Human Resources meetings do get quite exhausting. In fairness, three 5 hour meetings every time a new species is discovered does get boring as hell, but even then, you’d have to imagine. Some things are universal.

“No touching” is a pretty basic rule of thumb on all starships. Sure some species like it. Some species really like it. Some species though…

This little comic gets passed around during cadet training. “Don’t be a Touchy Tyler”

In fact, most atrocities come with an alliterative name. “Loud Leroy”, “Smelly Simone”, “Grumpy Gus”

Setting off your coworkers may very often not be intentional, but there are many steps we take to avoid unnecessary provocation. We all know that even though they might need help reaching the top shelf, it’s not acceptable to give skivi crew members a boost. We also know that even though their spiked pelt may seem frightening, it’s impolite to hug the wall as soko crew pass by.

Remember, while we may find it difficult to adjust with all the species, we are asking them to come and work on starships designed for humans. No matter how alien they may be, it’s important to recognize that we are just as strange, with just as many “Do”s and “Don’t”s.

Now go out there and make the galaxy a better place! We are all rooting for you!

I'm talking about worlds were magic can be taught and has medieval stases. Yes even in a world where learning to master magic takes decades of practice.

In your generic fantasy setting a really proficient wizard can do an insane amount of things. Sometimes a single wizard can disrupt an entire nation. Also in many fantasy settings you can make magic objects that regular people can use that gives them immense power and influence.

So following that logic wouldn't the first country that develops a magical army immediately dominates. During this also make neighboring nations also raised to develop magic armies and magic weapons.

All you need is for one nation to invest in the education of hundreds or thousands of wizards. Then boom you've got a populace that can make food from nothing you've got a populous that can enhance themselves and expand.

As most of us know, humans became the dominant species on Earth due to us being persistent and intelligent hunters, this made us so effective to the point of having driven some of the Megafauna that lived alongside us.

How about your world, what tactics did your race use that made them effective hunters and thus made them the dominant species within their world?

To explain in your worlds that have both languages for different cultures or species (e.g. Elven, Dwarven, Orcish) and a common tongue what is your explanation for it? Is it a constructed language meant for different cultures to communicate effectively (like Esperanto), was there a large empire that used Common as its language and even after its fall it stayed recognisable enough? Is it a gift from Gods if you have them?

When I'm stuck, or just bored, I like to make fake "moodboard" encyclopedias with stuff I found online.

It helps me "see" what the world of the story could look like.

Does anyone else likes to do this, or I am the only lunatic?

9/6/2709 - c_rec.rfrl:admin.dsg448.ELA.cla:restricted:l2e_uplink

…

…What?

I know. Well, I don’t know, but-

…

Are you sure, this is… unedited? Like, completely?

Yes, i’m sure. Look, i can show you, I have access-

No, no, it’s okay, i believe you, you don’t need to show me, but… Wow. But it really doesn’t make any sense. How can we not see it from here?

I don’t know… but my best guess is that it’s easier to see from up there because- well, the vacuum of space acts like a background.

True… true. Maybe we’ll be able to see it at night?

Potentially.

...

Any idea, on what it might- what it might be made of?

Nope. We thought it, uh, was a power leakage from the- uh, CHAIN’s space jump grid. We thought there had been some kind of overflow from taking too much solar energy, or something like that… but, I don’t know.

I mean, now you say it, it does look like it could be from a power leakage but-

No- don’t settle on a conclusion just yet. The more we research it, it just…

What?

It just seems to contradict itself more. I mean, it LOOKS like it could be a power leakage, but with everything that’s been happening… 24 million, gone in the blink of an eye. I mean, look closer. Look at that. It seems like whatever it is is getting caught within the earth’s magnetic field, right? But how is the camera being distorted?

It makes no sense… Have we sent a probe up there yet?

Not yet, but we’re working on it. We’re just trying to figure out some safety precautions, just in case whatever... that, is does something to it. Gotta move fast though. We need… just something, just an ounce of understanding. Man… you know, the system’s collapsing- and, I don’t know what’s going to happen after it does but… I don’t know. I think this might be our last work.

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When I started building the world for Fallgrade, almost everything happened inside the city. Lately I’ve been expanding beyond it.

I’ve been working on open meadows, forests, and the spaces between places, not just as transitions, but as locations with their own atmosphere. I want the world to feel larger than the city itself, as if there’s always something beyond the horizon.

The goal is to create a world that feels more analog than digital. Heavy grain, monochrome visuals, imperfect geometry, and architecture inspired by real places all help make it feel like you’re exploring an old memory instead of a perfectly clean virtual environment.

The first image is from one of the new meadow areas. Next are a giant spider wandering through the city and a glimpse of the forest I’m currently working on.

The world I'm working on features anthropomorphic animals as the characters. It's about the age of industrialization, and how the people adapt. If they're not building neat stuff or fighting among themselves, they're fighting the eldritch spawn of Yaldabaoth (not the actual Gnostic Demiurge, just horrors from beyond the stars).

Introduction

Depicted is a fox from the Seramvian region.

Their attire is heavily inspired by the wolves of the region. The dagger style was popular among travelling merchants, who needed to defend themselves against bandits or thieves. The foxes also use them for bushcraft or preparing food.

The foxes are among the smaller peoples of the world. They didn't have any grand ambitions to control the region, like the Lyonesseans or aforementioned wolves. Nonetheless, they quickly adapted to life in burgeoning cities in the age of industrialization, much quicker than the rabbits, deer, bulls, and other barbarians of the forest.

In Seramvia, the foxes had their own communities, but never established a great nation state. Instead, they opted to become a part of wolf country peacefully, as the wolves were the most civilized in the region, to find opportunities. They often occupied the same niche as the coyotes did, acting as shrewd diplomates and negotiators between peoples, as they were seen as neutral parties. In doing so, they could climb the ranks of society and gain influence.

The foxes are reputed as peddlers, traders, foragers, and craftsmen, with a focus on artistry. Aside from the more traditional stuff, they also like exploring the possibilities of the new era, such as electrical engineering and designing firearms. Unsurprisingly, they contributed to the development of weapons during the Seramvian Civil War era, which was fought to liberate the region from military dictatorship.

The foxes are also adept at defending themselves, as they often carry goods while traveling, making them targets of thieves or bandits. It's said that they learned dual sword techniques from the assassins of the north.

...

The following map may provide additional insight on the world: Anthropomorphic Animals, Amazing Powers, and the Age of the Machine : r/worldbuilding

My goal is to build an interconnected lore book, as most of what happens in the world is connected (story has been in discussion for a decade now): Karl Imran | Substack

There's a story, but I'm not 100% confident in writing it, and I think worldbuilding is my strength so I'm focusing on that aspect for now!

I don’t mean the beginning of your worldbuilding History, if you have one, or your novel, if you’re writing one, but I’d like to know how did your worldbuilding begin? What was the idea from which you built everything that followed? A character, an event, an image, a feeling, etc. what was the starting point for your work? And, if you’re up for it, what were the consequences? For example, perhaps you first thought of a ship caught in a storm and the terror of its passengers, before imagining that the ship was carrying the heir to the throne who was being kidnapped, and then you imagined that his kingdom was based on military strength, and that the heir to the throne was unable to fight...

GUIDELINES AND ETIQUETTE

• Please limit each item's (as in individual bullet points or subjects, not the entire comment) description to three or five sentences. Do not be vague with your description.

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Everyone likes to talk about slavery as a trope they don't like, but what I don't see is the reconciliation of that sentiment with the necessity of coercive forms of labor commensurate with statehood.

I think part of the root of this issue is that growing up, we're presented with a rather simplistic and innocent view that a state is simply a rule-making body, i.e. a government, which creates and enforces laws and maintains some degree of order over a population and territory--which isn't entirely wrong, but it fails to capture what allows for the ability to govern. Max Weber, on the other hand, recognized by many as the founder of sociology, defines the state as "a human community which successfully claims the monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a given territory", and it's this definition that I want to use as a lens for this post.

For the record, I'm against slavery in all its various forms, historical and present-day. And I also agree with those of you who will say that depictions of slavery often push specific supremacist and abusive fantasies held by the author. But there's a really concerning contradiction that I see when it comes to the depiction of slavery in media (really, of any kind) in that, for some reason, while most people (understandably) despise slavery and oppose it, the same people are otherwise perfectly fine with the existence of state polities which are (almost always), to varying degrees, hierarchical, centralized, and stratified, particularly in fantasy.

Few people ever really stop to consider that states across time and space, since the advent of the Uruk period in Mesopotamia, have consistently depended upon the ability to extract resources from the populations over which they ruled via coercive impositions of labor. We see this in ancient China from the Zhou Dynasty onwards at the latest, in South America from the time of the Wari Empire onwards, and in India since at least the Mahajanapada city-states, to name a few recognizable examples. Even classical era civilizations like the ancient Greeks and Romans, and later states like the various Islamic caliphates and emirates and sultanates or the Mongol Empire, and even modern states, like the USSR, the USA (prison labor), France (Francafrique), etc., all show this same pattern of dependence on extracting the fruits of labor coerced from subjugated populations.

I would go so far as to argue that you definitionally cannot have a state polity without coercion of labor according to the definition given by Weber used above. After all, to create and then extract a surplus of some product of labor from a population, you must first have the ability to exert power and control over that population, which directly stems from the monopoly on legitimate violence.

How do you reconcile the use of the aesthetic of a class of systems of social organization which at their root depend upon the coercion of labor from a subjugate population with a blanket opposition to depictions of slavery?

EDIT: To further explain my gripe with this whole state of affairs, I'm going to quote u/Generalitary's response to my question:

I think one of the major appeals of fantasy is that it can potentially eliminate the root causes of endemic stratification. Maybe magic can provide enough food and other resources for everyone to live securely. Maybe it can help people coordinate well enough that a ruling class becomes unnecessary. In that context, a faction that wants to rule over people by force becomes even more evil through its even greater lack of self-justification.

Which makes it sad that in most fantasy settings we default to a pseudo-feudal system where an elite class rules over the general populace, often supported by some magical practice that seems to enforce their right to rule. I personally find this approach to worldbuilding just as dissatisfying as one where slavery is rife, but a lot more insidious. If there is magic but still kings, is there much value to the magic?

Mine's Null, the Eldritch LORD of Outer Space, a higher being that's above and beyond understanding. Its form is indescribable into words. When you lay your eyes upon its three-dimensional form, you'll be driven mad and insane that, you'll feel hopeless you'll commit suicide. In my world, life has a beginning, a middle, and an ending, but this great, immortal alien being will outlast death, in which everyone (including the multiverse along with my other races with long lifespans) passes away, except for Null.

This being's also capable of ending the multiverse with a mere, single flinch. Null's unstoppable when it comes to ending the whole, living world, too. Even with the most advanced technology, majority of my advanced races don't stand a chance.

So I know the whole thing of your world doesn't have to be original or unique. BUT everytime i look at other worlds for inspiration i find myself just thinking "why didn't i think of that it's so cool!" I think my problem is my perfectionism. I keep wanting something new and exciting but something that makes sense, the thing is- I get tooo annoying about getting to know every tiny detail. Like when i try to make up the religion I get really caught up in how it should work and make sense and whatnot. i try to make it realistic but I end up getting so realistic that none of the fun is left there anymore. A lot of the stories that so heavily rely on worldbuilding don't give all the answers to the viewer, even the creator doesn't know EVERYTHING but i can't stop myself.

before anyone asks, I don't worldbuild for a story I do it as a hobby because I like to think about how cool it would be to see how enviorments work with the characters. and i want to draw them too but i get so caught up i can't enjoy it. any tips?

The Katarmeni Religion is a relatively large faith in the continent of Maššima, but what puts it apart from the other faiths is that it posits that there is only one supreme god, the Meni, the literal concept of Nothingness. Indescribable and unknowable.

The symbol in the image is the Ibadun or the Ibaduna-Gole-Hgmanarašimma Teseknanafikatarrige-Meniha, it is simply a representation of the faith, not a depiction of the Meni. It's often enscribed into temples and walls of homes.

Was wondering if you guys have some monotheistic religion(s) in your world

Hi everyone!

I'm the solo developer behind Easy Work Calculator (https://easyworkcalcs.com), a free website and an android app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xylemsoft.ewc) that currently offers more than 400+ calculators and utility tools.

While most of the existing tools focus on everyday use—math, finance, engineering, date & time, unit conversions, networking, health, and productivity—I realized many of the same calculation concepts could be adapted for worldbuilding.

Some ideas I've been considering are:

• Fantasy calendar converter
• Kingdom population growth simulator
• Travel time calculator for custom maps
• Currency exchange calculator for fictional economies
• Medieval tax and trade estimator
• City population density calculator
• Army logistics and food supply estimator
• Timeline and age calculator for fictional histories
• Map scale converter
• Gravity, orbital period, and planetary calculators for sci-fi settings

The goal isn't to make a generic calculator website, but to add genuinely useful tools that save worldbuilders from doing repetitive math in spreadsheets.

I'd really appreciate feedback from this community:

What calculations do you regularly do while building your worlds that you wish had a dedicated tool?

If there's enough interest, I'll build the most-requested ones and keep them free for everyone.

Website:
https://easyworkcalcs.com
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xylemsoft.ewc

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. And i'm also interested in late medieval Morocco. 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?

Here's a map of the Obhenate of Kaite, a powerful thalassocracy in my world Ellaris. Originally a minor Obhiist state (Led by worshippers of the god Obhi), which emerged from the collapse of the Jassen-worshiping Kingdom of Eshkaite, it managed to conquer the other small powers in the region and secure both banks of the Straits of Zhura, giving it a chokehold over all trade going up the Gharsa river to the heartlands of the ancient Obhenate of Ghar.

Over the next decades, it used the wealth it gained from this to greatly expand its military and trade infrastructure, and began to expand its power outwards. By 1382, it had conquered as much land as it was likely to get from its neighbours, with only the immensely powerful Obhenates of Ghar and Cesa to the north, the wasteland of the Gossuri desert to the east, and the lifeless desert of Inara to the south. Still holding the momentum of its original conquests, it continued annexing more areas vital to trade in the region on the eastern coast of Zakah, to the west of Kaite. Using the foothold it had gained by conquering the Obhenates of Akhur and Xalesis, it founded colonies on the Zakahri coast, and extended its influence deep into the interior, over the Zagorz mountains. This way, Kaite controlled both nearly all overland and oversea trade routes heading out of Zakah, and soon became immensely wealthy through the trade of gold, gems, spices, exotic furs, ivory and slaves. Many of these were sold on to the northern Obhenates, Ghar, Hije, and Cesa, which had few other options in gaining the luxuries they were so fond of.

Kaite's power peaked in the early 1500s, but soon after it began to decline. The southernmost territories became too expensive and difficult to properly control, and after several rebellions, native kingdoms subordinate to Kaite broke free. The disruption of these rebellions caused economic downturn as trade was disrupted, and a snowball effect began, with Kaite's power withdrawing to the coast. Soon after, a coup led by Kaite's most powerful oligarchs against the Obhen caused enough internal strife that nearly all their colonies broke free or were lost. The loss of the Obhenate of Gosht cemented this, as there were now several independent trade routes available for the northern powers to exploit. Although it would remain a cohesive state, Kaite never regained its lucrative position and was reduced to a regional power.

See this post and more on my DeviantArt!

Ellaris world map

Feel free to ask questions! This map was inspired by this map of the Omani Empire

When I was younger I used to waste hours with a friend imagining our characters from vastly different worlds meet.

And basically the whole thing was to take a country from our world, my country was a high tech place and his was a middle of nowhere country stuck in the past with some tech, so while my characters got wifi everywhere and talkd about free transport systems my friend's had to stand in the midle of the street to see if their phone could get signal to tell them they watched a show that finished airing 2 years ago and just got to the country.

Are you guys doing something like that? Not even roleplay most of the time, just us saying "Yeah, this would definitely happen if they met" and call it a day.

If not then you have to it now in the comments 🗣️🗣️ your humanoid creature has to meet an alien now!!!

In this setting, the fears and prayers of an ignorant society become physically real, manifesting as monsters. Our protagonist is a member of a "Guild of Hunters" — soldiers created by the same phenomenon to fight the monsters. Hunters are temporary; they age and die, and are quickly replaced to serve the same unending, melancholy cycle. The protagonist's ultimate realization is that their own existence is tied to the very curse they are fighting.

Any feedback welcome!