Worldbuilding Thread
Some worldbuilding resources:
On designing cultures:
http://www.frathwiki.com/Dr._Zahir%27s_Ethnographical_Questionnaire
Random generators:
http://donjon.bin.sh/
Mapmaking tutorials:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48
Free mapmaking toolset:
www.inkarnate.com
Random Magic Resources/Possible Inspiration:
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html
http://www.buddhas-online.com/mudras.html
http://sacred-texts.com/index.htm
Conlanging:
http://www.zompist.com/resources/
Random (but useful) Links:
http://futurewarstories.blogspot.ca/
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/
http://military-sf.com/
http://fantasynamegenerators.com/
http://donjon.bin.sh/
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/index.html
http://kennethjorgensen.com/worldbuilding/resources
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/europe#wiki_middle_ages
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding
Some questions
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
>>46173507
>>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Giant technology is roughly your standard medieval fantasy fare. The people used to be fairly advanced (think 1900's to 1940's modern type things), but have only really managed to hold on to the military type technology after the confluence to survive against the elements and the giant incursions. Think Mad Max meets Middle Earth.
>>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Fairly well known. Technology was where engineering met sorcery such that these things were accessible to the magically inept layperson.
>>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Haven't decided what place gods may have in my setting yet.
Hey need some help fleshing out or just a review of my setting so far, this all early stage drawing board so I wanna get it out there for some discussion.
between the civilizations/races of your setting
The setting is a medieval dark fantasy (around 1400'sish european) set a thousand or so years after a nuclear war that set civilization to the dark ages. Pretty much all scientific knowledge before the "great fire" has been lost, allthough the hyper advanced technology of the ancients still remains functional. Dungeons are old bunkers and buried cities guarded by ever vigilant steel golems (automated combat mechs) and the magic of the setting is control of nanobots that can do everything from construction, healing, killing and other tasks that appear to be magic by the people in the setting.
Even a few weapons of the ancients remain, directed energy guns that have remained in workable condition are treated as magical artifacts and passed down the bloodlines of the powerful ruling families, these weapons being capable of destroying entire armies.
I'll get more into magic in further posts but thats the general gist of what I have going so far.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic is well understood. The Empire seeks out anyone with magical talent, and educates them at one of the arcane universities around the country. Magic is highly regulated. If you're a sorcerer who practices magic in secret, you will be hunted down. The creation of magic items to automate many tasks has allowed culture to flourish, as people have time to do things other than farming. However, these items are expensive and require periodic recharging, which is also expensive.
The Empire is going through a bit of a technological revolution, thanks to the discovery of a metal that behaves like an ideal spring. This technology is still new, and the magocracy does not yet understand its potential to allow mundane folk to rise up from under the thumb of the wizards.
The Empire keeps closed borders, so other countries know very little of these advancements. Magic in those lands is less controlled, more like sorcery than wizardry, and most people will never see magic in their entire lives.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
When the world and all its creatures were created, gods were not personified. They were raw forces of creation. As cultures developed, those divine forces began to develop individual identies. One god, greedy and jealous, attempted to steal the world away for himself. He fucked up big time, and accidentally wound up recursively trapping the world in itself. There's a massive opaque crystal sphere floating in the sky. That sphere contains the world, which contains the sphere, and so on. Cut off from the cosmos, the gods lost nearly all of their power. They took on corporeal bodies to avoid vanishing. Now they walk the earth.
>>46173507
This is a much better OP image.
>>46173871
Instead of monsters you could have strains of animals (or humans) that have mutated due to radiation or biological fuckery
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
I'm still not sure. Originally there were going to be a lot of civilizations with mostly an Iron Age technological base, like Alexander the Great era, but then I wanted knights and shit and still have really barbarian Stone Age tribesmen being the mook antagonists. So I don't know.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Both and neither. Most magic is codified in spells, but most mage bloodlines have thinned to the point where nobody can cast it anymore. So clerics and divine spellcasters, who cast a more vague and versatile magic limited by their deity's portfolios have mostly replaced them.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Gods definitely created man. He was the third try after their attempts 1) turned against the gods to worship primeval entities of chaos and creation and 2) had to be saved from said entities.
The next OP image should be the Magrathean planet yards from Hitchhikers.
This is going to come off as stupid, but I have a bear as a character. That's right, a talking, sentient bear. But humor me for a moment.
I need help deciding on is what kind of bear he is.
I can either take him the more traditional route I was originally considering. He's old, honorable, unafraid of warfare and all things considered masculine, but wise and cautious. He'd be some kind of brown bear, pictured on the left.
Or, I can make this character into something different. He's young, hypermasculine, and hyperaggressive. Idealistic, he sees a better world as something possible through violence. A warmonger in the making. If this was who he became, he'd be a sloth bear, pictured on the right.
My question is simple - which one would you prefer to roleplay, and why?
>>46174101
Go with the former, but make it a panda. He is completely immune to seduction.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Most civil societies are still Medieval with their technology, with a dash of magical convenience. Nobles are still riding around in horse-drawn carriages, except they have magical air conditioning.
"Tribal" races, like most Elves or Goblins, are still hunter/gatherers. They have a grasp of basic metallurgy, but never anything more than Bronze or Steel.
Magitech is still in its infancy, and the world's best Artificers/Engineers are still figuring out steam engines and airships.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic itself is well known, but the mechanisms behind it are confusing. Humans are usually the only learned Wizards, while most other races have Druids, Clerics, or Paladins.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
A Creator God made everything, then man created gods (in the form of idealized historical figures that represent certain virtues) to worship. Humans themselves were "created" by one of the Creator's first creations, the Aspect of Good, but don't worship it.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
The PC civilisations tend to interact through traders, so new developments are difficult to keep contained. There are some tribal groups that are sticking to hunter-gathering out in regions that are unfit for larger settlements. They're sticking with some fairly primitive tech because it works just fine.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic is all-encompassing and natural. Everyone knows or suspects that it's possible to influence events through the correct rituals and sufficient willpower or piety. On the other hand, no one really knows how or why this is the case. The sun rises and sets, things fall to the ground when you let go of them, and magic just works. It is the way of things. Any explanation provided is going to be a subjective view.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Ask people from ten different communities, and you'll hear nine different explanations. They're all correct, and they're all wrong. Spirits exist and make appearances, but whether they're gods is entirely open to interpretation.
Animism is probably the most 'correct' spiritual world view, but different cultures have reasoned in every direction imaginable in order to explain the world around them.
>>46174016
>I wanted knights and shit
Define 'knights and shit'. A warrior caste is possible in every time period-equivalent.
Does anyone know anything about how ethnicities evolve? I'm working on a scifi setting and am not sure what degree of difference in appearance between humans from different planets, or different regions of planets, to create.
In this case, you have a major bottleneck in the humab gene pool, with what remains of humanity being confined to a single very large community for a while. This should create a single, merged ethnicity i imagine. But at a certain point, this group begins to split off to other planets and new communities. If we assume natural selection is mostly irrelevant in a monogamous society with advanced medical tech, and that non of these communities are totally isolationist and still interact and travel regularly (to a roughly modern degree), how long would it take for distinguishable ethnicities to develop, if at all? Id kinda like there to be some clear difference, as I feel it would be more flavorful, so even just knowing the minimum conditions would be useful.
>>46175060
I think height and skin color would change first.
Shorter Humans on denser planets or planets with higher gravity; Darker Humans on hot planets or planets closer to their star.
In order for a species to differentiate into different variants (and eventually distinct species), there needs to be something isolating them.
If they're able to keep mingling, there's nothing driving a differentiation into different ethnicities.
>>46175100
Note that 'first' is still going to take a period of time that vastly exceeds the stable period of any civilisation, ever.
>>46175119
So you're going to have the difference between Orangutans and (most) modern Humans.
>>46175153
What?
>>46175162
I don't know, I'm tired.
>>46175100
Probably true, but as physical adaptations, not genetic.
>>46175109
>>46175119
Yeah i figured as much, thanks. Ill go with my backup plan of genetic modification towards culturally defined aesthetics and environmentally defined utility
>>46175178
Then go to sleep you dumb fuck.
I always get a little sad when people start worldbuilding with a singular, correct creation myth and a god or set of gods. It ruins the sense of mystery.
Feel free to be creative, just remember that, as a player, I can't really un-know this shit once I've read it. That's a sense of existential wonder out the window.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Technological disparity isn't that great. A lot of older, archeotech is fueled by magic. Like airships. Trouble is that magic isn't stable anymore and a lot of old tech doesn't work as well, but Mage's Guild and similar societies that operate around the world tend to extert their influence to keep any technological developments that might circumvent magic off the market, enforcing the magical late-medieval stasis. Not everywhere, of course, but enough to slow down progress considerably.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force or more mysterious and rare
Magic is a well known thing. When one of eldritch things from outer space sacrificed itself to seal off its brethren in a separate dimension, creating the Immaterial Plane of the setting and magic as byproduct. Magic and what makes it, prana, are lifeblood of this being seeping into reality.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Neither. World was made by HIM, as were the original gods. Then he fucked off to do whatever, leaving the newly minted gods to shape the world. They did so and eventually realized that HE did not leave the world without its gifts, one of which was a spark of uncommon intelligence in an animal that evolved into first race called Niir. Gods were curious enough to interact with them, but when they realized that they grow actively stronger if they are worshipped, there was dissent amongst gods who wanted to play the part of observers and those that wanted to continue discovering this new trait of theirs. Eventually, they butchered one another, starting the First Calamity. Funny thing is, they didn't even consider killing one another a possibility until they saw Niir wage wars. After the Calamity, elves appeared in the world in enough numbers to continue their race and with only faintest memories of where they came from. Other races followed the pattern.
>>46175977
It's a different kind of world. The kind I don't personally like, I agree -- but it's not *meant* to be mysterious, at least not in that way. You're complaining about a screw driver not behaving like a spanner; it's only of issue if you're trying to use the screw driver like a spanner (which some world builders do, I admit).
You know what I hate? People worldbuilding for the world, instead what they're *really* building for. If you're making a world for a game, build it around plothooks. If you're making it for a book, build it around stories. If you're building it for your own enjoyment, focus on what you enjoy (e.g. politics, people); do not build just so you get to say you have a world at the end of it. Because I see a lot of people (not necessarily here) putting something in their world because they feel it ought to have it. Which invariably leads to stale isolation; none of the concepts exist to perform a role in the world, just to be in it -- and so they don't *do* anything to it.
One of the most common examples is the Mage Organisation. So many people have this big, static organisation that mages come from, and has some hierarchy or other. But that's it. It doesn't actually contribute anything to the world. It doesn't actually make the world any better for its presence. It's rarely got any actual reason to exist (other than maybe a "well the mages were dangerous otherwise so they decided to not be dangerous because that's totally what people do") because their real-world aim is just to be there. Because it's a famous concept that's in many other worlds, see? They don't have an affect on other concepts, they aren't affected by other concepts, they don't interact with other concepts -- they just sit there.
Basically, I think a problem with some worlds is lifeless stagnation, which is driven by concepts not interacting with each other to form a whole, which is driven by a lack of aim when building beyond "I want a world".
/autism
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
None. There's some different know-how obviously, but effectively, they are all in the same boat, different nations on the same continent with the same roots. That said, ancient mages could do a lot of shit modern people can't and left behind incredibly advanced stuff, like indestructible towers of gaudy colours.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
True magic is referred to as "forgotten art" and for a good reason. This days anyone who tries to practice it will let demons slip though and ruin their day. Sorcery is limited magic but only certain lineages can possess it.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
There is no confirmed god. Ancient people invented some gods but now everyone opt for ancestor hero worship instead.
>>46176423
>It's a different kind of world.
That's just the thing. Nine times out of ten, they aren't.
You'll have a world with mythology that is definitely true and active, anthropomorphic deities, but daily life is still presented as Earth-like period-appriopriate fantasy with some magic thrown in.
That's not how people and societies work. That kind of certainty and power would have far-reaching consequences.
>>46176514
Like I said, using a screw driver as a spanner ain't going to work well. To me it's not just about consequence; the atmosphere of the world's going to clash. Big mythopoeias work well for epic settings á la Tolkien or Eddison or Le Guin, but won't fit well with something like Conan or ASoIaF unless presented *in* a mythological way (e.g. "our legends say that Ceb the First Man carved the land out of the sea" rather than "and then Ceb built land in the sea").
I don't know if any of that made sense. I've had to delete stuff three times now, I think.
>>46176423
>You know what I hate? People worldbuilding for the world, instead what they're *really* building for.
this. everything I plan is either for fun or because at some point it's gonna be relevant in the story I'm writing.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
99% of the world is Fantasy so medieval technology mixed with magic
But there is a cyberpunk city in the south where snipers and shotguns replace magic
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Most people don't use magic but it is fairly known
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
The gods are just really powerful members of the different races
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
The setting overall is Late Medieval, but the Republic of Vandorme has technology comparable to Napoleonic while the Moon Elves have something I'd consider "modern-built medieval" (Think if modern factories were building swords, shields and armor.)
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
That's a can of worms I don't want to get into before deciding if it's worth getting into, since while >>46176423 is correct about mages, he's also correct in that it's not a question that *needs* a very strong answer because, in the end, this is supposed to be a world for my players, and my players ain't gonna give two shits about how or why the mages exist as they do.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
I ascribe to >>46175977, there is no "correct" creation myth and there is evidence pointing to everything from "humans are the children of dragons and Elves" to "we were the love-children of the Sun and Moon", I've got threads that connect every creation myth but none of them are more true than the others.
As for who created who? I cannot say, because I have not and will never admit one created the other. For now, humans "discovered" the gods like the primordial man "discovered" religion; there's insinuations divine magic is simply "another type" of magic, powered by faith and not knowledge, but it will never be anything more than a ripple in the metaphorical water.
Faith is not fact.
>>46177625
How come Napoleonic technology (not the guys using it) hasn't stomped on the Late Medieval? Or rather -- how come people are still using Late Medieval technology? Similar question with the Moon Elves -- how come factory tech hasn't been applied to other technologies?
>>46177699
>How come Napoleonic technology (not the guys using it) hasn't stomped on the Late Medieval? Or rather -- how come people are still using Late Medieval technology?
Because the Napoleonic technology has been a fairly recent discovery; the Republic of Vandorme did not exist 100 years ago, and it's only now been exporting bits and pieces of their tech throughout the continent for 10 years, mostly weapons for insurgencies within the Drachenstaat (the empire they broke free from.) The world is changing, and the players are given the chance to either be the pioneers of that change, or live out the final glory days of knights and chivalry. If I ever run another campaign in this setting fast-forward 100 years, it'll absolutely be firmly Napoleonic in tech, maybe even approaching Reconstruction-era.
I'll have to figure out how that'll affect the nobility, though I imagine it won't be good.
>Similar question with the Moon Elves -- how come factory tech hasn't been applied to other technologies?
The Moon Elves do not cohabitate with other races, all their production is on the moon (hence the name) and they can only Gate down to the planet on New Moons, and only then in limited numbers. This means their interaction with the surface world is raid and pillage (they're the "Great Other" of the setting, the Wild Hunt) or supplying the Northern Tribes with leadership and crates of quality weapons and armor. Their factory tech is thus completely unknown to the world.
They are, however, trying to figure out a way to stabilize the link between planet and moon, which would allow them to bear their full strength on the planet, and given a soldier of the Wild Hunt is, on average, a mid/high-level encounter, it's heavily implied the world will not survive the invasion.
>>46174016
>but then I wanted knights and shit
WE WUZ KNIGHTS N SHIET
>>46177893
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTT
Alright, I want tg's opinion on my setting's magic system. The rest of the setting can best be described as Literally Dwarf Fortress.
In the Land of Omen there are Secrets. A Secret Keeper is a powerful individual, capable of bending the very world to their will. There are many sought-after Secrets, such as Fire, Death, or Lightning. There are some less useful Secrets, such as Fortresses, Caverns, or Light. Then there are some that few seek at all, like Generosity, Deformity, or Duty. Most Secrets do not grant special powers at all, instead granting incredible skill in a specific field, imbuing the Keeper with a particular virtue or vice, or shaping the Keeper’s life in a particular way.
Secrets ultimately come from gods, who sometimes grant their most loyal followers a Secret related to their role in the pantheon. Due to this most Keepers are human or dwarven. However, one can also be told a Secret by a Keeper. The original Keeper then forgets the Secret, passing it on to a new Keeper. Secrets are often passed down through families, originating from some distant priestly ancestor.
Secrets must be whispered in the ear of the receiver, and anyone listening in hears nothing. Secrets may also be written, after which they are forgotten by the original Keeper. The reader receives the Secret and the written Secret vanishes. Secrets can also be discovered through exhaustive research, though the only person to ever find a Secret in such a way was a Keeper of the Secret of Scholarship.
Some rare Keepers have more than one Secret, and these are exponentially more powerful than ordinary Keepers. Secrets combine. The Secret of Life grants healing powers and immortality (but not eternal youth), the Secret of Death grants death curses, killing spells, etc., but both together grant the power of necromancy. Two Secrets with overlapping areas, such as Agriculture and Plants, give a Keeper greater power over the overlapping area than two Keepers working together.
>>46177893
>>46177916
How the shitdicks is this related to the comment?
>>46177970
pls no chimp out
>>46177835
I figured the moon elves'd be on the moon, but how come they themselves haven't applied factory tech to other areas? Or have they, and they just didn't want to give Earth people higher tech weapons?
>>46177990
pls no cancer
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
The world's pretty well along, technologically speaking. The most well-developed countries are getting into 1920's-era tech, with a few pieces of tech (like airships) being more prominent than in our reality. There's a cultural "Center" to this globe, a large continent whose history and especially their recent imperial behavior have extended their influence far and wide. On the periphery of these nations, and in their colonies, the technological disparity becomes apparent, as there are some regions which are still making do with nearly medieval methods.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic? Whuzzat? We gots science, son. That said, though, this is an era where many mysteries of physics, chemistry, and biology are being solved, and to a lot of common folks, such advances can be likened to sorcery. Archaeology is also revealing certain secrets from the long-distant past, which may have repercussions for the entire world.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Depends on who you ask. There are certainly long-standing tales of godly powers and exploits, and some physical evidence for great powers acting upon the globe, but whether these are mere myths or something more is yet to be definitively determined.
>>46178012
>but how come they themselves haven't applied factory tech to other areas? Or have they, and they just didn't want to give Earth people higher tech weapons?
They have applied the tech to other places, it's why they're simply *better* than basically everyone else in the setting (better fed, healthier, better materials, better education, etc.) Drawing from real-world mythology, honored prisoners taken during a raid and returned exhibit much of the same melancholy humans would when returning from the Land of the Fae; colors are less vivid, the food is bland, they just want to *go back* because life up there was so much better.
They aren't giving the technology to the people planetside because they see no reason to. Everyone on the planet is, to them at least, little more than playthings to hunt and enslave* or curiosities that would become dangerous to their existence if elevated as technological equals. Usually the factions in place advocate staunch isolationism, but the recent developments in Vandorme have placed into power a particularly imperialist warmonger that believes they need to strike *now*, before the world starts catching up to them.
*The Wild Hunt is not technically indicative of the race as a whole, they're everything from bored nobility indulging their baser desires to the riff-raff the general population doesn't want to deal with.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity.
Each of the three most prominent nations specializes in a different form of technology. Ideally, the three major branches of technology (spellcraft & magical alchemy, mechanical technology, and bio-organic technology) are roughly equal with a high degree of overlap.
Magic has been around the longest and is the most widespread and understood. For that reason, magic is deeply intertwined in the processes of the other technological branches, to the point where getting non-enchanted or not magically enhanced tools is more difficult than obtaining "normal" magically inert substances. Although in this case, magically active materials would be the norm.
Technology is widespread, though certain low tech societies exist. The fey do not need advanced technology as their society and lives are fundamentally different. Their society is not inferior, however, just very different. They've never meshed well with mortals, and this along with their mischievous and meddling nature has kept them at odds for millennia
Then you have the centaur who worship the fey and eschew technology for nature. The fey and nature both screw them over occasionally, and they look down on other mortal races and avoid contact with them, so the centaur live pretty hand to mouth. Besides that notable exception tech is widespread. Third world shitholes and remote technological blindspots are the exception rather than the rule
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force
Magic is ubiquitous. There are people on TV hocking magic spoons that make food taste like other food. Things that aren't magic in some way are rare and it makes combating fairy folk a pain
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Gods created man. It used to be well documented. Gods can also unmake civilization. This is cause for concern among certain shadowy groups that would prefer if that was not the case. There's a sort of HFY cult, except not limited to humans
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
The setting is centered on an empire highly inspired by the roman republic and empire. The technological disparity between the different civilizations and tribes varies depending on where exactly in the world's history the setting is, with the Empire of the tetrarchy (notRoman empire) and the Arsanid Empire (notPersian empire) leading the way in technological advancement with generally less and less sophisticated societies the longer away from these empires we get. However inside the notRoman Empire there is a large isle from which the tetrarchy recruits "wildmen" as mercenaries. These savages are so technologically backwards due to their religious isolation (no one that leaves the isle can ever return and no foreigner is ever allowed access to the isle except the envoys of the empire) that they are practically in the stone age. At the collapse of the empire of the tetrarchy the Holy see of Nürn uses its influence over the islanders and their kin in exile to become one of the major powers in the aftermath by arming the wildmen with knowledge aswell as military equipment.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic is highly ritualised, often in the form of complicated dances and chantings. The appearance of these religious rituals are not uncommon, and in some parts of life fairly ordinary. Magic itself is not something that really exist in the world. However as people believe in the existance of magic the practice of magic rituals etc is highly influential and a grea placebo.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Man created the gods... Probably.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Regional, not based on civilizations/races.
The industrial areas / continents have rather advanced tech ( 1930-1900 ), but it hasn't spread everywhere. There are lot of isolated islands which haven't even met the other races yet. And obviously, some places simply can't afford to import or produce such things.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Difficult to say. It is well-recorded, with quite many practitioners, but it isn't very applicable and lot of the actual mechanics or powers behind it remain obscure. High-thaumaturges of Zere managed to peer into its source, but humanity in general was less well off from it.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Lot of religions do believe gods created man, but it isn't that in actuality. Gods and living creatures emerged from completely opposite sources of creation, and gods created material world as barrier to keep them out.
There are some species that were created, though.
And also, I have one additional question:
>The moments you realized you can explain misc. regional/culture fluff with history
I made this image without really sense of purpose, but it made me think; why soup? I figured it'd be bit more difficult choice of dish to eat for a lizard ( possible, wide dish, thicker soup, tools etc. ), but still - they probably didn't use eating utensils.
In the history of the setting, there was rather notable human migration after their empire got bumfucked by a calamity. Since they brought their comparatively incredibly advanced thaumaturgic knowledge, lot received an elevated position ( considering their caste system ). So I figured that soups were really traditional human food of that region, brought over and popularized it, leading to emergence of various low-cost soup-stands.
It is silly detail.
When it comes to worldbuilding, I build what I need, and leave the rest open. That being said, if I need 150 pages of developed world, then that's what I need. But there are centuries of history left untouched and undeveloped because they simply aren't relevant to the story I'm telling at the moment.
Plus, you never want to close yourself in your own world. Define ONLY what you need, and when you need to define it further, it'll be the world, not you, that provides you with the answers. The world then becomes alive, genuine, and much more real.
That's worldbuilding. At least for me.
We want to play our own Fallout adventure and currently I stare at the map of Oregon in despair, trying to fit my ideas onto it.
At least I don't have to care about research because we are not American.
>>46180498
I'm American, what do you need to know about Oregon?
>>46180579
What is it like? I'm pretty poor at reading maps, is it forest, plains, mountains?
What are some natural landmarks to look out for and what might be the most logical place for a big resort complext that survived the war to be, if any?
>>46176423
>If you're making a world for a game, build it around plothooks. If you're making it for a book, build it around stories.
But that's wrong. A well constructed world generates stories and plotlines dynamically.
>>46180631
It's mostly forest, very wet and fairly cool. The people there are hipsters and generally insufferable with their coffee-culture and obsession with the avant garde. Remember the hippies? When they all grew up they moved to Colorado, and the ones that refused to grow up moved to Oregon and Washington.
So it's basically a state that spends most of it's time indoors due to the constant drizzle, the colors are drab (deep greens and grays, the forests are mostly evergreen) and the people got "odd" because of it.
As for landmarks? Can't really say, it's one of those states you go to for the people. The weather's fairly nice down south and they've got some wine-making there, but by and large Oregon is defined by Portland and the weird habits of their denizens.
So if you need things to really define Oregon in a Fallout-style scenario, I'd suggest the following; coffee, miserable weather, ex-hippies and huge fucking weirdos (mostly harmless.)
>>46180658
Yeah, with a hundred times as much work and surplus material.
>>46180631
I'm the same. I tend to Google "[location] slideshow" for a quick impression. These tend to focus on nature for larger regions, like states, so it's a good idea to look for city-specific slideshows from said area as well.
>>46173507
It's a space opera-type setting so, keep that in mind...
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Off. The. Charts.
from a vast space-faring civilizations like Humans; to "Just figured out to make Bronze prior to first-contact" like the Naacal.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
non-existent, for all practical purposes.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
while there are many religions out there, there has never been any definitive proof to say any of them are correct or incorrect.
>>46180941
you do realize that some people consider that "fun".
I have no idea where the fuck to start.
I posted in the last thread about a project I'm semi-working on (for the elevator pitch version, "Percy Jackson with less shitty writing, more than just Greek mythology, and in the 1930s"). There's supposed to be two of us working on it, but the other dude has the opposite schedule as I do and hasn't really given a ton. I've got a few playable races down (regular humans, demigods (not STRONG ones), fae, modified dwarves, and i've started formatting out some vampires with the help of Trenchbreaker's writer), and I've got a general location and a couple setting bits (1930s Chicago).
Where the fuck do I start from here, though?
>>46173507
>>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Except for a few really isolated tribal and religious peoples, trade and contact has made technology generally on par across the continent. It's the application and innovation that differs. Recently a more scientific movement has taken root in the east and is making advances in magic and science, a renaissance of sorts.
>>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
In the empire of Sha'hara magic is being studied in a more scientific manner. Great expense has gone into building center of learning and research into multiple fields of magic, science and the relation of the two. They believe that magic is an inherent part of the universe and is part of the soul or life force of all living things. This is similar to the Xuande elves in the far west who believe magic is life energy.
Those of the empire of Gedask and the Luwasati elves hold to the tradition belief that magic is of supernatural/godly origins citing its use by specialized/chosen individuals and enchantments independent of a caster. Sha'hara has disproved the need of special individuals with magical ability by training a multitude of individuals with no magic using lineage. Most of the powerful casters are from Gedask of Luwasati though.
All are still unable to understand why magical transmutation is an unstable process and prone to catastrophic explosions when done in practical quantities. They are also unable to explain the strange wasting disease and cancers that plague those that practice the art.
>>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
I'm on the fence regarding including actual gods. The setting allows for gods to occur and allows people to create them. For now I'm going with possibly 2 or 3 god-like beings on the world and only 1 is reputed to be benign. Gods have no direct contact or influence on the world.
>>46180658
Yeah obviously any world should be able to spit out plot hooks. That's one of the main purposes of a setting, among other things. He's talking about building the world around a core idea or a core purpose, in order to keep it coherent and direct effort in ways that will be most useful.
>>46181173
Start with how the world works.
I'm not talking about nations or culture, though. Just how "reality" works, and how "magic" works.
Don't even try to lie to me, /wbg/, tell me about that one guy or girl in your setting. You know the one, the guy or girl you basically designed for party members to perk up when they're around.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Small differences. Technology runs off magic so it's more of a matter of how it's used between races. Trying to aim for a cowboys and Indians type of disparity. Everyone is roughing it but since do it holistically while others do it scientifically. Some societies have concrete since spell casting was banned whereas others don't even have agriculture since magic allows them to create nutrition in an uneven exchange of energy.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
It's present in all forms of energy and processes. Everyone can use it but their evolution changed how they go about it. While man is capable of all types, those who evolved/mutated from man exclusively use their one field though it's like flexing a muscle for them as opposed to spending years researching like it is with man.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
The creator of the universe was a human who ascended to godhood in a plane outside of time and space. In order to make sure a paradox didn't occur, all of reality was remade based on approximate knowledge and minimal interference before the evolution of man. Basically, things like prehistoric beasts and dragons were not part of God's design and occurred naturally by following the blueprints. The rest of the gods were created by the domain of the creator collecting thoughts and feelings while regurgitating amalgamates comprised of them. Ideas and thoughts essentially eat away at each other in these forms until the strongest feelings become new gods. The creator is too busy repairing all the damage life does to reality in order to notice so they just do as they please making even bigger problems for the creator to clean up.
>>46181676
Genki athletic brown-girl tomboy Spaniard queen with a very voluptuous figure.
Suave older gentleman with salt-and-pepper beard and duelist's figure.
Sultry Elvish woman withhuge stonkin' titsand powerful arcane magic.
Tough half-giant brawler with big dreams and big hands.
>>46176423
Thank god my Mage Organisation equivalent isn't like that. It's a good observation though. Things should serve some sort of purpose and should be defined properly, otherwise they're just bland.
How have you used LGBT themes in your worlds /tg/? Let me be clear, I give no fucks about gender politics and your position on it, or how you personally feel about LGBT as that shit belongs in /pol/ or /lgbt/, I just want to know how you have used those themes in your world.
I personally make my elves convey a great deal of LGBT themes. Life is too long to not try everything. They also have three genders, male, female, hermaphrodite, because Corellon Larethian, the god they were born from, was hermaphroditic. Kinda Vivec in a way, being an artist and a warrior. Hermaphrodites tend to become priests of Corellon Larethian.
>>46182336
Please die.
>>46182336
Degeneracy is illegal and punished by death. As it should be in real life.
>>46182336
My world cured gay ages ago. Anyone who thinks they're gay goes in for a quick clerical treatment, and bam, prayed away.
>>46182336
Why would this be important for worldbuilding? It's not like I'm marketing my setting to tumblr or something
>>46182448
underrated post.
>>46182481
>It's not like I'm marketing my setting to tumblr or something
even if you were I'd imagine that the question of "how is that even relevant?" might still get raised.
>>46182336
These newfangled PC LGBT labels confound and irritate me so I have no actual idea what an LGBT theme is. The way I have it is he/she/it can fuck/be fucked by he/she/it or pretend to be he/she/it and be subject to their particular society's norms and mores.
>>46182481
It's something interesting to explore. This shit comes up all the time in Space Opera as well. Exploring societies that aren't true in our own.
>>46182336
you've been starting threads with more or less this OP text. please fuck off and stop starting shit in perfectly good threads.
>>46182336
>Let me be clear, I give no fucks about gender politics and your position on it,
Except you have a vested interest in dragging retarded debates out of /pol/ and /lgbt/ for some reason.
What is wrong with you? Why do you need to shit up every board with your retarded debates about your fetish?
>>46182550
Singular 'they', use it for the love of god.
>>46182575
It's just whiny shits wanting muh representations. You could be exploring the ramifications of genetic engineering, our perception of reality being altered by widespread VR, or androids fitting into society, but instead you wanna waste time on 'lets see how teh gays are doing hurr durr'?
>>46182336
Fuck off
>>46182578
Never started any threads anon.
>>46182550
Close enough, it's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual. Transsexual is the outlier because while the first three have to do with sexual attraction, the last is more complicated.
>>46182615
>Except you have a vested interest in dragging retarded debates out of /pol/ and /lgbt/ for some reason.
Do you not fucking read, that's the exact opposite of what I want.
I give no fucks about gender politics or your position on it. I don't want a debate, I want to explore themes in worldbuilding.
This is the only post i'll be making that's not in the context of worldbuilding.
>>46182670
Ain't nothing complicated about being fucked in the head, tumblrina. Now I suggest you get the fuck out of /tg/ and never come back, cuz we don't like your kind here.
>>46182670
>Never started any threads anon.
fuck off
>that's the exact opposite of what I want.
fuck off
>I give no fucks about gender politics or your position on it
fuck off
>I don't want a debate
fuck off
>I want to explore themes in worldbuilding.
fuck off
>This is the only post i'll be making that's not in the context of worldbuilding.
good, fuck off.
>>46175977
There's nothing wrong with having a singular, correct answer to where the world comes from.
Because, you know, nothing is stopping you from not telling your players and putting multiple religions/myths in your setting afterwards.
>>46182670
>Do you not fucking read, that's the exact opposite of what I want.
It's impressive how you can lie to yourself so easily.
That's like saying "I don't want you to think about pink elephants, really, I don't."
Exploring those "themes" means you want to try an approach them like a casual topic for conversation, which is just another controversial stance. Don't pretend otherwise, and stop lying to us as much as you lie to yourself.
>>46182550
hell if I know, and generally unless a PC is an LGBT, it will never come up, so why bother.
>>46182336
just for the sake of answering your question, by in large, I haven't put much thought into it. The only civilization that I can imagine that would have any measurable reaction at all to an LGBT are the Fyora, who would react by trying to kill the person with flamethrowers, in all likelihood they'll end up setting half their own settlement on fire trying to chase the LGBT down and the person is still more likely to get away, but the Fyora will nevertheless proclaim it a victory.
Continuing with the LGBT concept a common concept behind it is the distinction between genders.
I see arguments on dwarves and how their females are depicted. Where do you fall? Distinct male and females, or indistinct with beards for all? What would that mean for a society that has little to no sexual distinction? Dwarves are traditionally depicted as incredibly masculine creatures, is masculinity an ideal to uphold even for females? What does this mean for a society that has distinct sexual identification. Do the women need to wear proxy beards to even be considered equal by the men? I tend to depict my dwarves in that light, patriarchal, crude, and pious with one female ruler go badass she wears a proxybeard of gold links and jewels.
>>46182842
What is wrong with you? Why are you trying to masquerade so hard?
>>46182336
No idea what an "LGBT theme" is.
>Homosexuality
Less common than in our world but still occurs among all populations of animals. It is privately frowned upon by most but frowned upon in the way you might frown upon someone who shaves the left side of their head and not the other. Weird but not something anyone is going to persecute someone over. This viewpoint is universal among all culture's and comes from a biological root cause.
>Bisexuality
About as common as in our world. Not as frowned upon but considered an excess like gluttony. Also universal among all cultures.
>Transexuality
Non-existent due to how the world was created.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Pretty wide, mainly because I want to cover a large span of history in terms of weapons and armor. The lowest tech are the Sylvanian forest tribes in the northwest (like early Germanic peoples around the Teutoburg Forest battles), and the highest tech are probably the Sylesians or New Astorians in the central coastal region, who are more like 1550 Europe.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
Magic is still up in the air for me. I'm leaning towards making it based on lost technology though.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
A bit of both.
On an unrelated note, what kind of weapons do each of your countries/cultures/factions favour? And, what legendary weapons exist in your world?
In my world, Dragarthia has a big fetish for falchions, Astoria loves its estocs and longswords, Sylice has a thing for rapiers. I haven't figured out any legendary weapons though.
>>46182913
>Non-existent due to how the world was created.
This sounds interesting, care to explain?
>>46181121
>you do realize that some people consider that "fun".
These are not the kind of people who ask how much worldbuilding is too much.
>>46182842
the dwarves I use (hardly "my" dwarves since they're from a co-created setting) are basically humanoid sheep, so they all have some kind of beard. size & shape of horns are used as indicators of sex instead, and since humans are kind of bad at telling dwarves apart from each other, they spread stories about ALL MALE MANLY BEARDMEN UP IN THEM HILLS which leads to people who never met any dwarves themselves to assume they're actually just short men. apart from the whole sheep people thing thoughthey're just regular ole smithing and mining dorfs that have hammers, drink horrible ale, and don't like outsiders coming into their villages.and yes, there are lots of gay dwarves, and songs about their heroic deeds, e.g. the ballad of Maegrim Splithammer & Baewulf the Lesser's dragon hunt
>>46182842
Distinct males and females, bearded females is just too ew for me to want. I toyed around with females who have to take on male roles taking their long hair and tying it to their face in a fake beard manner while they're doing the male job.
So if being a blacksmith is a traditionally male role than a female blacksmith would keep her hair pretty long and tie it to her face while doing anything blacksmithing related. A female dwarf with short hair then by comparison is considered more "feminine" and attractive in a way.
>>46183014
>falchions
They have good taste.
>>46182842
>>46183094
I've never been one for bearded dwarf females either, but the idea of wearing artificial beards as a fashion thing is actually really interesting. Never thought of that before. You could have all kinds made of different textiles, actual artificial hair (kind of like those powdered grey wigs everyone used to wear), jewels, metal coins or chains. Hmm, cool.
>>46183093
That's cool anon. I get more imagery of a kind of mountain goat sort, rather than sheep, but all the same. I like how the misconception of dwarves has spread. Where did these dwarves come from?
>>46183019
Mental illness just isn't a thing. What's hard to get about that?
>>46183094
Interesting inversion. In human society, long hair is seen as very feminine, it would be the opposite for dwarven society. Is a a bald female the epitome of beauty?
Let's talk about poverty.
How is a person considered poor?
How are the poor treated in your setting?
Which place or faction treats them the best? How?
Which place or faction treats them the worst? How?
Do poor people sell themselves or their children into slavery just to survive?
Do you have rags-to-riches characters? Tell us about them.
>>46183181
What's hard to get about the fact that a setting with no mental illness and no explanation for why that is is just stupid and lazy worldbuilding? Stop being a tool.
>>46183166
The quality of the false beard can denote status. The one I mentioned in an earlier post with the gold-link beard literally wears her status on her face. "I'm so wealthy my beard is gold"
It also ties into this idea of property and status shown through the stylization of the beard, so a beardless dwarf, like a female, has no property or status. Hence the false beards, almost like a hijab or burqa veil.
>>46183019
It's complicated to explain because I haven't fully fleshed it out yet but at a certain level magic that is above that point is either masculine (It's not exactly masculinity it's more of a type of thing that is called Male) or feminine (It's not exactly femininity it's more of a type of thing that is called Female) similar to some languages having masculine and feminine words. Life begins above this point so at their core every being is rooted in one or the other of these two types.
These types don't only play a role in sex/gender for living beings but that is how most mages can easily interpret it and so that's how it's explained.
>>46182336
The sociological idea of innate sexuality hasn't been invented yet, so everyone just considers 'man and wife' to be the healthy option. The only exceptions to this are orcs (and the few human tribes who inhabit the hills nearby who have been culturally/ethnically influenced by them) who are polyamorous.
>>46183235
What's hard to understand that a setting should worry about the important and interesting aspects first, and not worry about real-world political agendas and hamfisting them where they don't belong?
>>46183277
I like the idea of masculine and female magic as opposed to the traditional view of magic being a female thing. Are they diametrically opposed to one another, or intertwined in a ying-yang kind of way? Look into spiritualism and the idea of masculine and feminine energies. New age shit is always good for inspiration.
>>46183214
I hadn't considered baldness as I haven't got to fleshing out my dwarves yet. (Still working on how life formed and evolutionary histories up to the modern day). But that is an interesting extreme to take it to. There is a bewitching beauty to bald women sometimes.
I wonder how males would take that though. Would male dwarves not want to be seen as bald because it is womanly. Maybe it would be fine to leave male dwarves and how they view their hair lengths out of it.
>>46183321
The way the original post made it out to seem was that the world was created by something in universe, that deliberately made sure there was no transsexuality.
If that's not the case, that's unfortunate and rather boring.
>>46183178
accelerated evolution because 1000 years ago, demon wizards ruled the land to the North and fucked around with local wildlife a lot before they were banished into Hell (not theological hell, but an actual parallel dimension full of fire and brimstone n shit) by non-demon, elven magi, who spent a good 99% of the world's available magick in the process (which also killed the race of elves, who kinda fed on magick). therefore any kind of magic have become very rare and can only be fully mastered by a select few whose soul is fully in tune with the hymn of the world's remaining magick. the origins of dwarves and other beastmen races like orcs (= boars), lycans (= wolves), or quicklings (= deer) are unknown to most if not all humans and it's commonly thought that they've always been there.
also because of demon fuckery, dwarves have goat pupils.
>>46183356
>haha look at Chad
>that fuckin widow's peak
>paragons below, what a fuckin queer
>>46183356
I imagine the bald dwarf with a luxurious beard is seen somewhat like a fop or dandy. A very feminine male dwarf.
Most male dwarves probably wouldn't want to be seen bald, and maybe you can tie masculinity into length of hair as well, to have your hair cut is to be emasculated, but to have your beard cut is paramount to losing everything.
>>46183331
I've been going ying-yang with it. Thanks for the suggestions on New Age stuff it's definitely something I don't know much about but in retrospect could provide a lot of good ideas.
>>46183369
Goat pupils are fucking awesome.
You make the distinction that it's non-demon elves that sealed the demon wizards away. Are or were there demon elves?
Did all the elves die out or did they just become something else, like spirits?
>>46183447
When you want to humiliate a rival dwarf you cut his hair.
When you want to break an enemy dwarf you cut his beard.
>Scandal emerges in court when a drunk servant reveals Lord Deldenhammer's beard is actually 25% shorter than it looks because he combs his long hair over and stuffs his beard just like a woman.
>>46183502
that's because I rephrased that sentence like three times. it's supposed to be just "elven wizards". and no, the elves just done died and disintegrated into pixie dust. it's a rare artifact used in potion brewing and charm crafting because of its magick soaking properties.
>>46182336
Orcs have a third gender composed of women called swordwives. By typical orc culture women are considered closer to the feminine creator god and can serve as priestesses, though in exchange cannot carry weapons, fight in combat, own land, or do anything considered male. Some women are however recognized as being more aligned with the male creator god (read: too unruly to make good wives), and are allowed to operate as men in exchange for never being able to bear children or be priestesses. These women serve as protectors and hunters for the village while the men are at war, and enjoy mostly male status. They still can't be chieftains though.
>>46183321
They >>46182913 explicitly said 'transexuality doesn't exist in my setting'. That means they have specifically considered the question to be important and hamfisted the topic into their setting. If they didn't consider it to be important, they would have answered 'I haven't considered it because it isn't relevant'. Stop being stupid.
>>46183556
>Unrest in Guldarsson Hall after local blacksmith exposed as two gnomes in a long coat using fake beard made of goat hair
guy from >>46181121
>>46183217
>How is a person considered poor?
since this is in the far-future, much like today many species have an established "poverty line" which marks the bare minimum wadge needed to be self-sufficient within that society. not all have as well-defined poverty line but in those societies the definition becomes more esoteric.
>How are the poor treated in your setting?
depends on the Civilization, some treat them well, some don't.
>Which place or faction treats them the best? How?
likely that would be the Protan, for them if someone is unable to support their family, everyone in the community will contribute to supporting them and their family, as well as doing what they can to get them back on their feet.unless they suspect you are using their charity to be lazy, in which case you risk banishment.
>Which place or faction treats them the worst? How?
the Kanan, if you can't pay your warlord his due, you get conscripted into his army as cannon fodder, if you can survive a tour (which rarely ever happens) your debt is considered paid and your free to go (after which you are still expected to pay your warlord his due and if you fail again you wind up conscripted all over again), (some Kanan warlords will purposely set ridiculously high demands just so he can get free troops).
>Do poor people sell themselves or their children into slavery just to survive?
Slavery is outlawed in nearly all space-faring civilizations and those that still practice it keep it secret to avoid conflict.
>Do you have rags-to-riches characters? Tell us about them.
none yet, still doing the macro-scale worldbuilding process so smaller stories haven't been thought up yet.
>>46183580
Tomboy orcs are cool, is there no equivalent of male orcs that align more closely to the female god or is that not a thing? Or there are more "feminine" orcs but they're still male enough to be Male, just eccentric?
>>46182336
among the societies I've fleshed out that far, there's 2-3 brands of transition "therapy" with the associated religious and social rituals, one of theminvolving getting your face painted with menstrual blood to become accepted among the women of your clan as the final part of your transition.but with most of them I haven't gotten into that much detail yet.
>>46183754
Holy shit that's kind of metal. Are they tribal like amazons or is it just females paint their faces with blood?
>>46183781
they used to be wandering shepherd tribes, but are currently under the rule of a militaristic empire that keeps them as slaves. also the blood paint is a one time thing, like getting your appendix removed.
>tfw you post your setting ideas in these generals and everyone just ignores them
It shouldn't hurt, it really shouldn't hurt.
But it do, IT DO.
>>46183605
>please debate me
>>46183851
>getting your appendix removed.
You made me wonder how healing magic works.
Would your appendix re-grow if a Regenerate spell was cast on you?
Would the use of healing magic negate physical training?
>>46183891
Which one hombre. You looking for critiques?
>>46183939
probably, why else post them?
>>46179967
First off, again, I love how fucking done that lizard looks with that guy's shit.
Second, I had one of the moments, too. In one country, there's a caste of individuals charged with upholding their nation's constitution--essentially arbiters of justice. On a whim, I had one of the symbols of their office be a white tiger-skin cloak. Thinking on why exactly they would wear them apart from looking cool, I hit upon the idea of them viewing the tiger's stripes as being symbolic of the lines between truth and falsehood, and worked that into their initiation rituals and outlook.
Third, I'mma borrow that silly detail, if you don't mind. Lizard-like critters consuming soup might actually fit in well with my own world.
>>46183891
>tfw /wbg/ is all fantasy, no scifi
I'll just go find a spaceship or cyberpunk thread or something
>>46183741
The overall idea in their culture is that femininity is something born to you while masculinity is something you "prove", which is why swordwives are a thing. I'm not sure how a male equivalent to a swordwife would work.
The priestesses have a continuous line of daughters that serve as wives of the chieftains and spiritual leaders of the village. I've been toying with sons born to this line being the male equivalent to swordwives. Still pondering on what that would actually mean/what role they would play. Being "feminine" to them entails being spiritual/mothering, and males generally can't fit that mold. Orcs that were simply gay I would imagine would just be treated like every other male orc unless he shows himself to be weak/incapable, at which point he's just good for nothing.
>>46184151
>/wbg/ is all fantasy, no scifi
what about >>46183687 >>46181121 ?
>>46184151
If you wanna talk about sci-fi then talk about it. If you post a question you'll probably get answers and discussion from it. I've been in /wbg/ threads where it was all sci-fi and no fantasy. It goes back and forth.
>>46184169
I think that would make sense that the swordwive male equivalent would be the the sons of priestesses, maybe made into a tradition of spiritual protectors, rather than a proper warrior?
>>46184252
Perhaps if the swordwives protect the village while the males are at war the feminine male orcs administer the faith during times of war as battlepriests on the front lines.
I fucking suck at color theory. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out this character's colors. Anyone here good at picking colors interested in helping a frustrated anon out?
>>46184842
Yo.
>>46184874
Aight. She's a fire mage. She's tall and graceful but with total dyke hair and big anime tiddies. Warm brown skin, blue eyes, red hair. Wears a white kimono-type thing with red and gold accents. She's royalty. She has a fair bit of South American fire/sun god elements for inspiration.
Whenever I try to pick her colors, her skin and hair clash horribly. The red never looks good. I think I'm making her skin too... dark... but I don't want her to just be "slightly not white."
What do I do? How do I make this color scheme work? I know I can, I can picture it working out in my head, but I haven't been able to execute it properly yet.
Thanks m8.
oh what the hell...
I've been working on fleshing out a species for my own Space-Opera, yes it's wordy but I'd still like opinions:
>Name
Feyora
>Homeworld:
Murk, a cold and damp world slightly toward the outer edge of the star's habitable zone. it's surface is largely covered in swamps and overgrown Coniferous forests and rains most of the year.
>Physiology:
Fyora are slightly short in stature (averaging between 4-5 feet in height) with a head like a Toad's small tusks. they have long, gangling arms and short, stumpy legs. their hands and feet have four digits and are slightly webbed. their entire body is covered in shaggy, greasy fur. Females of the species tend to be larger and stockier than the males. their species have developed the unique ability to purge toxins out of their system more efficiently than any species previously observed, which they usually exploit to consume various drugs and narcotics without having to suffer the ill-effects tied to withdraws.
>society
Fyora are a highly individualistic species and as a result their societies are comprised of city-states that themselves are always on the verge of collapsing into anarchy as cliques within the city rarely 'like' each other so much as 'tolerate the other's existence'. Fyora are also notoriously lazy, they believe that they are entitled and shouldn't have to do hard work to get what they want, a feeling so prevalent that most Fyora religions are variations on the message "the universe owes you something". this is clear in just how little they themselves produce, instead using goods produced from other space-faring civilizations.
there's some more but I'll hold off unless someone explicitly asks.
>>46185199
>Fyora are a highly individualistic species
read as "narcissistic"
>>46185020
Do you have a sample image? It'd help if I could see exactly what hues you're trying.
>>46184252
>>46184787
I like this, thanks anons
>>46185020
In general darker skinned people have better luck rocking dark crimson or peachy hair rather than a bright red or ginger hair.
Is the white kimono non-negotiable? A red or gold kimono with the other colors as accents might work better.
>>46185199
>lazy, entitled alien narcissists
>greasy, hairy, disgusting swamp monsters
>almost exclusively consumers and druggies, too
Sounds like the kind of xeno scum that would get glassed immediately. No other space faring civilization would put up with that.
>>46185283
The male priests could serve as standard-bearers during combat, perhaps they aren't allowed to wield weapons, but just the sight of some crazy fop with a huge flag charging the enemy without any means of defending himself is enough to rally the troops to follow him.
>>46185412
>almost exclusively consumers and druggies, too
to be fair they do produce a few things, nearly half the illegal drugs on the interstellar market are derived from plants native to their home world, and they occasionally will put out small-arms, which are designed more for show than actual practicality.best example is the Fyoran 'death pistol', which is an abomination of a weapon that fires large rifle-rounds, the magazine is located forward of the trigger so there's little-to-no actual barrel left and due to how it's firing mechanism is designed there's no way to mount a stock or iron-sight to it without first modifying the weapon.
>>46185750
that's not exactly winning them any points.
>>46185750
>>46185750
>that fires large rifle-rounds, the magazine is located forward of the trigger so there's little-to-no actual barrel left and due to how it's firing mechanism is designed there's no way to mount a stock or iron-sight to it without first modifying the weapon.
Wouldn't a weapon like this be utterly unwieldy?
>>46183014
In my world, pike and shotte is the order of the day for open warfare. Heavy cavalry has started to fall by the wayside. That being said, there are a few exceptions to the rule.
>Thaull
The Thaulmen hail from the northern steppes, and as a result almost always fight on horseback. The like bows, javelins, lances and sabres primarily, but when they have to fight on foot, they typically default to the bardiche.
>Heldaen Empire
Heldaen fights pretty much like the rest of the continent, but with the exception the Emperors guard, who fight with great big two-handed axes.
>Royce
The Roycemen are spectacular archers, and love the longbow as a result. They're on a lower technological level than the rest of the continent, so melee-wise they tend to focus on claymores, axes and arming swords.
>Keln
Kelns upper class loves rapiers and basket-hilted swords. The common man typically fights with a falchion and buckler.
All right, /wbg/. Pick a military unit in your setting. They can be any size. They can be elite or rank-and-file. They can be mounted or dismounted, magic or mundane, chest-thumping fanatics or cold-as-steel killers.
What do they shout when they enter the fray?
>>46185236
>>46185383
If I had to change her hair color, I'd either go dark crimson or intense heat white. What colors are dominant on the kimono is not too important, really, as long as it has white/red/gold components.
Here's some different color combos I've attempted (and failed) with.
I put the great Race of Yith in my setting
They live on a small island in the arctic. They mainly keep to them selves, and harvest the brain of anyone that comes close to their territory. They keep them in jars and use their highly advanced technology to study whats happening in the world around them. Once the brains have been given the Yith everything useful it knows, they return it to its body and wipe its memory of its time with them.
They also do that mental swapping/Time travel thing as well.
Working on a story where they help the heroes of the setting.
>>46188145
The standard file and rank soldiers chant Blind Guardian
"War its now or never! We shall stand together! One by one! This world is sacred!"
>>46188310
Ah, I see. So, you were shooting for a dark, Nubian skin tone. In that case, you'd want the red of her hair to likewise be deep red. Likewise, methinks deep blue eyes wouldn't go amiss, as the sky-blues you've got there would be difficult to show highlights with. as an alternative, you could go for a deep-tanned look with a burgundy hair color to complement it.
Like, you look at these Gerudo-esque motherfuckers from Fire Emblem, you see that they have an almost red skin tone, which helps ease the contrast between the two hues.
What are some world-scale threats you can have in your world besides some kind of generic dark lord?
>>46188699
Pirate armada
Quasi-Illuminati
Tyrannical paladins
>>46188699
Does the looming threat of global mechanized war count?
>>46188699
environmental disaster
>>46188699
In my setting has a massive war that has torn the world in half thats been going on for nearly 1,000 years.
>>46188699
Kraken downwind of a continent that is generating tropical storms and hurricanes by its mere presence.
>>46188770
I'm glad that my setting had all three of these things already. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
>>46188880
On a similar token, a kaiju-esque creature sleeping deep beneath the earth, big enough to crack it open if it awakens.
>>46188880
>generating tropical storms and hurricanes
>downwind
Wait, so why is this an issue?
>>46189072
I think I got my terminology confused.
>>46189072
Not a weather expert, but if storms are coming from the downwind direction I think it means they are from an artificial or unnatural source, hence suspicious.
>>46188654
Holy shit, thank you so much. Here are the new and improved red and brown colors that actually work well together.
I can figure out the rest of the exact colors based on these two, but if they didn't have chemistry, there would be no point.
>>46189147
Aye. Not bad at all. Glad I could help, mate.
Now, the question becomes, you gonna show off this character here at some point? I ask because visual OC doesn't show up much in /wbg/.And also because brown girls are my fetish.
Guys, how do you write an Imperium without it descending into Not!Warhammer?
I mean, in comparison the Imperium in my setting is very benevolent. To its people anyway
>>46189529
Don't do grimdark. Or grimderp.
Just have regular dark or grey or something.
>>46189529
Let me preface this by saying I am an American. That said, to have an empire without it being a stereotypical monolithic realm of Gothic-inspired imagery, you make it as American as possible.
Have it be the preeminent military power in its world. Have it be immensely wealthy, with concurrent economic power. Have its common people enjoy a standard of living above the rest of the world. Have it be a realm using its method of rule as its battle cry, expanding its influence not by point of sword, but by cultural osmosis.
>>46189315
Probably not, since she's a personal OC that a simple reverse image search could have anons find me, even if it is just my Internet persona.There may be future NSFW commissions of this character and my bf's qt3.14 girl character, however, so there might be hope yet for you, anon. If you stay vigilant.
>>46183014
Do you post your setting art anywhere?
I want to see a whole bunch of it. It's cool.
Tell me about the losers, /wbg/.
The rump states, the petty kingdoms, the empires plagued with endless civil war or the nations being slowly consumed by a more powerful neighbor.
The more tarnished the glory (or the more we just want to root for them) the better.
>>46189750
>Have its common people enjoy a standard of living above the rest of the world
I'm an American, and this statement is patently false.
>>46190251
Well there was an imperium (loosely based on Ancient Israel and the Roman Empire) that united the continent in the setting I'm drafting. They're unstoppable, but in their hubris they eventually manage to piss off the creator Gods of the setting. Their nation is broken by an angelic host, their armies obliterated, their people cursed for generations, and their greatest cities reduced to ruin and unable to be repaired. They now live in vast underground cities, like massive crypts, where the rotting corpse of their once dominant culture festers in eternal penance. You know the people of the old authority from their colorful robes and the creepy metal masks they wear.
>>46189529
>Guys, how do you write an Imperium without it descending into Not!Warhammer?
Do what I do and base it faithfully off the Holy Roman Empire.
>>46190770
Above *most* of the rest of the world.
>>46190241
Thanks. Just in these threads, but I'm working on a little wiki type thing, so if I ever put it up online I'll link it here.
>>46190850
Are you ever going to attach a name to that tripcode? Calling you "that semi-professional art guy" or "Lhewak'aytdee-ecks Slashess" seems unreasonable.
![Swordstaff[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/8rds9jp.png "Swordstaff[1].png")
>>46183014
The swordstaff is a preferred weapon for the royal guard. In close quarters the blade is pulled close to the body to use and the leverage of having a wide space between two hands is used, in more open environments it serves more like a spear. It was designed as a weapon meant to protect a king from a confined hallway to a grassy field.
>>46190967
I used to have one in the older /wbg/ threads (Mutter), but people don't really like namefags and I don't want to clutter up /wbg/ with arguments and shitposts over namefaggotry. I only have the trip because someone two or three threads ago was trying to impersonate me by posting a pic I had posted earlier and acting like an asshole, and I don't want to have to post screenshots showing (You)s to prove which posts are mine everytime, since it's easy to photoshop those screenshots anwyay.
>>46191658
Did you ever go by Mutter anywhere else on the Internet?
>>46191733
No, why?
>>46191803
Just curious. I knew a Mutter online who roleplayed, but lost contact years ago.
>>46191658
Hey, all good reasons, mate. At least now I know what to call you.
GIVE ME YOUR CONSPIRACY THEORIES.
I NEED THEM, GIVE THEM TO ME.
>>46192054
4Chan is actually an extremely advanced conversation bot.
>>46192098
Nice. This is just the right amount of solipsism for my taste.
>>46192054
The original Emperor has actually been dead for centuries; the one on the throne is his son, using a magic item to alter his appearance to that of his father's.
>>46192135
That's just what an advanced bot would say. I'm the only real one here, not you!
>>46192140
This is a practice which has gone on for generations, with each son groomed to act like their father in order to maintain the illusion of an immortal god-emperor, a practice which is steadily falling apart as the line of succession falters due to stale genetics/unworthy heirs.
>>46192054
The postal workers are secretly manipulating world events behind the scenes.
I mean, they're postmen. That means they read your posts. Your posts mean knowledge. Knowledge is power. And power is energy. And energy means nukes/magic.
>>46192140
B-But that's impossible! The Emperor's spirit is what guides the Astronomicon and allows safe travel through the warp... right?
>>46192544
I said "Emperor", not "God Emperor of Mankind".The God Emperor of Mankind has actually ascended to Lichdom, his body is a skeleton because of it
>>46192054
THE SWORD.
ALL THEIR POWERS COME FROM THE SWORD.
>>46190251
Garoun - Orcs of the setting. Called Gesarun or Beast by the Ruwa(elves). Before the Empire of Gedask they occupied the eastern region of the northern continent towards the Stormbreak mountains. Feudal and clannish, their culture developed into fiefdoms ruled over by Lords and divided along ancestral holdings of family lines. Most of the population were peasant-farmers with a ruling noble elite which kept a professional military that protected them and the clan holdings. Slaves were few and serfs were non-existent as they were seen as not being industrious enough to keep versus their cost. They saw the rise of the Empire of Gedask, then a rising kingdom state and ally against the Ruwa, as an opportunity for them to gain more territory from the Ruwa and Luwasati. Early on they were able to capture vast swaths of territory but became over-extended and as Gedask completely wiped out the Ruwa kingdoms they then turned against the Garoun. The Gedask army specifically targeted and isolated key supply lines and territories, separating the Garoun into smaller, competing, family factions that which could not work effectively together. This allowed their defeat in detail and forced the survivors to the north-east of the continent past the Stormbreak mountains as a last refuge against the Gedask.
Here the remaining Garoun stayed amidst the crumbling remains of old frontier castles and past glories. Most of the people eek out a living farming the rocky soil when the climate and storms permit. There is barely enough food to go around and what Lords remain are too arrogant and selfish to care about anything beyond their lifetime.. They demand heavy tithes from their holdings and raid each other to get more. The Luwasati to the west frequently send raiding parties to capture slaves while Sha'hara to the south is an irresistible force slowly swallowing their territory. It is just a matter of time when all Garoun are subjects or slaves to another.
>>46173507
>>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Little to none for a majority of the 'civilized' kingdoms and territories. They've all reached mid-to-late medieval levels of technological advancement.
>>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like elder scrolls) or more mysterious and rare?
Magic is a phenomenon to study, with various magical academies currently in pursuit of its study. It isn't too uncommon to walk through a major city and find some small-time wizard or sorceress offering their services for potions or combat. However, it's still something that many sensible (and superstitious) people fear, since the continent has a stigma against magic users due to bad BBEG that was a necromancer of near-godlike proportions.
>>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
The gods did create man and all the other races in the world's creation myth.
>>46190251
The Kindred are earth-heat spirits that live in groves. They are exteme pacifists, and 95% of them are too weak to fight even if they wanted. They've been attacked by the Wulb, clannish guerilla barbarians, who sought more resources to prosecute their campaigns against The Factory. The trees that birth them were scorched, and though it was called the "Kindred-Wulb war", nobody can argue it wasn't total genocide. Many Kindred fled to Poladen, though such large numbers of them have stirred racial issues. Other kindred stayed, prayed to their trees, and summoned powerful Firebrands, extremely rare Kindred Warriors, who quickly fought off the Wulb conquerors. Though the war is now over, the Kindred's land is predicted to never fully recover. Many of the birth trees were destroyed, the ashes of extinguished Kindred litter the landscape, and creation of new birth trees is unknown, as they produce no seeds, and some were meant to live 10,000 years.
>>46190251
Most of the primary continent in my setting was once an Empire about thirty years ago. Then their Charles V inspired Emperor got assassinated by dark wizards. In the scramble to decide an heir/assign blame, everyone sort of just exploded in a Thirty Years War...that's been going for 50 years so far without a true end in sight.
The Goblins are also losers. The original inhabitants of the land, they had a sort of classical Greek thing going on until the Celtic Elves slapped their shit. Even after the Elves got genocided the Goblins are still taking the piss from humans.
Oh right. Elves. The Elves thought the humans streaming in from Not!Atlantis were scum here to take their land/jobs/women/etc. So they tried to kill them all. This did not work out. How bad did it not work out?
There are lots of Half-Elves, all of which save a few live identically to humans. Those who live separately live in a small kingdom in the far north. In that kingdom, the leadership is made up of the last Four Elves in the world. And none of them have true, non-human Elf blood. Genetics just made it so a couple of Half-Elf families throughout the centuries will have a kid with more Elf than Human in them. These last elves are just trying to keep as much Elven culture intact as possible. They freely admit getting rekt by Man was their own damn fault, they just don't think that means their entire culture should vanish over it.
>>46192054
There is a conspiracy that the lizard folk in my setting are in league with the Yith
>>46190251
Official List of People Who Are Pretty Fucked:
>ShilbaÃn tribes
>used to own literal millions of sheep
>shaped the peninsula they live on for 1000 years by carefully planting and felling trees, completely changing its vegetation
>literally invented the plantain
>currently enslaved and either mistreated by slavers or mistreated by the people who "freed" them
>The Ombrian Empire
>once a great naval power composed of 12 clans and their clients who vied to outdo one another in friendly competition, to make their republic prosper
>200 years ago
>great storm appears out of nowhere in the middle of the ocean, cutting off nearly all of their trade routes
>civil war arises when the storm doesn't go away for years
>the clans turn on each other, leaving the union weak
>imperial navy of the Ahigbeni swoops in for the kill, making Ombria a vassal of the Sun King
>clans currently backstabbing each other to gain the favor of the Ahigbeni
>no more navy ;-;
>no more sovereignity
>slowly losing relevance in a world that has learnt to adapt to changing trade routes
>The Anoroi of Kel Anor
>carved a city of solid stone into the face of a cliff
>essentially buried alive when an earthquake caused half the structure to collapse
>only the Royal Quarter was left standing, cut off from the mainland and the sea
>inhabitants survived only because the Royal Gardens were large enough to be repurposed into farmland although cannibalism grew rampant in the years after the fall
>now they mostly eat strange glowing mushrooms and rats as part of their regular diet, supplemented by seagulls caught in sky-nets and fruit from the Gardens
>spent a good 1500 years completely cut off from the rest of the world, unaware that the apocalypse didn't erase all life on the planet
>first people to make contact with them described them as "mere ghosts that haunt the halls of Kel Anor, like wild beasts stalking the woods at night"
>>46190251
The Aderaveth Empire is a shadow of its former glory, having lost two major pieces of territory in the aftermath of the Umbral War. The Opran Empire broke away to form their own religious dominion after the Inheritor of Sunlight sacrificed himself to destroy the Umbral King, and the Ieyadorian Confederation is an oligarchy of Aderavethian generals disenfranchised by the short end of the stick that the Northern territories got from the Empire during the conflict.
Fast forward after five hundred years of reformation and civil war, and even then, they're barely keeping themselves afloat. The current regent is indisposed due to an incurable Wasting Sickness and the queen constantly indulges in her various appetites and latest fashion trends without a care in the world. Nobles in more distant and remote places have a near carte blanche to do whatever they want with the layfolk, and corruption runs nearly unchecked in the metropolitan cities.
It's an open secret that the only people doing anything worth while to keep the territory from tearing itself apart are few and far between Crown Prince Emeron and Princess Mirah, respectfully the 'Prince of Blades' and 'Princess of Scales' in the people's eyes, are the first ones to come to mind. Emeron is the one who takes command for martial-inclined problems (noble refusing to pay taxes, roving monster army, etc.) and Mirah is a shrewd bureaucrat and economist who keeps the empire's eternal workings from falling apart at the seams.
Outside of the royal family, the Goodyres come second, with Lord Edmund Goodyre a staunch believer in 'noblesse oblige' and the duties that come with it. His holdings, vassals and common folk alike sing praises of his impartial judgement and uncompromising principles.
But for all their effort, it seems that the Empire's time is running short. Emeron's Silver Sentinels cannot be everywhere at once, and rumors of dragon cults conducting sabotage leave many uncertain of the future...
>>46190251
Coming off of this
Tell me about the winners of your world
The up and coming new guys that are ready to take on the world, or the Empire that has stood the test of time, and still stands as an absolute power
You get my point
TELL ME
>>46174101
Turn your mic off
>>46193779
>Republic of Vandorme
>Not!Netherlands with an itch for terrorism, fancy clothes and frighteningly accurate muskets
>Currently playing the Kingdom of Chalon along into a war with the Drachenstaat, weakening it enough to incite GLORIOUS REVOLUTION among the human populations
>The Drachenstaat
>A massive assortment of duchies, magravates, arch-bishoprics and Free Cities that has stood the test of time for over 700 years, all overseen by the dragons and Great Emperor. It is said the Drachenstaat is the only place on the continent where one could find a hundred kingdoms of a dozen tongues speak homage to a single ruler.
>The Kingdom of Chalon
>A bountiful land of lush farmland and verdant forests, the Kingdom has been in a golden age since the Unification, and under the divine hand of House Herault, the land has bloomed. Recently, they have acquired a marriage between the Solaire and the Queen of Palencia, a fabulously wealthy nation and naval power that inhabits the peninsula to their east. Truly, their splendor matches that of their draconic neighbors to the North.
Runner-up is the Kingdom of Gevalia, who are known as the premiere swordsmiths of the continent and a nation composed almost entirely of exotic half-elves, their leader being none other than a defector from the moon elves (gotta figure out a better name for these guys.)
>>46194057
>moon elves (gotta figure out a better name for these guys.)
Lunals?
If you were to break magic down into fundamental concepts, what would they be? Not schools of magic (abjuration, necromancy), but elements (the greek four or chinese five) and/or abstract concepts (protection, motion, knowledge). The more ideas the better, overlap is not concern.
>>46194057
I have a Nederlandish state in my XVII century setting which is so close in the name and concept to yours I think we should make them fight each other.
What the hell man.
>>46194170
Balance
>Neutralization/Protection
Manipulation
>Alteration/Control
The former hunting the latter.
>>46194195
Great minds think alike,what's their origin story? Are they inhabited by humans, or something else?
Hey guys, I'm just starting a new world for a campaign I just started with some buddies of mine that haven't played before. I'd love to get some feedback on it. It seems a little clichéd to me, so I want some opinions.
So, the world is called Myrs, and it's a super-continent. there are tons of islands dotted off the coasts, and many bodies of water and islands within the main land mass as well.
The PCs start the adventure on a small island, in a massive archipelago called "The Chain". They've heard rumours of "the Maelstroms" that were created by the spirits of gods inhabiting a certain area. The Maelstroms are zones of the world where the weather is frozen in a certain state permanently. These are caused by the release of powerful magic, that of a fallen god. The gods in this world are not immortal, they simply have very very long lifespans, and have predecessors like any position of power in our world.
There is a rumour that a race known as the "Stormborn" inhabit the Maelstroms, but it is simply a rumour to the PCs, as the Stormborn are very reclusive, and never leave the Maelstroms and rarely venture to the edges.
My world has two divisions of magic, Arcane and Runic. Runic magic deals with directly altering the properties of an object, or enhancing it, while Arcane deals with pretty much everything else. For example, "Light" is Runic magic, and to cast it on an object you must touch it in my world.
I have dropped them one magical weapon so far, titled the "Voidhammer". It is a very situational weapon, and its effect is that on impact, it deafens the victim for one round of combat. It serves more as a catalyst to curiosity than anything. The weapon is a warhammer with a rune inscribed on the head. It has a wrought-iron handle, and a head of polished granite. The blacksmith they had it appraised at told them that he'd heard of the weapon, but its smith was unknown.
Continuing...
>>46194580
The magic rune is written in the language of the Stormborn. There have been many weapons imbued with power via runes, but this one seems to be the real deal. While their written language does hold a certain power, they have no need of weapons, so the Voidhammer must have been made unwillingly at some point in time.
As for story, I think it would be cool to have some sort of grand quest where the PCs must visit all or most of The Maelstroms, perhaps someone is once again trying to enslave the Stormborn, and the PCs are trying to prevent that? I'm not 100% set on it yet. I told my players I'm not really willing to play until I have some more story set up, so I can plan ahead.
Thoughts?
>>46190251
The Aleph as a race are fucked, and have been for about a thousand years. Back in the Bronze Age their ancestors were the first to figure out arcane magic, treating it as a part of their religious practice. They strove to make direct contact with their god, an entity comprised of the collective consciousness of all minds in existence. This turned out to be a terrible idea. For generations, the entire race was struck mad, and the wisest in magic were the maddest among them. Their civilization crumbled, and they scattered about the world, and now they're reduced to a few hermits in the desert and nomads that walk the earth entertaining other races in exchange for whatever scraps they have to offer. The dominant church despises them, and the only reason it isn't running an active extermination campaign against the Aleph is that its resources are spread too thin to begin with and it knows that their heretical religion is the only source of information on arcane magic(which it regards as anathema, but useful, and possibly a thing that can be rationalized through apologetics). The few Aleph that were powerful and successful during their time of madness also migrated east, beginning a cascade of events that led to the consolidation of power among the Anjin and the formation of their current aggressive, expansionist horde, fucking things up for pretty much everyone else as well. Some of these Aleph even survive as liches.
(to be continued)
>>46194650
The Colonies of Niko comprise an entire fucked continent. The entire place is basically caught in a perpetual low-grade holy war between the cult of the Hushed Gnosis and splinter sects of the Church of the Sighted Sainthood(these sects are regarded as heretical by the main branch, and themselves regard the Hushed Gnosis as heretical). Vast swathes are unexplored and inhabited by deadly wildlife, and the Gaians, nature spirits that are pests everywhere, have actually stuck around long enough without all being killed and respawning to develop a culture of their own. Considering their alien values, this doesn't bode well for either faction of colonists. The Gaians themselves are worshipers of Ourab, the great serpent sealed in the core of the planet, and seek to release it. If this happens, everything in the world is dead. For the Sainthood sects in particular, this is a no-win scenario. There's no turning back, since the main body of the church has disowned them, but they've lost their unity and broken up into factions, giving the Gnosis cabal an advantage. They do, however, have more public sympathy. Most of the populace are apathetic regarding the religious conflict, and loosely hold to a few shared beliefs while remaining agnostic with regards to whether the Sainthood or the Gnosis are in the right. Agriculture doesn't function very well, food is scarce, and much of Niko is a lawless wasteland, reminiscent of a blend of the Old West and Edo-era Japan.
(end)
>>46194296
Guess so!
Yep, a bunch of humans splitted from a Frankish kingdom too far away to hold its grip on them. Once a colony, they fought the locals and were rewarded with the title of Duchy. A few years later they sided with the natives, ambushed their king, slaughtered his army, wove a new flag and built a republic. They're not a huge state like their motherland (currently three cities and a few villages) and their army, though well equipped, sums up to 6-7k at most. But they're somehow hard mofos, play fair diplomacy with the surrounding colonies and know better about their harsh territory, so that any military campaign against them would probably result in a long, slow chess game with fucktons of casualties - and this is what keeps them safe, for the time being. And also the fact that the English-like kingdom colonies, not so far from their ports, signed with the Republic an agreement to basically open a franchise for their sea-wide fruit, cotton and tobacco corporation in the capital. French guys QQed hard about this in the last twenty years, but you know, business.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Fairly large actually, most nations are in the late medieval age, with some still in the tribal stage, and one with automatic machine guns and killer robots. If you count the gods as well, then the disparity gets even larger, considering they're from an Earth that was far into the future and scientifically advanced.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
So common they're practically blue guns that shoot magical blue bullets, though they come in multiple colors.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
A bit of both? The gods are from a ruined Earth and fantastical powers by breaking the "code" of the universe, but they did create the populations upon which the universe is centered.
>>46175060
Got ya bruv
Look up "All Tomorrows" because the piece of shit system thinks the link is spam
Hey /wbg/ I was going to run a Rogue Trader game, and I was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas for alien races besides for just "tribal aliens" and "flying aliens"
>>46190251
Kingdom of Forked River was one of the most arable lands in the world and the kingdom exported a lot of grain and food stuff to nearby lands.
Due to overfarming the land started to salinizate and then they got invaded from sea. Coupled with salty seawater rising upstream, one side river drying andand the near constant wars in their neighboring lands the kingdom went more or less bankrupt. The lands where then annexed by the neighbors, but nobody really wants to touch the former capital of the kingdom. It would be too expensive to take care of. Currently the old capital is trying to hang on living.
So in about 70 years 800 year old kingdom went to ruin.
>>46193779
Current winners would be the different Knight Orders which have gotten England sized nation to be administrated by them. Kingdom of Westfield has been the meeting point of many armies and due to that local population is quite poor. The Orders which were already strong political players have gotten bigger and more powerful with this decision. Reason why neighboring Kingdoms didn't want the land was just the cost of maintaining it and holding it. Overextending itself would have been suicide.
>>46194794
Floating sapient jellyfish.
>>46176514
The existence of an objectively true mythology does not necessitate the inhabitants of that world being aware of it
>>46188946
>>46188770
>Having only these things
psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh
Throw in a galaxy-scale cold war, forty more Illuminatis, and outer-dimensional beings with mysterious motives that possibly want to end the world, then, THEN, you can talk
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
There is *technically* not much disparity among civs, all being around the beginning of the age of enlightenment, but that's only the ones that are still around.
If you count DEAD civilizations, then there's Cold War Romans, Cyberpunk Vikings, Sufficiently Advanced Paleolithic, and more. Or less; dimensional collisions can mess with chronology like that.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
By definition, the latter. The former is called "science", even though it deals with "magical" forces such as gravity, fire, and lightning.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Both and neither. The universe was created by an unknown external force, but humans have found many things they can worship.
>>46183217
>How is a person considered poor?
The usual way for a late-feudal society.
>How are the poor treated in your setting?
Better than most feudal peasants, as a middle class has emerged and is starting to grow, meaning the poor have a good chance to move up in life.
>Which place or faction treats them the best? How?
>Which place or faction treats them the worst? How?
It varies based on the person, not the faction.
>Do poor people sell themselves or their children into slavery just to survive?
It's called 'peonship', or sometimes 'serfdom'. Well... *Actually* it isn't that bad. People have always had the opportunity to flee into the uncharted forests to escape unfair contracts, although few are ever heard from again (granted, that's kind of the point).
>Do you have rags-to-riches characters? Tell us about them.
I'm not good with characters. In fact, I don't really have any in my setting yet; only a handful of archetypes that one day will need to be filled.
(I'm very much open to suggestions, by the way. Give me a character, and I can work him in.)
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
In terms of actual advancement, the humans are at the end of the middle ages, having invented rudimentary gunpowder weaponry. The Elves are at about the same level, though slightly earlier given their relative lack of numbers. The dwarves are at the pre-industrial age, with steam power and basic automation, but have been there for thousands of years and don't seem to be moving forward.
Each race has something they do well, and other things they simply can't do. Dwarves are excellent architects and engineers, but terrible innovators; for example, the gateways to the dwarven halls are all nearly impregnable, but literally identical, which allowed an enterprising wizard to sweep the eastern dwarves when he took them over. Elves are capable of tracking many different variables over long periods, but have an extremely long-term view; they could almost terraform the land with magic over centuries, but would be hard-pressed to divert a forest fire. Humans are middling at most things, but are great inventors. All 'human' fortifications were formerly dwarven from the ancient Age of Myth, and they cannot recreate them, but they decided it might be better to just make a little fortress with fucktons of cannons situated a few hundred feet in the air.
>>46195104
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
>eldar scrolls
>eldar
Well-known, yes, but not necessarily understood. Magic can act in two ways, either as the charisma-driven force of sorcerers and bards, responding to raw emotion and literally convincing reality to change, or in the mathematical form of the wizards, altering the fundamental constants of reality. One of the major unanswered questions among scholars is 'what creates the duality of magic?' No hard answers are forthcoming, and some posit that none actually exist.
In reality, sorcery/bard-ing(?) are an entirely different thing than wizardry. There's an open connection to the raw stuff of the multiverse in the form of a major volcano situated in on a peninsula in the south. The open portal itself is inside, and the source of, the volcano's magma chamber, but it causes the immediate surroundings to do some really, really fucked up things.. The portal basically dumps raw mana into the world, which the sorcerers manipulate. Wizardry works because they're essentially using willpower to nudge some constant somewhere to, for example, make a specific area more amenable to being on fire. Why wizardry and sorcery produce the same effects, and why they work at all, is an open question.
>>46195117
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
There are actually no gods at all. Paladins and Clerics gain their powers through faith and faith alone. This means that clerics and paladins can be dedicated to an ideal and it'd work just as well. A divine caster that learns that their god doesn't really exist can still retain their casting ability this way - or they could not believe whatever evidence they were shown.
The problem for the races is that, not only do they think their races were created by the gods, their myths feature a major inter-racial conflict that would have resulted in the destruction of half of them if not for the intercession of the gods. This conflict did exist, but everybody sort of decided to not fight (I haven't worked out the mechanics of this ceasefire), which would play merry hell with the racial tensions the current leaders use to keep themselves in power if made common knowledge.
jesus christ I just sat here and thought out half of this shit in like an hour
>>46174888
Like, 12th-13th Century Knights in Shining Armor and Renaissance finance alongside pseudo-Venetian merchants competing with the Iron Age empires and things.
>>46195156
>12th-13th Century Knights in Shining Armor
You don't really get the shining armor variety until like the 15th or 16th century. But there's definitely crusaders in mail and great helms in that era.
>>46182336
In my world elvish society is based almost entirely around the producing and rearing of children. They are raised communally -- at least in rural communities, it's seen as kind of old fashioned in cities -- so if you're sterile or homosexual? You better be out there helping raise those fuckers, then.
>>46195288
Well, there are some theories that a small homosexual population is an evolutionary benefit because they serve as adoptive parents for orphans and abandoned children while not stressing the carrying capacity of the ecosystem.
>>46195100
Actually, I think I *do* have a few characters. I've got a variation on the four horsemen (Pride, War, Famine, and Death) as what basically amounts to warp entities... Although nobody's really aware of their existence, and they mostly just sit around and play cards. But they're there in case anyone wants to do a Faustian pact, at least.
>>46190251
>Tell me about the losers
As "civilization" grows, it has started to edge out certain... "abhuman" races. The wild men, men of the forest, "savages" (though they mostly are just as capable of kindness and intelligence as any other man).
But when I say "edge out", I don't mean to say that civilization is encroaching on their turf (although sometimes it is). I mean that the world is being divided like a ball of dough being pulled apart, and their half is the one being thrown back into the mixing bowl. Which in this metaphor means melting back into primordial chaos.
>>46188699
>What are some world-scale threats you can have in your world besides some kind of generic dark lord?
Whew, boy. I've got a few.
Spontaneous failure of existence.
Spontaneous failure of the laws of physics.
Spontaneous re-writing of history.
Armageddon.
Dimensional collision.
Dimensional riftalready happening, cannot be stopped
Landmasses trying to do yoga
Invasion by hordes of demons (various kinds)
Invasion by ghost-samurai-robots.
Invasion by the past (or future)
Invasion by a heathen empire
Social, political, and economic upheaval.
...The last couple may have been the most likely, but all are possible.
>>46195288
>>46195431
Really? So, you're just going to be hopping around, spamming your agenda stuff, all because you were butthurt on getting called out on it?
>>46195480
>Spontaneous failure of existence.
>Spontaneous failure of the laws of physics.
>Spontaneous re-writing of history.
>Dimensional collision.
>Dimensional rift already happening, cannot be stopped
>Landmasses trying to do yoga
>Invasion by ghost-samurai-robots.
>Invasion by the past (or future)
Alright, I admit, I'm intrigued, tell me about at least some of these events anon.
>>46195515
>>46195431
I know what thread the two of you are from and I would really appreciate it if neither of you drag it into the worldbuilding thread please
I'm trying to set up a campaign where there are Seven MacGuffins, but I'm not exactly sure how to fluff them and how they tie into the major threat which is an undead invasion.
As far as other tropes, I also have Lost Technology, so I'm trying to figure out how that would interact with Seven MacGuffins and stopping an Undead Invasion. Any advice would be appreciated.
>>46195793
The 7 macguffins are batteries to power a giant anti-undead gun
>>46195793
Try tying them into the history and legends of your world. Have them described as weapons belonging to gods or great cultural heroes.
>>46195549
Well, basically my setting is basically like a bubble in the warp, with reality only being anchored by shared experiences. You get too far away from a place where people regularly interact, stuff gets weirder and less constant. This is the basis of magic in my setting: reality isn't changing, the illusion of reality is being challenged.
Anyways, an enlightenment movement has started up in my setting and is basically starting to map and record everything, and teach it to future generations. While this is stabilizing everything they record, stuff which doesn't "fit" with their observations gets pushed further "away" from reality, effectively creating two parallel universes: one driven entirely by physical laws like the real universe, and one more akin to a zany dream. For now, they're like conjoined twins with two heads on the same body, but eventually they'll grow farther and farther apart. Eventually, they'll either fully separate, or snap back together in a cataclysmic event (think Shadowrun crossed with Call of Cthulhu; that's a *best-case* scenario).
Anyways, the world itself was formed by multiple dimensions colliding with each other: it has multiple pasts that converge on (more or less) the same present. The one theme is that a post-apocalyptic scenario limited mankind to small, isolated villages while 99% of the world went unobserved for so many generations, that nobody could be sure what was there anymore.
You may have noticed that the origin sounds like the potential future - this implies a possible cycle of dimensions separating and recombining... Sometimes gently, sometimes abruptly.
Also, if you sail far enough or dig deep enough, you can basically reach anywhere within the realm of imagination.Which is a cheap way of connecting all my settings and anyone else's settings that I want to "borrow".
>>46195879
Sounds neato anon
Now tell me about the absolutely buzzword-ific cataclysms of landmasses doing yoga and the invasion of ghost-samurai-robots
So i'm only having High Elves and Wood Elves in my campaign, but i'm wracking over what meaningful differences they are. Are they really subraces with their own settlements and populations or like ethnic groups of the same settlements? Wood Elves seem to be more wild and natural, and High Elves are more magical and knowledgeable, but their magic isn't very natural. Do I put High Elves in cities and Wood Elves in the wild?
I want to convey strange Greek and Celtic stylings and themes with elves and the fey. Art, War, Sex, and, Nature and keywords I want to express.
>>46195967
I tend to treat them as just different ethnic groups. I think the best way to exhibit their differences is to ask how long and why have they been separated from the greater culture? What similarities do they have to each other? Fleshing out similarities like religion (even if they have different opinions on different deities, theology, ect.) tends to help me a bit with this kind of thing.
>Do I put High Elves in cities and Wood Elves in the wild?
I would. Their differing environments would produce differences in culture and outlook.
>>46195923
>Now tell me about the absolutely buzzword-ific cataclysms of landmasses doing yoga and the invasion of ghost-samurai-robots
I'll admit, I may have sensationalized it a bit.
Okay, but basically one of my pasts has god-like entities and/or wizard-kings reshaping the land a la Populous; also there are quite a few myths of a "world dragon". Now, this is more a form of space-warping than anything else, but there's always the chance the mapped-out parts could shift extensively. Just look at a medieval map of Europe and compare it to a modern map, then imagine if *both* of them were accurate.
As for the ghost-samurai-robots, they're part of what's basically the "far east" in my setting, although that could also be described as a pocket dimension with persistent links to the "main world" due to not-warp spacetime fuckery. It's a "hermit kingdom" based on 1700's Korea, but mashing all my personal stereotypes of the orient into it. All of it is really fabricated to give the ghost-samurai-robots somewhere to live.
>>46195923
>>46196096
Oh, one important note about the GSRs:
They're damn near impossible to kill. The baseline for undead in my setting is Dwarf Fortress-level zombies and skeletons, meaning that your normal methods of killing (vital organ damage and blood loss) are useless against them. And of course no physical force is going to stop a malevolent spirit.It usually comes down to resolve, and how SURE one is that the dead are gone. That's also why priests can turn undead (and also demons): because they have strong faith and resolve
>>46195808
That's interesting. I might do something like that.
>>46195868
I should clarify, I meant more in terms of how the Seven MacGuffins get combined into something that destorys or neutralizes the undead invasion. I should be able to integrate them into the backstory pretty well. It's just the idea of what they do once assembled that has me stumped.
What are some downsides I can give to magic Terminators?
So far, they are required to go into a 4 hour "maintenance" period every night, or suffer a stacking -1 to STR, DEX, CON, and WIS. They're also completely unable to swim, and sink like a rock due to metal skeleton.
>>46196812
>magic Terminators
Sounds awesome, why do they need a downside?
>>46195206
Mail can still shine. It was more about getting a much more feudal society than you normally see.
>>46196849
They start off as literal magic terminators, metal skeleton and all, but eventually become a "pay-to-win" master race through body upgrades.
They're slightly balanced in the sense that they don't actually exist in the setting yet. They're just a "future-proof" concept I included.
>>46196886
>>46196812
Forgot to mention, they only take half healing from "Positive Energy"-based healing spells, like from Druids and Clerics.
They're only really able to be healed by Artificers, using those Warforged-focused repair spells.
>>46196886
>>46196932
I still don't see why you feel the need to 'balance' them, unless you intend this to be a PC race?
Honestly, it sounds a lot cooler as an antagonist race. Maybe you could go full Terminator and have one time-travel from the future to ensure its own creation, and the players have to prevent it.
>>46188699
World-scale threat already successfully happened around 600 years ago. Now there's a bunch of continents floating in the endless void, the ony connections between them being a rare portal (stargate kind - weird ancient shit nobody is sure how works) and voidskimmers (An unholy mix of WW2 submarines, spelljammers and Outlaw Star's grappler ships).
Now for the lesser threats:
>An intact brain/nervous system of an elder dragon under one of the continents, alive, but in slumber
>Forest that achieved sentience as a whole and decided it really doesn't like anyone else, tries to murder everything by constantly spawning kaiju-sized beasts at nearby population
>A dyson sphere full of elves trying to reclaim their past glory. Unfortunately for everyone else "reclaiming past glory" means "instantly swarmng on any piece of recovered True Elven technology and throwing cataclysmic hissy fits until that piece is given to them or recovered from smoking crater".
>The last troll in existence. This is actually the worst one, given how trolls are the reason there's so much lost True Elven technology in first place.
>>46193779
The Republic of Ehreist has just claimed the championship belt in global power by winning (read:surviving) their version of World War I. It was a six-year affair, and all but exhausted Ehreist's manpower and capital, but they still managed to eke out a victory against their rivals and to maintain their sovereignty despite revolutions taking place in many other states due to the war. They face a future where they're the sole major power for the foreseeable future, and are having to come to grips with what that means militarily, politically, and economically.
Compared with wartime conditions, though, things have greatly improved. Their economy is on the way to recovery--much of the industrial might they built up during the war has been quickly turned to producing consumer goods on an unprecedented scale, which has driven prices down. Ehreist is also the world's foremost producer of airships, they being key weapons of the war, now turned to heavy cargo transport and passenger travel. And on the social side, they're gradually recovering from the massive loss of 18-21 year-olds inflicted by the war.
>>46194794
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=alienrace
>>46194995
Sure, but there's more than one way to put together a mythology like that. What I did for my setting was come up with a bunch of religions that were apparently contradictory, then tried to figure out ways for all of them to be partially correct about things.
>>46181121
>you do realize that some people consider that "fun".
Then the fun is one of the aims.
>>46192054
The great calamity that made humans lose their magic and great number of stillbirths ( even in modern age ), was mostly intentional.
The guys behind it did not die, either.
They are still around.
>>46173507
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Fairly significant, even within the Ionian Empire(which has the most advanced technology out of anyone). This is due to limited resources and logistics issues; in theory, it should be possible for any part of the Empire to have access to its best technology, but supply requests go through a lengthy bureaucratic process and are generally weighed against other requests on axes of necessity and feasibility. Firearm use is widespread in its military, and cities in wealthy areas have aqueducts, indoor plumbing, and sewers.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force (like eldar scrolls) or more mysterious and rare
For the most part, magic is viewed the same way ghosts are in our world: It may or may not exist, but it's generally accepted that the more sensible position is that it doesn't. However, in reality, it does. It's just that the people who deduced the basic workings of arcane magic did so as a religious practice that the current dominant church views as anathema, and they got arrogant and triggered the collapse of their own civilization and subsequent loss of most of its texts. There are people who have accumulated and added to the remains of these texts, however, and some of them have a pretty complete understanding of magic.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
Oddly enough, gods and mortals emerged independently of each other from the fabric of reality. The sole exception to this is the Derojin, who were created by a group of relatively weak tutelary deities as part of a cosmic gambit. However, the current situation has a strong resemblance to a scenario where mortals created the gods, since the gods have been wiped from existence while retaining their immortality, and are therefore trapped in the collective imagination of mortals. The desperate pacts they make with mortals to restore their existence are the source of divine magic.
Tell me about some campaigns you've got worked up in your world, /wbg/ - you *do* have campaigns planned, right?
>>46201930I wish I had a group.
Yeah, I've run a few and planned a million. One was a tutorial for Song of Swords; it was an arena. The deal was the players would be one or two arena fighters, with the others being Rich Dude and Diplo Dude. I could introduce the combat to them, along with the importance of out-of-combat intrigue in order to tip the odds in your favour.
Another was full political. They started out as rich kind-of-foreign mercenaries in the middle of a proxy cold-war between two Polish/Russian powers. They ended up needing to keep a young boy alive -- he was direct heir to a barony one of the players was second-in-line for (long story). When that failed, they ended up deliberately fucking everything up. They started a war, got their mercenary company to back both sides and then took de facto command of all the land they conquered. Good (bad) end.
Also when I was ~15 I ran a SoS game IN SPACE which featured such wonders as a SPACE Protectorate against SPACE HRE vs. SPACE commie Mongols. And a player who just paid for two guys to carry a box of pistols for him to shoot.
>>46201930
Always working on fleshing things out, so I don't have any fully formed campaign ideas. I do have some hooks that could turn into nice things.
Biker gangs rumored to be disrupting trade with fire giants.
Radios have returned to widespread use, party comes across a numbers station.
Artists and professionals are disappearing without a trace.
Two headed hill giant rumored to be organizing clans in to an actual hill giant empire.
>What is the range of technological disparity between the civilizations/races of your setting
Technological disparity depends entirely on a race's affinity for magic. The more magical a race, the less dependence on more advanced technology. The least technologically advanced are the Sylvan Elves, who are a bunch of tree hugging hippie ass druids who worship a tree. They don't even forge metal. The most technologically advanced are the Deep Goblins, who cannot use magic at all. They live way underground and in the mountains. They can utilize black powder, and are very industrious.
>Is magic a fairly well known and understood force or more mysterious and rare
Magic is understood very well. Children who have an affinity for magic are sent away to academies at very young ages to learn different schools of magic. Those students go on to become Guildmages, royal bodyguards, or soldiers. Very few mages venture off on their own fresh out of the academy. A choice few magically inclined individuals go on to become Wizards, beings of such great magical power that they spend their entire lives fending off entities that want to feed on their mana or destroy the world. Commonfolk tend to use minor magical items in place of typical technologies, depending on the race.
>Did gods create man or did man create the gods?
The origins of the gods are unknown by mortals. Some Gods claim they created the realms, other gods claim the realms existed when they did. The most ancient beings are dicks, are sometimes deny the existence of the Gods in general. The only "Gods" that truly exist and have defined origins are the Pit Lords, demons so ancient and powerful that they can rival the power of gods.
>>46201930
>Tell me about some campaigns you've got worked up in your world, /wbg/ - you *do* have campaigns planned, right?
Only thing I've got is a rough idea that's focused around a war between two major powers for a relatively insignificant island in-between them. Mostly, it's salvaged from a false-start of a play-by-post campaign.
Biggest problem with finishing it, besides for having nobody to play it with, is trying to find the right system. I could make due with less-than-perfect levels of abstraction/detail in the combat and social interaction departments, but the biggest issue is getting magic to work the way I want. Basically, I break the latter four of the five assumptions on this list: (I break #2 the hardest)
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html
...I guess what I basically want is magic folded into the skill system, or something like that. Minor miracles ranging from making rocks change their shape through ritualaka forgingto "impossible" featslike making a sword that just seems to strike truer, cut through anything, and never need to be sharpenedor, indeed, arseplomancycould be covered by it, while the big things (like calling fire down from the heavens) should be role-played.
There are also a few other things I'd like, but they're much easier to implement.
