Every once in a while I think about how wonderful it would be to live in the world that I have created for the characters in my book. I would be able to see amazing cities, vast forests, impenetrable mountain ranges and fascinating people. Magic exists as do dragons and other fallacies such as honor and nobility. *grin*
Life is dangerous and everything is adventure wherever you turn in fantasy worlds. Everyone has the opportunity to be a hero or a wicked villain. People who read books tend to imagine themselves as the characters in the book, or perhaps they think of themselves as someone traveling with the characters. The more I think about it, the more I get excited and want to find a way to live in the world of Ryallon.
The world of Ryallon
Ryallon is the setting for my fantasy novels. It's twice the size of Earth and has vast areas of ancient runes and wilderness to explore. I've written four books in the setting and have many more plotted out.
The books occur on a large continent with many populated cities and probably a hundred million people or more. Because of the size of the world, I can add large mystical creatures and vast wilderness as well. The Caaldith Mountains and the Willden Forest are two of the largest unexplored areas as are the Palthoon Deserts. "The Willden Trilogy" takes place largely in the Willden forest and surrounding areas.
Dragons exist as do fairies, dryads, druids, emo bunnies and other creatures of magic. There are knights, wizards, rogues and priests in addition to merchants, innkeepers and other standard fantasy supporting characters.
There is also a race called Rojuun. Originally, I was going to add elves, dwarves and other standard D&D type creatures, but I wanted to step away from that and realized that most of my favorite fantasy books were predominantly human based. The Rojuun came about when I was coming up with a plot for my first book. I did my best to make them different from any traditional fantasy races.
What would it really be like?
Then I started thinking about what I would do. Reality and fantasy collided in a big mess. Would I really be the hero of a book? Would I even meet the heroes that I've written about?
Looking at my current life, I'm a 41 year old husband and father of 3 kids. I've been at my current purchasing job for 15 years and live a mostly quiet (boring) life and I like it that way. So does that mean I would be a money counter at a small business in the would of Ryallon?
Another thing to consider is that people tend to apprentice under their fathers in fantasy worlds. My dad worked on airplanes, spaceships and skycycles as well as being a volunteer fireman. Perhaps I would have apprenticed as a blacksmith when young. However, I'm the youngest of seven kids with two older brothers. Perhaps they would have shipped me off to work in another craft. It's hard to tell.
There are simply too many variables, so to try to answer the question, I have to think of who I am and have been throughout my life.
Looking at my current life, I'm a 41 year old husband and father of 3 kids. I've been at my current purchasing job for 15 years and live a mostly quiet (boring) life and I like it that way. So does that mean I would be a money counter at a small business in the would of Ryallon?
Another thing to consider is that people tend to apprentice under their fathers in fantasy worlds. My dad worked on airplanes, spaceships and skycycles as well as being a volunteer fireman. Perhaps I would have apprenticed as a blacksmith when young. However, I'm the youngest of seven kids with two older brothers. Perhaps they would have shipped me off to work in another craft. It's hard to tell.
There are simply too many variables, so to try to answer the question, I have to think of who I am and have been throughout my life.
So who am I really?
I've been considering who I've been throughout my life, but mostly when I was a teenager, because I feel that's when I would have made the most life affecting decisions as to who I would be. In most fantasy worlds, 41 years old is the high end of life expectancy.
When I was a kid and a teen, I kept to myself for the most part and spent a lot of time daydreaming. When I was 18, I went to work right away. I've always been a good worker. So in Ryallon, I probably would have spent most of my time by myself as a kid, hiding from any trouble. Then I would have found a job or trade as soon as possible and then worked hard at it.
However, in my late teens and early twenties, I became tired of working all the time and took off. I drove for hundreds of miles to get away from my life and explored the world. I even ended up in Alaska at one point. So I don't think I would have stayed in that job.
Who would I be?
All of this assumes I'm not in a war ravaged country and conscripted into a military.
Doing my best to look at it honestly, I think I would have learned a trade for a while and then taken off to explore the world. I didn't get married in this lifetime until I was 25 and I don't think I would marry in the world of Ryallon until later either. There was a restlessness in me when I was younger that wouldn't have let me stay still. If I did get married at a young age in the world of Ryallon, I'm afraid I may have left my family early on, though it's hard to believe that of myself.
In Ryallon, I think I would have travelled to whatever the nearest big city was, unless I was escaping marriage, in which case I would have gone to a different country. Once there, I would have tried to find a place to live. Out of experience, the best way to do this is to join a group. A group could be a thieves guild or mercenary group. Joining a religion, monastery or cult are common ways for impressionable young men and women to end up too.
In a world of magic and adventure, I might have ended up in an adventuring group that goes to explore old ruins like in D&D. The nice thing about fantasy worlds is that it's an option. Also, there's magic in the world, so I might have apprenticed as a wizard, so perhaps I would have found a lonely tower in the wilderness and set up shop.
I honestly believe that with my personality, I may have ended up as an adventurer in the world of Ryallon. However, I don't think I would have been the hero in any of them, or even the villian. I may have joined the hero's group as a supporting member though, an end result that I like very much as long as I wasn't wearing a red shirt. :)
I've been considering who I've been throughout my life, but mostly when I was a teenager, because I feel that's when I would have made the most life affecting decisions as to who I would be. In most fantasy worlds, 41 years old is the high end of life expectancy.
When I was a kid and a teen, I kept to myself for the most part and spent a lot of time daydreaming. When I was 18, I went to work right away. I've always been a good worker. So in Ryallon, I probably would have spent most of my time by myself as a kid, hiding from any trouble. Then I would have found a job or trade as soon as possible and then worked hard at it.
However, in my late teens and early twenties, I became tired of working all the time and took off. I drove for hundreds of miles to get away from my life and explored the world. I even ended up in Alaska at one point. So I don't think I would have stayed in that job.
Who would I be?
All of this assumes I'm not in a war ravaged country and conscripted into a military.
Doing my best to look at it honestly, I think I would have learned a trade for a while and then taken off to explore the world. I didn't get married in this lifetime until I was 25 and I don't think I would marry in the world of Ryallon until later either. There was a restlessness in me when I was younger that wouldn't have let me stay still. If I did get married at a young age in the world of Ryallon, I'm afraid I may have left my family early on, though it's hard to believe that of myself.
In Ryallon, I think I would have travelled to whatever the nearest big city was, unless I was escaping marriage, in which case I would have gone to a different country. Once there, I would have tried to find a place to live. Out of experience, the best way to do this is to join a group. A group could be a thieves guild or mercenary group. Joining a religion, monastery or cult are common ways for impressionable young men and women to end up too.
In a world of magic and adventure, I might have ended up in an adventuring group that goes to explore old ruins like in D&D. The nice thing about fantasy worlds is that it's an option. Also, there's magic in the world, so I might have apprenticed as a wizard, so perhaps I would have found a lonely tower in the wilderness and set up shop.
I honestly believe that with my personality, I may have ended up as an adventurer in the world of Ryallon. However, I don't think I would have been the hero in any of them, or even the villian. I may have joined the hero's group as a supporting member though, an end result that I like very much as long as I wasn't wearing a red shirt. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment