Ramifications of a land world?

[Aristotle]

What would be the effects of a world that was backwards from our own? A world that consisted of 70% to 80% land for instance. How do you think it would affect the cultures? ...What sorts of cultures do you think would evolve? What other effects might it cause?

I don't know of a campaign setting that quite fits what I am thinking of. There are examples in literature of land based worlds, but most that I have seen are dominated by a single biome (how many desert worlds can you think of?). I'm thinking of a world where the biomes (except for aquatic ones) are mostly the same. Salt water would be extremely rare... Areas of fresh water would be common enough, although not on the scale of oceans or anything like that.

We got some smart people here at ENworld. I'd love to benefit from a little of your knolwedge and/or brainstorming if your willing. Thanks in advance!

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Well, lets use some science.

Why are salty bodies of water, salty?

Because they do not empty into another source and all the minerals build up inside them.

If you want to have a world thats more land then water, and retain many freshwater lakes and seas. Then you'll have to have a TON of rivers, and all them are gonna havta empty into some salt water basin.

Maybe its underground. Maybe its at the poles where you have great Ice Salt Blocks (or something).

Trade would be extremly dependent on Rivers, and failing that, Magic.

Perhaps the need to cross large distance of land without water has created airships in your game...

etc etc.

 

[Gez]

If you want to use some verisimilitude, such a world would offer mostly hypercontinental climates.

Look at Mongolia for an example of what it can do. Temperatures that can reach -40°C in winter; but +50°C in summer. That can shift by +/-40°C between night and day. Where only lichen can thrive.

CONVERSION
Values:
-40°C = -40°F
+50°C = +122°F
Differential:
40°C=72°F

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, a significant part of the water on Earth is actually groundwater or glacier water...so that would be not too big of a deal. Maybe just one super-salty sea on the world, and the rest be groundwater -- with the amount of underground posited in D&D, it's not too far a shot...and it would mean things like Drow Pirates!!!!!111!

But for those people without easy access to the Underdark, you'd have nations probably defined by large rivers, perhaps more on the scale of the Mississippi, the Nile, the Indus, etc. -- giant rivers society can shape itself around. Depending upon the land around it (mountainous, flat, etc.) you could have rivers pretty much defining the landscape and the country's borders. As you get farther away from water, weather also gets more extreme...it's why something like a Kansas Winter and a Kansas Summer are both equally as harsh....they don't have the mitigating effect of large bodies of water to ease their weather troubles. At the most extreme, most interior, you'd have tundra/desert depending upon if your land is equatorial or polar, with land getting more verdant toward the rivers, going into fields and then forests. Mountainous regions would define their topography greater; a river in a mountain doesn't flow slow enough or have fertile enough banks to support a preponderance of wildlife, but a single plateau can become prime real estate, a la Turkey or the Andean region.

So basically, extreme weather, rivers you can build around.....I imagine mass transit would be developed soon......wagon trains, at least, well-worn trails, perhaps full-fledged national roads, and perhaps tech like airships to get around the problem of no easy transport by water......there would be significant limits to what people can import/export unless you have something that goes by air, or the fantasy equivalent of a big rig (something like elephant caravans may do the trick).

Also, bigger habitat = bigger critters. Dire would probably be the norm, with the normal animals appearing infrequently and only in areas where they would benefit (such as near civilizations). When you can pretty much free range over the entire land, you've got a broad selection of foods over a wide area.....migration patterns could take decades or millenia instead of seasons....and, as flyers, birds probably have a unique niche as extremely useful domesticated animals......people would get a lot more use out of flying pack animals, and giant, intelligent birds, and the poorer ones would be stuck with slow ol' horses.

 

[Papewaio]

Some good points above.

I have just another point to consider: even if land is dominant it does not necessarily mean that you can walk everywhere. Mountain ranges, for example, will be extremely important landmarks and make natural borderlines between different climates and biomes (and, of course, countries/empires/cultures). On real Earth it is usually easier sailing around mountains (if there is a sea) than going through them. If there is no possibility of sailing, you have an almost impassable rocky wall (and an excellent natural defense).

My 2 cents.

 

[Vaxalon]

Oh, please.

Make it whatever you like. Have a world that is 100% jungle, with no seas anywhere.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Oh, please.

Make it whatever you like. Have a world that is 100% jungle, with no seas anywhere.

Have to agree, don't worry about 'real life' mechanics. Platectonic, the effect of lack of large bodies of water on winds and weather, will drive you crazy.

 

[diaglo]

have you looked at the Dark Sun setting?


or:

i think Druids and Clerics or others able to use magic to create water would be very highly regarded. or feared.

 

[~Johnny~]

The hypercontinental point is a good one. Also, I'm pretty sure this world would be very dry. With fewer oceans, you'd have less rain. In the areas furthest inland, the scarcity of water would be an important part of society. (Underground water and prevalent wells might mitigate that, to a certain extent.)

If you don't want the land covered in rivers, you might make salinated soil a part of the reality. It would make farming more difficult, and be another

Regardless of how much ocean there is, people will congregate along the coastline. The areas furthest inland will probably be unoccupied or occupied by exotic human or non-human cultures.

Make it whatever you like. Have a world that is 100% jungle, with no seas anywhere.

Actually, that's a good point. Water doesn't just come in ocean form. Large areas of rainforest represent another way to have a concentrated chunk of humidity.

(The more I type, the more this sounds like Dark Sun...)

Have to agree, don't worry about 'real life' mechanics. Platectonic, the effect of lack of large bodies of water on winds and weather, will drive you crazy.

Sure, but knowing something about the science is a starting point to give the world flavor. You wouldn't have to use all the ideas in the thread, but a few could help set a homebrewed world apart from countless other fantasy settings.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Can't Blue Dragons destroy water with an innate spell like ability? If so I'd imagine some might set up fiefdoms where all communities must pay them tribute or the dragon would fly over the towns and destroy any rainwater that they have collected (provided they didn't have access to an underground source of water).