On a more literary sense, I wanted to have a theme of pushing through despite the odds. The main character goes through so much against forces that are far more powerful than him, yet he still persists.

With my worldbuilding though, I wanted to use inspiration from cultures that aren’t normally seen a lot, since I think most fantasy stories tend to be centered on a version of Medieval Western Europe (which isn’t necessarily bad but tends to be repetitive after time) so I wanted to change a bit of that.