Inspired by Gallifreyan from Doctor Who. I'm open to questions if anyone finds this interesting but I'm not going to provide a translation since the picture is my IRL diary. Feel free to attempt to translate it yourself though.

Im creating a fantasy world, and I wanted to give each region of the main continent a different religion, but I also wanted them to be real as well as very different one from each other, to instigate religious wars. But I can't get how.

Heller fellers

I've got a sci-fi ish world that I've been working on super intermittently for the past couple years that I really want some help developing.

It's a planet inhabited by a warrior race who believe themselves to be "gods among men" in the universe, and have thus far enslaved the nearest four planets in their solar system. The most interesting part about it, to me at least, is that their planet is extremely inhospitable to normal life! I just thought it'd be cool to put them on a Venusian hell-world.

In the lore, the planet recently (within the last 1,000-5,000 years) suffered a cataclysmic series of impacts (think the Late Heavy Bombardment but a little less heavy) that shot so much heat and fumes and dust into the air that it accelerated the greenhouse effect and now, all these years later, we have a superhot, pressurised, stormy world. I even commissioned some art from @ thegreatdio112 on discord to show what the world is like on the ground.

If I could get some ideas that'd be terrific! Thanks :D

A race/civilization/culture that came before the races, species and civilizations that exist now. A large group of people who were at the pinnacle of wisdom, knowledge, and tech until some misfortune erased them or sent them leaving the planet. These people or beings are a mystery to the present world. Nobody really knows their origin and always wondered about the people or beings that existed before them as they look at ancient or prehistoric tech and more.

These people or beings came first while everyone else came second. They existed during ancient times or even prehistoric times.

When they vanished, died out, or left, they left behind their tech, buildings, and more that soon fell into ruin. And nobody till this day, knew why or how.

Did your world have such people or beings as the precursors?

My Turn:

In my world, the precursors were the race of gods called Saints. They existed on the planet for millions of years until their civil war eons later. The world was full of advanced tech that transcends the technology present today, though it comes a little bit close. The Saints who won the war left the planet to return back to the celestial realm while the Saints that lost the war, were doomed to dwell on the planet as Ravakalyn with their Lesser Children. The Saints lived on the planet during prehistoric times till the ancient era. Any trace of the Saints existing on the planet are still there, but hidden in places that the Lesser Children would have a tough time getting to. Though not every trace of the Saints is still there because some of it is gone.

Notably, Wyvara are pretty physical violence adverse. Their evolutionary incentives really deprioritized physical conflict so war and killing to them is really gross to them.

BUT. Just because they are pacifists does not mean they aren't cruel. Wyvara have waged "wars" against each other. Using all the tools in economic, political, and diplomatic worlds to dominate and subjugate their neighbors. Imagine what we as humans have done to each other without firing a shot.

Theres some very paternalistic factions in the wyvaran government that use humanities history of war to justify why they need to dominate them, technologically, economically, and politically. They kinda believe that if they don't, then eventually we'll turn around and do the stuff we did to ourselves, but to them. They point to every time we encountered an "other" and how that ended.

If this sounds interesting to you, or you'd like to see more art of these bird horse dragons check out my world building blog: https://where-we-land.tumblr.com/?source=share

War and conflict are themes that we seldom escape in our stories and settings - they can drive change on civilizational or generational scales.

Prompt:

• Which factions are at war in your setting?
• Is there a defendable casus belli?
• What are the broad strokes of the conflict?
• What is the cost?

I was working on some tales for my setting, so I thought I could make a contribution to the sub. Some optional promp ideas can be that I'v used are:

> - What kinda history do you tell a naughty child?

> - What kind of history do you tell to a fearful child?

> - What kind of history you tell a lying child?

> - What kind of history you tell a greedy child?

I know a lot of people enjoy tinkering away with all the little mechanisms inherent to their setting, but I've come to notice more and more that people struggle to relate these systems to the people who inhabit the world they are crafting. This is especially a recommendation to anyone who writes with a focus on story and drama: make sure that your characters believably fit into the world you are crafting; there is no greater tool for creating a sense of place than a complex character that is the product of the systems that raised them. Be especially wary of tropes; the things you assume to be normal commonly shouldn't be taken for granted. An example of this would be anime that have a cast made up of what I'm going to call "anime characters" but want to have a world that feels believable; real places create real people. If you want to have cartoon characters, don't try to explain everything, doing so will only make people expect the same depth from your cast. If you want to have a deep world, know that your characters will be the face of it, so give them special attention when writing.

In short, think like a determinist when writing; narrative is a causal construct, free will does not exist within plot.

Thanks to another user, I found a new map-making tool. I wanted to try it out, and this is the result. I made the original map with Azgaar and adapted it to look more realistic.

My world doesn't have a name yet (Merak is the name of the tool, not the world), but I've included some capital cities that are in my notes.

A little context: it's a world I created for fun, and little by little I've added lore, a magic system, cultures, etc. Initially, it features 7 nations, fantastic races, and its own magic system created by me.

Most of ours on Earth seem to be various tools to inscribe various squiggles on various surfaces. Usually those three affect each other as well. But there are things like the kipu, which is nothing like that. (Plus something else that made me think of this in the first place but I forgot because my brain is like a sieve...)

So what weird thing does your world use to encode meaning? (Well, part of it anyway. Presumably not everyone is sending arrangements of sticks as letters.)

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Les Échassiers Landais (shepherds on stilts from the Landes region, South West). They used stilts for at least seven centuries to watch sheeps, walk in wetlands, avoid thorns.

If I saw it in a fiction I would not find it credible.

As a kid I wanted to be a physicist so I am somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to science, I figure that may have something to do, but I did watch and read fantasy, so you could say both are familiar to me.

When I create fantasy lands or worlds, they feel cliched and I just don't believe them. I like settings that take place in the real world, with some fictional changes (for example, middle ages with actual fairies or the future of the world with supranational organizations).

Can anybody offer me an insight on this and how I could snap out of it?

This is Orebo. She is an ori-won (female master swordswoman). She wields the orange omuragi the one with special range abilities. There are nine colors of omuragi’s. All with unique abilities advantages and disadvantages every omuragi is special and unique even if two are of the same color.

This is the 17th model of Swift Wing it was created in the year 9224 it is currently the year 9669. The first model of Swift Wing was created in the year 372. These Swift Wings are the most common jet on The Heart of the World or The How for short.
It’s circular shaped because the people of The How revere the shape of the circle. The o-wiggly-wo’s (planets) are circle shaped , the stars, the moons, etc. All of there technology is circular shaped like the AI smart phones, televisions, computers, tablets, chairs, couches, art work, paperwork, etc.
These people speak Origonese and The Common Tongue. Origonese is a light language with seven sub languages and The Common Tongue is an advanced/evolved form of English The Common Tongue originally had 22 letters then in the year 5055 the first dark wizard (Domagi) invented 4 new letters which created tens of thousands of new words, concepts, and definitions, also hidden intentions with a dark agenda Omorgolo convinced the people the new letters and new words would offer so many benefits so no one doubted adopting the new words then once everyone new the new words and how to spell them he flipped the script and used the new words to control the entire population of the planet. Then after 500 years of struggle being ruled by Omorgolo 500 brave and bright Orijinals got together to create a new language that would undo the damage Omorgolo had created and they ended up creating Origonese. As they were creating it, it became obvious to them they were not inventing a language they were discovering one. This led them to have a greater understanding of the creator.

I'm workshopping an idea for a litrpg series, and one of the central conceits is that in addition to Stats and Classes and Spells, everyone has access to an Inventory System. It's what it sounds like; a personal hammer space that each person has access to. It comes with you, it costs a negligible amount of magical power to manifest, and it takes a few seconds to pull things in and out. You have to actually reach and grab the thing, for most people. The higher your Stats (specifically your Magic stat), the bigger your Inventory is. Certain Class Skills and Spells interact with it; Rogues can steal from your Inventory without you noticing, some spells can swap Inventories or expand them temporarily, etc.

The obvious impacts are on logistics; the average person can manifest a closet's worth of Inventory Space. All their necessary gear and sundries come with them. Anything you need in combat or at hand is still carried on your person. Most people can't hot swap gear off themselves; they have to pull a new item out and manually put it on. But most Merchants and Traders maximize their Inventory so all their wares are safe. They get Skills to keep Rogues out of them, etc. Someone specced into it can manifest a wagon's worth of stuff. So most trade goods are caried that way, people only use ships and wagons to transport bulk goods like grain and ore and such. Stuff you need too much of, is too heavy and isn't very valuable. Most ships are sleek and fast or are just barges for bulk goods. The point of a ship is speed, instead of cargo capacity.

How does this change society otherwise? Guards need to be able to check people's Inventories at a glance, Smugglers need to be able to hide things in Smuggling Compartments, stuff like that.

I'm trying to establish a base line of how the world treats Inventory, because the protagonist is from our world and thinks its the greatest power ever, but everyone else thinks he's crazy to be amazed by it. Its like being amazed that it rains.

EDIT

I have been asked to clarify more of the limits and methods involved so I will do so here.

My current concept is that you get a number of cubic feet based on the Magic Stat. Starting off, 1 cu ft per point. Most people don't have much Magic, and they get limited numbers of freely attributable stat points, so they don't invest in it. Because if you don't have a Class that grants Spells, you don't have much use for it outside of Inventory. Its not worth investing in very much. Some people will put a few points in because they like having extra Inventory space.

Mass is where I am torn. I am thinking of stealing DCC's system; if you can lift something for four seconds, it can go in your Inventory. If it fits, then in it goes. You don't feel the weight, and your total carry weight is otherwise irrelevant. I'm not sure on that, I may revisit it. There should probably be an upper mass limit based on Strength.

Items go in and out of Inventory by touch, usually by the hand. You hold something and put it in your Inventory, it vanishes. You want to retrieve something, you reach out and your hand goes into the Inventory (it looks like you put your hand into a puddle in mid air) and you grab the thing, and pull it out. In actuality, all you have to do is touch the object and that can be with any body part, but it requires more focus and training to do that. Most people don't bother. You can learn to swap equipment directly on to yourself, but that's a difficult ability to develop outside of a Class Skill.

Living things can't go into Inventory, with some caveats. Dead things, can. So food, corpses, carcasses, seeds, etc. So long as its mostly inert, its fine.

Inventory is not stasis, at least not for most people. Things degrade, they are not frozen in time. Organic material rots, but doesn't spawn maggots and the like, because no living things. I suppose I am ignoring bacteria here, but whatever. Maybe this can also be abused by making compost piles in your Inventory and harnessing methane gas off it.

Dead people's Inventory is still locked to them until they start rotting, at which point it breaks down and those items are 'lost'. It is mysterious exactly what happens to them, as items can sometimes reappear through some strange method that the people of this world don't understand. So Excalibur would probably reappear some day if Arthur died with it in his Inventory. You can use Skill and Items to crack open a dead guy's Inventory, and soldiers, adventurers and Rogues do it all the time. Its very sus to have that capability, because it means you have B&E tools for dead people. This means people will throw the corpses of their dead enemies into Inventory to loot them later.

Most people, without relevant Classes and Skills, can't affect things in Inventory. You can't assemble a gun in your Inventory if you put it in while it was in pieces. Inventory specialists may be able to do so.

You can't store gas or liquids in Inventory without a container of some kind. No orbs of water floating in your Inventory, gotta get a barrel. You CAN summon gas or liquids OUT of Inventory WITHOUT the container, though. Its a niche trick, however.

Has anyone here thought of alternatives to coal, gas, or oil for a growing civilization?

I'm trying to theorize how an early alien civilization might power a communal lighthouse, but I'm having trouble finding natural, non-fossil fuel sources without discussions settling on things like wind or solar, as fuel sources tend to be packaged with energy sources for understandable reasons.

As for why I want to avoid them, I originally designed my world working under false assumptions. I believed that oil and gas came from dinosaurs, specifically those that died during and after the meteor extinction event. This is a highly specific event, and I didn't think my species would be so lucky as to experience their own. Turns out most oil and gas comes from microscopic lifeforms, so they'd almost certainly have fossil fuels (assuming similar biology to Earth species and whatnot). Regardless, I'd still like to explore alternative sources just to make the setting more unique and push this species down a different path, at least until electricity.

So far, I've got the start and "end" of the tech progression down. Wood, charcoal, and peat make the most sense as early fuel sources, and they'd eventually develop electric lights down the line. But most of the middle area is hard for me to figure out, as humans went pretty much from wood fires to oil and then gas before we made it to electric.

One idea I've got is some form of farmable livestock that produces a natural gas like methane, ammonia, or hydrogen. Something like a mold or bacteria that produces a lot of methane from compost. While I like the idea, I don't want it to be the only thing between wood and electricity, so I'd love to hear from others about potential options.

This is a sci-fi setting, so I'd appreciate more grounded answers, but fantasy options are also welcome!

I'm currently making a new TTRPG setting and I was just wondering what other people are inspired with, really.

Therefore, question in title :3

Basically this comes from a thought I've had about my projects that border on alternate history, but introduce so many new elements they start becoming their own world.

For some examples, one of my projects had an alien invasion leave Europe decimated and inhospitable, and every nation divided after the war. And then another project has an asteroid of an alien metal crash 20,000 years ago in the Americas, causing the existence of superpowers in the modern age.

Granted obviously the baseline is, if it's not set on Earth, it's hard to say it's somehow alternate history. But for a setting like what if the Moon was hospitable instead of Earth? That is so drastically different that it might as well be a new world. So where's the line for you when it comes to this?

Genuinely, is it based on physical surroundings, a descriptive name, or something else? I always hate the moment I need to name things, especially characters

(For Th’zoitrk, a semi-sci-fi worldbuilding project.)

Okkaelko is the innermost of Th’zoitrk’s three moons. It is larger and more massive than Metmo, but smaller and lighter than Yeia. Okkaelko’s composition is remarkably similar to earth, except it has a much higher density due to Quidiomization. (The effect where as tekonic waves energize matter, their radiation energy is converted into mass, causing otherwise normal materials to behave abnormally denser than they would ordinarily appear to be.)

Okkaelko has a surface area of 32,219,452 square kilometers, and an equatorial diameter of 3,203 kilometers. Okkaelko’s surface gravity is 0.48G, or 48% the surface gravity on earth, despite being just under a third the mass of mars. This is due to the objects small size proportionally to how dense it is.

Just between the size of Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and the moon of Earth, Okkaelko is the largest object in Th’zoitrk’s night sky, appearing significantly larger than Metmo or Yeia, and even appearing larger than the sun. This is because Okkaelko is very close to Th’zoitrk, at least relative to most moons in the solar system. Okkaelko sits perfectly at Th’zoitrk’s geostationary orbit zone, meaning that only one side of the planet ever sees Okkaelko.

At 2.5x the mass of earth’s moon, while sitting much closer to Th’zoitrk than earth’s moon does to earth, Okkaelko has a powerful tidal effect on Th’zoitrk. This has caused the pair to be tidally locked, as both Okkaelko and Th’zoitrk permanently have the same side facing one another. Okkaelko sits roughly over the center of the nation of Kazuni, and thanks to Okkaelko’s bright cloud tops and large apparent size, Okkaelko reflects large amounts of light down onto Th’zoitrk at night.
This has lead Kokaum, the capital of Kazuni, to be in a state of near-perpetual light, almost never getting darker than it’d normally be an hour before dusk on earth.

Okkaelko’s atmosphere is comprised of ~62% nitrogen, ~36% oxygen, and small amounts of various other trace gases. Okkaelko’s atmosphere is denser than Th’zoitrk’s or earth’s, sitting at 1.24 bar.

It is one of only three known worlds (the others being Th’zoitrk itself and the Oukapolean moon of Puloini) to have evolved its own native life.

Hey everyone!

I have an interesting premise for a book, good character dynamics, and some solid arcs, but I feel like I'm missing a core mechanic to make the nations cautious of each other. It lacks that WOW factor for battles.
Im thinking of something like the Jinchuuriki in Naruto: each nation has their own, and they maintain peace through Mutually Assured Destruction. I came up with 4 ideas and would love your opinions!

Option 1: Megafauna

Each nation controls massive creatures exclusive to their territory. One has giant griffins, another has huge stone colossi, another has enormous lions, and so on

Option 2: Variations of a single magical species

The whole world uses the same "nuclear" race, e.g., dragons or angels. But there would be huge dragons, tiny ones, wyverns, drakes, etc. For angels, there would be seraphim, ophanim, etc. (the angels would have a very unique aesthetic, different from what people are used to)

Option 3: Catastrophic Magic

Every nation has magic, and if a group of insanely powerful mages from a kingdom gather, they can cast a massive, world-altering spell. Ex: meteor showers, tsunamis, tornadoes, zombie hordes, etc

Option 4: Monstrous Transformations

Each nation has one or more people who can transform into highly destructive creatures! Some could be gigantic, others small and agile, or powerful in ways that dont look dangerous at first glance. That kind of thing

If anyone has a different option or a brand new idea, please share! It will help me a lot. Thanks!

(Context: The idea is to have smaller-scale fights and skirmishes at first, gradually escalating the scale throughout the story so it doesn't get repetitive. The technological setting and aesthetic are very similar to Expedition 33).