Eodea

Does the world really need another high fantasy setting involving lots of human, but also elves and goblins and orcs and others? Maybe not, but I want a sandbox like that. :P

It's familiar because it's been written about in many variations, but this one is mine, to put whichever parts I like together how I like, and leave out whatever gets on my nerves.

I can build it without having as end goal having it be the stage for a huge war. I can write about a society that respects women. I can have a fantasy world where forms or democracy are the norm. I can have cultures formed by multiple intelligent species living together, rather than coding some species as Good and others as Evil.

My favourite part, though, is playing with different magic systems. Magic may be the main reason why I'm drawn to fantasy. And if magic is not limited to just a handful of people in the whole world, how does that influence life? Thinking back, the first little mosaic stone that I made up was a mage who was good at shaping wood and living plants, and decent at healing people, but had a marked inaptitude for fire magic - because I didn't want to go with the RPG-formed stereotype of fireball-flinging person of mass destruction.

I'll say one thing, though: If your aim is wholesale destruction by way of an epic war, at least it gives you a basis to hang a plot on.

Do you read high or epic fantasy? What do you like or dislike about it?