It’s Terror Time Again Edition Welcome to /wbg/, the official thread for the discussion of in-progress settings for traditional games.Here is where you go to present and develop the details of your worlds such as lore, factions, magic and ecosystems. 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 or post whatever relevant input you might have!Last thread: >>94141435Resources for Newfags: https://sites.google.com/view/wbgeneral/Worldbuilding links: https://pastebin.com/JNnj79S5https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/view/Eo+fK41FKVR7xDpbNO0a0N4k0YYxrmyrhX3VxnM14Ew/Fantasy map generator: https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generatorThread questions:>Since it’s almost Halloween, do you have it or an equivalent holiday in your world? And how do you modify the Holiday so it’s recognizable but not an exact copy?>If your setting has multiple realms, is there a time that the barriers between them weaken and things can slip through easier like Halloween is supposed to be, and what causes it if so?>What are the most horrifying and deadly creatures and monsters in your setting, and what makes them so fearsome? And how do you design your monsters, especially if you’re putting new twists on old archetypes? Not to mention how you define “monster”?>Finally, are there any races that are particularly feared by the others in your world, and if so why are they feared? How did you design them?Happy Halloween! All hail to the Pumpkin King!Bonus Question:>What Fall/Halloween-themed monsters exist in your world?
I'm working on a honeybee seed worldhttps://youtu.be/0_HwP-ePjdU
>>94286719In the same way all hallow's eve is spoooooky on account of being just before a holy celebration the Quorum handing out reprieve codes generates a similar (and much more warranted) unease the night before everyone collectively heaves a sigh of relief. Basically sans FTL travel, with a little FTL comms bandwidth and a whole lot of memetic expertise the best way for them to hold onto hegemony is "passive coercion". Technology is innately disparate and specialized so it's not too hard to guarantee that opting our of Quorum "patronage" means regression in that sense. Reprieve codes come into it because the Quorum "kindly" provides "cultural scaffolds" to prevent generation ship crews from going ape out of cabin fever, alongside "don't kill each other" the colonists are indoctrinated with subtle "bombs" which in the absence of semi-regular Reprieve will manifest as subtle mass psychosis.The Quorum uses rare, valuable ansible bandwidth to confer with local representatives. When satisfied that their interests are adequately represented they hand over the codes which delay cultural breakdown. This is done on a secret schedule but administrations make a point of yearly correspondence and distribution. They would never let slip that they hadn't been given the codes (panic would be a self-fulfilling prophesy) but in theory they could, as such the night before is a kind of Purge-lite as people preemptively freak out at the prospect of oncoming mass psychosis.Eventually a colony develops past the point of genships programming having much direct influence on them but by then they've risen through the pyramid scheme and are invested in the status quo. Reprieve announcements are more of a formality and the spooky prelude more of a quaint pass time than fearfully looking to the sword hung above.>>94287390Considering ants are basically wingless wasps you're gonna end up with a lot of interesting agriculture+ ventilation (perhaps with more wax among the concrete).
>>94287577>Considering ants are basically wingless wasps you're gonna end up with a lot of interesting agriculture+ ventilation (perhaps with more wax among the concrete).I figure either the loss of wings, or the loss of eusociality are racing a bit.
>>94287592Not necessarily. Eusociality wouldn't need to be lost at all and given its a seedworld where bees presumably make up a large share of "higher" life the sky's not the escape from scrumms on the ground it is irl. Lots of bees (often lone ones) burrow and given earth is an insulator some eusocial hive blade which learn to burrow to avoid winter all-but-the-queen die offs are well on their way to shedding wings except for dispersal breeders.
>>94287636while that is true, solitary bees are a very successful group in real life too, and I think there would be some species that converge on a solitary lifecycle.
>>94286719At a macro level >>94141836 are both the cornucopia of Clarketech which define the setting's "psychopunk" aesthetic and the horrors which have shaped how the hegemon of humanity (the Quorum) chose to warp the entire species. Their one commandment is "let no gods go unbound", it reflects their origin as the SCP crossed with mind-flensed refugees of a full-blown AI outbreak. Humanity would be extinct if not for the Insanity's propensity for eating itself having overcome its insidious conquest.The AI themselves are unknowable, their presence is more alike unto realities twisted in the vicinity of an Eldritch Force's influence.A good examples are the Soup Dragons, leftovers of the most successful AI outbreak which almost overran the Quorum. Souperb (tm) (later the Soupremacy) was a microbiome substrate hyperintelligence which did the bulk of its processing (and control exertion) through customer-thralls' guts. The Dragons are post-human amalgamations who act as local nodes of its distributed mind, these days they only contain meagre drama of their God but are formidable beasts all the same.https://youtu.be/SuEmD9WRKes?si=8ZznZfT_Mpf9Cl18
>>94286719OP this Halloween theme is going to outstay its welcome for more than two weeks. Don't force holidays into the OP.
>>94287686Undoubtedly, that said when it comes to "concrete" mounds and agriculture my money's on the eusocial ones. Common wasps are a minority of wasps in terms of blade number yet way more in terms of individuals. The beetle niche is a respectable one and with elytra for extra defense I could see carpenter bees getting there. Shame they've got those little warmup / gyroscope winglets... Maybe the thorax as a whole could expand into covers of a sort?
>>94287720>Shame they've got those little warmup / gyroscope winglets...are you talking about halteres? I thought these were synapomorphic of dipterans?
>>94287773Silly me, apparently they don't. It's actually the fore and hind wing joined into a "single" one. I think I misremembered bumblebees flexing wing muscles without actually moving them before takeoff to warm up and conflated their "single wing pair" with halteres. Guess elytra aren't so hard after all! The first solitary bee to reach that beetle niche is going to have a field day...
>>94287828very good point, although I wonder how many beetle niches would exist without certain other animals and plants to support them, for example cycad beetles and carrion beetles wouldn't exist without huge cycad flowers, and large dead animals respectively. The scarab group may have even evolved ancestrally from a carrion scavenging form, so I will have a lot of fun walking them toward those niches with the surrounding ecosystem adjustments. I only brought 8 plant species, so it is a bit restrictive at the start (thankfully), but I plan on bringing the diversity to a level where it would make sense for say, a hard shelled carrion bee, to evolve.
>>94287934They're almost the exception that proves the rule in that all those specialized morphs exist because the base beetle bauplan is so efficient that it's got everywhere allowing it to branch into all these other ludicrously narrow niches. A nice mix of durability, strength, mobility AND niche partitioning across lifespans (gotta love boring a grub into wood and flying away for it to chow down on cellulose which you can't anymore!). Anyway, best of luck to you. Sounds like a lot of fun.
>>94286719I’m working on a setting where the most being is a cosmic embodiment of madness and corruption. Desperate mages can use its energies to corrupt their magic, granting them increased power with their spells and making it easier to do things like use fire magic underwater, but unless one is VERY careful the entity can corrupt them and drive them mad, making them want to fulfill it’s incomprehensible goals. How could I improve on this concept, and what are some ways that I can show the effects of the corruption on spells besides just them being in weird colors and/or having more tentacles than normal?
I have so much shit to write about holy fuck
>>94287714Yeah but Halloween is the best holiday so it's fine
>>94289412OP is also going to force these "extended reminders" for Christmas and even Pride Month. He has been massively autistic about public holidays.
>>94287390Cool stuff
>>94288247>corruption on spells besides just them being in weird colors and/or having more tentacles than normal?add a snarling face to the spellsso for example, fireball. It explodes in an explosion shaped in an evil grin like picrel
I asked last thread, but I've been working more on writing that Asian inspired tribeI intended them to not wear body armour and to instead use magical paint to tattoo themselves, the paint is made from a flower on an island that is extremely deadly, so only their skilled soldiers get the tattoo put on themThing is I'm not sure what to call the process. I based it off the Elder Scroll's Nord racial ability "Woad", but obviously that wouldn't fit an Asian themed tribe. It's also meant to be a permanent tattoo as opposed to bodypaint.
>>94286719I'm gonna world build a steampunk horror setting for a novel
