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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 2016136" data-attributes="member: 7240">The idea of progressive rather than declensionist or cyclical history is something I associate with the world I inhabit (to the extent that I believe in it at all). In my view, fantasy worlds generally are not governed by the whig theory of popular history (that of progressive technological and social advancement) that most people believe our world to be governed by.In fact, I would argue that most fantasy worlds have declension histories -- those of inevitable decline. Certainly, Tolkien's Middle Earth functions this way, as do many pre-modern theories of history, be they biblical or pagan. Generally, in fantasy and myth histories, people's lifespans get shorter, kingdoms get smaller, magic loses its power, rulers become less noble and the greatest and most beautiful things fade away. Personally, I'm into worlds that have cyclical histories -- measures of cultural and material progress that look like sine waves. Sometimes these cyclical histories are combined with declensionist or progressive patterns (ie. in each cycle, things get more or less impressive). Ancient Greek theories of history combine cyclical and declensionist aspects with each age bracketed by civilization-destroying natural disasters but each age, even at its height, being less impressive than the previous one.One of the things I game to escape is any sense of the march of progress. And I get the sense that other people do too.</blockquote>

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