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<blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 3569498" data-attributes="member: 15999"><p>Well, it has to be based on some sort of principles. Yes, it can just be the whim of the gods, but then I have to figure out which god wants things which way and why. And I have to determine if laws of nature are predictable enough for society to operate by. If I don't have a clever and flavorful magical explanation, I'll fall back on realism.</p><p></p><p>My subterranean geology has magical explanations (extensive caverns shaped by delvers, dwarven gods, and ancient evils; large caverns allowed by stone having a greater tensile and shear strength than it has in our world).</p><p>Certain properties of my ocean have a magical explanation (the god of the sea has a particular agenda).</p><p>My moon has an astronomical explanation. Phases of the moon are determined by the moon's position relative to the planet and the sun, and it has a 30-day month.</p><p>My forests are generally not magical, so they need water and soil and are not overpopulated with large predators. If I wanted, I could have magical forests with 400' oak trees growing on bedrock and 500 owlbears per square mile. The Faerie Realm may indeed have such forests.</p><p>My rivers are generally not magical (few river gods or Elemental Plane anomalies) so they require drainage basins, flow downhill, and so on.</p><p>My mountains are generally not magical aside from the caverns, so they follow some of the patterns that we see in our world. A solitary mountain with nothing else around it is likely to have some sort of an explanation -- not just a handwaved "It's magic" but an actual story.</p><p></p><p>Things are "realistic" based on what would fit the observations of a Dark Ages scholar. River flows, predator populations, mountain ranges, etc. Germ theory of disease isn't necessarily correct, species don't all have a common ancestor, and many concepts of advanced physics are altered.</p><p></p><p>At least, that's how I like to design a world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Brother MacLaren, post: 3569498, member: 15999"] Well, it has to be based on some sort of principles. Yes, it can just be the whim of the gods, but then I have to figure out which god wants things which way and why. And I have to determine if laws of nature are predictable enough for society to operate by. If I don't have a clever and flavorful magical explanation, I'll fall back on realism. My subterranean geology has magical explanations (extensive caverns shaped by delvers, dwarven gods, and ancient evils; large caverns allowed by stone having a greater tensile and shear strength than it has in our world). Certain properties of my ocean have a magical explanation (the god of the sea has a particular agenda). My moon has an astronomical explanation. Phases of the moon are determined by the moon's position relative to the planet and the sun, and it has a 30-day month. My forests are generally not magical, so they need water and soil and are not overpopulated with large predators. If I wanted, I could have magical forests with 400' oak trees growing on bedrock and 500 owlbears per square mile. The Faerie Realm may indeed have such forests. My rivers are generally not magical (few river gods or Elemental Plane anomalies) so they require drainage basins, flow downhill, and so on. My mountains are generally not magical aside from the caverns, so they follow some of the patterns that we see in our world. A solitary mountain with nothing else around it is likely to have some sort of an explanation -- not just a handwaved "It's magic" but an actual story. Things are "realistic" based on what would fit the observations of a Dark Ages scholar. River flows, predator populations, mountain ranges, etc. Germ theory of disease isn't necessarily correct, species don't all have a common ancestor, and many concepts of advanced physics are altered. At least, that's how I like to design a world. [/QUOTE]
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