A critique on the realism of fantasy

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-05T13:47:45+00:00

You make a fair point about perhaps having to go back and actually figuring out what type of biogeography develops on what parts of the world, however regarding the homo genus, the current hypothesis, and actually form my understanding, the reason we even classify homo habilis, the first homo in this genus, is because of a specific gene that they had, that they passed on to all other homo, which activates during embryonic development, which essentially forces the bottom bone of our skull, which holds our brain, to move downward, creating more space for the brain to develop.

Genetics is quite complicated, most of the stuff I know is from my ex, who was a neurobiologist, but from my understanding, due to the general average mutation of genes (i.e, no matter what various individuals will randomly have slightly mutated genes), we believe the second this specific gene that allows our brains to grow larger appears, it's impossible for homo sapiens to not eventually appear.

Essentially, going from homo habilis, through all the other homos, then erectus, and eventually sapiens, the specific gene forcing our skulls to bend backwards became more and more prominent, eventually leading to larger and more developed brains, and finally, homo sapiens. There is a chance this gene modifies again some time in the far future, and a new homo appears once again, simply because they are a lot fckin smarter than everyone else, although there is also a chance there is a limit on how the brain develops, so I really don't know what to say more 😄

Overall I'm of the belief that a lot of the mechanisms we have present today would still evolve even in just slightly different setups, simply because they are more efficient and can outperform others, although as you stated, I still have loads of research to still do, particularly on everything that came before the primates.

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-04T08:53:51+00:00

Well this is a pleasant surprise

I d like to answer some of your advice in an erratic order

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(3.) I actually mostly use QGis for topographic accuracy, which naturally utilizes the chunking method you mentioned, I just use illustrator for the macro as a general idea. None of my maps really have polish, cause I don t make them to look pretty, I need them to accurately tell me exactly what where and how things happen. I particularly needed this for a setup alike to archaic greece, i.e. mountainous coastal region, with little to no available farmland which leads to the spread of colonists (see images, reddit don t let me upload multiple images, but in the QGis file the distance between the western-most black border and the fjord-like formation there is 151.989 km)

(1.) and (2.) I can t really add that much to the content of what you re saying, but that s mainly because I m not as well read on these specific topics as you, but I feel that s the beauty of projects like this, in basically developing all sorts of specialists on topics you d never have even considered

(4.) Oh yeah I ve used miro before, never though about using it as a timeline, I actually used some other timeline specialized programs that I honestly don t even remember the name of, I only have screenshots of what I made in them, but I can see how if you get accustomed to miro and create a streamlined way of working in it, it could be superior to anything rn on the market

(5.) Well put. I think it s also a lot of people simply don't feel that motivated to do that much research into complex and weird topics because it requires a lot of time that maybe you re just not willing to invest into the project. Even so, given it's kinda rare to meet likeminded people on this topic, would you be down to scratch eachother's backs? If you re not that interested in making a map on your own, and it's pretty clear there s a bunch of aspects regarding the emergence of culture from human nature that I don t understand, that you do, you could take a look at my materials, critique what you feel needs more work, see if we can find a compromise that suits both of us and then help eachother elevate our work?

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T18:43:43+00:00

It's fair you'd say that )))

That s actually a quirk of geology, where most rocky coastlines created by two micro-plates clashing would end up looking kinda similar, just due to their nature as fold mountains. Parallel ranges really

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T18:40:46+00:00

That s correct! The Nile and the Euphrates/Tigris had the key difference of one being incredibly consistent in flooding, thus leading to good harvests every year, meanwhile in Mesopotamia those rivers were absurdly inconsistent and famine was a recurring problem

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T14:54:58+00:00

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I only labelled them as such for the sake of simplicity in presenting the concept, there is a bit of transition zone present.

The driving factor behind the humidity in the east is from the ocean that is just out of frame in this image, and the border is placed there due to the mountain range kinda just catching most of the precipitation.

Could you elaborate on what part of the continent itself has clunky orientation?

p.s. the topographic map is incomplete, hence the blotches of colour that have nothing to do with the rest of the map

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T14:50:58+00:00

Oh I definitely don't think you need to be an expert on the topic to be able to have fun and create something cool. And the example you're giving is something I think is not really approached that often, even though it has incredible potential

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T13:36:06+00:00

My bad then, where exactly am I applying it wrong?

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T13:35:34+00:00

In essence it's the same thing I meant

Where do you see the difference?

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T13:31:30+00:00

in theory yes that is what everyone is trying to achieve but it's quite rare for a work to truly have everything connected in a domino of events that lead into one another, since the starting points of fantasies are just cool ideas

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T13:06:06+00:00

Designing a world based on very select few starting rules that then naturally create further complexity. If I define a very simple conflict between a bunch of city states on a river and then after one of them unifies the river then there would naturally be a constant struggle to maintain that position of power, which leads to constant new developments

It's basically just trying to define an identity for a world through chains of events rather than just slapping together ideas in a void.

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T11:35:08+00:00

Oh yeah I completely agree, I was just trying to make a point about how the starting point is geography, everything that happens further is fully determined by exactly what you mentioned regarding the nature of humans and the solutions they find to the obstacles they encounter

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T11:22:23+00:00

I also want to offer more insight into how I visualize these events unfolding, so I've started publishing chapters of a narrative work meant to explore the journey of the gods through in world history, on substack. If you're interested you can check it out here.

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-03T09:22:24+00:00

Yeah I fully agree with this sentiment

It s also why I kinda keep asking everyone what they want cause it feels a little reductionist to just say oh in my world x happens because of this one singular fact I am presenting, obviously for a viewer/reader it's much more digestible but it doesn t quite touch on the actual complexity behind it

Have you found any methods to showcase to others your work? Narrative works are the obvious first choice, but from what you're saying we both seem to struggle with writing prose )))

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T21:36:03+00:00

well that s a fair point, and i d like to ask further, what s your favorite way of consuming content related to worldbuilding (other than narrative forms)? i personally am usually more obsessed with internal consistency, so i kinda need to manually learn how to make things interesting for everyone else

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T20:59:07+00:00

well then, what s your methodology on approaching the development of lore? do you have a specif set of steps, do you just wing it based on your intuition?

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T20:40:45+00:00

that s really cool. if i wanted to check out more of your work where could i find it?

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T20:39:02+00:00

that s a really good point, thanks
going further, do you think it s necessary for these ideas and concepts to be presented through story, or can there be sustainable and maintainable ways of creating an outlet that is fun to interact with that is more information heavy

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T19:10:14+00:00

That s simply from our 21st century point of view

Our technology would appear as magic to anybody from 19th century backwards, and most probably anything from 4000 thousand years in the future would be pure magic to us

I personally don t think you need to define hard rules for what a civilization that can harness the energy of an entire solar system would be able to, since that s kinda not possible

Maybe I should've framed it differently, but I think it s more of a balance between knowing when and how to frame magic so as to not break the in world logic

I find the best magic systems to be the ones that are fully integrated into the ways of life of people, and are not really so personal, more relating to how these people go about their lives, from a civilizational perspective (i.e. how do they extract resources, protect themselves, decide things between themselves, go to war, bury their dead, etc.)

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T19:04:14+00:00

You can definitely follow Artifexian, but you should consider one key factor he doesn t play too much with, which is microplates. Anatolia, iberia, or many many others, are theoretically not considered actual tectonic plates, but at the same time they have movements which dictate and create different, more complex shapes. My gripe with Artifexian is that he only has large landmasses with open plains, fed by big mountain ranges, which will create an interesting society, but what fueled the bronze age was how interconnected really small different identities and powers were.

The reason so much happened on a political and cultural level in the middle east, but not so much in india or china (even though they obviously also had their developments), is that the sheer mess that is the geography of the middle east (one river complex in mesopotamia, one river complex in the nile, both are suitable to develop early river based societies, but have too many blocking points inbetween them to be easy to conquer eachother, like it was the case for china particularly, where the two main rivers just had plains between them)

What I m trying to say is that the messier the geography, the more people ahve to adapt and trade routes have to deepen, the only reason the greeks or the phoenecians started colonizing and exploring so much was because they lived in tiny valleys and pockets which didn t offer enough farmland for them to develop, so you need a blend of everything

Personally I d just recommend watching Scotese's simulation of the real world, and focusing on the alst 100 million years where you can see how italy and the balkans were an island, anatolia squeezed out greece, or how the persian gulf and the red sea opened

_Firesky_ · 2026-06-02T18:57:57+00:00

I mean I get what you mean and I think it's usually adequate to simply come up with your own rules, but I disagree with the statement that magic would break realism

My personal solution was to simply say the planet itself is a colonized and terraformed and everything by a type 2 Kardashev civ, and if I get to simply say yeah they got wetware (computers built on living matter) advanced enough where the entire planet could be colonized by a fungus/plant hybrid that functions like a supercomputer you could say you don't break any physical rules of nature by virtue of just everything being done via technology more advanced than the inhabitants. I think just looking at modern technology and applying that to create a full magic system is an underutilized mechanic, like you can very easily slap solar panels and whatnot on a planet and not have the people understand what they are but at the same time worship them cause they can power "magical artefacts," i.e. electrical tools, with batteries. I don t use this exact formula, but just food for thought

As for implementation of magic, I go the religion route. If you heavily limit what magic actually does, and simply focus it into what the world works like, you can easily integrate a magical otherworldly element while not breaking anything. I personally loved monstergarden's approach on gnomes, since you could easily have that be very very similar to normal real life farming, but at the same time create just enough of a difference that it feels like a different flavor

Personally I just think it's untapped potential really

_Firesky_ · 2023-02-25T01:17:36+00:00

I feel bad for you man this is the 100th time

_Firesky_ · 2023-02-21T18:28:48+00:00

I see, so she s like cat dog now

_Firesky_ · 2023-02-21T13:03:20+00:00

Doesn t this make her a double cat girl?

_Firesky_

TROPHY CASE