Worldbuilding Notes: the only youtube channel where someone can grasp at the thinnest of straws yet can inexplicably weave them into one of the most imaginative settings I've ever seen.
Dragons popping out of volcanoes and pheonixing, leaving huge patches of lava everywhere. Also, aeroplankton. And breath holding wind magic. Your mind is fascinating.
Hmm... It might not be super likely, but you depicted men and women both being breath-holders. I'd imagine there'd be more than two breathholders per border-pole, because people also need sleep, and rest etc. So there'd likely be little communities grown around those border-posts. I'd imagine it could be that people who can hold their breath for very long would have some extra prestige, and might even be recruited from other places purposefully for their breath-holding capabilities. As such, over time, you'd likely see these border-pole communities kind of evolve to be better and better at holding their breath. Much like the nomadic sea people of South-East Asia have gotten better adapted to life on the water. Of course there's no guarantee that they would. If for example, being a breath-holder is not a prestigious position... It might disrupt this =P.
I loved this one! I can't just keep myself from imagining how would the breath-keepers relate to society as a whole. I mean, it must be pretty lonely up on those poles. Maybe an hypothetical story on this setting would revolve around a pair of breath-keepers getting along with their job. Great video, as always!
I can definitely envision some unique dynamics forming between two people that are forced to only be able to speak to each other in turn, though usually tense scenarios from what I can imagine :p
It also seems to me this would be extremly physicaly dificult job. They would have to be able to stand there for extrem amount of time in height with wind blowing above their heads and be able to hold their breath and do not pass out. Anytime any of them would take breath, the wind would probably return able to blow them down.
A thing I've only just realized maybe thirty minutes after finishing the video: if wind cannot *enter* the zone, then wind cannot blow *through* the zone either! Which means that you could minimize the number of breath-holders needed to maintain a zone by posting them in thin triangles just along the boundary of the zone, essentially creating a 'wind-wall'. This would also allow the air on the inside to flow more freely, and to produce a dynamic atmosphere without being so violent as the outside.
I've never heard of Lodoss before, so I feel like I'll be very disappointed if I ever figure out what it's actually about. I wouldn't have thought that a society maintained by a stock anime pose would be really interesting.
The plot is a pretty generic sword and sorcery epic (you know: antithetical gods locked in everlasting proxy wars, a heroic party of six adventurers, basically a D&D campaign, it even has its own RPG), but the overall execution and presentation gave a status as a "timeless classic" in the community. There're a couple of interesting parts, most of them supporting characters, but if your not into that generic fantasy stuff it can be a bit of a slog to get through.
I really love the pole border idea. How honorable is the profession of standing on top of a pole? Who is allowed and how are they chosen (if given a choice at all)? Is there a uniform and how regional is it? Is there a certain way you are supposed to act? Did the practice of holding your breath translate to the normal populace and now everyone's heartbeat is lower (longer life)? How are the trees these poles are made of perceived? How is falling from the pole perceived? How are the poles perceived? How many pairs maintain a single pole a day? Do animals try and startle people off for an easy snack? Why aren't they wearing hats? Are shorter people more sought after due to their lower centers of gravity? What happens when a natural disaster comes through? What are they armed with?
I think they would most likely be percieved some what similar to How knights were percieved in medieval times, as the protecters of the People they would hold a level of prestige. While they might not neccesarily be capable of fighting, with the mention of war in the intro, they would serve as lookouts in addition to their breathholding duty. If two People are on shift at any time it will most likely require 8-10 breath-holders per post, which means a single square would require at least 32 People to maintain. This means the wind-less zones would probaly have to be quite big in order to dedicate so many People to the profession. If a latice can be constructed, less post will be neccesary compared to the area covered, so the society would consist more of bigger cities than our medieval era. As for weapons, i believe sword, bow and special flute would be the three things seen. I think breath-holders would have the ability to effect the wind in a small area around them Even without the help of others, and depending on how powerful winds they can create with their breathing they would probaly fight with minimal gear(as would also be required to stand on a pole All day). I think a flute might be used as it would allow them a greater control of the wind, so instead of the wind only moving in the direction of their breath(or not moving if they're holding their breath) they could get it to move in multiple directions, taking more of a supporting role in battle. A bow would also allow them to dominante the battlefield as, asuming the enemy doesn't have any/as many breath-holders, they could use the wind to extend their range while shortwning their opponents or use a gust of wind to knock oposing arrows off course. They would probaly use sign. Language for comunication as All their abilities rely on them being able to control their breathing, and would use the lanterns for long distance comunication.
Wonderful video. The color red seems to be very present in the intro scene and in your drawings the people are wearing red cloaks. Is red somehow significant to these people? Maybe it ties into the red dragons somehow? I'd love to see more about this setting!
I imagine the rules of warfare would be completely different to anything in our world, since neither side could afford to harm or even startle the breath-holders by accident. Maybe they would have very small, very speciallized armies of professionals who only engaged in combat in the center of the parcels. Almost like a duel. Or they'll go outside into the cold windy areas. But again, that would make the art of warfare evolve into something unlike anything we've had.
Or they would, perhaps, have specific squads that targetted and protected the breath-holders, as disabling the enemy's breath-holders would be a major tactical advantage, but their own breath-holders would need to be protected too. I feel like it would evolve into a sort of Cold War of sorts, depending on how cataclysmic the winds are. If the winds are strong enough to disrupt and even kill a city that wasn't built with it in mind, then both parties in a war would be at stalemate right from the get-go: "We don't take down your breath-holders because if we do, you'll take ours down and it's mutually assured destruction." This would probably lead to cities - or at least fortifications - that were build with the winds in mind, that would be where the people of the society would take refuge (or alternatively, where the elites of the society would take refuge). This could go on and on, oh my god xD
@@taliyahofthenasaaj7570 Nice! On another note: I can see breath-holding turning into a sort of yogic/meditative practice, and the breath-holders becoming monk orders of sorts. Maybe there would "masters" that could hold their breath for superhuman amounts of time and would be revered the same way yogis are.
I have an idea for the story! There are two people (whose gender is up to the reader to decide) that get lost during a battle, they find each other and start a kind of friendship. They don't realize the other is from the other tribe until on of them starts using magic to try and find their way back to their village and the other doesn't know how to. Over the course of the story they begin to understand one another and fall in love, they later spread they're love throughout the land and kind of mix both tribes and ending the war. This is really bad I'm sorry
@@weirdghst If you look hard enough, you will realize that absolutely nothing in existence is original. Everything came from something else before. Analyse you favourite book, movie, TV show, video game etc. and you will see clear inspiration from other previous works.
Wow! I had completely forgotten the opening to Lodoss War!! I loved that opening too!!! I love your idea with the people holding their breath! I am so impressed that you came up with that based on an anime opening, and anime poses!! You are so insanely creative I always get excited when I see a new video from you!!! Keep up the great work!
0:52 I did not see this the first 3-4 viewings in the deep and distant past of 2019. But I saw it on this viewing. I love the "standing on a pole, looking cool" scene. I legitimately died of laughter and came back again when I saw it. Thank you, Ewa, for the videos that keep on giving.
Wow! I watched this video the first time when it came out years ago, and had never heard of Record of Lodoss War back then, so I never thought anything of it and completely forgot about the reference. But for weeks I've been getting music from this show pop up in my reccomendations and today I finally decided to check the show out. And I saw the characters standing dramatically on poles with fabric blowing in the wind, and i was suddenly like "WAIT A MINUTE!" and came here to leave this comment. That's all. I think this is cool. Great song too!
I'm guessing maybe that being a pole stander is a very prestigious role in society, as holding your breath over and over again can be very physically demanding. So only the strongest and most agile (because you need a good sense of balance to be up on those poles) would be chosen. I wonder though: how long would someone be up there for? Would they take it in shifts? How long would those shifts be? Even for the strongest people standing up there for 8 hours in one go would be absolutely exhausting, especially if you're holding your breath every other minute or so. And how would the transition period when you're switching pole standers work? Does one person have to just hold their breath for however long it takes for their companion to climb down and their replacement climb back up?
You can also stop wars in their tracks if you are part of the prestigious family that has most of its family members up on poles by threatening to not do your job or go on strike. Or you can be greedy and demand tribute and gifts. Perhaps in the past such a thing occurred, and now people deliberately break up the family proportions of breath holders so no one can have a monopoly. The monopolies and the excesses of the kings and queens who held a monopoly in the past would be reviled much like Kings were during the Republic of Rome.
And perhaps that is where "war" comes into the title. These events have not yet come to pass, and the series is about the breaking up of the breath holding monopolies and the times of strife that it led to.
I like how I could already imagine some stories. A political story, maybe, where the people who hold their breath are an important organization (after all, the civilization depends on them). They could be called 'red capes/cloakes' or 'holderers' (I'm not good naming things, at least in English). They, because of their function, could be an privileged class, or an organization similar to the templates. So, the conflict (or one line of the conflict) would be in a powerful Lord/Lady (no necessarily based on European societies) whose power is limited because of this organization. So, he/she/they want to get rid of them. Of course, he/she/they has to plan something for replace them, since without them everything would be lost. But, since you wanted a story of love, maybe the son/daughter of the Lord/Lady fell in love with a person of the order. Or wants to be in the order and in disguise began some type of training and fall in love with someone. Now, I imagine some war with a group of nomads who learnt how to ride dragons or something like that. Or a rival city who invent a new form to create dragons from lava. I believe I will begin a worldbuilding process if I follow with this. Because I began to ask me how would work the countries, the daily life of the peasants, the agriculture system, or how they travel from city to city. Use they some plane or likewise, to fly with the wind outside? They have to care of the dragons? Are more fantastical creatures out there? You give me the good idea of watch an intro of an anime for inspiration. It's incredible how much you can create just from images and a song. I love your content. Not just this video, but all of them. You always give me some inspiration for create new things, because you introduce me new things that I never thought existed, or making me realising that I didn't consider something that is interesting and usable for a plot and the world itself. Thank you.
I’m definitely more of a hardish science fiction person than fantasy. In fact I really kinda dislike magic, but I really dig Worldbuilding Notes magic systems.
Interesting magic idea but wouldn't it make more sense for there to be towers or atleast some sort of baskets on top the poles to make sure the people on top of them to not fall off rather than just a simple pole?
I'd love to see a video about how those who maintain the windlass zone communicate. It must get dreadfully boring up there (I would know, I'm a lifeguard) and I'm thinking they're shifts would pass quicker if they had some sort of way to carry conversations across the windless zones. Some form of sign language, perhaps, but with large, exaggerated movements of the arms.
There are even fun things to think about in terms of technological advancement! What happens when you have telescopes? Or even televisions? Maybe the light has to come directly, but not necessarily all the light, so what if they made huge areas connected with fiber optic cables? All very interesting things to consider.
I really like the idea of a "like produces like" magic system. Maybe in this world (or another) people could be able to use this in different ways, perhaps if a person learns to move like a certain thing they could get results similar to what they are moving like. An example of this could be someone who jumps with the same form as a cat being able to leap many times their own body or someone who replicates the running style of a horse being able to run at incredible speeds for long distances. There could also be something similar to "so the holding of that breath is a cessation of wind." maybe blood could be seen as a sort of water, and so by people slowing down their breathing and slowing down their heart rate thus slowing down the flow of their blood this could be seen as the slowing of water. So if you got two people and put them on different sides of a river and they both slowed their blood flow it could possibly slow down the flow of the river, or you could get three or four (or more) people on an uneasy body of water and by doing same thing as the breath holders but instead they slow down their heart rate to make an area of water that is much calmer than the surrounding water. There could also be an opposite application of this where people increase their blood flow to make water move more easily, possibly using this to do things like make boats move very fast without the use of sails or oars. This could also be used to make waves for recreational activities or it could maybe even be used to get rid of incoming tsunamis at coastal areas. Good video, very interesting, gave me some fun ideas, very cool very swag, thank you.
Imagine the air on the city getting LA levels of SMOG. The Windkeepers just start breathing for a couple of minutes and boom. Alps-like fresh air in a giffy
This is very good. And you should go back and watch Record of Lodoss War (the OVA, not the full anime series; the OVA is fantastic, the anime series sucks). It's basically an adaptation of a series of novels about a D&D game some guy played with his friends back in the 70's. It's a really really good fantasy anime.
love the ideas and it got me thinking; how does rain work, here? You said the windless zones would be humid, but heat rises and the winds would blow moisture away. Are there windless zones on one side of the territory acting as evaporation areas, so the moisture condenses and rains over farm land, or something like that?
I guess other types of magic are being used to make these magical greenhouses act like actual greenhouses. My video on the magical lids that cover canyons mentions pots kept at the heart of every windless zone, so those pots might be doing some of that magical work.
But war makes conflict makes stories. Maybe it's a love story set with a war in the background? Maybe the sedentary farmers have an authoritarian government who controls the wind stoppers, but the nomads are more free spirited libertarian tipes, Therefore war? Maybe a young farm boy gets chased out of the wind free place by some bullies, and he almost freezes to death, before he is rescued by some nomads who were grazing their herds near by. While in their company he falls in love with the chief's daughter, but he can't marry the princess unless he can complete some task to do with dragons? I'm to busy writing my own book, but feel free to use my premise.
Maybe. Actually i was thinking they were low level nobles who only do the job because the high level nobles pay them, but having them on bottom also works.
@@1lobster That is the beauty of fiction, there are no wrong answers. As long as the story is consistent (or there is a reason for the misdirection) anything goes.
