For the next several posts, I’m going to be writing in-depth about creating the setting I’m going to use for my next series of novels. This is the process I use whether I’m creating something for my role playing game or my novels, as the setting is the same. I want a deep, interesting setting with conflicts and interesting things happening when the protagonists show up, whether I created those protagonists or my players did.

One of the resources I use for worldbuilding is called Aria Worlds, which is a sourcebook for the Aria role playing game. The game itself is, shall we say, exorbitant in how it works. If you’re interested in playing more as the country or empire or the characters who become the basis for religion, this might be the game for you. It’s an interesting idea, but not for the faint of heart or beginning (or even casual) gamers. That all said, Aria Worlds is really, really good at helping build interesting fantasy settings, including a way to do this using random die rolls, but what’s the fun in that?

So, before we can do anything, we need to figure out what the concept for the culture is. There are a lot of ways to do this. The first is to base at least some of it on an historical culture on our world. There are so many interesting people and societies in history that doing even cursory research should give you plenty of inspiration for your setting. For Shildaria, I’m taking inspiration for the Mongols, the Romans, and the Anasazi peoples of the Sonoran desert.

Another way to find inspiration is to look at other fictional settings. I know that horses are vitally important in Shildaria. It will be difficult for me to do that without looking at the Riders of Rohan from the Lord of the Rings. In this case, I want to make Shildaria different from the Riders of Rohan. First, I’m going to implement a much more rigorous military rank system than Tolkein uses. Second, Shildaria is going to be much larger and with a more fortified village system than Rohan. Finally, due to its size, Shildaria will be made up of smaller provinces, which will lead to more internal conflicts and rivalries than Rohan had.

The final thing you need when coming up with your setting is what Brandon Sanderson calls erring on the side of awesome. This is the part of the setting you are the most excited about, logic be damned. For Shildaria, this is going to be the central conflict of the series, which is a country being invaded by the Abominations. No one knows what they are, where they come from, or what they want. But, it’s been one of the most important factors in the development of the society.

Now that we have all that figured out, here’s the initial concept for Shildaria:

• In the rest of the area, they are known as the Horselords. They are renowned riders and breed excellent horses.
• The country has been invaded by creatures they call Abominations. They are horrific creatures with strange powers who kill people in terrible ways. 
• The country was ravaged both by the Druid Wars and the Abomination attacks. The area has a post-apocalyptic feel.
• The attacks mean that even the smallest settlement needs to have strong defenses. This doesn’t mean a local castle or fort. This means every hamlet will be walled and a significant amount is spent on the military.
• The focus of the society will be on supporting the military, which is made up primarily of horse archers and lancers. 
• Horses are the basis for not only the military, but the economy and technology.
• Magic of any kind is illegal, including helpful magics (like healing). The penalty for casting magic is death. This is because they’ve discovered the Abominations are drawn to magic for reasons no one understands.
• There will be twelve provinces, each ruled by a duke. Earls report to dukes, lords report to earls, counts report to lords, and barons report to counts. There is a king, who everyone swear fealty to.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be going through some of the details I go through in my setting creation. See you next Sunday!