A World of Seasons
A long time ago, I participated in several RPG creation challenges on a certain Big Purple message board. I actually won at least one, but it's been so long that I don't rightly remember what the winning project was and, sadly, no longer have it on my hard drive. I also flamed out and failed to complete the challenge more than once, and one of those failures left me with a unique fantasy setting idea which I will present to you today.
The world, as far as anyone knows, is eternal winter. It is an endless, chaotic expanse of snow- and ice-wreathed landscapes which can change at a moment's notice. What was a snowy forest yesterday can be a wind-swept plain today, and may become a frozen lake tomorrow. Sometimes some features appear near each other with a bit of regularity; this forest often appears with that river, and those hills can be said to usually border that lake. But the world changes without warning or care, and it has always been so.
But there are places where not all is winter. In places where people congregate, other seasons can appear. First comes autumn, a lessening of winter's chill. In the borders between the two, things change more slowly and regularly. Regular features can be identified. Instead of disappearing, mines renew their secret contents. Within autumn, crops can grow, ever so slowly; the more people gather, the warmer the interior of the zone becomes.
Then, summer appears at the center when enough people live there. Slow, lazy warmth allows for better agriculture, and the world does not shift its features at all. The trees are green, shading into the riot of autumn's colors as one walks away from the center, then to bare skeletons on the borders.
Finally, if enough people congregate and make their living in one of these "islands", glorious spring manifests. Life energy bursts forth from the center of the island and all things grow and heal at accelerated rates. This energy moves so fast that it doesn't have time to radiate its heat fully until it slows in summer; then it cools in autumn, until finally it freezes in the outer winter once more.
Full continental "islands" are relatively rare. The winter is dotted with many more smaller, incomplete islands; relatively reliable trade routes snake through the snow and ice between some, stringing them in chains and hubs like spiders' webs. Travel from one island to another may involve a number of other islands in between on a circuitous route.
The winter's dangers are not restricted to its shifting landscapes. Unknown creatures appear and disappear, harrying those who dare to explore and journey outside the stability of the islands. Treasures spawned by the winter's chaos entice adventurers to leave the relative safety of more-predictable routes and plunge headlong into that chaos. Many do not return, or come back... changed.
There is no rhyme or reason to an island's culture. Every island has its own ways, its own traditions, songs, clothing, and beliefs. Some of the largest complete islands maintain small satellite colonies which, over time, grow into their own societies. Some of the smallest islands are nothing more than a large family home and surrounding grounds, locked in eternal late autumn while winter rages outside the gate.
I've never actually done anything with this setting, but it feels like a natural for something like Everway or, perhaps, Fate. It definitely feels more narrative-aligned.