I haven’t posted for awhile. Of course…I don’t know if anyone’s reading either 😉
That said, I’ve been revising how the fantasy races work in my world.❶ I’m actually working on a full history, but that’s going to take a bit longer. What I’d like to share here is some more details and a slight revision.
Previously, I had said that the elves and dwarves had just adapted to their environment. While I believe that will continue to be true,❷ I’ve found a way to accelerate the environmental adaptation. Bioengineering! That’s right, a previous civilization on this world had mastered the arts of genetic manipulation and bioengineering. And they adapted themselves to various tasks. Dwarves were created for mining, goblins as espionage agents, orcs for warfare, elves as holders of knowledge. Large animals were modified into improved transportation. Small animals were modified for any number of purposes. Most things that we use our technology of metal, silicon, fossil fuels, and electricity for, they used living beings for. They never went into space because the technology wasn’t compatible with that. But they did wage war. Their final world war saw the creation of such things as minotaurs and trolls and even dragons. Each of the warring factions created deadlier and deadlier living weapons of war. Then it all ended.
Some smart guy got the bright idea of engineering a virus that would put an end to the war. And most life. It was released. Within days it spread across the world, leaving death in its wake. Some made it to safety. Some were amazingly immune. Some were mutated by it. Most simply died. Humans, animals, plants, bioengineered creations: all life was affected to some degree or another.
That was millennia ago. The virus still exists. Every living being still carries it. But some time after the initial release and massive die off, the virus itself mutated in a way that no one could have predicted. It became a conduit for the very energies of life. The virus, which killed almost all living things in the world, became the embodiment of magic. In time civilization began to rebuild. In time people began to learn to harness their magics. Not everyone could, not everyone can. Most don’t have any chance at all of learning to wield magic. Enough people could leverage their magic, though, that civilization’s recovery was accelerated.
Some of the scientists who had helped escalate the war had become a sort of monastic race of elves, hiding in the jungle, reflecting on their mistakes. At some point they decided to try to correct their wrongs and send select individuals from among their number into the world. They helped others learn to harness this new found magic. They offered to provide the wisdom they themselves had lacked to the civilizations that blossomed among the remains of their mistakes.
This is the world I’m creating now. It allows me to have any fantasy creature I might want, as well as historical creatures.❸ It gives me magic through a semi-plausible means.❹ And it leaves lots of things lying around the world to find.
❶ Gah…I still don’t have a name for the world! ↩
❷ See my initial thoughts on fantasy races about elves and dwarves living longer than normal humans because of magic infused environments, food, and drink. ↩
❸ Giant pterosaurs for transport, anyone? ↩
❹ Like midichlorians, but better, because they don’t have a will. ↩