Questions:
How big of a population (From the maps I've provided.) Would Meroth have? (I was guessing around a million or so)
We need to know the size of Meroth first.
It will help to take a quick look at medieval demographics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_demography
As rule of thumb a population of a quarter of a million or more can make a full medieval feudal kingdom, any less and you are looking at an extended city state. Any empire with a population over thirty million or so is truly vast.
However you may need to be asking the right questions.
- How suitable is Meroth for agriculture?
- What agricultural technology do they have? Do they have water or wind mills, do they have magic assisted mills?
- Is society feudal?
- Is the land plague or war racked?
All in all the population is not too relevant, The French outnumbered the English about five to one during their wars, and were defending territory against an opponent whose main power base was overseas. it did not matter as the peasantry did not generally fight. What really matters are the size of cities and the number of knights you have, also the size of the merchant and priestly castes.
Would elaborating on more of the history help me write the book better?
Most successful fantasy or
SF writers create copious notes and short form histories before handlign the main story. It will help for consistency.
As a rule of thumb the first thing you should start with is the religion, gods, creation myth and origin stories.
Then look at broad histories of the various states, human migrations etc.
This deserves some elaboration.
1. First do your origin myth and write up your theology. You could choose to have no gods, a single god, a pantheon or myriad gods.
2. Next look at the orgins of humans and any other races. Where did they come from both in actuality and where people think they came from.
3. Then plot out the broad histories of your map, start with the earliest empires and work forwards. If the ancient empires get too many and too irrelevant just number them, you can name them later. This helps as it will give indication of where there will be ancient ruins and how old they are.
4. When you get to the founding of the first existing realm you have moved from ancient history to history. From this point on you need a bit more detail.
5. When you get to the founding of the main realms of your storyline such as Meroth you need even more detail. Make up some old folk tales, just reuse real ones, most human societies do either by plagiarism or simply because noteworthy events often occur once or more than once per civilisation. For example there are numerous real independent folk tales which all carry the same plot as 'the boy who cried wolf'.
6. Finally when you get to the last three generations you have modern history. This is important also from here on in look at individual rulers and their personalities in greater detail, peoples memories go back this far, and little further. Though major events, mostly negative ones can be remembered far longer.
At the end of this it will all flow, the history will dictate your politics. Someone of a specific race or ruler will react to people of differing backgrounds based on historical ties, positive and negative. Truly noteworthy people overcome these limitation.
How are the houses? (There are more of them, but these are the major players) Should I expand on it? Should I add to it?
Generic fantasy, nothing special. While people can and will say its a Game of Thrones knockoff medieval fantasy is no less your than GRRMartins.
Take a good look at your heraldry though, you need not follow the rules of heraldry but it helps to be aware of them as most had practical origins.
A house sigil needs to be simple enough to fit on noble shields and commoners alike. So the more important the house the simper the sigil, or the house would have a simpler division of a sigil.
House Justine's sigil is simple enough, peasant militia would paint a simple cross on a blue/black shield (assuming your stars are against a night.
House Litor's sigil is more difficult. Dop you have perspective art? As yopur description assumes so, medieval art would show say a wolf rampant under a crescent moon or other. The 'classic' fantasy image of the wolf and moon sillouette is not only done to death but it wouldnt fit the mindset of a medieval artist.
Thats not the main problem though, medieval heraldry is there for field recognition and is therefore stylised, the rules of heraldry dictate which colours go on which so that the symbols are visible from shields and standards.
As fro House Moric how do you represent this sigil outside of a tower shield, such as on a pennant? A flaming sword probably wants a dark background which would represent a 'tower shield'.
You don't have to follow any of the rules of heraldry but its pays to look at them. Also take into account that if houses merge sigils might change, in some backgrounds a new sigil is chosen, in others the shield is divided and bnoth house sigiols are incorporated. If the latter occurs then heraldry may in time get quite messy, but messy quarters abnd requarttered heraldry is the sign of a nobility more interested in geneological iconography than field recognition, such as modern European nobility.
Most houses have a simpler flag to fall back on for actual use
How is my description of the Revenants (on this page)?
Should I add creatures into the stories? So I progress through and show the world and what is going on.
Should the book be more about the Revenants or the Houses? Or should the Revenants be the big bad guys in the end? (I am struggling as currently the big bad guys are the Revenants and they play a more active part as the book progresses, but early on they play very little of a party..)
Didnt find it.
Also how big of a role should magic be? (Currently the entirety of the Western Continent Magic is widely used, but the eastern continent magic is almost non existent)
Make a choice, its common rare or very rare.
COMMON If its common then it becomes part of the economy, in fact it will be inseparable from the economy. A spell to sharpen swords is useful, but the same spell will be of greater use sharpening ploughs.
Most magicians will try to find work in communications, business
Other than the Harry Potter series this side of magic is largely overlooked, the most important magic will be that that makes life easier or gains revenue.
Magical non proliferation (though not by that name!) will be an important issue.
RARE If rare wizards are either hunted, or politicised. Rare magic usually indicates that magic is a gift that most simply have absolutely no talent in, or that the availability of sxources of magical power are poorly distributed.
If the former finding magically gifted people will be important work, either to put them to death or to recruit them as assets, dependent on the culture and politics of the society involved.
In the latter case magic generating items/zones/nodes/faith will be jealously horded, this setting has more liberty for the plot and implies that anyone in the know can qwork a tiny amount of magic, but only those with access to inner power can gain true might.
VERY RARE Both above conditions, it would make sense to assume that assassination will be a common ploy for dealing with gifted rivals, and wars may be fought over sources of magic power. This all depends on how transferable power is.
Should magic be very powerful and dangerous?
Yes, but avoid D&D like spell lists. Generic fantasy
RPG spells have their place but should be rare or limited.
Please note that the greatest asset of a court wizard is his wise counsel. This might not apply if your magic system is purely based on gift and some precocious teen happens to be the most uber mage.
As for the spells themselves, in medival society life is cheap, but people tended to have a high regard for their souls. A wizards power to curse or damn would be far more frightening than anything else they could cast. This fear may permeatve even if the wizards actually lack that ability.
You will have to decide what influence faith has on magic.
Also note that its much easier to cast a death spell than a fireball in terms of magical mechanics.
Raising the dead should be rare or restricted, and you should have an answer for what the raised person experienced while dead, such answers will have a large effect on religion.
Also look at how much healing is available.
Can magic cure plagues? For a lucky storied individua? for those who can afford it, or have the faith? for all?
Note that many minor and innocuous spells are plot enders. Firerballs may look impressive but the ability to separate truth from falsehood is invaluable, so long as the magician can be themselves entrusted.
Also magic effects everything else.
Got telepathy, teleportation, dream messaging etc? Then you have a medieval society with at least one foot in the information age.
Got fireballs and lighting bolts? Then infantry combat will be 20th century, trench warfare rather than massed ranks.
Got charm or illusion spells? Even if rare they will completely change society, the paranoia, the fear... You can do far more damage by deceiving a group of people than you can by fireballing them.
You have to think of limiters to all of these, and wizards are rare is not a good one. For a start they crop up more often than perople assume unless magic is truly mythic. Magic must haver consequences and limitations,. some of limitations should be commonplace.
Should I have Mercenary Forces to add variety to the houses?
Yes. Mercenraiers are needed in any pre industrial society, unless you are fighting a holy war and can recruit the populace en masse. Noble houses tended to have small livery armies because there is a practical limit to the number of personal retainers a noble can have, barbarian hordes are an exception to this.
Nobles can recruit peasants but that tends not to be a good idea, it hurts the economiy, and raises troops of dubiouis value and loyalty. Better to have aschultz or fyrd system where a village has a token armsman or two who can be called by the lord/king. This may not be the case in a feudal society as a fuiekldal as opposed to a dark age political system is more unforgiving. Howeever feudalism instead provides knights, who are a bit like the fyrd really, except at a different and distinct social strata.
All in all between the nobles retinue, the knights and retainers thay can call upon masy not be enough and usually is not. So mercenaries are hired.
Be aware of the concept of a pensioner. We today think of pensioners as retired old people, in medieval times there was no pension, old people starved worked until they dropped or had family to look after them. To a person who had a 'pension' that bypassed that worry. Pensions were given out sparingly as it commited a person to life long care of the recipient, only the richest lords, could issue pensions, normally only kings. Though religious groups would have an equivalent Some pensioners were administrators, but most were elite warriors.
Meroth will have pensioners, they may not be known by that name but the concerpt will be there. Because the questions will have been asked. Usually along the lines of 'I am mighyy but have no family, what happens to me when I am old and can no longer wield my axe'.
Should the main Character be active in the houses, or should he be off on his own trying to train for an upcoming war? Or should I focus on his older sister who is the Defacto Leader, after Wymond leaves to gather his man at arms?
Nobles will alwys be active. Unless your noble house is really fractious and vicious and is totally unscrupulous and self destructive. Please note that noble houses that stab each other in the back dont actually last long. Some houses have that rfep but in acrtuallity will have a semblance of house loyalty. This need not apply in Orientalism (which historically means arabs not chinese). Arabian nights type backgrounds or those that follow that culture may indeed be totally ruthless brother against brother, but then you wont have noble houses just just have individual nobles and lineages. Noble lineage doesnt mean much beyond eligibility, and eligibility comes from proving you are part of the race, not special lineage from any particular line.
These societies can be more dynamic and tend to lead to more competent leadership than the European or Japanese pattern noble dynasty.
So basically if you have 'houses' then even in cases like the Borgias you will have an us and them mentality. There may be infighting, but the house is united against the inside.
Your main character will have the 'trust' of the suister, betrayal can happen but is totally frowned upon by all houses as a house divided cannot stand. As a rule once somoene is in power in the house the rest follow or at least get out of the way and remain loyal. Any other option leads to ruin. Noble houses work well because they are a geneoklogical obligation, if the nobles bicker and the house loses then generations of progress is dfor nothing, so the first priority of a noble will be to maintain the power of the house.
This means that even if the characters are evil, main character and older sister will to some extent have each others back. This has to be as other rival houses are always looking for the advantage. The more established the noble system the stronger this bond will be. If the noble houses are components of a larger realm or empire then the system will denegrate into decadence, but individual noble houses in rivalry will remain strong.
Also note that unless there is a pressing reason to do so if a house has a weak ruler it will only be taken advantage of up to a point, the house itself and its core lands will remain, otherb houses will ensure this, because human weakness is inevitable over time and next generation it might be their turn. Also a rival house is good marriage stock and is an extra banner to raise if a barbarian horde threatens them all. Even if dynastic nobles are trying to kill each other over generations they will have some rules and cross loyalty at an elementary level in order to preserve the dynastic system.
Your realms may and will indeed vary, but if you look at the realpolitic you have to make one of three choices.
- Nobles try anything to get ahead, this may indeed involved backstabbing brothers. Lands are ruled by rutheless competent men, its are to have an ineffictive ruler because the weak do not survive.
Dynastic houses are rare as no house lasts longer than its first weak ruler, historically this means that non retainer lords last about three generations before the house is extinguised and replaced. (Middle eastern system)
- Nobles are in it for the long term, individuals can be very greedy, but education, culture history and all the other houses will expeunge the one who breaks the way of life. Dynastic houses going back centuries thrive, they are bitter rivals but only press each other up to a point. All or almost all are linked by blood somewhere. (Northern European system)
- Blends the two, and makes for very interesting politics. Such a blending can only really work if you diversify power, normally to city states, and external threat to unify if needed and a very strong central religion or other permenant institution that can survive the short term views of the nobility. (Southern European system)
How are the maps? Should I use a program to make them more accurate? (No duh I will when the book is ready to be released)
Avoid the classic fantasy authors mistake of making the map to fit the page.
GRRMartin made that mistake with Westeros and it shows. Tolkien made beautiful maps but the maps did not truly fit the page, it was less packaged as a result even if the story covered the map and little beyond it.
Also do the topography and climatology first then add the political borders, exceptions for realms that 'grow' their own mountains like Mordor.
Start with coastline, mountains rivers and forests, hills are important but hills can be anywhere, mountains ad rivers have a general pattern to them. One trick is to take a real topographical map or two and then tweak it, if you take a real map remove obvious recognisable features and
dont show them north side up you can have a fantasy map that makes sense and wont be recognised for what it is.
Its a good exercise. Take say the Amazon basin, rescale it so that its the size of France, make it from north-south and change the coastline. Chop and change it a bit so that while it makes geographical sense its lo longer Brazil in any form, change the climate.
Alternately download one of the geological sims and run it until you get a continent you like.
China did not recover from this until the Tang Dynasty 300 years later!
