What is the Land of the Poison Wind?

 

The idea for Land of the Poison Wind comes from a brief delve into a techno-fantasy setting I once imagined for a campaign I wanted to run for my kids. 

I have long been a fan of the old gonzo style fantasy art from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Whether it came from book or album covers or the pages of Heavy Metal magazine, that juxtaposition of fantasy and science fiction elements always appealed to me. Gamma World reinforced this and later in life Nausicaa added another nudge in that direction.

Add to this, that old Arthur C. Clarke quotes about super-advanced technology, 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

This is what I really wanted to create. Not a world where fantasy characters walked around with ray guns and power armor but a world where where it was impossible for the people of the world to know that this high technology wasn't some sort of magic. 

As an example of this, my original campaign attempt had the PCs start in an isolated settlement positioned on a tall mesa with a natural moat of deep and wide chasms. At the heart and very top of this settlement there was a giant stone face with the visage of a woman. Every so often this statue would weep tears of a strange, slightly luminous fluid that worked as a healing potion. These blessed tears were revered but nobody knew where they came from even though I, the DM, knew they they were ancient medical material that trickled through some ancient machinery deep within the mesa. This will be detailed in Week 4, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

As I fill out the setting, I want to maintain the idea that the world has come to ruin and is full of the remnants of the past. Settlements, societies and even the environment will be shaped by the idea that a world before was devastated and has since recovered to whatever degree it could despite the fallout and debris of the world before The Fall. The poison wind aspect of the title plays into the idea that there are toxic elements left behind that can and do sweep across the world and have shaped its rise from the The Fall.

An additional inspiration that completely escaped me when listing out my inspirations is the artwork of Moebius. His wastelands and isolated landscapes very much reflect the sorts of places and things I want to fill my world. I will go back and add it to the list is my first post for Week 1. 

I hope this gives a little more information on the direction this will be taking and I hope folks enjoy following along.

-Eli