James Barclay

[Ilkarelvenmage]

How did you come up with Balaia continent and the population sizes and all that?

[James]

Well if I remember rightly, I drew a map of Balaia, wanting to have a place where two land masses had collided, throwing up mountains and where I could have the prevailing weather have a massive impact on lives and progress either side of them.

In terms of populations, I looked at typical populations in medieval times in a selection of countries. I gave Balaia larger than average population sizes across the board due to the health effects of magic, the richness of the land resources and because I needed plenty of people available to fight and die!

The Wesmen lands were very different, barren and hard to eke out a living upon. The Wesmen are less numerous but far hardier as a result. The effects of war on them are more severe. They have fewer they can afford to lose in battle because of the effects on population growth.

I would always advise looking at a relevant period in history if you can because it tells you a great deal about how many people a land can support based on farming techniques, disease, birth rates, mortality rates and the like. Factor in the effects of war and magic to make your numbers credible for your world and go from there.

Hope that helps
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

Thank you, now i can picture it much better. Oh yea the wesmen, the baddies.
I did some research and think tea and water are better supplies than coffee. Coffee has a lot of side effects including headaches and insomnia. Not ideal if people need to fight. Tea takes a shorter time to make as well.

[James]

Well, I think it rather depends on how much coffee you drink. And it has a stimulant effect too which can be positive. Can't imagine how pouring water on to coffee grounds is any slower than pouring water on to tea leaves...

And The Raven liked coffee better anyway so it's a moot point
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

thank you for replying me. it's really nice to get responses. I like getting responses.

[plingpling]

Seeing as Balaia seems to be a relatively small continent, I am assuming it is surrounded by islands? I have been wondering about this for a while as I could see no way that Balaia had been created in any way that was actually naturally possible.

Is it not more likely that the east of Balaia knows a more renaissance period, rather than a medieval one?

As you mentioned, the death rate is lower thanks to magic which means we have an increasing number of inhabitants. It also means that new technologies on agriculture will need to be developed to be able to feed all these people, or there would be a famine in no time.

Morality and religion are subjects that can be discussed, which means the focus lies on mankind, not any power above. It means the people are less the subject of their own fears and the will of any ruler (as they have no claim of divine power to back them up)Maybe the rivalry between the colleges can even be seen as the Reformation.

The fact that ”Books ranged over the walls on three sides” in an inn, makes me assume that both paper and printing press were already invented. This indicates theories will now be faster distributed and available to far more people. It also suggests that more and more people are getting a decent education.

To be short, I constantly get the impression that the east of Balaia has moved from the medieval period that was originally set into a more advanced one.

I assume the invention of guns and the like has been postponed till after the books because they somewhat tend to ruin the fantasy element? I find it somewhat against logic though.
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Life is like a game of Tetris

[James]

plingpling, welcome to the forum... good points all. Let me address some of them.

I think the inference is that the continent was a group of islands, the largest two of which collided over thousands of years throwing up the mountains. I'm not an expert on land mass movement so I may have suggested something that bends reason but I claim fantasy author's immunity! There will be other islands but they are not pertinent to the story.

My contention is that magic affects technology development in dramatic fashion. So, those things that magic cannot create - houses, books, tools etc - develop in a realtively linear fashion. In terms of agriculture, yes there'll be horse drawn ploughs, seed drills and the like but what magic provides is pest and disease control, ensuring crops grow well every year (unless there is a drought as magic cannot create rain).

Guns and the like? I believe that the creation of such weapons would be very much retarded by magic which already provides a mass of spells for both offence and defence. The nature of battle involving magic is such that heavy armour is not deployed because speed is important. Magical shields would repel bullets just as they do arrows.

Development goes in other directions in my world at least and the power is concentrated in the colleges - remember it is not in their interests to allow the development of weapons that might be more powerful than spells. Balaia is a place where science and magic are one. Earth history is littered with inventions that have been suppressed for (often erroneous)economic and social reasons. Balaia is no different.

So yes, while Balaia enjoys some renaissance elements, we can't assume it would develop as say, Britain, developed because magic is such a powerful force for good and ill and I've speculated on how that affects progress. You are of course free to disagree (and I enjoy such debate so please go ahead).

Ilkarelvenmage - it's a pleasure. I always respond. Sometimes it takes me forever but I will post eventually...
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

Welcome plingpling. Wow this really is an interesting debate. Science and magic are one cool! Indeed guns blazing would likely spoil the 'magic circle' so to speak. (i also post this to test why i don't get an alert because i've clicked notify me when there's an update.)
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the way of nature and the elvenpath are true yeay!

[James]

I'm not sure it alerts you when you post but it should alert you when anyone else does. Odd if it's not working. I'll follow this thread and see if I get any problems.

A fusion with guns and magic would be kind of cool. Get's me thinking... (I'm sure someone's done it, somewhere)
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

yeay! i found that it alerts when i post, this one showed but when others post, it doesn't always alert. Hehe guns and magic, something like steampunk? I read some urban fantasy, the vampire killers with high tech and also with witches.
i was thinking, does the mercenary trade make a lot of money? i wish i can be one! how cool.

And there aren't cute Familiars? I'm writing some short stories and looking more of those rather than the horrifying ones in Dawnthief. I felt sorry for denser's one when it got flamed. awww.
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the way of nature and the elvenpath are true yeay!

[wigwam]

[James]

wigwam - yep, I think that would be likely, non mages looking to develop their own weapons.

As for the Garonin, well, they're a magic-free race who have developed projectile weapons instead. Back story eh? Well, never say never...
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

Hi James,
I notice that all of the elves are dark-haired with hazel eyes or green eyes.
Do u have any blond golden haired ones? I did start out liking the blond elves like Nuada and dark elves haha =)
When i watched a documentary on South america, i thought how similar you've made the culture to be! cool! exotic.
Though i notice for one edition on the site, i think Elfsorrow shows a red haired elf.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

I cannot imagine, and suspend my imagination: how it is possible for any person to sustain fighting and using strenuous spells, despite having grevious wounds and being severely ill? Sometimes there are happenings in the news, like a woman was stabbed multiple times but managed to save her child before dying. But it’s only one in a million possibilities.
Generally I’ve read a number of fantasies and also think about this fact. Personally I’ve suffered dengue fever before which made me virtually too weak to do anything than sleep. Can’t even think clearly or rationally. I know that heroes are noble but as the summary behind some books say, they are but mortal. Just a general muse, not meant to criticize.

[James]

I don't control the artists who paint covers for my books so you may think I have blond elves... but I don't. Mainly, they are dark haired, dark eyed and that is part of their natural camoflage in the rain forest. There'll be variations and one-offs of course but I don't see them as pale in any way... hair, skin, eyes, anything.

As to your other post, my view is (and I don't know which particular incident you're talking about) that heroes, strong people, find ways to overcome, even temporarily, their injuries and illnesses. It's part of being someone special to be able to find that last well of energy and use it in the right way. Granted, it's unusual but not unhead of.
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.