>>49292758That’s fantastic, Kindred! I’m glad they’ve resparked that joy, love and sense of discovery! I understand the feeling, I have utilized my own readings and discussions dating back from high school in regards to building up settings for game/ttrpg development and just because it’s fun utilizing those things for writing. History, geography, climate, religion, local foods and methodologies of making a living such as the majority of salt coming from salt flats in the southern realms while lots of rice farming is seen in the northern part of the continent, from the swampy/mangrove coasts to the mountains, and how all the elements tie together to shape the peoples various existences. Add in magic and mythical creatures, and an active pantheon of deities and considering how every element would affect things like tech development, logistics, value of resources, etc.
This stemmed both from intellectual curiosity as a kid thanks to games like Age of Empires and Shogun Total War, discussions with friends from before high school and a period during and after high school where I E-RP’d as a wizard and my e-gf rp’d as my witchy apprentice, and she was always trying to supplant me, so we’d always end up inflicting our fetishes on each other. It’s cool to take it all in and make something of it yourself!