Language and Naming Edition Welcome 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 >>23350138
>>23400937Thread Questions:>What languages exist in your setting, and if any are original languages, how did you develop them? >How many artificial languages is too many, and besides Sindarin, what existing fictional languages would you look to?>Regarding names, what logic and resources do you use when coming up with names for individual intelligent beings, species, items, and more? And what are some things you’re looking for help with naming?
>>23400939Oh, and I almost forgot this one:>Do any of the languages have any inherently magical or otherwise powerful properties, and if so how does that work? And how are magic and language connected in general?
>>23400939>>What languages exist in your setting, and if any are original languages, how did you develop them?I don't really use made up languages but what I do for different ethnicities is use a slightly changed English or 'Army Slavic', almost as if it was a separate pronunciation or dialect.>Regarding names, what logic and resources do you use when coming up with names for individual intelligent beings, species, items, and more? And what are some things you’re looking for help with naming?For names I often just use short names that make sense for the person's character or surroundings (like their temperament). Every name, for some reason, is always four letters long because of the idea that the people portrayed are expendable. I don't like making up names or using real ones because of the baggage that may come with them and using very simple ones instead. For people I use names like Chub, Coal, Bigg, Gale, Itch, Toad, while for places/settlements I like to use names like Howlingdale, Newborough, Moorfield, Plumshire, Simplestead.
>>23400985What about language and magic, how are those connected, if at all?
>>23400937I use Wiktionary for names, looking through the etymologies.
>>23401015Oh, I don't usually use magic except for things like rituals and superstition. I like to make the setting be very religious but with no magic to prove them right except for a few exceptions.
What are some good tools for someone that wants to do deep conlanging?
>>23400937Does anyone have any good suggestions on names for individual mages that specialize in either Fire, Water, Earth, or Air magic? What about spells that these mages can use for each element besides shooting blasts of it, summoning elementals of their respective elements, or moving it around through martial arts like a certain show? It’s okay if it’s more of a symbolic or thematic justification for an element having a spell, like Water having healing spells, if that’s helps.
>>23402175I tend to call characters according to the four temperaments, either the colour associated with it or the element. A character associated with Sanguinity (wind) for example being called Gale. A character being associated with Melancholy being called Coal or Crow (dark/black colours).
>>23402236Oh wow that was fast, I almost missed it. Thanks for the name ideas, what about spell ideas for each element?
My magic system revolves around mages that draw "ether" from their Stomach, Liver, Lungs, Brain, Heart, and some genius figures out a way to summon monsters from "putting" in "ether" into one of the organs instead of "drawing" from it. I just need a better name for mages" that's not "bodymancers" or something trite.
>>23403340Well, it would help if we knew a bit more about how the system in general works. Without that information, how do you feel about the term “Organists”?
>>23400937What are some good names for Oni? I want to include both male and female Oni in what I’m working on, so I need a bunch of names for each gender.
>>23404224my idea is that everyone in the world can use magic by tapping the powers of their organs, not everyone is good at it though, only those with talent can really utilize it. (just generic super saiyan shitoism shit where they draw lifeforce from living beings and the easiest way is to draw it from their own bodyparts), then the bad guy uses a device to supercharge organs to create smaller monsters, but then he stuffs it in potent magic users to become monsters.
I’ve been pondering. Is >>23405773 right? Are we ignoring how magic works in the brain? How something is perceived to be magic in the first place?
I recently got back to thinking how concepts of technology and magic closely intertwine and how calendars were possibly the first magic, a technology really only resevered to an upper initiated class. Sure, the people didnt know how fire turns clay into rock, but at least it was sensible, wet earth turn hard when exposed to heat, and it was easily reproduced. But with a calendar, you can predict the seasons, which is especially astonishing in an area of the world where there is much less difference between night&day lengths across the year like Egypt or mesopotamia. So for the calendar to turn from a drawing to turn into a method of planning the harvest for the farmers, you need to learn the symbols of the calendar and how to read the calendar itself and then how to apply it to make a somewhat correct guess. Other systems like the nebra skydisc needed to be aligned with the horizon on specific days to work.So that posed the question to me: could we approach magic completely wrongly? What if all those magic circles aren't actually used to summon demons by drawing them, maybe theyre instruction manuals how the actual rituals or applications are done? Condensations of the true mechanism? I consider the veil of unknowledge that sits between the calendar and the skill of planning the harvest for the year to be magic, the part of a technology that only the most deeply initiated understand.What is magic to your world? Just another system of technology? A nebulous layer of none understanding that the initiated must be guided across? A set of rules that can be followed precisely?
>What languages exist in your setting, and if any are original languages, how did you develop them?Currently I've started one conlang for my project. I call the language Tsalaki which is the word for people in it. I try to be naturalistic in my approach but I'm not very good at it desu.>How many artificial languages is too many, and besides Sindarin, what existing fictional languages would you look to?I don't think you can have too many, especially if you're evolving from proto languages. I guess as many as you can make distinct. I really admire the conlanging work of Biblaridion on youtube.>Regarding names, what logic and resources do you use when coming up with names for individual intelligent beings, species, items, and more? And what are some things you’re looking for help with naming?My go to for lexicon building is the german way of smashing nouns together. Water in tsalaki is lujahi and to move is sisi, so river is sisilujahi.Here's a pic of the current draft of the writing system for it
>>23404224Why not "organics" for a witty pun
>>23401023What are some names that you’ve chosen using that then?
>>23405954Yes. But nobody cares since most fantasy fiction is just mindless, brainless slop. People just want to daydream and do their own thing. Realistic approaches to fantasy are discouraged due to “lol he thinks magic can be realistic” or “are you saying you have better realism tact than me? this is now an argument!”.
>>23400937I just use one language, save for those used by monsters. Easy.
>>23400937I'm trying to do a story where the main opposition to the heroes are the Succubi, lead by their Queen Lilith. I want to have the easiest method for the heroes to send the Succubi back to the Abyss require the heroes to know the Succubus's true name, but I'm running out of names that make sense. I was thinking that some of theme would be mortal women who engaged in lustful behavior and became Succubi after their deaths, or just villainesses from the Bible in general like Delilah, but I besides needing a few more suggestions in that department, I need to figure out some names that have thematic associations that make sense for Succubi, since demons are all about names and words having power so the names having meanings related to their nature make sense. Someone else suggested "Desdemona", what about you, what would you suggest for me please, because I really need it.
>>23400939>Regarding names, what logic and resources do you use when coming up with names for individual intelligent beings, species, items, and more? >take a familiar name>change one letter>It's now a fantasy character name>David -> Darid/Daryd/Daeid/Dasid/etcBroke the game
>>23405456The japanese have a lot of specific and bizarre words that honestly would go hard. Yokai, Hanami, I'd just peruse a jap dictionary. You could even build each one's specific aesthetic around their name
>>23400939>be me>writing dark fantasy novel>story draws a lot from medieval Catholic orders>want origins of order names to be similar to real world ones>most were in France and got names from the areas they were founded in>THOSE names usually came from names of Gaulish tribes who lived there>idea.jpg>scroll through list of Gaulish tribes on Wikipedia>record all names and name meanings that were translated>searched through those for ironic or relevant names>THEN find derived names of areas/towns based on chosen names>don't find good one for order but find one for evil town>feel somewhat satisfied by result of time-consuming processLater...>town name is so forgettable that I have to keep going back and checking it each time I want to mention it>mfw
>>23400937Does anyone have any name ideas for necromancers, male or female?
>>23410840Shouldn't you be writing the next book on the Song of Ice and Fire?
>>23412989NTA, but does George R. R. Martin do that a lot?
How would it be possible for a country's population to remain basically the same, despite heavy immigration, for nearly 200 years?
>>23413840Really low birth rates and unusually high death rates.
>>23406047I like the look. It's like something I would see in Elder Scrolls maybe. It also reminds me of light language for some reason.I was working on mine, but got a bit stuck due to the concept I built it on. I'm sure I can complete it though.
>>23403340if this is the only way to do magic in the world, why would the wizards who do it be named after the way they do magic? could they just be called wizards/mages/sorcerers?
>>23413654yes. Walter>Walder, Richard>Rickard, Samuel>Samwell, etc. it's like a midwest kindergarten.
>>23413840low life expectancy or low birth rate or both. maybe the immigration is happening to offset the aging population.
>>23412215Why woul they have special names?Like, do the parents know they are gonna be necromancers?
>>23408881But is that realistic though?Hell, is not even interesting. Maybe worldbuilding is not for you.
>>23413840Disease. Ancient cities were population sinks that had to continually suck up surplus population from the hinterland in order to make up for losses due to disease.
>>23415904Why would anyone live in an ancient city then?
Does anybody else feel like they have imposter syndrome when they try to worldbuild generic fantasy shit?It's like other people have these huge, sprawling fantasy worlds they've worked on for years. Centerra, ASOIAF, LotR, Planescape, Witcher, etc. These settings are developed with a lot of love put in, even though they feel all very similar as a sort of "generic fantasy worlds" though with a few differences. Whenever I try to make one of these though, I often feel like I'm hitting random tropes off a checklist or feel like it's hollow, like why don't my collection of weird fantasy races and culture feel complete and whole like theirs do? I just don't get it. Maybe this hobby isn't for me.
>>23416722I used to feel like that at first when I was creating my setting, but after some years it felt developed enough that I could feel proud of it and see it as its own original and coherent whole, not an attempt at LotRs. Also, keep in mind that most famous settings are created by a multitude of people in the span of several years. It's ok if your world is a bit shallow at first, they all start like that and become more fleshed out with time.For example, the lore of the elder scrolls series is peak worldbuilding (at least before oblivion came out) but it wasn't always the case, the lore of TES I: Arena is basically non-existent.
>>23415431I'd imagine that they're rename themselves. Who would take a necromancer named "Sam" seriously, after all.
>>23416722>imposter syndromeNo, you are an imposter. Your mind has already been so polluted by mainstream fantasies and further damaged by maladaptive daydreaming that you will never have an original creative thought again.So why bother? Just check all the boxes that make you happy, like make all the women in your world slaves or some shit. Worldbuilding may seem to be the only escape from reality, but in truth even there your hedonism is conditioned by the ghost of real degeneracy as this retard >>23416793exemplifies
>>23417125>Your mind has already been so polluted by mainstream fantasies and further damaged by maladaptive daydreaming that you will never have an original creative thought again.That's what I'm complaining about you damn dingle.
>>23417101Ah, so you mean titles then?Well, the classic take is to name themselves things like "the god of worms" or "the lord of dread", edgy titles for an edgy concept. Though, they still need names, and that is inherently tied to the culture of the region. In other words: a french necromancer would have a french name, real or not, and a title in french too, probably. In my setting, in the places where it's illegal to perform necromancy most do it anonymously, since they don't want to attract attention from the imperial authorities. Necromancers have nicknames as often as drug lords or any other kind of criminal has nicknames. In the places where it's legal, on the other hand, they also don't need titles or pseudonyms because why would they? It's legal.>>23417125Hey bro, chill, i'm just creating lore for a videogame. Games need good stories too, you know? And making a shallow setting that copies LotRs again is tiresome, even to me.>you will never have an original creative thought againThat's not what "imposter syndrome" means. It's not about thinking you are stealing someone else's work, it's that deep down you think you are not really what you are, it's when you think you are an impostor, a fake. You lack basic terminology i'm afraid.>Just check all the boxes that make you happy, like make all the women in your world slaves or some shit. Worldbuilding may seem to be the only escape from realityCouldn't you just say the same about all kinds of writing? Writing your fetishes out is not an inherent problem of worldbuilding.All in all, if your fantasy story doesn't have worldbuilding going on, it's already outdated i'm afraid.
How do you know when a fantasy setting is overloaded?I have a setting in mind (humans disappear from Earth and all of the bugs become sentient, exploring the ruins of the "ancient giants", and slowly learning technology), but I wonder if including other fantasy tropes like multiple races conflicting with each other or magic just overloads the core concept, which may be interesting enough on its own.
>>23416722you haven't made anything your ownyou've done the literary equivalent of purchasing premade assets from the unity store and shoving them into some cheap asset flip game. Or making a movie out of royalty free music and stock footage.You'll stop feeling like an imposter once you stop actually being an imposter, which would require giving your work a sense of identity.
>>23416644Food, amenities, work. Same reasons they do now.
Is it alright to use real world guns and weapons in a military fiction book that takes place on a different world than earth?Since there was no WWI or II or the people who invented these guns, I'm thinking that it might be a bit immersion breaking.
>>23418204>multiple races conflicting with each otherObviously works in the setting you named. There is no way bees and hornets would get along.I like to think that bees and ants are like the white people of your world, being the largest and most advanced/smartest races while the others despise them for it.Diplomacy and race wars, as well as how neutral bugs (like ladybugs or butterflies) live or what race they work under sounds like a very interesting concept.>magicWould make less sense because why would they be trying to learn technology if they can use magic? Obviously they could, but the settings kinda clash.
>>23418204It really depends on what kind of feel you want to convey. If you want to go for a sword and sorcery setting then go for it. If you want a more grounded and sci-fi story, then should stick the the bugmen alone.
>>23417125How does maladaptive daydreaming hurt creativity? That's the one thing I would expect it not to hurt.
>>23419114just change the names.
>>23400937
>>23419993Hard to imagine what they look like when the name doesn't fit. It ain't a manga.
>>23420090y u so mad?
Before you /worldbuild/ is it better to prepare the entire lore first of this and that or write your story outline and let the lore adapting to that outline?
>>23420835>y u mad beothe cry of the injured
Start with a shop.What do they sell? Where do they sell it?How are the goods procured?Where do they goods come from and how are they made? Who buys them?How is the value of the goods determined?What is demand like? What currency is used? Pretty soon you have a city/town, some semblance of a culture, and at least a notion of what the wider world is like.It doesn't have to be a shop. You just pick some aspect, an image, and start asking questions. A single potent image probably has the entire world wound up, waiting to be unraveled by this method.
>>23420840Obviously, you outline based on lore, and not the other way, because the latter is lazy cheating and fake worldbuilding.
Should I get a concrete idea about the factions or make a map first? I haven't even started just vaguelly know the setting.
>>23421532I'd say factions first. I feel like it's easier to work backwards from "where would people like this live"
>>23421532Factions. For sure. Don't create factions just to fill a map.
>>23420840Prepare the entire lore is literally /worldbuilding/
>>23400939>>What languages exist in your setting, and if any are original languages, how did you develop them?A few, the snip I just took is for the main 6 continental branches. Only one I've really developed, though, is one called God Speak which is dependent on taking apart the names of the divine pantheon to apply to concepts. The gods in turn being me hacking and slashing sentences&phrases to form a name. For example, Thunderous Armourer became Thurnmourer, God of Thunder and Creation. By coincidence that I find amusing, I am one letter off from having some religious reformer Czech guy's actual name.
I have six original languages, but they are more easily referred as writings, because they come from one of the setting's gods and gods, as a general rule, are silents. Their name hasn't been decided yet but they go something like this.>The first one : the writing of laws and lights. Writing it well makes the letters glow a bit, and you can't lie while speaking it, nor write down something that isn't true (it will simply disappears into puffs of lights if you write something false, or that you don't know to begin with)>The second one : the tongue of fire and passion. The more strongly you feel about what you write, the warmer it gets,but it will erases itself after a while, generally when whoever wrote it calmed down. Very popular as a present, but due to its innate self-destructive nature most people just opt for a fake knock-off that looks almost the same but doesn't risk burning down your house.>The third one : the speech of stones and bones. It cannot be written, only carved (trying to write it will just make it looks like you've tried to use a jackhammer as a pen). Not only that, it must comes from a central point of great religious significance (because it's the main writing of the god from which all these languages originates from), so you have these mile-long stretches of cobblestone with embedded writing within. It's worth it however, because if you know how to read it you only need to glance at it to know whatever has been written down from its starting point up to your position.>The fourth one : the slithers of serpents. A poor thing that didn't live long, which is just as well, considering its main form of communication was rearranging innards of living things into correspondances. It's dead now, although some of the letters have yet to be delivered.>The fifth one : the pattern of the skies. Can only be written in circles. If you're not properly trained you just read the same sentence over and over again until you die of starvation or someone finds you. If you ARE properly trained it's a great way to protect your stuff, and it's how prophecies can be guessed at, because you can write half a sentence and it will finish it for you.>The sixth one : the usurper. What happens when a knowledge-god gets in over its head, it creates a language of fiction and lies that are truths. It immediatly broke away from itself and went down into the world, devouring the fourth on the way, and now it shows up as tattoos in unfortunate folks who caught its interest. It essentially gives them reality warper abilities until they get deleted out of existence.
How to worldbuild? Just write up word files on stuff?
I keep getting sent here from the fantasy thread:So I'm trying to write a story where Orcs are atavistic but live a long time (that's the reason why they are fine with people dying) and elves are democratic people whose voting age is at 50 and every extra 50 years you get another vote.Is this retarded?>>23423244I would argue that you 'write into the dark'.
>>23423875>that you 'write into the dark'.NTA, but what does that mean?
>spend almost a year trying to craft an intuitive yet creative magic system from scratch>ends up being almost exactly like Sanderson's magic system
>>23400939I took inspiration from the Tower of Babel and have it be the source of where the "Common" language came from that most people on the world speak. Heritage languages are still strong however so there are pockets of culture where it has been preserved for added flavor. The city was destroyed which is what kicked off the major war that's ongoing between two nations.
>>23423244Snoflake method. I explained it already. Look it up in the archives.>>23423875That indeed sounds interesting. I don't know what's bothering you. The only problem is figuring out what the implications of such system are, but I think it's good because it exemplifies the values of elves without stating it so explicitely: the elder have more power in their society.
>>23406036>What is magic to your world? Just another system of technology? A nebulous layer of none understanding that the initiated must be guided across? A set of rules that can be followed precisely?A good quote I heard recently is that>magic that is significantly understood reaches a point where it is indistinguishable from science and technology So it all comes down to how much your magic leans towards the mechanistic or esoteric end of the spectrum.You have ancient abrahamic rituals which while they use methods to communicate with the divine and infernal it is entirely dependent on external forces for effects, meanwhile something like alchemy is much more scientific.
>>23416722>why don't my collection of weird fantasy races and culture feel complete and whole like theirs do?Because the fantasy races and culture those authors have written are all tied into the theme of their respective stories through how they're portrayed in some way shape or form.I've simply stopped caring that the Simpsons did it first and have started stealing bits and pieces from authors to use in my story, and so long as those things are relevant to the theme and/or characters in some meaningful way then it'll read as creative instead of contrived.Tropes aren't the enemy they exist for the reason, just make sure your execution is good and you'll be golden.
>>23424044Writing without previously outlining.
>>23400937I’m looking for both cool ideas for spells based around the four classical elements, particularly ones with more subtle ties to said elements, and names for said elemental spells that aren’t just things like “Fire X” or “Water Y”, etc.
>>23425557More subtle ties, you mean like stuff with elemental ties that are more like: earth is the source of life, so earth magic can aid in childbirth?It might be a bit too obvious but I'm drunk so you can't expect wisdom from me.
>>23426334Yeah, stuff like that, or how Water can be used to heal, that kind of stuff. Hopefully you have more ideas when not drunk then.
>>23426565Some more thoughts from the powers of Gin,Fire can ignite the passions, or steal them, making people engage hastily (perhaps to their doom) or stall (even when their better wisdom is begging them to speed up).Air can speed thoughts or stall the mind.Water affects the caster himself, letting him spy into his own motivations, beneath his conscious desires to those that dominate him beneath his own will.
>>23419949Maladaptive daydreaming was coined by some kike from israel, dont pay attention to that pseudobabble.
>>23425557So something like "Vigorous Mist"?The way I imagine it, casting the spell pulls subtle elemental energy from water and wind. This would create a vapour/mist cloud which would flow into a targets lungs and give them regen as well as exteme energy, and strength.
>>23426619That's a good start, thanks, please let me know if you have any more ideas. As for names, how about an Earth spell that makes a target tougher, but slower, maybe "Lumbering Stone Knight"?>>23426584Alright, these are all great examples of the kind of thing I'm looking for, we're off to a great start! What about ways that Earth spells can affect the mind, besides maybe defending against the spells you've already listed?
>>23426936Perhaps Earth could banish fear and other destabilizing influences, bringing stability.
The magic school in my setting assigns spells into the following categories:>Elementary MagicManifesting basic, single-action effects. Fire, water, etc. Most wizards can use spells like this with a bit of training.>Advanced MagicSpells that produce more elaborate effects based on the previous category. For example, giving a fixed shape to water, guiding the trajectory of wind, etc. These might take affinity for that element to pull off.>Conjugation MagicSpells that combine effects of multiple elements to create entirely new effects. Example: manipulating air and fire to produce a welding torch, or conjuring heat and water to conjure mist, and so on.>Ritual MagicSpells that require multiple wizards working together for a common goal. It could be that every practitioner focuses on amplifying the same outcome, or that each has their specialized task contributing to the whole.>Legacy MagicMore advanced spells producing elaborate, less easily defined effects. These are often the result of generations of study and are carefully guarded secrets passed down exclusively within families.>Transcended MagicSpells that achieve effects on a scale and potency beyond most mages, requiring a deeper understanding of a specific subject. The stuff of legends. Generally mastered by talented wizards only late in their lives and cannot be taught to others. Summoning meteors, causing earthquakes, silencing volcanoes and that kind of thing.>Forbidden MagicSpells that have been declared illegal for one reason or another. Transmuting lead to gold might be one.I wonder if that covers most conceivable forms of magic, or if I've missed something blindingly obvious?
>>23427610I will illuminate two counterpoints, whether you consider them valid or not is another issue.'Legacy Magic' would be very jealously guarded in most cases, as no family would want to lose their money maker/power generator.'Forbidden Magic' would probably be a nebulous classification depending on how well prosecuted it is. It would also probably have a name from the local culture, religion, monarch line, etc that is more scathing and less clinical than 'Forbidden Magic'. In our war on drugs, for example, we rarely stick to what is clinical:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnENVylxPI
>>23427621>'Legacy Magic' would be very jealously guarded in most cases, as no family would want to lose their money maker/power generator.Absolutely, I didn't mean to imply they teach this category at school, that'd be senseless, only that the existence of it is acknowledged, so that people would know to respect certain boundaries.>'Forbidden Magic' would probably be a nebulous classification depending on how well prosecuted it is.The idea is that there is a Mages' Association, which maintains a list of such magic, deciding which gets included on a case by case basis. When a particularly hazardous spell is discovered, they wring everything they can out of its caster, and add it into the index. Anyone using spells from the index and being dumb enough to get caught will work as a wizard no more.But these aren't like the Harry Potter curses. An instant kill spell wouldn't be classified as "forbidden." I mean, a lightning bolt in the face will kill a person just as certainly, it'd make no sense to ban one type of deathblow and allow another. These spells would have to be something outrageous, and threaten the integrity and stability of the community as a whole.
>>23427720Harry Potter fails the smell test for a much simpler reason:Flipendo is a very dangerous spell to learn in a building with stone steps...nevermind one with stone steps that just move when they feel like it.
>>23426936Sounds decent. To be honest, it's a bit difficult for me to come up with spells. My elemental spells don't come out that interesting.I did actually have another idea for an earth spell, last time I was in the thread, but didn't mention it because I thought it might be too abstract to be considered one with elemental ties.The whole idea came about from the fascination of things like the deep earth, or what you would call the pitch black caverns of the earth (the void), and the overbaring wheight that stone can have. I also took inspiration from the gaping maws of earth and rock that can lead to the black void or crush. Really this is me taking many inspirations from earth, so feel free to use it to come up with spells.One spell could be "Hollow". Casting this would require pulling energies from the the void of the deep earth. This is kind of opposite to Vigorous Mist. Although it doesn't have physical effects, casting it on a target deprives them of drive to take action. It's not dread as it more like attempts to deprive them of passion, desire, and positive thought. "Bone Bend" directly targets the earth energies in bone, taking from earths connections to life and extracting it to weaken bone, crippling limbs and such. Another could be "Nutralizing Mud". This would used earth but barrow a bit from water. It covers a target in mud protecting them from basic ailments, like poisens, paralysis, and even keeps their health at a fixed state so they don't run out of stamina or whatever. To be clear, it isn't anything like Vigorous Mist that would boost things like energy/stamina, though it might give an exteme amount to work with they will eventually run out. Someone with Nutralizing Mud would have the simply maintain the health they had when it was applied. A thing to note is that you can apply another spell. If you had another that boosts energy then you could apply it and they would simply maintain that energy. This spell, as you can imagine, would probably be used for tatical purpouses before heading into a possibly risky situation, maybe in a jungle where poisonous creatures live.
>>23427772Certainly, HP is a prime example of stories written pantsing, with nonexistent editing, and when you start picking out dumb things, there's no end to it. Still, for this project my starting point was looking at HP and thinking, "how would the magic side work if it made any sense, and how to bring out the actually interesting parts of it better?"
>>23427803Funnily enough it could work if they made the Wizarding World an atavistic society where survival ability is more important than magic.
>>23427955I was thinking along similar lines in my story. Wizard families develop combat-oriented spells the best they can, but nobody wants to paint a target on their backs by publicly announcing they do that. So the magic society is very two-faced; nice and peaceful on the outside, but deeply paranoid and wary of everything underneath. To an extent this is acknowledged and accepted as sensible practice. Excessive honesty and directness are frowned on.
>>23427486So it makes the mind more tough, like stone? I can see that, thanks. If you have any more ideas, I'd love to hear them.>>23427784Yeah, sometimes I have a block on that kind of thing myself, hence why I'm asking here, lol. Thanks for the ideas and names you do give here, if you have any new spell ideas, or at least names for them, for the other elements, I'd love to hear them! Happy Memorial Day!
>>23428689I was thinking more like grounded like the earth, but also having the side effect of perhaps making you too patient.But tough like stone is also an apt comparison.
>>23427610I think yours is pretty good.Mine works off of semi-overlapping 'quarters'Stag: Expression of forceSongbird: Manipulation of the mindRaven: Manipulation of matterToad: Manipulation of the self.
>>23400937How do you guys keep track of things?Any notekeeping software like scrivener/obsidian or just a word document?
>>23429770I use scrivener. But you could probably do the same effect with libre office and dedciated folders.
>>23429770I use a combination of digital media and written shit,
>>23429533Thanks. Got any more ideas? Like, if Golems are Earth magic, besides summoning elementals for their respective elements, what might Fire, Water, and Air have? Hope you had a great Memorial Day, BTW.
>>23429538Shapeshifting is another thing that bothered me about HP world. They teach kids to manipulate their bodies, potentially crippling themselves, or turning themselves into abominations. Even if their healers can conveniently restore virtually any condition other than death, it could be extremely traumatizing when gone wrong. But no one seems to care.And what exactly is the utility of this magic? How does being able to turn into a rat benefit a standard person? I'd imagine spies and assassins would be very interested in skills to change their appearance, or imitate someone else's. In which case, with every household full of vital trade secrets, there should be widespread lobbying to get this whole class of spells banned. Other wizards would probably be even more eager than inquisition to hunt down and take out shapeshifters.Also, from writing perspective, when dealing with this magic, it's hard not to address the subject of people looking to change their outer appearance to match who they feel they are on the inside, and I really don't want to step on that landmine.
>>23430545>it's hard not to address the subject of people looking to change their outer appearance to match who they feel they are on the insideDepending on how your magic works, you can go with one of two easy answers: self-sculpting is very dangerous or it's so commonplace that no one even needs to mention it.With regards to utility, never forget that people rarely make efficient decisions 100% of the time.
>>23430877>With regards to utility, never forget that people rarely make efficient decisions 100% of the timeIndividually, perhaps. But educational systems and professional industries rarely are built on the idea of "wouldn't it be nice?" Tangible benefits are expected.
>>23430941If innovation without the presence of an expert is possible, the school or training facility does not have to be the one who causes it to exist. Some rando who is bored and fucks up a spell could create something by accident.
>>23430947It may be possible, but looking at history, there's always a lot of gatekeeping going on, more so as we come towards the present. Turning new concepts from accidents to widely available solutions typically takes a lot of time and effort, and resources. This is where the related industries and authorities often intervene to block or buy out innovations that go too hard against the grain. It should be no different when it comes to magic, since the motivations remain the same.
>>23429770Just my worldbuilding folder with a bunch of documents for areas and races of the world, plus some general ideas folders. Same on the phone in case I am out and cant access my computer but I have an idea I want to write down. Not a lot of order atm.
hey guys longtime poster here but this is my first time on /lit/this thread caught my interest - are there any recommendations for books in a high fantasy/rpg/dnd-type setting? I've been recommended Way of Kings By Brandon Sanderson. Is this a good starting point?
>>23431747forgot to mention, I'd prefer something more traditional with wizards/dragons etc. No cyberpunk or tech stuff
>have an interesting world but not an interesting story to tell within itHow to fix this problem
>>23433277>that image
>>23433277Write stories in the world and publish all of them.Quantity is a quality all of its own.
>>23429774Why Scrivener specifically?
The number one most important aspect of worldbuilding is, in my opinion, not making your world feel smallThere are many popular media franchises that have worlds that feel very small. Star Wars is a well known example - Star Wars is supposed to span numerous galaxies and encompass an entire literal universe. Think of all the different stories that can be told with that much space, all the different planets and strange and unique civilizations there could be. However, every story in Star Wars is the same. It revolves around the Jedi, the Sith, the Empire, lightsabers, and often times characters who are connected to other singular characters like Palpatine, Luke, and Anakin. This is a horrible way of building a world, because now the audience will think that with an entire universe to work with, this is all there is and nothing more - it's just the Empire, the Sith, the Jedi, lightsabers, and Skywalkers, that's where the universe ends.Another way of making your world feel small, is by having the stakes be too high. If you fight the most powerful person in the universe, then you are admitting to your audience there is literally no one else in the universe to fight, it all ends with him. If you have heroes regularly saving the universe, then it feels like the universe literally revolves around them all the time and no one else, which also makes your world feel small. This is a big problem with settings that have a "world filled with superheroes". They'll have the American superheroes save the planet, multiple times over. But supposedly there are superheroes in other countries, like Japan. What are they doing, are they saving the world constantly too? Just how many times has the world been saved, is the world being saved once every five minutes?If you have a world that spans an entire universe, and you save a planet - that's an accomplishment but there are millions and millions of planets out there. Your story could just be one of many tales of people saving planets. However if everything takes place on one planet, saving the planet is an enormously important feat and it gets ridiculous if there are hundreds of people constantly saving the planet time and time again. The same applies with saving the universe.So make a world where it feels like there are other stories happening in the background. Make a setting that feels like it can have multiple stories going on, while still being interesting. If you want to raise the stakes very high, do so sparingly.
>>23434427It's what I use. That's it.Like I said. I figure you can get the same effect by just keeping a series of documents in a folder or set of folders.
>>23434445Daily reminder: Stakes being too high or too large is often an easy way to lose the audience.Even Star Wars, where the fight was ultimately about saving the galaxy, had what really mattered to Luke be right in front of him and on Endor.
>>23431747I certainly recommend it. If you want, I have a few others you might like too.
>>23434445A bad example, because people watch Star Wars to see jedi, sith, lightsabers, and so forth and are not interested in some literally whos on the other side of universe. Don't include things irrelevant to your story just to "worldbuild"
Reminder that magic works best in ages of ignorance; that of antiquity, the medieval, post-apocalyptic scenarios, etc, when “I don’t know” placeholder proxy-descriptions (magic, religion, the occult, etc) would suffice as definitions. By the time of science-fiction, you can no longer truly define things as magic, since there’s just too much out there, and you can’t expect everyone to agree on what magic is or constitutes systematically, especially since what is seen as magic to one is not necessarily going to be seen as magic by another.In a world of science, where everything is deconstructed, you realize that magic IS “magic”, and it survives as something to describe, not something to define. Define magic at your own peril, to the detriment of anything out there that can be described as magical. A word for wonder, mystery, horror, heresy, etc. It lingers at the fringes. The modern day sorcerer in the scientific sense is just the mad scientist, hanging off the edges of present understanding, dabbling in fringe and taboo topics. “Sweet, man-made horrors beyond my comprehension”. I wish people would understand this. How the magic is kept and contained.
>>23400937Are litrpg chads welcome here?
>>23435071> you can’t expect everyone to agree on what magic is or constitutes systematicallyI fucking hate hard magic systems for just this reason
Any tools or websites that allows me to edit an atlas or do I need to do it manually?
>>23435071>You can no longer define things as magicA man just threw a fireball at me and my three homies, and all of them are dead. He had no ignition source except a Spirit Halloween Wand.
>>23436321That’s a description. “Are you a wizard?”
>>23435151Hard Magic basically falls apart the second casting a fireball is harder than just building twenty guns
>>23434445What's an example of a work where the world is handled with an appropriate amount of scale?
>>23434549Alright, what about how you organize the stuff IN Scrivener?
>>23437545Scrivener drops a default arrangement of things for each project: Like Chapters folderLocations FolderCharacters folderPublishing Section/You can change this but, for the most part, the basic idea works just fine.
What's a good currency to use for a futuristic but non-FTL setting mostly confined to our solar system? Cowboy Bebop-ish?While something like generic "credits" (or even Bitcoin for the lols) could certainly work, I wonder if there is anything more interesting. In space gold and silver is pretty common, as are diamonds and other precious metals, and using something like water is just silly. Even if it ends up being just generic paper money, having the historical backing of a tangible "thing" that would be valuable to early space colonists in the solar system would make a good bit of backstory and LORE to the setting I'm going for.
Over 65k words in and I feel a complete break from what I was writing No amount of booze or sudden inspiration takes me to the last 30 or so thousand wordsI know of writers block blah blah but this is different than the rest, I actually feel bored of my own book, I just wanna move on to something else already idk if this is the right thread for this but hey it won't hurtCan anyone help me out, I don't even know exactly what I'm asking, but I know I'm in need of help
>>23437960I actually know exactly what you're feeling. My earnest recommendation is to take a break. Start a new, small project in a totally different vein and work on that for a little while. It didn't completely allivate that for me but it certainly helped.
>>23437947If you wanted to do the bold approach: you could choose make it the scrip of whatever company backed the first space missions and say that eventually it was appropriated as official currency
>>23437986I was actually thinking something like that, I just felt that I simply couldn't walk away for a bit that I might loose what ever I hadBut if I really think about it, I don't have anything now do I?Thank you my friend, I'll try to write something elseWish me luck huhAgain thank you
Alright gang, how many retarded alt-history things do you all think I could put in my urban fantasy setting before people start going "erm, idk about THAT one". And I'm not talking "ohhhh the vampire secretly run things" I'm talking...>The cold war hasn't ended and it's the 90s>Persia and Egypt are meccas for the study of aether theory>The vatican still holds enough power to consider itself a play on the world stage>A group of Wu sorcerers managed to summon an actual guardian dragon during this Chinese civil war who proceeded to win said civil war for itself, claim the mandate of heaven, and now rules it as a literal dragon Empiror
>>23438003You are very welcome! I wish you nothing but the best. And on the topic of that, I ended up stepping away for a little over six months myself and found d coming back was much easier than I expected.
>>23438009I've written a lot of smaller texts so maybe I can finish off a few other smaller novella Idea's that have been swimming around my head for the past whileThanks
>>23437991While I was skeptical of the more capitalist and cyber-punky nature of using corporation money, just straight up calling it "scrip" is an interesting name right off the bat.
>>23438072That's true! And it opens to door to a question if "is it actually scrip or do people just call it that?" And on either case you can come up with a fun little anecdote to explain why that is.
>>23435071You’re not wrong but everyone else is retarded, so…>>23435151I find it incredible how people think hard magic is magic at all.
>>23438809What would you call hard magic then?
>>23439734Science to be taken for granted. Look at the image in >>23435071 then look at the modern world.
>>23436437How would you fix it then?
>>23438004I think at most you can only have one or two alt-history events that significantly impact the plot. Past that it becomes too confusing because every new alt-event has to be reconciled with the readers' real history knowledge. Sooner or later, you're better off just making it a fictional world entirely or thinking of it as "a fantasy world loosely based on real world events" instead of "alt-history"
>>23440430Do a middle of the road magic system where there are hard and fast rules (no reviving the dead, no creating matter from nothing, etc), but don't make it into an equation.
>>23440837Yeah this. Make it cool, have some quirks in it you like and youre good to go. It should be rare enough to elicit wonder and if you want common enough to make something unique of it.
>>23440837>>23440920Okay then, are there any existing settings/magic systems that use that approach well that one can use as a guideline then?
>>23440430Make it an imaginative mystery even to the people who know the most about it. Often, the most ingenious were simultaneously the most insane. This is Paracelsus, a hermetic alchemist, or proto chemist; also the greatest natural physician of his day, and a father of mineral medicinals.He believed he could produce a slave creation, or a familiar of sorts—the Homunculus—by ejaculating into a chicken egg, or worse.— ‘That the sperm of a man be putrefied by itself in a sealed cucurbit for forty days with the highest degree of putrefaction in a horse's womb ["venter equinus", meaning "warm, fermenting horse dung"[2]], or at least so long that it comes to life and moves itself, and stirs, which is easily observed. After this time, it will look somewhat like a man, but transparent, without a body. If, after this, it be fed wisely with the Arcanum of human blood, and be nourished for up to forty weeks, and be kept in the even heat of the horse's womb, a living human child grows therefrom, with all its members like another child, which is born of a woman, but much smaller.’ [3]:328–329The original coomer, if you will.Brilliance and madness go together hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jam.Even Isaac Newton was more Hermetic occultist than natural philosopher proper, and a heretic who rejected the Trinity in private.Galileo also thought he could read the future in the stars, and would seriously entertain topics such as “Should a Leo date a Gemini?”.A lot of the past “wizards” were also Christian monks/intellectuals, like Roger Bacon, building strange, “magic” devices. Or, long, LONG even before that, the likes of Archimedes and his “solar death rays” of Syracuse.
Another favourite of mine.The presocratic Empedocles of Akragas was, among other things, the first to suggest that it takes time for light to travel. He was also a cult leader, a mystic who practiced magic, and a complete lunatic who believed himself to be a living god and who commited ritual suicide by jumping into an active volcano.Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the four classical elements.Also one of the people who influenced Aristotle. Aristotle disagreed about how light travels, though.
>>23441417>and a complete lunatic who believed himself to be a living god and who commited ritual suicide by jumping into an active volcano.lol
>By chapter 3 my main character is thrown in jail for drunken disorderly conduct>In the cell next to her is Character B, serving a sentence of 133 years for mutilating a law abiding citizen (upon finding out he had been tricked into slavery he removed his new master's arm at the shoulder)>From here they get into a conversation, Character B agrees to help MC with her stupid quest if she jailbreaks him, and the story goes from thereHow realistic is it that these two individuals would be in cells next to each other in a "generic fantasy dungeon"? If it matters, it's a high-fantasy setting, and Character B is a 7 foot bipedal shrimp.
>>23437947Call it "Giddash".
>>23440430How much of a ritual is truly necessary? Does it matter? Also what >>23441409 said The more aware you are the more insane you sound/look.
Here's the magic system that I was thinking about for my setting. It works as a set of incantations that were created by a lost civilization and work on mainly a vocal invocation, but require concentration as well. In the "present" history, these invocationa were discovered by a religious order of monks who practice their faith through chanting mantras. By sheer chance, some mantras end up invoking the same verbal invocations, but in very obtuse ways. Over time this order becomes focused on expanding the set of known "divine" mantras that invoke magic in hopes of achieving unity with the divine. At some point, a Marco Polo type figure joins the order for a few years and finds good luck in learning the Mantras. But since this figure is not bound by the same cultural and religious views towards the sanctity of Mantras, their research ends up being more "vulgar" - they experiment with Mantra length and use process of elimination to extract something more closely resembling the original invocations. Prouldy, they present this discovery to the elder monks, but gets labeled a heretic and forced to flee. This figure then, after returning home, starts his own order of defacto mages using the reduced Mantras and also starts experiments to discover new spells on the basis of verbal experimentation with these invocations. This new order is somewhat elitist, but knowladge does leak, and magic over a century becomes semi common in the same way as alchemy was common IRL. This is about the point where the "meat" of the settings events would happen, thus the eventual widespread use of such verbal magic is not a present concern. Thoughts?
>>23437947Is it a united solar system? Could be different colonies with their own currencies. Perhaps, in order to distinguish from the dollars, euros and yens, Mars decides to be old-timey and adopt Ducats, that would still just be the same kind of fiat money, but for Martian government. Colonists who depend on Earth might use some sort of UN backed bonds that represent a share of investment to the planetary expansion agency. Maybe call it something like Bonds for Facilitating Solar Expansion, shortened to SEB, commonly refered to as sebs. Obviously there are hundreds of other names that in essance would follow the same convention.
>>23400937What are some good names for beings or creatures made of pure Light or pure Darkness? What about abilities for each respective type of creature, especially beyond the obvious like Darkness ones turning into a shadow.
>>23442834Depends on the culture naming them.Some many consider them Signs of God. Others may consider them abominations.Others may not name them at all, for they are only ever seen by those who will be silenced after they scream
>>23443284I meant for individual ones, not in general. And what about the abilities angle?
>>23442486tl;dr
>>234439891. Magic is man-made invention from a lost civilization2. Invoked verbally with mental concentration3. Almost all invocations are lost, rediscovered slowly by monks chanting mantras4. Mantras refined by outsiders into a form more similar to original invocations that take only few sentances to cast, but which are more unreliable and experimental5. Monk mantras are more stable and reliable, but require long chants to invoke or constant chanting to maintain
>>23444278>Magic is manmadeOn one hand, I kinda like this.On the other hand, I always think it kind of cheapens magic when it can just be 'made'.
>>23401823I'd begin with speaking your constructed language, naming things in your mind as you wander, talking to living but non-talking life forms, work your way up to a cosmology and laws, geneaology, and medicine. That's a method.Tools you can use are - not exhaustive -, your own body: speaking, singing, rapping, conversing, thinking, pointing; standard writing materials: pens, paper, pencils, markers, paints, a phone with a voicerecorder and/or a text processor. Other humans are NOT tools in this context (in a manner of 'lets apply this human'), rather they are fellow actors) because they have souls but language is a means of communication, so use your constructed language in that communication and if you've been building your language, you can tell them about it, and listen if they want to also play. A blog is also a tool. Now, a bad workman blames his tools, that's the saying, so you should be able to work with most tools when you've developed for a while. They say that 'constructing languages do not work', but no worries, as long as you work the language, develop it, and record it, it'll be your unique constructed contribution to humanity. I've never built a house physically but the house of your language is what you can live with.
>>23402175I've never thought about naming mages this way. I'd figure that a mage wouldn't be tied to an element, but rather like that Avatar series where the mage would have to learn to mage áll elements. But yeah, the mage should probably have teachers.I'd name the teachers' last name, the addressant name, according to an associationable element or kind of the magic that teacher teaches. Wrath magic would be 'Wrathaman' as a family name, earth magic would be 'Soiloman'. There are a lof -mans this way and it implies a family tie higher in the hierarchy than an national or company tie, which stems from my -limited- knowledge of family ties.
>>234009391. The native language, which is a 'negative' language: in évery sentence or clause there is something that denies, disaffirms, gives up. There are 'imported languages', which are more positive and affirming, which basically run the show because of that (because only a positivist gets something done), but these languages have to plow through the natives being so negative and go on regardless, which is a challenge. The positivist languages come from all over the globe.2. I wouldn't be able to speak more than three languages proficiently, have rudimentary knowledge of five extra, and know a bit about two more, depending on my place in society.3. I name things in my constructed language as I go and hope that the Most High, Loving, All-Caring entity keeps that knowledge in his database that he pulls out when he has to play Big Brother.
>>23400949In my system, language ís magic, and can be learned by everyone with enough determination for their level at any time to advance to the next level, the statistic of which carries over to the next life after reïncarnation. Reading costs food energy and gains mana, with bonus points for sitting or standing while reading, writing is mana-neutral, and speaking, shouting and singing cost mana, but at high levels there's a 'mana-cashback' due to a nation-wide system of regaining some mana in sleep.There's a constant flow of magic in the world, but in different languages at different times, so as not to overkill newbies and they can adjust and learn. In that sense it's a very relaxing magic/language system: we learn always, even as we go.
>>23403340Anatomage?
>>23406036>What is magic to my world?A method with which a group of loosely organized people turns into a community, and a means to sustain, develop that community, and a means to make peace and brotherhood with other communities.
>>23410078Aha, the 'know the true name game'. I know this one.>They'll never tell you their true name. The heroes will have to dó something for them / with them / to them which reveals their name to the heroes and this revelation releases the demonic aspect in their soul. Being demons, they don't know what it is they need anymore, because their devil overlord has made them forget. The heroes, being heroes, can figure this out.
>>23410078Sameposter: >Noxia
>>23412215There's a word my father taught me from a Filipino language: 'patay', it means 'death'.>Patayo
>>23412215>Pataya
>>23413840>EmigrationBasically when a class of 100 people graduates and a new, young class of 100 enters the school, the population stays the same. Substitute 'school' for 'country' and hocus-pocus.
>>23413840Culturally: birth control targeted towards the immigrants but not towards the 'natives', even though they were also immigrants, just earlier ones.
>>23413840War.
>>23413840Time period depends greatly. For example, starving to death isn't really a threat in the modern world, but in 18th and 19th Century France it is a considerable concern.
>>23445105Sorry, I meant to say 'time period makes a great difference'.
>>23444278>rediscovered slowly by monks chanting mantrasWhat does this mean? They murmur random sound combinations all day and hope to hit gold? How can they tell what works and what doesn't if they have no idea what it is that they're casting beforehand?
>>23445394Not that anon: Presumably there would be expeditions into old holy sites, reading of old religious texts (possibly translating from the old tongue), and even just fraudsters constructing new ones and passing them off as old.
>>23445469>>23445394In my alcoholism I may have misread the posts.But I presume many monks would die in the recitations if there is any magic involved.
So I've come up with some subsets of a form of magic in my setting, I'm not sure what to name them.I'm also not sure about "reigning". Originally I wanted something different from "bending" from Avatar, but I realized bending as in controlling something doesn't have a lot of good sounding synonyms.Should I just resort to just naming it "Astronbending"?Also I'm wondering if I should add any more subsets of the art- I couldn't think of any more really.
If I have a country that is essentially a parallel to England, what can I name it? I came up with one idea, but it sounds way too similar to another country that already exists.
>>23400937that's a man. what kind of magical hrt did he get?
>>23446786How much are you being paid to psyop like a retard?
>>23446830nevertheless it's true. that face, that nose, that protruding adam's apple, and that clearly counterfeit pair of breasts. also the way he is voluntarily shaping his lips is suspicious to say the least.
How do you come up with names for kingdoms and ancient orders that's not complete cringe? I need names for my version of the Jedi/Witchers/Wardens but I can't think of anything. Everything sounds so generic. Is there a trick to this? How in the hell did Lucas come up with Sith and Jedi? They sound pretty natural and I never question them. Is all fantasy cringe and we're just used to some of them so we accept them or is there something I'm missing?
In Tripura, most children are raised in creches because their mothers (and fathers) are busy at work. Private creches, of course. They rarely see their parents except when they're being taken home at night. Do you think this can lead to anti-social behaviour later in life? I've heard being raised in single parent households does correlate to higher degree of anti-social behavior.
>>23448029my parents were mostly raised by grandparents and they were childbeating assholes that boasted about spanking a 3 year oldso yeah, I think this can fuck with kid's minds
>>23448069I don't suppose you could elaborate on their personal behaviour, specifically the anti-social parts? If you don't mind, of course.
>>23448202they have no ability to empathize with their kidsmy mom once told me I was a loser with no friends. I responded with she's a shit mother whose kids hate her and she acted like I did something completely unprompted.She also is one of those people concerned with appearing good instead of being good. Case in point, she boasted about spanking kids privately but admitted she never did it in public, only doing it in the bathroom.She also is unable to parse things as a nuance when things comes to right and wrong. She was once berating my sister and I said maybe she's not 100% right, and she said I was saying she was 100% wrong and screamed and shouted.sorry for the rant but yeah.
>>23448261I hope you've cut her off. Sounds like a wretched cunt.
>>23447950Can't really help with ancient orders, but a huge number of irl kingdom and empire names are really straightforward and to the point in their original language, like "south kingdom" or "land of the X". They only gain their more "proper" names due to lingual jumps. So having the idea of what the name actually means is the place to start.
>>23412215Grundel Lachyrmae
So my world is pretty simple, it's a kitchen sink sci fi fantasy setting where the Terran Empire rules most everything
Does Vorium sound wrong? It's supposed to be called the devouring metal, and comes from vorare, meaning to swallow up.But of course, then there is also the connection to vore fetish art.I also thought about Devorium, but I don't think it flows quite as well.
I'm working on a video game with a magic system based on speaking words of power, however, I also want wands as a form of magic or tool. In order to help explain this, wands basically just focus physical energy (stamina?) to move objects.Wands can;>Interact with objects at a distance (snuff out candles, open doors, etc.)>Move objects with telekinesis>Levitate objects>Fling objects that were levitated>Do a magic "blast" that deals not much damage but can stun people for a secondDoes this sound like a consistent power set? I'm imagining the wands as being basically focusing tools at distance, with most of the abilities seeming to be something you could reasonably do in real life if magic was real. Are these powers consistent or do they seem too disparate and "gamey"?
The question that's been bugging me since I started:" Why would fighting monsters be a profitable enterprise but still require a university level education?"My answers have revolved around the idea that monsters have rare supernatural parts that sell for obscene sums. And defeating them requires complex magical education because normal weapons are useless.
>>23450549Defeating them isn't as easy as "stab them in the brain with a magic sword" either. They're not natural creatures, that won't kill them.You need to know the exact combination of spells that will break its hold on its material body and allow you to destroy both.
Anyone here writing a tribal setting? Like, pre-bronze age. No magic, no high fantasy. Just warring tribes in a nomadic world of hunting, gathering, and clan relationships. Been desperately looking for more examples to read into, but other than maybe James Camerons Avatar fanfiction there isn't much out there.
>>23450549>still require a university level educationWhy would you limit it into some kind of elite hobby?
>>23450596Something like Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series?
>>23450549you have to graduate from a magical academy so you can participate in a binding ceremony with a celestial spirit, and only by binding with a spirit can you access magic, and magic is needed to kill monsters. Fighting monsters is profitable because they have special glands in their bodies that secrete magic, and these glands are used to power machinery and stuff that non-magic users use. This will set you up well for the inevitable "non-magic users start a revolution against magic users using the monster glands to power magical weaponry" arcDon't overthink schlock, it just makes it more silly.
>>23451193That's ironically more complicated than my solution.
>>23450853NTA, but what's it like? Give us details please.
What could a DnD wizard do to become rich?
>>23400937I'm working on something that's basically an equivalent of Highlander for magic users, where mages each specializing in a different kind of magic face each other in a tournament to gain the magical knowledge of their defeated foes, the winner becoming the most powerful magic user, both literally and politically, for the next century. Besides coming up with a name for the tournament itself, I need suggestions for different specialties of magic/types of spells, from warding to divination to the various elemental magics to necromancy to summoning, etc., in order to pad out the tournament. Even types of magic or kinds of spells that don't seem immediately combat useful, I want every type of magic you can think of please, so I can have every type represented.
>>23450853This looks really interesting anon, I've got it bookmarked now, I'll give the first book a shot soon. thanks!
>>23400937Has anyone ever done a study on how monsters form as a concept in cultures?
>>23453642People misunderstand reality and create weird things to frighten children with.
>>23453454I would suggest splitting some of the big categories into smaller ones, like divination. There are like billion different ways to use magic to predict the future like reading tea leaves, haruspicy, Tarot cards etc. Different seers combating each other by predicting their moves using their brand of divination seems like fun thing to write. Same goes for things like necromancy (which incidentally is also often used as a form of divination), there's summoning spirits to tell you things, summoning ghosts, raising physical bodies as zombies etc.
What's the implication of elf orgasm?
What do you do when you've hit a block due to depression?
I was thinking about what conditions would make nepotism competitive in a modern society. My idea is that genetic enhancement is a common albeit expensive procedure.So rich and powerful people can buy gene mods that make their children genetically superior to normal humans, meaning that appointing your family members to positions within your business or government is actually a valid strategy.At the very least, it won't turn the country into a basket case.
>>23453889Okay, that's a start, thanks, but I don't want all of my new options to be be either divination or necromancy based, if you have any ideas for other kinds of magic I would love to hear them too please.
>>23435071I disagreeMagic can logically exist in a scifi setting if say, the replication of magic is a difficult thing, or if conservation laws are violated in arbitrary ways. Say one guy uses every fiber of magic in his body and can create a banana, but a child half his size can move stars. What's importance is the wonder of magic, and the inexplicability of it. "This guy can do x, but no one else can" or even "This guy did x once, and we know he did it, but he can't seem to do it again with the same result." Scifi magic MUST be soft magic, hard magic systems in scifi aren't magic, they're just gonna end up being something like genetically engineered psychics like in Starcraft.Star Wars works because the force is pretty vague about how it works and 99.9% of the universe will never live to see it in use because force sensitives are an insane minority of minorities and most people don't even acknowledge that the Republic's deep state religious zealot paramilitary order is magical and that it's all a charade
>>23455746>Scifi magic MUST be soft magicThat’s literally his point.
Aliens posing as gods are messing around with a feudalistic human society. It's one of those settings where "My god showed up to watch my chariot race" or "Zeus raped my wife again, but I can't really do anything about it" are common occurrences. These aliens are effectively immortal and unkillable except for the fact that every x centuries they must revert to their bestial, kaiju 'true forms' for a few days where they become a mindless destructive menace. There's a conspiracy of humans seeking to overthrow their false gods but I'm struggling on the "If these guys have godlike powers where humans have to take shit from them, why aren't they taking precautions to protect themselves during their state of vulnerability?" So the setting needs to have multiple orders for each 'god' that people feel a need to be in good standing with, but they should be infiltrating the conspiracy, right? So maybe they leave it up to their dutiful mortal servants. Maybe it's hubris that they don't give a shit. Maybe it's that retarded Warcraft reason that "they're doing it to prepare the humans for a far greater threat." I don't like that one at all. So far the best idea I've gotten is that maybe it's because one of the aliens got morally compromised about all the heinous shit they're doing, which is the type 3 civilization equivalent of 'cowtipping' to a type 0 civ, and he's helping them cover their tracks. Any thoughts?
>>23453684Why scare children? That’s just mean.
>>23456444Because it keeps them from doing things you don't want them to.
>>23450549>The question that's been bugging me since I started:" Why would fighting monsters be a profitable enterprise but still require a university level education?">>23450555Alright, Imma elaborate on this. >Basically, monsters aren't creatures of flesh and blood. They're supernatural entities whose very existence unravels reality. If any of them exists too long, they can cause catastrophes..........As in, "apocalypse" level catastrophes.>Monsters have obscenely good regeneration and no weak spots. Cutting off a head or burning it to ash won't do nothing. They'll just regenerate endlessly until they can murderkill you, and then move to other business.>This is because Monsters exist in "Another World". What we humans see is nothing more than a shadow. >So the primary purpose of a Mage is to enter its "Realm" and to attack their core. This permanently dissolves its essence and makes it impossible for it to regenerate in anything less than...say, a thousand years or so.Mages are therefore experts when it comes to space-time manipulations and are highly perceptive. They also record the weaknesses and strengths of various monsters and the disruptions they cause to reality.
>>23457909The setting is fundamentally flawed. Nobody wants to waste time and talent training gifted people to fight things with abysmal odds of survival. Their first thought would be how to make the society's poorest, dumbest, undesirables do this for them with minimal preparation, while sparing the mages. Who would be just doormen at most.
>>23453684How does that lead to shit like this?
>>23457935>There are animals that look like combinations of other animals>Hmmm, wouldn't it be cool and/or scary if there was an animal hybrid with the parts of X, Y and Z?
>>23455823If the orders for the Gods are public, then the conspiracy (which is necessarily a secret) should be infiltrating THEM.The orders would instead just actively persecute them.
>>23457925Then they just die in droves and the monsters continue to do whatever they like.Sorry, but just like Boeing learnt, you can't compromise on quality. Mages are the only ones who can handle monsters....well, so can certain types of priests, but those are in short supply in an increasingly irreligious society.
>>23457935anon is being retarded and overly simplisticmonsters transgress order. Every society is a simulation of an ordered system imposed on the chaos of nature. Monsters embody the forces that push against and disrupt order. This is why monsters usually kill people and or destroy civilizations in mythology and in fantasy.The chimera is the most explicit manifestation of transgression, because it takes discrete categories and taxonomies that we have created (taxonomies, much like a society, attempt to impose order on disorder, and are thus normative rather than descriptive) and blends them together and confuses them.If you are interested in creating monsters for a setting you're working on, start by considering how the dominant society works, think about what the antithesis of that society would be ideologically speaking, and then create a monster which embodies that ideology.As a super quick and dirty example, say you have a communist society in your setting. The antithesis of their society would be private ownership of things, greed, centralization, and stratification. The monster for them could be shadowy ghosts that take things from people and horde them for themselves.
>>23437986>>23437960Worst advise ever. If you walk away now it will rot. Just fucking finish it. Write it so it's good enough and then start your next project. If you finish now it will be preserved. If you leave it unfinished you might as well burn it.
>>23457909Some of the many topics Mages learn are logic, higher dimensional mathematics (up to 6th dimensional), computation logic, and theology....among other things.They are expected to be able to manipulate phenomena that do not exist in any world but their mental one.
>>23458482>The antithesis of their society would be private ownership of things, greed, centralization, and stratification.Bro, that's just a communist society.
>>23458381>Then they just die in droves and the monsters continue to do whatever they likeWhat if the mages fuck up and a lot of them die at once? Will they just tell the monsters, "oh, could you kindly pause your world-destroying for 4+ years while we train the next generation of specialists?" lol
>>23454115Not a professional, but try taking a break to do something you enjoy, or connect with family and friends.
>>23458779Then humanity is kind of screwed. Mages are the only ones who can do it.
>>23400937What are some potential names for a number of individual elemental realms besides Realm of Fire, Realm of Shadow, Realm of Ice, etc.?
>>23433277Come up with a story first and then have the world be an extension of that, feeding into the main theme through your setting. World building comes after structure and should focus on things relevant to your story. Since you already have a world though, here's my advice: Pick a region, country, culture, anything that gets your imagination going. What stories would be happening in that sort of environment? What values does the culture hold? An easy way to tell a story would be writing about characters that defy those values and seek change, or that embrace and embody the region they live in but have their beliefs challenged by outer circumstances.
>>23460190Or, you could just make your setting less retarded
>>23460434No. I want my Mages studying to fight monsters, so that's what will happen.
>>23460618Damn, he ain't budging.
>>23400937How do you come up with good names for the monsters you make for your settings?
>>23461028And he won't. My world, my rules. If you don't like it, up yours.
Is magic really still magic if it’s consistently done and taken for granted the has same result each time?I feel like people have truly forgotten the necessity of the arbitrarily powerful nature of magic. “Why do I have to finely slice a cucumber into a specific odd number of slices? Why can’t I just throw the whole damn cucumber into the pond to appease the butt grabbing kappa? Are they just autistic or something?”“Yes”
>>23461274and has the same result*
>>23461246Relax dude, do whatever. xDI for one thought it was a major what if scenario for a bunch of mages to die. It's a bit unrealistic, since it would have to be on a global scale. That would be big numbers and it would need to happen in a short time frame while other mages are also learning. :/
Magic, being at the very edge of our understanding, should be weird and wonky and “how much of this evil ritual is truly necessary, boss?” in regards to what you think you are doing. Even the capital-w Wizards are going to be poking at a lot of things, and what they already know may be what -you- are already poking at. There’s definitely a sort of ‘punking’ air or element to magic. “That’s not magic, THIS is Magick!”, is indistinguishable from “That’s not magic, it’s a Miracle!”, or “That’s not magic, it’s Science!”.
>>23460618There are more intelligent ways to achieve that.>>23461285>since it would have to be on a global scaleNot really. Since anon insisted on making his mages so difficult and time-consuming to train, there can never be many at once, purely for practical reasons. And in such a volatile line of business, losing even one or two capable people hurts. All it takes is one big mission gone wrong, and life is practically done for. One place falls, the stress falls on others, who then can only fall as well. So we end up with another fantasy with super OP monsters, who won't destroy the world even though they could, because...because they just won't okay???
>>23461193If mean unique names then: >hack way Horrificly mangle latin (or other exotic language of choice) words which are related to the monster. >autistic (good) way Make at least some barebones of made-up language for your world's culture which then is attributed to the monster much naming of things in our world happened. If you instead meant of something like in your pic related then it's just 'rule of cool'.
>>23461573>There are more intelligent ways to achieve thatBy all means, tell me how. At any rate, the idea of all mages being killed at once is just as likely as all doctors or all pilots dying at once.
>>23400937What’s a good term for a witch or other magic user that uses cybernetics to boost their spellcasting?
>>23461274Anyone can make food according to a recipe, but only a chef can invent recipes.
>>23458482>The antithesis of their society would be private ownership of things, greed, centralization, and stratification....a dragon?
r8 power system>sparks of divinity (souls), can manipulate reality around them>three typical ways of doing this>1: using your innate divinity on yourselfPros: Your body, as a vessel for the soul, is inherently linked to it. This method has the lowest barrier to entry, although it is still incredibly difficult. Filling your body with your own divinity makes your body resistant to the divinity of others.Cons: It's difficult to progress in this way. Rigorous training to improve the body-soul link is required.>2: using your innate divinity on the external worldPros: Easier growth potential. Most versatile.Cons: Very difficult to start. Requires intense concentration to project oneself outside of one's own body.>3: channeling external divinity through yourselfPros: Easiest growth potential. Your own divinity only acts as the bottleneck for the greater divinity that you channel. Cons: Most difficult to start. Only the very gifted are able to progress down this path this to a high degree. Requires a source of external divinity. There is divinity in everything, but draining it from the environment may lead to some unpleasant results.>Any of these three methods can be mixed and matched to various degrees - these are guidelines, not strict rules>No one in the setting, gods aside, are fully aware of how all this actually works. Ancient mages had an inkling, but not a full understanding.
>>23462435I guess I should elaborate further.Divinity is, more or less, reality. The more divinity something has, the more real it is. In applying your own divinity to change the world around you, you are enforcing your own reality on other things. How strongly they resist you depends on how real they are in comparison to you. Humans are more real than most animals, which are more real than most plants, which are more real than most rocks, which is more real than empty space.Conversely, draining the divinity from something takes the essence of what it is, and makes it less real. If you were to take the divinity from an apple, it might lose it's crunch, it's juiciness, it's taste, it's color, and eventually, it would disappear entirely. Of course, "nothing", the empty void of space, still contains some reality. The space itself exists. At the very edges of the universe, where there is truly nothing, not even space, time, or any infinitesimal particle of reality, there is the primordial nothing from which existence was shaped.As far as the three methods go, each of them is really just a way of doing the same thing. Imposing your own reality on the world. They all bleed into each other, especially at the highest levels. I'll call them Aura, Mana, and Spirit from here on out.For example, as master of aura will be able to project their own aura outside of their own body, if only because it's so overflowing that it cannot be contained. They might use this to coat a weapon, send out blasts of raw energy, fly, exert a choking pressure, or even more fine/delicate uses.Now, obviously these three methods parallel the idea of fighter/mage/priest, but that's not really it. Someone who uses spirit isn't necessarily a priest convening with their god or a shaman channeling the elements. A vampire, for example, may specialize in both spirit and aura, draining the divinity from others and using it to empower themselves.
>>23462389fantasy dragons maybe, but the template for fantasy dragons (their greedy aspect in particular) is taken from the character Fafnir in the codex regius who was a man who was transformed into a gigantic monster via a madman's curse inflicted on his family by Loki, so the actual fear being preyed upon by the character of Fafnir is that of hexes, curses, and malicious spirits, which come up a lot in other sections of the codex regius as well.
>>23462828Just to add onto this (this only occurred to me immediately after I posted), it's very telling that when the hero Sigurd cuts open Fafnir's chest and Fafnir is slowly bleeding to death, he asks Sigurd his name, to which Sigurd replies that he won't give Fafnir his name, because he believed that Fafnir would use it to place a curse him in his dying breaths.
>>23462828>>23462834>dragons, real dragons, essential both to the machinery and the ideas of a poem or tale, are actually rare. In northern literature there are only two that are significant ... we have but the dragon of the Völsungs, Fáfnir, and Beowulf's baneYou’re forgetting the dragon from Beowulf, which I would say is just as if not more influential. Especially in the greed aspect. The treasure that he hoards (in a barrow, a grave, I might add) and his jealous guard over is exactly what kills him. A fire breathing, flying dragon with a hoard of gold in a cavern underground. One who will kill you and raze your entire kingdom if you take even a single cup. Sounds pretty much word for word like your typical fantasy dragon.
>>23463082>In northern literature there are only two that are significant ... we have but the dragon of the Völsungs, Fáfnir, and Beowulf's banewhat the fuck are you quoting, because it's completely retardedthere's also the jormungandr, who is incredibly important in voluspa and hymiskvitha mostly as a consequence of how Thor's battles with it define Thor's character as a selfless defender of humanity who is eager to plunge into danger, and nithhoggr who feeds off of the corpses of evil men in nastrond. He's a monster who literally feeds off of evil, and thus his return after ragnarok shows the reentry of evil into the new world.
>>23463159>what the fuck are you quoting, because it's completely retardedBeowulf: The Monsters and the Critics by J.R.R. TolkeinPicrel is the full quote
Communist dragon makes more sense than capitalist dragon. Capitalists don't want to sit on their hoard, they want to invest it to make the hoard bigger. And they win their money by trade, not by theft. Theft is the antithesis of capitalism.
>>23463476anon it's not a government, it's a fucking monsterit wants to kill you and take your shit
>>23463159>>23463226Midgardsorm is not a dragon, what the fuck
>>23462038>the idea of all mages being killed at once is just as likely as all doctors or all pilots dying at onceSo the monsters are actually so easy and docile, they lie still and don't fight back at all while they're "operated" and taking them down is just a matter of faithfully following a manual, only one guy can do it? I guess that solves the problem.
>>23463720So is a Communist state.>>23463791Go to hell, I'm not in the mood for strawmen.
>>23464044So you admit your comparison isn't accurate at all, and your mages' situation is not like that or doctors or pilots?
>>23413840Germany has had a pretty good dose of immigration and the population has been pretty much stagnant for 30 years,
>>23464044>so a communi- AAAIIIEEEEE OH GOD ITS STARTING AT THE FEET OH GOD OH FUCK IT HURTSNo nigger it’s a force of nature it wants to rip you apart and eat you alive
>>23463226Ok, well I suppose that makes sense if he's talking in the limited context of dragons that are slain by heroes. The jormungandr who he "omits from consideration" and nithhoggr who he doesn't bring up at all wouldn't be dragons that a human alone could take on>But this is not a wilderness of dragons.Oh come on, just as I was about to give him credit.Odin literally says that there's an impossibly large number of dragons in the underworld tearing at the roots of yggdrasil in grimnismal>>23463779>this impossibly gigantic evil serpent that spews poison out of its mouth (this is exactly how Fafnir the dragon is described in the saga of the volsungs btw) actually isn't a dragon because he just isn't, ok?
>>23464107Still better than what Communists would do to you.>>23464053Are you stupid? Don't talk to me again.
>>23464499>it has to be a dragon because...because it's very big!!>but it's explicitly said to be a snake>OH NO NO NO
>>23464790all dragons in germanic mythology are just really big snakesthe only standout is nithhoggr who is a giant snake with wings, but the wings are artificially made out of corpses.
>>23464873Nidhoggr isn't supposed to be a dragon.either. There are no dragons in norse mythology.
>>23465426>Then the dark dragon>will come flying>down from the mountains,>that glistening serpent.>Nithhoggr will bear corpses>in his wings>as he flies over that valley...>now I must retire.how's it feel being wrong about everything, that is
How many people are working on conlangs that they'd be willing to "share" or allow others to use the language in their stories? I've got a fleshed out setting and half-written story but I want to go all the way and have a language too. But making an entire language is a shitload of work, might be better to collaborate with someone who's conlang might be otherwise unused.
>>23465685You are working backwards. What you should be doing is autistically create an artificial language and only then create a world and a story as an afterthought just as a place for your language to exist.
>>23466198What if you create multiple languages then?
>>23465481Where is this from and are you sure it's not just a shitty translation?
>>23400939I'm working on a set of naming languages for a setting. Starting by creating a simple word list for each of the three proto-languages, then applying sets of sound changes based on the last 20,000 years of migrations, aiming for about 5 generations in each family. Hopefully I should end up with a few dozen naming languages and cultures of varying relatedness that I can use to fill in a world map to the autistic level of detail required for a EU5 mod[\spoiler].I'm using a syllable generator for the proto-languages, and I'm stealing sound changes from Index Diachronica.
>>23467214>Where is this fromit's the last stanza of voluspa, the norse creation myth>are you sure it's not just a shitty translation?yeah, the term it used to describe nithhoggr is "dreki" which is directly cognate with the words drake and dragon.Go ahead and read any translation of voluspa you want. They all translate the term as dragon.
>>23400939>languagesI've been juggling about 6 paracosms but none of them really have a constructed language, i'm more a fan of the Joycean than the Tolkienesque route, that meaning i like coining new words based on existing words.For example, for the paracosm of spiraled out of the question of "what if ghosts were real, and not only were they real, but both the Ghost Buster/Poltergeist type of ghosts and the Beetlejuice/Christmas Carol type of ghosts(roughly) both existed together?", I have a ghost ship called "The Terríyom", based off my attempt of an "Obscure Sorrow" i had created a few years before hand. It's half Portuguese and half Hebrew and translates "terrible day" and means roughly "The feeling of resignation that this day will not get better"
>>23467827NTA, but I’ll take your word for it.
>>23400937I'm doing a story where a divine war has spilled over into the mortal realms, what are some good angel names for both genders?
When old and ancient societies imagined their gods and pantheons, they didn't imagine them as ancient and primitive to them, their gods were contemporary and used the latest technology at the time like swords and helmets, they were modern and up to dateMy point is that any modern society that continues the religions of old should update their gods as well, if the setting has guns then the gods would use guns as well
What would be a catchy title for the ruler of a galactic empire? "Emperor" is kind of worn and lame. I thought about "Star King", but that feels small too. We're talking about a universal sovereign whom thousands of kings and emperors call lord.On a related note, I'm also trying to come up with a solid name for the empire's elite warriors. I thought about "godknights" since they might as well be demigods by human standards, but does that sound too campy? I dislike completely made-up terms.
>>23470111Using Greek-derived terms is a classic move. You could probably get away with reusing 'Hegemon', but not 'Autarch'. Have a browse through https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_bureaucracy_and_aristocracy and see if any of those take your fancy. 'Autocrat' could be a good one, or you could change it to 'Cosmocrat'.Same thing for the elite troops. 'Spatharios', 'Vestarch', 'Kavalarios', all possible inspirations.
>>23470975I might as well start making up some bullshit then, because no modern reader has any idea what those words mean
>>23469935Gods in the modern sense are aliens, not gods, to many. It eventually becomes a battle of opinion.
Can my dragons have feathers like dinosaurs?
I'm not really good at creating monsters, but I thought I'd try making a simple one.It's called a "Coughing Forge", and it would be said the same way if you're referencing multiple "Coughing Forge".These monsters live in particular regions. They live only on the dividing points of flat grasslands and barren land that are being overcome by fire. They can be found just at the edge of hot regions, just outside of grasslands but can be rarely spoted on the other side.The monster itself is nothing more then a head, though it is large and can measure 4.8ft - 7.0ft. It has green skin, always seeming to have an aged complexion. They have firey eyes and mouth of hard black teeth with sharp canines that could go straight through a torso. The jaw leads to the "inner mouth". It is a glowing pit of fire and saliva that is flows so hot and in such quantity, it might as well be considered lava.It may only be a head, but if you plan on fighting it you should be prepared. They are dormant creatures, but have keen sensetivity to ground vibrations and can easily awaken from a dropped item. They also have short tempers and will attack any person, animal, or even other monster if they are spotted nearby. As soon as the monster is struck and alerted, it will continously begin coughing plumes of black ashen smoke and ambers that quickly cover a large area. This is obviously dangerous because you wont be able to see but also your breathing. The Coughing Forge signature attack is an absurd and ruthless, scorching pierce with it's fully shapable hot liquid slime that seems to sometimes take on the form of a tounge. It can extend out this slime to precisely strike those making vibrationts on the ground. For fliers it has sometimes been seen growing extremly frusterated to the point that it has brutal large random attacks towards the air. It's slime becomes almost like a tree of weapons, made even more dangerous by the fact that the slime is quick. The liquid is able to make it's attacks quickly, able to extend, and retract like a snake. There aren't many of them that roam around the areas they live, and they are dormant, so most don't think of them as much of a threat since they are easily avoidable, but more locale think differently. In some towns near the wastelands there are people who believe them to be a sort of plague fiend. They have stories that tell of times in the future when there will be more of them. That their purpose is to spread the influence of evil fire gods by expanding their territory. They speak of times when heat and ambers will kill off the green lands. This is at least what they fear will happen.
>>23471200they don't necessarily have to be familiar with the title to understand what it means, context and all that jazz
>>23469922Depends on how biblical you want to get. whatever-el is the common Hebrew construct for angel names, with el essentially translating to "of God". You have your Rafaels, Gabriels, Michaels etc. A few vowels and el and you have your biblical-sounding angel name.
>>23471422Not 'too' Biblical, but I do want my names to seem at least somewhat like those/be meaningful.
>>23471869given it's a holy war could pluck some Valkyrie names as well and also do the hebrew construct >>23471422 mentions as well, such as maybe Geirskögueli.e. mix and match from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_angels_in_theologyand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_valkyrie_namesand season/bastardized as your prerogative
>>23471390As said, I just detest that jedi, sith, sardaukar, muad'dib word salad. Even if it's scifi/fantasy, I want to communicate effectively in English.
>>23470111The Sovereign Absolute
>>23412215>Mance O'NecronellPowerful name huh?
>>23473357Just because you don’t know the language these words are inspired by doesn’t mean that they’re any more made up than fucking “godknight” lmao.
>>23473357As much as I hate dumb made up words, Jedi and Sith are Kino.
>>23400939>What languages exist in your setting, and if any are original languages, how did you develop them?There are about 5 languages (Esquinian, Caisan, Oraican, Ancient tongue, Sialian), none fully developed.>How many artificial languages is too many, and besides Sindarin, what existing fictional languages would you look to?It depends. The artificial language shouldn't be much of the bulk of the text, anyways so as much as it's necessary.>Regarding names, what logic and resources do you use when coming up with names for individual intelligent beings, species, items, and more? And what are some things you’re looking for help with naming?I like to look at history and see how civilizations named themselves and their places. Their logic on how they would collectively agree on a name and all that. What I would like help naming, though, is civilizations or tribes naming themselves. Is there any historical documents on how people would agree on what their title was?
For any language bros out there. Can any of you give a QRD on how languages start to branch out? How do they even start and what influences does the outside world have on how a civilization comes up with their language?
>>23446769Ingalaterra
>>23474880A successful film series and worldwide cult following do lend a lot of weight to made-up words.
>>23446769Albion
>>23412215Claire Recolte.
