"World of Eragon TTRPG"

[epistler]

 Well it's now two weeks into 2025. Still no "big announcement" about the alleged TV series, though there is plenty of inane blather about which actor would be "perfect" to play Roran. Who else wants to bet that no self-respecting mainstream actor would ever agree to play any of those characters? Methinks if the TV show actually happens the cast will be made up of has-beens, never-weres, and never-will-bes. Plus maybe one of those older British actors who always says yes to everything. (They're called journeyman actors - Michael Caine is a famous example, or was until he became Christopher Nolan's go-to guy).

Anyway, instead of a TV series our guy is now talking about... a TTRPG and is asking fans to help "expand on the world-building". That he supposedly already did himself. 

I'll just drop some of the text here for further discussion.

ChristopherPaolini: Theoretically, if I were working on an Eragon-themed TTRPG handbook, what topics would ya'll like to see expanded on and/or explored that I didn't necessarily go into depth in
during the main IC?

NOTE: topics only, please. For legal and creative reasons, I'm not looking for ideas for HOW to explore said topics, just the topics themselves. Think, chapter or sub-chapter headings.

I have a number of ideas myself, but I figured it was worth checking with the community. This is a one-time opportunity to expand on the lore and worldbuilding, and I want to make the most of it.

...

Theoretically, of course. :D

 

I see that “become less insufferable” was not one of his new year’s resolutions.

Ibid-11962: Might be nice to see an official timeline for the world, something more in depth and detailed than Domia Abr Wyrda. Also a precise timeline of the IC, especially of the Inheritance ending.

 

Yeah… that’s not possible. At all.  

I'll leave you to have a further look if you're interested a this doesn't really warrant a full on spork. But who wants to bet this is another "exciting" project that doesn't go anywhere?

Comments

[pangolin20]

Outsourcing your worldbuilding is... a choice, to be sure. Then again, I'm effectively doing it for him, anyway, so in a few years, I could certainly give Ibid something as close to a "precise timeline of the IC" as possible.

[epistler]

Outsourcing your worldbuilding is... a choice, to be sure.

It's like his whole deal is finding new ways to be really lazy.

Then again, I'm effectively doing it for him, anyway, so in a few years, I could certainly give Ibid something as close to a "precise timeline of the IC" as possible.

Which among other things means doing what a couple of fans were seeing doing, which is headcanoning that pregnancy lengths are just naturally really weird in Alaglag. And never mind just how long it actually takes an army in the field to move around - just how tiny is this country anyway that they could do all that with long marches in between and take all those cities in less than a YEAR?

[pangolin20]

Which among other things means doing what a couple of fans were seeing doing, which is headcanoning that pregnancy lengths are just naturally really weird in Alaglag. And never mind just how long it actually takes an army in the field to move around - just how tiny is this country anyway that they could do all that with long marches in between and take all those cities in less than a YEAR?

Half of France, according to my own attempt at a scale. I'll remember to look into this! As for the pregnancies, I think Elaine's pregenancy isn't overly long, actually.

[epistler]

What on earth are you talking about? She's pregnant for a YEAR. The text even says it's "overly long" in an attempt at a handwave.

[pangolin20]

Well, I just counted up the days from the time that Elain is stated to be six months pregnant, and, being quite generous, I reach eighty days. Let me say that she's nearly seven months pregnant when that's said, and she'd end up being about 9,5 months pregnant by the time she gives birth.

Sure, there's the timeskip between Brisingr and Inheritance, but that should be a bit over two months between attacking Feinster and Belatona, which would be ridiculously long compared to the time between Belatona and Dras-Leona, for example.

[pangolin20]

At the same time, Katrina indeed manages to be pregnant for... about fourteen months, if my reckoning is correct! That's no mean feat!

[epistler]

In the real world if you're THAT overdue you would long since have been induced because from that point onward both mother and child are at increasing risk. For one thing the kid can end up not getting enough oxygen, which is how you get such issues as cerebral palsy. I even know someone who had to be induced because the kiddo was stubbornly refusing to go anywhere, and even then the kid got into danger and could have died (they both made it out okay, thankfully). What, does Alaglag not have potions that can induce labour in situations like this one?

Of course, I really doubt Paolini has the first clue just how dangerous childbirth is. Women still die from it to this very day. If my friend had not had access to modern medicine, not only would her baby have died but she could very easily have died as well. Yet Elain has that insanely traumatic delivery when she's already dangerously old for childbirth (like if she's got kids Eragon's age she's likely in her forties) yet comes out completely fine! Oh, uh, so I assume since I'm not sure if we ever see her again.

[pangolin20]

Well, we see her one time after, so apparently she was inexplicably alright, despite not getting much medical attention. Pregnancy does take a heavy toll on one's body, and it's not exactly obscure (that is, if you bother thinking about it).

[epistler]

(that is, if you bother thinking about it).

And here is where we find the problem.
Paolini doesn't think about things.

[torylltales]

The longest human pregnancy ever recorded was 375 days, or one year and 10 days, but that required modern medicine and wouldn't have been percieved as anything other than an ordinary pregnancy without things like hormone tests and ultrasounds.

Elain's pregnancy was about the same length, if a few days shorter, and without modern medical knowledge and ob/gyn technology.

[epistler]

And yet SOMEHOW she and the baby didn't, y'know, die.