Download Fantasy World Cup
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A fantasy world or fictional world is a world created for fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds feature magical abilities. Some worlds may be a parallel world connected to Earth via magical portals or items (like Narnia); an imaginary universe hidden within ours (like Wizarding World); a fictional Earth set in the remote past (like Middle-earth) or future (like Dying Earth); an alternative version of our History (like Lyra's world); or an entirely independent world set in another part of the universe (like the Star Wars Galaxy).[1]
The setting of a fantasy work is often of great importance to the plot and characters of the story. The setting itself can be imperiled by the evil of the story, suffer a calamity, and be restored by the transformation the story brings about.[2] Stories that use the setting as merely a backdrop for the story have been criticized for their failure to use it fully.[3]
Even when the land itself is not in danger, it is often used symbolically, for thematic purposes, and to underscore moods.[4] For readers, fantasy worlds offer a "place...[where] assumptions and desires [about the genre] are confirmed" and emotional satisfaction that comes from various elements of the world fulfill readers' expectations for quality.[5]
Early fantasy worlds appeared as fantasy lands, part of the same planet but separated by geographical barriers. For example, Oz, though a fantasy world in every way, is described as part of this world.[6]
Although medieval peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that, for example, an ogre could live a day's travel away, distant continents were necessary from the Renaissance onwards for such fantastic speculation to be plausible, until finally, further exploration rendered all such terrestrial fantasy lands implausible.[7]
An early example of the fantasy land/world concept can be seen in the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), where places of which little was known, but where the occurrence of marvels was thus more credible, had to be set "long ago" or "far away". This is a process that continues and finally culminates in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places.[9] A more recent example of a fantasy land with definite connections to the actual world is Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia. Islandia's remoteness and aura of mystery, as well as its preservation of an arcadian society, are explained by means of a law that allows only limited contact with foreigners.
Dream frames were also once common for encasing the fantasy world with an explanation of its marvels. Such a dream frame was added to the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the movie version; in the book, Oz is clearly defined as an actual place.[10] H.P. Lovecraft made active use of the dream frame, creating elaborate geographies accessible to humans only when they were asleep and dreaming. These dream settings have been criticized,[11] and are far less frequent today.
This change is part of a general trend toward more self-consistent and substantive fantasy worlds.[12] This has also altered the nature of the plots; earlier works often feature a solitary individual whose adventures in the fantasy world are of personal significance, and where the world clearly exists to give scope to these adventures, and later works more often feature characters in a social web, where their actions are to save the world and those in it from peril.[13]
Careful world-building plus meticulous attention to detail is often cited as the reason why certain fantasy works are deeply convincing and contain a magical sense of place.[18]Heavy and faithful use of real-world setting for inspiration, as in Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds, clearly derived from China, or Lloyd Alexander's use of real-world cultures such as Welsh for The Chronicles of Prydain or Indian for The Iron Ring, make the line between fantasy worlds and alternate histories fuzzy. The use of cultural elements, and still more history and geography, from actual settings, pushes a work toward alternative history.
According to Lin Carter in Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy, fantasy worlds, by their nature, contain some element of magic (paranormal). This element may be the creatures in it (dragons, unicorns, genies and so on) or the magical abilities of the people inhabiting the world. These are often drawn from mythology and folklore, frequently that of the historical country also used for inspiration.[20]
Fantasy worlds created through a process called world building are known as a constructed world. Constructed worlds elaborate and make self-consistent the setting of fantasy work. Worldbuilding often relies on materials and concepts taken from the real world.
Furthermore, the fantastic elements should ideally operate according to self-consistent rules of their own; for example, if wizards' spells sap their strength, a wizard who does not appear to suffer this must either be putting up a facade or have an alternative explanation. This distinguishes fantasy worlds from Surrealism and even from such dream worlds as are found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
Due to the fuzzy boundary between fantasy and science fiction, it is sometimes difficult to make a hard-and-fast distinction between "fantasy worlds" and planets in science fiction. For example, the worlds of Barsoom, Darkover, Gor, and the Witch World combine elements of both genres and fantasy worlds may have nonexistent, powerful technology.[21]
Fairytale fantasy may ignore the normal world-building in order to present a world operating by the same logic as the fairytales from which they are derived, though other works in this subgenre develop their worlds fully. Comic fantasy may ignore all possible logic in search of humor, particularly if it is parodying other fantasies' faulty world-building, as in Diana Wynne Jones's Dark Lord of Derkholm, or the illogic of the setting is integral to the comedy, as in L. Sprague de Camp's Solomon's Stone, where the fantasy world is populated by the heroic and glamorous figures that people daydream about being, resulting in a severe shortage of workers in the more mundane, day-to-day industries. Most other subgenres of fantasy suffer if the world-building is neglected.[citation needed]
Rather than creating their own fantasy world, many authors choose to set their novels in Earth's past. In order to explain the absence of miraculous elements, authors may introduce "a retreat of magic" (sometimes called "thinning") that explains why the magic and other fantastic elements no longer appear:[22] For example, in The Lord of the Rings, the destruction of the One Ring defeated Sauron, but also destroyed the power of the Three Rings of the elves, resulting in them sailing to the West at the end of the story. A contemporary fantasy necessarily takes place in what purports to be the real world, and not a fantasy world. It may, however, include references to such a retreat. J. K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them explains that wizards eventually decided to conceal all magical creatures and artifacts from non-magic users.
Dungeons & Dragons, the first major role-playing game, has created several detailed and commercially successful fantasy worlds (called "campaign settings"), with established characters, locations, histories, and sociologies. The Forgotten Realms is perhaps the most extensively developed of these worlds.
In Fantasy World, magic is real, gods are silent, cities are rare, and travel is perilous. The game presents an immersive fantasy world with clear rules, customizable gameplay, and an emphasis on consequences of the protagonist's actions, tough choices, personal sacrifices, driving the players through their adventures. Gameplay involves one participant playing the role of the World, while all others take on the role of Players.
Since yesterday was the 2017 presidential inauguration (as of when I am posting this article on 1/21/17), I think this is the perfect time to talk about creating a realistic, political system in a fantasy world. I want to address different complexities of creating a political system that many writers either ignore or do not take enough time developing.
However, saying that a country is a democracy does not mean it is anything like America. It could be similar to Soviet Russia, which is controlled by a dictator under the guise of president. If you chose a democracy for your world, that does not mean you cannot play with the details of how the government works.
Similarly, socialism is where a central government controls all goods of the people, redistributing it to be more equitable. At least, that is the theory, though historically all socialist governments have simply become dictatorships eventually. Saying this, these would be two interesting governments that are found a lot in history but rarely in fantasy books.
What is a crime in your world? Now, when thinking of this question, do not always think too predictably. For example, in America and most democratic countries, crimes like murder, assault, rape, etc. are crimes. However, depending on your government, things that we may consider good might be illegal. Like in Communist China you cannot say certain things. In your world, magic may be illegal (this is something I see in many fantasy novels).
I find this is actually something ignored in modern fantasy books. As America becomes less religious, so do the books it produces. However, what most writers seem to ignore is the importance of religion is every society and what laws or taboos might be broken.
Honestly, governments are extremely complex systems. I may say that a certain government is a democracy, but most governments cannot be purely defined. They adapt with time. Change. Creating a realistic, good fantasy government is not as simple as figuring out who rules and going from there. It is a complex understanding of how government works. So, look at examples. This article is a starting point to get you thinking, but it is not the end-all to solve your problems.
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