One of the reasons I haven't been able to complete the novel based of my setting is a lack of complete design. The original ideas for my world and it's inhabitants were first put to paper when I was around 12 or 13. Most of my ideas were born from an active imagination and no experience in design or effective storytelling. The most fundamental aspects of which still exist even as I redesign it today. Over the years by storytelling, roleplaying and creative thought I have put flesh to my world. It's gone from the raw insight of a child to the whiteboard of an angst filled teenager and then into something unexpected. With every insight I have gleamed in my life it has grown. Every culture I explore, every book I read, every person I talk to. Each of them adds to my collective knowledge and bit by bit the world created within my imagination reflects that.
When I was young I wrote my first short story. Elfrea the Dark Elf. Being poor and isolated culturally I had few early influences on my storytelling. To that point I had read Lloyd Alexanders "The book of three" and Ursula LeGuins "The Wizard of Earthsea". I had a nintendo but no fantasy games, no roleplaying games. If memory serves I had Tetris, Mario and Mega Man 3. Elves do no appear in any of those games or books. I had a single Magic: The Gathering Card. It was some kind of a crappy dwarf that made a creature with power 2 or less unblockable. I keep searching my mind for where I gleamed the insight for that first story but it isn't there. My only conclusion is that my uncle told me about it. In the later formative years he inspired me play roleplaying games and read fantasy novels.
Elfrea was a dark elf as the name says. He was an elite ranger who was training to be a griffon rider when he was framed for murdering his teacher. Elfrea suspected his rival Kain had planted his sword at the scene and killed the teacher himself. The story starts with Elfrea meeting a goblin trader in the forest. The trader possess a bauble that will enhance elfreas magic enough to sneak back into Theldar and murder Kain. However the Goblin is not satisfied with Elfreas payment and attacks him. Elfrea kills him with his magic and takes the stone.
As he prepares to make his escape Elfrea hears a sound nearby and decides to check it out. It's a troll named Gesstol who is wounded and fleeing into the woods from humans. Elfrea and Gesstol fight to stalemate until the humans arrive. Realizing their mutual survival was at stake they work together and drive the humans out of the woods.
Now. I remember this story word for word. It's imprinted deeply into my soul for reasons I cannot describe. It's the feeling of a first love, a first kiss, the first time you "really" see a sunset. But looking back on it there are alot of minor issues. For example. Goblin Merchant? Exotic to an 11-12 year old but not so much to me. Kain the elven ranger? Not very elven sounding to me.
Why would an elite ranger need a stone to sneak back into a forest city? It's a dear story to me but I'm afraid it's not good enough to be in my setting the way it was. Ever since that day I have had my own internal view of what a "troll" or an "elf" was. In my story Gesstol and Elfrea used their isolation and exile to form a powerful friendship. Trolls were green and large with various tusks. Gesstol had no tusks (They were cut off when he was a slave) and was thinner then the average troll. Elves were innate magic users and experts with bow and sword prefering to conceal themselves in the trees then fight any potential enemies directly.
Both of those themes are common in fantasy but to me then they were exotic and new. I was caught up in the idea of a world of fantasy and didn't realize that internally I was already becoming a writer. I knew the background of my characters as if by instinct. I did not need to draft or plot or outline. My characters were who they were and they were that way for a reason. Even something as small as Gesstols missing tusks made it into my story. The pacing could use some work and I doubt an elite elf ranger should take more half a page of fighting to kill a goblin. (Which it did. If I rewrote the story I would change it to" "Elfrea cleanly sliced off the goblins head, averting his gaze as the derranged creature fell to the forest floor.")
Theldar the home of the elves made it into my setting and so did the idea of "dark elves".
My logically view was a society that was "good" would never kill if they had the choice, instead they punished severe crimes with banishment. Hence the elf became "dark" or exiled.
Later however I read the dragonlance chronicles which pretty much use the same idea. Even later after that one of my friends desired playing a Drow Elf made popular by forgotten realms.
After some issues (this was 2nd Ed still) I allowed him to play. One thing that became apparent to me right away was that drow did not fit my setting and over time I removed them. (By plague and lynching to keep the storyline consistant.) Eventually I demoted drow to a lower station of myth and rumor. In my new (and cleaner) setting there are no drow. I have returned to the earlier idea of "Dark Elves" with a new twist...
In the redesign it was apparent I wanted to add new cultures to my setting. Among them a nordic-themed people. One of the things the nordic mythologies have going for them is elves. Elves that are colorful in history but also divided into Light and Dark. Bumping into this recently brought back the memory of Elfrea the Dark Elf. I realized then the potential for an even more interesting culture. Take the "Dark Elves" of nordic myth and exile them to the world of Drakkor away from their Light cousins. Those survivors hide themselves underground and in forests humans dare not travel through. As time passes these wood elves and their cousins the grey elves exile their criminal populations. The Dark elves of legend and the exiled wood and grey elves have much in common and form an alliance and then finally a society. Intermingling and creating a meritocracy of assassins, magical killers and master spies. Blended by generations of interbreeding the Dark Elves are a unique hybrid with a vastly different society then their cousins the wood elves.
Not only did I get a nordic themed race but it blended seamlessly into my existing ideas and work. The bombastic arrogant light elves need not change from the nordic legends I plucked them from; and it is one less thing I need to worry about. Not all of my setting is based on mythology, the significant bulk of it is in fact completely original. Yes it is still filled with Tolkien-esque dwarves and elves. But the dwarves of my setting aren't greedy and aloof. My dwarves are showoffs and devoted allies. They launch massive projects to better themselves and their friends... and they smirk and showoff the entire time. My elves defy the typical norms for fantasy elves... the mordathal elves use crossbows and swords... they tatoo their bodies and thirst for war over any kind of peace. My trolls don't have an island accent or throw axes with pinpoint accuracy. Nor are they massive killing machines with no brains. Drakkori Trolls speak their own language, have a modest society and frown upon outsiders pre-judging them. The Avian (birdmen) races of my setting are varied and have unique personalities, yes I borrowed the idea from the japanese "Tengu" but I gave it a flavor and style all my own. The goverments and cultures of my world vary immensely. For example in one corner there is a country ruled by evil dragons who war constantly with a cadre of demons. (who have a nearby portal to their homeworld Kilrah.)
The ideas of my youth were not stupid or bad. Some in fact are so original I feel very compelled to use them. What I lacked then was the skill to use those ideas to design something new. Dark elves had been done (By Dragonlance to my knowledge... maybe others.) in that style before. But I am certain nobody has Nordic Dark elves in a society with exiled Wood and Grey Elves.
I'm really enjoying putting together a sourcebook. For years this entire world has been in my head and in my heart. The only way others could glimpse at it was when I let them. It would be a thousand kinds of relief if I could get all of it onto paper where others can read it without me.
More important they can read the words and add to them. Right now it's my world. But someday I want that world to belong to everyone... be it through books, comics, movies or games. Anyway I need some sleep. I have alot of work to do tomorrow.
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