Questions about development of distant lands

[Dankolisic]

To summarize quickly:
The book is a fanatasy/mystery novel. The story is a side of it's own, but something about the world bothers me.
So, just to summarize the lore of the world:
It is a planet, with one large continent. On the north, northeast of the continent, among the mountains, a race lived. They had cities and tall building, but simple machines. There weren't yet advanced. A catastrophe happened, where giant ships descended from the sky and spread chaos and destruction. Only a small number of the race survived, on a highland called Darkland. After many centuries, the truth became a twisted tale of mythical beings and religion. So, the race currently in the book don't really know of other beings that can talk or build except for them.
The empire of Sindor:
In the book, they start hearing about the empire of Sindor, usually in talks in taverns or gossip. They talk of it as a cloud of dust that is slowly spreading through the land. In reality, the empire is slowly expanding their influence and reaching far lands such as Underland(the main location in book 1) and Darkland.
Ideas:
Since the race from the north ( a rough translation is Greenmares ) has degraded into a tribal society, i was thinking about making the Empire medieval or maybe fantasy renaissance or something like that. I am not sure about some sort of magic, but I was thinking that they suffered the same fate as the Greenmares, with ships from the sky destroying their land too, and then afterward finding like a strange energy source from one of the crashed ships (?) that enabled them to progress much faster, something resembling a fusion core.
Premise:
I was thinking that the protagonist of the book along with his company of five clan descendants somehow end up in the empire, and staying there learning and adapting, as well as fighting for the side of the empire in exchange for nation immunity, The main goal of the empire should be to reach the huge iron mountains in the north for ore, and the Greenmares see that as the evil deity they believe is trying to find their goddess ( it is all related to the ships and one object that fell a month before ).
Conclusion:
Would like for someone to ask question about the development of the empire so I can build their land realistically as possible.
P.S. below is a local world map of the first book, the land of the Greenamres made by Inkarnate pro mode.
P.P.S. Podgorje stands for Underland, Tamnokraj is Darkland ( sorry for the croatian titles ).

 

[pmmg]

Well....some questions to clarify...

1) the map does not look big enough to be a Pangea. Is the world bigger than that?

2) So iron is only available in the North? Cause it really ought to be abundant. If Iron is scarce, are they Bronze age?

3) If they have all seen ships that came and destroyed everything, why are they so ignorant about technology and others? That would seem to me to be somewhat eye opening as to their own ignorance.

4) For me, Medieval and tribal are not words that conjure up the same images.

5) Where are the Sindor on the map?

 

[Dankolisic]

Well....some questions to clarify...

1) the map does not look big enough to be a Pangea. Is the world bigger than that?

2) So iron is only available in the North? Cause it really ought to be abundant. If Iron is scarce, are they Bronze age?

3) If they have all seen ships that came and destroyed everything, why are they so ignorant about technology and others? That would seem to me to be somewhat eye opening as to their own ignorance.

4) For me, Medieval and tribal are not words that conjure up the same images.

5) Where are the Sindor on the map?

Glad to have asked, here are the answers:

1) This is a portion of the world(just the northeast, the next picture is the unfinished continent of Argellath
2)Was thinking that the north could have Blue Iron, a very rare ore in the mountains, so to get there the Empire would want to conquer, subjugate or vassalize the greenmare chiefs.
3)It seems that the tales became myth through almost 2000 years, from eye-witness to myths about gods and deities. (see reference: movie Pandorum).
4)If Sindor had some sort of machinery, industrial, they would probably try flight, and my guess is they are trying to expand rapidly, where they could developed gunfire but with a different chemical, so maybe late medieval? And the Underland population, they are medieval, but have a tribal society, where the chiefs rule.
5)Sindor is way south, across the Worhan Great Wasteland. The first glimpse of the Empire( a scouting post) should be reached from South Underland after one month of walking. Enkartom is the capital of Sindor.
Hope this was any useful

 

[Dankolisic]

I usually have political ideas and cultural notes laid down long before I'm finished with the map. I like to do it while drawing the map as I examine how areas fall between various geologic features and whatnot. Most kingdoms will center around resources--fresh water, arable land, horses, fishing spots, woods for deer, etc. Those resources are valuable and often fought over. That should give you more of an idea of the cultural impacts on those lands:
For instance, if it's a land with a lot of hills and veins of iron ore in those hills, chances are there's a lot of mines being worked by dwarves fighting over humans trying to encroach. Or humans have it and dwarves want to retake their ancestral lands. That causes diplomatic crises and perhaps trade issues.

Islands could be fighting off pirates over generational warfare. That could be incorporated into an island kingdom's naval tradition, giving them a warrior-nautical flavor, including new technologies since nothing drives innovation faster than warfare. Volcanic kingdoms could have experimented with air balloons and hot air, for instance.

I had a crazy idea to make mushrooms the main thing in the empire. Giant mushrooms everywhere

 

[Dankolisic]

Not so crazy. Make the mushrooms use a different element for their fibrous structures that makes them much stronger and resistant to damage. Boom. You have Solthstein in the making. Plus, cultivation and shaping of mushrooms would likely become a cultural thing where you have a dedicated class of priests/wizards/wilders known as Shapers (or whatever) that are dedicated to the growth of habitable mushroom structures with officially approved techniques and safety guidelines. What do they grown on? What do they feed on? That will become important. Perhaps that region has a special quality to the soil where the mushrooms have a symbiotic relationship with another natural feature, such as iron-rich rivers that run red and the mushrooms incorporate that iron into their cellular structure. Now, you have another culturally significant natural resource: red water used by the Shapers to grow those mushrooms. Each idea can lead to another by asking questions.

something like that. The history of the empire should be that every other nation mocked them for being the "Shroom empire", and in retaliation, they decided to conquer everything just to send a message that they are not weak.
Instead of trees, there are mushrooms everywhere. There are trees, but they hold little value.
They built their whole culture surrounding mushrooms. They have mushroom pictures on their banners, soldiers have helmets that resemble mushrooms hats, you are right, the mushroom fiber(because they are so large) is much more durable, easier to process and maintain. Almost all meals have mushrooms in them(they do have cattle and other fruits and vegetables). They worship the mushrooms. Cities are built with stone and shroom fiber, swords, shields and armor all have the same fiber integrated, which turned out to be much more durable than the other nations building materials. But they do not live in mushrooms( the empire is so vast that it expands in every direction from the main city of Enkartom(which means mushroom on sindorian language)), instead they build homes whose roofs resemble mushroom hats. The primary source of the iron comes from the black islands on the east, but this is why the Empire is so focused on conquering the northern provinces; they found out deep in the north there are mountains full of blue steel ore.

 

[Dankolisic]

That might be a good deus ex machina, then. Say that the runoff from the blue steel ore is what causes the unnatural growth of the mushrooms. You probably could have a couple of fringe groups that are so dedicated to mushrooms that they live in them, then, if mushrooms are not used for housing (because you'll always have nuts in society). The culture would probably have people growing them in their own gardens as a means of self-sufficiency. Coming up with a reason why they only grow in that area will give you a means to spread their growth through special priest-classes using whatever plot device (blue steel run-off, soil, etc) to make them grow in areas where they normally do not. By bringing in that substance (whatever it is), they could be acting as saboteurs by causing mushroom growth where it is disruptive. Could be ways to encourage rhizomatic action where it spreads underground via roots, and so they encourage root growth where it can't be seen to do things like sap walls and destroy buildings.

The whole plot of the book is about an object(spaceship - escape pod) that fell in the north 2000 years ago. In the object there is a character in cryosleep, and at the end of the books the MC and other characters find out where the ship is. The object has an energy core that is leaking into the river of Caldin, which granted the natives of the northern provinces abilities(faster running, camouflage, strength, shield, precision and powerstrike). That energy core is leaking and eventually will stop, depleting the cryosleep engine. The MC and the others must reach the ship within that period and wake the creature(through time they religiously worshipped her as a goddess) and if they fail, she will die.
But for the Empire, I like your comment. I will definitely put these suggestions in the book. Something disturbed the soil at the same time the object fell 2000 years ago and made the mushrooms so big.
Just for clearance, the Empire is still in late medieval age.

 

[Finchbearer]

I had a crazy idea to make mushrooms the main thing in the empire. Giant mushrooms everywhere

Please do this