Inspo-August 2024

First, a huge thanks to Jacqueline Yang for putting on this fantastic opportunity to explore what is behind the curtains of Terramora, and the building process of this world! Just a few days left but still enough time to join in!

Inspiration can be a fickle thing. I often don't realize my inspirations while creating, unless a creative session was directly instigated by a single source of inspiration. As such, I often have to reflect in order to realize what it is that inspires my work. This results in virtually everything I experience, or even hear about, being able to inspire different things I work on, which really is a wonderful way to be able to create organically.
Now, onto the questions....

What is the main thing or one of the main things that inspired your world(s)?

It's kind of difficult to narrow down Terramora's main sources of inspiration. Terramora is a classic fantasy world - elves, orcs, dwarves, magic, anthropomorphized animal races, etc. As a fantasy world, of course things like Dungeons and Dragons, the Elder Scrolls, and Tolkien are all big influences on Terramora. On a big picture, these are easily the primary inspiration for the continent of Dendralis as a whole.
On a smaller scale, nearly anything and everything can be a source of inspiration. Dendralin politics, and the factions involved, are heavily influenced by modern American politics, along with various political theories and identities. Much of the Emerald Shores and Islesis inspired by medieval Europe, as will the main human lands be in the future, while the elven societies of Dendralis lean into Indigenous American and other similar cultures.

What is your favorite aspect of your story/world and what inspired that aspect?

My favorite aspect of Terramora is easily it's depth. The scale and scope of the world is immense, will take many years to complete, and provides space to build and explore so many different ideas into one world. I truly believe that a world on this scale provides an wonderful home for individuals to explore, find inspiration, play tabletop roleplaying games in, and just overall dive in and experience. That said, the decision to build on this scope doesn't have much of an inspiration beyond "this would be fun!"
In a more inspired vision, my favorite aspect so far would be the politics and governmental systems that have so far been created in Dendralis. These have been heavily inspired by active American politics and many leftist political ideologies that we often don't get to see in practice. As a relatively peaceful continent, arguably the most peaceful on the planet, Dendralis is the perfect breeding ground to explore these various systems in fun ways.

What are some writers/worldbuilders that inspire you to write/worldbuild?

It would be easy to cop-out and put Tolkien down here, and call it a day. However, if we're being honest, I don't truly enjoy Tolkien's writing nearly as much as his world building. The writers for the Elder Scrolls have been much more influential in the creation of Terramora. In fact, I directly utilize their explanation for conflicting information in their games - that sources vary and are altered over time, resulting in information not being cohesive - as a way to explain any conflicting information that may exist in Terramora.

Any additional thoughts for Terramora?

As stated in my Summer Camp 2024 - Reading Challenge, the continuing focus in Terramora is to compile at least a rough overview of the entire continent of Dendralis over the next 6-12 months. Ideally, I want to have enough information available to write a nice, detailed pair of primers about Dendralis either during World Ember, or at minimum have them completed prior to Summer Camp 2025. Summer Camp was my first foray into the World Anvil community, and while I feel like I had some good content, and wrote some quality articles, I realized that there was no clear point of entry into the world for new visitors. I am also a stickler in that I don't want to prematurely introduce content, so the primers will have to follow at least loose introductions of all 17+ regions of Dendralis before they are written. The plan is to write an official primer, and also a pamphlet that serves as an underground guide, providing insider information that otherwise would not show up in any of the 'official' articles, ie. corruption, hints for readers to understand the underbelly of communities, etc.
On a larger scale beyond Dendralis, a few other continents and subcontinents have already begun the brainstorming process. Various species, races, and cultures have loose placement across the world map, with much of it still remaining classic fantasy. However, there may or may not be an entire subcontinent dedicated solely to the lore of the band with the greatest name in the history of music - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.....
Looking big picture - due to its scale and scope, Terramora will be the only fantasy world I create. It would be quite accurate to refer to me as a genre tourist as I enjoy dabbling in all genres of fiction and don't really have on specific genre which stands heads above the rest for me. Maybe genre-nomad would be more appropriate. As such, I expect any future worlds I create to reside across many other genres. They could be realistic alternate universes, lodged deep in the various -punk genres, or even an amalgamation of many genres. Only time will tell!