( Perhaps have places inspired by countries/areas, but not have it exactly so history and/or language knowledge won't be needed? So you could have a France-like country, and take details that you like from that setting, so you can sort of cherry-pick the interesting ideas?
Also I think that we should have them both as new leaders, but not outright enemies. So there's tension between the two countries, but war hasn't broken out yet?? )
ah yes i really like that- perhaps then we could split our known world in half so to speak to represent the kingdoms. that way there could be a variety of interesting attributes in both kingdoms to choose from for each society? you already mentioned your character would come from a trade reliant society so maybe the west (america, canada, south america) would fit well in your case? could be either of your choice of course but america's triangle trade history came to me first.
a couple more questions come to me a i picture this... should their be a uniform language? or maybe a couple of them? just accents maybe?
and what about races? honestly i love it when there's many mythical races, but if we are sticking more to our world but with a twist maybe sticking to humans would be more amiable.
likely there will be many plot holes since we're not fleshing this out like a book, but i feel these are the most important bits to address.
man i really want this as a game or book now, this will make for very interesting characters and plot
Sounds good!! Using the west would allow for characters inspired by those cultures to be made? Or maybe if we were going full fantasy, one large continent with a decided 'middle ground' between the two countries/empires? If there was a middle ground then ownership of that could be what's causing the tension? I think it would be easier to improvise places using a completely made up map, than try to base things off of alternate versions of real places.
I would say on language that there's a 'common language' that's the most popular & widespread, allowing for easy communication, but that people have their secondary/native languages within their own diverse countries?
As for other races, I would keep Avery human, but it's up to you if you wanted to do something different with your character. It could be another point of tension, so it would be interesting if various races were present in the world.
yes fantastic, your ideas are great!
i agree with everything you've mentioned, and you're right- it'd probably just be better to improvise a new map.
so perhaps let's decide what exactly each kingdom's culture is like and why the middle ground would be so enticing and i think that would finish the world building nicely
as for races, i'm sure we could maybe just limit it to two or three for convenience? perhaps elves, humans, tieflings or something like that. they're the closest to human in my eyes. it'd be a little confusing if the races got a little to bestial (like elder scroll's argonians or something) and they had spirit animals as well
oh and quick question, do you have some sort of form done for avery? i always have ideas for characters and won't have a problem making one but i feel strange making them in a rush.. they often come out unnatural. i'm hoping that viewing your character will spark a great concept in me.
I think for Avery's country, I would be taking various northern european/slavic influences & taking the sort of cultural stance that once they were a great warring power, before they focused their efforts on trade and controlling the empire that they had acquired during their warring years. Due to this, violence is idolised as a part of their history, but is shunned if used as a response in the present day & their military power has severely waned. Instead they secure power by controlling outlets of grains or spices or gold, which they can then use to leverage enemies into doing what they want lest they get major trade routes/supplies cut off.
Those races sound fine! Perhaps humans have more 'mundane' spirit animals, whereas elves' animals have plant-like features/appearance? Or tieflings have fire-like or rock-like influence to show their link to the infernal?
I don't have a form made up for him, but I can make one at some point today & edit it in here?
Name: Avery Kennard-Barclay.
Nicknames/Aliases: He doesn't really have any.
Age: early 20s? Old enough to be considered a leader & representative for his country, young enough to be
Gender: male.
Personality:
- quick witted. Going hand in hand with him being intelligent, he's quick to think on his feet and improvise, not so great at following protocol due to this overactive mind.
- ambitious. He wants to do what is best for his family and country.
- clever. Not exactly one for reading books, he struggles to take it in when things are still on a page, but if someone explained things to him, he's an incredibly quick learner with a good memory.
- insecure/anxious. Despite projecting a persona of confidence, he over-analyses his own actions and the actions of others, and any kind of rejection from others will send his thoughts into overdrive trying to figure out what he did.
- naturally good in social situation when he isn't overthinking things. He'd much rather be with people and conversation than alone with his thoughts.
Appearance:
- Tall, with a lean frame. Not exactly strong, you can probably tell upon looking at him that he's not exactly cut out for physical work.
- His auburn hair falls to his shoulders, and is usually left down, with a slight wave to it.
- Has angular, rather androgynous features and fair skin. Do not take him into the sun for too long, he'll probably burn.
- His expression defaults to 'i am judging you so much' and this can either go in his favour or not. Usually not.
- There's probably more that I could write here, but I'm working on a sketch of him so I'll let you see that as soon as it's done & coloured.
Height: 6'1".
Headcanons/Other:
- He has a very strong connection with his family, and despite maybe not being as noble as he claims anymore, they did come from noble origins. He wants to use his position as the country's representative to not only benefit his country, but his own family.
- Do not ask him to sit still. He will either be tapping his foot, or fiddling with stationary, or any number of small repetitive actions that will drive those around him insane. Most of the time he doesn't even realise he's doing it.
- Allergic to peanuts. Not severely, but it will make him ill to eat them. If you think that this will stop him from eating new foods with peanuts in them, you are so very wrong.
- Knows a ridiculous amount about elven culture and history. He researched it obsessively when he was younger, and the information has stuck with him. Can recite all elven monarchs on command, but probably will never be asked to do so.
Hey! I like plot #4 it looks super interesting.
Jaybird , hello there! welcome!
ah i do apologize, i'm already doing that one with someone else- my fault really for not checking them off or something. i'd be happy to do another with you though!
marcola , both ideas sound wonderful, that leaves the other kingdom to sort out.
hmm it would be interesting if it had eastern influences (japan, china, philippines, india) since the culture is so much different to the other kingdom there's bound to be some issues. as for a cultural stance i could easily see them as great traders throughout history, lacking a strong military or infrastructure and instead creating tight knit villages over big cities.
shun-chan sounds good to me! There would definitely be a kind of culture shock for them then. Perhaps they have to spend time in each other's countries during the talks, so initial talks will be in the middle ground, and if it looks like things are going well, Avery will go with your character back to their country for a while, and then vice versa while the rest of the talk occur?? Also I finished (kinda) Avery's form. It's very basic and not massively detailed, and if you need other info you can always ask, but it's just what I could think of for now.
i certainly enjoy that idea a lot as well! i think that pretty much sums up what we needed to discuss.
form looks great as well- i'm not too worried about the details of it, as long as you know your character. there's no rush to fill it out anymore than what you need, i just wanted to make sure mine fit with yours well.
i think i'm actually going to use an old d&d character for this as he's like the epitome of elf personality and i think he and avery would be an interesting pair haha
if you feel ready i can make a thread? i'll put all our information on there for reference as well
Yeah that sounds good!! I can't wait to hear about your character as well, and from that brief description I think their interactions will be interesting to say the least.
How about 3,5 or 6?
marcola , yes indeed mwhaha
here's the link. i'll likely get a form posted sometime today but i'll be honest- i'm a little bit of a procrastinator
oh and since you have your form finished here, you don't necessarily have to post it there as well unless you want
Jaybird , hmm well considering five is my most thought out one among the three i'd be more inclined to do that one, if you want
did you have an idea yet about which muse you'd like to be?
Muse B if possible. Could I make them a female?
of course! i'll likely create a guy but i haven't played girl in a while so that might be fun
how would you like the plot to proceed? keep it platonic? romance? or just see how it plays out?
Hmmm probably romantic but we can just play it out if you want. And a boy sounds fine :3
certainly. sometimes it's more fun just to see how the characters take it.
so if we have characters covered it might be a good idea to figure out what exactly the culture/castle is like. nothing too in depth but enough so that we know what's normal in this universe, why muse A would want to leave and maybe even what sort of rights the commoners have?
i don't really have anything in mind for that right now but it's something we'll likely have to cover eventually
Yeah sounds good.
ah sorry for being a little absent there, i nearly forgot what i was supposed to be doing
would you like me to create a thread then?
If thatβs alright with you?