Well, no, it was based on a concept. I just don't like the concept very much
Also, some concepts grow on you - I like Padmassa, but the original concept was just "Circle Masters! Woo! Evil!". Likewise, this one was originally "Crystal Mages! Woo! Crystals!".
Talisondren (EA) was going to be crystal mages who governed a highly disciplined, professional army through their crystal telepathy. Excellent stats (mor, att, def, not hit points) on all their stuff. I decided it wasn't different enough from Marverni (it was more powerful, but that's not much of a trick,) and that Padmassa shouls get the crystal mind control stuff instead, so this nation was gutted.
(MA) is what is shown here. They've grown soft and decadant and now only schoolgirls have magic powers. It's very anime.
(LA) was going to hate magical beings, b/c of what happened to their flourishing civilization when they lost in (MA) and they were abandoned by all the magic being/schoolgirls they had. It was going to have death bards and be emo (all your stuff gets old at 20
I kept changing my mind about how and why they were all cursed and dying. High magic resistance, fairly weak mages but powerful national combat spells. As a tactical setup, I decided that was better suited for LA Frostlings (who I like better anyway), so I didn't finish it.
Talis were originally going to be the hanseatic league, but then I decided that the frostlings should be Hansa/Russians instead, and the Talis kinda lost any rooting in actual history or folklore.
As for artwork - I agree with you, 100%. Amos' mods pull down their pants and pee on your pathetic concept of "game balance", but the concept and the artwork is great. I can't draw, but I think I write very nice flavor text - not everything that seems like a good idea really is, though.
I mean, I dunno, maybe other people think Padmassa is stupid. Maybe they think Talisondren has a cool concept, it's a subjective thing.