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The Sunlit Hearth: The Terrific Role of Industry in Fantasy
Sunfire
CONTENTS
The Premise
The fantasy genre is known for taking real world ideas and exploring them in fictional worlds, showcasing things that aren’t necessarily possible in reality. It explores them in both positive and negative ways and how they impact the worlds they are in. One popular real world idea is that of industry in fantasy which appears numerous times across the genre.
What exactly is industry in fantasy? When people think of industry, factories and smokestacks come to mind. While that appears in fantasy, it isn’t just them, it is so much more than that. Factories and mills are an important milestone for a world, for they are the first signs of industrialization.
There are a number of benefits associated with the industrial aspect of fantasy. For instance, it provides jobs for the communities these businesses are located in. This helps people make a living which in turn helps local shops and can lead to an era of prosperity. Additionally, it also helps the countries develop their economic base since they are capable of producing goods that they can sell to each other.
Unfortunately, industry in fantasy does come with several drawbacks. Pollution is number one. Some places become contaminated over time as exemplified by foul-smelling water that is unsanitary to drink which can lead to people moving away in search of better places to live. Pollution can cause severe ecological damage if left unchecked which might be impossible to repair later on.
This is the twelfth article in The Sunlit Hearth series. If you’re interested in seeing our other articles, check our our blog page where there’s a plethora for you to choose from!
What is Industry in Fantasy?
Industry in fantasy takes many cues from its real world counterpart. Keep in mind, the type of industry that appears is dictated by the period of time the world is in. For example, you wouldn’t see a large factory with belching smokestacks in ancient times. Thus, it is imperative that you have the ones that fit seamlessly in with the times.
When it comes to fantasy, industry isn’t just a place where people go to work and make things that are then sold. It becomes an important part of the area it’s found in. For instance, the large wood-mill found on the edge of town turns raw wood from the nearby forest and converts them into wood that can be used for many things such as buildings or products such as tables. This enables people to build things that their forefathers could only dream of.
Industry in fantasy comes in all shapes and sizes. From wood-mills to water-mills, it helps make civilized life possible. It is a key marker in the development of civilization and is vital for it to grow. Its goal is to make things simpler for people, meaning they can use less energy to make things, giving them more time to do other activities.
It can be revolutionary which will have far-ranging implications for society. More people begin to work in factories and similar places, producing goods both for the local communities and the countries they call home. Goods are created at mass scale which require a steady source of materials ready to be consumed, leading to searching for more areas in which to acquire the rights to use them.
Industry in fantasy can mark the end of the agrarian era of the world as more people go to work at factories where they expend less energy making uniform goods. This can cause cities to undergo rapid expansion at the expense of small towns or said towns become cities in their own right. Farms and other food-growing businesses adapt to industrialization, adopting policies that enable them to grow greater quantities of food that will feed the growing population.
The Pros of Industry in Fantasy
One benefit of featuring industry in a fictional world is that it gives you an opportunity to really dive into how it affects the world. Just as in the real world, it comes with several advantages that impact history afterwards and is a key milestone in the development of civilization.
A pro of industry in fantasy is that it can spearhead a period of economic prosperity that lasts for a long time. This is because more people are going to work to make money that they use to spend in the shops around them. This leads to more businesses opening up, new areas of economic development taking shape, and a myriad other things.
The prosperity doesn’t just impact local communities, it affects the countries and the world as well. Factories and other industries produce goods that are exported to other parts of the world which means the treasury of the nations involved in trading goods grow over time due to the tariffs and taxes they charge. People are able to acquire far more types of goods that they couldn’t before.
Having industry in a fantasy world also leads to the establishment of wholly new fields. Electrical, technology-oriented, and manufacturing firms that specialize in one or several goods rise and over time become power players in the national and global economy. A portion of the money they receive in sales go in research and development where they work to come up with new ideas and products that will prove instrumental in the future.
The ever-growing number of available goods from industry in fantasy gives rise to the consumer economy where people buy the things they need on demand. They do so in stores that carry a wide assortment of goods such as the general store or a speciality one such as a grocery store or hardware shop. People typically don’t have to worry about whether they can find what they’re looking for since they can find it in one place or another one.
The Sinister Side of Industry in Fantasy
While industry has a lot going for it, it unfortunately does come with several downsides that significantly impact how people perceive it. These downsides can cause societal upheaval and drastically impair a country’s ability to manufacture its goods which ultimately affects its standing in the global community.
One bad side of industry is that it causes pollution. The environmental ones are the most obvious, the destruction of once-pristine land that now is riddled with ash and char, rivers and streams are contaminated with pollutants and other chemicals, and so on. This can cause people to move away in search of a job in a better place.
Another dark side of industry in fantasy is that it turns people into mindless drones. They report in to work at the same time five to six days a week where they make the same thing over and over throughout their shift. They then clock out at the same time and go home or run other errands before going to bed where the next day they have to do it all over again. This makes it difficult for people to spend quality time with their loved ones or work to make their local communities better than before.
While industry can serve as a springboard for economic prosperity, it can also cause its downturn. When a factory closes down due to whatever reason, people lose their jobs, causing an uptick in the unemployment rate, leading to a ripple effect that affects local businesses and the town itself. These places close their doors due to a lack of customers and before long, the town has fallen on hard times.
The final bad part of industry in fantasy is that due to the constant need to meet quotas, people are forced to work long hours without receiving little to no breaks. They work in unsafe conditions the knowledge of which eventually spreads, sparking an outcry from the locals who clamor for better hours in better conditions. Powerful industrial firms strive to stifle the uproar but sometimes politicians get involved and these firms are forced to bow to the relentless public pressure to create better working conditions.
Industry in fantasy can be a powerful asset for storytelling purposes, if done correctly. It can represent what people are capable of dreaming of and making them come true. On the other hand, it can also be used for sinister purposes, destroying what it was meant to be. It’s up to you, the creator, to incorporate this to tell a story people won’t forget!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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