SUNDUSK

Initially, Sundusk was the name of the world. However, as I was developing the mythological basis for this world, the jibberish phrase "sun dusk" started to gather meaning—not only one but layers of meaning. It's a realm inspired by Dark Sun, and while its own sun isn't "dying" per say, there's still a sense of a world in its dusk. This realm is also a desert, and in that way totally defined by the sun. But most importantly, the origin of this realm is literally a myth about the death of the Sun God and the origin of the Sun, a realm enduring eternal punishment for this crime.

I'm not sure if I will rename this realm, or the entire world, or allow them to share a name. I don't think people in this world need a name for their world other than "The World." So for now, everything is part of the world(building project) called Sundusk, but only one very important realm in this world is actually Sundusk.

Perhaps even more confusingly, the part of the world defined by giant mushrooms like these backgrounds show is actually not called Sundusk, but Soulspear.

This world is shamelessly stolen from Dune, Dark Sun, The Elder Scrolls, and a whole bunch of other things. If something seems like a reference, it probably is. But it isn't, like, meant to be a reference, at least not in a nudge-wink kind of way. It's because I liked it, wanted to steal it, and why try to hide that?

For now, Sundusk has no map.

I like to have a realistic, well-thought-out world, and I enjoy drawing maps, but I'm also a bit noncommittal. With Sundusk, a map seems a bit more restrictive than productive, especially in these early stages. I'm not really sure what Sundusk is yet—a D&D world? a book setting? a worldbuilding project for the sake of it? It doesn't really make sense to be doing the usual process of filling out a map and then trying to write lore about every place on it. The geography of Sundusk is unfolding in real-time as I think and write.

Even in later stages, I don't think I will have a detailed, geographically realistic map of this world. Primarily, because that doesn't interest me. I think fantasy maps are one of those things that people liked when Tolkien did it, and so became a staple of the genre, and are now more of an expectation than anything else. Don't get me wrong, if you like making maps, that's a good enough reason for including one. And if you are or are working with an artist who can give your world a really beautiful map, even better.

But Sundusk is a world where I don't want to reveal too much. It's a here-be-dragons situation, even in parts of the world that are well-known and documented. As in the High Middle Ages, the world is high-tech/low-tech in the sense of who has access to things. Navigators might have pretty accurate charts of the realm, but these are carefully guarded secrets, and common folk would be lucky to even lay their eyes on one.

Finally, Sundusk is a realistic world on the ground, but it's also a world totally defined by its myths. The realm of Sundusk and the many cultures within it all respond directly to a shared myth of its origin, and the geography is a key aspect of this myth. So in the same way that medieval Europeans drew maps reflecting their own shared belief system, not as realistic representations but more as symbolic diagrams—East and the sunrise at the top, Jerusalem in the center, the seas as simple dividers—any map of Sundusk will likely reflect the symbolic relationship of its geography to mythology.