Fantasy The long-lasting thread building

[Glasswing]

I'd be opposed to using direct ripoffs of the culture itself if not setting it in a world that is meant to be similar to ours. I meant in a more aesthetic and technological sense, and perhaps as inspiration for mythology. I'd also be down for mingling different cultural aspects in a way that makes sense in order to create an entirely unique one.
For instance, if anyone is familiar with the Discworld series, there are places that are clearly inspired by London, Ireland, Egypt, China, and Australia (mainly as a means of satirizing them).


It's tiring that the majority of fantasy settings are in a westernized setting. Although it is understandable, since that is what most people are familiar with. More interesting is to draw inspiration from Eastern cultures, or ancient American cultures, or African or Middle Eastern cultures. Anyone can, in theory, create metalwork and technology given the proper resources. There doesn't need to be western values instilled into everything that exists. It's more enjoyable to play around with understanding a society with a different value system. Or at least I think there is. But perhaps that's because I have strong cultural ties to Asia and resent history being westernized (' ). I still enjoy fantasy settings inspired by European influences when they're creative enough.

I see. I guess what I am more saying is that if we do base our world using existing cultures (deliberately) , that we avoid comparative language so that it absolves the need to research the culture, as well as approaching too close to the culture.

*aesthetic sense and mythology would kind of inevitably be derivative, regardless of what we set out to do. This is because nobody can create something entirely knew and even our notion of what a mythology, for example, is is derivative from the mythologies we know. Hence, the question would never be whether there would be some basis, but rather whether we would actively seek to take this or that from a given culture and stamp it into what we are doing.
*technological sense is independent of culture, as you said yourself


so that´s not really something that is relevant to whether or not we base the culture on anything.

Of course, with the mythology, even if we don't do it deliberately, we will likely create something vaguely similar to other mythos. Mythologies are partly used to represent things like the human condition, and we can't just create a new human condition.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I see. I guess what I am more saying is that if we do base our world using existing cultures (deliberately) , that we avoid comparative language so that it absolves the need to research the culture, as well as approaching too close to the culture.
Of course, with the mythology, even if we don't do it deliberately, we will likely create something vaguely similar to other mythos. Mythologies are partly used to represent things like the human condition, and we can't just create a new human condition.

I think that even if we take things from a culture, we should explain it in depth when we create a description of the culture, resulting in just having to refer to the description instead of having to read up on it and keep it completely accurate. So I definitely agree with you that just using comparative language should be avoided as much as possible.

 

[ApfelSeine]

*aesthetic sense and mythology would kind of inevitably be derivative, regardless of what we set out to do. This is because nobody can create something entirely knew and even our notion of what a mythology, for example, is is derivative from the mythologies we know. Hence, the question would never be whether there would be some basis, but rather whether we would actively seek to take this or that from a given culture and stamp it into what we are doing.
*technological sense is independent of culture, as you said yourself


so that´s not really something that is relevant to whether or not we base the culture on anything.

Well I meant more regional technology than cultural technology I suppose. Such as architecture and farming techniques. Though any culture can potentially create anything, there is probably going to be an impact on what type of technology develops first. For instance, there was a lot of medical knowledge discovered in middle eastern cultures, which were not found by European cultures who got distracted by their own theories of medicine (and did not find out the correct ones for awhile because they would rarely dissect humans).

 

[Glasswing]

Well I meant more regional technology than cultural technology I suppose. Such as architecture and farming techniques. Though any culture can potentially create anything, there is probably going to be an impact on what type of technology develops first. For instance, there was a lot of medical knowledge discovered in middle eastern cultures, which were not found by European cultures who got distracted by their own theories of medicine (and did not find out the correct ones for awhile because they would rarely dissect humans).

Don't forget numbers. The middle east developed the numeric concept of zero and represented it on paper. *Leaving my mistake here, but I should have said popularized it. Europe got zerp from them. What I meant to say was algebra was innovated by the middle east by Al Khwarizmi.

I think that even if we take things from a culture, we should explain it in depth when we create a description of the culture, resulting in just having to refer to the description instead of having to read up on it and keep it completely accurate. So I definitely agree with you that just using comparative language should be avoided as much as possible.

I think my fear derived from seeing a lot of rps simply reference a culture (usually western europe) instead of putting forth descriptions.

 

[ApfelSeine]

Don't forget numbers. The middle east developed the numeric concept of zero and represented it on paper. *Leaving my mistake here, but I should have said popularized it. Europe got zerp from them. What I meant to say was algebra was invented by the middle east by Al Khwarizmi.
I think my fear derived from seeing a lot of rps simply reference a culture (usually western europe) instead of putting forth descriptions.

Absolutely. And we use "arabic numerals" after all. The middle east did a whole lot of things, which is why it's interesting to see cultures inspired by it.


Since we're putting in a lot of work into world building, I don't think that there is a big risk of just throwing out countries and cultures while expecting everyone to just know about it. But I definitely get where your concern was coming from since I've seen that a lot too. Although I can see people referencing a particular culture that they're inspired by, I expect that it will usually be followed up by a summary of the relevant information. I personally just use referencing cultures as an aesthetic reference, or I'll occasionally say something like "Hawaiian and some Native American cultures didn't believe in land ownership, so perhaps we could create a culture with the value of shared property". Actually, if I was going to propose the latter, I'd probably go into a lot more detail than that and explain how it could work. But nevertheless, you're definitely right that we should be heavy on description and light on references when proposing an idea.

 

[Mykinkaiser]

1.What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay?-


I chose A in that I want steampunk-inspired technology in the rp, not necessarily the typical Victorian world of the genre. The most important one for me is C, that there is division of technology because, to me, the struggles and tensions that might set up are an interesting thing to explore and should create some very rp-worthy scenarios. As for D, I mainly chose it because I had to choose three and I too didn't really want a futuristic setting.


C: we could also divide tech by culture/race, not just by socio-economic class. As was mentioned before, the specialization of different cultures/races in terms of technology would be a very good thing, and also a natural thing as people adapt to the environment they're in and the various resources and pressures that accompany it.


D: Possibly a research group or something? Don't fully know yet. See above.


2.This roleplay should take place in...-


My top pic is C. While I know that some influence from our world will leak through to it I'd like to try to make it original as I believe that gives the Rp more freedom to come into its own and removes obligations to be true to the customs and cultures of our world. Failing this, I would prefer a world based off of ours in order to preserve as much of the aforementioned freedom as before.


3.The culture of this world...-


Again, this comes down to the freedom mentioned above and as such D is my top and C my runner up. That said, I would like to agree with an idea mentioned earlier of a unified economic system, possibly with identification. While I want different cultures so as to experience the clashes, tensions, cooperations, etc. the idea of a unifying element to tie it all together is an intriguing one. We'd just have to figure out how best to implement it is all.

 

[Idea]

my answers:
1.What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay?- (B), ©, (D)


2.This roleplay should take place in...- (B), ©


3.The culture of this world...-(B), (D)

I didn't get notifications either. I only came back to check on this thread out of curiosity. Sorry for being inactive because of that O.o
1. What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay?


A, C, D


2. This roleplay should take place in...


C, B


3. The culture of this world...


D, C

1.What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay?- A, C, D
2.This roleplay should take place in...- B, C


3.The culture of this world...- C, D

1. What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay? (please choose three options and detail if you answer C,D or E.)
   B or C or D; in the case of C or D, perhaps we should have socioeconomic class differences driving technology differences - and in the event that we use magic and possibly entwine it with technology, perhaps the people on one side of the divide use magic to make up for their lack of advanced technology.
   
2. This roleplay should take place in... (please pick two options)
   B or C
   
3. The culture of this world... (please pick 2-3 options)
   B or C
   

What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay? (please choose three options and detail if you answer C,D or E.)
B, D, C.


This roleplay should take place in... (please pick two options)


B or C


The culture of this world... (please pick 2-3 options)


D,C

What time and tech setting would be best fitting for our roleplay? B, C, E
B- Across the spectrum we are working with, I am a particularly big fan of futuristic rps.


C- Societies typically feature a division that is socioeconomic in origin, where the level of technology differs across these divisions. Asia and Europe began trading spices, which opened channels for industrialization, and Europe had few quarrels exploiting foreign countries for resources. Africa has very little coal, making industrialization very difficult. The world we make could feature little events and instances like these that alter the technological level between groups.


E- Perchance our group unearths foreign or ancient technology that gives us an upper hand over the society in which we are immersed. In regards to ancient technology, perhaps there would have been a utopian society that existed long before the contemporary world that eventually fell, leaving behind it’s relics. This could very well apply to D, as well.


B. Futuristic


C. A division of some kind in the society which would drive differences in the tech level.


E. the same as D except that group consists of our characters.


This roleplay should take place… B, C


A. Our world


B. A world based of our own


C. A world we come up with together


I think in the event making our own unique wprld proves to difficult, we could fall back on good ole earth for advice. Essentially using some aspects as a template if we hit a bump in the road.


C- I think that a world entirely our own would be more versatile to work with, and we could create the world to entirely satisfy our needs.


The culture of this world… A, D, B


A. Should be a single, unifying culture


B. Should be a series of cultures with one singular religion


C. Should be a series of cultures based on the cultures of our world


D. Should be a series of cultures each with their own religions and beliefs


I think that, in regards to the third question, a unifying economy (similar to A and B), could open up interesting story routes, especially if it were a sharing economy where identification was necessary, but some or all of the characters were legally non-existant, in that they had no file on record. On a more general scale, the unifying thing could be used many differe t ways to generate plot. In regards to D, I refer back to my statement kf making a versatile world entirely in our own vision.

total votes:


1- A BBBB CCCCC DDDD E


2- BBBBB CCCCC


3- A BB CC DDD


Victors:


1- C


2- B and C require finals


3- D

 

[Idea]

@ApfelSeine @NinjaCat @billthesomething @PinkUnicorn @Mykinkaiser @CalamariHero @Mollisol @SomeAnimeWeirdo


okay, here are the results. So, in the end should we go for B or for C regarding the second question?


Personally, I´ll go for C.

 

[Quincunx]

I will go for C as well.

 

[Mykinkaiser]

C for me too

 

[ApfelSeine]

I'm still voting for C, though I'd be fine either way.

 

[Idea]

I think the vote overwhelmingly goes to C then. Very well, C it is.

 

[ApfelSeine]

What's the next thing we should be figuring out?

 

[Idea]

What's the next thing we should be figuring out?

as per suggestion, economy, Sorry I haven´t been active at all. I´ll get things running again, if possible, on Wednesday, when I finish my exams.

 

[ApfelSeine]

No problem, I was just curious

 

[Idea]

@ApfelSeine @NinjaCat @billthesomething @PinkUnicorn @Mykinkaiser @CalamariHero @Mollisol


how many of you are still interested?

 

[Quincunx]

@ApfelSeine @NinjaCat @billthesomething @PinkUnicorn @Mykinkaiser @CalamariHero @Mollisol
how many of you are still interested?

It will depend on how much time I have this summer. I'm already involved in several other things that haven't started out yet (real-life and online), so I don't yet have a good idea of my availability. Sorry to give such a vague answer, but I felt like ignoring the post would've communicated a "hard no", which isn't what I mean.

 

[ApfelSeine]

I'm still available, so you can consider me still interested.