Swords, Sorcery And Revolution

Devotee of Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. LBGTQ+ ally and feminist ally. Fascists can go to Hell. Way into writing fantasy adventures! A day without sword and sorcery is a day wasted.

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Red Sonja by Sanjulián

[venusmage]

🔥 🐍 🔥

[viscardiac]

Fictional worldbuilding

I have this list I compiled of topics for developing of countries, whether fantasy based or not, and it seems to be a useful resource to share. Feel free to use this list to develop your own lore, but DO NOT claim it as your own or repost. It's pretty long, but I think it covers a lot of relevant topics for worldbuilding.

General

∎ Country name - Etymology if possible - Reasons for the name ∎ Does it take inspiration for a historical time period, aesthetic, or culture ∎ What sort of government is it

Important Places

∎ Main cities - Layout of the city - Economic or historical importance ∎ Other cities and places of importance - Ports - Mine cities - Scholarly cities ∎ Seasonal or turistic places

Climate and Terrain

∎ Important lakes, rivers, mountain chains or other geographically relevant places ∎ Seasons ∎ Climate in general ∎ How does the terrain affect daily habits ∎ Important plants - Agriculture - Crops for export ∎ Important animals - Livestock

Government

∎ System of government - Nobility/aristocracy -- Titles and inheritance/eligibility of titles - Merchant class ∎ Current and past rulers

Social customs

∎ Entertainment - Common forms of entertainment - Games - Cultural/social forms of enterteinment (go to parties/go to the movies/go out to eat/etc) ∎ Seasonal entertainment - Vacations - Seasonal high class customs ∎ Customs regarding reading and books ∎ Customs towards addictive substances - Alcohol - Tobacco - Opioids - Other stuffs ∎ Education and educational system ∎ Houses - Home layouts - Common things in houses ∎ Rites of passage - Age to be presented as adult to the society and customs regarding it ∎ Manners and behaviour in public ∎ Religion - Possible gods - Holidays - Festivals ∎ Customs regarding music - Musical instruments

Notions of family

∎ Inheritance laws ∎ Marriage and concepts of marriage - Marriage rituals - Who is allowed to wed who - Divorce - Customs toward conjugal and domestic violence - Polygamy -- Extraconjugal affairs --- Bastards ∎ Adoption ∎ Division of domestic labor and roles

Economy

∎ Coin and values ∎ Important internal products ∎ Main imports ∎ Main exports ∎ Important commercial relations

Fashion

∎ Common feminine fashion ∎ Common masculine fashion ∎ Concepts about clothing - What is seen as vulgar - What is seen as desirable ∎ Fashion and rites of passage ∎ Hairstyles and adornments

Names and language

∎ Base language ∎ Linguistic influences ∎ Working of names - Family names -- Patronymic and matronymic - Personal names

Magic and technology

∎ Magic - Practice of magic - Permissions within magic - Common and uncommon forms of magic ∎ Magic creatures of importance ∎ Level of technology ∎ Daily uses of technology

[curtvilescomic]

Conan the Barbarian by Earl Norem

[victusinveritas]

Giovanni Valenzano's art of Frazetta's The Death Dealer in action.

[oldschoolfrp]

Conan vs a vampire, as sword & sorcery fantasy intersects again with gothic horror -- The Vanir say a city of vampires dwelled in Vanaheim until Ymir the frost giant buried them beneath a mountain of frozen rock. (Bob Larkin cover art for Savage Sword of Conan no 141, October 1987)

[swornsword]

[swornsword]

[curtvilescomic]

[darklongbox]

Red Sonja by Sanjulián

[omercifulheaves]

Art by William Stout

[swornsword]

[rom-parsons]

I need a creative challenge. I wish I had an assignment from someone to pitch something and I had to get really into an out-there idea.

#writingprompt

[rom-parsons]

This is Jack Kirby’s Mystiko, a wizard-warrior from a series of comics that never really got published.

I love the mix of sword and sorcery and superhero here.

[rom-parsons]

Sword and sorcery is essentially the genre created by Robert E Howard and Conan. And the artist most associated with the genre is Frazetta. It seems that 99% of sword and sorcery is inspired by these two creators.

But lately I’ve been thinking: “What if you took Jack Kirby as the inspiration rather than Frazetta?”

These Kirby panels are some of the ones I’ve been allowing to settle into my subconscious. I’ve tried writing Howard/Frazetta s&s, but my mind keeps drifting to Kirby’s wild vistas.

[splooosh]

“All-wise, All-just”

Kirby - Colletta

[70sscifiart]

Jack Kirby, Devil Dinosaur #4, 1978