Here's some of the references and inspirational media I'm using for my Under the Green Moon worldbuilding project. homnestly, I have a lot of references, from all areas of fiction and nonfiction. But these just jumped out at me as important.
BooksJack Vance: really can be considered the godfather of the stories I want to tell. and his picaresque yet ironic descriptions of alien worlds and cultures is a key resource.
The Dying Sun: gave me the first ideas of putting the setting in the far future, and the sophisticated, decadent peoples gave me some culture ideas. Also, I like the emphasis on personal, rather than epic adventures
.
Planet of Adventure: really more of an influence than The Dying Sun, in that it both gives a feeling of exotic cultures rended in a few precise brush strokes, and of societies stifled by their own antiquity. this is really the book to read to give the feeling of being on an alien world and culture. Since part of my goal for UTGM is "the alien world of the far future", this is a perfect reference.
And there's
a french comic adaption of it!
Andre Norton: another one of my major influences, in that many of her books involve young, expanding cultures dealing with artifacts of forgotten ancient cultures. Also, the way magic works in many of her novels, as a type of powerful ESP or psychic power is very similar to how I want magic to work in UTGM. there are a lot of "look and feel" elements in Norton's works.
Witch World Series: A good reference for looking at a matriarchal culture (and not a fluffy new-age "matriarchy is good sweat and nice" one)where magic users are honored. Also for the pseudo-psychic power style of magic.
Ordeal in Otherwhere: Again, the way mental powers work is how I want magic to work in UTGM.
No Night without Stars: It's very much about young cultures exploring for secrets of the Ancients, and finding that maybe they should find their own way instead. And the depictions of wilderness are good references as well.
The Time Traders Series: again, mining for ancient secrets bears with it special hazards.
Quest Crosstime: worth looking at for the non-european cultures.
Anime:
Weathering Continent: a classic movie that's really a lyrical meditation on the passing of civilizations, disguised as a Sword and Sorcery story.
El Hazard: ignore the characters: the civilization that's more sophisticated than it originally appears, and the dealing with sentient relics of a bygone age are the interesting elements to me.
Laputa: again, it's all about a super-powerful relic of a lost civilization, and the race by ambitious new kingdoms to control it. Also, somebody will have had to have done "computing by blocks" in the past of UTGM.
Nadia of the Blue Water: in some ways a rip-of of Laputa, this has it's own take on the misuse of ancient technology.
Manga:
Nausicaa: it has it all: fallen civilizations, artifacts threatening all that exists, bioengineering, psychic "magic". Not to mention huge layered buildings built into mountains, so old the rocks they're made of have melted into each other. A lot to steal, err "reference".
Yokohama Shopping Trip: a quiet slice of life post-apocalyptic tale. Deals with the theme of humanity fadingaway and being replaced by younger species. The resigned yet not despairing attitude of the humans is something I want to borrow for the major human culture in UTGM.
Webcomics:
Desert Rocks: a fantasy travelogue, reference for looking at a fantasy culture from the point of view of someone who just wants to get by.
Nahast, Age of Strife: while nothing is a direct resemblance to what I'm doing, particularly the magic, cosmology and the like, the combined Aztec/Chinese design aesthetic is something to drool over, and is a good starting point for looking at clothing.
Honestly, there's a ton of other webcomics I'm using as references and inspiration for, but I don't have time or energy to call them out now. So I'll do another post later.
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