In my current WIP I had an idea to mix two genres. On one side of the world I have your mostly typical medieval fantasy side, where there is magic, dragons, knights, warlords, trolls, orcs, new creatures, etc. On the other side of this world, separated by a medium to large-ish ocean is another land mass. On this land mass is the remnants of the old world. Here is a wasteland created by the nuclear and magical explosions that happened during the Tear. The population here is much less, with small communities of people mostly making up this side of the world. They have to search for materials, water, and food if they cannot grow it, protect themselves from bandits and other communities called "Havens" and watch out for roaming mutilated creatures that have been twisted by nuclear and magical fallout. Without going through my whole story arc, my question is, do these mesh? Does a borderlands/fallout part of the world mesh with a LOTR/ WoT part of the world? And yes they would interact, magical bridges can be used to cross between these masses of lands, as well as ships if you make it. The medieval side of the world is protected from any of the fallout from the other side that might affect them, using a magical barrier covering their entire landmass. The other side mostly uses masks and things like you might see in Metro Exodus. To restate, can medieval and wasteland/apocalyptic generas mix?
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can medieval and wasteland/apocalyptic generas mix?
- Thread starter Avadyyrm
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WooHooMan
Auror
Well, my whip is a fantasy crime drama western with a dash of superhero so I say don’t stress about genre too much.
If the story and setting makes sense to you, it’s all good.
If the story and setting makes sense to you, it’s all good.
Orc Knight
Auror
You can. I do it. Post Apocalyptic Fantasy is a thing. My own world's initial setting is twenty some years after a huge magical zombie apocalypse.
Myth WeaverYes. Technological development on a global scale is often uneven. If you assume the technological society was contemptuous of the rest of the world, they could easily have surged far ahead in that department. Presumably, part of this technological advancement involved repudiating the magic as a 'superstition.'
You might be going a bit far with the nuclear war and subsequent fallout bit. First, advanced technological societies - especially a 'compact' one such as you describe - would be vulnerable to a great many things - you wouldn't need hundreds of nukes - more like eight or ten. That would greatly reduce the initial fallout On the undeveloped (medieval) side, such would be interpreted as a plague, possibly supernatural in origin.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for the advice. I wanted to make sure that it made sense for the reader. I will probably scale back the nuclear fallout and just make it a wasteland because as you stated it would make more sense and be more feasible.
I would also suggest this: once, centuries earlier, the technological land and the medieval one were the same. or at least part of a similar group of countries with similar outlooks. Something happened, though. Maybe an astonishing proto-scientist or a group of such caught the eye of the local monarch, accomplishing some task deemed impossible via magic. Said monarch threw his support behind these scientific types, probably over vehement religious objections, causing a split. The scientists formed a technical school that produced wonder after wonder to the increasing ire of the still feudal neighbors. Then, a split occurred in the technological realm, eventually leading to the nuclear holocaust. Make it more interesting, the more potent technological secrets were confined to an arrogant, intrigue ridden (secret) society - remnants of which still exist.
To this day, the remnants of the technological society see the medieval nations as superstitious barbarians, while the priests of the feudal realms put forth the demise of the technological lands as an example of mortal folly and the need for divine guidance - all with appropriate vocabulary.
To this day, the remnants of the technological society see the medieval nations as superstitious barbarians, while the priests of the feudal realms put forth the demise of the technological lands as an example of mortal folly and the need for divine guidance - all with appropriate vocabulary.
Prince of Spires
Auror
The one thing you do need to explain, since there seems to be fairly easy interaction, is why there is a technology level difference. Yes, technology develops at different speeds in different parts of the world. But once you have extensive communication between places that technology gets exchanged. Especially when the difference is this big. Someone will see the potential for profit by introducing the technologies to a certain place or a government will do everything it can to steal these secrets.
Silk is a good real world example here. China had a monopoly on the production of silk, with high prices and limited supply as a consequence. Which also led to people and governments actively trying to figure out how to produce it, and eventually succeeding by smuggling silk worms out of china. And that's just a case for fancy clothing. Imagine to what lengths you would go if you knew someone had refrigeration or penicillin.
Note that I'm not saying there can't be a difference, just that the there should be a reason other than "they're far apart" in my opinion.
Silk is a good real world example here. China had a monopoly on the production of silk, with high prices and limited supply as a consequence. Which also led to people and governments actively trying to figure out how to produce it, and eventually succeeding by smuggling silk worms out of china. And that's just a case for fancy clothing. Imagine to what lengths you would go if you knew someone had refrigeration or penicillin.
Note that I'm not saying there can't be a difference, just that the there should be a reason other than "they're far apart" in my opinion.
Night Gardener
Inkling
As long as there is consistent internal reasoning, sure. No problem. Magical fallout conditions didn't happen to the entire planet, fine. Tell me why the event was relatively isolated. Tell me why the peoples remain isolated. If you want me to believe this is a future earth that bombed itself back to the stoneage and collapsed technological society, there are some details I would be looking for; like evidence of plastics and the remnants of past high tech human activity.
If you need to give yourself even more permission to write whatever you want, here's an vastly oversimplified fun fact: in post-Rome medieval Europe, while knights were off and about wearing chain mail and bashing each other with melee weapons, getting into global domination and developing intercontinental trade... on the North American continent, people were living semi-nomadic lifestyles, using flint-knapping tools, living in organized societies, trading intercontinentally and while very different to the medieval feudal system, were living their lives just fine. Go further south into Central America, and they started getting into gold and silversmithing. Now technologically speaking it seems like I'm talking about centuries apart between the two continents, but these were co-existing realities at the same time. They were also, incidentally, seperated by an ocean.
So, there is already precedent for your premise. Go for it.
If you need to give yourself even more permission to write whatever you want, here's an vastly oversimplified fun fact: in post-Rome medieval Europe, while knights were off and about wearing chain mail and bashing each other with melee weapons, getting into global domination and developing intercontinental trade... on the North American continent, people were living semi-nomadic lifestyles, using flint-knapping tools, living in organized societies, trading intercontinentally and while very different to the medieval feudal system, were living their lives just fine. Go further south into Central America, and they started getting into gold and silversmithing. Now technologically speaking it seems like I'm talking about centuries apart between the two continents, but these were co-existing realities at the same time. They were also, incidentally, seperated by an ocean.
So, there is already precedent for your premise. Go for it.
Yora
Maester
Huge technological differences between regions are not exactly unusual in history.
When the industrial revolution started in Europe, many parts of the world were still medieval. When Europeans came to America, the Americans did not have widespread use of bronze or iron, putting them technically still in the Stone Age.
And in 1500 BC, the eastern Mediterranean was a highly advanced society, while northern Europe barely had villages.
When the industrial revolution started in Europe, many parts of the world were still medieval. When Europeans came to America, the Americans did not have widespread use of bronze or iron, putting them technically still in the Stone Age.
And in 1500 BC, the eastern Mediterranean was a highly advanced society, while northern Europe barely had villages.
- Thread starter
- #10
Thank you guys for the advice. I see now that I need to flesh out the differences and provide more background as to why one area of the world is different from another, and how they got there. I did want to make a point that I forgot to mention earlier, though both continents can be accessed by magical bridges, very very few people know that, and an even smaller number can use them. The interaction between the continents is small, because of the large ocean between them, and so little people knowing of the "Gates" which can be used to access the other side of the ocean. In retrospect I probably need to explain how those gates got there, and why not very many people know of them.
Halcyon Spinney
Acolyte
I think creating believable backstories to both lands will be very important, but both ideas seem great!
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