenguin] Makara
[9:44pm] [Makari] you?

[9:44pm] [kpenguin] that actually has a nice ring to it
[9:44pm] [kpenguin] Makara
[9:45pm] [Ominous] That's why I suggeste dit.
[9:45pm] [HOURAISAN] Occidentalia dammit
[9:45pm] [Ominous] Most of my names are derivatives of other names.
[9:45pm] [HOURAISAN] YAAAAAAAA
[9:45pm] [Virgil] Not everyday you get a continent named after you.
[9:45pm] » Virgil applauds
[9:45pm] [Makari] Yaaaaay. :D
[9:46pm] [kpenguin] Okay, Makari
[9:46pm] [kpenguin] The continent my setting is set in is named after you

Now, as for the map itself, you'll notice that I've moved around the elf and human nations, placing the elves in the center of the continent and decentralizing the humans into three different regions. Furthermore, the entire continent as shifted onto the equator, which gives the elves a jungle to live in. Appropriate, since the jungle is where wood is most wild.

Now, I want the orcs to still be in a fairly cold area, so I'm shrinking the planet into half the size of Earth. The planet is also twice as dense, so the gravity will be the same.

Any other physics problems with this will be resolved with magic.

Ugly Artwork: Faster than a Speeding Bullet...

First of all, yes, it's been a month since my last post. Shut up already.

Secondly, as you may or may not know, I am now a moderator on Giant in the Playground. This is an incredible honor for me. I have been a member of the community for over three years now and love it dearly. To serve it is incredibly satisfying.

Anyway, I'm putting up a worldbuilding post pretty soon. I need to get some logs from an IRC chat and a friend of mine is searching for them. To tide you over until then, here's this picture:

It's a character I'm playing in a superhero play-by-post. The concept of the campaign is essentially "A crippled Bruce Wayne founds the Xavier Institute and forms an X-Men/JLA amalgam". My character is Peter Parker, your friendly neighborhood Superman. As you can see, the costume is very inspired by that of Invincible, who is also a bit of a Spidey-Supes mix.