The Style of the Wayfarer's Guide

The standard aesthetics of the Wayfarer's Guide, as intended by its creator, Twelveseal. This includes visual guidelines and examples intended to give readers and additional creators greater ability to visualize what characters and other content might look like, musical pieces and artists useful for establishing the setting's mood and stimulating creativity, and notes on how certain effects and abilities display and manifest. It also includes notes on the genre, themes, topics, elements, and content of the setting that can help writers and players alike to better understand and relate to the world. 
These are not intended to be strict rules for fan creations, but 'are' meant to establish the principle creator's preferred tone and flavor for the setting in regards to what becomes canon and what doesn't.
=Genre=
At its core, the Wayfarer's Guide is a romantic and erotic fantasy setting with aspects of Sword & Sorcery and Epic Fantasy. It has tales of rousing adventure and heroism, noble sacrifice, and struggles against terrible evils and questionable morality and ethics, pursuits for coin, conquest, and carnal delights coexisting.
The setting is heavily influenced by the Isekai genre of fiction and stories adjacent to them, and while it's perfectly fine to run games and write stories without a single Wayfarer in them, the setting as a whole still retains that feel.
=== Sample Works for Inspiration ===
* Monster Girl Encyclopedia
* Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
* Arcane
* Record of Lodoss War
* Rune Soldier Louie
* MaoYuu: Maou Yuusha
* Spice and Wolf
* Kamidori: Alchemy Meister
* Overlord
* A Song of Ice and Fire
* Monsuga! Youkai Shoujo
* The Devil is a Part Timer
* To Aru Majutsu no Index and related works
* Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome Desu
* The Holy Grail of Eris
* Conan the Barbarian
* Beastmaster
* Rosario Vampire
* Re: Monster
* Yuusha ga Shinda!
* Monstergirl Doctor
* Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra
* Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal
* Inu-Yasha
* Interspecies Reviewers
* Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
* Love and Monsters
* Goblin Slayer
* Game of Familia: Kazoku Senki
* Grancrest Senki
* 12Beast
* Daily Life With Monstergirls
* KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!
* Tenchi Muyo! (Yes, all of it)
* Monster Hunter
* Various Final Fantasies, but particularly the "Ivalice Alliance," including the Tactics games, 12, and 14, as well as X, VII, and VI.
* Dragon Quest games
* I, the Demon Lord, and the Ring of the Immortal Princess
* Berserk of Gluttony
* Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest
* Legend of Zelda games
* Willow
* Reincarnated as a Sword
* Slayers
* Peter Grill and the Philosopher's Time
* Negima
* Do You Think Someone Like You Could Defeat the Demon Lord?
* Undertale
* Homestuck
* Log Horizon
* Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan
* Queen's Blade
* Vinland Saga
* Berserk
* Type-Moon works
* I'm a Spider, So What?
* Dungeon Meshi
* Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World
* That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
* Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
* The Mage Will Master Magic Efficiently in His Second Life
* Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There
* Sword Art Online
* The Chronicles of Narnia
* The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion
=Visual Style=
The Wayfarer's Guide is a very "anime" setting. It draws heavily on Isekai light novel, manga, and anime tropes, as well as ones from Japanese Roleplaying Games like Final Fantasy, Grandia, Persona, and Dragon Quest. It's best to visualize it as such. In particular, the visual style of League of Legends' character and skin art, and by extension the Arcane animation, fit the setting very well. The relative complexity and fashion of Pathfinder 1st Edition's art is also fitting. Gaea is a world of rich, vibrant color. You'll also want to take a look at things like the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, 12Beast, Daily Life with Monstergirls, and Monstergirl Dreams to get an idea of what Monsters look like. These aren't exactly what the setting's Monsters look like, but they'll point you in the right direction; the hentai gutter.
=== Adventurer Gear ===
Despite the fact that the setting is very Anime, the actual equipment tends to be fairly down to Earth; weapons and armor tend towards practicality rather than visual appeal, mostly because the characters in the setting genuinely rely on it to keep them alive. It's odd for an Adventurer to go out without some kind of helm or other head covering, for example, despite the fact that Anime and media in general would rather show of the character's face by abandoning it. Spikes and elaborate molding and bizarre pauldrons and such are unusual; if it would get in the way of wielding a weapon or moving properly, it's probably not going to be on a piece of equipment. Likewise the sorts of elaborate "mall ninja" weapons one sometimes sees in these sorts of settings.
This is not to say that weapons and armor aren't stylish or embellished. It just means that people in Gaea tend to prioritize function over form so as best not to meet an early death. Weapons with inscriptions are common, as are many real-world alterations that perform functions (such as a ribbon on the pommel of a blade that's used to distract a foe or help prevent the weapon from being disarmed). Gems and jewels are also common, as they're frequently used in creating magic items or just to display wealth and power... so long as one isn't sacrificing their safety for it when it might really matter. Blades tend not to be barbed, hooked, or covered in odd shapes and protrusions in order to avoid having them become stuck, and guards tend to account for the many ways the weapon is likely to be moved in the hand when swinging. Armor accounts for the fact that it's actually being worn and that unusual shapes and structures can end up making it easier to land a powerful blow on the wearer.
Enchantments are where the real flair comes in. Magic is bright and colorful and vibrant and can do strange things to the look of a weapon. Glowing runes, traces as if on a circuit board, veins, and the like are common, often trailing light and particles as they move or are covered in some manifestation of the powers they represent. Mystical auras that radiate from the weapon or armor or trace patterns and shapes in the air around it or seem to pulse with energy on and through it. Such things are common of magical items.
=== The Look of Magic ===
Magic is generally bright and flashy unless it's clearly intended to be subtle; magical sigils and seals burn in the air when it's used, sparks of power crackle on and around the wielder, the air pulses with energy, flows, shifts, and surges, and other phenomena occur when major spells, and sometimes even minor but visually striking ones are cast. This extends to Powers and other supernatural forces employed as well; these abilities distort reality and often aren't subtle about it. Rule of Cool plays a major role in this; if you're trying to use some kind of sneaky magic, like Charm Person, you're not going to see much in the way of fireworks. Cast Fireball, however, and watch the show. The exact visuals are going to vary from caster to caster, but think to how magic looks in fantasy Anime and extrapolate.
=Musical and Ambient Style=
I tend to default to music of Michael Ghelfi and his studio, the works of Adrian von Ziegler, and pretty much anyone else who ends up on the recurring YouTube Fantasy Radio Streams that periodically pop up. No promises on how long that last link will be viable. The works of Jeremy Soule and Ramin Djawadi, as well as Marcin Przybylowicz, Alex Roe, An Ancient Legend, Long Forgotten, Rok Nardin, Two Steps From Hell, Thomas-Adam Habuda, Paleowulf, and Acherontic Dawn are also significant, as are Samuel Kim, Nobuo Uematsu, Danheim, and Heilung. 
Beyond these, I often find myself using remixes of the above, as well as more popular music, from Panic! At the Disco and Fallout Boy to classic rock like Metallica, Megadeath, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan, Santana, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Cream, the Rolling Stones, and Blind Guardian, to more recent rock like Dragonforce, Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Tool, Evanescence, and more recent bands. These songs are often reserved for more significant or particularly notable scenes and events, and for music representing Earth scenes and events. I also use Spa New Ambient, Good Vibes - Binaural Beats, and similar artists as a mood setter for sex scenes. 
* Michaël Ghelfi Studios
* Adrian von Ziegler
* Jeremy Soule (Mostly the Elder Scrolls soundtracks)
* Ramin Djawadi (Primarily for his work on Game of Thrones and Warcraft)
* Marcin Przybylowicz (Primarily for his work on the Witcher series)
* Alex Roe
* Paleowulf
* An Ancient Legend, Long Forgotten
* Rok Nardin
* Two Steps from Hell
* Thomas-Adam Habuda
* Acherontic Dawn
* Samuel Kim (His various remixes and mashups on YouTube are very nice, too)
* Nobuo Uematsu
* Danheim
* Heilung
=Setting Themes =
The Wayfarer's Guide is meant to be a rather large setting that can play host to a broad range of stories. In truth, one of the main reasons why I set out to make this setting in the first place was frustration over storytelling potential that was actively culled from some of the other IPs in the Monstergirl/Boy subgenre of fantasy, including a number of themes that just can't be explored effectively in worlds where there aren't really significant threats or realistic behavior on the part of the background characters. However, certain themes are meant to recur in the setting, if not in every work. Certainly, some are meant to be present in most, if not all, entries to the setting (such as the Many Forms of Love and Growing as a Person Through Adversity). The following are a list of common themes of the setting:
* The Many Forms of Love
* The Spirit of Adventure
* Growing as a Person Through Adversity
* Self Discovery
* The Nature and Value of Humanity
* The Definition of a Person
* Finding and Being Yourself
* The Many Forms of Corruption
* The Many Forms of Family
* Different Types of Relationships
* A Time for War and a Time for Peace
* Communication and Silence
* Rights and Freedoms
* Changing Perspectives
* Culture Shock
* Rising to the Challenge
* No Man is an Island
* Personal Responsibilities
* Grey Morality
* Blue and Orange Morality
* Altruism and Selfishness
* Imperfect Heroes
* Conflicts of Values
* Class Conflicts
* Fantastic Racism
* Overcoming Hate
* Adapting to Change
* Broadening Horizons
* Difficult Choices
* Free Will and Determinism
* Self Study and Introspection
* The Role of Religion, Faith, and Divinity in Society
* Social and Economical Hierarchies
* Oppression and Rebellion
* Freedom and Stability
* Law and Chaos
* The Pursuit of Justice
* With Great Power, Great Responsibility
* The Obligations of the Rulers and the Ruled
* Conflicting Ideologies
* The Dangers of Extremism and the True Believer
As a general rule, love in some form should always be important in a Wayfarer's Guide work. The exploration of love, from traditional carnal to pure Platonic love to friendship and self-love to divine love, from beneficial to destructive forms, is key. Ideally WFG stories and games should have love interests for their major characters as major characters themselves, and for those pursuing more introspective concepts of love, a focus on how the emotion affects the characters and their interactions with the world and others. Major characters should always display some form of logical growth or change through the course of a given story based on their experiences and the challenges that they've had to overcome, forcing them to step outside of their comfort zones and adapt. Characters in the setting are meant to be people, so they should be flawed, and struggle against those flaws. 
=Controversial Topics and Content=
The Wayfarer's Guide has a lot of potentially upsetting, disgusting, or offensive content in it. This is intentional. It's there precisely so that it can be talked about in a way that's at least one step removed from the real world. It's also there because it makes for a more interesting setting. The Wayfarer's Guide is not meant to be an idyllic world. It's a very flawed world in need of heroes to come and save it. As such, there is racism. There is sexism. There is violence, inequality, sex abuse, rape, and all manner of taboo sexual activities. They are there to be talked about, discussed, considered, debated, addressed, and in some cases resolved in the adventures of the characters within the world. This is not a welcoming world to people who are easily offended. If you don't like it, don't use it. Feel free to use your own rework of the setting for your own writings and games, so long as you acknowledge that your content isn't canonical. If you attract more people to your rewrite than I have to the main setting... congratulations! That's a good sign! Just don't go messing around with my canon, please.
Anyway, here are some things that I feel like might upset people, so take a look at these and take them into consideration before you start working with the setting:
* RACISM!!! Different ethnicities have different mechanical statistics. This isn’t the case for Earthlings, but is for Gaeans. Mana does interesting things to people, and considering that every other race in these kinds of settings has special characteristics, it always struck me as weird that Humans basically never did despite supposedly being the most adaptable race. Hrmmm... Also, just racism itself exists, moderated by a long history of external pressures that promoted relative harmony.
* SLAVERY!!! Slavery still exists and is honestly pretty unremarkable there, it's just usually used as punishment or reserved for war captives and is usually temporary unless the crime was especially egregious. The history of Gaea echoes the history of Earth, but is not a 1:1 conversion by any means, so historical events and conditions in real life may not reflect properly in Gaea. For example, the Atlantic Slave Trade was dramatically different and Mezzoramian slaves were treated significantly better, with the vast majority earning their freedom within a few years or being indentured servants. Generational slavery did not occur in Gaea's version of the New World's settlement, nor was it commonplace anywhere else.
* POLITICS!!! The setting isn't supposed to have a really strong political leaning (though I do). It's meant to serve as a theater for debate on this sort of topic. Yes, this means that besides discussing and representing commonly acceptable modes like Democracy, other political values are also welcome to the stage.
* RELIGION!!! Especially the way it treats various real-world religions in regards to Earth and their counterparts on Gaea, the Creator being the Demiurge and YHWH being a relatively minor deity in Gaea, and just generally that some random mishmash of different beliefs and faiths being the setting's truth. It's a world where no one was exactly right, so try not to take it too seriously. 
* SEXUALITY!!! Natural Monsters have dramatically different sexual norms than humans and have a neutral view of rape, incest, sex with minors, and a number of other things that most people rightly have problems with. To put it mildly. However, even the accepted sexual norms of the Races of Man are distinct from those of modern society (partially driven by Medieval behavior and partially by extrapolation on what a society where Abrahamic religions never came to widespread power... or even existed in a meaningful way, in some cases). A LGBTQ is fine, too. There's even a place for Furries. It's a Maaaaaaagicaaaaaal Reaaaaaaalm. I'd just prefer it to be an inclusive one with more than just sex as its substance. Just know that if it's a human sexual practice, interest, behavior, identity, preference, kink, fetish, or whatever (yes, even the gross, horrifying, illegal, immoral, and incomprehensible ones), they exist in the setting and there's probably something that panders to them in Gaea. Making a setting for everyone means making things, and accepting things, that not everyone is going to like.
* ECONOMICS!!! For all of those people who want to make the setting about brawls between those dirty capitalists/communists/whatevers. There's a load of different nations in this setting with various different economic models, so while feudalism and guild models are most common, so are other economic systems.
* SEXISM!!! Because it's a largely Medieval setting that's dealing with changes in social structure and values, transitioning from a male-dominated society to one that's more balanced... and bringing with it conflicts over power, gender roles, rights, and privileges.
* CLASSISM!!! And I don't just mean the Mages vs. Martials debate and CoDzilla. Much of Gaea is very socially stratified, in some cases to the point of having literal castes. Likewise, Monsters have their own social hierarchies based largely on species and individual power. Class conflicts are a thing.
* GAMIST CONTENT!!! Because in a world where the metaphysical laws that underpin reality conform to the rules of a game system like Pathfinder 1e, people are going to realistically figure out that there are Levels of Spells based on how much Mana they take to cast, that people advance through Classes with distinct, though sometimes quite variable, capabilities, and that people with certain mental or physical capabilities and Class combinations usually display similar resistances to various hazards. Among other Gamist elements, like classifications of magic item Enchantments, for example. They may not know about Hit Points and Hit Die, or Mana Die, but they can see the general effects of them in the world and make some educated guesses and subsequent theories.
This isn't meant to be a "hugbox" setting. This isn't a "safe space" for anyone, be they Left Wing, Right Wing, or what have you. I tend to believe that we grow as people through interactions that challenge us. We become better people, develop our minds, bodies, and spirits by facing adversity; something we don't get in a homogeneous community where everyone who doesn't conform is just cast out or silenced and where nothing bad, no adversity, happens. This is a theme of the setting itself, made manifest in how experience is accumulated, Alignment is handled, and the existence of Corruption, but it’s also one I wish to be meta. Something that should exist in the community itself and not just the fantasy world. I have a somewhat lackluster opinion of certain segments of the broader Monstergirl/boy community as people just looking for escapism and feeling entitled to unconditional love without having to make contributions of their own to a relationship. I want to discourage that here. There are other settings for that. This one is meant to challenge you and not just your characters in the hopes that by interacting with it, you will grow as a person. Just remember to try and keep things polite and friendly, and that none of this is real. Keep from harassing each other.
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