One thing I need to tell you is that it can be difficult for someone to throw away a whole bunch of their work away when they think that it hasn’t been good enough. You may feel that it is a waste, with all the work you already have, you could have gone far ahead. But for someone who cares a lot about the thing they are working on, you want to make sure your work is the best it can be. I would probably feel extremely uncomfortable working on Gochin if I knew the current thing I had was terrible than if I just restarted. But that’s what I did. I rebooted Gochin from the beginning. Sure there are elements and bases you need to build from once you reboot, but the majority of it is recycled.
One of the first things I did was to make a file called Nolaris. I still have this file with me, and it details exactly what Gochin was going to be like from now on. One of the things I did was to redo the entire history. The reboot I first did was not really a reboot as it is a retelling. It’s basically the old world but made clearer. This included why the Nolarians are able to speak English and have English names (more explained in the next reboot). I talked about the events that unfolded in every country.
The great thing about doing this is that almost for the first time, I decided not to expand further on Gochin. I realized already that I didn’t want to create more stuff, and decided to develop some depth into the world I already created. What I created was a world with immense detail, where the history was still basic, but clearly in development. When I wrote this, I gave a more political reason to why Leavo invaded Atominsian, as they harbored one of Leavo’s political fugitives. Before that, Leavo just decided to invade Atominsian for some reason. None of this is currently in the story, nor is it very good, but that was a step to creating a world that had more depth to it than what I had written previously.
I also decided to create more depth for the Gochinians as well. Gochin originally had seven islands, with the inclusion of Simpletin. The reason I had it at the time was mainly because I really wasn’t so comfortable with cutting things out or restarting things, which, ironically, I now end up doing all the time. It does feel painful to just cut something you took so long to make. But sometimes you realize that you have gone too far at some point, and you do have to let somethings go so that your direction is more focused and of great quality. Of course, I still sort of left Simpletin in the world, just not part of Gochin.
Another thing I decided to do was to really go into the stories I had developed. Countries are no longer based on arbitrary names, but sometimes for a good reason. One of the things I did was to name the country based on the people who found it. Nations like Kidaris, Partapin, Spincup or Savan were all based off people like Heroi Kidaris, Wisfrae Partapin, Artus Spincup and Therin Savan, respectively. Of course, you really can’t do that to everyone, so I decided to change things up a little, like Pelaris, Custonia, Vilga and Trumsae, based of things like the the word “pela” meaning west, the founder of Custonia basing of his Pelarene hometown Custio, Vilga being based of the river Vilga and the Trumsae empire originating as a mixture of tribes called the Trumoi and the Saefini. The last two are actually recent additions, but that’s another story.
One of the interesting changes was my decision to return and check on other islands. I always made all of these islands like Nelca, Winfelt and Taral, most of which I never paid attention too. I had always looked at the other three, Vigos, Compania and Zakonon, where Custonia had always been my focus. However, I decided to pay a bit more attention to the rest, adding a bit of story to them. What resulted was actually really good ideas that I have not yet pursued, but have a good idea about.
The island of Taral would be separated into different fiefdoms ruled under a king. Each lord of a territory must pay allegiance to this one king. Overtime, more threats happen, like the invasion from Corolis, the Cabriet from Vigos establishing a foothold, and the Wulfgaben Uprising. Lords will have to decide whether to stick to their old king or switch allegiance, even becoming independent.
The island of Nelca would be a miracle for the Naroche loyalists who escaped from Vigos. After the Berbani revolution took hold, it forced the loyalists out of Vigos. Many have explored the island of Nelca to the west, but some believed it was a dangerous place. Nevertheless, the last Narochean king, Alarias, sailed their with the remaining loyalists to escape from the wrath of Heroi Kidaris. They ended up setting a colony and miraculously defeating the native kingdoms with whatever men they have left. Nelca would become a land of natives versus settlers, as well as successor kingdoms after the end of the Naroche.
Winfelt would be similar to the old Nordic and Germanic tribes of the north (ironically, this island is the southern-most of Gochin). I decided to flesh it out by starting out with small tribes, some of which will join together into bigger tribes. A failed Nelcan expedition to colonize it will introduce them to technology that will make them even powerful. The next Nelcan expedition by a minor merchant named Areas Laefin would find this island ruled by strong kingdoms, unlike the primitive tribes or desolate icy lands as previously recorded.
Of course, it will take a bit of time before I get to explore this. For now, all I can do is develop one island at a time, eventually all of them coming together and connecting with each other. It might take decades, but with determination and perseverance, I think it can happen.
Jun's Thoughts on Everything 