First off, I have to say, I am not a big world builder. I almost never start off by designing a world - for me, the world is a prop in which to tell my story. So I come up with vague concepts and flesh it out as I write. If I need a new location, e.g. for the characters to go to, I create it in prose, then, if I want to make a map afterwards, I can put it in an appropriate place. I do have a generic fantasy world where I set some stories, but it's not one I use too often. It's awfully well developed, with a map and everything. Anyway, the setting for my novel is thusly: The world is being overrun by a force called "The Corruption". This infects living things, either killing them or mutating them into something horrible and nasty. The Corruption doesn't kill immediately, but prolonged exposure will cause irreversible damage. People live in pockets that are free from Corruption, known as "domains". Each domain is ruled by a lord who maintains a barrier which keeps the Corruption at bay. The barrier is created by the domain's totem artifact and powered by the lord's personal spiritual power. The stronger the lord, the larger the domain. A lord can be deposed and his domain conquered by acquiring the totem. Lords use titles related to protection (e.g. "Warder"). Each domain is dominated by one clan, who have an affinity for one particular element. Most people, if they learn how, can channel that element but the degree of competence varies. Elements are invoked through songs and words of power. While a very powerful fire-user could throw a fireball, most "normal" people would only be able to use it to light cooking fires, keep themselves warm, etc. Some people - the lazy, the ones who simply have no talent for it, can't do it at all. There's no well-defined mana system or method of invocation. Each persons magical ability is determined by their plot-strength. The world is ruled by the tyrannical Guardian who has systematically been eliminated the other lords who oppose him. That's what I have so far. I'm jumping around in the writing at the moment so things get developed unevenly. I've shown you mine now you show me yours!
I have the opposite approach, using characters as a means to explore culture, landscapes, and technology in the fictional world. Worldbuilding has been an escapist pastime of mine for the past few years, and I hope to apply it to a multimedia project eventually. My main IP is set in the 23rd century, after a non-apocalyptic WW3 between China and the united countries of North America. Resource conflicts on Earth are put aside in the rush to colonize a newly discovered exoplanet. A major focus of the exoplanet is the interactions between the settlers (and natives). Pilgrims, interplanetary corporations, aliens, etc. I make up the technology and culture as I go, but I try to edge closer to real world concepts or just straight throw in pieces of reality that I find interesting. There are no handheld plasma weapons, casual space travel, or superpowers. The softest sci-fi concepts are living architecture and sentient ecosystems of precursor origin.
Kind of a similar start with mine. But they really begin to branch off. In mine, there is a third world war, or some huge war, not entirely sure yet which it is. It takes place around the late twenty twenties, early twenty thirties. Then, as I'm sure some people on here probably know from my previous posts, a new/third party takes control during the election that year and overruns the current U.S. government and creates a Junta. They redo everything, like the Constitution and things like that. They remove the states and put up districts, each one assigned an Overseer and named after said Overseer, there's ten of them. During all this, of course, people begin to fight back, as they should. But let's be honest, civilians with guns are bound to lose against a national military. So they do. That's the second civil war of sorts. The Junta rules for a few decades and then collapses. The story begins here. The man who played a key role in taking them down acts as a sort of modern George Washington and tries to build off of the old U.S. government to create his ideal America, which is pretty good. But he mas resistance from some other guy, and then a second guy later on. It's basically a non-stop, war torn-ish, United States in the 2070s.
In mine, it’s ruled by the Children of the Void. The setting is in the Southern Hemisphere of the planet. The main inhabitants are the First People, who are blessed with immortality and great power. Void Almighty One, from whence all comes. Xiquilion Great Lords of might. Rare, and born of the Void. Each rules a particular aspect of reality. Some include: Aurion Olirion Galagorion Maliar Malian Surkali Kalosian Unmaker Zurajiakar Servants of the Xiquilion. They are made to serve and aid their masters. Yiquialia Lesser Spirits, servants of the Zurajiakar. Uncounted in their numbers. The Eclipse Lord Aurion is different from His brethren: he wants to be alone. He created the Sun, but the others stole it. He’s quite upset, and vows to take revenge. He’s not evil, but He’s not nice either. Some important beings include the Dragons, fiery Yiquialia incarnate within reptilian forms, Weirwolves, Moon-Spirits trapped in wolf-shape, and the Unmaker, a being who delights in failure, corruption and death. It brings ending, destruction and silence. Armies go astray, kings fall from their thrones, and growth ceases as dead things walk.
My story takes place in the world of Sekai, occupied by humans and demons. Like Earth it is mostly water, with five continents. These continents are Nishi, Minami, Higashi, Kita and Chuuou. Humans inhabits most of the land, with Chuuou being the demons only stronghold. The humans are ruled by four gods and the demons by four demon kings. Or, there are five demon kings but the fifth is still shrouded in mystery having taken the throne only two years prior to the start of the story. And there also exist a legend telling about the coming of a fifth god. Both humans and demons are born with one element that they can create and manipulate. Most get air, fire, earth or water but other elements do happen. The most uncommon element of them all is Void - there are yet to be any recorded person born with this element at the start of the story. Among animals found in real life there also exists dragons, phoenixes and gryphons.
My setting has phases, I guess. The world of 2021-2023 that the careless boomers and entitled millennials have brought us to. Then the world of chaos during The Strike, in which all of our achievements contribute to our teetering brink of extinction. A disaster is not instantaneous, especially for the fortunate mangled, but it has an expiration date of 21-30 days (starvation). Here, any decisions made have a formulaic fatality percentage. Beyond that is a flattened world of resources, labor and will, where the currency of the realm is time. If you are alive at this point, you are absolutely aware that you will sacrifice your perceptions, expectations, and entitlements or you will die as you watch the last children of humanity die. Nature itself now judges you harshly for bad decisions or bad attitudes. We are all heroes, and sacrifice or die for only a generation to create a thriving future, or we are all the enemy and suffer a thousand years of darkness before dying out forever. Our hope is answered by a powerful guardian, Seeker, a reluctant leader, Truman Jefferson Brady, and a small host of incredible automatons. Newsflash - we are not stupid. If you are among the small percentage alive at this point, you are a hero! The enemy has extinguished themselves by now. Nature is once again a nurturing mother, but not a tolerant or forgiving one. Now it's time to have some fun!
It's sort of a generic fantasy world. I have a vague idea that it's actually on some "undiscovered continent" on Earth, because the dominant religion throughout most the continent is Roman Catholicism due to the efforts of French Jesuits, and certain countries have a relatively close relationship with France. French is used as a lingua franca in certain parts; but at the same time, this world operates quite outside of any European country's sphere of influence. Society is generally feudal in structure, although somewhat less hierarchical than in medieval Europe. There's an empire, the Empire of Snooke, with hegemony over the world-island (or whatever it's called). The main action centers on the independence movement in Marmotland, a small country to the north inhabited by Marmot-Men: people whose mascot, essentially, is the marmot. They got the name because of a race of extremely wise, large (perhaps the size of a bear), sapient, nearly immortal marmots (called the Great Marmots) that dwell in the mountainous regions of Marmotland. They speak an ancient ceremonial tongue, and they give council only to the high king of Marmotland. Since there has not been one of these for over a hundred years, the Great Marmots have sequestered themselves in their caves, speaking to no one but themselves. Hard times have fallen upon Marmotland, and the people are crushed under the Snookie boot. Beyond the Goblin Mountains to the east, Goblins ride the great plains. Their steeds are large, aggressive goats, and they wear Phrygian caps. They are nomadic cattle herders with a very hierarchiacal tribal societal structure. Their tribes generally have councils of old women who elect the warchiefs, known as hobgoblins. They are pagan, and practice blood sacrifice in their sacred groves. They are green but yellow with age, and possess very advanced metallurgical techniques. This is a trait possessed in even a greater degree by their cousins, the forest goblins. These are very talented tinkers, traveling the forests and coasts of the western regions in little colorful wagons. They are smaller, on average, and Catholic, and if they ever are inclined to dwell somewhere permanently, they prefer to do so in tree dwellings. They are very fond of trees and love to climb them, nearly rivaling apes in their proclivity for the upper canopy in moments of leisure. The plains goblins have at various points attempted to unite under a high king, but they are a fractious bunch and these efforts are rarely successful. A religious military order, the Order of the Knights of the Holy Rood, has for many centuries stood against the plains goblin onslaught. They were once an independently funded organization, subject only to the Pope, but the Snookie Directory (a shadowy body of government) has slowly usurped control of the purse strings, and they have been nearly reduced to just another arm of the Snookie police state. There are those in the order, among them the Grandmaster, who chafe at this subservience.
'*snip*'? You have no idea! Brady gets to walk through a classified recording of the 'lucky people' getting cheese-gratered by the projectiles, then scraped from existence by the storm of debris! I'm e-vil.
Here’s a new Dawn of Worlds campaign I’m playing. Still starting, but fun! The World of Covidius is ruled by multiple races. The Hellfire Alfr are master smiths, and a preeminent naval power. They are ruled by the Sunfire Dragon, an Avatar of the god of Fire, Destruction and Craftsmanship known as Aurion, and live in the Hellfire Mountains. The Snow Elves are beholden to Coronia, Goddess of Snow and Sun. They dwell in the Sun Mountains, and in the palace of Winterfall. The Dwarves live in the two concentric, mountainous walls of a northern island. They worship the God of War, and are guided on their ruinous course by the lunatic Triad (three giants). The Chosen (as they call themselves) are the most beautiful of the races. Strikingly beautiful and horny, they plan to voyage up the Coral River to ‘meet’ the Snow Elves. Dwelling in the port of Los Vegas and the Stinking Swamp, they have access to the greatest wealth of gold in the world. They worship the God of the Sea, Aquaron.
Currently, I'm writing a story in a world where there are four kingdoms, one for each of fire, water, earth, and air. People born in a kingdom can manipulate the respective element. A hidden fifth kingdom, one of dark matter, or quite possibly, energy, has been discovered. The kingdom breeds a strange race of people. They can manipulate energy, which is to say, all the elements. This poses a threat to the other kingdoms as they can control all the other kingdoms. The people from the energy kingdom were actually exiled by their ancestors because they could control any element. The present rulers of the four kingdoms are unaware of the history of the fifth kingdom. The kingdoms contain animals as well as people, which are classified according to the closest element. Fire for dragons, griffins, and phoenixes, water for selkies, sirens, krakens, and other sea monsters, air for birds or winged creatures, earth for centaurs, and dryads, etc. Creatures that were not classified by element dwelt in the dark kingdom.
In my world, it is a standard "medieval" fare. Except all that stuff about Hell, demons, witches? It is real. Most of it is limited to Hell, but in this world influence of Heaven and Hell changes cyclically. When Hell dominates, demons can pass into real world and corruptive energies cause appearance of stuff such as walking skeletons, undead armies, witches and warlocks. And Baba Yaga, but she's always around.
I'm a massive fan of fantasy horror stories set in medieval - flintlock eras. Unfortunately for me they aren't as easy to find as one might imagine.
My main WIP is a time travel story set (primarily) in Croatia. It starts in 2285, where just over a hundred years prior, a great world war (referred to as The Last War) nearly ended everything. Leading up to the war was a world wrecked by climate change and global famine, followed by discovery of genetic manipulation that allowed people to live very long lives, available, of course, only to the very wealthy. A monetary gap is one thing, but extended life for a select few was a spark in tinder. The treaty that ended the war included provisions that said life-extending technologies were outlawed. People with the genetics were grandfathered in, but providing it to people was the only crime that came with a death sentence. Out of the war, seven confederacies were created, with the United Democratic Nations (UDN) being the largest. It's basically the EU, but add Canada, Washington, Oregon, California, New York, and New England, then over time throw in a few others such as Australia and India. In the war, China and Russia (the New Russian Federation) slugged it out hard, and they're both still licking their wounds. The Arabian League is surviving well on solar power exports (oil mining is banned) and accumulated wealth; the African Federation has mines and farmland; Latin America is loosely united, but it struggles with stability; and then there's Real America, the nickname for the once world-dominant power that has fallen from grace and wallows in its own mire. Out on a picnic, our two MCs, a young couple in the throes of early romance, adventure into a cave and find themselves thrown back in time to 1381 without any resources to speak of. They have to figure it out together, try to get home, and try not to be exposed for who they are.
A little something I was writing. In the beginning, there was null and void. And then there was light. In that very instant, there was darkness as well. The light and dark had a child, and its name was Chaos. Chaos birthed the Primordials, titanic things in man’s shape. They bred, and grew, and ate the salty rime upon the sea of Chaos. Above, there was only icy void. Below, there was only boiling seas. Between was Chaos, formless and misty. Then, in the empty wastes, a man was born of Tain. Tain was a Primordial, the least and most human of all. This child was named Bar, and he was the first god. Bar made a pact with the Spirit of Light, a terrible pact of blood and pain, and he got a wife, named Bala. Then he broke the ceiling of ice and cold, shattering the rime of the sea. Great glaciers fell, crushing and slashing the Primordials, and from the deeps the boiling waters drowned nearly all of them. A few escaped, and fled to unknown reaches. From the frothing, steaming deeps, and the briny blood of the Primordials, the Wyrms were birthed. From the monstrous corpses, the earth was made. The sky was made of a tent of Primordial skin, the Sun and Moon an orb of flame and ice respectively. The mountains are the sign of the Wyrms, burrowing through the rot and bones. The seas are the diluted blood of the Primordials, and the continents and islands are their bones and flesh. The god Bar had a son with Bala, and a daughter, and many others. This son was Gerr, and he married Alia, his sister. Gerr was declared the king of the gods, after he slit his father’s throat. He was not the wisest or strongest god, but he was a strong ruler. Gerr was cruel though, and enforced justice with an iron fist. His nephew, Beri, conspired to slay him. When Gerr was searching for a place to piss in a cave, Beri tripped him into a vat of milk, drowning him. Then he took his place as king of gods. *** Of Men Beri was walking on the stony shore of the outermost oceans, thinking of the earth. Animals walked it, born of the Primordial Calia, but none had true reason. Nothing like a god. He thought, and he realized. The king of the gods took a knife, and slashed off his left hand. Blood, the golden blood of gods and Primordials, flowed fast and hot from his veins. With his right hand, he molded and shaped his severed hand. At last, paid with blood, was two humans. Male and female he made them, and paid a grievous price. The man was named Tham, the woman named Malta. They lived in the land of Edor, in the warm south. They had sons, and daughters, and from them every person on the earth sprung. *** As well, there were Light Alfr. They were beautiful, but their beauty was cold as the stars in the vaulted expanse of the heavens. Their cousins, the Dark Alfr, dwell in the earth. They are superb craftsmen, and friends of men. The Light Alfr are fearsome, and hostile. In the East were the Were-Wyrms. They were born of Wyrms and Men, an unholy breed, strong and proud. They were shapeshifters, one moment a man, the next a wyrm. *** Of the Children of Beri Beri wed thrice: to the goddess Walis, to the mortal Raesa, and to the Primordial Calia. From the first marriage came Bora, Gorn, and Baelior. From the second came Gorya, Ulf, and Wulf. From the third came Talio, Lumina, and Kalios. And of these, the most beautiful, the greatest, was Lumina. He seemed filled with light, pale as the moon, with hair white as snow. His eyes were purple, as all god’s eyes are, but dark and vibrant. He was strong as a Primordial, but graceful as a god. There was none who did not love him. None, save his half-brother, Baelior. But naught would occur for many years. ***
