Non-setting focused fantasy story

BenJepheneT

Light Up Gold - Parquet Courts
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Exactly as the title says, I wanna find a fantasy series that pays absolutely no attention to its setting or mechanic. No backstory to the throne, no magical mechanics, no who-betrayed-who or any Chosen One sticking swords up dragons ass. Just a bare bone story of a protagonist in a story for story's sake, not to build a universe or a whole new DnD world but just to tell a story, albeit in a less advanced settings with elves and dwarves and whatnots.

It doesn't need to be completely bare of setting. I just need it to be like a smudge in the background. No need for a big, convoluted paragraph on how the queen cheated on the king (again) or the peace treaty between the wyverns and dragons for identity theft, just scantily mentioned would also be nice.

You know what, I'mma just cut to the chase here: give me a fantasy story that reads like it's written in a fantasy setting. Like the throne and the countries and the wars are common knowledge. Like how we, in the modern society, mention WWII in a story as just WWII and not as "It all began when this failed Jewish painter had a dream-".

(I realize I'm coming off as a bit entitled and snobby at this point so I'm just gonna make the point and say yes, I'm all of the above and then some. I'm just curious on whether there's actually such a guy who does a story in a fantasy setting and not a fantasy story.)
 

Mizu

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I guess I can recommend my novel a bit.
Glory be to Arria is my first story and it has its problems some problems in it because of it but might be close to what you are looking for.
First for the things it doesn't do that you would like: No chosen one. MC is the emperor of Arria and possess a magical sigil but this hardly makes him special when compared to other emperors. There isn't some great betrayer. Wars are common knowledge and mentioned. Things will be referred to and casually mentioned. It was a simple war, not anything else. Magic doesn't play an important role in the overall story. It is there but since most of the conflicts in the story are on a grander scale than simply being between our MC and another person his magical sigil is kinda worthless.
For the things you may not like: This is my first story and it does have issues. Magic is in this world but it is so rare that only three characters possess it. One of these characters is the antagonist. There are no mythical creatures such as dragons, wyverns, dwarves, or elves. The prologue is a bit over-dramatic but you can hand wave it as just a historian being a historian. Some historians can be dramatic.
The story doesn't fit everything that you are looking for but, I hope, it hits some of your more important points.
 

IvyVeritas

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I might recommend mine, too.

The Eighth Warden

It only talks about the setting as it pertains to the story, and only to the extent that the point-of-view character is aware of it. There are no info dumps. But since it's meant to be a fairly long story, plenty of details do come out along the way. It doesn't discuss mechanics at all, except to the extent it affects the story ("How did that happen?" "I don't know!")

The one requirement of yours I'm not sure if it qualifies for is "no backstory". There's a hidden conflict going on in the background, that people aren't aware of, and then there's the characters in the main storyline who don't know about it, but eventually they'll discover bits and pieces of it. Right now, they're just traveling around, trying to solve their own problems.

Edit: I guess there's a faint "chosen one" vibe, but the hidden background is someone preventing a chosen one from being born. So, what happens when all the threads of fate were lined up for one person, and are now just floating around? I'm trying not to give away spoilers here that haven't actually appeared in the story yet...
 
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CupcakeNinja

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Exactly as the title says, I wanna find a fantasy series that pays absolutely no attention to its setting or mechanic. No backstory to the throne, no magical mechanics, no who-betrayed-who or any Chosen One sticking swords up dragons ass. Just a bare bone story of a protagonist in a story for story's sake, not to build a universe or a whole new DnD world but just to tell a story, albeit in a less advanced settings with elves and dwarves and whatnots.

It doesn't need to be completely bare of setting. I just need it to be like a smudge in the background. No need for a big, convoluted paragraph on how the queen cheated on the king (again) or the peace treaty between the wyverns and dragons for identity theft, just scantily mentioned would also be nice.

You know what, I'mma just cut to the chase here: give me a fantasy story that reads like it's written in a fantasy setting. Like the throne and the countries and the wars are common knowledge. Like how we, in the modern society, mention WWII in a story as just WWII and not as "It all began when this failed Jewish painter had a dream-".

(I realize I'm coming off as a bit entitled and snobby at this point so I'm just gonna make the point and say yes, I'm all of the above and then some. I'm just curious on whether there's actually such a guy who does a story in a fantasy setting and not a fantasy story.)
So basically you want a story where everything common knowledge to that world doesnt need to be explained at all, with fantasy elements.
 

Kotohood

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May 17, 2019
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Hmm, a story without exposition of the setting would be hard.

Or is it that you don't want the same unnecessary generic exposition that goes around in stories and go straight into action? Cause that's easier to list down.

M̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶.̶ ̶R̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶p̶l̶z̶

Edit: I just realised the first few minutes of Skyrim is basically what you are asking for. Every dialogue is made with the expectation that you are suppose to know everything. All the stuff they say are common sense in that world, so you get like 10 minutes of jargon since you(as a player, not the in game character) don't understand a thing.
 
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BOWIESENSEI

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May 23, 2019
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Exactly as the title says, I wanna find a fantasy series that pays absolutely no attention to its setting or mechanic. No backstory to the throne, no magical mechanics, no who-betrayed-who or any Chosen One sticking swords up dragons ass. Just a bare bone story of a protagonist in a story for story's sake, not to build a universe or a whole new DnD world but just to tell a story, albeit in a less advanced settings with elves and dwarves and whatnots.

It doesn't need to be completely bare of setting. I just need it to be like a smudge in the background. No need for a big, convoluted paragraph on how the queen cheated on the king (again) or the peace treaty between the wyverns and dragons for identity theft, just scantily mentioned would also be nice.

You know what, I'mma just cut to the chase here: give me a fantasy story that reads like it's written in a fantasy setting. Like the throne and the countries and the wars are common knowledge. Like how we, in the modern society, mention WWII in a story as just WWII and not as "It all began when this failed Jewish painter had a dream-".

(I realize I'm coming off as a bit entitled and snobby at this point so I'm just gonna make the point and say yes, I'm all of the above and then some. I'm just curious on whether there's actually such a guy who does a story in a fantasy setting and not a fantasy story.)
mine is pretty bad but its kinda chill like you want. It's called tales of the wanderer. It has problems and theres some magical stuff just being introduced but idk. My character is just a guy pretty much lmao.
edit: my MC isnt a chosen one, he's just a merc that ends up in pretty intense situations
 
D

Deleted member 2533

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The Name of the Wind (by Patrick Rothfuss). I think there is also an e-versions if you aren't comfortable with a tangible book.

...and mine series' which is on hiatus (sad face). A trying-hard fantasy.

Kings Valley
 

YuriDoggo

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Honestly most paperback western fantasy novels you can find if your library probably meet your requirements. Shannara. Earthsea. Heck, maybe even Redwall if you're into talking animals killing each other with swords and spears.
 

Mejiro

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Name of the Wind has quite a bit of heavily implicit and relevant world building (like, there's quite a few mysteries of what's going on, who people actually are and who they're related to and how those people are important / powerful), and also has quite a bit of 'magical mechanics' going on. There's not much infodumping about it, and it's really good, but there's quite a lot of depth there, and I suspect the writer has a lot of in-depth notes about the world, and the 'character' plot is building to a lot of reveals as to the truth of what's going on.

If you don't mind going old-school, a lot of the pulp-style writers do this, because there was no guaranteed way to get hold of the rest of the series, so worldbuilding is scant, and repeated in each book - the Conan stories, pretty much anything by Michael Moorcock, that kind of thing.
 
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