World of Divided Continents Q&A
Volume 2
Are Vampires bloodthirsty, demon-like beings that prey upon fellow humanoids?
No, the Vampires—who form the Corporate Aristocracies of the Shade Republics—operate as the land's apex ranchers and resource barons. They also eat cooked meat and vegetables or any other foods, but their favorite is specifically the blood of subterranean ley-line beasts, also known as Refined Beast Blood or "Biological Conduits".
(Note: Yes, Underhaven is not the only subterranean land. There are more outside Underhaven, but they are smaller patches where these beasts live and are being agriculturally ranched.)
Ley-Lines are invisible rivers of raw planetary dark energy flowing beneath the earth of Bastion.
Bastion's vampires are not bloodthirsty demon-like beings that prey upon fellow humanoids. Instead of hunting sentient races (such as Humans, Elves, or Goblins), Vampires feed on the blood of the subterranean beasts they ranch. Because these beasts graze directly on planetary Ley-Lines, their blood turns into a highly refined, liquid energy fluid known as Biological Conduits. This refined beast blood functions essentially as "liquid battery fluid". When harvested into Refined Beast-Blood Vials, drinking it supercharges metabolism and forcefully regenerates Martial Energy when drunk.
Food other than blood is only very slightly unhealthy for them, but it is not a danger to their health. It is just like when we eat junk food and fast food like burgers. They are unhealthy for us, but they won't kill us immediately if we eat too much of them. The same goes for the vampires.
Bastion's vampires are integrated into Unlighted's economy as indispensable energy barons rather than parasitic monsters.
Is the world of Bastion advanced?
Yes, Luminos, Unlighted, and Underhaven are super-advanced, but do not have exactly the same advancements as us on Earth. Bastion is globalized. Meaning most technologies are shared, only with different features and aesthetics.
World of Divided Continents/Bastion, technology spans a spectrum from industrial steam-punk and Victorian mechanics to high-fantasy runic engineering.
Most of the technology in Bastion relies on Sealing Technology, which acts as the scientific bridge between raw energy and mechanized society. Since Bastion is a world made of magic. Sigils and Runes are usually preferred in technology rather than science.
(Note: I would add and further explain these in later Archives)
Vehicles across Bastion's elevated plateaus, subterranean caverns, and ocean highways follow three core engine paradigms: The Magic-Powered, The Science/ Combustion-Powered, and The Runic-Powered.
What do Luminos, Unlighted, and Underhaven look like? Do all of them look the same?
Again, Luminos has eternal day. Imagine it as a highly advanced Victorian Era with very tall, many-floored castles for malls, steam engines, genetically modified horses, and steam-powered carriages.
The eternal night, Unlighted on the other hand, is full of colorful lights, high-rise city buildings, and their cars look different and run based on sigils and runes. Unlighted is full of beautiful scenery. Imagine Christmas, but with even more colorful and bright lights. Remember, this is a world with magic.
Underhaven has day and night, similar to those on Earth. Its cultural aesthetic is similar to Luminos', but with Greek, Roman, and medieval-style buildings. Think of traditional transportation like genetically modified horses and beasts, tough and fast, and carriages carried by these. You would see coliseums as stadiums, and parks full of Roman- and Greek-designed columns.
Is Luminos a dessert and is Unlighted a freezing tundra?
No. There is a global circulation of elements. Despite the light/dark split, Bastion is not a world of absolute weather extremes because the four secondary elements (Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire), Now, also the soul element, circulate continuously throughout the entire planet.
The Fire element circulates through Unlighted to bring warmth and prevent the domain from being entirely frozen.
The Water element circulates through Luminos to bring refreshing cooling and prevent the domain from being entirely scorched
Although local climate extremes exist, this is because the circulation of the four physical elements is not perfectly equal across every patch of land:
Does Bastion have planes?
No, they mostly use airships, grand and lavish airships that may range from as big as a palace (that usually flies for months) to as small as passenger plane airships, usually for middle-class transportation, sky adventurers, and sky pirates. (Meaning they have cannons. Hehe!). They also have other similar transportation options to planes, though not as large as passenger planes on our Earth, only smaller.
Their long-distance land transport, aerial travel, and skyway passenger transit across Bastion's massive land areas, elevated continental plateaus, floating sky islands, and subterranean caverns rely on a mix of runic airships, gravity-repelling balloon ships, high-speed steam trains, high-speed vacuum tubes, and tamed flying beasts.
Yes. Bastion has trains.