There is a difference between a fantasy world and a fantasy history.

I tend to prefer the second. I want the sense that roads have names for reasons, that ruins belong to somebody specific, that promises made generations ago are still shaping the present.

That is why books like The Lord of the Rings, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, and The Dragonbone Chair keep their hold. They feel layered before they feel fast.

Age gives fantasy consequence. It makes even a simple journey feel connected to older fires.