World History - Revision history

Tao alexis at 17:15, 20 April 2025

2025-04-20T17:15:19Z

Tao alexis at 17:07, 20 April 2025

2025-04-20T17:07:46Z

Tao alexis at 17:06, 20 April 2025

2025-04-20T17:06:53Z

Tao alexis: /* Historical Timelines */

2025-03-02T18:00:42Z

Historical Timelines

Tao alexis: /* Historical Timelines */

2025-02-15T19:40:53Z

Historical Timelines

Tao alexis: /* Historical Timelines */

2023-08-30T00:22:13Z

Historical Timelines

Tao alexis: /* Historical Timelines */

2023-08-28T20:09:42Z

Historical Timelines

Tao alexis: /* Historical Timelines */

2023-08-28T20:09:31Z

Historical Timelines

Tao alexis at 20:06, 28 August 2023

2023-08-28T20:06:15Z

Tao alexis at 19:13, 28 August 2023

2023-08-28T19:13:03Z

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-[[File:World History.jpg|right|490px|thumb]]
+[[File:World History.jpg|right|525px|thumb]]
 '''World History''' as described through the links below is an imaginative synthesis of dungeons & dragons elements — [[Humanoid|races]], [[Spellcasting|magic]], [[Character Classes|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] — woven into the tapestry of real-world historical events. The intention is to create a compelling setting where fantasy and reality intertwine, providing a mythic backdrop that enhances gameplay, storytelling and worldbuilding possibilities. At first glance, much of the history presented may appear "wrong." This is entirely intentional. The reinterpretation of actual historical periods, peoples and events is not meant to be accurate. Instead, it reflects a deliberate blending of fact and fantasy, using the tools of dungeons & dragons to imagine an alternate past shaped by arcane forces and non-human civilisations.
 __TOC__

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 [[File:World History.jpg|right|490px|thumb]]
-'''World History''' as described through the links below is an imaginative synthesis of dungeons & dragons elements — [[Humanoid|races]], [[Spellcasting|magic]], [[Character Classes|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] — woven into the tapestry of real-world historical events. The intention is to create a compelling setting where fantasy and reality intertwine, providing a mythic backdrop that enhances gameplay, storytelling and worldbuilding possibilities. At first glance, much of the history presented may appear "wrong," and this is entirely intentional. The reinterpretation of actual historical periods, peoples and events is not meant to be accurate. Instead, it reflects a deliberate blending of fact and fantasy, using the tools of dungeons & dragons to imagine an alternate past shaped by arcane forces and non-human civilisations.
+'''World History''' as described through the links below is an imaginative synthesis of dungeons & dragons elements — [[Humanoid|races]], [[Spellcasting|magic]], [[Character Classes|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] — woven into the tapestry of real-world historical events. The intention is to create a compelling setting where fantasy and reality intertwine, providing a mythic backdrop that enhances gameplay, storytelling and worldbuilding possibilities. At first glance, much of the history presented may appear "wrong." This is entirely intentional. The reinterpretation of actual historical periods, peoples and events is not meant to be accurate. Instead, it reflects a deliberate blending of fact and fantasy, using the tools of dungeons & dragons to imagine an alternate past shaped by arcane forces and non-human civilisations.
 __TOC__
 It would be a mistake to assume that any content found here regarding real-world history is factual. While many names, places and timelines are drawn from actual sources, their treatment has been altered to fit a world where dragons once flew over Mesopotamia, dwarves built fortresses beneath the Alps and elves watched the rise and fall of empires from hidden forests. Readers and players are encouraged to do their own research when historical truth is desired, and to enjoy what follows for what it is — an alternate mythic history, created in the service of fantasy role-playing.

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 [[File:World History.jpg|right|490px|thumb]]
-'''World History''' as told in the links below seeks to combine elements of dungeons & dragons [[Humanoid|races]], [[Spellcasting|magic]], [[Character Classes|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] with real world historical events.  On the face of it, much of the history included is deliberately '''wrong''' ... it would be a mistake to assume that any part of what's written on this blog about the apparently real history of humans in different parts of the world is true, without doing one's own research.
+'''World History''' as described through the links below is an imaginative synthesis of dungeons & dragons elements — [[Humanoid|races]], [[Spellcasting|magic]], [[Character Classes|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] — woven into the tapestry of real-world historical events. The intention is to create a compelling setting where fantasy and reality intertwine, providing a mythic backdrop that enhances gameplay, storytelling and worldbuilding possibilities. At first glance, much of the history presented may appear "wrong," and this is entirely intentional. The reinterpretation of actual historical periods, peoples and events is not meant to be accurate. Instead, it reflects a deliberate blending of fact and fantasy, using the tools of dungeons & dragons to imagine an alternate past shaped by arcane forces and non-human civilisations.
 __TOC__
-This requires certain presuppositions in the telling of these histories, given the potential influence of the potential power surrounding these fantasy elements.  Therefore some suspension of disbelief is asked for.  The written concept needs to adhere to the various perameters discussed here.
+It would be a mistake to assume that any content found here regarding real-world history is factual. While many names, places and timelines are drawn from actual sources, their treatment has been altered to fit a world where dragons once flew over Mesopotamia, dwarves built fortresses beneath the Alps and elves watched the rise and fall of empires from hidden forests. Readers and players are encouraged to do their own research when historical truth is desired, and to enjoy what follows for what it is — an alternate mythic history, created in the service of fantasy role-playing.
-== Non-alternative History ==
+This approach requires certain presuppositions in the telling of these histories, given the potential influence and far-reaching power of the fantasy elements involved. Magic, divine intervention and the actions of non-human [[Humanoid|races]] can have profound effects on the course of events, reshaping entire cultures and rewriting the familiar arc of human development. As such, a suspension of disbelief is asked for. The reader is encouraged to accept these divergences as part of the internal logic of the setting. What is written adheres to the established parameters of the campaign world, as discussed here, integrating dungeons & dragons mechanics and lore into the reinterpretation of real-world events. This allows history to unfold under the influence of [[Spellcasting|spellcasters]], ancient [[Gods (sage study)|gods]] and the ambitions of powerful [[Character Classes|characters]], while still preserving the structure and rhythm of a plausible timeline.
-All that's needed is to seek plausibility in placing other races, in restricting the availability and power of magic to limit its overall influence, and to presuppose that the greater resourcefulness or physical prowess of other beings — including monsters — balances the eventual results.  This can be fairly thought of as a narrative bias.
+== Use of Legitimate History ==
 == Identity & Culture ==
-The history created works to maintain the feel and attitude of the 17th century, in which autocracies and social systems were institutionally cruel, casually employing torture, public punishments including hanging, drawing and quartering, the inhumane use of prisons and workhouses, slavery and widespread exploitation of the poor and helpless.  War and conflict were pervasive elements, involving brutal tactics and atrocities.  Disease, famine and massacres were fairly common.  Religious minorities faced discrimination from brutal suppression of their beliefs.
+The history presented in this setting is designed to preserve the tone, values and conditions of the 17th century, a period in which autocratic rule and institutional cruelty were the norm. Societies casually employed torture, public punishments such as hanging, drawing and quartering, the harsh use of prisons and workhouses, slavery and widespread exploitation of the poor and powerless. War was nearly constant, marked by brutality, atrocities and mass suffering. Disease, famine and massacres were common occurrences, while religious minorities often faced persecution and violent suppression.
-The reason for retaining these aspects of the setting are to instill the notion that '''it was a very different world''' from the one in which we now live.  This makes the stakes for survival higher.  This also delimits the behaviour of players, who are therefore '''free to act as the natives do''', without moral condemnation for their actions not in keeping with ACTUAL human behaviour in the time period.  There are, however, several belief systems that the game world suspends, that were not in place in the 17th century.
+: '''Equality of the sexes''': here, gender is not a factor in ability, authority or social standing. All individuals are seen as equally capable, regardless of sex. A character's decision to pursue a class, rise to leadership, inherit power or shape their own path is never restricted or diminished by gender. The roles available to player characters or NPCs are open to all, without societal barriers rooted in outdated norms.
-: '''Equality of the sexes''': all entities in the game world are more or less blind to any distinction of ability between male and female.  While reproduction takes place as usual, the '''choices''' made by either sex to participate or become a character class, a leader, or a monarch, are never reflexively considered by denizens of the setting.  Woman, man, it makes no difference in terms of ability where the rulership of the realm is concerned, nor in which way one person chooses to live their life from another.
+: '''Witches are not burned''': since magic is an accepted and tangible part of the world, and since clerics and spellcasters operate openly, the witch hysteria that plagued the historical 17th century does not exist. The term "witch" is not used as a pretense for the persecution or execution of individuals, particularly women. Spellcasters are often feared, yes, but they are also respected and even revered. The community typically sees their presence as a boon, not a threat. Additionally, the practice of executing women labeled as witches to confiscate property does not exist, as such exploitation is both socially and legally invalid within the bounds of this world.
-: '''Witches are not burned''': because magic is a reality, and because clerics are among those casting magic, society has not adopted a practice of using "witch" as an excuse for the ignorant destruction of a person.  While spellcasters are feared, they're also much respected; and the presence of one is generally seen as a benefit to the community, and NOT someone to execute for political reasons.  Moreover, because the setting possesses a sense of equality regardless of sex, the practice of having a woman who's inherited property executed at the stake as a witch, so her property falls to the church, is not done.
+== Historical Accuracy ==
-== Accuracy ==
+This is not "real history." It is constructed history — fictional, but consistent and absolute within the game world. Every moment in time, even those set millennia in the past, happened as described in the linked entries. They are not open to revision or reinterpretation. They occurred that way because the dungeon master says so. And the dungeon master knows — because he was there.
 == Historical Timelines ==

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 * [[Hebraic History]]
 * [[Indian History]]
 * [[Mesolithic Period]]
 * [[Mesopotamian History]]

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 See also,<br>
 [[History (sage study)]]<br>
-[[History of Empire (sage ability)]]
+[[History of Empire (sage ability)]]<br>
-[[Modern History]]<br>
+[[Modern History]]

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 * [[Bronze Age]]
 * [[Chalcolithic Period]]
 * [[Egyptian History]]
 * [[Mesolithic Period]]
 * [[Mesopotamian History]]

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 * [[Neolithic Period]]
 * [[Palaeolithic Period]]
-</div>
+</div><br>

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 == Historical Timelines ==
 <div style="column-count:4;-moz-column-count:4;-webkit-column-count:4">
-</div>

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:13, 28 August 2023
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		+	[[File:World History.jpg\|right\|490px\|thumb]]
	'''World History''' as told in the links below seeks to combine elements of dungeons & dragons [[Humanoid\|races]], [[Spellcasting\|magic]], [[Character Classes\|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)\|gods]] with real world historical events.		'''World History''' as told in the links below seeks to combine elements of dungeons & dragons [[Humanoid\|races]], [[Spellcasting\|magic]], [[Character Classes\|character classes]] and [[Gods (sage study)\|gods]] with real world historical events.
		+	__TOC__
		+	This requires certain presuppositions in the telling of these histories, given the potential influence of the potential power surrounding these fantasy elements. Therefore some suspension of disbelief is asked for. The final result needed to be, first, recognisable, and second, beyond contestation.