# Tell me about your non-Medieval Europe based settings.



## BloodyHellSausage (Aug 11, 2017)

Most fantasy involves a pseudo-Medieval Europe setting, which is fine and all, but it gets a little boring after a while. What about a civilization in the jungle, or on a group of islands, or in a snowy mountain? Any setting besides Medieval Europe is fine.


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## Steerpike (Aug 11, 2017)

Does "most" fantasy involve that? I'm not convinced. But I like both frozen and tropical settings. Those are fun. I also like far future fantasy.


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## BloodyHellSausage (Aug 11, 2017)

Well, a lot of fantasy does, at least. That dragon symbol for your logo is rather Medieval-ish.

Not that relevant, but I got the idea of a Medieval Europe-type society that takes place in the tropics. How would that work?


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## Orc Knight (Aug 12, 2017)

Ever look into the Crusades, Moors and other societies from around the Mediterranean around that time? Or, just played some Assassins Creed. Which, I admit, really isn't a good look at it, still. Or deal with the Spanish and the Conquistadors and how they dealt with the Tropical Americas. Just look into history and you can find what you need with it. And then add what flair and possibly dinosaurs and lizard people you need to go with it.

My own fantasy settings usually start in the usual place, then make a beeline for the south and the tropics. And depending on the settings, one magical and one not, they operate differently. Though there are still dinosaurs in both. Because I'm seriously bad about that and I like them too much. They also go north and into the mountains and deserts (sometimes with sandworms) and look into Asian and Oriental sorts of stuff. It really helps that at least for the Eld setting that the main characters are scouts and therefore, scout the world.


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## pmmg (Aug 12, 2017)

I think its a fair observation that much of fantasy has a european/medieval flavor to it and i think there are a lot of reasons for it. But id hardley call it boring or played out. Its a big ocean, plenty of room for more swimmers. If its played out for you, well the opportuntiy is there to do something different. My current world setting I loosely based on scandinvia, which i suppose is european, but its also kind of a mish mosh of many cultures. How about you tell us about yours?


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## skip.knox (Aug 12, 2017)

I'd be willing to guess that most Chinese fantasy is set in China, most African fantasy is set in Africa, and so on. For that matter, most American private investigator stories are set in America and no one complains much about that. And darn near all cowboy stories are set in the American West, despite the fact that there are cowboys in Italy, France, Argentina, _inter alia_.


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## BloodyHellSausage (Aug 12, 2017)

I'm actually rather shy about revealing too much about my world. I think I would have to head out and experience foreign cultures some time so I could write better.


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## psychotick (Aug 12, 2017)

Hi,

Most of my epic fantasy started out there. But it got altered over time. So initially in Maverick the humans live in a medieval Europe setting, but the elves of course have their own fantasy world (though it's part of the same world) where they live an almost Communist life style in the trees of great forests with magic thrown in. Then in the Godlost Land I created a new world which is probably medieval-ish but has cultural elements from most of the world thrown in. Mostly I did it so I could have creatures / races from different mythos all rubbing shoulders. In the Arcanist I returned to classic Europe, but then pushed the time period forward more or less to the industrial revolution, so I could have steam - and hence steampunk.

More recently in two books I haven't yet finished, I've moved to Roman culture. One is set in another world which is magical in nature, essentially Celtic, two hundred years after the Roman Ninth legion arrived in it and built a great city. The other is set on an alternate Earth around the fourteenth century, but is again steampunk in nature so has loads of tech, and is part of the great Roman Empire - it never fell!

I don't know that it's fair to say that most fantasy lives in Medieval Europe. For me I think, that's just been a starting point.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Sheilawisz (Aug 12, 2017)

I think it's true that many Fantasy worlds are similar to Medieval Europe.

The setting of my current story in progress is called Wander's Land. This world in particular is different to all of my other Fantasy settings, because it's quite similar to what England was in the 1860's or perhaps the 1870's. Wander's Land is actually my own version of the classic Wonderland.

Instead of the normal countries of the British islands they have Ayngland, Skatland, Wails and Ayreland.

They all are a powerful union, ruled by a mighty and dangerous Mage Queen. The Wandellian people normally live very happy and peaceful lives, but they are under constant threat from a rival Queen that lives across the sea. There are various magical creatures, Mages are well-known and in general the people fear and hate Magic.

Wandellians use horses and carriages a lot, but they also have powerful steam trains and some of those are very large. Their cities have electric light posts even though electricity inside homes is uncommon. They need loads of lumber in Winter, and their weaponry are sabers, swords, rifles, bayonets and very advanced artillery.

Their chemical industry has produced high explosives and very dangerous pesticides. They have a Halloween-like tradition called Hallewayn, and many Wandellian children love certain squirrel-like animals called Skaellyn.

There are lakes of a violet sticky liquid very similar to honey.


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## CupofJoe (Aug 12, 2017)

I had a long conversation with a Saudi friend [I would now like to call them] about what it is like to live in the Kingdom today and what their history/mythology says it was like back-in-the-day.
It gave me a very different point of view to my western European/Anglo world.
There was a distinct dichotomy between their personal belief in Islam and their belief in pre-islamic magic, stories, and myths.
It was a fascinating chat and has given me a huge list of things I need to know more about.
and BTW Saudi food is delicious! No Sheep's ***** but very tasty salads and lamb pilaf!


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## Mythopoet (Aug 12, 2017)

My world is kind of a mish-mash of time periods. For instance, the Italian peninsula is divided between the Roman Kingdom which never focused on conquest and never became an empire. Instead they focused on knowledge and discovery and so became the leading area of scholarship in the western world. The aesthetic at the time of my current WIP is based on early Italian Renaissance. Northern Europe is much less advanced, but is composed of various stable societies based mostly on pre-medieval Europe. Much of it is made up of a confederacy of Celtic tribes. The rest is also mostly clan/tribe oriented. Then there is the Greek-Egyptian Allied Empire which is strongly based on the Greek Classical period and the Egyptian Late period. In this version Alexander never conquers Egypt and instead Greece and Egypt become allies, helping each other to stay in power over the centuries. There's also a strong Imperial Japanese government, based on Japan's Heian period.


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## Steerpike (Aug 12, 2017)

BloodyHellSausage said:


> Not that relevant, but I got the idea of a Medieval Europe-type society that takes place in the tropics. How would that work?



I don't see why not. It's all in the execution. You might take into account how geography and climate shaped aspects of medieval European society, and then either adjust your tropical society according to don't adjust it and come up with a rationale for why it works they way it is.


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## elemtilas (Aug 14, 2017)

Sheilawisz said:


> They all are a powerful union, ruled by a mighty and dangerous Mage Queen. The Wandellian people normally live very happy and peaceful lives, but they are under constant threat from a rival Queen that lives across the sea. There are various magical creatures, Mages are well-known and in general the people fear and hate Magic.



Sounds interesting!



> Wandellians use horses and carriages a lot, but they also have powerful steam trains and some of those are very large.



Did Brunel's broad gauge win out *there*!?










> There are lakes of a violet sticky liquid very similar to honey.



The Welch's Concord Grape Juice Syrup Lake District?


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## Mythopoet (Aug 14, 2017)

Mythopoet said:


> For instance, the Italian peninsula is divided between the Roman Kingdom...



Forgot to say what the other power on the Italian peninsula is. To the north of the Roman Kingdom is the Etruscan league which covers most of northern Italy.


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## Demesnedenoir (Aug 14, 2017)

Hmm, trilogy I'm working on starts in a clan/viking-esque frozen setting, with plenty of ruins, where the culture "squats" in castles a previous culture left behind. Book 2 takes these people through open plains, pitted against a more northern Euro-medieval people, and finally they will reach jungles and other stuff.

Another book will take place on equitorial islands with sort of a morrocan falvor to the architecture, but the culture will be based on their religion, so can't really compare to Earth much.

Lots of weird mashup and stuff based on religion.


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## Sheilawisz (Aug 16, 2017)

Thanks for your comments, Elemtilas.

If you find my Wander's Land setting cool and interesting, maybe you would like the story in question. It's called _Alice into Darkness_ and you can read it at Wattpad. Just find me there, I am Sheilawisz just like here in Mythic Scribes.

It's not finished yet, but I am getting very close to the ending!

About the giant steam trains: No complete description of them is provided in the story. They are military trains, used to transport very large numbers of troops and also artillery, shells and other weaponry in times of war. These trains are described as being far too large to arrive at civilian train stations, and they have railways of their own.

Also, the sound of their steam is described as deafening and monstrous.

The lakes of sticky violet liquid are more common in certain parts of Ayngland, and they are a natural thing not related to Magic. This liquid is used as a sweetener in breakfast, since it's cheap and delicious.

My protagonist almost drowned in one of those lakes after getting dropped there by a giant raven.


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## psychotick (Aug 16, 2017)

Hi,

Just as an aside you might want to look into the history of Breitspurbahn - Hitler's proposed broad gauge railway. In his case it was proposed to be three metres wide and the trains that ran on it something more like land based ocean liners.

Cheers, Greg.


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## DeathtoTrite (Aug 16, 2017)

I like the steppes/ silk road/ middle east. So much of the way I world build stems from trade and resources, so these locations really lend themselves to take inspiration from. Plus, awesome leaders, battles, and stories come out of these regions!

Honestly, I feel like western Europe gets a bad rap. I think the problem is people think they can use it without research or thorough world building. Just have some barons, an evil duke or two, plucky, well-fed peasants and a smith that churns out steel like no ones business. Throw in anachronistic taverns, white-wash organized crime into a guild, and sprinkle on some travelling wizards and done! Now you can focus on that peasant boy destined to defeat  [insert ominous name here] and his army of [insert always chaotic evil race here]

Hell, I'd say don't call it medieval europe setting. I'd call it a lazy setting. Iberia fought in the Reconquista. HRE had fascinating internal politics. Italy was an incredible confluence of cultures. Scandinavia explored and traded far beyond its borders (except Finns of course, which are a wholly different cultural entity). Lithuania resisted Christianity for centuries after its neighbors converted. France fought heretics and cobbled together a country filled with different ethnicities. England was the great melting pot of Celtic, Anglo-saxon, Norman, and Viking cultures. 

Point is, if medieval europe is somehow boring, the author is doing it wrong.


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## Insolent Lad (Aug 16, 2017)

I've churned out five novels so far in a more-or-less Polynesian setting that knows nothing of European ways. Yes, the first three (the Malvern Trilogy) had a European find his way into their world, whom I used as a bit of tongue-in-cheek take on the whole 'white savior' theme (he's the one who gets saved, much of the time). In the latest two, the stories are told purely from the 'native' view. One to go before I desert the world of the Mora.

I've nothing against the pseudo-Medieval Western setting, and I've done stuff that at least tends in that direction. But there are an whole lot of worlds and cultures out there to, um, appropriate.


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## Mythopoet (Aug 16, 2017)

DeathtoTrite said:


> Point is, if medieval europe is somehow boring, the author is doing it wrong.



Very true. What most people call a "medieval Europe" setting is really more like a pseudo-historical ye olde English setting or a "this is what I generically think medieval Europe was like based on history classed I didn't pay attention to 10 years ago".


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## skip.knox (Aug 16, 2017)

Also, far too much of what is assumed to be medieval is specifically English medieval. There were many other cultures, all quite different from England.

Game of Thrones has only added to this tendency.

I've been setting my stories specifically elsewhere. One is in southern Germany and Switzerland. One is in Dacia and Thrace (Constantinople). One is on an island off the coast of Brittany. My current WIP is in southern France. Another in the Harz Mountains.

There's just so much more to the Middle Ages than boring old England.


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## Michael K. Eidson (Aug 16, 2017)

The setting for my WIP is a portal world that was once tribal in nature to the extreme. Humans from Earth came through the portal and decided the world needed them to govern it. The result has similarities to medieval Europe, but there are tons of differences too.


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## Tom (Aug 16, 2017)

Mine is based on the late Roman Empire and the conquest of Germanic and Celtic territory. It also incorporates a Northeastern American geographical setting and North African/Saharan cultural influences for the empire. I'm enjoying writing it!


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## elemtilas (Aug 16, 2017)

psychotick said:


> Hi,
> 
> Just as an aside you might want to look into the history of Breitspurbahn - Hitler's proposed broad gauge railway. In his case it was proposed to be three metres wide and the trains that ran on it something more like land based ocean liners.
> 
> Cheers, Greg.




Too bad none of that ever got built. It would be interesting to see how well an extra-broad gauge railway would run.

UK broad gauge was just a tadge over 7'. In the Eastlands of The World, the principle railway lines are on an 8' _(oliphant)_ gauge, while trolleys and short industrial lines are narrow gauge at 4' _(imperial)_ gauge. No steam, though. Either ox- or horse-drawn or else motivated by golems.


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## BloodyHellSausage (Aug 16, 2017)

elemtilas said:


> Too bad none of that ever got built. It would be interesting to see how well an extra-broad gauge railway would run.
> 
> UK broad gauge was just a tadge over 7'. In the Eastlands of The World, the principle railway lines are on an 8' _(oliphant)_ gauge, while trolleys and short industrial lines are narrow gauge at 4' _(imperial)_ gauge. No steam, though. Either ox- or horse-drawn or else motivated by golems.



Maybe it's better that none of that got built, since, you know, they're Nazis.


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## elemtilas (Aug 16, 2017)

BloodyHellSausage said:


> Maybe it's better that none of that got built, since, you know, they're Nazis.



*shrugs*

Hitler built about 3000km of autobahn highways as well.  Guess that shouldn't have been built either, since, you know, they're Nazis.  Or no, maybe Germany should just tear up all the autobahn system and return to one lane dirt roads?

Let's just invoke Godwin and leave this aspect of the discussion be!


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## BloodyHellSausage (Aug 17, 2017)

elemtilas said:


> *shrugs*
> 
> Hitler built about 3000km of autobahn highways as well.  Guess that shouldn't have been built either, since, you know, they're Nazis.  Or no, maybe Germany should just tear up all the autobahn system and return to one lane dirt roads?
> 
> Let's just invoke Godwin and leave this aspect of the discussion be!



No point in tearing down autobahn highways if they do no harm, but I was just saying the less the Nazis rule the better.

You're right, let's leave this aspect be.


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## skip.knox (Aug 17, 2017)

I've always liked the notion of a magical train with a wizard engineer. It requires no tracks because the wizard lays the tracks as they go and pulls them up as the train leaves. Right of way would still be an issue, but you could make the gauge flexible, depending on what sort of "car" was being transported.


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## medievalfantasyqueen (Aug 26, 2017)

Hey buddy.
In my story, there is a fictional continent consisting of three countries, but four kingdoms (because the biggest of the countries is just too big, and well, kingdoms is not the same as a country).
But my point it, I have this nation called Lyrea, which is inspired by Middle-Eastern/Indian cultures. Lyrea is the most magical place in my continent, with its elemental spirits (which are an amalgamation of the Celtic sprites and the Middle Eastern/Arabian djinns, more the latter than the former), and mages (who use elemental magic, and their mana is also tied in to and with the elemental spirits, which was how magicians and sorcerers fucntioned within Middle-Eastern mythology). Lyrea is mostly a desert, and the northern parts are cooler and more fertile (and thus much wealthier) than the south. 
Their culture is more liberal than my European inspired kingdoms, with an acceptance of polygamy, different sexualities, and politics. I seek to show this as both a boon and a bane; about how this liberal culture has lead to some serious problems in Lyrea.


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## Corwynn (Aug 28, 2017)

skip.knox said:


> Also, far too much of what is assumed to be medieval is specifically English medieval. There were many other cultures, all quite different from England.
> 
> Game of Thrones has only added to this tendency.
> 
> ...



You raise a good point about Medieval settings being too often based on England in particular. Game of Thrones is indeed the worst offender. Westeros (at least as represented on the show, and except for Dorne) is _painfully_ English. You'd think the wildlings would have Scottish accents and culture, since they're supposedly based on the Picts; but no, the Land Beyond the Wall is apparently just more England with even worse weather (also how does anything grow there if the snow never melts, but I digress).

I suspect the reason for this is because most early fantasy authors (Tolkien, Dunsany, Lewis, etc.) were (and often still are) British, and thus wrote what they knew. The Medieval Englandesque setting then became entrenched through imitation and repetition.

I too fell into this trap for a while. In early versions of my invented universe, the main setting was going to be Albrionn. Three guesses as to where I got the name, and the first two don't count. To my credit, it was to be based on Victorian Britain instead of Medieval England. Yet as time went by, I began adding other places and periods along with some inventions of my own, and eventually Albrionn evolved into Hualketh. The same process happened with the rest of the world as well.


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## traumallama (Sep 3, 2017)

I agree Fantasy is replete with examples of Medieval England and Europe. I have no problem with it of course, because I love the time period and place. It is always refreshing to see something other than the middle ages. World History is so vast and complex, it can be a source of endless inspiration.
I studied American History for a very long time, so that is what I'm drawing from in my own world building. It started out as the Norse discovery and settlement of America, but now it has changed into more of an industrial America setting for urban places with some colonial period thrown in too. I also like the theme of America as a melting pot of different languages, peoples, cultures, beliefs, etc. 19th century America is also such a complex time socially and politically. I just enjoy the period so that is where I am right now with my own world building. It is always a writer's prerogative to change their mind!


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## D. Gray Warrior (Sep 11, 2017)

I had one world that I no longer write in based on the pre-Columbian Americas, particularly Mesoamerica. The main country was a loose parallel of the Aztecs, but with similarities to the Roman Empire in its infrastructure and political system (they had roads, bath houses, an autocratic emperor, etc.) I tried to stay as far away as I could from a monarchy as at the time I saw them overused and just as bad as the "pseudo-medieval fantasy setting." So, position of emperor was not hereditary, but rather appointed by the gods. Sometimes they would choose the emperor's son as the heir, but that was just as often not the case. The shamans would seek out this heir and prepare him for running the empire. The shamans used magic sand to guide them towards the individual they're looking for. They would follow the path of this dust devil or tiny sandstorm until they found him.


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## BloodyHellSausage (Sep 12, 2017)

D. Gray Warrior said:


> I had one world that I no longer write in based on the pre-Columbian Americas, particularly Mesoamerica. The main country was a loose parallel of the Aztecs, but with similarities to the Roman Empire in its infrastructure and political system (they had roads, bath houses, an autocratic emperor, etc.) I tried to stay as far away as I could from a monarchy as at the time I saw them overused and just as bad as the "pseudo-medieval fantasy setting." So, position of emperor was not hereditary, but rather appointed by the gods. Sometimes they would choose the emperor's son as the heir, but that was just as often not the case. The shamans would seek out this heir and prepare him for running the empire. The shamans used magic sand to guide them towards the individual they're looking for. They would follow the path of this dust devil or tiny sandstorm until they found him.



Feel free to tell me more details. Maybe by private messaging, if you prefer.


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## wirehead (Sep 14, 2017)

Huh, so I've spent a bunch of time dusting off a bunch of notes from ~2003 that were more pseudo-medieval fantasy setting and, as I'm going through trying to turn them into something new, I'm realizing that the new version is drifting really far away from that.

The realization that it was always built around (based on AD&D's Mystra or the D&D Known World) was that powerful magic would result in a society that was more like a mirror held to modern day society, with industrialization.  Except that was 2003 and the world around me was different and I'm probably wiser now that I'm older.

I kinda feel like the traditional feudalism can totally go, even in an otherwise fantastic setting.  Feudalism was built around the notion of the knights as superior.  But what is a row of knights in a suit of armor if some punk kid has a very powerful but untrained fireball?  Conversely, magic must be limited to be able to have interesting stories, so a king also can't send in a warlock to take down the populace if they trick him into wasting all of his spells and then rush him with rocks.

I was reading "Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes" by Tamim Ansary and the book pretty much re-tells a chunk of history from the perspective of the Islamic world.  And the key driving point made was that the traditional western version of history is about the sea routes.  When they talk about the Middle East, it's always about the Canaanites and Phoenicians and Greeks and the people who traded along the coast of the Mediterranean but much less about the land routes connecting the coastline to the rest of the world.

Thus, the empire that I'd written up in 2003 as a fairly standard fantasy kingdom has mutated.  They are convinced they are the one great everlasting empire, but are decadent and on the decline.  They are the archeologists of that universe, but they are only doing it to show how they are the perfect society.  They have a King and Barons and Knights and they always manage to never quite have to actually call out the Knights to take out a rebellion because they don't want the population to realize how toothless the whole thing is and instead call for subversive secret agents to solve their problems.

And so they are kinda stuck in a corner, where everyone is content to see them as this ageless empire, and the truly interesting stories that I'm looking to tell are the second-class-citizens in the fairly standard fantasy kingdom.  Or the people in the desert.  Or the islanders in an age of sail where there's no America to conquer and where some of the ships float through the air.

My present problem is, amusingly, wardrobe.


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## Ewolf20 (Feb 1, 2019)

I mostly like working in more modern settings but one world i've built was a african inspired setting where the main races were arthropod humanoids. it was my answer to the endless sea of sometimes bog standard medieval settings starting humans and human wannabes.


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## Miles Lacey (Feb 1, 2019)

My WIP is based on a mixture of the following:

1.  Korean traditional family structures with some tweaks.
2.   Balinese naming conventions.
3.   Southeast Asian legends about spirits and mythical creatures.  
4.  Japan and the Weimar Republic in the 1920s for the political side of things.
5.  Arabic superstitions and customs with some tweeks here and there.
6.  The "sin cities" of the 1920s: Paris, Berlin and Shanghai.  Mostly Shanghai.
7.  The gritty film noir movies and gangster movies of the inter-war period that were often set in New York and Chicago.
8.  The Islamic Faith but with Greek, Maori and Bhuddist elements mixed in to create what I think is a unique polytheistic faith.


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## Tom (Feb 1, 2019)

My world is heavily influenced by Mediterranean/Near East antiquity and Iron Age Europe. Some of the main cultures are based on Egypt, the Assyrians, Byzantine, Greece, northern Africa, the Celts, and other European tribes. The main imperial force in this world is made up of a culture of horseback archers who were once desert nomads.


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## WooHooMan (Feb 2, 2019)

Lately, I've been trying to make settings without any obvious basis in real-world culture or history.

So, the last setting that I've come-up is entirely made out of clay and is mostly based on a gag-oriented comic strip from the early 1900's and nonsensical stories I came-up with while playing with toys as a child.


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## Devor (Feb 2, 2019)

I don't know if the setting I'm working in for my sprites counts as non-European or as non-Medieval, but I'll talk about it anyways.

It's not really medieval.  It's not set in a specific time period.  It's more like I took a medieval setting, I dropped certain scientific advances like electricity and gunpowder, and then advanced technology with those limitations.  For example they have factories, but they still have a cottage industry who pay their taxes in the form of spare parts to support those factories, since they break and rust all the time because they don't have stainless steel.  The main government is also a kingdom, but the king's herald conducts extensive interviews and selects several magistrates for the people to vote for as local leaders.  Details like these give the setting a semi-Medieval, semi-Modern feel that I'm trying to carry throughout the setting.

It's also not _really_ European, even though it is.  The history of the setting involves the people of Crenifer, kind of based on Ireland (hence, sprites) originally having their peninsula invaded from the Northwest by the Empire of Pel Daxis (no specific real-world counterpart, I'm still working on their culture).  That was like a thousand years ago, and the countries on the peninsula are riddled with evidence of Pel Daxis, a lot like much of the world has signs of Alexander the Great's old conquest, or that of ancient Rome.  The Kingdom of Crenifer is the least Pel Daxian (they're inland, while Pel Daxians mostly settled on the coast).  But they're there, and they aren't villains or anything like that.  The story also takes place in a trade city that feels very diverse and modern, both with the people and the fantasy races.

Which leads me to... well, the sprites.  The story isn't about Pel Daxis or the Kingdom of Crenifer. It's about the sprites of Falina Cairn, and other forms of fairies, like the asrai who live in the canals, the mera in the well, the knackers in the mines, or the crazy group of hobs, wild and wacky because each individual hob is like an extremely unique (and maybe a little broken) race.  The thing is, some of the hobs are based on the kobold/goblin varieties of different cultures, like the Duende of South America (with a hole in its hand that leads it to drop things when it wants to be helpful). 

In book one the two main characters are sprites who are up against each other and basically the Crenifer mafia.  As to being medieval and european, you can make of all that what you will.


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## Gurkhal (Feb 2, 2019)

So far I've got ideas for a 19th Century inspired setting. Ideas are pretty rough and vague so far but I'm getting there.


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## T B Carter (Feb 2, 2019)

My books are mostly set in a prehistoric style world so lots of big scary (weird) creatures, human technology is around the early industrial revolution level (ok maybe a bit of steampunk snuck in while I wasn't  looking) and the relatively small human population is spread along one massive river.


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## D. Gray Warrior (Feb 2, 2019)

I had a Pre-Colombian Americas themed world at one point, and the main characters hailed from Zapota, which was based on the Aztecs but with some Roman influences, as well. On the surface, they were just like the Aztecs with their geography, architecture, clothing, human sacrifices, etc, but they also had complex infrastructure like the Romans, and the political system of Zapota was very similar to that of the Roman Empire. They also had gladiatorial fights. The religion was kinda based on Ancient Greek mythology, mainly with the emphasis on Fate.

The neighboring kingdom was supposed to be Olmec, and they were constantly at war with each other. This nation was called Lazupec. The Lazupec built large basalt heads just like the Olmec in real life, but theirs were enchanted and can talk and make all the facial expressions humans can make.

Sanzi were the Incans and had a standard fantasy monarchy. They were also often at war with Zapota.

I also recall Chettawah, who were the Cherokee and had Snake Warriors (think Aztec Eagle Warriors or Jaguar Warriors, but with a snake motif.)


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## Svrtnsse (Feb 3, 2019)

There was a question in the daily world building thread which allowed me to sum my story up in a few words:

"It's a modern-day fantasy world, but without cars."

The core idea was to take a bog standard fantasy world, and then try and imagine what it would be like if it didn't get stuck in the dark ages but developed until it reached the same level as the real world of today. Things changed a little bit from that concept over time, but it's still fairly close to that idea.

Mind you, it's not an attempt to be "realistic" about it. It's just a starting point to draw ideas from.


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## Mel Syreth (Feb 3, 2019)

Victorian England counts right?


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## Voydemain (Feb 4, 2019)

Well, the current book I am working on takes place in 6th century BC. Egypt and Greece. So that yeah that's fairly non-medieval but still Europe-ish since Greece is part of Europe.


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## Gotis (Mar 30, 2019)

The world I'm working on has four major continents. One is based on medieval Europe. North of there is Verdland which is based on Scandinavia. It's a harsh land producing a harsh people. Frost Giants are the dominant race here, leaving Humans and Tomte(short elven folk) to fight over the scraps. Add to that to that the recent arrival of a new group of Inuit inspired humans along with the Adlet(dog-folk) and you've got a powder keg.
To the south is Gondwana, which is based in Africa. I've not fleshed it out much yet.
To the East is an unnamed land based on Asia, mostly China and Japan at the moment. Xiana was a great empire. When the emperor died, three groups vied for power. The Capital is a massive city surrounded by The Great Scar which is a massive pit dug out by a Jinn to protect the city with a labyrinth below to enter and leave. While the three armies fought over the city, many other parts of the empire rebelled and formed new nations. 
  My basic idea in this world is to take the mythology, folklore and history of these places and make them all fit together in one world. The Europe part is fairly easy for me. The others require more research


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