Everyone and their brothers' have done some kind of "setting inspired by heavy metal" at one point or another.
We elegan/tg/entlemen crave more refined musical pleasures.
With that in mind, let's build a setting:
>Geography is inspired by the works of Mozart.
>Cosmology is inspired by the works of Chopin.
>The main kingdom/empire/whatever is inspired by the works of Bach.
>The main threat is inspired by the works of Beethoven.
How would it look?
How would it be any different from pre industrial europe anyway?
>The main threat is inspired by the works of Beethoven.
So shepards are evil?
Checked. The Gods have spoken, shepards are evil
They lead a legion of demonic sheep people.
Eternal Sonata is already a thing, you know.
Forgot pic, derp.
>Main kingdom/empire/whatever is inspired by the works of Bach
Boring and uninspired, gotcha.
You guys are stepping too much into metal
...
Classical music hardly has personality in any way that would be useful for a roleplaying game. You make do.
I hear "Fugue in G Minor" and all I can imagine is the intro for Once Upon a Time.
The other obvious choice is an Innsmouth scenario, but with sheep and shepherds. Would work with the cosmology.
Y'know, with a cosmology by Vivaldi, you could have some kind of pagan angle with the importance of the 4 seasons... Like, they're worshiped as 4 fickle and tempestuous nature gods who exist in a perpetual cycle, or something.
The horned fauns who serve the Seasonal Gods in Vivaldia are demonized as Evil Sheep People in Ludwigland.
>They are swiftly conquered by The Pantheon.
...
>metal invented demons
>The Rock Man, who's reach extends to the ends of the earth
I have a better idea:
>Geography is inspired by the works of Schoenberg.
Uneasy, uncertain shapes, unusual combinations of the familiar and the supernatural
>Cosmology is inspired by the works of Scriabin
Everything associated with colors, symbolism, grand scale. Some kind of synesthesia-esque cosmoslogy
>The main kingdom/empire/whatever is inspired by the works of Gerard Grisey
Focus on nature, overtone series, the synthesis of man and machine, electronic seamlessly integrated with nature, an aesthetic of sonorism - appreciating sounds purely for sounds. The appreciation of all life and objects exactly as they are - kind of like an architectural Buddhism.
>The main threat is inspired by the works of Ferneyhough
Absolute chaos, misleading directions, endless labyrinths full of hidden dangers. Overwhelming and incomprehensible ideas that no man could grasp, initially generated by computer algorithm, but then meticulously crafted by the hand of a being that some say, bears the image of a fractal - constantly zooming in to a new area, and looking different each time you see, yet with a self-referencing similarity.
Now there's a setting.
more like
>perfectly crafted
>balance of emotion and technicality
>deeply spiritual
>teaches us through listening or playing
>incredibly complex if you look close enough
>mastery of form and function
What about a setting where every country/region is inspired by a different genre?
How does that make a country?
all the architecture is perfectly crafted
the government has a balance of empathy and technicality
the people are deeply spiritual
the schools are run by example, learn by doing
the society seems incredibly boring and sterile to a newcomer, but the more you learn about it, and the more you experience it, the more beautiful and complex it shows itself to be.
their tools and furniture and transport are a perfect balance of form and function. Kind of like a minimal 20th century scandinavian/danish design aesthetic.
What makes this country interesting from an adventuring/roleplaying standpoint?
I dont know, Bach is pretty conventional, as would the kingdom he generates.
Hence why I suggested instead