Fantastic vs. Historic

Having been raised with fantasy stories all my life, I guess it's difficult for me to break away from using fantasy elements in my stories. By "historic" I mean the lack of magic or other supernatural means in creating my story worlds. I guess I could've chosen a better word for it, but I couldn't think of it.

I've been recently struck by inspiration, especially after playing Final Fantasy XII. After a long break from even thinking about White Currents, I recently picked up interest in it again. But after reviewing the material I built up for it, I decided that it really wasn't that interesting for me anymore and decided to revamp the entire backstory.

Initially I wanted Sharidia to be a very unfantastic world. Well, considering it's composed primarily of floating landmasses, I guess trying to make it seem that way would be antithematic. But in essence, I didn't want this world to have been created by gods or supernatural forces. I wanted to explain it in a more accurate sense and avoid myths and legends as an explanation for the origin of the world. Instead I want to use a more realistic model for Sharidia's origins, the details of which are a little sketchy right now.

Originally I wanted to explain the original of the floating landmasses as part of a cataclysmic event trigger by humanity in a world-changing war. Somehow the idea that humans were responsible for such an event seemed to elude sense to me when I thought about it later. I thought a more natural explanation would suit better for the kind of world that I was hoping to create, thus my initial response to changing the backstory.

So far I've decided that humanity should have been born in the world post-skyforms, and that the formation of the skyforms themselves is a naturally occuring phenomenon that happens in a region known as Avernia; Avernia being a region constantly under chaotic storms and shrouded by clouds of dirt and noxious gas. The origin of life will be explained via evolution, although the progression may be very different from reality, due to the nature of this world.

But then things get a little complicated. My romantic ideal for a fictional story world has it so that it should involve very sophisticated, mysterious creatures that weilded a lot of power and influence over the course of the world's progression. Which basically boils down to them being gods. I also need to involve some form of mysticism in the story, which in this case involves the Ashir, a race of mysterious humanoids who are a threat to the entirety of humanity, and the only way to combat them are through the use of intelligent weapons called Ikons. To have these two mystical entities function, I needed to introduce an element of the supernatural, the Aether. And things just started to get convoluted from there, and I realized that my idea for a more grounded world was starting to unravel.

One of the biggest influences for me right now is Final Fantasy XII. The world for that game is so lush, and I love the way they constructed it and how they involved their supernatural, mystic forces. It just feels like a vibrant world that's had a long and ancient history. Of particular interest to me was how they threw in their gods and legendary creatures into the world. The gods themselves are very much real creatures, but they were merely ultra powerful creatures that shaped past history, instead of omnipotent entities that created the world. I guess thats sort of what I had in mind for my world, but it involves a lot of the supernatural for it to work.

I guess having a little bit of the supernatural, and masking it as being something logical wouldn't be bad. I mean, the premise of the story world already has floating landmasses as a central element, and people really can't expect a more serious story out of this. I'll have to learn a little restraint when I'm working on this, but I shouldn't be too concerned over details like that.