Where are the Dragons? |
Random Rants
This my first ever blog. Whatever blog* stands for. Ugly word IMO. Perhaps appropriate though since as far as I can figure out most blogs are simply something someone wants to ramble on about and toss out for the world to gaze at. Oh well, here goes.
While I was basically blind, could not read, watch TV, Use the computer for anything I started making up stories in my mind. Having cut my baby teeth on fairy tales, the blue, red, yellow, etc books and read Dante's Inferno before I was 15, (pictures included) I have loved fantasy for many years.
This blog is actually a game world I conceived and would love to make a game for if I had either the money or knowledge or both to do so. The world sticks in my mind and I keep returning to it.
* Found out from Felinoid in FAI that blog is a shortened form of weblog. Much nicer word.
While I was basically blind, could not read, watch TV, Use the computer for anything I started making up stories in my mind. Having cut my baby teeth on fairy tales, the blue, red, yellow, etc books and read Dante's Inferno before I was 15, (pictures included) I have loved fantasy for many years.
This blog is actually a game world I conceived and would love to make a game for if I had either the money or knowledge or both to do so. The world sticks in my mind and I keep returning to it.
* Found out from Felinoid in FAI that blog is a shortened form of weblog. Much nicer word.
Where are the Dragons?
The world of Cameron is similar to our Earth. It has one satellite moon and a comet which, every 150 years. passes close enough to cause some climatic disruption. It has 365 days in the year divided into 5 months of 31 days and 7 months of 30 days. The week has seven days of 24 hrs and for the moment I will use the standard English week of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
A person from Earth would feel disoriented. Things would seem familiar yet not quite right. Cameron is a world of magic. Ley lines run strongly beneath the surface rising at certain points to create pools and sometimes lakes of magical powers. These magical pools are neither good or bad. In fact nothing in or on Cameron is good or bad but simply is. It is the inhabitants who define what is good or bad, right or wrong.
Cameron is a world that feels alive, a world that has a personality. It is easy to believe in a world goddess if you live here. Her name? Cameron of course, ruler of all she surveys.
The continent of Jarbal lies in the Southern Hemisphere. Its ice covered boots reach down to the South pole and its head reaches above the Equator to the Sea of Songs. High, very high, mountains make up its backbone dividing it into two distinct areas. Islands of various sizes dot both the east and west oceans.
The eastern side of Jarbal gradually changes from the a cold, ice and snow covered mountainous region to be a more temperate region,consisting of rolling hills and flat lands. In the Equatorial region it becomes a lush swampy jungle region which reaches to the Sea of Songs.
The western side, cut off from the rain laden winds which blow from the east to the mountains, gradually changes to a desert region with only an occasional oasis to sustain life and then to a Savannah area. Near the coast of the western ocean, The Ocean of Anguish, life springs up in joy at the hint of moisture until reaching the Sea of Songs. Rivers, created by melting ice and snow, run down from the mountains but most become lost in the desert sands. Only in the north does a river manage to make its way to the coast and it is here that vegetation truly takes hold and creates a symphony of life.
The animal life of Cameron is similar to that of Earth and yet, again, would seem off key to our visitor from Earth. Because of the magical nature of the land monsters and strange creatures have evolved unknown to any Earthling. Beware, innocent traveler, for you may find grave danger as well as treasures beyond imagination. Think carefully before you decide to explore this strange, new world.
Humanoid life is varied. In the frigid southern region live the Boreans, who are immune to the cold but are sensitive to heat. They are large and very strong. Any other inhabitants who have had the misfortune of meeting them call them giants. They aren't true giants. There are giants on Jarbal.
The Boreans live in strongholds carved into the icy mountains, hunting the large polar bear type animals and raiding their neighbors in the more temperate northern zone. They worship the ice god, Serbian and the goddess of the Southern Lights, Boreal.
Think this should be expanded upon. Since the Boreans are immune to cold they would not need roaring fires in their strongholds. A fire some where for cooking yes but they wouldn't want in the main areas. They would need light. Wood be hard to find. An oil of some sort? Rendered animal fat. Would they be seafarers at least in the short summers when the oceans near them are less frozen? Their land lies across the foot of Jarbal. Besides being large what is their appearance? Dressed in furs and skins of the animals they hunt. Sure they don't need protection from the cold but even they would need protection from blowing ice , in battle with each other, animals and the poor souls they raid. Besides humanoids like decoration. Bones, stolen jewelry. Because of the glare of the sun on ice and snow they would have thick, heavy eyebrows, probably a jutting ridge above the eyes. No beard because beards collect frost from the breath. Skin color...let us be a bit inventive here. Not pale, not dark, not green. Violet, a violet tint.
Ice monsters also live in their area and they would fight them, maybe the Shamans/mages would be able to tame some. What products might be provided by the ice monsters? Strange jewels with magical powers perhaps. In the tundra region would roam creatures resembling earth deer, mountain goats, birds of various kinds. Long winter nights, long summer days. The summer is short but the days are long. Things grown rapidly and quite large.
Chieftains in various areas with one or two dominant ones. No actual central government. Because of their physical powers they might be sought as warriors by the lords of the other races. Especially for winter campaigns
Regarding the oil for light and even cooking I was thinking oil might seep up from underground and collect in pools. The Boreans would probably consider it magical or god-given..
(Continued in part two)
A person from Earth would feel disoriented. Things would seem familiar yet not quite right. Cameron is a world of magic. Ley lines run strongly beneath the surface rising at certain points to create pools and sometimes lakes of magical powers. These magical pools are neither good or bad. In fact nothing in or on Cameron is good or bad but simply is. It is the inhabitants who define what is good or bad, right or wrong.
Cameron is a world that feels alive, a world that has a personality. It is easy to believe in a world goddess if you live here. Her name? Cameron of course, ruler of all she surveys.
The continent of Jarbal lies in the Southern Hemisphere. Its ice covered boots reach down to the South pole and its head reaches above the Equator to the Sea of Songs. High, very high, mountains make up its backbone dividing it into two distinct areas. Islands of various sizes dot both the east and west oceans.
The eastern side of Jarbal gradually changes from the a cold, ice and snow covered mountainous region to be a more temperate region,consisting of rolling hills and flat lands. In the Equatorial region it becomes a lush swampy jungle region which reaches to the Sea of Songs.
The western side, cut off from the rain laden winds which blow from the east to the mountains, gradually changes to a desert region with only an occasional oasis to sustain life and then to a Savannah area. Near the coast of the western ocean, The Ocean of Anguish, life springs up in joy at the hint of moisture until reaching the Sea of Songs. Rivers, created by melting ice and snow, run down from the mountains but most become lost in the desert sands. Only in the north does a river manage to make its way to the coast and it is here that vegetation truly takes hold and creates a symphony of life.
The animal life of Cameron is similar to that of Earth and yet, again, would seem off key to our visitor from Earth. Because of the magical nature of the land monsters and strange creatures have evolved unknown to any Earthling. Beware, innocent traveler, for you may find grave danger as well as treasures beyond imagination. Think carefully before you decide to explore this strange, new world.
Humanoid life is varied. In the frigid southern region live the Boreans, who are immune to the cold but are sensitive to heat. They are large and very strong. Any other inhabitants who have had the misfortune of meeting them call them giants. They aren't true giants. There are giants on Jarbal.
The Boreans live in strongholds carved into the icy mountains, hunting the large polar bear type animals and raiding their neighbors in the more temperate northern zone. They worship the ice god, Serbian and the goddess of the Southern Lights, Boreal.
Think this should be expanded upon. Since the Boreans are immune to cold they would not need roaring fires in their strongholds. A fire some where for cooking yes but they wouldn't want in the main areas. They would need light. Wood be hard to find. An oil of some sort? Rendered animal fat. Would they be seafarers at least in the short summers when the oceans near them are less frozen? Their land lies across the foot of Jarbal. Besides being large what is their appearance? Dressed in furs and skins of the animals they hunt. Sure they don't need protection from the cold but even they would need protection from blowing ice , in battle with each other, animals and the poor souls they raid. Besides humanoids like decoration. Bones, stolen jewelry. Because of the glare of the sun on ice and snow they would have thick, heavy eyebrows, probably a jutting ridge above the eyes. No beard because beards collect frost from the breath. Skin color...let us be a bit inventive here. Not pale, not dark, not green. Violet, a violet tint.
Ice monsters also live in their area and they would fight them, maybe the Shamans/mages would be able to tame some. What products might be provided by the ice monsters? Strange jewels with magical powers perhaps. In the tundra region would roam creatures resembling earth deer, mountain goats, birds of various kinds. Long winter nights, long summer days. The summer is short but the days are long. Things grown rapidly and quite large.
Chieftains in various areas with one or two dominant ones. No actual central government. Because of their physical powers they might be sought as warriors by the lords of the other races. Especially for winter campaigns
Regarding the oil for light and even cooking I was thinking oil might seep up from underground and collect in pools. The Boreans would probably consider it magical or god-given..
(Continued in part two)
Total Comments 2
Comments
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Looks good, I'd love to hear more about your world. Sounds really interesting. Welcome to the SP weblogs as well
Don't know if you knew or not, but my boyfriend and I are currently studying to make computer games. We're only in our first year of our course, but we've both studied computing at our previous university as well.
We're both also very interested in getting into the games industry, do you have an idea for the story of the game? I'd like to try and make a text based game over the Summer, if you're interested I could give a go at making an explorer game, or maybe a few small quests around a town. It would probably be very clunky and inelegant though
I'm afraid I'm not a very good coder, though Sal is helping me immensly.Posted Wed, 17th Dec '08 at 3:12am by 8people 
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Hi Octara, good to hear from you. Thank you. I have a pretty good idea of the game worked out in my mind. If I had the money to develop the game professionally I think it would be an awesome one.
My idea in my dream world would be to target the visually impaired. Voice interaction if possible.In my dream world the game would be a cross between the Elder Scrolls and Baldurs gate with probably a bit of this and that thrown in. I would even have a grandiose bit tossed in a sort of chess game where the player could deploy armies against the AI armies. Get right and you win, wrong and you lose.
A text based game would be a good start I think. It would tighten up the game and give it framework and direction. I like variety with lots of choices and different outcomes according to how the player acted.
I haven't yet come up with a good protagonist. I am not much into the god thing except marginally. Would prefer to have the protagonist a humanoid. Probably the cliche super wizard bent on world domination or something like that.
I want a living world that grows or declines according to the player's choices and actions. Good and evil are in the eye of the player. Choose to be evil and watch the world become twisted and barren. Choose to be ultra good and have people taking advantage of your kind and trusting heart with parts of the world sinking into poverty and others growing fat with riches. Choose to be more balanced and have your world develop slowly but evenly.
I took one course in programing back in the Saber toothed era but didn't like so anyone who can do any programing is awesome to me.Posted Wed, 17th Dec '08 at 5:50am by Nakia
