Wo what do you think? Too much?
PS--There's no science, here, no reason for the flat earth, just good ol' made-up magic.
I was wondering about your waterfall.
Because it is fantasy you will be unable to explain it in anything but fantasy terms according to how your characters understand the world to operate.
I think readers will most likely think that the world is part of another, bigger world, or on another plane or dimension.
A flat world makes for an excellent fantasy setting, it forces you to displace physics as we know them and come up with your own rules.
I like the flat world idea. I've actually never come across that in any fantasy that I've read, but then maybe I'm reading all the wrong books, hm?
It's flat and there's lots of magic. Also a giant turtle.
A good twist on the flat world idea used in one story, was to make it like a ribbon, but twisted at the ends where it connects so it's continuous. Start walking, and you would eventually travel around both surfaces on the ribbon before coming to your starting point. In the story I read it in, it added a neat twist. If you add little things like that to make it unique, it doesn't matter how close it is to something else because a reader will accept it as new.
So the water comes down from the waterfall and goes up (via some magical force) at the other end instead of falling over the sides.
Heck, I might have to use that.
The interesting thing will be how you explain how the people stay on the ground. Or maybe they don't.
To this end, I mention that wheels and every technology derived from them don't work.
I get to mention this because I do have about half a dozen characters who cross from Earth to my world. Otherwise the point would never come up and no one would know.
Gravity also doesn't work the same. There is gravity but it's not what a physicist would recognize. Water can flow up hill because water really just wants to take the easiest path to join with more water (rivers go to oceans, etc.
Physically, its not at all possible. But, being a magical world, it doesn't have to be. There are gods whose job it is to make sure things work for the best, when they get distracted, things can go wrong. I haven't written that story yet, I try to focus on the mundane aspects of living in a high magic world.
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trying to escape from a black hole
Kind of gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of falling off the edge of the earth.
Oh, and the fall itself wouldn't be so healthy either
But that's my personal preference.
I think the 'weirdness' of the setting can be a useful tool for establishing how dominate magic in the setting. If you want a 'realistic' low-powered magic, then make your world more like historical earth (or modern earth, etc.) If you want to establish a world where magic is more dominate than physics, make it as far from normal as you can imagine. That's not a rule, by the way, it's just a trick.
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The funny thing about all those flat earth fantasy stories that chuck physics to the wind. For some reason, they all seem to think gravity is a good concept to retain. Now, throw away the gravity, too, and you have a truly new idea for a fantasy millieu.
That sounds . . . intriguing. Don't think I could pull it off, though. I mean, I'm creative, I think, just not enough so to imagine what life without gravity would be like.
I'd buy that book, though, if I ran across it in a bookstore.
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So the water comes down from the waterfall and goes up (via some magical force) at the other end instead of falling over the sides.
Well, you're half right. The water comes from the waterfall, and does fall over the sides. It's neverending, and there's no explanation as to why (except for the all-encompassing: "Magic") other than because I thought it seemed like a neat idea.
I'm at a loss, though, as to what happens to ships that get to close to the edge. They go over the side, yeah, but then what?
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Heck, I might have to use that.
Feel free.
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So does it rain anywhere but the big waterfall?
Yup.
I have a picture, if you'd like to see it, but it is a picture (I took it with a digital camera), because I don't have a scanner, so forgive the poor quality.
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I think the 'weirdness' of the setting can be a useful tool for establishing how dominate magic in the setting. If you want a 'realistic' low-powered magic, then make your world more like historical earth (or modern earth, etc.) If you want to establish a world where magic is more dominate than physics, make it as far from normal as you can imagine.
This is a good standard, I think, but flat as the earth is, I think the magic/physics ratio is about 50/50 (right now. It may change later). I mean, up is still up, down is still down, black is black, etc.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.
Look at it this way. For the water to spill evenly over the rim, the entire world must be supported on some kind of dish that is effectively immune to erosion. Near the edges, that would always produce a strata effect that would lead to a ledge at the level of the dish. Which is even enough that water would be there.
Of course, now that I bring up erosion (and you brought up sailors) we can see that it isn't just water that has to be replenished. Yes, the waterfall must be mostly water, but it has to contain enough dirt and other such elements for the land to remain. On the other hand, maybe the waterfall is only water, and all the earth elements come up through an upwelling volcano or something like that.
Whether you imagine this as a sort of giant recycling system that purifies the water for the waterfall and melts everything else to come out the volcano, or just have the waterfall and volcano in a dish being renewed from "wherever", the answer about what happens to people falling off the edge is pretty much the same. They drown. In freefall, you can't keep your head "above" water. At that point, you don't much care whether your body gets recycled back to your own world or just falls down onto a larger dish below or perhaps just goes on and on in the vastness of empty space for eternity. Or, maybe you do care, but you're still dead and even if you weren't you couldn't affect the outcome one way or the other.