[ WP ] We 've seen epic fantasy worlds based on historical Europe ( i.e . LotR ) and historical East Asia ( i.e . Avatar ) . Write about an epic fantasy world based on historical Africa .

Long ago, there was only one land surrounded by an endless sea. The people who live there were neither peaceful nor warlike. Instead, the passage of time was like that of the tide, coming and going, regular, but never stationary. And they people who lived there were as varied as the stars in the night's sky. To the north, great deserts promised only death to those not versed in its ways, the desert sun far more deadly than its already lethal inhabitants. Further south, the impenetrable jungles stymied all attempts of passage, mighty empires and kingdoms rose and fell under its titan trees. Should one have penetrated the driftless regions and not fallen sick from disease of a thousand kinds or venomous creatures, only the infinite grasslands would greet them. Men had journeyed all their lives in one direction, never once reaching a coast, if the existed at all. Herds of creatures, numbering in the millions upon millions roamed this land, stretching as far as the eye could see. Birds flew in such teeming flocks so as to block out the light of the sun. Nomads followed the rains and the animals, at one with their environment. This was a land of plenty, of hope. But such things were not to last forever. 
 
 They came, those from beyond the sea. They arrived in their castles of wood and clouds, wearing the skin of dragons wielding the talons of the drake. They rode hornless creatures, and bore dragon fire in their hands. When the voyagers from beyond the endless sea landed on those shores. The people of the land welcomed them, greeting them as brothers of the same earth. Beckoning to share with them what the earth provided for her children. For their generosity they were rewarded with violence, with slavery, and with death. They were pale like death, grew hair to disguise lying lips, speaking tongues both slow and rapid. For those who came beyond the sea were not all united. No, for all their differences, those from beyond the sea killed and stole as much amongst themselves as they did with the people of the land. 
 
 Many of the people feared they would be taken from the land, and stolen across the endless sea, but that was not to pass. No, for all their wickedness, for all their cruelty and malice, those from beyond the sea, never once sailed away again. They brought their women, and their children with them, settling as best as they could. They had fled something far worse than them. What, the people of the land did not know, but they prayed they never would find out. 
 
 Nowhere in this world is there peace. The outsider push ever deeper inwards despite the losses. Those displaced fight others for land and resources. Others are more opportunistic, seizing that which the weak can not hold. Some trade with the outsiders, gaining weapons in exchange for slaves and raw material. If the kingdoms and tribes were to unite, they could drive the invaders into the salt water of the endless ocean. But should they remain weak and separate, it is only a matter of time before they are slowly consumed by the virus on their shores. 
 
 
 The fuel has been growing piled with each act of violence and despair, all it needs now is a spark. Will the flame be extinguished forever, suffocated by those with darkness in their souls? Or will it herald a dawn unlike any before, and burn away the sufferings of the past and light the way to a brighter future? These are times when life itself is in flux, when destinies and fates become murky and malleable. But who can shape their fate, and the fates of everyone else? The world holds its breath, watching, listening, waiting, wondering who shall bear the torch, or snuff its flame out forever.
