The Edge of the World

For the game development and OOC threads.
Post Reply
Neon
Level 0
Level 0
Posts: 4

The Edge of the World

Post by Neon » Sat Nov 13, 2004 4:32 pm

I've been thinking about an idea for two large islands (British Isle analog) in the western ocean north of Tarindal. I don't have a name for the Island yet, -been thinking of it as the "Great Island." Rich, your thoughts are appreciated since this place will have to tie in coherently in terms of its history of people, politics, trade with Tirandel.

My sense is that in the "present" of the Durnalian world, the Great Island is inhabited by five tribes: The Cael, the Danar, the Albren, the Skarn, and the Yori. These are united, if perhaps loosely at times, under a hereditary high king bearing the title Arcturus: meaning great bear - hearkens back to historical basis for the King Arthur legends. Seems like we might want to weave in to the history of this place some influence from the "Carthage" analog (after all they had a far-flung empire of trade) and perhaps have the island occupied by the Durnalians for a few hundred years during the Empire phase. Hence the Latin-sounding title of Arcturus for their King. I think that it would be cool to have maybe part of the population be sorta "Durnalized" and have another portion adhere to older tribal culture that is rooted in a druidic sort of religion - one centered on a Mother Earth Goddess, a Father God (God of the Hunt) and populated with a variety of (named) powerful nature spirits that require reverrence/propitiation etc.

My sorta evolving sense is that maybe we think of this Great Island as having been originally inhabited by a few tribes of normal humans ruled by a nobility and royalty of the "fair folk" until it was invaded and conquered by a large and powerful tribe from the main-land (Maybe one of Rich's Tirandelian peoples, like the Aran or somebody - not sure there.) In the face of the overwhelming onslaught from the new comers, the Fair folk withdraw to the further west of the two Islands (the Ireland analog) taking only a few normal humans with them and making it a sort of forbidden place of mystery and dark rumor.

Once the new tribe takes over the larger of the two islands, it intermixes with the original human inhaibtants and fragments into the current five parts, each perhaps named for the sons of the great Chieftain of the united tribe that oversaw the invasion. Given a Durnalian overlordship of a few centuries, We'd end up having the high-king and Royal family being essentially Durnalian in origin, although intermarried over time with the chief families of each of the five tribes.

Taliesin
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 30

Convergence

Post by Taliesin » Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:44 pm

Now this stuff really piqued my interest. There's definite potential for cross-pollination with Tiarnan matters here, both for obvious and not-so-obvious reasons.

Neon, I think that you and I are both drawing in part on the pre-Saxon British tradition here, and in some ways are doing very similar things. The Fair Folk / Faerie, Great Bear / High King, etc. all have their models in Celtic Britain. What I think we could do to make this work is to have the people of Tiarna and the Great Island be descended from common ancestors, a common "Ur-culture" that engendered them both.

Perhaps, in pre-historic times, the settlers of the Great Island broke off from the 'primary' Tiarnan people, and sailed northwest to settle the island as their own land. This would explain the cultural similarities, with both the long estrangement and the mainlanders' greater exposure to Durnalian culture as the factors behind their differences.

This leads me then to ask the Big Question: What caused the break? Some possible answers....

1. A schism among the Fair Folk. It sounds like the "Faerie" of the island take a more direct role in the lives of its people, whereas the "Fair Folk" of Tiarna are more subtle and remote. It may be that one subgroup of the "Faerie" was at odds with the others, and led its 'flock' to a place where they could guide them (or meddle with their fates) unopposed.

2. Good ol' human nature. This would be the usual case of politics among the tribes, etc. Ancient Chief Big Man has two sons, dies. Eight tribes accept Son 1, Five tribes follow Son 2 to their own kingdom. More plausible than Cause #1 but far less interesting.

3. Catastrophe! Crazy earthquakes and crap (an act of the gods?) cause the seas to rise, and thus a channel to be created between prehistoric EightTribesLand and prehistoric FiveTribesLand. This effectively makes FiveTribesLand an island(s).

4. Any combination of the above.

Whatcha think?
Rich


Palamon
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 49

Post by Palamon » Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:52 pm

My thoughts on the matter: we don't really want to have Britain A and Britain B. It may be necessary to rethink some things here and there in order to have what I would call a coherent world. Unfortunately I am not as familiar with Celtic myth as you two are, so I can't really help much in this matter. Hell, I tend to think Excalibur was a pretty darn good Arthurian movie. ;)

Taliesin
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 30

Re: The Edge of the World

Post by Taliesin » Tue Nov 16, 2004 3:00 pm

I don't think we're looking at Britain A and Britain B; that would be like looking at France and Germany as Franks A and Franks B. These look to me like two uniquely different cultures that happen to share some common themes from a common antecedent. Nothing more. It's that interconnected and interdependent history that makes a project like this feel alive, as opposed to seeming like the cobbled-together fictional work of several different people. :)
Rich


Post Reply