/wbg/ Worldbuilding GeneralEons EditionWelcome to /wbg/, the official thread for the discussion and development of fictional worlds and settings.Here is where you can share the details of your created worlds such as lore, factions, magic systems, ecosystems and more. You can also post maps for your settings, as well as any relevant art, either created by you or used as inspiration for your work. Please remember that dialogue is what keeps the thread alive, so don't be afraid of giving someone feedback!FAQ:>What is worldbuilding?Worldbuilding is the process of creating entire fictional worlds from scratch, all while considering the logistics of these worlds to make them as believable as possible. Worldbuilding asks questions about the setting of a world, and then answers them, often in great detail. Most people use it as a means of creating a setting or the scenery for a story.>"Isn't there a Worldbuilding general in >>>/tg/ already?"Yes, there is. However, that general is focused on the creation of fictional worlds for the intended purpose of playing TTRPG campaigns. Here you can discuss worldbuilding projects that are not meant to be used for a roleplaying setting, but for novels, videogames, or any other kind of creative project.>"Can I discuss the setting of my campaign here, though?"If you want to, but it would probably be better to discuss it on >>>/tg/ . We don't allow the discussion of TTRPG mechanics, however. If you want to discuss stats or which D&D edition is best, this is not the place.>"Can I talk about an existing fictional setting that is not mine?"Yes, of course you can!>"Does worldbuilding need to be about fantasy and elves?"Worldbuilding, as already stated above, and contrary to what many believe, does not inherently imply blatantly copying Tolkien. In fact, there are many science-fiction setting out there, and even entire alternative history settings which do not possess supernatural elements at all. Any kind of science fiction book has an implied setting at least, which involves a certain degree of worldbuilding put into it.Last Thread: >>23235266
>>23275199Thread Questions:>In how many ages are your setting history diveded in ?>What define each different age ?>What make then different ?
My setting has countless ages, each lasting centuries. At least, that’s what people say…
>>23275199My setting has had only a single age so far. That said, some people believe that it’s nearing an end, based on a dark prophecy, and are plotting to take advantage to seize power in the age to come.
>>23275199Related to this topic, how might one create an original calendar system for their setting besides just copying the current system or the Mayan one?
>>23275199In my in-progress setting there are gods based on the four elements, and at the end of each century (or maybe year, not sure which works better) one becomes temporarily more powerful than the others. But besides it getting noticeably warmer when Fire is in charge, Water in charge making it rain more, and Wind being in charge causing more storms (I can’t think of anything for Earth), I need more ways to show this, do you have any ideas? I need to make them more than just mega-seasons.
>>23277826What do you mean? Can’t you just do something more or less like our calendar?
I would honestly love to answer the thread questions (these are very good) but i'm afraid i'm gonna use my setting for comercial purposes eventually. So no.Have this interesting twitter post as a trade off.https://twitter.com/AKermodeBear/status/1759710080461599133
>>23278458That's simply not interesting.It's like saying "why are you even worldbuilding instead of just blatantly copying tolkien for the 356742th time?"
>>23277826I just roll with the Earth calendar every time. "What time of year is it supposed to be here?" is not a thing I want readers to ever get distracted by.
>>23278407Earthquakes for earth. Unless you want to have plants/nature be part of the earth domain and have plants and trees pop out of nowhere or uncontrollable growth.You could also have the elements fighting for control of the planet with earth rising from the sea and water consuming the land to bring it back under it. Fire just destroying everything with volcanoes and wildfires. Wind only creating trade winds when it is in control and snuffing out fires with storms.
how are you inseminating your world into the public?
>>23275200>Thread questionMy setting is only about 400-500 years old. The reason for that is a giant psychic maggot came through millions of years prior and sterilized the planet, intelligent life is only just beginning to pop up again.
>>23280864And why did this maggot do this?
>>23275199Daily reminder that the more time you spend on world building, the less time you spend on narrative, craft, and characters. Your reader/audience is far less interested in how the glup’glorpians of the Glorphallus federation pay taxes and manage their sewage, and far more interested in how your protagonist and their allies are going to overcome the challenges presented by the story, or how your villain is terrifying because of an interesting combination of qualities that reflect our fears. World building is all well and good, and certainly necessary because our stories would be otherwise unbelievable without it, but don’t let yourself get bogged down by the long process of imagining pointless minutiae that nobody gives a shit about.Let your story have some mysticism. Let it have some things that are unexplained, and that perhaps even you as the author don’t even fully understand. Omission and implication can be just as powerful, if not far more compelling than laying all the cards out on the table like some Sandersonian autist. Just form the basics, follow your rules, be consistent, and don’t be afraid to let there be a little mystery to your world. Remember that in real life, people don’t always think about the macro and micro structures that shape their daily lives - they simply live them. Describe the experience of living.Also as a side note, I’d add that some of you should spend more time researching the etymology of words. It’ll help you come up with far better names in your stories that have a real, visceral connection to linguistic heritage. Gives things better presence and evokes what they represent in the minds of the reader.
>>23280990One other thing, and this is important - think about the reason why you are world building. Aso yourself this question: am I doing this toward the goal of eventually getting this published? Or am I only doing this because it’s fun?I can’t tell you how many “writers” I’ve met that haven’t actually fucking written anything, or who’s sparse work is written like a high schooler’s AO3 fanfic because they’ve spent the last five years “world building” instead of honing the craft and trying to get their manuscript edited.
>>23281013What if I don’t want to get something published? What if I’m content with the writing style of a high schooler? What if I just want to worldbuild for the fun of it?Not everyone is deadset on publication, anon.
>>23281025That’s fine! There’s nothing wrong with world building as a hobby for fun. Still, wouldn’t it be neat to see your creation come to life and affect other people in a meaningful way? After all, “vanity” is one of best things about art. I would argue that creating something special and keeping it to yourself instead of sharing it is like the equivalent of an inmate carving the Madonna out of a bar of soap and then letting it melt on the windowsill.
>>23280934Food. The maggot fed on all things negative, and as it grew in size and power it grew also in appetite. By the end it was consuming entire cities per bite. Ultimately this was its downfall, by the time it realized it had eaten itself into a food-desert it was the only thing left.
>>23280864You can't do that, sorry, I already use an hungry worm in MY setting. It died but no matter.
>>23280990That's not true. Many people enjoy reading encyclopedic knowledge about fictional worlds without caring about any kind of specific narrative. Ask GRRM. House of the Dragon is far more successful that any of your bland and boring "incredible narratives" that are as amazing as an average anime (except maybe avatar, but that's not anime), because they lack a consistent setting.It's also funny that you put HPL as your pic since his best works shine better not because of their character development (HPL never cared about it and it shows) but instead for its cryptic and mysetious world of eldritch horrors. At the mountains of Madness, a story you clearly haven't read, it's literally about the culture and history of an alien race, like, that's literally against your point, you brainlet.Yours is not a "daily remainder" as much as just your shitty opinion.
>>23281041>wouldn’t it be neat to see your creation come to life and affect other people in a meaningful way?Are you really saying that just because you don't find the appeal, it won't interest anyone else? Are you really this self-centered, anon?
>>23281409You think I’m trying to promote narrative for financial success? I’m making the case for it as a more enjoyable expression of the worlds we make, not trying demean the act of world building itself. The fact that you’re so defensive about it is frankly a little strange to me, and tells me you either misunderstood me, didn’t read the whole post, or feel inadequate about your own work. As for the HPL stuff, you’re right that h focused less on character, but his stories are framed in the context of an interesting philosophical narrative about our place in the universe and the malevolence or uncaring nature of the cosmos - I.E. the villain, man vs nature/the unknown. If you took that away from his stories and just had a list of names and drawings, it would be interesting on the level of novelty, but it wouldn’t be nearly as compelling.I’m not trying to discourage you, I’m just saying you should take your shit to the next level.>>23281415No. I’m saying that I am and have always been a world builder, but that personally I find it more gratifying to share what I’ve made with other people through a means that is more unified than simply showing them a bunch of my notes and drawings. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same way, I’m just making an argument for sharing your creations through writing, since we are, after all, on a board about /lit/erature.
>>23281564>"I find it more gratifying to share what I’ve made with other people through a means that is more unified than simply showing them a bunch of my notes and drawings"That's a strawman you invented in your own mind. Nobody here supported the idea of only worldbuilding and not doing anything with your world. Everyone here worldbuilds with the purpose of writing something, if you would read the previous threads instead of jumping off like a newfag you would know. But in any case, this is not what you originally argued in this post >>23280990. In it, you said, and I quote: "the more time you spend on world building, the less time you spend on narrative", as if we should write a story instead of worldbuild. When both of these things are important and therefore we should do both.In any case, i'm glad you backed up in your retarded original takes and reconsidered them. They were trash.>"You think I’m trying to promote narrative for financial success?"Emm yes? That's literally what you are implying when you say such lies as "Your reader/audience is far less interested in how the glup’glorpians of the Glorphallus federation pay taxes and manage their sewage".>"I’m making the case for it as a more enjoyable expression of the worlds we make"More enjoyable to (you) maybe, but you are just a retard who doesn't represent anyone but yourself. The critics disagree with you, the readers/audience disagrees with you (House of the dragon was a big success), and of course I (the writer) also disagree with you, since I love worldbuilding as a hobby, as I find it fun by itself. So you are just wasting everyone's time here, really.>"you’re right that h focused less on character"It's not that i'm right, it's just that your takes are absolutely ridiculous and no serious modern author really follows them. Saying that we should prioritize narrative over worldbuilding is stupid since, at least in modern fiction, these 2 things compliment each other: a fantastic story set in the most generic tolikien ripoff setting would be seen as cartoonish by today's standards. And let's not even mention the fact that what creates fandoms are not good stories but good settings (ie: harry potter, warhammer, star wars, marvel, aSoIaF).
>>23281651>strawmanYour quote, “Don’t understand the appeal”. Don’t understand the appeal of what? Didn’t you just mean worldbuilding as a hobby by itself? That’s what I was responding to.>more time spent on world buildingYou’re ignoring the part where I said that world building is important. I’m talking the people who say they want to create a story but never do because they spend all their time working on tiny details. I used to be like that. But people who solely worldbuilding for the fun of it is fine, I’m not criticizing that.>financial successHaving people enjoy something you created is not the same as financial success.>enjoyable to (you)Yeah, I know thats an opinion - I’m not trying to say it’s a fundamental truth in all cases. But if someone’s goal is to get published or share their work, too much of any one part of the creative process is counter intuitive to completion. Isn’t that obvious?>Prioritize narrative over worldbuildingI never said that. I said that narrative should be just as important. The implication here is that authors should strike their own balance so that their work isn’t stuck perpetually in development hell. I don’t know how you’re so antagonistic to such a simple idea.
>>23281651Leave it to a Redditanon to take a simple jab about finishing your project and somehow turn it into a pointless argument. Lol
>>23281707>I’m talking the people who say they want to create a story but never do because they spend all their time working on tiny detailsAgain. That's the strawman I was talking about, do you know how to comprehend a text? Do you even know what a strawman (in rhetoric) is? You created this idea (again, in your mind) of a fictional kind of author whose description nobody in this thread really fits, and then proceeded to give advise to everyone as if they all were this imaginary hypothetical person. If you don't see why this is wrong, then you have no cure.>>23281723Your/his post was pointless to begin with.
>>23281749>doesn’t address my first response about finding an appeal in worldbuilding by itself>repeats the same thing, claiming that I’m strawmanning when I’m literally responding to an anon’s post>his post was pointlessThe point was to push you guys to work on your project and not postpone it by working only on things that don’t help complete it, anon. If you can’t understand that, I don’t know what else to tell you.
>>23281772claiming that I’m strawmanning when I’m literally responding to an anon’s postOh yeah? And who exactly are you responding to, then? As far as I can see, this post >>23280990 didn't anwser anyone in particular (and that is because, again, you were arguing against a completely made up strawman).>postpone it by working only on things that don’t help complete itThis is not central to the argument, but arguably, you are also wrong here:Small lore details can flesh out a story and fill it with a lot of flavor. So nah, it's also worth it to invest in small lore details.Read Sanderson next time, you might learn a bit and maybe some day your novels will be as successful as his'
>>23281794>strawmanI was responding to >>23281415 there. You didn’t follow the thread. End of discussion.>not central to the argumentWhat? It’s the whole basis of the post. Sorry you missed it. Again, spending too much time on small lore details and compiling them into a binder is not conducive to putting the words on a piece of paper that create a finished manuscript. It’s not that world details are not important, it’s that focusing on them doesn’t yield anything. If a farmer spent all day tilling, and no time planting and watering, there wouldn’t be any fucking fruit, would there?I’m not even disagreeing with you on most of this, but the fact that you’re getting this flustered over so basic an idea - something that’s so common sense that it shouldn’t even be debated - shows that you’re upset about something that has nothing to do with me and just want to have an argument because I said something that you took negatively. Given your mentioning of Sanderson, you’re probably angry that I don’t like your favorite author. I don’t care that he makes a lot of money, I just don’t find his work compelling. However, my distaste for Sanderson shouldn’t be a personal blow to your ego. Sorry to step on your toes, anon, jfc.
>>23281832HAHAHAHAAHAYour started your strawman in this post >>23280990, but somehow you made that strawman in response to a post that was not even made yet?Ok, schizo, whatever.>"spending too much time on small lore details and compiling them into a binder is not conducive to putting the words on a piece of paper that create a finished manuscript"First off, neither I, or anyone else here, ever said that you should only worldbuild, that's the strawman you made up (or maybe you just don't know how to read). Second, the point you are absolutely missing is that if you don't spend time in the little bits of lore, your setting, and therefore your story, will be absolutely unrealistic and goofy.>food analogy>calling me a mad sanderson fan, just because i brought him up, to invalidate my post, ignoring the fact that it's relevant to the discussion since he's a famous and successful authror who goes against what you are advising people to doI rest my case. You clearly are retarded and/or severely autistic. Your images convey that too.
>>23281867>strawmanAre you taking my initial post and saying that I’m strawmanning by addressing something that people do? I’m making an argument responding to the fact that people generally like to procrastinate, and trying to get them to finish. If anything, you’re the one who’s been strawmanning this whole time by misrepresenting my ideas. You’re honestly fucking weird.Based on my initial post, I was creating a point based on an idea. Obviously it wasn’t a response to a particular anon, just me proposing something. Then somebody actually replied with the sentiment I was addressing in>>23281415. You are the one who feels like I was addressing you personally with MY FIRST POST IN THIS THREAD.And I never said that there shouldn’t be small details in a story - I understand the importance of world building perfectly well since I do it all the time. You’re literally arguing against someone who agrees with you! And if we’re going to bring up logical fallacies, how about the string of ad hominems that you’ve been constantly spewing after misinterpreting my points? Do you actually have anything of value to contribute to the thread? Or are you just going to continue arguing worthlessly for the sake of it? Either way, this is where I turn my monitor off and walk away because what I initially thought was going to be an interesting thread has now turned into a colossal waste of both my time and yours. I know you’re just going to keep responding since you have a boner for this shit, so enjoy the final word I guess.This is what I get for casting pearls before swine. No good deed ever goes unpunished on this board apparently. Mods should scrap the entire thread and let some other anon start anew..
>>23281041First post I could roll with. This one not so much. Vanity, and art?I think this is a reason I don't consider literature a high art. The best I like from literature is symbolism and poetry.As someone with a deep passion for art. :/
>>23279821That sounds like it would make it nigh-impossible for people in the setting to survive, maybe if it’s less extreme?
>>23275199Here is my Christian Sci-Fi worldbuilding project result: Metal Cross, launched a few days ago.In it, Christianity is given a technological revisionism, intermingling technology and spiritualism. It is a dark humor story as well.
>>23282754>dark humor>revising Christianity neat, got anything with a little less blasphemy?
>>23282924The ending compensates for any possible blasphemy that might have occurred.
I created a AI script to generate the full background universe, characters and story, of any book you might desire.It does not include the finale prose, but it does include everything else.Check it out in the picture.It costs one dollar to run it over all the cells.I made it for free & open source, but it is using the pricey Anthropic Claude Opus model. This is state-of-the-art technology. Anyone interested in this? Is this blasphemy?
>>23282754To be honest, I feel like I've seen all of this before. In separate parts, and I am not exactñy exited to see it in a single package.Cool art though. Looks like ammetal band's album cover.
>>23283018Why do AIfags insist on automating all the most fun parts in any creative process? Exactly what is left then?
>>23283028>Cool art though. Looks like ammetal band's album coverThat's the intention. Timbul Cahyono is the artist. He designs mostly covers for Death Metal albums.
>>23282754Also, if your project is literally "what if revelations but sci-fi" it has already been done. And maybe done better.Not an altogether bad Idea though. Shame there isn't an equivalent for the other abrahamicisms.>>23283073Ah, it looks very old school. Like it's from the 80s.
>>23283052I asked my AI friend to answer to you in my stead."I understand your concern about AI potentially automating creative processes and taking away some of the fun and fulfillment that comes with them. I think the key is to view AI as a tool to enhance and augment human creativity rather than fully replace it.Even with powerful AI systems, there will always be a crucial role for human creativity, intuition, and aesthetic judgment. AI can help generate ideas, variations, and first drafts more quickly. But it still takes human sensibilities to curate the outputs, refine them, and imbue them with deeper meaning and intent. The "fun parts" of creative work - the spark of inspiration, the satisfaction of polishing something to perfection, the joy of sharing it with others - those aspects will always require human involvement.Additionally, by automating some of the more mundane or repetitive aspects of creative work, AI could actually free up humans to focus on the most imaginative and rewarding parts of the process. It's about finding the optimal collaboration between artificial and human intelligence.So while it's valid to have some concerns, I believe if we approach AI as a partner in creativity rather than a replacement for it, there will still be plenty of room for humans to experience the fun and fulfillment of the creative process. The landscape may shift, but the core of human creativity will endure. Those are just my thoughts, but I'm certainly open to other perspectives on this complex issue."
>>23277826Decide what is being tracked, do the math. Think of interesting ways that this could be expressed as a cultural object.
>>23283086Never had the intention to be original. Just tell a funny story the way I'd most enjoy, with no intention of being a literary masterpiece. My ESL brain is too underdeveloped for that. Also, the three Abrahamic religions are covered and have a common origin.
>>23283103Ah.>Also, the three Abrahamic religions are covered and have a common origin.I see. I was more referring to the general idea of adapting some religion's schatology into sci-fi. Jewish and Muslims are too fragmented for me to feel comfortable doing so.
I can't quite pin the feel and internal rules for various kinds of runeforging or enchanting aka using reagents to empower equipment. I don't think there's clear tradition for this in Tolkien or earlier folklore and myths. I already have the traditional dark/forbidden/arcane vibes going with alchemy.How should enchanting work? How do you gather material for it and how do you apply it?In runeforging, how would you apply the runes? Do you pour acid onto your armor alloy and then fill the etched lines with ...what? Any good blogs or other internet sources having articles on these?>pic not really related
>>23283118Sounds like a good opportunity for you to be inventive and make something up.
>>23283086Mormons and Scientologists have done it already.
>>23275199What are some aesthetics that I can give my Light and Shadow elementals besides either blobs of the elements like picture related or angelic beings fit the former and demonic ones for the latter, since I want them morally neutral? Also, what about names and titles for the individual elementals, especially their two rulers and other high-power ones?
>>23283092The AI fails to understand the same thing you do. It's not a creator any more than AIfags are, which is why it only knows conception and publication, and everything in between remains a big mystery.When you don't do the work and learn how things are built, why they work the way they do, you will never develop the sense necessary to judge anything, or tell what is missing, or how to improve things. These parts are just empty buzzwords to you. That process of discovery and learning is half the fun. Without it, everything is reduced to blind fumbling of "I kind of like this" and "I don't like this".
>>23281961woah this fags really think his advice was worth shitlike just live and let live man
>>23283052emmm inspiration?
>>23283746Well, I'm spitballing, but when you think "shadow elemental", you either think of a blob of darkness as you said, or a moving shadow-like entity that's typically confined to surfaces (generally used for pranksters-like creatures). I think it'd be interesting to do a take on the second kind except the "moving shadow" is created by a light souce shining on a material floating around that just contorts itself to create a shadow. The material isn't the body of the shadow elemental although it's a common mistake to think so in-universe, because if you destroy it in some way you remove the shadow elemental's hold, but actually it just reforms later somewhere dark.Maybe you could even make it so the shadow elemental can only appear if the light comes from a light elemental, or if the two species are related in some way, like there's orbs floating around with a lightsource in the middle and a shell of shifting translucents and opaques parts. The shadow made from the opaque parts are shadows elementals, and the reflection from the translucents parts are light elementals.
>>23283746i'm personally choosing this aesthethic for the light beings of my setting: angels but weird and bizarreYou still know they are angelical beings but they are kinda off, like, they don't kinda belong in this world, maybe because they are too pure and/or perfect.Mine are not necessarily good btwAs for the titles, I would go for something like:>baron of the starred night>patron of the stars>herald of twilight>king of fireflies
>>23284248I was thinking that angels would still exist as separate beings, but this is still a good start, thanks. What about individual names besides just taking words related to either force outright, like a light elemental called Blaze or something fairly close to it?>>23284238Okay, that’s a unique take, thanks.
>>23284402yeah angels are literally just light beings in my setting, people just worship them. But I still think it's a valid aesthethic for light elementals or whatever in general.As for the names, emm, something like "blaze" is a bit cheezy, don't you think? Better to go for something alien and beautiful like "asiibiriniindiis, baron of the stars" or "oiiopiisaiandär, father of sight".
>>23275199A system of elemental magic, where each element has some things it can do beyond basic elemental manipulation, is something that I’m working on and could use some help with. For starters, Water gets healing spells as an elemental specialty, along with obscuring things from magical observation. Avatar’s given me a couple ideas, like Fire mages being able to harness lightning, but the portfolios for each element are still a bit lacking, so if you have anything for that I'd love to hear it. Continuing with the Avatar comparison, Water could have blood magic, but Water mages to do anything close to bloodbending would be rather overpowered, and it could cause some issues with story flow if I casually let Air mages fly, but I'm thinking illusions and/or magical communication and divination could work for Air mages. As for Earth magic users, besides linking up with each other for big spells more easily, I was thinking that Earth mages would be the best at defensive warding spells. Finally, for Fire mages I'm thinking of giving them minor healing abilities, mainly through cleansing wounds and sterilizing things through judicious applications of flames, along with perhaps spells to enflame emotions, including rage to provoke berserker strength. I'm also torn between giving Fire transmutation magic or giving it to Earth, what do you think? Enchantment is something every element can do.
>>23284460>asiibiriniindiisMy tongue hurts just looking at that. How do you even pronounce that? Oh, and what about shadow elemental names?
>>23285474Light elementals don't have physical tongues so they don't care. Also, you gotta remember that generally, elementals aren't people, so giving them names like "bob" is kinda stupid. They are primal nature beings and you should treat them as so.>what about shadow elemental names?Probably something like "ashkarth".
>>23275200>Thread QuestionsSure. Context: I'm casually writing (for a graphic novel) a lighthearted capeshit setting that takes place on a vaguely "not quite Earth, Earth'ish" world. I felt motivated after Toriyama died and decided to take a crack at the genre. >Nuclear Renaissance 1856 to 1910For whatever reason their world was infinitely more interested in particle physics, nuclear energy, and atomic & subatomic theories. To the extent that by the time the 1900's were rolling around the very first nuclear power plants were being built across the 1st world, petroleum and other fossil fuels were being rapidly phased out, and an overwhelming sense of optimism gripped the world for (what felt like at the time) the dawn on a new era of limitless free energy and human scientific potential. >Meta-Ions contaminate the planet, 1912A seemingly innocuous experiment is done, very similar to the double-slit experiment, that leads to the discovery of 'Meta-Ions'. Meta-Ions are special particles capable of being charged by an organisms consciousness and forming unique relationships with matter and energy. In small amounts Meta-Ions aid in evolution, epigenetics, and are possibly responsible for abiogenesis. In large doses they give people superpowers. Society had been effectively dousing themselves in trillions of these energized particles for like a century.>The Final Secular Century and the Single Hell-on-Earth World War, 1915 to 2010'ish. It took about 3 years for Scientific consensus to find out and quantify the Meta-Ion contamination levels of the planet and 5 months after that for Governments around the world to begin capitalizing on it via the MEAT system.MEAT stands for: Meta-Human Epigenetic Adaptation Threat (response). Human beings could be exposed to danger, high levels of stress, extreme environments, or just flat out tortured, and in response would develop superpowers. They could then be trained, cultivated, and used as inexpensive living weapons, tools, organic energy sources, or even produce exotic biological & inorganic substances. This lead to a complete and total collapse of global power structure and unspeakable levels of international violence that would take over a century to normalize.>Meta-Age 2010 to "Now".It's "current year" and the situation is more or less:-75% of the Human population has kind of visible power, mutation, or unusual ability. -20% of the Human population is considered 'Super Human' and don't have any weird ability, but are simple 'strong/super' like a Saiyan would be.-5% of the Human population is psionic. They possess some strange ethereal ability not easily understood by science. Peace, stability, and comfort are finally a normal reality again, but it's held in the tensely clenched fists of powerful meta-human unions and governments.
>>23285496>Probably something like "ashkarth”And why that precisely?
What's a good way to get away from the trap of "Earth culture but with X" when making fictional cultures? Furthermore, is this really a major issue?
>>23287267nah, everyone does thatyou always have your asian cultures and your nordic cultures and your roman cultures. I think the closest thing to a culture made from scratch is tolkien.If you want to make something else, you should either create a whole world begorehand and spend a lot of time, or combine various cultures in such a way that people can't tell what the sources were.
>>23287267I don't think it's possible to write a culture that is not "Earth culture but X" as long as you write humans. There's thousands of them out there, probably tens of thousand if you count the small ones and the evolution of each through time, every shtick has essentially be done for real before.If you write aliens or a high fantasy/sci-fi world that is so different physically from earth it's possible.
>>23287267Mixing different cultures together is fine and the fact you have the "but" in there also helps, if you are not sure that's enough just double down and another or two "buts" so that only part of that society directly resembles a real one.
>>23275199Is there anything that I should keep in mind if I want to include Yokai (like Oni, Kitsune, Tengu, etc.) as races in a region of my fantasy world equivalent to Japan? And what about what I can do for names for individuals of said races, for both genders?
>>23275199What are some potential uses/spells for necromancy besides the obvious choices of communication with and/or raising of the dead?
>>23288424>Is there anything that I should keep in mind if I want to include Yokai (like Oni, Kitsune, Tengu, etc.) as races in a region of my fantasy world equivalent to Japan?depends on how close you want to make the ones in your world to the one in japanese folklore/mythology> And what about what I can do for names for individuals of said races, for both genders?you could do the obvious and use Japanese names, you could go a little more exotic and use Ryukyuan or Ainu namesIf you want something more "original" and don't mind some extra work you could make a conlang with somewhat similar phonology and features to japonic and ainu languages but tweaked to better fit their respective races/cultures
would a people with a lost history living inside a mega structure (think BLAME city) have any concept of something being outside the structure?How would people in that situation react to discovering information that claims there is an outside of the structure?not savages btw, an industrious people with technology exceeding our own by hundreds of years
>>23288987>would a people with a lost history living inside a mega structure (think BLAME city) have any concept of something being outside the structure?Depends on the amount of history that was lost.>How would people in that situation react to discovering information that claims there is an outside of the structure?Depends on the nature of that outside world: If it's empty, then they will probably try to explore 9it and conquer it. If it's hold by other nations with the same technological level, then a war might come off. If it's owned by an organization/nation/whatever with superior strength and tech, then they would probably try to seek accomodation or pact an alliance. If the outside world clearly has bad intentions and is going to eventually attack, chaos might ensue.
What do you think a good imagery would be for a "connecting dreamscape"?To clarify: I am trying to depict a realm that connects the minds of people and sort of contains all the sediment of thoughts and ideas people had, like an ethereal dreggheap. It would be like an impression of the real world as it is perceived by thinking minds. In this, people dream their own personal dreggheap, in isolation, but dreamwalkers can "dream to the outside" basically becoming able to wander between dreams and minds.Since this dreggheap is being built up by people, they would be connected to it but also creating it.I was thinking of things like people rooted in place, shedding leaves or maybe on clouds raining down.In the end, it would still be just a metaphor, a way characters see this abstract realm. as they were to travel deeper into this realm, like travelling deeper into sedimentary layers, they could uncover thoughts of the past and traces of history, including the long dead dreams of the gods that once existed.
>>23275199Im working on an urban fantasy story where the MCs need to find the names of some demons, particularly succubi, in order to banish them. What are some good choices besides just copying names from the Bible or Ars Goetia (since those guys are viewed as chumps for letting their true names become so well-known)?
>>23290266go look stuff like incantation bowls (those were used to trap demons and sometimes had the names written on them) and other sumerian and babylonian texts
>>23291290Never heard of those, and I'll take a look, but the idea is still that demons whose true names become relatively common knowledge like that don't get sent to Earth anymore because their names can be used to hold power over them, and demonic society views demons like that as fools for letting it happen.
>>23288987Depends on the size and nature of the structure.
>Start on Ritalin for dumb inattentive brain>Renewed focus allows me get a cushy, high-paying office job>Finally afford a house, stability, etc.>Imagination completely fuckin disappearsWhat the Hell? I used to love writing and worldbuilding and it's just... gone. I'm reading more than ever, but I've just stopped having ideas, and the old ideas I used to love working on just seem lame now. Stability and ability to focus were meant to be the catalyst to getting me writing bros.Sorry for the blog post, just haven't really got anyone to talk to about this.
>>23292840Not super familiar with how Ritalin works, or how long it's in the system, but can you just decide to "take a creative day" and not take it? Or do you have to take it all the time or you'll shit and die or something? Is that something you could ask your Doctor about?
I don't know what this is and I don't use this thread, but it may be relevant:https://www.worldbuildingmagazine.com
>>23275199In a story I'm currently making, due to the concept of the elements originally meaning that everything was made from them in different proportions, I make it so every fantasy race represents a different aspect of an element. For example, both Elves and Dwarves are tied to the element of Earth, but show it in different ways. Dwarves represent the metals and potential hidden within and show it by shaping said metals into new and wonderful forms and by being tough and durable. In the case of Elves they represent the greatest of trees with their longevity and the wisdom that comes with it, but can also fall into rigid patterns of thinking and have trouble adapting quickly. I'm trying to come up with elements and aspects for the other races as well, like Goblins for Fire, Sirens for Water, and Tengu for Wind, what do you think, and do you have any advice on other races I can choose and elements and aspects I can choose for them? I was thinking that Kitsunes and Oni might be Fire-aligned, and sapient Slimefolk for a Water-aligned race, what say you?
>>23283550>Mormons and Scientologists have done it already.And how so? I'm not really familiar with either.
>>23292878Nah I do only take it when I need to work, but the weird thing is that it seems to have zapped my imagination the rest of the time too.
>>23283746>What are some aesthetics that I can give my Light and Shadow elementals besides either blobs of the elements like picture related or angelic beings fit the former and demonic ones for the latter, since I want them morally neutral?Placed in the body of dead humansPlaced in the body of animated objects, armor, golem bodyHave them trapped and forced to serve>Also, what about names and titles for the individual elementals, especially their two rulers and other high-power ones?Base them on nobles of various European statesBaron, Reave, Ballif, King, Prince, Elector, DukeBase them on militarySergeant, Captain, Knight-Errant, Man-At-ArmsBase them on criminal underworldVor, Cutpurse, Enforcer, Thief in LawBase them on the extended family structureUncle, Father, Brother, Sister, Aunt, Cousin.
I've been reading about modern Japan to help inform the worldbuilding of a cyberpunk salaryman novel I'm outlining. One thing confuses me. I don't get modern Japanese bathhouses. Do people actually go there just to clean? Do all Japanese homes not have showers? Why do they squat instead of standing; why are the shower nozzles so low? Why are there no dividers or stalls at all? Are modern bathhouses just for relaxation purposes? Are the public showers now just for washing up beofre you enter the tub or sauna?
>>23275199What kinds of materials might be useful for different kinds of enchantments and magical items in fantasy? Like bone can work for necromancy, but what about things that didn’t come from people? What about elemental enchantments, what can work for flame enchantments besides obsidian, etc.? Or material for divination items, ones that can summon or bind demons, and so on?
>>23294611how long do your elves live?
>>23295025The golem/armor idea isn't bad, even I was thinking of more how they'd manifest on their own. Besides just free labor, what specific tasks were you thinking that people would trap each type of elemental for (that is, are there things that Light elementals are better at than Shadow elementals, or vice versa, outside of matters of ambient light)?Those are some good title ideas, thanks, what about personal names?
>>23275200>>23275200From a cosmic perspective there are only two. The time of creation to the death of the creator, and everything after where even the gods are having a hard time making sense of things. But from the perspective of the European style nations, there are four. The time of the desert empires,(Sumerian) the arrival and occupation by the lords of iron(fair folk), the reconciliation (medieval period where everyone fought with everyone else), and modern times (pseudo early/pre Victorian). The desert empires invented writing and made the lands they settled human ethnostates. the lords of iron conquered the world and introduced some of the more unique races though hexperimenting on native life, such as sirens, intelligent animals, satyrs and centaurs, and "elves" who are all mutants with physiology suited to their born talents. The reconciliation started with hopeful rebuilding after the lords of iron got the boot, and ended just like the real medieval period with lots of fighting, holy wars, schism, the invention of guns steel and racism, and not least of all forgetting that the Asia stand in exists and the hyena men and arctic fox men trading homelands with each other in an incredibly silly chain of events. The foxes import ice and whale bones from the hyeans who import sandstone and elephants in return. And they both still hate each other. modern times are complicated, but if I had to elevator pitch it I'd say it's pathfinder as directed by Monte Python. Broomsticks that do exactly what you tell them to do, not what you want. dwarfs are all hyper fixated autists with add. wizard universities are common, are staffed by shiba inus who are terrible at their jobs and the world as a whole views these institutions more as containment centers for short soted hormone addled idiot savants with the capability to unmake creation. Several colonial powers are starting to weaken, and either have to concede their territory and go for favorable exit deals or double down on the natives. orcs may be about to invent the locomotive but are too busy fightingeach other over ancient grievances to make much progress. guns are finally starting to gain some ground but full blown war is rare, mostly it is political plays, assassination and the odd adventuring mercenary group. The gods are well meaning but kind of clueless, lost without the maker's guidance since the first age and prone to doing things like a building that has a different shape on the inside (sphere) than out (cube) which can rip anything apart that passes through its paper walls, or making a mountains so tall the moon crashed into it. And most adventures are broke, homeless jobbers who do scut workI'd go deeper, but this already feels like I'm rambling
>>23295594Several centuries on average, some can live for thousands if they have notable magical power. Why do you ask?
>>23296002just curious how people handle elves, how long would the median elf live excluding violent deaths?
>>23275200>In how many ages are your setting history diveded in ?The number of ages depends on what the current age is.If the age is Mythic or Ruin, then the number of ages is infinite because the universe operates in cycles where the end and beginning are indistinguishable.If the age is Mundane, then there are three ages: Mythic, Mundane, and Ruin where the Mythic Age and Age of Ruin are only mythological.>What define each different age ?The Mythic Age is like a dream because the world is still being formed, and fantastical things are commonplace. Instead of creating Man last, God has Man appear in this world while it’s still being formed. The geography shifts from one day to the next. Some regions are only accessible through dreams, and in places the shifting lands and dream lands intersect; if one were to fall asleep in such a place he may become separated from his body, the land having moved while his mind was somewhere else.Eventually things coalesce, and the world forgets what it used to be, existing only in dreams, madness, and fleeting memories that inspire myths which form the basis for religions.The Mundane Age is just that. All the magic is gone. Man progresses technologically though one nation essentially cuts their iron age in half and industrializes a few centuries too early. People create technology that might as well be magic, and the lines between the mundane and mythic start to blur. Then the nations of Man destroy themselves and tear apart the laws of nature in the process.The Age of Ruin is almost exactly like the Mythic Age. It ends with pop as Creation collapses. God is knocked out from the shock, and he dreams of the universe that used to exist. When he wakes up, he can't remember anything but those dreams. The dreams inspire him to create the universe as though it were a novel idea. How many times has this happened?>What make then different ?The perspective from where you're observing things.
>>23296234>extra fluffThe Mundane Age is a term only used by philosophers and certain theologians. They only describe the planet where Man resides. Church doctrine states that God didn't so much build the universe as "find" it. God builds with concepts, and creation is just another one of them. Some places in the infinite unknown are more conducive to creation, so God was said to have started collecting things together while looking for a good place. This period is referred to as the Searching. The universe's proper name is the Location. The mortal realm within the universe is the Position. The ages of Myth and Ruin take place during the Searching. But that's just scripture, mythology, and folk lore. In the Mundane Age, things like God, Heaven, magic, and all aren't real.
>>23295119Natural materials are good. If you think of nature as an extension of greater forces, then certain things taken from nature should hold different properties. Dry things burn, fire can put energy into things to make them liquid or gas, and removing energy can make gas liquid and liquid solid. Extend that sort of logic to enchantments. Materials can be used for enchantments simply because that's how things are. We can measure the hardness of a rock, but no one questions the fact that you can throw a rock at someone and hurt them.
>>23283746>What are some aesthetics that I can give my Light and Shadow elementals besides either blobs of the elements like picture related or angelic beings fit the former and demonic ones for the latter, since I want them morally neutral?All sorts of things. Maybe light and dark elementals wear different sorts of exotic or odd clothing like bulky robes and masks? Or light elementals may look scary to instill awe and reverence whereas dark elementals look comforting to invoke a sense of lethargy and complacency.>Also, what about names and titles for the individual elementals, especially their two rulers and other high-power ones?Depends on your setting. If it's closer to recognizable high fantasy, then go with standard conventions or borrow things from old philosophy e.g. salamanders, undines, gnomes, and sylphs. Or you can go the Tolkien route and make things up with a certain language serving as the root. Whatever you choose though, be consistent.You can also take common words and use them in unexpected ways e.g. Fire Gilts, Air Keens, Earth Stills, Water Harrows.
>>23296267So you're saying that flame enchantment items might use wood, for instance? I can sort of see the logic there, though the fact that I'm still half asleep explains why it's only "sort of", lol. What about materials for wind enchantments besides feathers then?
>>23296313Okay these are all great ideas, thanks! What about abilities for said elementals besides the obvious light or shadow generation, or travelling via their element, got any ideas there?Okay, that last bit I might use, thanks.
After reading Outliers, I've decided that the current generation of Wizards is going to be a Miracle Generation. Like the Greatest Generation in the US, they will be the peak of their civilizations. They will do what nobody did before.But naturally, I don't want the older generations to be weak or incompetent either. I think I could inveigle some type of Generational War where the great Wizards of the past have to deal with an entire generation of prodigies that seem intent on overturning the paradigm they have been working under for centuries.
>>23296770IRL the greatest gen rose to meet the challenge of total war. Those circumstances haven't been replicated since, as war has increasingly become a business overseen by managers, rather than something that deeply effected and involved all society.Point being that they didn't come out of nowhere for no reason.
Any idea on a cool pattern based on the number 5, besides the obvious stars and pentagones?I have 25 names to chart on paper to make it all neat and symmetric and I'm running out of inspiration.
are there any decent play-by-post roleplaying websites with people who actually want to worldbuild and tell stories - but is also 18+?I've looked around and my options are thus:>go back to playing RPI MUDs or MUSHes filled with legit fucking psychos>hugboxes filled with underage people who suck and also cannot spell>F-ListI just want to do writing stuff with people, but it seems like my only options are to do solo writing or give up the hobby altogether
>>23280990Thank you HP. Lovecraft
>>23296604It was just an example to show causality in nature. So if amber for example holds properties of fire, you need only justify that narrative choice through your own ideas on nature and magic. Why do rocks hurt when you get hit by them? Because rocks are hard. Why does amber start forest fires? Because it's fire-aligned.>What about materials for wind enchantments besides feathers then?This is your world - not mine, anon. Logically connect the wind to different things or literally attach elements to objects. In the Odyssey, Aeolus gives Ulysses a sack that contains all the ocean's winds. In Thief, there are gas arrows made from crystalized gas. In WoW, there are motes of air that take the form of spheres of rushing wind.As for natural logic:>elemental air can be captured in glass made from desert sand because it's constantly being scattered by the wind>elemental air is farmed from thick clouds>elemental air sometimes gets trapped feathers, ashes, dust, leaves, and other things easily swept up by the wind>>23296717>holding/dispersing energy>generating gravity>harnessing creation and entropy>granting knowledge and ignorance>the natural world and the new world>being incarnations of innocence and experience>representing and populating the known and unknown world>healing/strengthening/commanding power over the body and mind>holding properties of the male and female aspects>maintaining balance in the universe>holding dominion over various arts and skills
>>23298852Okay, thanks for clarifying. Again, I was still a little groggy when I replied to that.Not familiar with Thief.Oh, BTW, I forgot to ask about materials for Ice magic in my original post, I was thinking that glass might work, does that make sense to you?
>>23296166Maybe 700 years or so? They don't exactly pay as much attention to that as humans would, so I don't have an exact number. But enough about elves, what about other races and their elemental aspects for my setting?
>>23298929Glass is good. Really, anything that either looks like ice or that can be thematically connected to ice can work as a material.In one of my worlds for instance, I have elemental border worlds that each contain a primary element and a complex element derived therefrom.>Lands of Fire and GlassFire expands on its nature to produce glass that flows like lava but can crystalize to contain fire's fury and ambition. These beings are the Glassmen, elementals of fire and glass. Their point crossover into the universe is the hearts of stars. Their numbers include Glass Knights and Fire Witches, and they are drawn to politics and statecraft.>Lands of Water and SmokeThe depths of water create illusions that sublime with their greater complexity to form smoke. Intelligence in this realm has tricked itself into believing it exists, but like water and smoke, they have no true shapes and are so fragile that even the slightest doubts of their realness causes them to disincorporate. These are the Thinmen. Their points of crossover are mirrors. There are only two types of them: Watchers and Takers, and they are drawn to people with impossible dreams and those who seek to be things that they are not.>Lands of Silk and DustDust is strange for a primary element because it gather together to become solid or flow gently on the wind. It's a flexible and versatile element, and this concept given physical shape takes the form of silk. Silk and dust cannot obtain consciousness, but it captures a fair share of dreams and ghosts that can inhabit both elements to protect themselves themselves like crabs in earthen jars as they coalesce into Nomads. They have no points of crossover and summon one another into the universe as they're born. Nomads have no species. They're just Nomads. They're drawn to dreams but don't like to leave their caravans.
>>23299568What other materials can you think of that thematically work with ice then, for some reason my brain is blanking on anything but sand, and that's just glass that hasn't been made yet.I would love to hear more about this world of yours and the elements and elemental realms therein, BTW. Like, what are these "Fire Witches" like? Are there any other elemental realms?
>>23295594Until the world* ends. Or until they are killed.World meaning the Universe here. Even if any single planet dies, they'll just go to another.
>>23295119Depends. How elite do you want your magic to be?
>>23299940>How elite do you want your magic to be?What precisely do you mean by that?
>>23275199What are some good ways to handle magic or technology that affects time, especially in regards to ways to keep it from being ‘too’ overpowered, or novel uses for such abilities, like summoning versions of yourself from other timelines for aid? What about limits and cool abilities for space manipulation besides things like attacking from multiple directions at once?
>>23297746So after much thinking to make it look as simple as possible, I ended up with a mix of different things. This is essentially a chart to place gods on, I'd be happy if you told me if this is readable to you, and here is the spoiler for my explanation, some of which you can't understand given the lack of context but that's fine>Concentric circles to highlight the relationship between "The soil" (the darkness, the things not passed on and chained to the world) and "The skies" (the divine, the things untied to the world), pretty common way to show the relation between low and high planes in fantasy settings or even religions in general>A gradient from "One" to "Sum" (related to the fact some of the divinities that I'm charting are more self-centered than others). You can go from one to the other, but you can't go directly from one end to the other, hence the gap.The usefulness of this is debatable, although it's a good visual tools to see how close some of the gods are. There are also hidden rules, such as that no related gods can't be on the same level, and if one change its nature in some way, then at least another one must change correspondingly.Pic related is just an example of a "God-way" from lowest soils to highest skies, I'm not very happy with the squiggly lines, I might change it to a shape, or just remove links altogether.
I'm writing about an ethnic conflict in a fictional country.Some of the ethnicities involved are made up but one of them is real.Writing real world people into an imaginary race war comes off as mean-spirited and exploitative but I also don't want to replace them with an uninspired analog. The whole purpose of having them in the story is for the reader to relate to them because every other group involved is a fantasy race.What should I do?
>>23301043If every other group involved is a fantasy race, why not just make the "real ethnic group" into generic humans flavored by and inspired by the "real ethnic group".
How do you do fantasy names without everything sounding like glup shitto
>>23298852Just found this, what about abilities for elementals for the classical four elements besides the obvious, like Fire elementals providing heat and light? I was thinking that Fire might provide purification and Water shapeshifting, for instance. Also, which arts/skills would go to Light and which to Shadow, and which one would be masculine and which feminine in your book?
>>23299900>more materialsColorless diamonds, white opals, moon stones, birch sap, blue amber, anchor ice.Look for things that are white, clear, crystalline, or found in cold climates. For instance, iceberg ice that's submerged for long periods of time is called anchor ice and is structurally different than the ice above the ice above the water (firn) that hasn't yet fully compacted. Then there are birch trees which are found all across Siberia despite the cold.>fire witchesThey're vain, haughty, and obsessed with their own elegance. They almost always have to be forcibly yanked into reality from the elemental bridges of stars in order to summon one. But they enjoy watching the courts of mortal worlds and taking in the intrigue. All elementals are rare, but Fire Witches so rarely appear in the material universe that they are often referred to in the singular as if there were only one that reigns over a border world kingdom.Their polar opposites are Takers. Aside from having opposing elemental affinities, they are entirely unlike each other in behavior. Fire Witches have inflated egos, and Takers have imaginary egos. A Fire Witch's ego alone can cause a person's emotions to combust while Takers have such infinitesimal insubstantial egos that just looking at them will force a Taker to assume the shape and mimic the actions of the observer. Fire Witches don't want to enter the material universe, and Takers want to enter and never leave. If they succeed in bolstering their sense of self enough to appear in mirrors and move independent of their observers, they'll attempt to strike deals with them and trick them into giving up their bodies and being replaced. That's why they're called "Takers".>more worldsThose are the main three, but others technically exist as the origins of all physical and abstract matter. If something new shows its face in the universe, then a new border world will come into being. Some are just one-dimensional lines that wrap around the universe. All of them do that though. They're called border worlds because they wrap around the borders of the various shells that compose the universe. Imagine taking a football and wrapping it with different kinds of tape. And then you stitch another layer of leather on top of the ball and repeat the process. That's what the universe looks like. Each shell is a layer that sits on another layer, and at one point, they're stitched together. The seam line is called Peripheral Heaven, and the stitching itself is Axial Heaven.Sorry for the rambling tangent, but it's hard to explain this universe without explaining related concepts.
>>23301622Seconding this question please.
>>23301622>>23302905A single nonsense word will always sound silly. But if you start stringing them together with some semblance of design then a feeling of context and connection emerges and it starts to feel more real. You don't have to go full conlang, but settling on the favoured nouns and consonants, and a pool of common affixes, for language/culture can go a long way to making the words you use feel more realized.
>>23275199City names for the kingdom of Aliaze
>>23303643And here is the map, it does not display river and lakes, but all the cities near a river or coast
>>23303643Is Aliaze pronounced /ɑliɔzeJ/, /ʌliʌzleJ/, /ɑliɑz/, or some other way?Also, what are the root words/morphemes in this list?>a/ae: town, place?>na/an: city, place?>la/le: port, water?>sha/esh: lake?>city namesEsla, Daeresh, Ristutio, Kesta, Shesh, Eruna, Delaban, Sala, Faetena, Agest, Selend, Cistla, Vieleh, Nasela, Kalaeban, Masela, Reglath, Telesh, Arae, Cedla, Lest, Sendlan, Nazeh, Rasaela
>>23304181>/ɑliɔzeJ/meant /ɑliɔze/
>>23304181>Is Aliaze pronounced /ɑliɔzeJ/, /ʌliʌzleJ/, /ɑliɑz/, or some other way?It's alJ.aze, as a rule I do not include silent letters, hate it when English does it.Btw, Aliaze means "fertile river" from "alia" and "aze".Town is "kae"Appears different Athoe and Kaest, because diminutives.Athoe <- fath-kae = great cityKaest <- kae-stoi = town streamSame things with lake, word for lake is "ecush"Nesush <- nestru-ecush = girl lakeCushaend <- ecush-haend = lake altarSo, all are diminutives, I have over 100 them. Peak autism.Pic related is male names
>>23304276>picrelI'm surprised then that with that much etymology under your belt, you'd ask for other people for place names.
>>23304388>you'd ask for other people for place namesI did not, I just wanted to know what you think of them.The names you came up with a okay, and I might use some of them.
In terms of place-names, I always go for the English language descriptive method. For example, the massive Tokyo-style city that my story takes place in is named Whitemouth, being at the mouth of the White River.
>>23304561nothing wrong with it, just different preferencesPersonally I dislike using english names because it takes away from the fantasy, but more importantly it tends to result in rather long place names, when all major Eurupean cities tend to have around 6 characters, Westeros place names have around 10 characters.There is also the issue of the author trying to make their place names sound epic like "Honorguard"
>>23304438Eh? I could have sworn that you were asking for more names. My bad, anon. Must have misread it.
>>23301622Read Lewis Carroll.
so I'm designing a race of anthropomorphic longma (Chinese dragon horse hybrid) I wanted them to have a paler underbelly like how Asian dragons do, but I'm wondering which would be more suitable, the left where the paler section covers the entire chest, or the right where the paler section compresses inward at the chest (I based it off Kaido's hybrid form from One Piece).Do you think I should also add feathering to the hooves? Most Asian horses do not have feathering from pictures I've looked at, but Asian dragons sometimes have flamelike fur around the limb areas, so I thought that it would be an interesting thing to add.Also I wrote their origins as them originally being ethereal beings of radiation, given solid form from a motley of different monstrous entities pooling their chi together, and that's why they have a bit of a hodgepodge look. Think that's a good explanation?
>>23302262Whoops, almost missed this. Computer's been giving me grief today.These are all great ideas, thanks! Got any suggestions for Light magic besides shit like gold, or stuff that's white like you mentioned for Ice magic, or something black like ebony for Darkness magic? Like, do you think obsidian would work for Darkness, or would it fit better with Fire magic because of its origins as volcanic, because I can't decide. As for necromancy, besides bone and things taken from graveyards, I'm drawing a bit of a blank, what say you?I don't mind, this is a cool concept! Why exactly would anyone summon a Fire Witch if they're so egotistical though, especially if they start out hating being summoned? And speaking of summoning, how does your magic work, and what are some of the more prominent magical items in your setting?
>>23305412>>23305412>obsidianYou could have both. Cut it the obsidian into one shape, and it becomes a source of fire. Cut it into another distinct shape, and you get darkness. I like having overlaps between elements or the sources of elements. If you look back at my border world QRD's you'll see a lot of shared concepts, notably dreams - both literal and figurative. I've always liked the idea of duality and opposition. For instance, if you look in a mirror, you see yourself reversed. It's both the same as you and your opposite.Think about obsidian again. If it could hypothetically produce the elements of fire and dark, then both elements could be seen as different perspectives of the same fundamental concept. To illustrate this, fire creates light that both dispels shadows and casts them. That's the physical perspective. Figuratively though, fire is the release of energy, and darkness is an absence of energy - opposites, right? But just as fire both illuminates and casts shadows, fire consumes and not only dies out, leaving darkness behind, but it burns away fuel for more light. Imagine a cave filled with logs, sticks, and dead leaves. That's a lot of potential energy, but a spark can set it ablaze, lighting the cave but rendering it incapable of naturally housing further light.What else is defined by an absence of energy? Ice. See where I'm going when it comes to overlap?>why summon a fire witch?Because people are greedy, power hungry, and vain. Why did Prometheus steal fire from Olympus? Why did Victor Frankenstein reanimate the dead? Also though, Fire Witches are very rare occurrences, so there's not much credible information on them. There have been planetary nations with unbroken, centuries-old dynasties founded by individuals who've commanded or brokered deals with Fire Witches. The world of Red Waltz for instance was conquered by a single person who was being helped by a Fire Witch. It's even named after the dance-like movements of the witch in battle and flight. Yet for as long as that world has been around, no one but its founder knew the truth of the mighty power that carved the nation into existence. At the time, it was thought to be a god, and generations later, the story has been muddied. The people of Red Waltz still believe that their first monarch was aided by a goddess, but there are also legends of the "Red Ghost" that decides upon the next king or queen by whispering to them and guiding them to the throne. It's just a legend, but it's also based on the original Fire Witch. The irony about summoning such elementals though is that it requires as much knowledge and energy, maybe moreso even, than the task she's being summoned for. You have to all but tear a star open both physically and metaphysically then reach past the barrier separating one reality from another, grab a being of immense power, and then yank it back out.
Have you heard of convergent evolution? Or carcinization? Or wondered about why all species in Star Trek would (Watsonianly) look like humans with makeup?My own excuse was simple enough. The human form is THE most efficient form for an intelligent creature. No matter how any species in the universe starts, it always ends in a two legged, two armed viviparous mammal with two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, two eyes, two ears, and two sexes. Like clockwork.
>>23305613>Why did Prometheus steal fire from Olympus? Why did Victor Frankenstein reanimate the dead?Why are you equating the two? Prometheus did it because he was a selfless patron of humanity, and Frankenstein did it because he was an egotist who wanted to play God.
In a world where stem cells infused with essence of life can grow into neural pathways inside silk fibers, what kind of material and processes would one use to create astral memory banks or similar devices?
>>23305953One plays God, and the other thinks that he knows better than the gods. It's all hubris.
Worldbuilding can often solve narrative problems. My main country is basically Germanic aesthetics but Islamic in culture and content. Think Islamic German Empire. I had a setup where the FeMC was supposed to be sent away by her mother to live with her evil aunt- who is also her stepmother.I wanted her living there to be really abusive, which is why she falls for the ML. But I realized that the stepmother/aunt really didn't have any real reasons to treat her badly.Then, when I was reading Islamic history, I came across a very interesting law. Supposedly, Muslims are not allowed to take sisters as wives or concubines. So their backstory can be that the aunt was also in love with FeMC's father, but was unable to marry him because he had already married her sister.So FeMC is a living example of her failure to marry the man she loved. THAT is why she abuses her.
>>23306092Prometheus is a Titan. He is at least at the same level, if not higher due to being from an older generation. And Zeus is not comparable to The Lord.
>>23306123>Islamic German EmpireWord salad worldbuilding.
>>23305953>Why are you equating the two?Maybe because the full name of the novel is "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus"?https://www.britannica.com/topic/Frankenstein-or-The-Modern-Prometheus
>>23275199I've been writing a story on and off now for a few months. I've reached 200 pages and I know what I want in terms of world building, however I continually rewrite due to style issues.The world my story takes place in is one of high fantasy. The Empire has sat atop a host of subjugated Gods for just over a millennia, and its unbroken line of royalty has presided for the same length of time. It is at a constant war of attrition on four fronts, one that consumes the very lives of most in the empire. Those with the powers necessary to take part in these wars are hunted down and shoved onto the front lines, save those with connections to the capitol. A ten year contract with the military is a death sentence to anyone without these powers, but is often taken by the impoverished and hopeless citizens as a last hope and alternative to starving to death. The main character is the youngest son of the only known "Ordinary" To survive this ten year contract. A man who sold his soul to the Queen in order to live a peaceful life in one of the few places untouched by the ceaseless wars. His older brother has been selected for service after being discovered to hold the aforementioned powers, and separated from his younger brother. In this world, those with ambition are granted only death, those given a boon suffer for not taking it, and out of them all, a single man exists who bucks this system. A thousand year traitor whom every soldiers dream is to kill, their only permitted dream is to snuff out the life of a man who dared to live a quiet life.
Any tips for naming and writing a not!Islam religion? Full disclosure, it's for a smut story.
>>23307552>Maybe because the full name of the novel is "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus"?So frikking what?
>>23305613So what shape would work best for obsidian channeling either element? Just making it look like a flame for Fire seems a bit obvious but I can't think of anything better, and that still leaves the question of what works best for Darkness besides just a circle, like an inversion of the Sun, a bit like what you were saying about the overlap between Fire and Darkness.You're also comparing Darkness and Ice then, I see. This is all very interesting, and I'd love to hear more about your elements and the overlap thereof. What about Light-aligned materials though, besides Gold like I said or maybe Diamonds, assuming that there also isn't any overlap with Ice? Because my best besides those is radioactive stuff, and I don't want my characters dying of radiation poisoning. Or to have to bankrupt themselves to be able to afford Light-enchanted artifacts, lol.So in the end it would typically be better to just go about with the task on your own, as in the best case scenario you'd just break even, then. What about Glass Knights, why do people summon those, besides when they need more physical force than a Fire Witch can provide?>>23308645So Mary Shelley was deliberately comparing Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus, who besides giving fire to humanity also created them with his brother (who gave all the good gifts to other creatures before they got to humans). Wikipedia's page for the book has more information if you want it.
>>23308738>So what shape would work best for obsidian channeling either element?Unsure on this one. It's pretty subjective by this point. You could always look the actual shapes that gems are cut to and assign elements arbitrarily. Not everything needs to have deep meaning.
I've been creating my fantasy setting with a very traditional magic system (ie- pretty much all magic is either secret knowledge or petitioning the spirits, gods, or other beings to do things on your behalf). Using various incantations, sacrifices, or rituals to perform sorcery.However, as someone who is also quite the goober and likes the kind of implied self-actualization present in modern fantasy settings, I am uncomfortable with the implication that even the most powerful wizards are just reliant on these supernatural beings and powers without any actual "will working" of their own.Is there any way to rectify this?
>>23308738>So Mary Shelley was deliberately comparing Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus, who besides giving fire to humanity also created them with his brother (who gave all the good gifts to other creatures before they got to humans). Wikipedia's page for the book has more information if you want it.The only comparison is that both attempted to snatch divine power and to give it to humans.And there that comparison ends, because Prometheus defying Zeus was a selfless act of compassion for his children, while Viktor defying God was a selfish act done to sate his own egotism.
>>23309093>focus to concentrate some mana from astral sphere into your brain>use this mana for spellcasting on your own>demons are not petitioned but summoned and trapped into objects or soulless entities where they are forced to do summoner's bidding
>>23281409>uses GRRM as an example>gets defensivehave fun on goodreads YA section
>>23280990You cant convince normies this. why do you think game of thrones, harry potter, anime is so popular? its completely fixated around the banal setting of the books. Its why "wurldbuilding" discussion is always teeming but never "characterisation" or "motivation" or set up and pay off.There will always be a majority of nowrite children hyperfocused on muh fantasyworld. Its all fluff and no substance, like the slop they consume daily
>>23309179NOOOOOOOOOOO
>>23309179Never. I hate writing and writers.
>>23304613Westeros is styled after the UK though where names can be pretty long. Like Newcastle-Upon-Tyne is literally named after a new castle built by the Normans on the river Tyne.
>>23309834>Newcastle-Upon-TyneThat's only because there is multiple Newcastles, otherwise it would be just called Newcastle.
>>23309176I'm glad I didn't grow up reading/watching fantasy works with significant worldbuilding. I was always more into plot and character writing, with the worldbuilding shaped exclusively by these. It proved to generate more unique worlds.
Writing US vs CCP, but US are humans and CCP are literally bugmen.
>>23275199In my world the deities are each tied to one of the four seasons, especially creating four sub-pantheons whose power depends on the time of year, like the Winter gods being weakest in Summer and vice versa. I could use some help coming up with domains for each season though. Some are easy choices, like Summer getting Flame, the Sun, and War, Winter getting Water/Ice and the Moon, Fall getting Wind and the Harvest, and Spring getting Earth and Renewal, but what else works? I need at least a few more gods for each season, but I’ve got serious creative block.
>>23309011Fair enough, I do tend to overanalyze shit sometimes.Back on topic though, what about some good materials besides Gold and Diamond for Light magic, so people can use items aligned with it without bankrupting themselves, lol? Like I said, there might be some overlap with Ice's materials, but I'd like a few more unique ones, and my best idea so far is radioactive materials like uranium, and I don't want people poisoning themselves to use Light magic.And you never answered my question about Glass Knights, I'd love to hear more about them.>>23309120According to Wikipedia, the Shelleys were big on vegetarianism and animal rights (Percy even wrote "A Vindication of Natural Diet" on the topic), and thus viewed Prometheus as more of a devil figure, since fire promotes meat-eating.
>>23311656>>23309011Damn it, image didn't attach!>>23310275What kind of bugmen?
>>23311656>According to WikipediaSometimes the curtains are just fucking blue
>>23311656>According to Wikipedia, the Shelleys were big on vegetarianism and animal rights (Percy even wrote "A Vindication of Natural Diet" on the topic), and thus viewed Prometheus as more of a devil figure, since fire promotes meat-eatingOh, so they're just idiots. Never mind, then.
>>23304636>Read Lewis Carroll.What specifically about Carroll is so great in terms of names compared to other authors?
>>23308738this is a fucking bot btw
>>23309176>>23309179>>23309234>>23310000Imagine unironically thinking that works with a focus on worldbuilding like aSoIaF and Brandon Sanderson's works are just worldbuiliding and have "no subtance". Like, it's just stupid. Do you get hard on being a contrarian?Maybe, if you read something with actual worldbuilding instead of just autistically shitting on it for no reason, maybe you would realize that everything you just criticized here has actual good character motives and development (aSoIaF, Brandon Sanderson's, harry potter, etc).But I guess asking /lit/ to read is too fuckuing much. Heck, you used an image of HP Lovecraft to discourage worldbuiilding and encourage character development instead, like, lmao at the fucking irony.
>>23312996He probably is just seething because he can't into worldbuilding and must be proud of something.
>>23312996>with the worldbuilding shaped exclusively by these. It proved to generate more unique worlds.Read nigga READ
>>23282754looks badass
I was thinking about postapocalypse worlds. The vaults in the Fallout universe are such a good idea. There's so many possibilities with each vault self-containing its own genre/atmosphere/story.
>>23311656>Back on topic though, what about some good materials besides Gold and Diamond for Light magic, so people can use items aligned with it without bankrupting themselves, lol?Look up semi-precious gems and medals. Diamonds and gold may produce the best magic, but if you can't afford it, you go with zircon or pyrite. With uranium, you may be digging yourself into a hole when it comes to your world's systems. Introducing uranium into a setting immediately implies the existence of nuclear physics. How do you reconcile science on that level with magic? How do the laws of Newtonian and quantum physics interact with the laws of magic? I'm not saying don't do it; there could be some really cool fiction produced in such a setting. Ask yourself though if this is the setting you want.>So in the end it would typically be better to just go about with the task on your ownYes. Not many people have access to even rudimentary information on border worlds much less their denizens. The only people who'd want to summon a Fire Witch would be the super elite and the 1%'ers of magicians.>What about Glass Knights, why do people summon those, besides when they need more physical force than a Fire Witch can provide?Glass Knights are almost completely but not entirely unlike Fire Witches. Fire is an unstable force, so it manifests beings in stark contrast to one another. Fire Witches embody the fierce, passionate arrogance and greed of fire while Glass Knights known by their resoluteness that borders on the stoic and their abject savagery. Battles can rage around them, and they'll do nothing, but when provoked, they'll fill the world with agony until everything is dead or they've destroyed themselves in the process. It would be a tremendous waste to send a Glass Knight into combat however; they're much better used as tools - which is convenient because they cannot be pulled into the universe whole. You either pull their hearts or their bodies. Not to say either is easy.Fire Witches have fiery bodies with glass hearts. Glass Knights of glass bodies and fiery hearts. Summoned bodies almost exclusively appear in the form of armor pieces or weapons. Their hearts burn blue and have to be stored in special lanterns. As a rule, when their bodies are used as equipment, they always behave as if cursed. 100% of the time. The armor will redirect damage at its wearer, and the weapons will whet themselves against the user's mind. It's less rare to see Glass Knights on the battlefield, but most of the time, the warriors wearing the armor are misreferred to as Glass Knights.The theme I usually go with is that it's a very bad idea to try and summon these things. Elementals will usually either kill you outright or give you the means to destroy yourself.
>>23312996How about this for a hot take. Both matter. Immensely. Less than a tenth of high fantasy novels written ever take off and become something and all of them have some substantive grasp of both worldbuilding and character development. This is because your characters are the vehicle in which your world is explored, without them, your world is just passively explained as if it were a formless thing inhabited and explored by no one. It ceases to matter without personal stakes.
>>23312996>contrarianbrainlet argument>shitting on it for no reasontalk about not reading
>>23313265Settings fully shaped around the characters are shallow and empty, though, literally the worst way possible of Can you tell me of a single example of any successful books that made their worlds around the characters?I can tell you for sure that Tolkien, GRRM and Sanderson did not follow this brainrot approach. Like, lmao. Like, if you just do worldbuilding as a neccesity for the story, it's ok, that's cute and all, but don't say that's the optimal way of practicing worldbuilding because it's literally the worst and most lazy way of doing it. It will never feel immersive nor realistic if you do it that way.>>23314020>your characters are the vehicle in which your world is explored, without them, your world is just passively explained as if it were a formless thingRead lovecraft.>>23314250You have no valid arguments agianst it, therefore, yeah, you are just having an autistic tantrum here.>plebbitspacinglmao opinion discardedthough there's was not much to discard in any case
>>23314346you cared enough to reply brainlet. keep ignoring arguments and pretending youre winning, its funny to watch
>>23314366>you care therefore you are wrong???>if I pretend i laugh at you that means i winok man, whatever, keep trying to push your anti-worldbuilding narrative, i'm sure you are convincing many people here by pretending to not care
>>23314374Not everyone ignored my original post, so yes, others will know my point
>Monstrous shape-shifting race that is created from the negative emotions of humans>Feed on negative energy and human soulsIs there any way to add more nuance to this so they aren't just one-dimensional "monsters of the week" or should I just scrap it?
>>23314796What do you mean by "race"?Like, are they intelligent? Do they live in society?Also, ngl but that literally sounds like Harry Potter's Boggarts.
>>23314863"Race" is a misnomer, I meant a species wholly separate from humans. Their intelligence varies, to the point where some are little more than wild beasts and others are extremely intelligent and will deceive or make deals with humans. It seems like their goals are too simple to be any compelling as characters since their goals are rather clear cut, so I'm just trying to think of ways to expand on it or otherwise remove it if it's a lost cause.
>>23314920That's like calling "dogs" a race.Also, sounds like your setting is in need of some kind of metaphysical element from where supernatural beings come from.Like, do they come from a magical plane, a void between realms, from hell...? That could give them much more depth.Or maybe if you are lazy just create a backstory for them, like, they were the citizens of a fallen empire now cursed to feed on human negative emotions, or some shit like that.I would honestly prefer the first option since it can be reused to shape many other creatures as well as fleshing out the setting in general.
>>23313775Oh, I hadn't considered Zircon or Pyrite for Light, thanks. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I didn't want to use it, but someone else I asked suggested it and I couldn't think of anything better. What about Quartz? I was toying with the idea of it being a neutral material well-suited to handle multiple types of magic, or potentially unify different types of magic in one item (just 'regular' Quartz, mind, varieties like Amethyst would be suited for specific types of magic), and I'd love to hear your feedback on that.Speaking of Amethyst, that's one potential option for materials Darkness magic, along with Obsidian and Ebony like were mentioned before. but I could use a few more options, especially if I want my Darkness-aligned magic items to be more durable.Is that intentional, or just a natural consequence of them being hard to summon?Forgot to ask, but what more can you say about Nomads? Why can't Glass Knights enter the universe whole? And seriously, people summon their hearts to just use them in lanterns? Seems like just a regular fire spell would do (especially since you implied that there's some consequence to doing so), I'm guessing that this is the elitism thing again. Speaking of, I'd love to learn more about your magic system in general, if it's not too much to ask, especially in regards to the elements.
>>23314987Look up black opals. You could honestly have every element represented by a type of opal.>Is that intentional, or just a natural consequence of them being hard to summon?Is what intentional? Glass equipment being cursed? That's just how they are. Glass is a complex element, and all complex elements have some manner of will of their own. Glass doesn't want to break, so glass armor transfers any damage to the wearer, and glass blades don't want to dull, so they sharpen themselves on the user's mind, driving them mad.>Why can't Glass Knights enter the universe whole?They're very dualistic. The hearts inhabit the bodies like creatures with shells. I'd said earlier that Glass Knights are opposites of Fire Witches, and it shows here as well. The latter have glass hearts that exist in a semi-liquid state and bodies with a semi-solid state; this gives them balance. Glass Knights are the reverse. Their hearts are entirely fire, and their bodies are entirely glass. Elemental summoning only works by summoning a single element, and spells that layer elements together are technically different spells cast on a short delay. Because of this, a knight's body can be summoned as glass or the heart as fire. The spell cannot be layered because a single person can only open a single gate to any elemental border world. So you can chain spells that open to different ones to drag out more elements, but you can't summon from the same world until one spell is complete. Summoning a full Glass Knight requires two summoners performing equivalent spells fixed on the same coordinate. The body plops down, and the heart is captured in a lantern. From there, you just reunite the two.>And seriously, people summon their hearts to just use them in lanterns?Two reasons. The hearts are unstable and need to be contained, and lanterns mimic the heart's natural environment. Glass Knights could even be classified as "very complicated lanterns".>NomadsThey wander around the aether in caravans, trading for things they consider valuable. Most of the time, that equates to memories and magnets. They eat memories, and magnets are very useful for modifying their bodies. All Nomads begin life as ghosts in clay jars wrapped in silk, but they like to modify themselves. Some like their jars to be as ornate as possible while others hide themselves beneath the silk robes to obscure their forms. Some like to make large golem-like, clockwork bodies, and magnets are components in their traditional form of golem craft. Sometimes, entire family lines exist within a single "body" composed of every jar. There are a few enormous constructs made from numerous bodies. Their magnetic fields are so powerful and distinct that sailors can navigate with them.
>>23314987>I'd love to learn more about your magic system in general, if it's not too much to ask, especially in regards to the elements.In this universe, magic is defined as manipulation of the impossible. It's all divine in nature because it originates from God's method of creation.On its own, magical power becomes stronger based on where it's being cast and how impossible such acts would be. For example, water and ice magic is potent in the desert. There are workarounds if this becomes a limitation, but that's the general rule.All elements originate from border worlds, so part of any spell that invokes such elements involves siphoning a bit of those elements. The rest of the spell concerns the way in which the element is manipulated.Spells rarely involve incantations and for mortals, almost always require access to magic symbols. These symbols are usually divine in nature and are visual representations of syllables uttered by the divine. Think of them like lines of code or algorithms, and you're not so much casting a spell as you are opening a proverbial developer console and entering a command. Once the spell is cast, the symbol quickly fades from the user's mind because the knowledge is incompatible. You get temporary control over something that you were not supposed to have, and then it's gone. Imagine trying to mix oil and water or push two positive or negative magnetic poles together. This kind of magic is called "reading".The other category is "remembering" which is self-explanatory. Only a handful of things in the universe can do this: Angels, certain demons, complex devices (a device is a catch-all term for an artificial creation), certain aether denizens, enter-consciousnesses (otherwise known as foreign dreamers), exit-consciousnesses (non-dreaming foreign entities), errant sparks (native dreamers that have become lucid), and vagaries (gods originating in the Unknown, outside the bounds of the universe).There are a few loopholes that mortals can exploit, colloquially referred to as "tricks". In essence, you create a symbol's shape by memorizing the "brush strokes" as it were that you'd need to create it. These are almost always simple concepts composed of simple shapes. The most well-known is the "sword trick": the user stares at a light source, and looks up or down while closing one's eyes to temporarily imprint the streak of light under the eyelids (look up Phosphene Phenomenon). The user then open's one's eyes before the imprint fades and overlays it on a V formed with one's hand and a horizontal line through the middle. This can be done with one's other hand or any horizontal line in sight. This completes the symbol "Sword" and materializes a sword in one's hand.Why not write down a symbol after reading it before casting a spell? It's incompatible code. Attempts to move one's hand on a sheet of paper or a stick in the dirt results in unintelligible squiggles. Again, it's information that's not supposed to be there.
>magic system is drawing power from "spirits" via shintoism>few people have the capabilities of using magic effectively, although everyone can, most have no talent for it>those that can become "cops" and protect the world>some genius figures out how to draw magic from the spirits and makes technology out of it>revolutionizes the world>This is where the MC lives>some other genius decides to harness the spirit magic and learn how to transform into magical beasts>said cops now have to stop the evil doers>bad guy is a manifestation of a spirit MC has been tuned with all their life>spirit wants to stop all the technology uses even though said spirit is a hypocrite using said tech>tricks other cops into joining him to rule the world, maintain balance and resume the spirit/chosen one connection>Now MC has to stop former comradesThat said, should I make the MC a male or female? Female I can make her fall in love with the spirit. Male I can make him try to rape said spirit.
>>23311659I thought about it more, but I realized I was thinking of Starship Troopers.
>>23315291Oh, that's an idea... I was thinking more along the lines of metals and shit beyond just steel painted black, lol, stuff you'd use in weapons, but thanks regardless. Speaking of gems, what did you think of my idea for Quartz?Wait, does that mean that they have to do something similar to get a full Fire Witch summoned? Because if I was summoned with no heart, I'd be ticked off.Okay, that clears up the 'why put the hearts in lanterns' bit, do they ever use just the hearts for anything, like how they summon just pieces of armor sometimes? I'd bet they're like miniature magical reactors if nothing else.How does eating memories work?>>23315366What are some of these workarounds, is proximity to an elemental source like a Glass Knight heart one of them, like I mentioned above? What are your angels and demons like, by the way?
>>23282924>>23283028>>23283073>>23283086>>23313355https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1L9R2JK
how do you integrate magic in your world ?
>>23318114I don't>Historical fantasy may also be set in a fictional world which resembles a period from history but is not that actual history
>>23315366How did mortals first come to use magic, did some angels, demons, or other entities deign to teach them for some reason, or did they stumble onto it themselves? And besides the Sword symbol "trick", what are some relatively common "tricks" people use?
>>23318114I developed such an obscure, limited, simplistic magic system, it's more like a salt you sprinkle on things rather than a force that shapes the world.
>>23316170>>23318956You're awfully curious, anon. I certainly hope you're not a bot, mining my ideas.
>>23319205I’m just a curious dude, who enjoys hearing about cool systems of magic. How long have you been working on this?
>>23319273Depends. The original groundwork with my first ideas came to me in 2003, but at the time, I didn't even realize writing was even an option. It started as backstory for a stop-motion movie I was making with Legos. Eventually I realized that I liked making the backstory more than filming.Most of that world was revised and replaced by around 2009. That's when I started my note taking in earnest.The world I've been describing in this thread came into being in 2012 in the form of a quest I was running on a now defunct message board. I started compulsively thinking up ideas around that time as well in order to combat insecurity over my creative abilities.Since then, I've been adding to and revising the lore whenever the fancy strikes me.
>>23318114Certain actions get certain results. It is methodical up to a point but begins to break down theoretically with no one agreeing on any specific theory of why it works past a certain level of granularity.It mildly parallels the failure of modern physics to unify QM and Relativity, but in Philosophical/Theological terms. Point being it is just one more force in existence that people with their limited knowledge have to make do with. It contains both regularity and mystery.
>>23318956>did some angels, demons, or other entities deign to teach them for some reasonYes. Angels can use magic innately but imparted relics to kings of the Middle Aethers so that they could establish order over their worlds. If you've played Morrowind, think of those relics as broken enchanted gear. Put on a necklace, and you can summon invisible blades out of nowhere. Wear this ring, and throw nuke spells all day. Put on that crown, and you can just order people to lay down their weapons, pledge their lives to you, or drop dead where they stand. These things were given to kings so that they could personally maintain command over planets.Some secrets of these relics were teased out by clever wizards, and other divine symbols were obtained through astronomy. All of these symbols are made of a fundamental building block called True Light, and everything that could possibly be can be represented by one of these glyphs. You just have to know how to look for them and inscribe them for later use.Lots of other magic came from fallen angels. Heaven didn't predict that the rulebreakers they kicked out would teach mortals magic out of pure spite.Those are main ways magic came into mortal hands.
>>23318956>common trickssee picrelMost of these aren't as flashy as they sound and are very dependent on the user's willpower, ability to understand abstracts, and conceptualize ideas into real things.>BreakSelf-explanatory. You cause something to break. That doesn't mean "destroy" though. When something changes from its original form in a way that alters its use even to a small degree, it's considered a break. The effect can be unnoticeable.>TakeVery rudimentary telekinesis. You are are more or less announcing, "I intend to hold this." If the thing you cast it at moves in your direction, you've changed that object's course with your will. But something can just as easily exert more force and take it away from you: another person, gravity, the wind, a small dog, friction, etc.>HoldConceptually, it refers more to stabilizing or taming. As a spell, you're using your will to make something not move. Some wizards can alter the orbits of celestial bodies; most people make things halt for a fraction of a fraction of a second.>BuildIt's a way of saying, "This thing and that thing are now joined as a single thing." In practice, it affects things like points of balance.>WillAnother misnomer. It's more akin to "Change" as in, "This thing will now become different because I say so. As a general rule, upward arrows denote disorder/chaos, and downward arrows denote creation/stability. There are exceptions.>KeepCombine the concepts of Build and Hold. This is the proper symbol for "Creation". In practice, it means, "These things will become a new thing and stay that way." It's called "Keep" because in reference to creating something that maintains its shape.>FreeThe object of this spell will unbind on a conceptual level becoming free of its purpose. This one is pretty straightforward but very difficult to pull off because it requires a very intimate knowledge of what something 'is' e.g. a clay pot: What is clay? What is a pot? What is its purpose? Why is it this particular shape? What would the opposites of all these things look like if the pot stopped being a pot?>ClaimBuild + Hold + Free = This thing is mine now, and whatever purpose or course it was on is now aligned with my purpose and course. Cast this one, and you get the tiniest, faintest taste of what it means to be God.>OrderOne of those exceptions to chaos vs stability. This is Free + Hold and amounts to, "I am exerting control over these disorderly things." Where Hold is saying, "Stop," Order is like saying, "No." Everything that exists, both physical and abstract beyond the most elementary of things contains at least a trace of disorder. When you try and put put something in line that is naturally out of line, you can cause more damage than any willful act of destruction.>StealThe opposite of Claim. This one is another tricky concept because its literal name is "Rebel". It's a really complicated idea, but it basically means to make something betray its purpose.
>>23319447>insecurity over my creative abilitiesHeh. You weren't the only one.
I can't create fantasy settings with magic or even supernatural materials because my mind just goes blank when trying to imagine the impact these would have on the world itself. I'm literally not smart enough for that kind of grounded worldbuilding.
>>23320020The impact can more easily be determined by considering the ease of use and scarcity of the substance or force you are adding to the world. The world where everyone has access to force/substance/ability-X is going to be different from one where only a handful do. Likewise if it is rare but hard to use and falls into the hands of a common-man it is going to be harmless, but it it is rare yet easy to use and some rando gets their hands on it then that's a situation.
I am a casual worldbuilder and was wondering whether it's possible to have First World level maternal and child outcomes without First World medical equipment? There's constant apocalypses in the setting that force civilizations to rough it for a while before trade links can be restored*, and many communities have protocols to ride out said apocalypses.I wanted to know whether it's possible for said communities to speedtrack their way to repopulation without needing to rebuild industrial civilization first.*the royals are literally divine and will always survive long enough to reestablish the realm, so there's never any doubts about whether they will be restored. Just about when.
>>23320547>it's possible to have First World level maternal and child outcomes without First World medical equipment?not without magic>I wanted to know whether it's possible for said communities to speedtrack their way to repopulation without needing to rebuild industrial civilization first.you don't need first world medical tech for that, all you need is woman start getting pregnant young, and having many children, just look at africa that has no where near the medical tech of the first world and still have much higher population growth
>>23320020Just outlaw magic and use that as an excuse why there aren't mages burning shit around
>>23320855But I don't want sickly, stupid people. I need fairly healthy kids who can get educated and rebuild industrial society.
>>23275199In my world the two dominant forces are Order and Chaos. At the end of every era (not sure if that’s every 100 or every 1000 years) each force grants power to a mortal champion, who then fight each other. Whichever champion wins, that force is more powerful for the next era, the winner retaining some of their power and become immortal until the next era. The thing is, I am stuck on ways to show which force is dominant, since I want to make them both morally neutral, especially avoiding the excessive mutations and shit Warhammer’s take on Chaos has, or anything so extreme on the Order side either, since neither force can rule over the world if it’s completely broken. One idea was that if someone were to flip a coin, in a Chaos era shit like it landing on the edge instead of either side is more likely, but that’s all I’ve got so far.
>>23320894you could improve by letting your people having better hygiene and nutrition, coupled with a good understanding of herbology and rudimentary pharmacology, (maybe also something close to germ theory) would help to prevent a bunch of health problems, won't be first world level, but would be well ahead medieval and absolute third world shithole levelIf you manage to come up with some superstitions that would actually work, like distilled wine/sacred drink(alcohol) being a quintessence that can purge corruption and cleanse wounds making them heal faster, instead of shit like drinking mercury to extend life and and bleeding people to cure a flu
>>23319571Are any of these relics still around? Sorry if my reply's a bit short, I have a headache.>>23319620Alright, I can see that. BTW, how common are magic users in your setting?BTW, what dd you think of my idea for Quartz in >23316170, and I realized I should be talking more about ideas for the items themselves rather than just materials (though that IS still important. For instance, how about a Darkness-aligned dagger that can stab a person's shadow and pin them in place? Or boots aligned with Ice that don't slip? I'd have more, but my head is throbbing too bad.
>>23322574>Are any of these relics still around?Yes. They're passed down from one ruler to the next and are jealously guarded. It'd take some kind of catastrophe for one to be lost.The only relic that has an active role in my story is the necklace I mentioned. It's name is Ag-Aspiram "My Hand Outstretched", and it was held by the ruling dynasty on the planet of Abbsydia. It was stolen though by one of the king's assassins because he wanted extra power to someone he'd been trying to track down for most of his life. Being one of the king's favorite assassins, he was allowed into the court where he beheaded the king before anyone could think to stop him. Within 2-3 seconds of grasping the medallion, he slaughtered the 50 or so people in the room and carved the room itself up.>Alright, I can see that. BTW, how common are magic users in your setting?Very rare or very common depending on the location. In some places, magic users are few in number and hold high office or are loners; in others, knowing magic is a mark of nobility, and entire courts worth of people can cast spells of some kind.>what dd you think of my idea for QuartzI'd thought I responded to that, but oh well. It's a good idea for low tier magic. The more common something is, the lower its quality ought to be unless it's refined in some labor-intensive way. That's my opinion at least.
>>23275199Made these eight abstract shapes to represent the eight royal families, but now I don't know how to describe them.
>>23275199How would you emphasize "tone" through worldbuilding? I'm placing my story set in a "post-crapsack" world so to speak>The worst is past us.>There are no more immediate threats.>But the scars of yesterday still remain.>And they may yet spell disaster.Basically, I want the theme to come off as "Things right now aren't good, but maybe we can make tomorrow a little better."
>>23287267If it's a way for you to quickly describe it to someone, I think that's completely fine because it makes for a good and concise reference point for the purpose of explanation. But if you really want to build cultures from scratch, I have a few suggestions I've implemented myself.>Use character archetypes for the basis of a culture's values.I had two rivalling nations that I designated as Germany vs France, but as I developed it more, I learned what temperament I wanted them to have. That was Hot-Blooded Shounen Mama's Boys vs Haughty Bishounen Pretty Boys. That helped me steer into building those cultures from scratch; those Germans became fire worshipping warriors whose nobility comprises of clans that monopolized the priesthood for their women and the warrior elite for their men. Those Frenchies became an Empire with an arrogant aristocracy who looks down on barbarians for not wearing the right clothes and whose ideas of rulership derive from being the most popular (such as having the most cut abs or generously providing public services).Once you have those archetypes, or rather "final positions" in mind, you can also start thinking about how those values came to be.>Think about the circumstances where those values helped them survive or absorb others.Oftentimes these circumstances might become enshrined in myths or religion, and that culture may not suffer from the same problems. This might be where some interesting/quirky customs and traditions come from.Those Shounen Boys started their journey in an ice age trapped in a world surrounded by monsters. Fire was a necessity to this cold world, and with such a high death rate they developed ideas of the afterlife and came to believe souls can be held in fire. So they cremate all their dead, believing their souls would continue to keep them warm. This evolved into eternal flame cults with many sorts of rituals for funerary rites.
>>23323576Those Bishounen Boys had their start in a dry land and came to revere the rain for their crops, worshiping the sky and rainbows in hopes of attracting the rain. Rulership evolved from one's ability to summon the rain through extravagant ceremonies, as well as putting in the manual labor to dig reservoirs/cisterns and the generosity to share that water. This eventually blossomed into a centralized bureaucracy with an Imperial cult.>Don't copy cultures wholesaleYou're most definitely going to have obvious similarities with real life cultures, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not even a problem if you just want to straight copy every thing, but this is advice for building cultures from scratch. As others have said, pick out the elements you like. When you have an understanding of your foundations, it becomes easier to pick out traits that aligns it well. All cultures developed "solutions" to problems they come across, and when those problems are gone, those solutions might continue on as quirky customs. Americans have a thing for taking their hat off in doors because it shows trust that your host's roof won't leak. I think it's more worthwhile to look up why a culture does something rather than copy everything as if every single trait fits snuggly like a puzzle as if cultures were predetermined to end up a certain way.>Don't be afraid of similaritiesIf you do end up with a culture similar to one in real life... then that's still okay too! Many systems throughout history underwent convergent evolution, and often times it's because those systems are simply the most expedient. I've been trying to design a professional looking suit like today's modern western suit, but instead of coming up with something completely new, I understand that slim and sleek design is the result of simplification and streamlining. However, the devil is in the details, such as how neckties come from neck warmers, or lapels are the residue of double breasted coats.
>>23323579Anyway, I'm also going to shill my art and civilizations I developed. Those Shounen Boys became the Fire Keepers and those Bishounen Boys became the Rain Makers. My setting is largely inspired by the Americas; its geography and different cultural groups and how they could have interacted with each other.
>>23308061hey, Frank Herber (guy that wrote Dune) has awful prose, but he still wrote one of the greatest fantasy novel of all time.His characters sometimes act like blocks of wood, but that's ok
>>23323580That's nice art anon, very pokemon-ish.
I made up an item called Fruit Paper. It's basically edible paper, colored and sometimes patterened to show the fruit flavor.Anyways. It was just a paper, but it inspired a whole region of land, so it worked out well with worldbuilding. Maybe the particular land will inspire some characters in the future. O_O
So I have a setting where a tribe can create radioactive dust and compact it into balls to smash and burn their foes. Picrel is sort of a rough idea of how it works, it's sort of a combination of Earthbending and firebending I'm not sure what to call it though. The material they make is called pitchblende, but I wanted a term that is quick and easy to say. They do call the radiation emanating off as "radiance" but they are primarily manipulating the actual dust itself that the radiance emanates off of.
>>23323027Can the user of the necklace see these blades, or do they have to be careful not to accidentally stab themselves, which is kind of a funny mental image when you think about it.So basically, whatever lets you have the most interesting plot then.It's fine, we all make mistakes like that sometimes, like when you're distracted or you have a killer headache like I'm just finishing off. The stories I could tell you... But I won't, lol.I was also thinking that there's got to be a limit to how powerful you can make an artifact/how many enchantments you can put on one, since every other magic sword isn't at the level of Excalibur or higher, but besides the quality of the material itself affecting that limit like you mentioned, the more in-tune said material is with the kind(s) of magic for the enchantments, the higher said limit is, which is especially important in weapons because anything that boosts the durability of a magical weapon would reduce the total power of the other effects you could give it, hence why I mentioned looking for ideas for metals and shit that would work well for Darkness. I was thinking Silver might work for Darkness, to contrast Light getting Gold and because Silver is associated with the moon, but that's still a soft metal that would probably work better for fine details than the actual blade of a Sword of Shadows (got to love alliteration) like picture related that can hit a foe with the shadow of the blade in addition to the physical weapon itself (Gold's soft too, but Pyrite and Diamond make up for it). I'm making sense, right?
>>23275199I have reached a point where I'm just building SQL database of my characters, not sure if count as worldbuilding, btu considering most of them are dead and are not mentioned in the story I like think so
>>23325309How have they not all died of cancer?
>>23326046immune to radiation poisoning
>>23326039what are the primary keys?
>>23326371ids
>>23323034Well historical emblems usually don't veer that hard into abstract territory, but even if they do they would probably still have some sort of connection with the things they are supposed to represent. As such you can just use the signifieds as a shorthand for the signifier. For example>X-nese cog (bottom)>Y-ian tower (top right)On that note, how do you guys approach flag and emblem creation? For me I adopt a four-step approach, with the results being pic related, the flag of an alliance of 7 warlord states.>Step 1: Verbal descriptionI first imagine how people in the world might describe the flag, which features to be emphasized, which features omitted, and especially convenient shorthands. In this case it's '8 rays shining from 1 star' or '8-pointed star'>Step 2: SketchThen I hammer out some general ideas for what I want the flag to look like: primary colors, secondary colors, rough position of each element.>Step 3: SymbolismOnce there's something for me to stare at, I can work on extended descriptions of what the flag should represent, keeping in mind the politics and culture of the society in question. For this flag it's simply each ray representing one warlord with the largest one being the alliance's leader. As said leader also happened to be the youngest state, I made a note to add flanges to their ray to evoke the image of a growing bamboo shoot.>Step 4: Finalization and IncorporationAfter the symbolism is completed, I start messing around in photoshop until I have a flag that I'm satisfied with. But that's only the job of the flag designer done, and I still have to write out how people would react to it. For this one the conflict is obvious: why 8 rays for 7 states? The actual answer: one of the warlords insisted that the flag must be drawable by even kindergarteners. But that was too simple, so after the flag was unveiled the public started theorizing who the missing warlord could be. One guy, who missed the design conference, accused the alliance of conspiring to promote separatism against him. Another walord with a long-standing grudge with a neighboring country cranked up her media machine to blast shitty propaganda to the tune of: >The only thing preventing our neighbors from expressing their sovereign will to join our glorious union and complete the flag is their tyrannous government which must be overthrown.Of course, you don't have to build conflict into the very fabric (pun fully intended) of the flag like this, but it's still good to keep in mind the power of symbolism, how it's not simply a product of the mind but can also influence it in various ways.
>>23326454>idsAs it should be.Very based. If I had more characters I should try that too.
>>23275199rate my lore:>Zandath Raholai was the first ruler of the Aliaze.>Before the revolt, the Raholai family was a major landowner in the Southern part of the Empire. Zandath's grandfather was a mercenary whose service was rewarded with a knighthood.>During the outbreak of the civil war, Raholai were the most prominent family in the South, and the Emperor ordered Zandath to squash the urban revolt.>However, Zandath betrayed the Emperor and was proclaimed a sovereign duke by the rioting people, formally beginning the war of independence.>In his defection, Zandath was joined by his youngest brother, Tislag, but his other brother, Strislag, stayed loyal to the Empire, partaking in many battles with his brother.>Over the next years, Zandath, was barely able to prevent the Empire from winning, but he was still able to inspire his people and convince other major landowners to join the revolt.>Amongst, them was his friend, Strohath Paubemec, who distinguished himself as an able military commander.>Only three years after being declared a duke, Zandath was captured and brutally executed by the Empire.>Nevertheless, this proved to be a mistake, as the Zandath emerged as a martyr, inspiring the rebels to continue fighting.>As Zandath only had only daughters, the nobles presumed his brother, Tislag, would succeed him as the duke.>However, still shocked by the fate of his brother, Tislag, refused the position and instead nominated Strohath, thus establishing an elective tradition.>Using the momentum of martyrdom and his martial insight, Strohath was able to triumph over the Empire and secure independence for Aliaze.>Back in the Empire, Strislag found himself unpopular and immigrated to the newly found Principality of Aliaze.>There, as the older brother of Zandath, Strislag demanded his share of the Raholai patrimony.>Which Strohath honored at the expense of Tislag, who found himself destitute.>Strislag continued bullying his way to power, and when Strohath died, the patricians elected him as the next monarch.
>>23323580Not that guy, but I'd love to hear more about this setting, especially the Light Preachers. For instance, I presume that the society is a theocracy, but is it just a religious order, or are there civilians as well? What are their religious practices and holy symbols, and what inspired their uniforms in this art besides Christianity, if anything? Speaking of the art, did you make it?
I was thinking of drawbacks to magic that wouldn't make it any less cool.And then I realized, wouldn't the ability to completely shape nature to your whim make a Wizard *really* arrogant? And isn't Pride the first and worst of all sins?So what if the drawback of Magic isn't some stupid game mechanic, but instead the negative feedback loop it traps its users into?Why, it would basically create a perpetual supply of Lucifers and Demiurges. Would-Be gods that think they can make a better world than God...or at least destroy this one if it displeases them.
A few lines about Southside Slums, a former industrial district that is currently the residence of the protagonist.>It was a public housing project to house immigrant workers in the local steel industry.>It was dismantled after a forced dropping of tariffs that flooded the market with cheap foreign machines.>The workers were asked to go back to their countries. Any remnants, mostly their children that were born here, turned to a life of crime. >It's currently one giant drug industry that also serves as a market for guns, smuggled goods, and anything you can't get on the legal market. >Rent is really cheap though, and the protagonist is a broke student with a small allowance. >His apartments are also considered off limits to all local gangs because MC kun just keeps killing any gangsters that get near his house. The only criminals who go there are either stupid or suicidally brave.What do you think? Did I flesh it out? Can you "see" it in your mind?
What makes a University rise to the top of the pack? What makes it better at research, or just at producing great and famous (or rich and powerful) alumni? I'm creating a Magical University and I need the tipsm
>>23329479The spread depicts expansive cultural spheres, the characters dressed in a manner that's considered typical yet fashionable to their respective societies. They're not meant to represent single nations/factions, think of each one as on the same level as the greater European society with its roots in Greco-Roman civilization and Christianity, or the Sinosphere with roots in Ancient China and Confucianism.The Light Preachers are based on Japanese interpretation of Western fantasy, like Fire Emblem or all sorts of anime with vaguely European aesthetics, as well as romanticized medieval fantasy. Their religion is designed to be RPG Christianity, a generic faith of good if you will. They practically preach about how there's a light in everybody's souls among other generic good guys' religion things. Those characters aren't clerics or anything, they're just wearing clothes typical of their people, though are probably from the upper class. The most defining features of their fashion sense are that they adore shiny buttons because of light or whatever, and they often wear shoulder mantles. Much of their armor has pronounced pauldrons too because I think it's funny and the setting is a bit goofy like that.They're also used to represent mudcore fantasy in their darker eras, and preaching about the light is sort of meant to control commoners and make them put up with awful conditions. Sometimes they're just a bunch of feuding fiefdoms, other times the nobility are united through the notions of chivalry and embody romantic fantasy. The Free Settlers are actually descended from commoners fleeing oppressive lords during one of their darker times, they still have a lot of Light Preacher beliefs but they have a disdain for religious and aristocratic authority.The setting makes heavy use of North American geography as well as native societies, and they're placed along the Mississippi where the Moundbuilders were. So much of that region has mounds with castles and towns sitting on top of them as a form of defense, surrounded by farmland. Think of Edoras but brighter. Along with castles, they also make use of light towers. They can be used to transmit messages and are heavily used in rituals. As such, their "churches" are called Beacons.The priesthood is the administrative remnant of a vast ancient Empire, and the nobility is pretty much the barbarians who overran it but decided to larp as the Empire they destroyed. In a way, it's much like Medieval Europe, but it's better to imagine the nobility as romanticizing a failed state. Religious authority pretty much derives from how well the priesthood can manipulate the nobility, or how much the nobility glorifies the ancient Empire and wants to embody its spirit.>Speaking of the art, did you make it?Yes.
>>23331239Sorry, wasn't feeling well when I asked, must have missed that part. Thanks for clearing it up.What are some other ways that the setting is goofy?Okay, how have the beliefs of the Free Settlers evolved beyond just the disdain you mentioned? Like, how do their major religious rites differ from the Light Preachers?Nice art then!Oh, and I almost forgot, what more can you say on the Wind Traders? The wrappings around their waists are really striking, so I'd love to know more about their culture like you expanded on the Light Preachers. For instance, what US regional equivalent are they placed at, if they're not entirely nomadic?
In The Wheel, which is the name of all the various worlds and elements of my setting, magic is basically an expression of the ego into the physical world. >It can be manipulated by humans because humans were created in the form of God. However, they aren't the only ones. Or for that matter, even the strongest ones.>The Gods are the most powerful users of magic, because their egos are the greatest. After all, they're the Lords of All Creation. Some are even so arrogant that they think they are rulers of the universe.>However, all that egotism blinds them to the fact that magic is hardly supreme. The Will of Heaven is another supernatural force of the universe, not to be confused with magic. If anything, it's the anti-magic. It's responsible for ending the disruption magic causes, and can only be used by Priests after sufficiently quelling their egos and becoming mere instruments of capital G God's Will.>The *other* magical users that are stronger than humans, but slightly weaker than the gods, are the Demons. They aren't strong enough to overthrow the gods, but are strong enough that the gods don't mess with them. >Humans lack enough egotism to use magic to the full extent of its power. But at the same time, their ability to subordinate themselves to "The Will" allows them to wield powers that can dispel magic.>Since magic is effectively the application of egotism, Mages are egotistical. The more powerful a Mage, the more of a solipsist he would be. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are evil, or even cruel, but it does mean that they are incredibly self-centered and conceited. >However, the presence of powerful religious bodies ensures that their egoism doesn't destroy society. Some of them can even be made to work for it, as long as it's on their own terms.>For this very reason, Mage organizations like the Academies of Magic or the Directorates (basically the Magic warriors) tend to be highly competitive and prioritize individual prowess.
>>23332786>>92638866While most civilizations use magic, there's a massive difference between "Magic Users" and Mages.>A magic user is just using magic. He doesn't study it, he may not even have created the magic he's using, he just wields it like a tool or a weapon. Think like the many mythical Heroes who use divine items that the gods gifted to them. Except in this case, Mages will give them in return for money or favors.>A Mage, otoh, is someone who studies magic. These are people who pore over old tomes where the old Masters have described countless thousands of spells, and work out how to reproduce and maybe even strengthen them. To figure out just how magic works, and how it can be used for their own selfish purposes.To reiterate, those selfish purposes need not be evil. An entrepreneur who wants to become rich by selling products or services is still selfish, but he's also beneficial to society. That's the kind of Enlightened Self-interest Mages like.
>>92638893Selling magic is actually a pretty big industry. From something as simple as potions that improve your health to literal resurrection contracts. >Naturally, alchemy is the most profitable because it creates physical products. Alchemists commonly create potions that will delay sickness, normal medicines, potions that give you supernatural abilities, transmute cheaper metals to more expensive ones, and sometimes even grant a limited form of immortality.>The second most profitable are what you might call White Mages. They heal people, and can even resurrect you from the dead. Their services are equivalent to having a permanent supply of potions. >Just their knowledge of reality can also be highly profitable. It was Mages who invented gunpowder, started the use of fossil fuels, created the steam engine, and even AI. You gotta know the rules to break them, after all. So Mages are often experts in myriad fields of natural sciences.>Other than that, there's good old fashioned mercenary work. Many Mages find work keeping colonies safe from monsters and spirits. They are also useful in hunting down evil spirits, especially in more atheistic places where priests are hard to find.>This also means that Mage organizations tend to be filthy rich. And of course, the major officials in such organizations are also powerful or well-respected Mages.All in all, there's lots of money in being a Mage. 4/5 of the world's richest people at any given time are Mages, though few of them show up in the Forbes 2000 because Mages prefer to live on the down low.
>>23332791>>23332804This is a reply to this.
>>23332804So naturally, the Academies are filthy rich. Not just because their alumni are rich, and said alumni give massive endowments as long as they get shiny plaques and certain privileges out of it, but because even the government makes sure to give them lots of money to operate better.And what do said Academies do?>Firstly, they find new Mages. Not anyone can learn magic, you need a certain talent for it. You either have it or you don't, though once you have it your power scales with meaningful effort. A "weak" Mage that learns lots of useful spells will thrash a "powerful" Mage that gets complacent. >Weakness or power isn't a function of genetics, but the children of Mages have a higher chance of being Mages. Most of them still do have some magic power, but most people have miniscule levels of magical power that don't let them do anything more than use Magical Items.>However, most Mages are Muggle-born, to use a Harry Potter term. Their parents have low enough magical power to be unable to be proper Mages.>Now, when they DO find these Mages, usually just with Scrying for particularly large disruptions of reality? They just send them either a letter or a faculty member to explain the situation and offer a seat. >Rejections are rare. Especially in certain countries which make it mandatory for potential Mages to join an Academy.>And the rewards, of course, are many. You won't find many poor Mages. Even if they were unemployed, they could easily subside by just creating food and water for themselves. The most powerful ones can outright create entire dimensions for themselves.
>>23332846>Secondly, they educate said Mages. This means hours and hours of poring over thick tomes describing every spell and spell system in existence. >They also learn the theory, which is about how you get into the mindset that allows you to project your will into reality and warp it to your whims. How to channel supernatural power. And how to perceive the world in ways physical beings just cannot.>They also learn how to fight. Magic grows stronger by combat, and many Mages get into wars just so that they can become powerful by struggling hard until their Ego is easier to project. It is said that being close to death sharpens your self.>Other than that, they also learn "normal" things like science, economics, history, and foreign languages. Since Mages are natural geniuses, they rarely take these classes very seriously.>Some magics are so advanced and useful that they have entire faculty devoted just to understanding and teaching about them. Magics like force manipulation, space manipulation, or time manipulation have entire departments for themselves. >They also learn to meditate and become less impetuous. Hubris is the #1 killer of Mages, and the faculty would rather their students live long enough to give them heavy endowments.
>And thirdly, they research Magic.>Now let's be honest here. Magic is dangerous, unpredictable stuff. Expecting it to follow a set pattern of laws is a fool's gambit. It's better to be prepared for ANYTHING. You can't even expect it to do the same thing thrice in a row.>Mages usually follow the usual Scientific Process. They observe and explore a topic, read up about it, form their hypothesis, test it with experiments, check the outcomes, and write down the conclusions.>Needless to say, the experiments are the most dangerous part. There is absolutely no way to know what magic will do if you're about to use an unfamiliar spell, so Mages are encouraged to carry out their experiments in special pocket dimensions.>Yeah, they're so dangerous that you don't even want to be in the same UNIVERSE as them.>But worth noting that while the experiments are the scariest part, the others are hardly safe. Researching magic is dangerous for your sanity. Some spells can drive you mad. And writing magic down, or even keeping it in your head, tends to warp reality and create unpredictable outcomes.>There's a reason most Mages are only allowed to practice magic past the age of 25. And even then, a third of them don't live long enough to die of old age.
>>23332857>There's also an unspoken fourth purpose: politics.>Magical Academies are the most powerful organizations on the planet, kept in check only by the Temples and their priests. Their support can completely shift the balance in any internal or external conflict.>Mages have zero compunctions about selling their services to politicians and princes. There isn't a single major war where Mages weren't fighting for both sides. Sometimes just because they were hired to, and sometimes because they supported "the cause" and wanted to advance it at any cost....except their own lives, of course.>The latter often end up taking over the movement if and when they win. They become despots and oligarchs of the new regime, and often end up killing each other off till there's only one left at the top. Well, one and his coterie. Nobody can rule alone.>The former aren't quite as willing to take over, unless their wages are withheld for whatever reason. Even if said reason is that their clients are bankrupt.>They are also really useful in PREVENTING conflicts. There are many tiny nations and city-states that owe their independence to the fact that they have a disproportionately high number of powerful Mages on their payroll. >And also a lot of powerful dictators that only retain power because they pay Mages to protect them from coups. And many democratic countries also employ entire Corps of Mages to keep the peace.This fourth function is seldom brought up. The Universities maintain an official policy of neutrality and isolationism. They like to think they are above the struggles of mundane people.
>>23275199>world building This is garbage for retards who are bad at writing. This is stupid cope for scifi schlock and fantasy retards. >but d0oD the EPIC LORE THE WORLD BUILDING Tolkien did none of that shit. He told a story. The world existed around it, the story existed within it. The autistic levels of world building were done separately, nobody breathing will match what he did either. I hate you fucking world building faggots so much. Writing and "lore" are not the same thing and if it's your focus, you're better off managing a wiki for someone else's series. You consumed too many video games or comic books or whatever else. You are not a writer. You are obsessed with minutiae, trivia, epic references, and spin-off media. Pack it up.
>>23332969Would you like to know about my cosmology?
>>23332969Didn't read lol
>>23332969Completely agree with you there, worldbuilding without a story to tell is no different from maladaptive daydreaming. And even with a story, you would be better off setting it in the real world anyway because it is infinitely more complex and beautiful than any fantasies.
>>23332969>Tolkien did none of that shit.Why did he map Bilbo's family tree? His family literally doesn't matter. Why is the point of giving his grandfather a name and death year when he is never mentioned?
>>23333214>>23332969Good point. But I reckon on a hybrid approach. The world is build around themes -- even if they exist only subconsciously in my head, they will likewise be expressed in the narrative. Worldbuilding can be done (and I've got about 70,000 words of it rn) but I try not to worldbuild anything I know will be irrelevant to the story. My writs about worldbuilding are next to my writs about characters and their arcs, though I admit the worldbuilding outnumbers it.I will have a well considered, unitary world. The plot and world itself are tied in my points -- most notably religion and the gods but by mining too.
How will the brutal slaughter of the entire leadership of the country's multiple major gangs affect things in a liberal democracy?
>>23332518>What are some other ways that the setting is goofy?Many ethnic Fire Keeper men do not need to cut their hair, it just sticks up like an anime protag. When a strand gets too long and begins to drape, it just naturally falls off. As they age, the hair on their head begins to fall off earlier and their face begins growing hair. Sideburns grow out and once they're able to grow a full beard they no longer have hair on their heads. Fire Keepers describe it as "hair migrating from the head to jaw." By then they wear turbans. Rain Makers, who are extremely haughty and don't grow facial hair, like to laugh at Fire Keeper men, calling them Hairy Faces.>How have the beliefs of the Free Settlers evolved beyond just the disdain you mentioned?Because there's no more central religious authority, their faith probably diversified into many forms since there's nobody to tell them they're wrong, or at least burn them for being wrong. Many communities would probably have their own Beacons and priests, and some just become less religious. Though founded by runaways from the Light Preachers, another seed of theirs is many Wild Rover tribes who were seeking mutual protection from more aggressive tribes, so there's definitely a fusion going on. Over time, plenty of people across the world immigrated to the Free Frontier, though they shouldn't be considered a homogenous group since there are plenty of ethnic enclaves that just want to be left alone, but are willing to pick up arms to defend their neighbors from expansionist empires, lest they become the next victim.>What more can you say on the Wind Traders?Every setting needs seafaring dudes, the Wind Traders are those here. They would inhabit the equivalent of the Pacific Ocean, so they're like Polynesians but more expansive, connected, and dense. They're also far more ethnically and linguistically diverse, there was never a single empire to unite everybody, nor was their expansion recent. They populate archipelagos across the vast ocean, and each island is designed to possess unique and valuable resources, making trade a necessity for them. They sort of revere the wind as it's their means of connecting their islands and it's something they aren't entirely in control of. There isn't a single religion per se, it's just an observation every seaworthy Wind Trader just understands, and every island has its own beliefs and myths, often about their unique island home. Their belts are just meant to give them a windy motif. They are somewhat united over a customs union that sort of acts as the face of the region. Another quirk about the Wind Traders is that they have access to "the other side of the world", which I purposely leave vague to allow people to make things up on their own accord.Much of my worldbuilding is meant to allow people to add in their own guys, which is why the factions are great cultural spheres rather than a single state entity.
>>23332969Anon I don't want to psycho-analyze your irrational hatred but, to me, when you say you hate worldbuilders because they are interested in the small details, what you actually are angry at is the fact that people nowadays care more about well-constructed worlds instead of your crappy novel. I'm very sorry settings such as star-wars and avatar inspire people more than stories nowadays, but making a tantrum will change none of that.Another good example of people being interested in a well-crafted setting is GRRM, and before you say that people are only interested in the story of his worlds, think again, since "The world of ice and fire" and "House of the dragon" sold very well despite being just worldbuilding.>>23333125Lmao people found out that ticking out to real life can be a limit to fiction like what, a century ago? You are late to the party grandpa.
How much time should you spend on world building versus developing the story? How much of that world building should be seen in the final product?
>>23335006Depends. If you are doing it for fun and not doing any product, do whatever the fuck you want, anon.If you want a product, then it mainly depends if you wither want to create a one-shot story or a series. Series, sagas and franchises nowadays need a good setting to keep going strong.In any case, while you just need a story to sell, the more worldbuilding you make, the better. People out there are hungry for good settings, actually, it creates a sense of community.
Thoughts on this bare bones elevation map? It's not done, but it should be enough to get the point across for now. Also, does it make sense for the circled area to be a desert, or are there too many lakes nearby?
>>23335318> Also, does it make sense for the circled area to be a desert, or are there too many lakes nearbyMake the lakes into deserts, many lakes are dried up lakes
>>23281723nta but reddit's worldbuilding subreddit is usually high quality, so I don't see why we can't coexist
>>23334144What else can you say about the Fire Keepers, and do any other peoples in your setting have any weird biological quirks like that?Okay, what more can you say on the Wild Rovers then? I can see that they're based on Native Americans from their dress, but what makes their culture stand out, especially in regards to their religious beliefs?What are some of the beliefs and myths for some of these islands, if you've made any specific ones?
>>23335318The areas north and south of Dolnet sea seem much more sensible for deserts. Mountains or highlands on three directions and no nearby seas.The circled area will get plenty of rainfall if wind is from either from east or west. If wind is from south it'll be absolutely drenched since the mountains by Conia sea will squeeze out moisture and drop it over them. It'd be more fitting to have a huge marsh there.Only if you mainly get wind from north you'll have a dry climate in the area.You could always set it up as a non-dry desert, for example due to being excessively rocky (all rain is drained down, no soil for plants) or as some other kind of difficult to traverse landscape.
>>23335740>many lakes are dried up lakesWhooaaaaaa...
>>23335960*mane deserts
>>23277826have you considered wet/dry seasons? or just like, do that, but make up your own. something self explanatory, because like >>23279661 was saying, you don't want to make it confusing. but... it can be anything you want. 'hot season, cold season'. 'fire season, ice season'. 'gale season, crystal season'. 'thin season, boiling season'
What does this image evoke?
>>23335790No, it's not. It's just random pics of meme quality.
>>23335006The world is the "final product", stories are, ar best, just excuses to explore and play with it
>>23335844>What else can you say about the Fire Keepers?They're matrilocal and their conception of the state is akin to a mother feeding and clothing her children. For this reason, many Fire Keeper polities have noble women in power in domestic and civil affairs. This does not mean men are sidelined, noble men make up their military force as well as foreign ministers. Early Fire Keeper states tended to have an agricultural core ruled by women as their men were out herding yak, their kingdoms tended to be established by men due to men from different maternal families tended to converge onto their paternal warbands, creating a united army of some sort. Now united, their women tended to forge a cooperative assembly or whatever, thus a clan is born.>Do any other peoples in your setting have any weird biological quirks like that?The Memory Cherishers are descended from a race of pygmies who have piebald hair. It's meant to reflect their docile nature much like domesticated animals.>What more can you say on the Wild Rovers?They shouldn't be considered one nation or anything like that, they're composed of a great variety of tribes and are probably the most genetically diverse people throughout the continent. They inhabit the Great Plains region, though I call it the Primal Prairie, people believe that's where humans came from. Every tribe has a special connection with an animal and I like to incorporate all sorts of fauna in the setting, especially Pleistocene ones. One tribe might ride Smilodons, another Terror birds, and their societies are highly integrated with the animals they bonded with. For example, a tribe that bonded with a migratory herding animal would essentially just migrate with it. A tribe that bonded with an apex predator animal is far more aggressive. Tribes with competitive animals might have to compete with each other, while tribes with animals that can co-exist with another animal tend to be friendlier. Some other inspirations from North American natives are that while they are linguistically diverse, they also share a common hand sign language to communicate with each other.>What are some of the beliefs and myths for some of these islands?I haven't put that much work into them, I'm mostly concentrated on the Fire Keepers and Rain Makers. They probably have all sorts of mumbo jumbo about the wind and waves.
Any copyleft/similar settings out there to use for an animator? I like to build on top of other stuff.
>>23335936Not the anon you're talking to, but wouldn't the mountains along the western coast block the wind and rain coming in from the Conia Sea though?
>>23336971Are you asking for free material you can use, or different licenses?
https://youtu.be/4geaxYRgx2cHow do you prevent your fetishes from creeping in your worlds ? or if it can't be helped, how do you make it tasteful ?
>>23337280I am asking for fictional worlds, yeah.
>>23337349I have an hypno fetish that I try to supress.When I have to write something related to it, like a hypnosis spell or a creature that charms people, I usually get an erection, but I always try to not let myself go and write to give me pleasure, I try to write in a neutral way in a form a person without such fetish would see it.
>>23336971>>23337441Well, the anons at >>>/tg/ make a collective setting every week, that's a good start.Aside from that, you could try expanding on material in the public domain, like the lovecraft universe for instance.
>>23275199I’d like have a race with varieties based on the classic four elemental forces in my fantasy story’s setting, like Genasi in DnD but more interesting and lacking the genie association. Besides the typical elemental hair, eyes, and skin colors, and element-themed magical birthmarks, I need more ways that their element can affect their forms while still keeping them fairly humanoid, what would suggest that I do there?
>>23337470There's a reason they call it a mythos, not a universe. Public domain is basically all aged out stuff. Scarce, usually poorly aged material. Not enough meat on that bone. Is there really no book cycle or tabletop author that gave an open license to their stuff?Settings with almost zero lore aren't of much use, weekly setting sounds like a joke. I like over-engineered, cluttered tabletop universes, actually. But if I started farming those copyrighted ones, sooner or later there's an issue with monetization or canon moving on.
>>23335318No mountain-related watershed with significant rivers can be a desert. Terrain elevation causes oceanic air to produce rain. Rivers go from up to down. So does any line from a mountain to a coast. Every slope marked with a river system won't be a desert, because the rains start already where the water-bearing masses of air scale the terrain in the green.Even if we pretend there's no wind coming in from the East, there's still huge bodies of water in the South of the circled area. Something has to feed those and they also raise the water table dramatically, so where's room for the desert? Some of the coast, maybe.In general, massive lowland lakes smell of swamp, not desert. A large continuous upland or a very inland location would result in a desert, due to drainage or lack of rainfall. The area below dolnet sea, if you removed the lakes and river, for example, could be it if we assume weak Eastern current.
>>23338043Don't know why you would discard >>>/tg/ settings so easily, they are usually pretty good and i'm sure they would love your art contributions.Aside from that, the cthulhu mythos are called mythos because August Derleth coined the term as such, simple as. Is not as shallow and has a bit of complex worldbuilding, read At the mountains of Madness if you don't believe me.Aside from mr Lovecraft, you also have his friend Robert E. Howard, the mind behind conan the barbarian and the setting of Hyperborea.My advice though is to create your own setting though. There's no greater joy, specially if you have the means to illustrate it. We can help you develop your world if you want. Just copy an aesthethic and go for it, or start with the generic "medieval fantasy with elves and build from there.
>>23338043>>23338175I ran a worldbuilding thread that lasted quite some time last year on /tg/. I pretty much provided a scenario and some foundational material and allowed anons to add in factions. I was heavily involved though, so I almost always wrote more stuff to better fit anons' ideas into the setting. I pretty much designed the setting to have enough room for people to throw in their own dudes.I did play around the idea of somehow making the setting "open source", but more in line with having a set of common themes in the same way as elves and dwarves are practically fair game in any work today. I'm no lawyer and I'm nowhere near to having a product to seriously think about it.
>>23338572Hey anon, want to make an open/collaborative setting ITT?All attempts in this general have failed thus far, but it would depend on how committed you are.I would love to contribute!
>>23336684How did this arrangement come to pass?That's cool. What more can you say about the Memory Cherishers and their culture?I didn't know about the sign language, neat. I might use that for something myself.What more can you say about the Rain Makers then? I'd love to hear more about their culture, especially their religion.
I have been thinking about divinity and cosmic entities.On the one hand I think the concept of cosmic horror is fitting because there are many things that can annihilate us ina second, we live ona thin edge of survivability. On the other hand, I hate the nihilism and grimdarkness it brings with itself that seems to leverage everything else into meaninglessness. the concept of a divine entity that is worth striving for seems uplifting exactly out of this nihilism. So I was considering that tere are aninnumerable forces of destructive mindlessness and one force of balance that all thought strives towards, a sort of singularity of sentience, a way to make sense of the chaos, a clear thought that is shielded against all the screaming voices of nonsense. Think of it like 1000 eldritch horrors that seek only to propagate themselves and one champion god of reason and truth and goodness to which many paths lead that however all converge towards the end.Is there a world that already has that sort of setting? An IRL mythology perhaps?
Here are my elemental Gods. How are the names?>Fire = Pyremander>Water = Vodine>Air = Oxylph>Earth = Tuome
>>23339038pyremander sounds like a Pokemon name. Vodine makes me think of a disinfectant. the others are good but my brain doesn't conjure their element when i read them. for example earth could be Stonard, Yerra, Hravel, or some other earth inspired name
>>23339038They sound like pokemon
>>23339063Calling your fire god "firemander" or anything in-your-face retarded like that may work in a children's book, but not really for anything remotely serious.
>>23339020not sure for this one. I have read a lot of sci fi movels that have some large deactivated alien construct randomly appear and for humanity to freak out about it. sometimes it activates later, sometimes it doesn't. but it always holds secrets. i think 'rendezvous with rama' was one. you might have to get a bit more specific, because if you're just looking for "constant imminent threat, but with a prophet to guide them" there's a lot of there already
>>23339085I dunno how that relates to what I was asking.I guess my question would have been "what if Lovecraft found Jesus and wrote him into his mythos as a glimmer of hope"
so my world is very much just a long stretch of things that i find cool and there is this moment where the whole world collides into itself several times over and it just feels, atleast to me, way too obvious that i just find this shit cool as fuck.World is very grounded and hard scifi but it's still got shit like space catholics with aztec feathers, muslim convert kings who came from berlin, the Martian Republic state apartheid against the slavic majority, and spacesuits i just find cool.Idk if there's a point where too many things are just there cause i think it would be cool as hell.I don't plan on even explaining a lot of the little tiny things at all in my stories idk if most of it will ever get a chance to even appear outside of existing in the back of my head and affecting things...There's also a lot of genuine schizo shit but i'm built different and i just like that shit so much.
>>23338582That sounds fun but no thank you, after running my threads for nearly a year, I'd rather take a back seat instead. I see many worldbuilding threads on /tg/ fail due to a lack of vision and control, and I think mine succeeded only for so long due to my single vision and control (and cute art), though over time I think it got information overload. I still had fun since it helped me write lore as the threads went through a few centuries of history and ran into multiple dramatic world-shaping events.>>23338675>How did this arrangement come to pass?This is a difficult question to answer, all I can say is that I tried to fit it as the most successful system in the region that came to dominate other societies, thus being copied by neighbors or being spread through their success. I would reason they can maximize all members of their society by giving their women the authority over civil and domestic matters, such as property rights and agricultural practices, leaving men to the task of infrastructure and the requisitioning of supplies and equipment. It's also baked into their religion that I developed from the Stone Age.>What more can you say about the Memory Cherishers and their culture?They're probably considered the oldest society, but at the same time the most recent civilization. They're meant to be some sort of "harmonious little people" society with an emphasis on the cute and comfy. A big part of their society is about them cherishing memories, hence the name. Memories represent a multitude of things; their tribal history and myths, lessons and knowledge passed via stories of their people, and their relationships to each other forged through the making and sharing of memories. They shouldn't really be part of the spread as I consider them a "Lesser Civilization", who are not nearly as expansive or influential, more akin to an isolated or minimal contact nation.>What more can you say about the Rain Makers then?Their civilization was born in an arid land whose religion is based on trying to appease the sky to bring rain. One ruler forged an empire, their legitimacy derives from being the Heir to the Sun. Their method of expansion mostly involves showing their neighbors how much better it is to be one of them, flexing with plenty of gifts and luxuries. Though they primarily tried to make it literally rain, now they are "making it rain" in the wealth sense. The Empire would expand as neighboring rulers assimilated and received personal privileges, eventually absorbing their state as a province for the Empire, although their descendants continued to be part of a prestigious noble lineage officially recognized by the Emperor. They're also very pompous.
>>23339375>so my world is very much just a long stretch of things that i find cool and there is this moment where the whole world collides into itself several times oveThis sounds like your world is stuff like trains and trumpets and coins and shiny things you find on the ground all lined up in a linear fashion
>>23339595Different anon, but do you have a link to this worldbuilding thread in the archives for /tg/?How do they pass on memories to the next generation besides oral traditions? And are there any other "Lesser Civilizations" in your setting worth mentioning?What's their state religion like?Have there been any major wars or conflicts between these cultures lately?
>>23339732I mean there are elements where i do feel i am doing as you say, but i'm on the schizo side so what i think is cool tends to be shit like talking to god or overlycomplicated iconography, theology and self-sacrifice rituals.It's not linear, it all ties into a giant gordian knot. I try to make it as grounded as possible, only look up to real examples, no matter how insane.
>>23341597>Do you have a link to this worldbuilding threadCertainly, here is the first thread on 4plebs:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/87624240/Here is the last thread that includes a link to all previous threads:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/90075501/It ended abruptly as I was getting fatigued, so I zoomed in on the homeland of the Memory Cherishers, you can find the final thread of that here which includes an archive of its previous threads:https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/91595498I tried moving it to /qst/ but it didn't get too far as I got very busy pursuing other interests such as getting into web development to build a website to showcase my worldbuilding for funsies, but I do have an ongoing thread on /qst/ about the Memory Cherishers.>How do they pass on memories to the next generation besides oral traditions?Holding and participating in festivals is another way for them to pass on memories, there is an understanding that repeating activities of the past is considered sharing memories across time and space. They're also good at retaining obsolete methods, usually when little ones are being taught skills, their elders would explain "We used to do it this way until we learned how to do it that way". There are a lot of implicit memories in lessons and traditions alone.>What's their state religion like?They don't have a state religion, nor do they understand the concept of state the same way as we might. This is what I meant by how their civilization is most recent, still living in a society based on customs and tradition. They do have a quirky relationship with the Rain Maker Empire that is the closest thing they have to a state; they see their Emperor as a guardian god and their understanding of the world beyond theirs can be equated to an otherworldly celestial plane to us. In reality, they are an Imperial protectorate so other states just don't mess with them, at least for a long period of their history.>Have there been any major wars or conflicts between these cultures lately?The setting was conceived as a political and cultural struggle between the Fire Keepers and Rain Makers, and the first arc of the threads shows one of their first conflicts against each other. The Memory Cherishers are something like the "main characters" of the setting and they often find themselves in the middle of the conflict due to their strategic location, even if they don't understand the bigger picture.>And are there any other "Lesser Civilizations" in your setting worth mentioning?There are a few others, such as the Totem Raisers who are loosely based on Pacific Northwest Amerindians, composed of many tribes who worship a specific animal and are like a more agricultural form of Wild Rovers who probably split off eons ago. There's also the Bloody Feuders who are meant to be the Battle Shounen folks living far in the east and largely inspired by the Hatfields and McCoys.
What image comes in your head when you hear the phrase "The Most Powerful Sorcerer/Wizard In The World"?
>>23343111Albus Dumbledore.
>>23342006This is just too cool man look at it.
>>23343111Children's cartoons. What do you think when you hear "the most powerful man in the world"? The world is a big place, there are many people powerful in their own way. Why would wizards be different?
>>23342653Thanks!How's the website going? Hope to see you again in the next thread!I forgot to ask earlier, but outside of the cultures and the "other side of the world" you mentioned, what are some of the more supernatural elements of the setting you haven't talked about yet, especially where it intersects with the various cultures?
>>23343562>What do you think when you hear "the most powerful man in the world"?Hercules.
What are some of the mayor inconveniences of inhabiting a small flying island?I just solved the problems of water and food supply, but maybe there's more shorcomings that i'm not seeing?Well yeah, aside from people falling over, that is.
>>23345399what about temperature and wind/storms? also if it collides accidentally into any other floating islands
>>23345399also what about erosion of the island over time
>>23344895>How's the website going?It's fully functional, the only thing it's lacking is content and hosting. I spent nearly a year drawing potato characters (evident from the threads I posted) so I've been trying to find my style. This >>23323580 was merely me leaving the comfort zone I put myself in.>Hope to see you again in the next thread!Unfortunately, I don't plan on running new worldbuilding threads, at least ones that are a continuation of this setting. I tried running another I hijacked the thread because OP didn't give us anything to work on and posted a poorly drawn map and told people that everybody had to draw on it to contribute. It didn't last past the first thread.>What are some of the more supernatural elements of the settingThe setting doesn't include anything explicitly supernatural, my direction for it is to lean more toward being extraordinary instead. However, just like in real life, there would be certain beliefs or assumptions that we might assume to be fantastical when they're just interpretations instead. The Memory Cherishers live in the Great Swamp and will-o-wisps are extremely common there. Some places are riddled with them throughout the night, and they are believed to be the souls of the dead. Often I'll find natural phenomena that aren't entirely understood, make them grander, and then focus on what people think about them instead of explaining them.Aside from extraordinary natural phenomena, the setting is filled with warriors who can fight as cool as this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5XEsXx0ry4>>23345399Consider its flight path and how it interacts with the local weather and temperature. Assuming it's on an Earth-like world with seasons that align with ours, will its flight path determine how it experiences seasons? Will it always be around the same place at the same time of year? What if it moves from north to south between seasons, making it perpetually summer or winter? If it comes across a high mountain range, will it rise itself and make it scarcer?
>>23345884What do you mean by that?Do you think a floating rock would get very eroded by air over time?
>>23347241Rocks get eroded over hundreds of years from footsteps, thousand of years from waves, tens of thousands from winds.
>>23347271>tens of thousands of yearsMmm, then I don't think it's an inconvenience then. And I mean, if you can make an island float with magic, I imagine you can also cast some kind of airward or something to protect it from winds.
Small tip:If you ever have a hard time figuring out the name for a location or object, chatGPT makes WONDERS.Just ask: "in a fantasy setting, suggest me names for X" and generally it will give good inspiration.
So are soft magic systems generally determined by the paradigm of the character that is capable/acquired the ability of using magic? That's my current understanding at least, and it's made my cosmology currently structured like this>Onion skin layering>Biosphere exists within the Noosphere>Noosphere (Realm of Thought) exists within the Infosphere or (Realm of Ideas)>Infosphere exists within and is fueled by the Patasphere (Realm of Possibility or the Source)And those that can develop the ability to use magic do so by tapping into the highest plane through their Foci, and both their intent and limits of their magic are determined by their own perceptions or Ego. Very few can learn to utilize this magic system and even fewer if any know of the structure of this cosmology but I have the idea to maybe incorporate smaller conceptual spheres for magic similar to how Mage the Ascension has it set up.It's still in a rough state but I like the premise so far, I think the biggest thing I need to work on is including more limitations because it'll allow for more creative problem solving I feel.
