I use a lot of fantasy tropes in my work for use as symbolism, but today I want to focus on a really specific one...the "fantasy counterpart culture"(FCC) - a fictional culture inspired by one or more real ones.

It is very common for creators that want to build made-up cultures for their works to take inspiration from real life. Not only is it easier to manage overall, but it often stems from a genuine interest in aspects of the real-life culture such as fashion, food, music, language, architecture, etc. Done right, it can be a very beautiful tribute to the culture's existence while at the same time, its own thing that consumers can easily differentiate from the real one.

When speaking of a FCC that stems from mixing aspects of two or more cultures together, however, it becomes an ethical question of where the line should be drawn. The questions of which cultures are acceptable to mix together, or what parts of each should not be fictionalized/blended in this way (such as religion and history) become valid reasons not to try it, as beautiful as it is in theory.

However, I would like to argue that by virtue of the fantasy counterpart culture being exactly that, artistic license should be allowed so long as it doesn't AIM to insult anyone and serves the story in some way(because of the world being a melting pot and salad bowl of different opinions about the same things, someone is likely to be offended not matter what you do, so the best thing is try to present the conflict of the story as far apart from the cultures being referenced for simply existing - ex: better to have one bad apple in a FCC as the villain than paint the whole FCC itself as villainous).

I find Japanese names really pretty, and I find clothes from a good number of Asian cultures (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Ainu, Pakistani) absolutely gorgeous. In the original "Heaven's Flag" GMV, I blended the fashion of English, Chinese and Japanese cultures, and invented mythology inspired by a myriad of Asian cultures. Since the story is essentially a made-up creation myth, I chose this setting because I grew up fascinated with the mythology of the actual cultures being told by both media and people who belonged to them. Crazy part is, it may have only gotten away with it like it did because no one was named or spoke any dialogue.

If and when Heaven's Flag becomes a Ren'Py project, I will have to describe what happens in plain text, if not name the characters to make the story digestible - which will throw the "safety" of its FCC provided by the original video's lack of names and dialogue right out the window. I plan to be very liberal with the fashion as well, if only to try and prove the point of the story's culture being a fictional one - though to a believable degree. I even plan to introduce other fantastical elements in the environment to reinforce this. I'm not worried, though, as the ultimate aim is simply to tell a story I want to tell and nothing else.

I encourage those of you who want to make a FCC out of two or more real counterparts not to be afraid, it can be an effective way to strengthen your story!

Also, if you haven't voted yet, check out the poll here:

https://gamejolt.com/p/so-now-for-a-really-good-question-what-do-i-plan-to-do-next-in-5iqpekmk

See yall later

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