Everybody! I really have a big problem! Today, I found that a fictional empire in my world setting seems too similar to the nilfgaardian empire in the watcher!They are all large empires based on Rome. It has six vassal states. Among the six vassal states, one adopts an electoral monarchy, and the other has a nomadic cultural tradition!Do I need to change my settings？If necessary, how to keep it as it is?
If you read The Witcher, I'd assume you know more about Nilfgaard than someone like me who only watched the Netflix show. I'd saw try to draw loose inspiration from the series and more heavy inspiration from real history, as that can't be copyrighted.
If it was seven vassals, you might get worked up due to the Seven Kingdoms in GoT. If it was five, well, there's apparently a series called Five Kingdoms. G.R.R. Martin didn't fret much with his book, even though right before the publication of his first ASOIAF book the Warcraft franchise introduced their own seven kingdoms, some of them awfully resembling his. The devil is in the details; "Nomadic cultural tradition" and "electoral monarchy" are pretty vague. The latter fits over the HRE, over Sweden's invite of Bernadotte and over Hungary's recurring moots - obviously, these nations are vastly different in their own right.
Since all fictional kingdoms/empires are usually based in part on real-world counterparts, it would be more surprising that you created a setting that did not resemble something someone else has written.
of course, I know. But... oh I don't know if it is too similar to other people's things this time. Well, do you think I crossed the line?
When your book is called Lord of the Bracelets and your character's name is Dodo Haggins from the Sire who has to take a magic bracelet to throw in the fires of Mount Hoom. All jokes aside, it's fine if there are parallels in other books who probably borrowed from the same inspirational source. The only issue is when you completely plagiarize someone else's work, mix it up a bit with some new names and try and pass it off as original. It is fine if your kingdom/empire resembles someone else's, as long as you populate it with your own races, cities, and storylines.
I'd not worry overly much about similarities. As writers, we draw inspiration for the works of others and from history. There's only so much to work with, when it comes to world creation. You can be as original as possible, but at some point your work will overlap with someone else's. Unless names, maps, and some plot elements are directly copyed, it's unlikely to be a problem. Both my high fantasy sagas have bases in published works. However, as time has gone on they've developed their own worlds. I still struggle with place names, but that's about it. Find the parts that bother you most and fix them, if that makes you feel better. But don't lose your head over similarities.
So get creative. You can start with that framework and decide as you go how to make your kingdom different. I'm not sure how this description fits into the story. Do you open with the description? If so, don't. Reveal that backstory as you go. Are these six divisions at war with each other? Were they in Rome? Why are they there? Can that be a place that diverges? Write the story, change up the kingdom as seems fitting then. And if you've already written it, consider how you might revise it.
