So dear reader, as you may or may not know, I have had an unhealthy relationship with writing and self-confidence. And well, it's time to fix that. I want to get back to writing, and I'm going to start!
I thoroughly enjoy worldbuilding. It's always been something that I find fascinating. I love exploring the world and figuring out the ins and outs of how a group of people work. However, the last time I thoroughly world build was before my first draft of KOI(my first novel Kingdom Of Irdris) in early 2017.
Since then, Kingdom of Irdris has been through drastic changes, from being a story about a kingdom under siege, a story about two overambitious teenagers trying to prevent a war, to somehow becoming a story about two characters going to a fantasy college interview???? Basically, I have no idea what I'm doing, and KOI has started to become less of one story, and more of a general project name.
I have also realized that most of my High Fantasy novel ideas have a similar aesthetic for the world. However, flushing out the details for each of them separately has become a tedious task, that most of the time it puts me off from actually writing.
And so, because I have no idea what story I want to tell at this point in time, and because world building is super cool, and because I'm rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender which has probably the best world-building of all time, I am compelled to build a high fantasy world for my future stories!
The plan for the world
At the current moment, I think my world is going to have four large land masses/ continents. I want enough space in the world to create unique and separate cultures, but small enough to keep track of everything.
I also am going to be drawing inspiration from real history and cultures to make the world feel as real and authentic as I possibly can. This is something I was inspired to do by Avatar: The Last Airbender, which as I mentioned earlier, is an absolute masterpiece. This is something I never thought about before because Eurocentric High fantasy stories take place in a similar world, but in reality, most worldbuilding is in some way based on real places. Also, I love history! So I will take that excuse to research!
I am taking between the Renaissance era to pre- Spanish Armada Europe as a baseline for the time period for the elements in my world, however, that is subject to change(look the Greco-Roman period is intriguing! Don't make me choose). It also depends on the regions I will be researching for each continent. I want each place to feel different and have different customs and values.
I have decided to name the four continents Irdris, Vlandorn, Demin, and Croasnt(although I may change this because it sounds an awful lot like a croissant, the French bread). These are the names of the four big kingdoms in my first draft of KOI and since I will be changing things up anyways, I figured I use these as continent names.
The Four Continents
Vlandorn: Vlandorn is going to be VERY Eurocentric. It is probably going to be the closest to the original world of KOI. It's a very generic high fantasy, and the world I have the most fleshed out. I want Vlandorn to feel like 15th/16th century Europe because the European history of that time is both extremely fascinating and especially hilarious. I just love it! European history is also the history I am most versed in(after boring old American history of course) and Eurocentric High Fantasy is what I am mostly used to. I'll probably build Vlandorn first, as I already have a lot of it kinda figured out, so... yeah!
Irdris: I want to base Irdris off of South Asian or Indo- Chinees culture. Obviously, Indian culture is something I am familiar with and Indian History, while extremely complicated, is one of the most interesting! I am not as familiar with South Asian history, but it is so beautiful and fascinating that I think it would be worth it! Also, there is a lot of cultures that I can really dig into! I'm planning on taking influences from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and of course, India(and maybe Thailand and China as well? who knows).
Demin: Demin is probably the continent I know the least about, but I have a few inspirations. I am very intrigued by the idea of Demin being based on Babylon or Egypt, as the architecture and advancements of those civilizations were very unique. Although I am very intrigued by the idea of the continent having influences of Mansa Musa's Mali empire... I might also take influences from Greece(I would do Roman, but I think Demin would be more like the autonomous provinces of Greece). Overall, I'm pretty sure this continent would be a congregation of City-States ruled by a few kingdoms or so...
Croasnt: Lastly Croasnt! Croasnt is one I'm most excited about because It's going to be the most fluid and less defined. Croasnt is a place that is more magically advanced and more isolated than the rest of the kingdoms. Similar to pre-colonial America, I want Croasnt to be a place that the other continents are either new to or haven't discovered. It's more unpredictable and whimsical. I want this continent to be based on the Indigenous tribes of North America and maybe have a possibility of having non-human characters here???? That's something I'll think about in the future.
Islands!: Islands are fun because they are magical hippie places that have no rules!
So...
Anyways, that's the brief overview of my world for now. My plan right now is to mainly focus on Vlandorn, which will take me a few months or so. I am also going to need to figure out the magic system.... which I have no plan for but is kind of crucial for worldbuilding.
Is this too ambitious of a project?? Maybe! But you know what? Tolkien did it! And while I am no Tolkien(there is seriously no way I am writing my own conlang for this), I do believe that his approach to world-building and storytelling might work for me. I want this to be a world that I can return to tell different stories. Where I can find a place that would fit the need of a type of novel while keeping the basic things constant.
I'm not sure I can pull it off, but it's worth a shot! And if I don't pull it off, I'll still have a bunch of random lore to use!
Until Next time!
- Nitya, who is writing this at midnight and refuses to check for typoes.
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