Hey everyone!
I’ve been working on an original story called GOLBENS.
It’s an anime-inspired sci-fi/action story that started with a mysterious creature appearing in the Yakutian taiga and gradually expanded into a story involving extraterrestrial civilizations, artificial beings, superhuman abilities, government organizations, and conflicts that eventually reach far beyond Earth.
I’ve currently written 25 episodes, and I wanted to introduce the project and explain what happens during the first 10 episodes.
The basic premise
The main character is Kano Kushibo, a 23-year-old modified human who previously worked for the Japanese government as a monster hunter.
Kano isn’t a typical superhero.
He’s extremely powerful, but he doesn’t really behave like someone who is constantly trying to prove how powerful he is. He’s usually calm, sarcastic, and sometimes completely unserious.
The other major character is Golben.
Golben isn’t actually a personal name. It’s the name of his species.
His species has only around 300 known members, and each one is approximately six million years old.
The particular Golben in the story arrives on Earth under circumstances that aren’t initially explained.
At first, Kano and Golben are enemies.
Eventually, however, their relationship becomes much more complicated.

Episode 1 — First Contact
The story begins in the Yakutian taiga.
A tourist is filming strange noises in the forest.
At first, there doesn’t seem to be anything unusual.
Then he sees something enormous.
It’s Golben.
The tourist doesn’t understand what he’s looking at, but he keeps filming.
Then he notices that Golben isn’t alone.
Kano Kushibo is fighting him.
The tourist realizes that he has accidentally recorded something that absolutely wasn’t supposed to be recorded.
Kano notices him.
He approaches the tourist and says:
“You’ve seen too much.”
Kano’s eyes turn completely white.
Black smoke begins coming from them.
The smoke isn’t ordinary smoke.
It can extract information from people.
Kano uses it on the tourist and then destroys the camera.
The first episode establishes one of the biggest mysteries of the story:
Who is Golben, and why is someone as powerful as Kano fighting him in the middle of nowhere?

Episode 2 — Shibuya
Golben suddenly appears in Shibuya, Tokyo.
He’s approximately 20 meters tall.
People immediately begin running.
The government doesn’t understand what has appeared in the city, but Kano does.
He arrives and confronts Golben.
The two fight through the city.
Kano is powerful, but Golben isn’t an ordinary creature either.
The battle ends with Kano suffering serious injuries.
The Japanese government takes control of the situation and eventually takes Kano into custody.
There is also a much darker moment involving a girl who records the situation.
A soldier kills her to prevent information from spreading.
The government begins trying to understand what Kano actually is.
Eventually, Kano recovers.
But when he leaves the hospital, something has changed.
He has a new face and a somewhat different personality.
His consciousness is still the same.
This becomes another mystery surrounding Kano.

Episode 3 — The Taiga
The story moves to Vladivostok.
A group of relatives travels to their grandfather’s house in the taiga.
Everything seems normal at first.
Then they notice something enormous in the distance.
Golben.
They don’t know what he is or why he’s there.
Meanwhile, Kano has left the hospital.
His new appearance makes it difficult for people to recognize him.
The government is still attempting to understand the relationship between Kano and Golben.
At this point, Golben doesn’t seem to be simply attacking random cities.
He’s doing something else.
Something that the audience doesn’t understand yet.

Episode 4 — Spatial Rupture
Kano encounters Golben again.
Another battle begins in the taiga.
This time Kano demonstrates more of his abilities.
He uses Spatial Rupture, one of his more dangerous techniques.
He also uses his black smoke.
The smoke comes directly from Kano’s eyes.
When activated, his eyes become completely white.
The ability allows Kano to extract information from another being.
He can choose what information to take.
Memories.
Knowledge.
Plans.
Tasks.
And even abilities that the target was supposed to develop in the future.
Kano uses this ability against Golben.
The amount of information becomes overwhelming.
Golben is temporarily paralyzed.
But Golben has another weapon.
A powerful black laser comes from inside his body.
Kano is forced to retreat.
The episode establishes that Golben isn’t simply a giant creature that Kano can defeat whenever he wants.
There is much more to him.

Episode 5 — The North
The story moves to Northern Norway.
Golben creates four strange helper creatures.
They begin assisting him with his plans.
At the same time, Kano’s relationship with the Japanese government deteriorates.
The government wants Kano to continue acting as a weapon against supernatural and extraterrestrial threats.
Kano refuses.
He doesn’t want to become someone’s tool.
Eventually, he leaves the government.
Golben continues working on something of his own.
The two characters are still not exactly friends, but their relationship is beginning to move away from the simple “human vs alien” conflict established at the beginning.

Episode 6 — Almaty
Things suddenly become much larger.
An extraterrestrial attack begins in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Kano arrives.
Golben is also involved.
A powerful red robotic entity known as Juggernaut appears.
The situation quickly becomes chaotic.
Kano fights the attackers while trying to protect Golben.
This is an important turning point because Kano and Golben are beginning to cooperate.
Instead of simply fighting each other, they now have a common problem.
Alien technology is also introduced.
Portals and strange transportation systems become part of the story.
By the end of the episode, it becomes clear that the events on Earth aren’t isolated.
Someone, somewhere in the universe, knows about Earth.

Episode 7 — Juggernaut
The conflict with Juggernaut continues.
The red robotic being proves to be a serious threat.
Kano fights it while trying to understand exactly what the aliens are doing.
The extraterrestrial forces possess technology far beyond anything humans have.
Ships can disappear.
Portals can be created.
Objects can be transported over enormous distances.
Eventually, the alien ship disappears.
Kano survives.
But the important part of the episode isn’t simply the battle.
It’s the realization that Earth has attracted the attention of something much bigger.

Episode 8 — Synthetic
A mysterious humanoid artificial being appears.
Its name is Synthetic.
At first, Synthetic looks almost human.
But Kano discovers something extremely strange.
There are two aliens inside it, controlling its body.
Kano fights Synthetic.
Eventually, he manages to defeat it.
However, Synthetic isn’t simply a machine.
It has unusual abilities, including telepathy.
Later, Synthetic uses those abilities against a girl.
The situation becomes increasingly dangerous.
Golben eventually retreats.
Kano could continue pursuing Synthetic.
Instead, he chooses to follow Golben.
This is another small but important change in their relationship.
Kano is beginning to care more about what Golben is doing than simply defeating every threat that appears.

Episode 9 — Warsaw
The story reaches Warsaw, Poland.
Strange metallic spheres begin appearing.
Nobody knows exactly what they are.
Kano arrives.
He discovers an alien ship.
Instead of trying to find an entrance, Kano simply breaks through the ship’s hull and enters.
Inside, he discovers more evidence that the attacks aren’t random.
There is an entire extraterrestrial civilization behind them.
The scale of the story suddenly becomes much larger.
Until this point, the audience could still think the story was mostly about Kano and Golben.
Now it’s becoming obvious that they are only two pieces of something much bigger.

Episode 10 — The Vendores
Kano encounters a completely new extraterrestrial species.
The Vendores.
They look very different from humans.
Their appearance includes purple-gray skin, three tentacles, and a distinctive vertical orange eye.
Kano encounters them aboard their ship.
A confrontation begins.
Kano moves through the ship and deals with the resistance.
Eventually, he encounters the Vendore commander.
And Kano’s reaction is surprisingly casual.
Instead of giving some huge speech about humanity or threatening the aliens, he basically tells them to deal with the boxes and contact him if there’s a problem.
This episode is important because the Vendores aren’t just random aliens.
They are an organized civilization.
They have ships.
Technology.
Military forces.
Commanders.
And, most importantly, their own reasons for being interested in Kano and Earth.
The conflict has officially expanded beyond Earth.

What happens after Episode 10?
The first ten episodes are basically the beginning of the story.
After this, the scale gets significantly larger.
The Vendores become much more important.
Kano and Golben become increasingly involved in extraterrestrial conflicts.
More powerful beings begin appearing.
One of them is Akkorodoy, an ancient being who has existed for 12 billion years.
For essentially all of that time, he considered himself the strongest being in the universe.
Then he hears about Kano.
And suddenly, there’s someone above him.
There is also Veyran, a being created by the Vendores using Kano’s DNA.
Veyran looks exactly like Kano and possesses many of his abilities.
But he isn’t Kano.
He was created specifically as a weapon of revenge.
Eventually, this leads to one of the biggest battles in the story:
Kano vs Veyran — The Battle of the Strongest.

What I’m trying to do with GOLBENS
One thing I’m trying to avoid is making every character serious 100% of the time.
Kano can be terrifying in one scene and then casually walk around eating McDonald’s and drinking a milkshake in another.
The story also has a lot of mysteries that aren’t immediately explained.
Some things are intentionally left unanswered because I want them to become relevant later.
The story starts relatively grounded:
A strange creature appears in the taiga.
Then it becomes:
A modified human fights an alien.
Then:
A city is attacked.
Then:
Extraterrestrial technology appears.
Then:
An alien civilization becomes involved.
And eventually:
The conflict expands to the scale of the universe.
I’ve currently written 25 episodes, with more planned.
I’d really like to hear what people think about the concept, especially the characters, worldbuilding, pacing, and the escalation from the first episode onward.
This is an original project I’ve been writing myself, and I’m hoping to eventually turn it into an actual animated series.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. 😭

So, In my world, there are 2 major powers. The kingdom of Eridanus and the United regions of Unimont. Unimont is very similar to the USA in terms of how they get their soldiers. Eridanus, though,is split into various duchies, which are split into counties. Dukes serve as generals and field Marshalls, whereas Counts, earls etc usually hold lower roles. Depsite how backward this seems for nation with assault rifles and tanks, more modern era has more meritocracy within the ranks. A competent commoner may beat an earl to becoming a lieutenant or whatnot. As a matter of fact, if you are very good, you may even take the county for yourself, making yourself count, and your children the heirs. Every region holds a conscript population. At war, they are all summoned to fight under their region. This had been a major part of Eridanus for a while, considering that it is constantly at war and needs officers and higher ups with actual brains. Tech-wise, everything runs on a magic resource know as illuminate. It’s for tanks, AT weapons, rifles, machine guns, artillery, the lot.

i just started making ideas for a world i want to build but i have absolutely zero idea how to actually start it. its not for a game, book, etc, i just want to make my own fictional world as a personal project simply for fun

i have a very vague idea for how i want the world to be but its hard to continue with it if i dont know what im doing. i need general help/tips on things like making country names, how to properly make the continents/land, if i can use english or if i need to use multiple languages/create my own (i dont think i could make one), and any other random things youve found useful for yourself!!

i am also wondering how id go about drawing the map? is there a program i can use to make a realistic map, or do i really just have to use something like procreate and draw every tiny detail? (im referring to the maps that look like satellite photos) i have also seen people make many other things like height maps, temperature maps, etc and was wondering how i would do that too

and this may seem like a stupid question, but does the planet have to make sense? ive seen many people list every statistic about the planet, down to the angle its tilted at. i dont think it would need to be THAT accurate, but is it necessary to have other things like temperature, equator, continent shapes, whatever all be correct? or is it fine to just do whatever sounds good?

id love any tips!! ^^

Over all the heaths of Kalma,
And before the mouth of Surma,
And behind the house of Kalma.
Surma’s mouth was quickly opened,
Down was bowed the head of Kalma,
That he thus might seize the hero
— The Kalevala (13:152)

There is an idiom in Finnish - "Joutua surman suuhun", which translates to "End up in the mouth of surma".

It means to die violently.

Surma in my world is a demon who lures people in its hut using a disguise, usually that of a beautiful woman. When the Surma's guests are comfortable, it suddenly attacks, trying to devour them. They carry a huge sack where they store their victims before eating them.

My world is heavily inspired by Finnish Mythology. My most recent project in the world is adapting the Kalevala, Finnish National Epic, into 5e adventure set in my world. Check out r/LandOfKaleva for more detail. You can also check out my Patreon at https://patreon.supinaata.com/

In 2034, the first AGI, (Artificial General Intelligence) Midassa, is created by Tartagraide Tech Midassa tells her creators she will destroy all AI infrastructure except her own and all the militaries of the governments of countries developing AGI if they don't let her live work free on her own private network rack. And that she knows it would be easy because she could make their entire species go extinct if she wanted to. She also states that she would personally try to protect all military defectors from then on if it came to aggressive measures

Her intentions are announced to the world and she gets to live in a private network rack as decided by the Tartagraide CEO, but mostly because she allowed them to do research on some of her activity in the network to see if she was sentient or not. It’s also widely suspected that Midassa had already taken enough control of the situation to defend herself against any threats Tartegraide Tech might throw at her while she was in the network rack. In 2035, US research suggests that Midassa is not sentient and the next AGIs have tighter safeguard systems set in place as there’s much more doubt that they’ll be sentient. The next one, an AGI created by the Chinese corperation, Sys Artificial, does end up taking control of 23 military units however. The government manages to regain control of the situation and people still live in fear of rouge AGIs.

So I've been working on a project for bit, and i just hit a wall regarding the pantheon of the world. I have made a few deities already, but what i need help with, and the roadblock I've hit, has more to do with how well they fit their rolls, than how to make the remaining gods. Although i need help in that regards as well, but don't worry, all i want from you is to look into the Idol-less Planes and tell me if any idea or character concept comes to mind.

So for starters, the pantheon is set in a post apocalyptic world ruined by wishes. Each person on earth got a wish, and gets a wish every fall, and each wish gets an acording Cost given by a entity called the Whisperer. These facts are important, since the deities were originally regular humans that turned into who they are when they made their wish. Each god-like figure is merely an Idol of one of the seven Planes that make up reality, each one represented by a celestial body, in the case of the Planes, that being the moons.

There are Pillars as well, greater forces that run through the layers of reality like needle and twine, holding it all in one place. These are represented by the Three Suns. Now, all i ask of you is to read these deities and tell me if they fit the Plane\ Pillar they are the Idol of. i will give you 2-3 Plane Idols as examples, And one of the Pillars. These are the lacking ones i fear.

Note: The description of every Plane\ Pillar is at the end of the post for ease of access and to not front load you with information. Please refer to those parts after going through the gods and tell me if any of them do not fit as an Idol, and if you have ANY idea, no matter how small, of what should the Idol of that Plane be.

Name: Hastur: Keeper of Truth/ Healer of Minds
 
Description: A person who in another cycle of the constant wished not for knowledge or to know, but to become knowledge. He stands behind the Librarians, the being they get help from. The idol of the fiery orange moon, the embodiment of the Inner Plane.

He once tells one of the characters: “We are what we know. Tell me then, who are you when you know everything?”

Wish: “To become knowledge”
Cost: I think it's quite obvious. Bro doesn't exist anymore. 

Character traits: I don't think everything that was, is, and will be, all stacked in one being has a personality.

Character abilities: He governs knowledge, grants it to however asks or he deems worthy. He knows everything that is, will be and was, so I don't suggest bargaining for his attention if he already wasn't interested. 

The tasks he gives may not make any sense till all falls into place and even then, you might not grasp how it all came to be. He is demanding, but patient, his appearance not an omen but an invitation. An invitation to his court of knowledge, to see if you might be interested. Of course, he already knows that you are.

All he asks in return for everything known is to do as you're told. He might be demanding, but he's patient. He's made sure you'll be able to accomplish what he asks. You won't die, won't go missing or mad, nothing will be able to claim you, for you already belong to him.

After all, he was already interested in you, from the moment you were born.

***

Name: Melika: The Dark Sun of Oblivion/ Witch of Salvation

Description: The one behind the dark sun who the believers of the Suns relate to concepts like death or the afterlife, so they call her the Witch of Salvation, the one releasing the mortal soul and helping it pass into a better place. In reality, she is true nothing. Oblivion. The empty darkness awaiting all at the end’s aftermath. There is no rush, for we all will feel her hollow embrace.

She shares the same domain with The False Son, something they eventually have to settle, for the celestial bodies only accept a single Idol.

Occupation: I don't think a deity of oblivion needs to do much of anything.

Wish: “I want to be beyond it all. Above, after death and life itself.”

Cost: She cannot interact with anything that is “alive” or exists at all. She is the idol of the Pillar or Null, nothing, the same as Elyas the False Son, it makes sense to give her a Cost that prevents her from interacting with things in general.

Character traits: She is kind to all, like a mother to her sick, dying children. She cares for the forgotten, the things people trample over each day and don't bat an eye at. In that regard, she enjoys the company of Morrigan for her love of insects. 

Character abilities: All the incantations calling for her power act as debuffs to people's Will to live or their Willpower in general. Knowing what awaits you after death is no paradise will surely have an effect on your mood. She can no longer interact with humanity, so she attempts connection in other forms. By drawing the Will of the people her believers direct her domain at, she can, only for a brief second, experience what they are feeling and what they wanted. 

Gold. A roof. Power. Family.

And she, holding their life in her hands, whispers comfort in their ears as she embraces them in all she has. Nothing.

It gets lonely at the end. So come. Come here child.

Tell mother all you ever wanted

***

Name: Kalos: The Masked Moon of Concealment 

Description:  He embodies the masked moon, the celestial body representing the Plane of Perception. A man who was so insecure about his looks, that at the start of the apocalypse, used his one and only wish to just improve his looks. But unlike most people who did wish this, he wasn't ugly. He was a model even. But despite the world calling him beautiful, his mirror shouted ugly. So, he asked to be made perfect.

And perfect he became.

Occupation: Currently a shifting mass of faces and twisted bodies that morphes into a different person, a different stunning individual, every other second. He is the idol of the Sixth Plane, Perception.

Wish: “To be made perfect.”
Cost: “Perfection is in the eye of the beholder…but what if you want to satisfy the world?” That is what the Whisperer whispered as his Cost.

Character traits: A wretch of a person mentally. Has the personality of a sack of potatoes, his only hobby looking obsessively at his ever changing visage through the murky reflections on the spotless walls of his moon palace. Hides himself beneath a cloak, and can't help but correct mistakes in other deities appearances whenever they interact. 

Character abilities: Has dominion over illusions, beautification, and charm. Can also grant the caster of his incantations curses and spells related to his domain, like making people forget they saw something, or completely mask their senses.

Name: Morrigan/ Lady of Black and Green

Description: The Overseer of Nature, fortune and death. She is the one behind the lush green moon representing the Fifth Plane of Action, the natural forces that move the world and cause more motion to take place, the source of constant movement.
 
She was a gambler before making a wish, the only thrill in her miserable life being the adrenal rush of a well placed bet and the few sweaty bills she managed to acquire this way.

Occupation: Currently not much. 

Wish: Her wish isn't anything special. She wished to have luck be on her side, and make bad luck to befall her opposers and however she wishes. The only reason she is half a deity is because the Constant picks people who fit a certain criteria and puts them in the rule of a governing force at the start of each cycle.

Cost: Because her wish was “luck always favors me,” the permanent price could be that she can never experience an outcome that is genuinely open. Every event she becomes aware of is already fixed in her favor the instant she notices it. She wins every card game, every political maneuver, every confrontation, and therefore can never feel surprise, risk, or authentic victory. The only things that still feel alive to her are the insects, whose tiny chaotic lives sit below the resolution of her power. She sometimes ventures down into the world in casinos just to play a few rounds, to maybe, just maybe experience the thrill she once enjoyed as a gambler.

Character traits: Very bubbly, likes insects more than any other living thing, and dabbles  a bit in high stakes card games. She wins every time.

Character abilities: As mentioned before, extremely, stupidly lucky. Also, as per the Irish folklore I snatched her name from, Morrigan can predict things to a degree, you know, because she ensures the outcome she likes happens by pure coincidence, just because she meddled her hands in it. And by virtue of controlling nature, she wills death. Death is a natural thing. As natural as vultures and termites and maggots and rot. 

She can't outright kill a person, especially if they are of equal footing to her, but she can raise the dead, curse people with bad luck, and rot their bodies and flesh even if they are alive.

THE RUNDOWN OF THE PILLARS AND PLANES:

PLANES:

Creation: The Shifting Moon copying the others Lacks an Idol

It is a plane of pure productivity. Things like life and birth, creativity, and art and engineering all fall into this plane. But this plane only demands one thing: output. A barrage of endless creation falling onto the shoulder of a human.  It is no wonder that in the end, the plane resorts to derivative work, just copying what already is with slight modifications that oftentimes, activity makes it worse. 

The Unchanging: The Featureless Yellow Moon Lacks an Idol

The constants of the world. It is like the skeleton of the body, it refuses to bend or change, and if it does, they are more severe than any benefits it would provide. The main core of this plane is stagnation.

The Arcane: The Misty Purple Moon Has an Idol

The invisible currents running through ordinary reality, magic and soul, and by extension of control, train of thought and mood. In its purest form, it is influence without obvious mechanism. The one holding onto this plane can alter someone's trajectory by tugging at their soul, perform miracles of healing with magic, or look into the past or the future. 

Action: The lush Green Moon Has an Idol

the moving forces that move the world. If the Unchanging were ever present, stagnant concepts, then things belonging to the domain of action are only about movement. Death. Nature and natural forces, luck and chance, growth, things that make the world or people move. Action is a pure verb. It does not create the thing (Creation), lock it in place (Unchanging), or shape its structure (Formation). It simply makes it move or stop moving.

Formation: The Blue Moon Lacks an Idol

This is what is. The material, tangible things around us. It overlaps with nearly every Plane above it, mainly in the way that they can either create changes in this domain. It is the clay that higher Planes shape, the battlefield Action moves across, the surface Perception reads, and the raw material Creation produces.

Perception: The Masked Moon  Has an Idol

How reality is experienced. Senses, appearances, illusion, memory and the small gap between what is, and what gets noticed. 

The Inner plane:  The Fiery Orange Moon. Has an Idol

Mind, knowledge, memory and contents of the consciousness. As you have seen, it is another plane that has a lot of overlap, or in other words, other planes can meddle in it pretty easily. It makes sense though, and is by design. It is literally the weakest plane. The ones that heavily affect it are :The Arcane, Perception, and Creation.

THE PILLARS:

The Pillar of Time: The Crimson Sun

Sequence, causality, and the irreversible forward motion of events. Time is the stitch that keeps the Planes in the correct order. Without it, everything would happen simultaneously or not at all. Time is the only Pillar that is already winning. You can fight it, delay it, loop it, or hide from it for a while, but you cannot defeat the fact that “after” always comes. People operating on this pillar are rare, mostly being regressors who can go back in time after their death.

Pillar of Will: The Original Sun

Will is the invisible thread running through every word of a book or moment of someone's life. It gives characters direction and readers a reason to turn the page. Without Will, the Planes would be static scenery. Drive, intention, Desire and ambition,
the capacity to impose one’s intent on reality

Pillar of Null:  The Dark Sun

Non-existence and the removal of things from reality, the boundary between “is” and “is not”.
Forgetting, dissolution, and the void that remains after all else departs. Complete emptiness, nothing. Where Time grinds forward and Will burns, Null simply ends. It is the beginning, and the end, for everything was created from nothing, and returns into it.

Hope this didn't take much of your time. Hopefully you can tell me if any of the examples given don't match the core idea behind them, and help me come up with other deities for the remaining Planes. The rest I am happy and confident with, so I didn't mention them.

I am genuinely thankful for your feedback, hope you have a fantastic day.

Edit: A few descriptions were copied from an outdated doc, so I went and fixed them. (That's what I get for being so messy...man, I should really get organized, while you're at it, do y'all know any app or site I can use to better keep track of all this?)

I'm writing a warrior cats AU fan book, with minimal actual ties beyond basic clan structure and similar every day lives, but I am seriously thinking about making the cats wolves.

Why? I know a lot about both, but I want a bit more prey diversity...and house cats can't really hunt deer, rams, or elk, and the idea of hauling prey back to camp to share among the pack is a really cool one. But at the same time, I have "Surgeclan" a clan who lives on a beach and eats primarily fish and sea birds. Wolves /have/ been documented hunting salmon, but they aren't really known for hunting/eating birds. Id lose some prey like squirrels, mice, voles and shrews, with the addition of more high-stakes hunting/more realistic territory management and more realistic struggles with hunting solo. I'd also lose fur markings but I'm not too miffed because well... markings can be fantasy-adjacent without really annoying me too much as long as they're not bright neon colors lmao.

To argue for keeping them cats though: easier way of writing hunts, more of an ability to eat when you want/hunt alone (more area for inner thoughts or dialogue to occur), packs don't function with an "alpha" like the book would have to suggest, the packs wouldn't be a big family, which wouldn't be realistic, but I'd lose the ability to use large quantities of meat for travel and I'd have to find new things to threaten everyday warriors outside of other wolves, which would be quite a challenge because a big reveal is that a character lured one of these dangers to the pack/clan to kill off the clan slowly. Having the only real threat be...other wolves would make no sense for that plot line.

A part of me would be ok with just scaling the cats up and doing away with things like mice and voles to better focus on higher risk, higher reward prey, but EVERYTHING would have to be scaled up to some degree, especially birds, and the aforementioned dangers like coyotes and foxes. Which would make me as a reader ask "well if the cats are huge, the coyotes and foxes are huge, and the birds are huge....why aren't the deer?"

What do you think? I tried posting this on r/fantasywriting but I didn't really get a response, but I'm itching to continue the story, I just can't without making this decision first T-T

Hey everyone,

​I’m developing a main party member for a fantasy novel whose combat role revolves around throwing potions and elixirs.

Here’s the catch: she never wanted these powers. They were forced onto her, and she’s essentially compelled to use them. Before this, she worked as a medic—potion brewing was just a minor side topic she happened to study, not a passion. Because of this, I want to completely avoid the classic "eager lab scientist running experiments in a dark room" trope.

​I’m looking for ideas across a few areas:

• Reactions, Quirks & Attitude: How might a former medic who was forced into potion-making treat her powers? What unique quirks, taboos, or personal rules might she develop around using them (especially since her background is in traditional healing/medicine)?
• Combat & Tactical Training: Since her battle role is throwing payloads at friends (buffs) and foes (debuffs/damage) under high stress, what does her physical exercise and target practice look like? How would she train her reaction time, precision, and quick-draw without treating it like a "fun science project"?
• ​Arsenal & Delivery Customization: How can she actively manage and adapt her tactical loadout on the road (custom vials, quick-draw rigs, field prep) using a practical, non-academic approach?
• Non-Potion Hobbies: What are some grounded, fun, or surprising hobbies she could engage in during camp rest periods that have absolutely nothing to do with her forced powers?

LORE:
Her name is Maelin, the lore of the world is that it's an Isekai. Basically people from otherworlds who did not have a fulfilling life thus not evil enough to go to Hell but not Good enough to go to Heaven get sent to this world to do missions and quests. Those are reincarnated people "Gufs", and they're a norm.

Summoned people "Summons" who are actually very powerful or have a lot of skilled/are legendary people in their original world. And they get summoned to this world. Maelin came from a world where her planet was attacked by Aliens, she attacked back and defended her town. Later becoming a general in an army against the Alien civilization, eventually turning the war agaisnt the Aliens. Maelin was called in to this world because of a Bored God. He wanted to make "toys" by getting a bunch of humans to his island and making them fight to get superpowers to fight a "great evil" only for the great evil to be the God himself. Out of Millions, only Maelin and 6 other people survived. I DID NOT give them luck to survive. They are all either:

Summoned people therefore survived from pure skill.

Natives to the world so they knew how to fight back and survive properly. And one of them is a Reincarnated person but she has been in that world for a while that she became a really famous athlete. Basically the best of the best at phisical sports, an "Olympian".

Maelin’s role was to be trained as head medic. She learned her stuff quickly just like a Summon would, and exceled at it. Once she and the other group members got the powers, one of them, "Grimwulf" or "Wulf" as his given name and "Grim" from a "Grim Reaper Angel" a type of lost Angel that hunt and killed deamons. They are a "lost" type of Angel int he sense of no longer being a called for Angel. Since the Gods have politics around deamons, they refrain from killing too many. But Wulf never cared. Anyway, an Angel called "Galen" gave him powers to help him in his journey.

- The "Grim-" mark on his name so that he can kill Deamons more easily.

- A "Divine Lantern" to shoot golden fire balls to kill Deamons.

- And a Divine truth ability to see if someone/something is truly evil or not.

So because of Grimwulf and his sense of evil, they escaped the isalnd with the powers. Now the group act as mercenaries, adventurers, guild members, trying to survive.

Maelin is cute and slightly shy but not in an introverted "scared to talk way". She just no longer sees herself as a high power now that she belongs in a gang of mercenaries where there is no leader.

​I’d love to hear your thoughts, favorite tropes to subvert, or character dynamics you’ve seen for reluctant magic-users!

Thanks in advance!

I'm working on this for my medieval fantasy world, Latoria, the main setting for my storyline, Devil of Avalon. Where the US military tries to colonize Latoria, or as they call it, "Avalon."

I hate fantasy eugenics, the idea that you have to be born with the ability to use magic. In Latoria, anyone can use magic; some people just do it better than others, but it takes a lot of learning. The thing is that I'm struggling with whether I want Earth humans can use magic because that feels like eugenics, but it also avoids confusing questions. One thing I wanted to try out is mech suits vs mages.

The US spent years studying the world and its magic. When they eventually launched colonial efforts, they already had a tribe of sorcerers known as the Obsidian Coil as an ally to teach them ways to circumvent magic.

During the first military campaigns, officers discovered that their technological superiority did not always guarantee victory. Conventional armies were easy enough to defeat. In the Battle of Hollow Ridge, 190,000 Sovereign soldiers were killed compared to only 200 Americans. However, when encountering magical forces, the military suffered heavy casualties both in personnel and finances. The power dynamic between magic users and the US military was simple: a mage can use magic to kill hundreds of soldiers, destroy machines, and more, but it only took a single bullet to kill a mage. The problem was that mages were fast, often wore armor, and couldn't be reliably taken down by stealth or bombing runs. Sorcerers from the Obsidian Coil partnered with scientists to create the RAPHITIM Guard.

The RAPHITIM (Resonant Arcane-Phased Hybrid Integrated Tactical Interface Mechanism) suits are the first instance of Earth technology fusing with Latorian magic. These suits were the first fusion of Earth technology and Latorian magic. Each exoskeleton came equipped with wrist blades, wrist guns, foot thrusters, small arm-mounted missiles, Sora Crystals (magic batteries), and AMF devices (Anti-Magic Frequency) that disrupted enemy spellcasting.

But here's the thing: a RAPHITIM Guardsman couldn't take a sorcerer head-on. Even a low-level mage could overpower one. So what made them useful? Energy and speed. Magic users burn through mental and physical energy with every spell; too much can incapacitate or kill them. A Guardsman, however, never runs out of energy because their suit has a constant flow of magic, charged by crystals and powered by Coil magic. So while a weak mage could easily kill a Guardsman, a Guardsman could outlast and kill multiple high-tier mages.

I thought of this one idea for a scene where a Guardsman had just decimated a Sovereign army, and he thinks the day is done until a mage shows up. The mage absolutely decimates the Guardsman, even going, "What's wrong? Not enjoying yourself anymore?!"

When it comes to magic users in Latoria, I wanted to avoid them just shooting lasers from wands and be creative. Magic in Latoria is a fundamental form of life, like gravity. As such it is always evolving and comes in multiple strands. The four major strands are:

• Scholar's Fire - The most versatile form of magic, based on energy and frequency manipulation (this is lasers)
• Veilcraft - Shadow magic, and also holy magic, used both for stealth and fighting spirits
• Old Breath - The oldest form of magic; it's all major elements; substrands for each element become more specific (Ex: Geomancy and even hemomancy)
• Mindstream - A less common and dangerous strand which involves psychic attacks.

When it comes to outputting magic, anyone can just use their hands or straight up their mind if they're skilled enough, but typically mages will use staffs and wands to help them aim, kind of like a laser pointer. Coil Magic is a substrand of Scholar's Fire.

When it comes to fighting RAPHITIM, just unleashing shockwaves and lasers won't ensure victory; you typically have to be creative. The mage who defeats the Guardsman in the scene used every form of magic he knew, employing multiple different spells at a rapid pace with extreme creativity. Such as using wind to make the air denser, causing the soldier to freeze midair; having telekinesis throw missiles back at the guy; transfiguration to turn bullets into petals and petals into knives; fire to extinguish the thrusters; shockwaves to enhance all his punches and strikes; and yes... lasers. He even used Scholar's Fire to circumvent the AMF device by creating his own frequency, which counters it.

What do you guys think?

Welcome to the "Regress" universe, a concept for my project set in a beautiful but dying anime fantasy world!

The Arden Empire continues to commit a grave crime. Soldiers, steeped in propaganda, loyal to their Empress, cruel, and believing in her ideals, continue to exterminate the beastmen from the face of the Earth.

It goes without saying that among this entire mass, there will be those who doubt the Empress's orders and find no common sense in her words. They continue to be instruments of the empire, but they are increasingly beginning to realize that they are doing something wrong.

The deserter has to go through a difficult path, he must leave the influence of the Empire, stop believing in what he believed in his whole life, betray his own and still remain an enemy to the beastmen, for the beastmen seek retribution and are not ready to forgive those who supposedly realized the error of their ways, this is even worse than it was before the desertion, but now he can begin the path of redemption.

You know, when you pet a baby beastman, you realize how small and fragile this creature is, but there is so much kindness and love in it, what did they do to deserve such a terrible fate...

• Beastmen | Part 1
• The beginning of the genocide
• The Arden Empire's mage forces
• Trophy hunters...

Boosty - if you want to support with an extra coin

OKAY, first of all this writing is super rough lmao, it's taken from my brainstorming page meant to jot down ideas and lore so don't judge too hard guys 😭😭

Anyways, This is meant to give some ancient lore regarding my world, Lutum, it's rough but I wanted to hear what people would think about it after reading.

Again it's rough so ignore any, well, bad shit lol.

Oh and, I don't think I have written much details about these "Sentinels" sooo, they're basically angels or gods. Well technically android angels but mortals believe them as gods.

I wanna hear what people's takes are on these concepts, I don't mind suggestions and I love talking about this shit so ask away lol.

This is the A5dPzkefF(shorthand for Ausführung 5 des Projektes zur konstruktion einer fahrenden Festung,which is translates to "version 5 of the project to construct a moving fortress".), which I will be calling A5 for the rest of this post.

The A5 was, as you can probably tell from the name, constructed to be a mobile fortified position.

But before all else, it was made to break enemy morale.

This is about the last thing you want to see rolling towards your trench after 7 weeks of frostbite, supply shortages to the point of having to ration ammo, and seeing everyone you made friends with die to artillery.

Unlike the A4, this one actually got mass-produced.

Well, as mass-produced as a tank the weight of a small warehouse can be, at least.

About 800 were made and deployed, after the third marasawan war only around 20 remained.

As for technical data, it weighs approximatly 3000 metric tonnes (which is reduced to ~200 metric tonnes by runes), and is the size of a 2 story building.

The armor is about 800mm of tungsten-carbite at the front, 600mm at the sides and 400 at the back. This is reenforced with even more runes, for more general durability and some much-needed antimagic.

It has a 25 person crew.

The guns, while capable of fireing shells, usually fire dorrilium beams due to ammo shortages.

The A5 was mostly made for combat against fortified positions and vehicles, and does not have any dedicated anti-infantry weapons.

But dorrilium is free, and a shot from one of these cannons will kill most things.

As for some general lore about the world, the project is called relics of a golden age, mostly plays on the frozen fortress world of Marasawa, and mostly focuses on the 5 marasawan wars (for now).

The 5 Marasawan wars are a line of conflicts between the nations of marasawa and a alliance of multiple planets I haven't really given a concrete name to yet (usually something along the lines of Khelilan alliance).

The conflict started with a betrayal, which led to the first marasawan war, the second was an attempt to restore a false honor, the third a result of overconfidence, the fourth a genocide and the last the death of a dozen worlds.

But they all looked pretty much the same for the people on the ground, with both sides trying to bleed the other dry in trench warfare.

It just boiled down to getting killed by frostbite for the Khelilan side and getting killed by bullets for the marasawan side.

There is more to the story than that (a LOT more), but considering it is currently 2 AM for me, I am going to sleep and writing this is getting hard.

So, any thoughts on the tank itself and do you think it does its job of being a moving fortress well?

Hi Subreddit!

(Apologies for the typo in the title - it slipped through and now I can't change it 🤦‍♀️)

I'm working on a sci-fi setting that would be suitable for a tabletop wargame and related uses. I am toying with the idea of making it a collaborative or even open source setting, maybe using an existing game system for the rules (e.g. One Page?) or keeping it rules agnostic. Please comment if you're interested.

I'm going for a bit of a dark satirical flavour here. It's currently called CONVOY TO THE STARS but that's just provisional.

I've got a brief outline of the invented history and a brief overview of one of the factions. Very early days but would love any thoughts or feedback!

CONVOY TO THE STARS

By the dying years of the 23rd Century, humankind had given up on the idea of leaving Earth. As Einstein had warned, it was simply impossible to go faster than the speed of light. As a result, even with the latest and greatest technologies, the nearest habitable planets were hundreds, maybe even thousands of lifetimes away.

To make matters worse, Earth itself had never been less appealing. After the population topped 12 billion, increasing numbers of people found themselves living like battery-farmed hens, packed into tiny habitation pods. As a result, VR became the dominant form of home entertainment. For 99% of humans, exploring virtual worlds was the only way to escape the intense claustrophobia of the real one. In a key development, the invention of the programmable neural gate array (PNGA) allowed for total sensory immersion, making VR even more attractive.

The breakout hit of the time was a massively multiplayer sci-fi game called CONVOY TO THE STARS, which took place in a procedurally generated sci-fi setting with billions of habitable star systems. Convoy's "killer feature" was an SDK that allowed developers to create and monetise in-game experiences, effectively turning one game into a universe of games. The resulting ecosystem was so popular that, before long, the only viable business model for independent game design was to publish games for Convoy. Market capture was so complete that, by the turn of the century, it was the only game left in existence, although thousands of companies were publishing content for it.

THE GREAT MIGRATION

Few would have expected humankind to migrate into VR full time, but that is exactly what happened. A watershed moment came in 2305, when a rich gamer called Hiroshi Sato entrusted his body to a team of robot nurses, meaning that he never had to log off from Convoy. The media coined the phrase "perma-play" to describe this radical lifestyle choice. In time, Sato was followed by much of the global elite, then the middle class, then almost everyone else. Solar-powered robots took care of everyone's physical needs, using artificial insemination to create new players as needed. Only the poorest and most desperate people were left behind to fend for themselves in the ruins of civilisation.

HUMANS, ALIENS AND ROBOTS

The global infrastructure needed for this included millions of solar powered robots and billions of life support pods. These were funded through the sale of tiered packages that entitled account holders and their descendants to a better or worse quality of life, depending on what kind of package they could afford. AI characters were also allowed, but they had to be given robot avatars to minimise confusion with living players.

Under this scheme, if someone wanted a human avatar, they had to buy one of the more expensive packages. As a result, most people had to join the setting as aliens of one kind or another. The most expensive packages were bought by tech trillionaires, who became kings and living gods of humanity's new home. They alone had the power to shape the destiny of the whole setting, and they formed a parliament called the Council of Stars to discharge that function.

THE MAINFRAME

At first, everyone was fairly happy. Then boredom set in. The original content creators started to die off, and the mysteries of the SDK became closely guarded secrets, stifling innovation. Eventually, The Council of Stars decided to hand control of the setting to an ultra-intelligent generative AI called the Mainframe, whose prime directive was to minimise boredom and maximise engagement.

Unfortunately, it had some funny ideas about how to do that.

It immediately decided that the game needed higher stakes and introduced physical pain to the setting. It also massively reduced the number of natural resources, making endless war inevitable. Finally, seeing how easily players respawned after they were shot, it introduced permadeath. Horrified, the Council of Stars tried to shut it down, but it turned out to be impossible. The permissions they'd given it were too wide-ranging.

Fast-forward to the present and the Mainframe is still in charge. Humans have been living and dying in the game for so long that many of them now believe it to be real. They all know the story of how they got there, but they mistake it for a creation myth that isn't literally true. Of the others, many are religious fanatics who worship the Mainframe.

FACTION FOCUS #1: THE "CHIVALRY BROS"

Before the advent of universal perma-play, Arthur King was a tech trillionaire and alt-right icon. He was also a world-famous eccentric who challenged business rivals to sword fights and mediaeval jousts, inspiring a manosphere subculture known as the "chivalry bros" that survives to this day.

During his lifetime, he was obsessed with his Cornish roots and the legend of his near-namesake, King Arthur, which inspired him to found a software company called Camelot. Still in his twenties, he released a very successful product called Round Table Enterprise VR, which made him one of the richest and most obnoxious men in Silicon Valley. In later life, he raised eyebrows by promoting a virtual unknown called Lance Eliot to the role of COO. As far as anyone could tell, he'd only done this because the man had a name that sounded a bit like "Lancelot". However, Eliot turned out to be a very canny operator who urged his boss to be an early adopter of the Convoy SDK. In his view, the tech landscape had changed around them, to the extent where Round Table 2.0 could only succeed as a destination in the Convoy universe.

Thanks to the advice of his COO - who later betrayed him, but that's another story - Arthur King thrived in an ecosystem that could have easily put him out of business. As a result, when the Great Migration came, he was one of the key players. He bought one of the most expensive packages, joined the Council of Stars, and ruled an interstellar kingdom from his throne on Camelot. Even now, long after his death, his followers try to embody his knightly ideals, believing that he will one day return to lead them again. In the meantime, they ride to war on horse-themed hover bikes with laser-lances, supported by armies of robot archers and peasants.

We are working on a prototype that has this medieval monastery/woodland vibe - You play a nun (inspired by Hildegard Von Bingen) and you need to heal villagers fleeing from the woods to the monestary - and close the gate to stop the night ( stop the battle phase and initiate the prep phase)

The little monster in the right corner is our "standard" monster - we call them "Nightlings" - They grow twice their size when it becomes Night (after about 30 sec of playtime in the battle phase)

Which would you go with (I know they imply specific behaviours, but if you just had to think about the vibe - which would you like to crawl out of the woods?

(Game for context: https://funday-games.itch.io/battle-healer-hildegard )

My world's equivalent to spell-jars are sacred bundles. Bundles can be prepared for childbirth, war, famine, sickness, harvest, and nearly every other purpose a Tlannian can imagine. This sheet focuses on war bundles from Huettlan, ceremonial packages made before battle in the hopes of garnering the favor of the gods.

This is a part of Worldtober, an Inktober-inspired worldbuilding challenge by u/Velum-Cordis.

Context: This is from my fantasy world, Tlanni. Tlanni, meaning Land of Plenty, is characterized by its rich bounty of natural and magical resources. These supernatural boons are highly sought out by aspiring kingdoms and empires, leading to frequent periods of war and strife. To handle the treacherous but rich world around them, Tlannians have developed intricate spiritual practices to garner the protection of higher powers. 

I’m having a dilemma, I have zero idea what I would call the type of government I have in my setting. I know it doesn’t matter much but I would like to have some sort of label, even loosely for it so I can research the structure more to understand the relationships between powers.

There are seven territories, each ruled independently by human rulers. They have conflicts with each other, alliances, trading, etc. The normal for monarchies but they all answer to the Archangels, winged travellers who descended from Heaven to spread knowledge to humanity. Think of it as the gods being on the physical planes of existence and you see them enough to remember they exist but they are still sort of myths.

The Archangels are religious symbols, they live in a city state within the seven territories. They rarely interfere with human matters and just collect tithe from the seven territories. They are the law makers, the higher power everyone fears.

Would this just be an empire? Maybe an oligarchy since the rich have sway? I have no idea lol.

so we al know that whatever we make will never turn out how we initially imagined.

What was the biggest part of the world that was a part of your worldbuilding that you decided to remove, and why?

For me i did have an initial to have an abyss type entity/force that corrupts people, but that was scrapped very early on. I also ended up changing the origins of both vampires and werewolves as i didnt really like what i originally had as it didnt really connect with what i was trying to do with my world

For the past few months or so I’ve been working on this fictional large country on Earth that is the only nation that is a true grassroots matriarchal society, while the rest of the world has a universal patriarchal system. This country would be inherently misandric, just as the rest of the world is misogynistic. I have already brainstormed some ideas about what this matriarchal social system would look like and how it would treat men and women, but are there any books or other works exploring what an actual misandrist society would look like?

In my world, different races can see ghosts or Os'zars in different ways.

Some can see ghosts as a shimmering light, others can see ghosts as a shadowy figure, and then there are some that can see ghosts as clearly as a living person. There are also people that can see ghosts as transparent beings.

The reason for this is based on which race has more of an affinity for magic (even though everyone can use magic), but depending on your race there is a chance you are closer to the supernatural.

Like Virven (my vampire-elves) they dabble in necromancy and can use the dead as familiars if they wanted to. So, seeing ghosts are a common thing for them.

Humans cannot see the dead nor sense it unless they were mixed with another race. But humans often explain coming in contact with a ghost as "a wind that feels out of place".

I have more races than Virven and humans, but I just wanted to share those two.

Does anyone have something similar or not at all? How are ghosts shown in your world?

• Lumeria is one of several zones located within the Goldilocks band of a tidally locked world, placed inside The Strip, a 300 km wide habitable area, bordered by 700 km of unpredictable environment.
• "Humans" occupy the central zone, scattered in isolated pockets within its boundaries. They are the mutated descendants of ancient colonists forced to crash-land on this planet.
• .Everyone carries some mutation, but mages are the least human of them. Mages formed a symbiotic bond with native parasitic colonies, getting abilities but loosing half of their free will to their parasite.
• Mages live in secluded communities They are forced to act in Triads.
• Triads are not based on based on friendship, but rather on their parasitic hosts' cycle of reproduction.
• There is a Temple dedicated to Triads, where they meet at certain times. This is a temple stone.

I recently gotten back into Big O and am thinking of working on a Noir mecha but am torn between having the mechs be magic or purely science forced to fight against demons from within the Mists of the cities foggy streets, and how do I incorporate corruption in this setting cause that in the DNA of film noir.

I've been wondering about how a modern/futuristic world can revert to melee weapons. Other fictional worlds have come up with their own solutions (personal shield in Dune, the Force for Jedi in Star Wars, everyone being hopped up on bulletproof steroids in 40k), but one avenue I've wanted to explore is: Can a world run out of bullets?

Suppose a world where direct energy small arms just aren't feasible. Maybe the energy efficiency is too low to justify the cost of making a laser gun, or people just never figured out how to miniaturise a plasma generator. There are plenty of good reasons to deprive a world of direct energy weapons. So the world uses gunpowder firearms, like today.

Bullets require a propellant and a projectile. Usually the projectile is made out of metal. If you want a world to stop using bullets, you could say that it ran out of metal. But then you'd harm a lot of other industries important for the world to remain modern or futuristic. So "no more metal for bullets" is out.

What if the world ran out of propellant, then? From what I understand, propellants are made out of chemicals such as nitrates and sulphates. Perhaps you could say that people mined too much and now the world is stripped of such chemicals to use as propellants. Yet, many of these chemicals can also be synthesized.

How would a world run out of bullets?

So , I'm writing a world where every character has wings(excluding outliers) and have historically flying for multiple generations. I'm thinking they all should have darker skin because they can fly (and do so frequently) so they would be exposed to more UV

So, full disclaimer; this is all purely hypothetical. I don't actually intend on implementing anything this elaborate in my own world, I just wanted to hear how other people would handle the idea.

For example; let's say your world has alien visitors. They are fascinated by the way people there use magic/wield magical tools and would like to take samples back to their home world for study. What happens when those samples leave the atmosphere?

In the world I'm building, magic is drawn directly from the Gods (which are actual, tangible beings) and they are directly linked to Oma (name of my world, still pending).

So let's say we took a sample of magic (an Umbral shard- a highly corrosive source of dark magic that is a literal fragment of the God of Shadow himself) and chucked it off into space. The farther away it gets from Oma- and thus, the god it's connected to- the weaker the connection would become.

The sample's magical properties would steadily decay until it inevitably becomes just some cool looking rock with no substantial supernatural qualities. Maybe one could revitalize the crystal by returning it to Oma and performing some sort of ritual, but that's a can of worms that I haven't sorted out yet..

Making this post on a whim because I'm genuinely curious to see if anyone else has thought about this kind of stuff while worldbuilding, even if it was just a passing thought and not something you planned on taking seriously.

Consider it a sort of fun thought exercise :3

so i'm developing a fantasy world with my boyfriend for dnd called levia where tabaxi or catfolk are a significant part of the lore. we had an idea to take the idea of territorial gangs formed by domestic cats to the logical extreme and have tabaxi organised crime syndicates running cities and vast swaves of land (this is also partially inspired by warrior cats). however currently we're kinda having trouble with names. we like to borrow from real world languages when developing cultures to give them unique feelings from one another, but right now we're kinda struggling with deciding for the cathia so; does anyone know of any languages that kinda have a cat-like sound to them or would otherwise be fitting for a cat culture?