I love fantasy(one of mine is a fantasy romance)! In Lishadon how do you have the various races/species, like are they somewhat integrated in cities or they're different groups who live away from each other? Are there big differences in people/creatures/culture/etc in the daylight and night areas? Are Prince Marcus and company on a specific quest, or is it more of a "we're traveling around to see what good there is to do" type of thing?
minor spoilers for my dnd game!!!! if ur playing in my game read ahead at your own risk! ill try to be as vague as possible with certain subjects lol
In Lishadonhow do you have the various races/species, like are they somewhat integrated in cities or they're different groups who live away from each other?
both! just like the real world there are several areas that each race “comes from” and is the majority in, but there are plenty of places where you’ll find different races of people living together.
Are there big differences in people/creatures/culture/etc in the daylight and night areas?
yes there are! so, the light half of the continent is called the Goldenlands, with the other half called the Shadowlands. They are divided down the center of the landmass by a humongous crescent shaped mountain range that casts a shadow over the western half of the land. The sun still rises and sets, but in the Goldenlands it’s never truly nighttime, it basically goes from dusk to dawn.
Goldenlands folk generally have darker skin. The humans in the Goldenlands have a similar culture to Medieval Europe and are governed by a monarchy. Elves are generally from the Glowing Forest, in the north of the Goldenlands.
Shadowlands folk have pale skin, never really getting sunlight. Without reliable natural light they’ve developed other methods of illumination, either through magic or utilizing the bioluminescent flora in the Moongrass Plains. The humans here are based on more of an ancient roman/greek style culture, and have an oligarchy-ish government ruled by an emperor. Dwarves are typically from the Iron Wasteland in the southern portion of the Shadowlands.
also there are a series of smaller islands to the north of the Shadowlands called the Twilight Isles, a desert island that actually sees a mock day/night cycle from the moving shadows of the mountains. These islands are home to the Orcs, a surprisingly industrialized race that have managed to harness lightning to provide light to their cities during the “night time”.
Are Prince Marcus and company on a specific quest, or is it more of a "we're traveling around to see what good there is to do" type of thing?
they are on a specific quest! one day, because of reasons, the magic in the world has stopped functioning. it’s up to Prince Marcus and Princess Juliana to explore the world to try and figure out what happened, and return magic to Lishadon!
of course they arent the only ones, along their travels they find many other characters to help them on their way! in this world there is a huge focus on the elements, but like, the extended elements, so theres Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Metal, Energy, Magic, Science, Light, and Dark (those last few are kinda vague tho). each of the main characters has a elemental theme/affinity. for example, Marcus is Metal, so metal-based spells come more naturally to him, but hes more of a swordsman with a really big heavy sword and metal armor.
anyway yeah! this ended up being a lot more about the world than the characters lol but if you wanna know more just ask!