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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Will Doyle" data-source="post: 6065361" data-attributes="member: 6682161">A few things you'd see in an archetypical fantasy setting:A 'badland': Mordor, North of the Wall, whatever. A place for evil villains to arise and gather armies.A knightly kingdom: Gondor, Camelot. Ideally living in memory of some recently lost glory days, and perhaps becoming a little corrupt, or at least, lax in their duties.    A Sylvan Utopia: Lothlorien, the Shire, etc. Beautiful and possibly forbidden to outsiders. A home for elves, centaurs, other woodland races.The Dying Dwarven Empire: It's almost a requirement that the ancient empire of the dwarves be on its last legs, their mountain fortresses falling one by one to orcs.  Southern Sultanate: A conquering empire rises from the sands of the desert. Always militant, with either Arab or Roman styling. Perhaps locked in a cold war with the north that is rapidly warming. Often owns strange mechanical devices (guns, flying machines, etc)As for twists:Race: I sometimes find tweaking the racial archetypes creates big thematic changes. For example, in my home world the elves are a young race created by humans to defend the stolen secret of magic. Why not have dwarves the most prosperous race, and humans on the decline? Make elves cosmopolitans, famous for their cruel mercantile laws? Have humans as druidic woodsmen, trying to protect their homes from the advance of elvish civilisation? Have everyone living under the rule of giants?Religion: Instead of a balanced pantheon, have one god rule and all the others outlawed, or say that the worship of all gods is forbidden by the ruling wizard class.  Science: Instead of gunpowder or steam power, think of some power source unique to your world. Perhaps all of civilization is vying for the shards of a meteor that fell to earth long ago, which can boost spells, power street lights, and lift ships into the air. A Single Point of Epic Weirdness: You only really need one biggy to define your world. Perhaps the great ocean spills off into the Astral planes. A giant mountain at the centre of civilization rises to heaven. The island of the ruling government flies about the world, keeping a watchful eye over its territories. The cruel emperor keeps his realm in check with a vast statue army. Every winter, the world plummets through the nine hells.</blockquote>

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