Anyone here reading the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson? From a fantasy world building perspective, I think Sanderson does an amazing job using a fantasy world's unique environment, then building a world around it. The setting of the Stormlight Archive (so far) is the continent of Roshar, which is lashed by High Storms (think cat 5 hurricanes on steroids) every few weeks, moving east to west, weakening as they go. The eastern side of the continent is rocky, craggy, windswept lands. The roughness of the terrain changes as you move to the west, eventually leading to grassy planes in the far west of Shinovar. In the east, most of the plant and animal life have adapted shells (think giant crawdads and beetle like creatures) and can retreat within them to weather the high storms. Trees are stunted and their leaves retract. Instead of grass, polyp like plants grow with their stalks emerging in good weather but retreating in wind (or if you come up and touch them, similar to a fern, touch-me-not). Cities are built into the lee sides of large hills, mountains, or in the canyons / crevasses dug out by erosion. All of this is because powerful storms ravage the continent and things had to adapt.
Not saying I want this exact thing in Pantheon, but the setting of those books has really made me think about how you can build a world with interesting properties and not just the fixed environs that we experience on earth.
LordPBiff said:Anyone here reading the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson? From a fantasy world building perspective, I think Sanderson does an amazing job using a fantasy world's unique environment, then building a world around it. The setting of the Stormlight Archive (so far) is the continent of Roshar, which is lashed by High Storms (think cat 5 hurricanes on steroids) every few weeks, moving east to west, weakening as they go. The eastern side of the continent is rocky, craggy, windswept lands. The roughness of the terrain changes as you move to the west, eventually leading to grassy planes in the far west of Shinovar. In the east, most of the plant and animal life have adapted shells (think giant crawdads and beetle like creatures) and can retreat within them to weather the high storms. Trees are stunted and their leaves retract. Instead of grass, polyp like plants grow with their stalks emerging in good weather but retreating in wind (or if you come up and touch them, similar to a fern, touch-me-not). Cities are built into the lee sides of large hills, mountains, or in the canyons / crevasses dug out by erosion. All of this is because powerful stores ravage the continent and things had to adapt.
Not saying I want this exact thing in Pantheon, but the setting of those books has really made me think about how you can build a world with interesting properties and not just the fixed environs that we experience on earth.
Huge Brandon Sanderson fan here and I concur with your thoughts. That type of environment really brings out the PVE aspect and I feel like Pantheon will have a similar thing, which is exciting.
LordPBiff said:Anyone here reading the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson? From a fantasy world building perspective, I think Sanderson does an amazing job using a fantasy world's unique environment, then building a world around it.
Chalk up another Brandon Sanderson fan. He does an amazing job of world creation and just general storytelling. I would love to see zones with the same depth as he creates. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, JN specifically mentions Sanderson as one of the authors he enjoys. It gives me hope that the person creating the lore and backstory of Pantheon enjoys this level of detail and complexity.
I have always wanted a good sandstorm or blizzard effect limiting vision and depending on the wind direction either slowing or speeding up travel in a particular direction. Super speed when the high wind is at your back, a slow crawl fighting your way into it. Wind so high it blows out the torches when it gusts. It is always very thematic on table tops.
