DShomshak

Creation, the setting for White Wolf's game Exalted, includes several cities with populations of a million or more. The largest is the Imperial City, capital of the Scarlet Empire, officially defined as having a population of about 2 million. But it's the capital of a world empire, in a part of the world whose supernatural fertility and even climate enables three harvests a year, with the military power to collect more food in tribute. Nexus, the pseudo-Lankhmar trade hub of the Scavenger Lands on the world's largest river system, is nearly as blessed. Chiaroscuro, chief city of the South, is likewise an imperial capital, fed by immense grain-fields. Whitewall, greatest city of the North, requires greater aid from trade and supernatural blessings; but the three gods who rule and defend it ensure both. Gem is the most extreme case, as it is located in deep desert mountains of the overheated far South, a region that gets only fractions of an inch of rainfall a year. Such is the incredible wealth of jewels pulled from its mines, however, that people make the city work anyway. Petra-style water-collecting channels and cisterns are merely the most mundane infrastructure of Gem's survival.
 
It's part of Exalted's design esthetic to operate on a grand scale, with more influence from the Classical world or Imperial China than from medieval European squalor. It is also intensely supernatural, with gods and spirits everywhere, as well as massive ancient engineering projects, so natural limits are generally brought up only to show how they don't apply.
 
Dean Shomshak

My Magozoic setting is not quite bog-standard D&d because I am me, and I don't like all the standard races and cosmology. My current campaign is set in the Plenary Empire, chiefly inspired by the Byzantine Empire. As "Fantasy Constantinople," its capital Pleroma has a quarter-million people. Its second city, the great port of Thalassene (Fantasy Alexandria) has a population of 150,000. The numbers had been twice that, but I used Medieval Demographics Made Easy to work out plusible populations for the Empire, province by province and then in total, and decided that having 25% of the population in these two cities was too great a logistical challenge -- though it is still a setting point that the declining Empire's chief cities are swollen with refugees from lost provinces, and the Empire must import food despite having the most efficient and intensive agriculture in the region. I decided that one in eight people living in these cities was enough.
 
(Pleroma's population figure comes with an asterisk, as the number of souls is greater than the number of people. Its catacombs connect it to Bathys, the city of ghosts. The dead of the Empire who do not pass to the gods, Hell or oblivion also flock to the capital.)
 
The campaign is set in Thalassene. The population is mostly human, but there are neighborhoods of elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, and other folk, as well as significant mixing in other neighborhoods.
 
There are cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in other countries -- likewise imperial capitals or former capitals -- but these locations do not require such detailed development. Other cities, in the Plenary Empire and beyond, may sometimes reach 20,000 people, but most are 10,000 or less.
 
Dean Shomshak

My Magozoic setting is not quite bog-standard D&d because I am me, and I don't like all the standard races and cosmology. My current campaign is set in the Plenary Empire, chiefly inspired by the Byzantine Empire. As "Fantasy Constantinople," its capital Pleroma has a quarter-million people. Its second city, the great port of Thalassene (Fantasy Alexandria) has a population of 150,000. The numbers had been twice that, but I used Medieval Demographics Made Easy to work out plusible populations for the Empire, province by province and then in total, and decided that having 25% of the population in these two cities was too great a logistical challenge -- though it is still a setting point that the declining Empire's chief cities are swollen with refugees from lost provinces, and the Empire must import food despite having the most efficient and intensive agriculture in the region. I decided that one in eight people living in these cities was enough.
 
(Pleroma's population figure comes with an asterisk, as the number of souls is greater than the number of people. Its catacombs connect it to Bathys, the city of ghosts. The dead of the Empire who do not pass to the gods, Hell or oblivion also flock to the capital.)
 
The campaign is set in Thalassene. The population is mostly human, but there are neighborhoods of elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, and other folk, as well as significant mixing in other neighborhoods.
 
There are cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in other countries -- likewise imperial capitals or former capitals -- but these locations do not require such detailed development. Other cities, in the Plenary Empire and beyond, may sometimes reach 20,000 people, but most are 10,000 or less.
 
Dean Shomshak

Knowledge is a big part of magic, and classic magic items. In addition to books, one oldie-but-goodie is the brass oracular head, attributed both to Albertus Magnus and to Roger Bacon. Requires great arcane knowledge to construct, but provides even more (qmong other options for supernatural nigh-omniscience). Though Albertus' brass head was smashed by his student Thomas Aquinas because it wouldn't stop chattering and let him study.
 
Dean Shomshak

". . .whatever had happened behind the scenes at InfoWars was so bad that Jones would rather take the worst possible outcome in the defamation suits than release documentation."

While I haven't tried to do a census of magic items from myth and folklore, my intuition is that most of them weren't kaboomy, "gamerish" magic. The most powerful, such as wish-granting items, tend to operate at narrative levels that are hard to quantify. I will grant you, epics from India have army-destroying magic such as the discus of Vishnu, while China's Fengshen Yanyi has plenty of kaboomy magic such as the Umbrella of Chaos.
 
An item that cures disease, such as the brazen serpent of Moses. That would be worth fighting wars to possess.
 
Truth-verifying item, such as a mirror that darkens if someone tells a lie. If you don't mind the pun, a "ring of truth" that chimes when someone nearby tells a lie.
 
Resurrection magic. Maybe single-use such as the Honey of Heaven that Lemminkainen's mother uses to bring him back, from the Kalevala. An even bigger deal if it functions repeatedly, such as the Black Cauldron of Celtic myth. (The original actually did raise the dead. The version in Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain" series reanimated the dead as zombies; still formidable.) Again, people would do much to possess such an item.
 
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." A scrying/clairvoyance item, especially if it can locate people or objects.
 
Here's a real object that sounds like it ought to be magic, though I don't know what it would do. Years back, The Economist ran a science story about chemical archeology -- deriving information about the past from chemical residues left on objects. The most spectacular example was a coin found in a Roman sewer, that over the centuries had turned bright blue. Aluminum from clay and phosphorus from bones dumped in the sewer had reacted with copper in the bronze coin to coat it in a thin layer of turquoise. So... coin from a sewer, color of the sky. What can it buy?
 
Dean Shomshak

Oh, right. For reference, assault is quoting from "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti.
 
Backwards up the mossy glen
Turned and trooped the goblin men,
With their shrill, repeated cry,
"Come buy, come buy."
 
In similar vein is William Butler Yeats' "The Stolen Child":
Come away, O human child!
To the water and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
 
I think it's often a good idea to go back to source material, or to see what great artists have done with it and steal shamelessly from them.
 
Dean Shomshak

While I haven't tried to do a census of magic items from myth and folklore, my intuition is that most of them weren't kaboomy, "gamerish" magic. The most powerful, such as wish-granting items, tend to operate at narrative levels that are hard to quantify. I will grant you, epics from India have army-destroying magic such as the discus of Vishnu, while China's Fengshen Yanyi has plenty of kaboomy magic such as the Umbrella of Chaos.
 
An item that cures disease, such as the brazen serpent of Moses. That would be worth fighting wars to possess.
 
Truth-verifying item, such as a mirror that darkens if someone tells a lie. If you don't mind the pun, a "ring of truth" that chimes when someone nearby tells a lie.
 
Resurrection magic. Maybe single-use such as the Honey of Heaven that Lemminkainen's mother uses to bring him back, from the Kalevala. An even bigger deal if it functions repeatedly, such as the Black Cauldron of Celtic myth. (The original actually did raise the dead. The version in Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain" series reanimated the dead as zombies; still formidable.) Again, people would do much to possess such an item.
 
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." A scrying/clairvoyance item, especially if it can locate people or objects.
 
Here's a real object that sounds like it ought to be magic, though I don't know what it would do. Years back, The Economist ran a science story about chemical archeology -- deriving information about the past from chemical residues left on objects. The most spectacular example was a coin found in a Roman sewer, that over the centuries had turned bright blue. Aluminum from clay and phosphorus from bones dumped in the sewer had reacted with copper in the bronze coin to coat it in a thin layer of turquoise. So... coin from a sewer, color of the sky. What can it buy?
 
Dean Shomshak

First picture of Mercury from Europe space mission
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58754882
 
British climber complete 83 ascents in the UK in 2 months
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-58774152

If you want goblins as the small, magical tricksters of troll-kind, don't forget the Goblin Market that sells treasures and wonders, where the price is always right... and so very, very wrong.
 
Dean Shomshak

While I haven't tried to do a census of magic items from myth and folklore, my intuition is that most of them weren't kaboomy, "gamerish" magic. The most powerful, such as wish-granting items, tend to operate at narrative levels that are hard to quantify. I will grant you, epics from India have army-destroying magic such as the discus of Vishnu, while China's Fengshen Yanyi has plenty of kaboomy magic such as the Umbrella of Chaos.
 
An item that cures disease, such as the brazen serpent of Moses. That would be worth fighting wars to possess.
 
Truth-verifying item, such as a mirror that darkens if someone tells a lie. If you don't mind the pun, a "ring of truth" that chimes when someone nearby tells a lie.
 
Resurrection magic. Maybe single-use such as the Honey of Heaven that Lemminkainen's mother uses to bring him back, from the Kalevala. An even bigger deal if it functions repeatedly, such as the Black Cauldron of Celtic myth. (The original actually did raise the dead. The version in Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain" series reanimated the dead as zombies; still formidable.) Again, people would do much to possess such an item.
 
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." A scrying/clairvoyance item, especially if it can locate people or objects.
 
Here's a real object that sounds like it ought to be magic, though I don't know what it would do. Years back, The Economist ran a science story about chemical archeology -- deriving information about the past from chemical residues left on objects. The most spectacular example was a coin found in a Roman sewer, that over the centuries had turned bright blue. Aluminum from clay and phosphorus from bones dumped in the sewer had reacted with copper in the bronze coin to coat it in a thin layer of turquoise. So... coin from a sewer, color of the sky. What can it buy?
 
Dean Shomshak

Campaign-shaking but not obvious WOW THAT'S BIG MAGIC stuff, eh?
 
There's an called The Freeshooter, in which a man makes a deal with the Devil to get a gun and set of bullets that never miss... but one of the bullets is cursed to loop around and kill the gun's wielder. Maybe something like that with a crossbow and a set of bolts. Win any archery contest, a la William Tell, or make the "nigh impossible" shot to hit the dragon in its one vulnerable point a la Smaug... but each time there's a chance that instead you will die. And even if you dare, each bolt can be used only once. You won't use this weapon lightly.
 
(I just did something like this in my D&D campaign. One PC comes from a family of crossbow-makers. She just learned that her grandfather sacrificed his life to a Goddess of Vengeance to make a set of bolts that would never miss, in order to avenge the death of the PC's older brother. There's one bolt left. No curse this time, but what will she do with just one shot that is sure to succeed?)
 
Dean Shomshak

I didn't realize that Chilton's made a manual for a Tardis.

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

I assume that's not really a serious question, but I'll give it a serious answer.
 
The Sun is the card of innocence, joy and new beginnings. That's Vir -- though he is rather less innocent by series ending, he his destiny is a new beginning for the Centauri.
 
The Moon, OTOH, is... rather sinister. My little book of occult ready reference describes its meaning as, "Intuition. Latent psychic power. Astral journeys. May also mean unforeseen perils and deception." Though IIRC Talia turned out to be a peril and deception for the Psi Corps.
 
Dean Shomshak

Not Zathras, Zathras!

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

Likewise, hopeful but wary.
 
I think when JMS said, "No children or cute robots," he meant as ongoing characters. I hope he sticks to that: There are children on the station, yes, but the same child is not turning up week after week, inexplicaly involved in the serious business of competent adults.
 
Especially, please, no Magic Genius Kid character, a la Wesley Crusher.
 
In the same vein, let any robots be practical machines serving practical purposes, not comic relief. Goodness knows one can tell plenty of serious stories about robot characters, and I wouldn't mind seeing JMS do so, but B5 already has so much to do there would scarcely seem to be room. I suppose, though, a new series could give glimpses of issues and events going on elsewhere.
 
OPn a more frivolous side, remember the ep where Delenn appeared in a dream doing a Tarpt reading? I'd already designed a B5 Tarot by then, and I know I'm not the only person to have done so.
 
EDIT: I revised the B5 Tarot as seasons passed.Here's the final version:
 
THE BABYLON-5 TAROT
 
The Fool Zathras
The Magician Kosh
The High Priestess Delenn
The Empress Ivanova or Lockley
The Emperor Sheridan
The Hierophant Valen
The Lovers Shadow and Vorlon
The Chariot Marcus
Justice Garibaldi
The Hermit Mr. Sebastian, his cane glowing
The Wheel of Fortune Londo
Strength Lyta
The Hanged Man G’Kar
Death Bester (riding over William Edgars)
Temperance Franklin
The Devil Mr. Morden (with Londo and Anna Sheridan in chains)
The Lightning-Struck Tower Whitestar crashing on Z’Ha’Dum
The Star Lennier
The Moon Talia Winters
The Sun Vir
Judgment Lorien
The World Babylon-5, superimposed on Draal in the Great Machine
 
Dean Shomshak

From JMS on Facebook:

 
 

Most people assume they live in a kind of stasis, whether they do or not.
 
They have vague ideas that some places are older or younger than the place that they live. Or that some places are much more wealthy or much poorer. But they assume that people live much the same way as they themselves do.
 
I remember back in high school that an illegal immigrant from Mexico was discovered half-starved locked up in the back of a trailer of an 18 wheeler.
 
The police took custody of him but none of them could speak any Spanish and the guy couldn't speak any English. But on the trip from the freight yard through the more squalid parts of the tiny town to the courthouse (which was built in the 1930's and looked more ancient and run down than that), the guy kept saying dahleeze over and over.
 
The police eventually had to resort to sending for the high school Spanish teacher because no one knew anyone who could speak Spanish.
 
So the teacher eventually showed up and talked to the guy.
 
He was under the impression that because the "vast city" he was driven through on the way to the police station was so magnificent, that he must be in Dallas.
 
He knew that vast wealthy cities existed because he'd been told about them. But he lacked whatever it was that it'd take for him to grasp the scale of difference between a town of a few thousand people with paved streets, modest homes, and electricity vs a metropolis with a million people and (comparatively) unlimited wealth. Because apparently, he'd had no experience with either a tiny modest middle-America town or a thriving metropolis.
.
.
.
If you take away TV, public education, and yearly releases of new versions of the I-Phone, why would anyone assume that they were living in anything but an eternal stasis, whether it was true or not?
 
People don't automatically know stuff. Most people aren't motivated to find out stuff even when the knowledge is easily available. People see and people accept what they personally see. What they don't personally see might as well not exist and certainly isn't very important.
 
You could have vast upheavals in social systems in most eras and within 30-50 years, most people would accept things as they are and not think about things as they used to be or about how things might be....