I had an idea about a medieval world (not on earth, but on a planet named zirodia) where there are multiple races fighting each other and a villain named demisal (part of a different story) is tearing them apart and conquering the planet with an army of blobulous creatures know as shadow creatures. the civilizations are in population order as follows: light dark fire energy water earth wind human other they all also have heroes who are the strongest in their civilizations besides the king/queen, they are as follows: light: shara tall, strong, female, short hair, uses swords, has a mean attitude. dark: wvemen short, fast, male, long hair, uses fists, has angry attitude fire: orgmal medium height, strong, male, spiky and short hair, uses swords, has forbidding attitude energy: zak short, extremely fast, male, very stiff and spiky hair, uses everything, has energetic attitude water: name pending medium height, smart, female, long hair, uses floating orb, has spunky attitude earth: names pending both medium, one gullible one mixed, female and male, both long hair, one sword one bow, both have mixed attitude wind: gazu tall, mixed, male, unknown hair(wears hat), uses thin sword, has badass attitude also, they are all joined together by the council (meeting between members chosen by kings) who makes most of the decisions in zirodia. there are constant meetings between the members for most of the middle of the story and somewhat towards the end, but they are crucial. what do you think so far? good basis? if you want, ask questions and i'll answer. one more detail though, the civs do have their own separate religions besides the dark who rely on science. they do; however, believe in the planetary prophecy.
If all these races are joined by a council, then shouldn't the job of that council be to keep the peace between the races? If the races were fighting each other, then wouldn't the council be arguing constantly about decisions and get nothing done? Unless the council was something old and the fighting was new, then why would there be a council? Maybe I've misinterperated what you've said, but this are the questions that pop into my mind.
the council DOES try to work things out, but they are having trouble because of the rebelling queen of the dark people who has completely destroyed their peace and way life in a split second. the only way the council doesn't fight so much is that the embers all were chosen by their respective races as the most calm and collective of them all. (there is also peace-guards there to keep everybody from killing each other) so yeah, it just gets harder and harder for the council to stay together until later.
I think the lack of replies betrays a greater disinterest in a story that tries to explain too much of itself or has its foundations grounded in something that already exists and has a million fanfics. I've tried to read the list three times and I've zoned out well before reaching the end. Please try to keep these things concise. So basically in a world containing elemental magic where individual elements are worshiped separately and have their own unique champions, a greater evil has arisen and must be conquered. Politics and religion play a part, maybe getting in the way or causing tensions detrimental to defeating the bad guy. Well the short answer is that it's been done, but as long as you've got something that will make it genuinely unique I don't see why not. Sierra made a game called Lords of Magic which is more or less this and I'm sure I don't need to tell you about The Last Airbender. The minor differences in system and such don't matter, the fact is that it's the elemental alignment that will stand out.
'Tis a tad chaotic. Too many characters. Maybe you could remove a couple of races if it's possible. Btw a question. The races fight among themselves AND there's a villan?? And it reminds me a little of The series 'Last Airbender' and Lord of the Rings Trilogy. (well, actually a cross between both)
Light, dark, earth, water, fire, wind. They have been used in so many stories before that they have become quite boring. Maybe try to come up with some new ideas? Maybe heat and cold. Where heat melts or burns anything together into a 'body'. And cold freezes matter, or anything into a 'body'. So basically those beings are just like energy and don't really need a 'body' to survive but it is easier to manipulate physical world with one. Dark. Dark absorbs light and that is why they are regarded as dark, because light cannot escape them, cannot reflect off of them. Just some quick thoughts. The classical water, fire, earth, etc. have been used so much. It's not that difficult to come up with new, or add a new twist. edit: something magnetical or gravitational-like energy/beings that just pull stuff together into a body.
I agree with akexodia, you might have trouble making that many races distinct and interesting enough, even with the elemental themes. I suppose it might work if you focus on one nation and its immediate neighbours initially and then introduce the others slowly. Also is there a reason they all connect so strongly to an element? I know this isn't exactly hard scifi or anything but it seems unlikely any natural evolution of a civilization would adhere to a single elemental theme.
those were a few inspirations, but note that these are just the basics, it gets more in depth as the story goes on, this is just were it all begins. (alot of huge events take place, but it is all ultimately resolved) there are also about only 1-3 races left at the end.
i'm not looking for tips on abilities, but there are a few things i'm keeping for later that you are closely describing.
there is a reason they are connected, it's sort of supernatural though. (and this isn't earth or supposed to based on real life) to answer, though, the reason they are connected is because they were born with psychic powers, but each able to control different elements while unable to control others. i.e. fire civ people are able to control types of heat (just exclusively fire) while also having special fire related attributes. the dark people also have the unique ability to control shadows and make weapons (exclusively lances) with an unknown material. anything I miss?
Well, the obvious thing to say is that if this ability is hereditary, what happens when people from the nations interbreed? Or is interbreeding impossible, or just unheard of for some reason? That was something that always bothered me about Airbender.
well, basically what happens is that a hybrid baby is born, which has some of both elements. if a hybrid breeds with a non-hybrid of an already controlled element, a baby is born with with that one element. if two hybrids breed with two separate elements, a hybrid of a little of all four is born. i.e. fire + water = fire/water hybrid fire/water hybrid + earth/wind hybrid = fire/water/earth/wind hybrid however, fire/water hybrid + earth/water hybrid = either earth/water hybrid or fire/water hybrid but water will be dominant. does this make any sense?
I think this idea is definitely a good one. I know that it's going to be interesting because you have an entire planet to fill, but I like everything already. I agree that you should introduce things slowly. Perhaps the council meets and we only follow a couple races or major characters, eventually pulling in everyone. You've already developed a lot of this it seems, so you may already have all of your story lines worked out...but the question is why are the races fighting? And if they're fighting already what is the purpose of the villain? Perhaps you've already settled those questions, I don't know, but I think you certainly have a good idea here. It just might be tricky to pull off.
