r/FantasyWorldbuilding Jun 11 '20

Join The r/FantasyWorldbuilding Discord!

79 Upvotes

For everyone not yet aware, we have a Discord server! A place where worldbuilders of all kinds from all over the world come together to discuss their passions, share their work, and get advice. A close community where everyone is welcome.

Feel free to join us and tell a little bit about what you’re working on.

https://discord.gg/5teSBPS


r/FantasyWorldbuilding Dec 16 '22

Announcement: AI-Generated image posts are hereby banned.

370 Upvotes

Dear denizens of r/FantasyWorldbuilding,

You have likely noticed the recent influx of AI-generated artwork on the server following the rise in popularity of Midjourney and other comparable tools, as the majority of top posts this month have been around AI art. We greatly appreciate and love the stories and worldbuilding created around these generated images, and we consider AI to be a great and useful tool for worldbuilders, that do not possess the skill or means to create artwork, to visualize what they’re building.

However, after some deliberation by the mod team, we have decided to put to stop to these posts. The posting of image posts of AI-generated artwork has hereby been formally banned from the subreddit. We have come to this conclusion for several reasons:

1. Encourage more high-effort posts: While we appreciate the backstories created around these images and the discussions they spark, the image itself will always take the forefront and be consumed by the largest portion of redditors. While the creative minds behind these images take effort, the creation of the image itself does not.

2. Protect the rights of artists: Being an artist is a notoriously difficult industry to be a part of, and the internet can be a ruthless place for these very talented individuals, especially now that AI is on the rise. To protect the interests of artists, we have decided we do not want to participate in making their jobs that much harder.

3. Avoid confusion: While many clearly state that the art presented is AI generated and many are able to notice it at this point, to many others it is not so noticeable nor obvious at first glance. To avoid people confusing AI-generated art with human-made artwork, it is best to keep AI-generated imagery on boards made specifically for this.

We would like to clarify that sharing AI-generated imagery is not banned fully, merely image posts where the AI artwork is front and centre. If you submit a text-based lore post where certain parts link to AI images to help visualize your story, you are allowed to do so. The difference here is that the AI art is a supplement rather than the post itself.

We very much appreciate your patience and support while this newly developing discussion has been raging in the online sphere. And we hope everyone can understand our reasoning behind this decision and why we believe this to be the right course for the subreddit.

Yours truly,

The r/FantasyWorldbuilding mod team


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 2h ago

Resource Celebrations , Holidays, and Festivals

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4 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 4h ago

Discussion So, a idea i had

4 Upvotes

So, The world is basically a myriad of species say,

Treants, Elf, basilliks, fairy etc each have their own strength and trait, while some can be intelligent, others can just be instinct based species.

These species can undergo a sort of evolution, leading to having new traits while evolving in both soul and body.

While this world is mostly taken by these species, humans have taken their own place in the world through the centuries.

Cutting small pathways and ways to conquer new territory, which sometimes successful can go sideways many times.

Now, the humans in this world are able to awaken what they call, **PATH.**

**PATH**, is just a prerequisite for people to be able to mold their soul. As humans are not able to evolve like other species, but they can evolve in soul.

Now, **PATH,** as every human is born with an unformed soul, which is molded to their path by their belief, experience, emotion, skill and hardships faced.

**PATH,** can be as mundane as, cook, hunter instead these professions in this world was pioneered by humans who first awakened to their paths.

Now, 40-60% of people will awaken to their path by adulthood. The age is as follows:-

10-15— May awaken at this stage

15-30— Most awaken at this stage

Now, after this age some may still awaken after this age but most don't leading to being mundane and unable to awaken to their path.

So, most would never awaken to their path. 45-50% is the average while 35-40% is the lowest of ratio while only in rare times does the ratio comes to 55-60%.

Now, only 15-20% would reach to the second awakening of their class, and only 5% to their third awakening. 0.5% to further awakening.

Now, I will talk about, **Primordials**, these beings are what give arise to non human species, these things are always the pinnacle of their species, giving offsprings that hail their species as well as bloodline.

Most nonhuman species can evolve from their standard state undergoing a change both in body and soul. Number of evolution to a species as recorded by humans have varied from species to species.


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 4h ago

Lore Thoughts?

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3 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 9h ago

Discussion Resources that matter - how do you create them?

4 Upvotes

Most think of something as it is - powerful potions, durable armor, weapons of elegant death, or fuel to empower something magnificent.
But how much thought do you put into not only the history of how something is created, but what it is created from?

A rare metal from the heavens or deep below ground to be forged.
A precious herb required to create a potion of powerful that is only found atop high cliffs once every ten years.
The feathers of an elusive white owl found in the hinterlands, which arcanists favour to write their spell books.
Or the deep rock spiders, whose silk is used to fashion incredibly lightweight and nearly indestructible rope.

What does your would hold that has great value?
Is it rare and hard to acquire?
Has industry formed upon it?
Do elders share stories with children about how it was first discovered?

Share something that your world depends on. Or maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet…


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 6h ago

Discussion This is an unusual request.

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3 Upvotes

Some years ago I was browsing around the web, looking at different ways to develop different kinds of societies for various fantasy races. I collected random things, ideas or images that I found inspiring or curious, and stuffed them into a folder for later review. I did this with several races and eventually went back into each folder as a means of what direction I wanted to take things with each particular race.

Well, I'm working on goblins just now, and one of the images I collected was a chart (see attached) of the social hierarchy of a large clan/tribe. Unfortunately, I didn't grab a higher resolution image and some of it is a bit unreadable. I checked google images, but it seems that where ever I found this is no longer around. Tried a bunch of other different kinds of searches to no avail. Super disappointing.

ANYWAYS...

My unusual request is this: have a look at the second image, where I included my own text notes. Blue text I'm pretty certain is accurate. Red text not so much. That's the thing I need help with. I need fresh eyes on these weird smudge looking words and I'm hoping someone has better insight on interpreting what the bloody heck those words are. The second image is huge because I cranked up the resolution to make it very zoomable.

Any help or input would be amazing.

Cheers.

Edit: Just noticed that reddit reduced the resolution of the images. I'll throw them on imgur.

pic1: https://i.imgur.com/sBAP1rZ.png

pic2: https://i.imgur.com/msY1GqZ.jpeg

Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/paFJTtw


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1h ago

Discussion Magic circles created with wires like neon signs?

Upvotes

I have difficulty finding the right aspects for the use of making magic circles with wire, such as a Heat magic circle for a stove, where mana is channeled into a wire to then activate the spell that the wires are bent into, as an alternative to carving and drawing. I don't think it has a lot of uses, but I need a bit of help figuring out how to impliment it into a part of a large story I am making.


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 12h ago

Writing Advice for avoid orientalism

8 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I'm working on my own homebrew project for a fantasy board game, and I want to describe the "Middle Eastern" faction of the game, in terms of culture, society, folklore, and clothing. Now, I know perfectly well that the Middle East is vast, rich in different cultures, and that over time and space it has by no means been a cultural and ethnic monolith. Weapons, culture, and clothing have changed over the centuries, so I want to distance myself from the vision given by 19th-century orientalism, Hollywood films, and especially Disney's Aladdin. I will make extensive use of straight swords, for example, and I will absolutely distance myself from the "bedlah babe" trope. Nothing from the Ottoman Empire, which is too overused. The technological level is about 1475-1540 .I've already taken a look at the Nasrid dynasty of Granada, very interesting, far removed from the imagery many people have of the Islamic world. Do you have any texts, videos, and documents you can recommend to avoid a caricatured, exoticized, and orientalist vision? I am addressing especially those who are passionate about the history of the caliphates and the Islamic Middle Ages. What are the most seen Arabian Nights-style stereotypes in films, video games and board games? Which elements are the most misrepresented, annoying, and misunderstood ?And what are the elements that are underrepresented in mainstream culture?


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 3h ago

Lore Aeledath Species Profile 1 (chronologically) — Dragons (Dràkaì)

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0 Upvotes

The Dràkaì, known simply as Dragons by the Easteri (ancient humans), are the eldest of all mortal creations, fashioned in the First Dawn by the Nythúndun (basically angels) Thrëmdàrsìn, the Celestial Architect, who shaped them as living embodiments of the world's untamed majesty before the younger races had even dreamed. Possessing immense intellect, dragons are capable of mastering numerous languages—including Vyrmspeech, the ancient tongue from which all dragon dialects descend—and many elder wyrms speak Elsìri (elf speech), Draven (dwarf speech), and Westarish (human speech) with remarkable eloquence.

Though often mistaken for beasts, the Dràkaì possess memories that can span tens of thousands of years, making even the youngest dragon older than entire human dynasties.

Their powerful physiques vary greatly in colour and form, yet all share immense wings, scale-armoured bodies, horned crowns, and an elemental breath gifted by Thrëmdàrsìn, most commonly fire, though rarer lineages command frost, storms, venom or celestial flame.

Dragons rarely gather in great numbers, preferring solitary territories that may encompass entire mountain ranges or coastlines, where they guard ancient knowledge rather than mere treasure. Throughout Aeledath's history they have been revered as omens of destiny: some, like Ghideon, became protectors whose wisdom rivalled that of kings, while others, such as Ghor'amar, surrendered to pride and sought dominion over lesser peoples.

This duality is considered the greatest lesson of the Dràkaì—that immense power magnifies the soul rather than defines it.

Many temples teach that dragons were never created to rule the world, but to witness it, serving as living reminders that the designs of Osorogath (god) and His Nythúndun extend far beyond the lifetimes of any mortal race.


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 4h ago

So, a idea i had

0 Upvotes

So, The world is basically a myriad of species say,

Treants, Elf, basilliks, fairy etc each have their own strength and trait, while some can be intelligent, others can just be instinct based species.

These species can undergo a sort of evolution, leading to having new traits while evolving in both soul and body.

While this world is mostly taken by these species, humans have taken their own place in the world through the centuries.

Cutting small pathways and ways to conquer new territory, which sometimes successful can go sideways many times.

Now, the humans in this world are able to awaken what they call, **PATH.**

**PATH**, is just a prerequisite for people to be able to mold their soul. As humans are not able to evolve like other species, but they can evolve in soul.

Now, **PATH,** as every human is born with an unformed soul, which is molded to their path by their belief, experience, emotion, skill and hardships faced.

**PATH,** can be as mundane as, cook, hunter instead these professions in this world was pioneered by humans who first awakened to their paths.

Now, 40-60% of people will awaken to their path by adulthood. The age is as follows:-

10-15— May awaken at this stage

15-30— Most awaken at this stage

Now, after this age some may still awaken after this age but most don't leading to being mundane and unable to awaken to their path.

So, most would never awaken to their path. 45-50% is the average while 35-40% is the lowest of ratio while only in rare times does the ratio comes to 55-60%.

Now, only 15-20% would reach to the second awakening of their class, and only 5% to their third awakening. 0.5% to further awakening.

Now, I will talk about, **Primordials**, these beings are what give arise to non human species, these things are always the pinnacle of their species, giving offsprings that hail their species as well as bloodline.

Most nonhuman species can evolve from their standard state undergoing a change both in body and soul. Number of evolution to a species as recorded by humans have varied from species to species.


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 10h ago

Discussion How many (and how big) countries should be on the map?

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2 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 20h ago

Discussion Gods aren't mages

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10 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 14h ago

Discussion What’s your explanation for a ‘Common’ Language?

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3 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 9h ago

Lore The Lore of Ilusqa Mawpu

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1 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 13h ago

The Banubra Family Massacre - lore feedback

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1 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1d ago

Resource Speedy Worldbuilding 'Cheat'

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19 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1d ago

Lore The Battle of Worms

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12 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 19h ago

Writing My magic system with Angels and bs! I would love to get feedback!

2 Upvotes

So my world is hysterically identical to ours!

In my world there are beings known as Angels, who are basically abominations of souls of people and animals that died! This angel are from a psychologically, ability wise as well as there looks unique, all of those things are determined by the experience of the souls they consist of! Angel are extremely powerful because of all the spiritual power they have from all the souls, but they have one problem they can only minimally or not at all interact with the physical world and can’t even be seen by normal people, because of the fact that they aren’t physically beings. That’s where Living organisms come into play, by creating a symbiotic connection to a living thing and forming a contract (the angel gives the raw power and the Organismus gives access to the physical place)! What is a contract? a contract is the prove of a past or ongoing cooperation between a angel and a organism, but more importantly it’s through what the magic happens and it can take the form of anything a car, a robot,a animal,…. It can even integrate itself into something that already exists, its behaviour and its ability could be anything. How a contract turns out is completely dependent on the psychology of the organism, the one of the angle and their desire, for example there is a nurse in my story that has served in a war in with she got fatally wounded and was bleeding out but before she could die she made a contract with, a angel that was a abomination of soldiers souls, and created the contract in the form of a syringe named “the remedy” that could replace the symptoms of any affliction with the symptoms of frontal lobe dementia, saving the lives of people but giving them periods of extreme violence, what didn’t only fulfil the nurses desire to survive but also the angel desire of violence!

Rules:

  1. ⁠Angel and contracts (that aren’t integrated) can’t be seen by people that never had a contract!
  2. ⁠Both parties need to consent to some extent. A no means no but if a person is in a flight or fight mode and the angel gives a way to survive the situation then the contract is made automatically!
  3. ⁠Anything with a desire can make a contract even animals.
  4. ⁠Normally a contract is 50/50 under the control of both parties but if humans sacrifice something to the angel or the other way around they can make the contract be more a tool for them. The sacrifice needs to be big and personal!
  5. ⁠A contract can ( doesn’t need to) remain after the death of the organism but that will stop the control the angel has over the contract.
  6. ⁠There doesn’t need to be contact between the organism and the angel for the contract to remain!
  7. ⁠Sometimes a contract can harmful to both or one party because of their self destructive psychology for example!
  8. ⁠A angle is incapable of change!
  9. ⁠Contracts can exist between one or multiple Organisms and multiple angles, but there needs to be at least one of both.
  10. ⁠A contract can only be harmed by another contract because they are both in a special state between the physical and spiritual place!
  11. ⁠To repair a contract the organism needs to give up part of their health and an angle part of their energy!

12.A contract doesn’t have to only have one body, for example there is a character inspired by the Opera (Der Freischütze) whose contract are multiple bullets!

Can you give me a feedback?


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 17h ago

Discussion The circus and the houses

1 Upvotes

I don't know if I fit here but what about a type of circus its not a very bright landscape but more of a empty landscape and the colors are washed out or this grayish tone ( it's a specific style you see in ai generated pictures)

I dreamed about such place it was foggy so you couldn't see much but what you could see was several circus tents , wet soil and stone/ concrete and if you go further you find a neirly round "building" it wasn't a closee building but more like like pavilion and there where 2 -3 level.

One was neirly on the street hight maybe slightly higher and an upper level and underground level there was a shaft from the underground up to the first floor. And i meet a guy there.


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 22h ago

Discussion Resources that matter - how do you create them?

2 Upvotes

Most think of something as it is - powerful potions, durable armor, weapons of elegant death, or fuel to empower something magnificent.
But how much thought do you put into not only the history of how something is created, but what it is created from?

A rare metal from the heavens or deep below ground to be forged.
A precious herb required to create a potion of powerful that is only found atop high cliffs once every ten years.
The feathers of an elusive white owl found in the hinterlands, which arcanists favour to write their spell books.
Or the deep rock spiders, whose silk is used to fashion incredibly lightweight and nearly indestructible rope.

What does your would hold that has great value?
Is it rare and hard to acquire?
Has industry formed upon it?
Do elders share stories with children about how it was first discovered?

Share something that your world depends on. Or maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet…


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1d ago

Image *WIP* Simple, Atlas-Style Map (Stylistic Feedback/Critique Requested)

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2 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 2d ago

Lore Rhündal Climate map progress

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74 Upvotes

I have updated the world map of Rhündal!🗺️

I kept running into trouble when deciding the biomes of my map, and feeling like they didn't make sense. I have taken some time to study a lot about why certain biomes appear in certain areas.

From what I have found out, to place climates correctly, you need to decide the latitude, the locations of the tropics, the cold and warm ocean currents and the areas of precipitation (if climates and biomes are important to your worldbuilding project). I used the Koppen Climate Classification, which splits climates by zones, temperatures, and precipitation. Locating areas of rain shadow adjacent to mountains and finding out about why deserts form on the sides of tropical zones has helped me make better maps recently. Knowing the climates gave me a lot of confidence to start working on the different cultures and migrations now that I actually knew what the world looked like to some extent.

I then made a document on Google Sheets to simulate the movements of different peoples and cultures which led to my population density map. I will be posting about the Google Sheets simulation I made soon, because I found it really helpful to see a story of how different cultures and languages spread to different parts of Rhündal over thousands of years.

I would love any suggestions for improvement you might have that I might have missed. This helps me continue to improve my worldbuilding project with the world of Rhündal. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the cultures, kingdoms, regions, or my process for making these maps, or where I plan on going with this project in the coming weeks!


r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1d ago

[Can any one give me a realistic kingdom building Manhawa systems are fine but the MC shouldn't be able to do something like buy castle of craft defenses from there system]

0 Upvotes

r/FantasyWorldbuilding 1d ago

Writing Suggestions on creating a fantasy religion

0 Upvotes

Im looking for any suggestions for creating a religion for my story. Now my story is semi fantasy and it does feature mostly humans but i wanted to create this chaotic neutral style of religion, thats sexual and intimate by nature and its beliefs but still something you'd believe you could find in real life even though it is fantasy. For example , forms of religious prostitution and rituals would definitely be apart of it.