IV: Worldbuilding and Civilizational Decay w/ Henry Wolff

Note: This episode contains massive spoilers for the Studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky and the short story “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin.This week we sat down with Henry Wolff, who has been channeling his passion for Tolkien-style worldbuilding into TTRPGs for much of the past decade. We talk about known world-builders George R. R. Martin, Hayao Miyazaki, and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the rise and fall of civilizations. How often do you think about the fall of the Roman Empire? Henry thinks they had it coming. Tune it to find out why!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:41 - What does it mean for a civilization to disintegrate?00:02:03 - What elements make a society resistant to disintegration?00:04:16 - "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin00:07:57 - Different GitHub versions of books00:10:09 - George R. R. Martin and unlikable characters00:14:26 - Epitaph and the Fermi Paradox00:17:14 - Kevin's concept of "grand nostalgia"00:23:24 - Why Kevin doesn't like Castle in the Sky00:25:02 - Nausicaa, Mononoke, and Civilizational v. Natural Disintegration00:25:52 - Disintegration of nature v. civilization00:28:03 - Giving artificial intelligence to nature00:29:07 - Miyazaki inspires us by giving nature a voice00:30:13 - Miyazaki is a sad dude00:31:06 - Santa, sewer mutants, and other delusions00:33:03 - Childhood myths as conspiracy theories00:34:34 - Are conspiracy theories an American phenomenon?00:35:03 - Was Ancient Rome conspiratorial?00:36:57 - Kevin's crazy conspiracy theory-filled haircut00:42:14 - Tolkien and the value of an outside perspective00:43:30 - Patronizing scholars to do their life's work00:47:03 - The wealthy used to be more interested in science00:48:24 - Henry's world of ArÞ / First Light00:51:18 - Timeline of ArÞ / Future of ArÞ / End of ArÞ00:53:10 - Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe