Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-4: After All, A Small World

Perspective bears a relationship with scale in regards to the setting when considering the story’s location as the specific setting compared to the overall setting. To clarify, the places in which the story takes place are an important factor in horror beyond the world-building concerns of the setting. The creation of a fantasy horror story or setting can hinge on the change from the overview perspective to the immediate perspective of the characters involved. The key word to consider is immediate, immediacy. Horror can only benefit from a sense of immediacy, of urgency. Certainly it begins with and even capitalises on foreboding and a sense of impending doom, but without a follow through it plays itself out. This is where the line between setting and location comes in.

The following is an example of using the location to determine localised setting conditions. A village’s viceroy sends word to the capital that a monster is killing his people. The King dispatches some knights to deal with the menace, but it is winter and a snowstorm blocks the only pass that leads to the village/province. The local setting goes far enough to set up part of the plot in this example. The location portion of the setting involves details such as terrain, weather, and the types--or lack of--of characters available. The setting’s influence on characters, and those limitations are the bread and butter of the horror. Those pesky knights will be limited to the local garrison, which could be as few as three knights, locally trained, and of little experience. They are also likely to be the first to fall.

The example also demonstrates one factor that is new to the discussion--but not limited to the fantasy setting per se. It is the factor of time that is determined by the setting. The menace carries on from the first attack through the long couriering of the message to the capital, on through the extensive wait for the King’s knights. Isolation is a strong factor in a horror fantasy setting. To keep this so take instant magical communication off of the table. On the flip side consider prophetic dreams and the factors discussed for clairvoyance in the psychic horror setting. They need not be psychic powers, but can be the visions of priests and oracles, or the fodder of prophecies. The information gleaned from these visions can have timing that is faster or slower than the regular channels as needed.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-3: Scalar Planar Collisions

Scale is the means by which things are measured whether it is a mile, or a millimetre, or a setting or plot. The scale of story elements in a horror story tend toward the small with a few notable exceptions. One of those exceptions is the zombie apocalypse story. The apocalypse portion of the requirement does not rule out the small scale though. The focus always narrows down to the key characters and their involvement with the crisis, and the antagonists, the zombies. This focus shift is true for all stories. If the intention of coming up with the setting is not for a single story then the scale needs to be examined even more thoroughly. Though they come in different flavours a predominant number of role-playing games fit in the fantasy mould.

Whether the intention is a horror fantasy role-playing game or a storyline with that cross-genre mix scale is an important factor. Zombies are no strangers to fantasy settings, nor are mummies and animated skeletons. They are common on a small scale. Armies of them appear occasionally, covering the middle ground, but usually not as a global level threat. Given the day-to-day level of horror inherent in most fantasy settings, even to some extent in medieval life, zombies don’t rate very high. Where swordsmen wander ceaselessly crushing evil, zombies are not a real threat without an edge greater than being similarly armed to the swordsmen. Something more powerful is usually pulling the strings and presents a greater level of menace bringing the scale, the focus, down again.

Another option is replacing the harbingers of the apocalypse with something more frightening. Defying demonic invasions from the outer planes are the fodder of prophecies to be fulfilled in many a fantasy. Certainly a horror fantasy could reverse things. The prophecy predicts the invasion, or better yet and somewhat its own horror to the protagonist(s) the prophecy fails to be fulfilled. Hell on Earth has a certain appeal for a storyline, or a state of the setting, a backdrop upon which to paint the rest of the story. This is about setting, not plot. This level is the foundation and some of the story structure. Like a house, with only a basement and some outer wall joists any number of frames is possible. Where the construction goes from here quickly becomes a matter of perspective.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-2: Arcanis Visicius Domini

Most of the questions, suggestions, and considerations that were a part of devising the setting for a modern magical horror still apply in the horror fantasy setting. The fantasy setting conventions and norms provide extra help as well as disadvantages to crafting the horror of the setting. Even some magic that was discounted is back on the proverbial table. The disconnect that the fantasy genre has with the modern, rational world immediately opens up avenues of horror that would be unwieldy or impractical in the modern magical horror setting. That disconnect also negates the impact of breaking the rational, which is often a major factor in supernatural horrors. In its place is the horror of the inevitable, the persistent threat looming overhead, lurking in every corner.

Magic of any great power or import should be kept out of the hands of the protagonists. This can be achieved by the requirements of magic or by maintaining strict moral lines. Material components and magical knowledge availability is limited not only by the environment but also by the greed for power of the magical caste, the wizards. Magic is nothing more than power in the setting and power is always jealously guarded. Corrupting power and the mad grab for it will direct much of the morality of the spell casters or the magic most commonly used. Beyond that magic can divided into direct black and white moral lines because the fantasy setting is more accepting of such mythos rules. Black magic will have evil requirements as well as evil results.

At the level of specifics fireballs and lightning bolts called down from the sky are fair horror fantasy game. Curses and geasa of terrifying kinds and results can be wonderful plot underliners giving the story a real mythological feel. Geasa is the plural of geas--a kind of magical obligation or prohibition like a taboo. In some cases the person is incapable of breaking the geas because they’re magically compelled. In other cases there are dire consequences to breaking the geas. As a facet of the setting curse bringing and geas infliction lead to other considerations and implications from the level of daily life all the way up to politics. The ever-popular zombie has its fantasy counterpart but requires a different touch. A matter of scale comes into play for this and other magic.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-1: Dark Phantasy

There is one more enormous genre that hasn’t been corrupted by horror in this series, fantasy. The broadest category of fantasy generally refers to medieval high-magic settings. There are magical creatures of every stripe, races that interact and conflict with humans, and magic that is a powerful force wielded to far-reaching affect on the world and everything in it. Most of the stories take place in medieval Europe though often details like how feudal life worked, peasants lived, and their ability to do things within the hierarchical caste system sometimes falls to the wayside. To a large extent taking the time period forward to modern eras--anything 1900s or later--has already been covered. There are some settings in the industrial age but that will come later.

It is a common belief that it is nearly impossible to bring about real horror in the traditional fantasy setting, much like it is claimed to be in the super-hero genre seen in comics. The main point of contention is that which makes it fantasy in the first place, the in your face, capable of anything, game-changing, world-defining magic. Deities have influence and power in these settings if only through their priests and followers. There are rarely infernal beings without celestial counterparts. Then there are the heroic aspects aside from the magic. Knights and Paladins wander the lands performing monster-slaying deeds and facing off against impossible odds like battling fire breathing, arcane infused, dragons. These brave souls often face and defeat the masters of magic as well.

The answer as usual to tackling this problem is all about the setting. It starts with asking the right questions and choosing the answers that will aid the horror at all levels. Working within the constraints of the genre as it stands on its own is only one of two options. Changes can be made to the fantasy genre assumptions since the type of fantasy discussed thus far is the largest chunk, not the only chunk. Magic in a horror fantasy requires a different approach if not an alteration in power level. Scale is another important factor to consider and can make great differences in the quantity and quality of horror in the setting. Perspective is going to be another factor that is important in imparting horror to the settings and plots. These are the starting points upon which to proceed.

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