i'm kind of nervous asking about this because i'm not great at explaining things, but i'll do my best. does anyone have any tips on integrating real life into fantasy worlds? i'm trying to make the regions of my universe based on how earth is now, while keeping it in the past but not being exactly correct.
like, the universe references old countries/states (for example, texas and france) and calls them "the old country." before the circuits took over, actually. i also plan on keeping ethnicities and religions like they are on earth.
i think i have an idea on how to make this work, but i'm having trouble connecting the pieces, because the universe is not at ALL like ours. everything is shaped differently, and pirates & cowboys exist at the same time as cyborgs & ghosts. i want to keep the chaos, but also make it work somehow. i know it's possible. any tips?
sorry if this wasn't very understandable. thank you!!
first off, cowboys and pirates (i am a pirate enthusiast) coexisting with cyborgs and ghosts is among the best ideas I've ever heard, so i already love where this is going
i assume you mean the old regions of the world got renamed and maybe had their borders changed, if the shapes of the places are different- I think if that's the case (if not please tell me cause im very intrigued and id be happy to help) i think you should consider making the Old Country heavily integrated in whatever school systems they have, as in the curriculum, and how the people in your story have adapted from the Old Country. maybe they went the exact opposite direction when it comes to culture and law, or maybe they went back to the far past of that land- i dont know just kinda throwing stuff out there but yeah id like to help!
haha thank you!! i think we match like puzzle pieces because i'm a huge cowboy enthusiast >:]
also i do in fact plan to have it like that! in schools and history books they explain the old country (around 2000 - 2100) as the turning point on earth and how everything started ending up how it is in the present. the thing i'm stuck on though, is figuring out how the countries now would form the shape that is Prepania (the continent i'm building), and how the regions would divide up into pirates, cowboys, and other things that make no sense from a futuristic standpoint. the shape could easily be explained, because y'know, high tides and tectonic plates, that would make the other two continents i'm working on fit in the world, but everything else??? UM…
i've been brainstorming and i have a few ideas, but none flow as well as i'd like them to. it's getting to a point where i feel i'd have to scrap the old country idea and just completely make an entirely new fantasy land.
also thanks for your help!!! you've given me a few ideas just from what you've said >:]
haha thank you!! i think we match like puzzle pieces because i'm a huge cowboy enthusiast >:]
cowboys and piracy will always go together- theyre the golden fugitives of the land and sea >:D
ok on the continent part!!
ive done some very minimal research just now and found out that over time, continents and land break apart and away from one another. for example, pangea- https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-boostdish-us-revc&source=android-browser&q=pangea . as it says there, "From about 300-200 million years ago (late Paleozoic Era until the very late Triassic), the continent we now know as North America was contiguous with Africa, South America, and Europe. They all existed as a single continent called Pangea." Would it work in the story for all of the landforms to be mutliple islands and stuff?
yeah that's exactly what i was talking about with tectonic plates! they drift away, and that's exactly what i was planning on doing. but for the whole continent to be multiple islands, i didn't think about. i might have to redraw the map and do that. it could work a lot better than what i have now.
and the cowboys and pirates thing is so true.
thanks for your ideas bestie :D
yea np!
i'd be willing to assist with the map if you still need help, or with anything else!
the thing i'm stuck on though, is figuring out how the countries now would form the shape that is Prepania (the continent i'm building), and how the regions would divide up into pirates, cowboys, and other things that make no sense from a futuristic standpoint.
So it sounds like you've got the map figured out, kinda, but now you need help with how cowboys and pirates and cyborgs and ghosts end up all coexisting in a futuristic world. Right?
Couple of ideas, if you haven't though of them:
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Extreme nationalism. Perhaps aspects of a particular Old Country have been amplified as history has been twisted by the passing of time. For instance, the US is no longer in history textbooks. It's all just called Texas now, and all the Texans were cowboys (of course), so any descendant of someone from the Old Country Texas would be a cowboy by default. That's their heritage, their national identity. Maybe the people from an ocean-or-water-related old country, like the Mediterranean area, only remember their ancestors as pirates. So of course, if you're from that region, you're a pirate. It just makes sense. Perhaps a country was known for delving deep into tech (Like China) and now their borders are full of cyborgs. Maybe a country or area full of spirit-religion and ancestor worship (like India or Africa) would be prone to their people turning into ghosts after death. Maybe something like that.
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Religion. You mentioned you wanted religion in your future world. Maybe the cowboys and pirates stick to their older, less-futuristic ways of living out of religious devotion. They worship the spirit of Roy Rogers and Blackbeard, or something like that. The Cyborgs might worship the pursuit of tech advances, and the ghosts may have some religious-based supernatural power that allows them to be ghosts. Anything can be explained by a pantheon of gods or religious beliefs.
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Maybe it's just economic status. Cowboys are poor farmers and ranchers, living in a poorer section of the continent. They don't have access to advanced tech or ways of living, so they live with what they can get their hands on. Horses, revolvers, and lariats. Pirates are poor as well, which has driven them to crime, except they live near big bodies of water, so of course it's piracy. The black market can only get them a certain level of tech- like old ships with sails and cannons and such. The Cyborgs are rich people, frantically trying to stay alive by replacing the dying parts of them with expensive tech. And maybe the Ghosts are the richest top percent, who can afford to have their minds digitalized, and become immortal programs, sorta like AI, but not programming. Just ghosts of their former selves.
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Maybe it's all just futuristic. For instance, instead of cowboys riding horses, they ride genetically altered and mutated mounts that are crazy fast and strong. They use lazer guns instead of revolvers, and they keep huge herds of cattle using drones and robot ranchhands. Maybe pirates aren't on ships with regular sails and anchors and cannons, they're on 'ships' that hover above the water and the land, and fire ion cannons. They use solar sails instead of wind sails, and they move at lightning speeds, crewed by a mix of men and computer intelligences. The Cyborgs are, of course, already a futuristic blending of tech and flesh, and maybe they make up a big part of the population, since replacing body parts is so easy now. Cyborg pets. Cyborgs getting married and having a cyborg baby, They become so natural and normal they have their own society. And maybe ghosts are those who have transcended their physical bodies. Maybe they're AI's who have grown a personality. Maybe they're a digital copy of a dead person's mind. Maybe they're some voodoo science we don't grasp. But really, you can explain literally any kind of culture or group with this one.
Just some ideas, if you're trying to figure out how those all get transitioned from the Old Country to the new continent :)
THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT'S SO HELPFUL!!! really gave me a lot to think about. i originally planned to have the cowboys and pirates completely isolate themselves from the new technology, but i realy like the genetically altered stuff and laser guns…. that sounds awesome
