Worldbuilding for a variety of reasons. No specific games, systems or genre.
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
Question:
Food of your setting?
Answer to question:
Because of the abundance of "awakened" humanoid bird-people, chicken, turkey and the like are taboo foods. Red meat is allowed, however.
>>47083894
A lot of non-cereal seeds. One of the main cultures on the continent is based off of the Incan empire, so a lot of their "grain" actually comes from bushes or trees due to being things like qivacha or amaranth. So the bread is fairly non-glutinous, doesn't rise much so it wouldn't be that appealing to real-world Western pallates, but has a pretty rich flavor and texture.
How difficult, historically was it for a nation to hold land across a body of water? Say a 15th century Western European kingdom holding land across a body of water the size of the English channel?
>>47084069
I'm no historian, but I would assume pretty difficult. It was hard enough to cross rivers back then, let alone channels. Although, Britain did hold land in France during the 100 years war, and Venice held a bunch of coastal territories and islands in the Adriatic and Mediterranean sea. I would guess it wasn't very common, though.
>>47083894
Haven't seen a thread in few days so decided to make one.
Going to namefag for sake of you lot getting better picture of my silly setting.
This is from the revisited setting after I had dumbed some parts of the old one.
>Food of your setting?
In vast north, apply named by southerners Northern Wastes lives quite sturdy people. Real life equivalent would be baltics/central Sweden. Winters can be harsh, but thanks to sea nearby it is warm enough during summers to farm rye and wheat. Rye is main crop for peasants and even Nobles alike mainly due to rye bread lasting long times in dry places. White flour is reserved for trade or special occasion.
Another food that lasts long is cheese. This is the main source of dairy products through the year.
Both these are supplemented by usually different soups.
>>47084069
Wouldn't be super hard to supply troops across "English channel". Problem would be maintaining constant stream of supplies, but seasonal sailing across the sea would work.
>>47084475
Well its more of a bay, but there's a neutral third party that separates the warring kingdoms.
>>47084527
That depends more on the relationship between the neutral and warring parties. But if distances don't became too long it should be doable. Don't properly remember how many boats did Henry somenumber use to cross his army to France before Agincourt. But most of those were chartered trade ships and not military ships. Trades could make mad dosh out of selling their services and supplies, unless the Ruler decides that their services are free because he is the ruler.
>>47084617
My idea is basically troops go in, most granary and livestock goes out because the invading country is hungry as fuck.
>>47084654
That really is short term plan, unless they can hold the land. If the target nation is similar to those in western europe, it can support the pillaging invasion force of 10k men without major problems. So the amount of stuff send back home wouldn't be that big, but riches and ransom could be used to finance the trip and buy food.
>>47083894
>Food of your setting?
Easier to say what isn't food, which are most poisonous plants and intelligent creatures, most of the time anyway. All the beastman subspecies are omnivorous. Food processing is at middle age levels so bread and different types of preservation exist. Availability/variation is dependent on region and season. I'm making perpetual stew a common thing to everyone.
My only real problem is corn. It's ridiculous how corn got to be what it is today from its ancestor. If it weren't such an important crop I'd likely not bother with it. Maybe I'll use a fantasy corn variant or that Canadian Cavena Nuda instead.
>Food of your setting?
Tallowfish.
A fatty, borderline inedible fish that is dredged from the ocean floor en masse, primarily by prison labourers, at the numerous penal colonies along the frozen northern coast.
It has two uses, the first being the production of cheap tallow in vast quantities, used to make candles and medicinal salves, but also more increasingly as a cheap and readily available lubricant for the machinery of a rapidly growing industrial sector, from textiles mills to mining operations.
Tallowfish can also be used as a food, but requires being cooked for a long period to break down the fats and make it edible, with the end result being a greasy fish stew with a stringent taste and overwhelming stench. As such, it is primarily the staple of penal colonies and the poor.
>>47084069
I believe the Romans were in England for quite some time.
http://www.scifiideas.com/
>>47083894
>Question:
>Food of your setting?
Oh, shit, sure- I actually did a drawing of this not to long ago illustrating just this very question.
-The majority of the worlds food is eaten and produced by: Orcs, Dwarves and Changelings.
-The world is a super continent, so for the most part many cultures and species despite their flagrant differences do have a lot of spill over in terms of crops and so forth with most variation coming from what they can and cannot eat.
-Dwarves although they produce a large quantity of food: most of it never comes out of the underground as they almost entirely live below the surface. "True" Dwarven produce is quite unusual and foreign.
-Orcs overall produce the largest quantity and variety of food that's readily available: When the Orcs aren't fighting or slaughtering others or themselves they have a tendency to settle into agrarian life quite willingly.
-The "other" constitutes the truly obscure and otherwise rare food stuffs that are almost exclusively grown within the interior where it is much too hot, dry and sun exposed for any decent species to live save for the Humans & Centaurs.
-The "other" also constitutes the delicacy's only grown and harvested from out on the sea and the few reclusive tropical islands out there beyond and isolated from the super continent. The Super Continents endless sea is a truly incredible place that holds equal measure of danger and delights.
>>47083894
Most foods are on-par with any other fantasy setting, all depends on the continent. The humans grow crops and raise meat like you'd imagine, with the bread and milk being a staple of the working man's diet. It's much different from country to country. For example, the Orks live in a mountainous jungle continent and live mostly on tropical fruit and some insects. An occasional delicacy is that of whatever they happen to hunt, trap, or find in the jungle. Be it panther, baboon, or giant roc egg.
If you have a fantasy race that only eats meat, whats keeping them from eating other sentient races?
![Omlette1[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/hrSmRRs.jpg "Omlette1[1].jpg")
>>47086573
>If you have a fantasy race that only eats meat, whats keeping them from eating other sentient races?
((Sapient, anon- the word is "Sapient". Your dog is sentient, but YOU are Sapient.))
The same thing that keeps us from eating other people: Morality, Health Issues, The practicality of it.
"Why" Would they want to eat other people- people who are capable of aspirations, talking things out, waging war and being vindictive when you can literally eat any other source of meat?
I have a few obligate carnivorous -very few- sapient species in my setting and the largest source of their protein/nourishment comes from eggs, insects, milk and fish.
>>47086573
If you have a race that only eats meats, does their counry smell of protein farts?
>>47086827
>If you have a race that only eats meats, does their counry smell of protein farts?
We only get meat sweats & protein farts because we're omnivores: Jack of all trades, but masters of none.
We have these demented, drawn out guts that aren't "perfect" at digesting meat, but at the same time we evolved our plant digesting organs out of us as well- this is why fibre makes us poop; we can't digest it so it goes right through us taking everything with it.
I'm like 90% certain a true carnivorous species wouldn't suffer like we do.
>>47084870
>entire coastlines of prisons
>industrial stuff starting up
I like this level of grit.
>>47085335
It must be hell living in a world where changelings are a major peoples.
What typically serves as a border, mountain ranges or rivers?
>>47087862
>What typically serves as a border, mountain ranges or rivers?
Any and all of these things can serve as a border, but the 'quality' of a border is usually registered by how effectively it seperates a land.
A river can act as a border just fine, but nothing obviously replaces the effect of a fucking mountain range.
>>47088059
Problem with mountain ranges is they're not very defined, at least not as borders. Rivers are clearly defined
>>47089266
Well, borders weren't all that well defined until the modern era. Until the 1700s, cartographers were often fairly uncertain about even the shape of landmasses.
In a pre-modern society, it was enough to know that this side of the mountains is your land and on the other side of the mountains is the enemy's land.
What's a good near-human race for fantasy China-Mongolia-Japan?
I have humans and giants in the fantasy europe, but I want another near-human race for fantasy asia.
I was thinking Oni, but they're pretty much giants too. Any prominent mythical races that come from asia?
>>47090903
Halfling rice farmers? Give them raccoon tails.
I'm having trouble with rivers, /wbg/. How do I make them luk gud?
>>47092406
Make them zigzagging, bends etc. No straight lines.
Then add towns, villages, bridges depending on scale of the map.
How am I doing tg?
I did a thing, I'm not a fan of the way it turned out though. Any suggestions on what I could do to make it better?
Posting my map for feedback
It ain't done
>>47093969
It's not bad but the way the coasts look it implies that the ocean level has risen in the recent past and hasn't had time to smooth out due to the presence of a large numbers of rias.
>>47093996
How recent are we talking?
>>47093973
eh
fix the colours
rivers look nice
love the forests
will look nice
>>47093291
Some of those mountains look kinda why are they there, but otherwise pretty good work. Are you going apply colors?
>>47093969
He has a good point>>47093996
Can't really say much as there is no info on inland stuff.
>>47093973
Pretty good stuff, I like it. But as it was said, please fix the colors.
>>47084069
Plenty have done it, from Carthage to Athens to the Danes and England to Spain and Portugal, and all the colonial empires after.
Food!
A common food during celebration in north is robbers roast (rosvopaisti basically, google it). After villages men have returned from hunting trip with their game, usually deer, elk or even bear. As womenfolk start preparing the meat in herbs and oils, men dig shallow hole that is big enough for the meat.
After the hole is dug, it is filled with stones and big fire is lit over it to heat the stones. Usually if the local priest is there he blesses the flames (flames are seen as pure as they strip everything away). After the fire has subdued half of the coals are dug away and meat and vegetables are placed in the pit. They are protected with damb parchments and cloth. Rest of the hot coal is placed on top of them and small fire is continued to be burned on them.
Meat requires 6 hours in the pit while vegetables only few hours. After time has passed, they dig the meat out and start eating and partying.
>>47095382
Well fuck, dropped my name. Fucking choose more captcha.
For those who wonder I have done rosvopaisti IRL, but in small scale. It was good.
I love drawing maps and I could draw a map for you, anons. I'd need a sketch of what you want, liberty to tweak stuff and a long time.
>>47095812
That is one beautiful map. I applaud your dedication to handraw it. Just gorgeous.
>>47096011
Thank you. Slow days at work are hell of a drug.
I'd like to draw something bigger, though, and on a better paper.
>>47094044
Probably about 10,000 to 5,000 years when an ice age ended.
>>47083894
Humans eat a mostly Mediterranean diet.
Naga raise small, domesticated, burrowing rodents as their staple food, and they're traditionally eaten at every bi-weekly meal. The peasants eat them plain, but the nobles will stuff them with spices or other, small animals. All are eaten still alive, so the nobility's method requires it to be eaten quickly. Except for hatchlings, who have their parents do it for them, they use their venom to paralyze their prey before consumption. Northern Naga lack venom and consider the taste and lack of a fight unpalatable. Eggs are consumed in lean times, and preserved eggs are the traditional road food.
The Sharks are traditionally nomadic, and raise a combination of fish and cetaceans for meat, milk, and bone. They sell the oil. The more Northernly sharks of the warmer, shallower tropic waters form more static societies in around reefs where they can raise food without the need for constant travel. Food preparation is very basic. Sharks rarely leave the water for extended periods of time. They can eat most of what they find on land, but prefer a ceviche like dish with strong spices resulting in surprisngly long period of preservation.
>>47095812
I made this sketch recently. If you'd like, may you make something out of it?
Are there any European kingdoms that had horse archery, I want something to work my head around but seemingly only the Middle East and Far East ever had mounted archers. I was told before that the English had them, or the Irish but I can't seem to find any specifics like what they were called or what sort of equipment or horses they used.
>>47096792
It was more eastern European thing. Hungarians and Kievanrus had horse archers, while some Germans and Scandinavians employed horse crossbows.
Can't really give much info on this. One thing might be that because Knight was so big thing in west, they preferred to employ as many of them as possible. Instead of wasting men on horseback archery and crossbows.
>>47096316
Can someone please do a rough estimate on the daily nutrition in Calories needed per adult naga (assuming a 2.4m, 317 kg naga)?
>>47096792
The Byzantine Empire, if you consider them European
How do you make a multiracial society that makes sense? Such as a society with humans and lizardmen, or any other two races? It seems nearly impossible for it to work.
>>47098084
Tell my why you think it is impossible? Why do you think they cannot live in same place?
>>47096926
Using this MAYO calculator
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/calorie-calculator/itt-20084939
with max allowable 600lbs(your spec is roughly 699lbs) set to Female and Somewhat active it comes out to 3950 calories. Don't know how that'll translate to cold blooded though.
>>47098084
They have the same language, same culture, follow the same laws and are ruled by the same despot.
>>47083894
My group is going to get together and brainstorm ideas for a post-apocalyptic NotFallout campaign and I'd like to see what you guys could come up with. Also, it'll take place in Louisiana. Also also, it'll probably be set at a time where governments haven't been formed, and the various towns and settlements are more or less disconnected aside from a few fledgling trade routes, think just before Fallout 1 I guess.
So far I've got:
>pic related (concept art from the cancelled Fallout Tactics 2)
>a secluded village of tribals who worship an offline suit of Power Armor that could possibly be rebuilt with a lot of work
>a band of raiders known for their use of war hounds in their raids. Villages and caravans hit by these savages are littered with mangled, half-eaten corpses.
>a weather station along the coast tended by a small team of robotic attendants since before the war, and they all say that a hell of a storm is on its way
Not much but I'd like to see what you guys can come up with.
What reasons might people have for helping some guy form a religion? I'm writing the past of some powerful Cult and I'm having issues thinking of reasons of why his original apostles joined him and what he might have done to convince them. Anyone have any ideas on how I could go about this?
>>47099282
Performing miracles
>>47099282
Charismatic as possible and different than main population/religion. Populism is also valid.
Another way is that he is very wise and manages to convince others, but that is more philosophical and lifestyle way.
>>47098404
Because it's mostly unheard of and kind of hard to imagine. Even if segregated to their own towns and villages it seems hard to imagine they'd tolerate each other without genocide for long.
What qualities about a world could prevent guns from being made?
How would floating islands collect water? Some of them (~1/5) are in a storm belt and hence have plenty of water source, but for somewhere without constant rain, how would they replenish water? Ground is effectively unreachable, but exists. Largest island is about 2/3 of the size of Australia, smallest is roughly Staten Island sized. I can figure it out with the current tech level (TL7 in GURPS terms, mix of dieselpunk and aetherpunk), and magic solves some problems, but I'm more concerned about the lead-up to the present day.
>>47096916
I just need some idea on how they might arm themselves, besides crossbows like would they wear the armor of a typical horseman or something lighter, or lacking arm coverage so as to not be an inconvenience when notching and firing an arrow?
>>47099597
Caveat against high speed projectiles. Like a world curse draining the momentum/speed of an object past a certain speed.
>>47099654
If high enough, passing through clouds causes surface condensation. Some mountain communities set up a net and catch basin to harvest passing clouds.
>>47086573
Nothing, they would be eating other sentient/sapient races constantly if they could. That's why nobody likes them.
Is there any tips of map making when it comes to the general shape of a map? Everytime I wanna get into mapmaking, they tend to just look like blobs without any purpose.
>>47099688
Feudal Japanese riders had this billowing cloth thing strapped to their back kinda like a drag chute. A test showed that it could help protect the riders back from arrows by disrupting its flight and slowing it down.
>>47087862
Depends, but rivers often connect instead of separating. Mountains are clearly better in general terms.
>>47090903
The problem is that the three cultures you mention are actually pretty different from each other and it's gonna be cringey if you pick one from one of the nations for the other two.
For your not!Japan you could have Tengu (the pic related version, not birdfolk version), maybe without wings. I don't know how prominent they are but they're pretty near-human. But they would look totally out of place in not!china and specially not!mongolia in my opinion. Like spanish valkyries or something like that.
![8ePmbde[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/m1xTWd4.jpg "8ePmbde[1].jpg")
First time in Inkarnate. How does this look?
>>47100363
Use the eraser to "carve" cuter coastlines. Can be a little hard first if, like me, you're not precisely an artist but you will learn fast.
>>47100539
When you mean, cuter do you mean smoother? I was a bit indecisive between rough shorelines or smooth shorelines.
>>47100632
I mean better looking. In this case, I think your coast is too smooth which makes it look like a blob instead of an island/continent. Add some rough shorelines and it will look better and more realistic.
You don't have to make it everything rough though. Look for example at Australia, it has both smooth and rough shorelands.
>>47100816
Alright.I'll have to think about it when I recreate it though. Accidentally closed out without saving.
>food
Since the land is sapped of nutrients any form of farming is done below ground with the use of magic. Rivers contain mutated fish but it's probably safe to eat.
Query for you guys to see if I'm getting to close to magical realm:
>genderless god wandering the void ends up making first of dragon+related kin
>therefore the creations don't have gender
>reincarnated into new bodies according to deeds in previous form
It always bugged me that dragonborn have boobs. Solution: nobody has anything and no sense of gendered third person pronouns.I'm trying to be cool and hip and subvert classic fantasy things while trying to dig myself out of the hole that is "my friends only want to play DnD" ; -;
>>47100923
How do they reproduce if they have no gender?
>>47099597
If it's fantasy, try magic. If it's science fiction just make them obsolete with something like Dune's shields
>>47101028
In the current era they don't, since humans showed up and introduced things like disease that their physical bodies could not handle so their astral/ethereal forms have nowhere to go but the fuck elsewhere.
In the Olden Dayes certain members would prepare mounds of earth sprinkled by the "blood of their god" (aka from themselves since they're all divine by design) for the dead to wander to and be reborn in. Occasionally new spirits would appear, until humans showed up and made everything terrible for everyone.
>>47099688
Owning a horse or mounting one is sign of persons wealth and status. This means that riders have at least gambesons, but more likely brigandines or maille. Pic related
>>47099814
Look for real maps and just copy some bits. Look how they match each other and continue drawing.
More advanced is to take in account tectonics and plate movement. Look for earths tectonics and where mountains are and why in seven hells south America and Africa fit so perfectly at each other.
>>47087862
Border can be anything permanent and known. Maps of ye olde times were inaccurate as fuck so borders were "close enough". Nothing of course stops you from having Royal Cartographers that painstakingly measure correct distances with a ruler.
>>47099597
I just decided that no guns, that's it.I feel that they make great beasts into paper monsters.
>>47099688
It depends a lot on their function in battle to be honest. What's the purpose of your horse archers in the army of your realm?
Alright. I tried remaking it. It's pretty fucking bad, but I'm new to this whole map-making thing in general.
>>47101302
Read these two and combine them according to your style, senpai.
http://imgur.com/gallery/fIm72?lr=1440377814
https://imgur.com/a/MfDWA#12
I personally prefer the first in almost everything, though.
>food
In the Deicolorii (a large archipelago) a traditional meal eaten is known as 'new years supper', a slow cooked and shredded cut of móg (a very small bovine, bred as it doesn't take up much space). The meat is marinated for 2 days before the celebration, before being slowly cooked in the spicy marinade, then shredded. The resulting concoction is consumed with vegetables, often the only time common folk will eat móg all year, due to its expense.
I have a bit more on regular food, if anyone would like?
>>47101364
Please continue. I have found out that my setting gets more fleshier even if I write multiple times about it. Fine tuning and trimming.
>>47101988
Righty-o! I have a couple of google docs, one for language building, and the other for general world stuff. This is the first major culture I'm working on:
The two staple crops found throughout the Deicolorii are corn and wheat, and many meals have these as their base.
The Deicolorii favour hot spices in their food, many islands producing wide ranges of chilies. Common folk eat a porridge of cornmeal that can be dried into a loaf and then grilled or fried. Spices and meat can be added, or sugar or honey for something sweet.
Normally, 2 large meals are had, in the morning and late evening, with small snacks of little plates during the day. These are eaten standing with fingers, or small skewers, like tapas or cicchetti.
Due to the many islands making up the Deicolorii, there is a huge range in the makeup of generic dishes, with some areas preferring certain local produce over others, or something common at one edge of the group being a delicacy at the other end.
Soft shelled crabs are a seasonal meal, as they can only be harvested when crabs are molting.
Meat is preserved in a similar method to the Spanish ‘Adobo’, marinades. It is also done in traditional drying and smoking huts. The diet is heavy in seafood, with land animals seen as a delicacy, due to the high volume of land needed for them, which is normally given over to trees and to crops, as the bounty of the sea can support most people.
>>47102169
>examples of these light meals
>A parcel of pasta that is filled with regional meats and spices, and then fried.
>Meatballs in regional sauce.
>Small sausages, either cured and sliced, or fried and brought out hot.
>Mussels, sometimes stuffed.
>The fried tentacles or strips of cephalopods
>Small breads
>Cheeses
>Fried vegetables
>Deep fried whole baby octopi
>In poorer areas, fried or grilled cornmeal loaf with dipping sauces.
>Deep fried unleavened dough with dipping sauces.
>Fritters
>Meat skewers
>Oysters
>Deep fried balls of crab meat and batter.
>>47102169
>>47102183
Zog me, it's bootiful!
I haven't gotten much or anything at all on food, outside the small pieces here and there. It has been secondary thing mostly. While when I am thinking societies and nations I prefer to consult Grain into Gold pdf and while it's society pivots around food I haven't gotten into it that much.
>>47101360
Wow, this really helps! Thanks a lot.
>>47102169
On the edges of that map are we to assume that there is more than one Breaker Wall but the civilizations don't know what lies past the others?
>>47102581
Thanks! I'm flitting around a lot with world building, as I was working on the religion a bit, which brought me to festivals, and then brought me to festival food, which brought me to food in general. So far, I only have the new years festival, which is the one time the two moons are aligned, and you have a 'supertide' for a day. But it got me thinking about how crucial food is to an overt theme of a culture.
>>47102825
I'm not sure, yet. I'm thinking of having it be all one wall that encircles the world, but I need to do some work on plate tectonics and reeef formations to work it out. The planet is meant to be smaller than Earth, with a slightly wider orbit, but I need to do some work on the underlying geology and physics before I'm happy.
>>47102825
If you need a sense of scale, by the by, Alban from North to South is approximately the same as England from North to South.
Are the gods too specific? I am considering to revise the gods.
>God of royality, storm and law
>Goddess of magic, ambition and wisdom
>Goddess of water, life and fertility
>God of fire, death and rebirth
>God of revelry, hedonism and passions
>God of knowledge, craftsmen and artisans
>God of combat, loyalty and honor
>Goddess of vengeance, oaths and fate
>Goddess of war, strategy and tactics
>Goddess of hunt, nature and moon
>>47103397
What do you mean by too specific? They look ok for a main pantheon except for the shameful lack of agriculture, husbandry and fertility gods. You only have one fertility goddess without any other atribute except water. You should have several fertility gods and goddesses and they should be very popular, look for example at the egyptians, half of the gods are fertility gods.
Remember: most people doesn't want wisdom, laws, victory or anything. They want good crops.
>>47103397
>>Goddess of ambition and wisdom
pick one.
>>47103542
I do not know whether the Egyptians are a good example.
Yo, /wbg/. Post your flags, battle standards, official crests, etc. and tell a bit about them and their symbolism.
Any ideas how I can place mountain ranges on the map? It doesn't have to be strictly realistic, I want to have something like Tamriel, with everything from deserts to jungles.
And what do you think about the general shape?
>>47105674
You'd probably want two mountain ranges giving form to the valley which that huge river would carve. also, that island in the upper right would probably look better if spun 180 degrees, so the convex curve is facing the main continent. Coastlines tend to interlock when viewed on a global scale--think of how South America roughly fits into the West coast of Africa.
>>47105747
I wanted to have mediterranean kind of region without making another continent but wasn't sure how to do it, hence the weird island.
And I'm thinking about making the big ''river'' shorter and ending on the western coast.
It's actually something like the persian gulf, not a river.
>>47083894
>Food of your setting?
I've actually been contemplating this lately. Since the planet's climate is on average much, much colder than that of Earth(it's actually in the midst of an ice age) the warmest climate available is around that of Italy, and that's what the equator is like.
With no tropical climate, a lot of foods are missing, like sugar cane, bananas, and pineapples are just unknown. Rubber is pretty expensive too.
I know this is way off topic but I need help from fellow world builders. I have a kingdom name Alinor but I cant figure out what to call the people from there. Alinorian? Alinoran? Alinoric? Alinordic? HELP PLEASE
>>47106166
Alionorese.
>>47106166
"Alinor" works as an adjective as well as a noun.
"The Alinor Army" "Alinor steel" "He's Alinor, look at his clothes"
>>47106166
>I have a kingdom name Alinor but I cant figure out what to call the people from there.
What about Norians?
>>47106127
>I've actually been contemplating this lately. Since the planet's climate is on average much, much colder than that of Earth(it's actually in the midst of an ice age)
I've actually been wanting to brain storm some cold climate flora and fauna: Is this an "alternate earth" or is this a fantasy world you're working on?
>>47106193
alright this helped thanks chap
>>47106166
Alinorei
>>47106214
THIS IS THE ONE!
ALSO. I have another kingdom of primitive-ish people called Taz Okan. What the fuck do I name these people?
>>47106201
Another world, but no magic. It's a 1920s-esque sci fi setting. I'm not actually looking to make up fauna, but I'm considering adding in some prehistoric megafauna like smilodon, megatherium, mammoths, etc.
>>47106241
Have "Taz" be the name of the people, and "Okan" the name of their native land. That way, the kingdom's name literally represents both people and nation.
>>47106241
That one looks well suited to a collective noun that has nothing to do with the place name. Like how people from the Netherlands are Dutch. Just make some shit up.
But remember, it's a slur to call them Tazzies.
>>47106278
OH SHIET. You guys are good at this
>>47106241
Formal: Okan, Okanse, Okanese, Okani, Okanei
Slang: Tazzies, Tazzers, Totos
![pleistocene_american_fauna_wip_by_dantheman9758[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/zmcnvFa.jpg "pleistocene_american_fauna_wip_by_dantheman9758[1].jpg")
>>47106248
>I'm not actually looking to make up fauna, but I'm considering adding in some prehistoric megafauna like smilodon, megatherium, mammoths, etc.
Well, I mean, if it's a "cold world" than there's no reason you can't have a plethora of Ice Age Megafauna knocking about and so forth: Cold worlds would have more inhospitable wild spaces that although they'd be too unforgiving for most permanent human habitation- they'd act as fine preservation spots for many of this worlds creatures.
Thank you guys. Helped an assload
>>47106296
>>47106292
>>47106278
>>47106330
Smilodon, Mammoths and Megatherium are around. The Megatherium are just called Slothbears though.
>>47106166
I found some of the closest country names to Alinor I could find.
>El Salvador = Salvadoran
>Singapore = Singaporean
>Qatar = Qatari
>Johor = Johorean
That's all I could find from a cursory glance. Look up Demonym to look for more.
So, it seems if you want to base it off English, -an is probably best, but it isn't unreasonable to just pick what you think sounds best.
>>47105068
>mfw don't have scanner
>mfw don't have drawing tablet
>mfw don't havea working computer
>mfw my flags are just poor doodles in my notebook no one will ever see
>mfw I have no face
Aside from actual images, I tend to use some colors repeatedly for shorthand: blue for law and authority, red for emotion and rebellion, green for tradition and piety, pink for individualism, yellow for power, and black for nihilism/humanism. I don't know much about color theory or visual conveyance- where am I going wrong?
>>47106330
Welp, I made up some fauna.
When the island of Kiserre broke off from the Aquilonese Mainland a few dozen million years ago, its population of mammoths underwent island pygmyism, shrinking and becoming Pygmy Mammoths. On the same island, its population of eagles underwent island gigantism, growing to 20 kilogram monsters with a ten foot wingspan and learning to hunt in packs of five to ten. Specifically, they hunt the pygmy mammoths. The Kiserran Roc is the country's national symbol.
>>47105068
Since I'm developing them right now: The nation of Kiserre uses Shields rather than flags. Bigass tower shields with heraldry carved or painted on them, carried into battle or hung from walls.
>>47106734
Get a decent computer, take a photo with a digital camera, then clean it up with GIMP. That's what's worked for me in the past.
Also, as far as visual design for flags, this TED talk is an excellent foundation: https://www.ted.com/talks/roman_mars_why_city_flags_may_be_the_worst_designed_thing_you_ve_never_noticed?language=en
>>47098813
Sorry I'm a bit late, but make sure you include some voodoo stuff, maybe magic, maybe not.
>>47106770
Another animal: Volley Shrimp
They're essentially pistol shrimp, expect they're social creatures, living around deposits of the power crystals necessary to some of the fantastic technology in this setting. If you disturb the crystals, they might try to fight you off. This is why diving suits had to be built ridiculously tough, to retrieve the crystals. Similar diving suits with powered limbs later gave rise to the first mecha.
>>47106997
>pistol shrimp firing en masse
I now want to see pistol shrimp as line infantry.
>>47107045
>a horde of Clauncher appeared!
>>47084022
That's a weird double standard, unless there are no sentient mammals in your game.
>>47084069
Perfectly doable. Remember that before trains and automobiles it's generally faster and easier to travel long distances by sea than on land.
>>47084069
Isn't this exactly what the Normans did?
>>47084069
>>47107277
To back this up with specific examples, William the Conqueror started out as Duke of Normandy and for centuries after the English crown would control various swathes of land that are part of France today.
Since I am practically autistic, I find myself too caught up on biome placement with this map I am making for a campaign I am running, even though it matters to absolutely no one but me.
Biomes are hard
>>47107859
Why is there coastal desert in the north right next to grasslands?
And there ought to be a bit of desert to the right of the mountains in the bottom-middle of the pic.
>>47103542
The god of knowledge, craftsmen and artisans also stands for agriculture and husbandry. And the God of royality, storm and law indirectly plays an important role because he controls the weather. But yeah, I will correct it. Thank you.
I mean to specific domains, like royality or vengeance and oaths.
>>47103397
>Are these gods too specific?
It depends on what you want out of the gods- more directly, how you want them to serve the setting and plot. Gods generally have a few purposes in a universe:
>They embody and reflect the desires and traits of a certain people, and give your players shorthand for their followers. For example, Dudegod, god of the bros, embodies everything that his followers appreciate like drinking and friendship. If the players meet someone and see the symbol of Dudegod, they can assume that he likely is up for a good time.
>They are used to convey cosmic mechanics. If magic comes from the five planes of water, earth, fire, wind and heart, there would likely be five gods who add personality to these types and flesh out where those domains start and end (the heart god will probably have dominion over things that aren't blood and organs, informing the players that it is a metaphorical heart)
>They are used to drive the plot. In this circumstance, their domains can be used as metaphor for their relationships with their fellow gods, which allows new players to keep the plot straight and experienced players to use domains to pick sides and see through ruses, etc.
>They are used to handwave plot conveniences. In this case their motives and methods need to be very clearly laid out or else the players will feel as if their actions are arbitrary. If you want to stop your players from killing the orphan, the Child God coming to protect it makes sense, but if you have the fate god preventing them from leaving Questville because it isn't the time yet you will lose your players very, very fast.
I don't know enough about your setting to say how they do on any of these levels, but this should give you a pretty good guideline to figure it out, hopefully.
>>47107045
Pistol Shrimp have actually been observed living in swarms of up to 300, with some being workers and some acting as soldiers.
So for the last few weeks I've been working on a map with the intention to make a semi-realistic world and then simulate through its history from the evolution of the first humans to sometime analogous to the late iron age and perhaps a bit further. What is really slowing the process down more than anything is making naming languages that both sound okay and can actually be pronounced by an English speaker. I’ve found Awkwords to be pretty useful in randomly generating words from a given set of sounds, but does anyone have some tips on how to form naming languages efficiently?
Also, part of the premise for the world is that it goes through periods of intense magic saturation and low magic saturation -- with humans evolving at a high point (by coincidence) and fantasy races evolving from humanity’s immediate ancestor under the influence of magical phenomena. The early stages of human development (like proto-urban settlement and agriculture) are sped up because of magic’s utility, but this only happened after the level of magic subsides to a point where humans can actually control it with whatever primitive methods they had at the time. Does this sound feasible, or is the whole premise retarded?
>>47108411
>Naming language
There's an important cheat here: you can name some languages and cultures in just one if they're geographically close. The names of places, peoples, and languages in South America are very similar not because they share a language but because Westerners learned about all of it from Aztecs, and the names stuck. That way you don't have to evolve a new language for every culture.
>Does this sound feasible, or is the whole premise retarded?
Well it's basically the premise of Shadowrun. So both?
Been working on this for a little bit, still am. Leave some comments and tell me what you think.
>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hFkPaoqZuBSJwm3_ZG8mGAZ9yTDSezhZISWo8KLFdDQ/edit?usp=sharing
So I think I made a mistake. I made a continent before I drew the continental and oceanic plates and now I'm being super autistic about it. Any suggestions?
>>47110530
Retcon your world to not be a planet.
It's that way because Deus Vult.
>>47110341
Is your goal to create a solid universe to serve as the canvas for whatever adventure your players want?
You have greatly succeeded.
You have few enough gods to keep straight, but enough to not leave out any tropes. Your races are diverse enough to create a colorful party but are standard enough that I can basically understand what they are from their name. Your cosmology is clean (X is what the Not!Aliens are, they each have one domain, Y is what the not!Talos gods are, they each have two; crystals power magitech, magic is the force). All in all this makes for a setting that is easy for players to understand and jump into.
Is your goal to create an interesting setting?
You have failed.
Nothing is unique- the not!aliens are two pairs of mundane dualities, the not!talos are very straightforward pairs that lack depth (to the point some could have one domain and be no different-Nico and Jurna specifically). All the races are what they've been for 40 years. Elves are hippies, goblins are black, etc with Giants being the only standout for being not!preLutherEurope instead of their normal humanoid-dragon state.
But, given how you've written everything, I'm going to guess you fall in the former.
>>47110530
Make it a flat Earth. No one will see it coming, and you don't have to follow actual rules. Alternatively, keep 3 sides and expand/contract one side until it satiates your autism.
>>47110598
How would you suggest I improve the setting to make it not as generic as it is now? My ultimate goal is to make something both unique and solid enough for my players to want to explore it.
>>47110704
I don't know how much revision you're comfortable with, but here's my suggestions.
>Races are good as is, I have tried unique races several times and while I have intrigued players I have also confused some and disappointed others.
>The gods need to be less clean. Your Prime gods (especially given their name) are fine, but if your Lesser gods were people, they had more complexity in their interests than two things. Make the god of magic and knowledge also the god of carnal lust because he would animate random objects and fuck them; make the blood/sacrifice god the god of cleanliness, because no one wants all that blood to go to waste just sitting on the altar, etc. They should be less abstractions of a single (or technically double) idea, even if the Primes didn't give them powers explicitly to do that maybe they just abuse it.
>Change your creation myth. Mention of space, planets, etc should never be in a myth, as it ruins the mysticism even if it gives your modern, scientific minded players a hint of legitimacy. This will also prevent them from calling the gods as not!Aliens as I have; I would also remove this twist altogether, but it is valid plot element and I'm just personally sick to death of it. If you want some inspiration, just go read some actual creation myths, just as many as possible. They are weird and abstract- I would recommend this style, as it makes the universe really feel like fantasy.
>Magitech is fine, even cool, but I would avoid crystals- or at least, just crystals. Have a variety of magical materials used, like some kind of time-warping metal for fast travel, a special pearl that can emit a focused beam of light when touched as a remote control mechanism, incense that lets the spirits in your engine navigate, and such. The more complicated you make it, you make your tech more interesting to work with, you gain the ability to change the flavor of McGuffins, and you can handwave things too complicated for your players to care about.
>>47110598
>>47110592
I wish I had actually seen your responses earlier.
>>47110920
I'm not gonna lie.
I have no idea if you're finished or not, because I have no idea what features you're trying to adjust for. Possibly because I don't understand how plate movement impacts land shape.
If you aren't finished, are you going to give up and convert to flatland?
>>47107241
none that look as similar to other mamalls as the bird people in that pic do, I suppose. If the birds were gross-featherless birds without proper beeks and walking weirdly, then they probably would have no problem with eating other birds, as they don't seem related in any way.
>>47110980
So the reason I was trying to figure out the plate movements was so I could figure out where the mountains would be. From what I understand mountains have quite a bit of influence on things like rainfall. My understanding of these things is rough at best. I'm half tempted to leave it as is but another part of me says I've fucked it up somehow and need to start over. Perhaps I should also post this on r/worldbuilding and get their take on it as well?
>>47110980
In nutshell: when plates meet, land raises and forms mountains. See Himalayas and Carpathians, both made from plates that moved against each other. If plates hit their heads together and don't want to go beneath or over each other, high mountains are usually product.
When plates move away, land splits and usually after long time ocean is born. See Horn of Africa splitting slowly from rest of the Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain
This surprisingly easy link explains how mountains are born in very simple way.
I've got a wikis worth of information for the world I've built. Its a mid fantasy, mid magic world with around 1900-1920 age tech what I l
Call "Bolt-Action fantasy". It excludes beast races but includes trolls, orcs, goblins, elves, drow, humans, and dwarves. All tied together in a nice evolutionary bow labeled by scientists of the time. While some elves are primitive the industrialized elves are prussian based with a recently united kingdom. The dwarves are russian based with lots of cheap but mass produced tech. The humans are roman republic based with some humans being primative as well. Goblin gypies. Primative troll tribes, and uncivilized orcs slowly civilizing through a war of independece with the humans. Drow have many underkingdoms but the most note worthy has entered a personal royal union after many years of war in order to seek peace. I've got the world map, religions, and cultures down. I'm still working on separate ethnicities, accents, and world/nation history to pre-recorded times. Having fun with it either way.
>>47110920
>>47110980
I've been informed that plates generally do not rotate like the plate in the upper left. I have tinkered a bit and ended up with this.
>>47111554
What I really need at this point are questions about it so I can go over anything I missed and just make shit up with some sort of logic to it.
Does anyone have that image that shows you how to make an island or continent and how mountains affect biomes?
>>47111624
>Are there any international/supranational organizations? Are there any inherent rights?
>How are economies managed? How is the monetary exchange managed? How are taxes collected?
>What are the social mores with interracial marriages? How are half-breed children treated? What of the children from a previous union?
>How is inheritance awarded?
>>47108027
You could remove strategy or tactics and replace it with fertility. Strategy and tactic are the same.
Best application for drawing up maps from scratch? I've created a continent with its own world lore, custom races and special events but need to map everything out to give me somewhere to take the party when my players go off the rails.
Being able to mark biomes and landforms would be helpful too, as it's an entire continent with a large variety of environments.
>>47113688
Question too good to be missed. Very wip stuff, but ideas are more or less what they might be later.
>Are there any international/supranational organizations? Are there any inherent rights?
Dwarven Bronze Bank is the most known major organization that handles money. Their name comes from Bronze slabs they use as official signs of agreements and loans. Bronze Bank is known for being very strict on paying terms, but they welcome most business ideas and starting fund pleas with open arms. Because of that they have they hands in quite many industries. This has of course caused backslash on them and quite many industries have started to boycott Bronze Bank owned industries and ventures.
Then there is the College of Magi, situated in City of Magis. The biggest collection of all things magical and highest concentration of people attuned to magic. They accept students from all over the world.
>How are economies managed? How is the monetary exchange managed? How are taxes collected?
Each nation/country/people have their own money, but most of them follow the basic copper-->silver-->gold value. Traders then have to weight the money to see what is their real worth if they are dealing with foreigners. Most common way of collecting taxes is either pure cash or x/10 of this years harvest. Usually it is local lords who collect the tax for their ruler.
There is of course large amount of different tolls and taxes.
For example in north Jarls are given their tithe requirements by the High Jarl. Jarls then have to fullfill the requirements, be that money or some products. Jarl of Riig has been given a task to build four War Galleys and ten cogs for High Jarl while Jarl of Rotten Swamp has simple task. Keep the things in swamp away and keep the Swamp Road and Bridge open.
>>47114170
>What are the social mores with interracial marriages? How are half-breed children treated? What of the children from a previous union?
Interracial marriage is frowned upon and the couples usually mind their own business. This dies have lesser impact in more metropolitan and trade heavy regions due to intermingling. Peasants are universally worst. Half-breeds have difficulties of finding proper profession, but that depends on the region and place where they are. Half-breeds are over bastards, but beneath fullborn citizens.
Children of previous union depends completely on if they come from fathers or mothers side. Due to inheritance lawsin most cases it is the fathers children who are first in line.
>How is inheritance awarded?
Usually primogeniture, but nobles if the situation allows so to disinheritage his sons. Some cultures allow for daughter to inheritage the whole deal.
If you have any questions or criticism tell them. It helps me to fine tune my setting.
>>47104609
It's not like other pantheons didn't give the domain of fertility to a big amount of gods. Even fucking Thor was a god of fertility.
>>47108027
Specific domains are correct when the divinity has other less specific ones that are related (in the cosmovision of your setting, not in our logic).
And/or when the specific domain is very important in the religion or culture ofthe pantheon. I don't think there's anything wrong with a god of oaths, Mithra was a god of oaths (amongst other things) and one of the most important iranic divinities. Your divinity of oaths is also a divinity of fate instead of a divinity of cattle, I think it's ok. The same goes with royalty: the most famous god related with storms, Zeus/Jupiter, was in some way a god of royalty too like yours.
I can't think of a relevant vengeance divinity though.
>>47105068
>tfw I'm shit at art and cannot draw flags or crests for shit
>>47111055
>Carpathians
But those are very far from any place where plates meet.
>>47096926
I'm not really sure, but I handwave it to say they don't eat often more in line with reptiles. In universe, they live in a very warm area ranging from the Southern areas having a climate similar to Southern Italy to the Northern extremes being more in line with North Africa.
>>47096316
Living far in the frigid waters of the South are the Selkies. The subsist of a diet of fish, whale, and kelp. The last is farmed by mostly by women. The men hunt fish and whales with the help of domesticated squid more similar to falcons than dogs. They also grow a species of lichen which is used to make a powerful alcohol which is consumed warm at every meal to the point that their generic word for meal is the same as the drink they consume. This drink is toxic to most, and must be heavily diluted even for Selkies. Lacking wood, they use a fast growing weed as fuel. The weed naturally only occurs on washed up whale carcasses, so, to encourage its growth, the Selkie use a portion of their hunts as feed. Burning it produces a blue-green flame that smells of juniper berries.
>>47114184
Are there any construct beings/steampunk androids in your setting?
>>47114735
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_orogeny
"The area now occupied by the Carpathians was once occupied by smaller ocean basins. The Carpathian mountains were formed during the Alpine orogeny in the Mesozoic[15] and Tertiary by moving the ALCAPA, Tisza and Dacia plates over subducting oceanic crust (see maps).[16] The mountains take the form of a fold and thrust belt with generally north vergence in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion."
That means that there was plates, but not anymore. Carpathians happened somewhere between 250-60 million years ago. Basically fucking long time.
>>47114948
I am debating on golems and other made creatures being a thing. But those would require quite skilled magi to draw enough life energy to get them working. Maybe even that they aren't living creatures they leak life energy away and require "refueling"
Life energy is basically mana that is inside everybody and seeps from the ground. Setting being low fantasy, I want to restrict magic. No caster supremacy please.
>>47115352
Continue on magic.
Basis is that everybody can learn magic, but you have to be "genius" and magically attuned to become Magi properly. If Joe the Farmer wants to learn magic he has managed to grasp basics when he is 60 years old.
Most common form of magic is healing magic in form of traditional herbalism. Village herbalists to properly know their trade must know some magic. This doesn't mean that they are miracle workers, as it only helps a little bit.
Those who are magically attuned are usually picked by hedge magis and taught rudimentary skills until the student either joins some other magi or is skillful enough to travel to City of Magic and seek studies there.
Because magic is not super potent, average battlemagi is glad in armor and his combat spells usually are buffs of some worth. Flinging fireballs is possible, but very exhaustive.
Magic can be buffed by runes made by runesmiths. These runes are hard to make and while very wanted, not so potent. For example Rune of Life, one of the most common runes costs easily year worth of food. Rune of Life is a "battery" for life energy, which the magi can use to fuel his magic. Usually this rune lasts one or two minor spells before it has to be recharged.
>>47115538
How do you justify a City of Magi? I also have a everybody can do magic thing but having top level mages congregated in a single city seems like a red flag to everybody else, especially if you don't have magic supremacy. Seems like somebody is bound to destroy them if only to deny anyone else the opportunity to use them against them. I don't believe any amount of diplomacy will dissuade everybody from believing otherwise.
Another thing is the sheer amount of resources mages would need to practice their profession. An actual city would need a lot of people to handle day-to-day operations, something I doubt mages would have time for. In my setting I adopted the more traditional university scheme which is under control and regulation of the non-mage-controlled government. There are premier institutions but there are several spread out among the major empires. They are also wholly dependent on their governments for funding and protection.
>>47116451
As I mentioned the land seeps life energy which is used in magic. The place where City of Magis is located has much more this magical leakage. This allows them to do much more magic than others and in bigger scale.
The city has grown quite large and has about 1:7 ratio in magically attuned and normal population. They still do rely heavily on trade and outside support, but they have magic to trade. You need magical services, you go to City of Magis.
Oh yeah it is a red flag and the city has been under siege multiple times. This has led to city having quite strong rune reinforced walls and defenses. But due to fact that they have better magic and quite few human kingdoms don't want for the city to fall, those sieges have been broken.
It also does help that most magis are not useless old men without their spells. It is requirement for them to learn swordmanship and fighting as armor doesn't restrict magic. It is actually vice versa as you can add runes to your armor and weapons to help you in magic. For example what do you think of Barristan Selmy level knight whos sword is on blazing fire and his dragon helmet breaths fire. That guy is known as Dragon Knight and is probably greatest fighter there is.
>making a continent map for my campaign on inkarnate
>coastline is looking fantastic, just finish up after almost an hour of autistic micromanagement
>about to start working on mountain and river placement
>firefox crashes
I don't think I can go on
>>47087862
Both can serve as a border, especially if the river in question is a wide one or for some reason hard to pass. Don't forget about deserts either, as they offer a great protection against most enemies.
The roman empire is a good example of a state that heavily leaned on the use of natural borders such as deserts, large rivers, mountain ranges and seas. These were so important to the sustainability of the empire that emperor Hadrian on his own accord chose to abandon the large newly gained territories that were conquered by his predecessor Trajan.
>>47117697
That everything basically leads to caster supremacy. And yet:
>Setting being low fantasy, I want to restrict magic. No caster supremacy please.
They're a single, monolithic organization that symbolize the tipping of power for every other faction. Your warrior-mages' city is the supreme power.
>>47118488
Oh fuck you are right on large scale. How could I have been so stupid idiot.
On small scale of single hedge magi or court wizard level, it does restrict magic quote lot. No more smart wizard taking out whole encounter. This was more my goal.
With the city minding their own business most of the time they really are not in world conquering business. And while they are the strongest single organization and city, they are not an nation or alliance.
Then we throw the few other factions who have their own magis, for example elves, they aren't monopoly any more.
But you have a good point and I have to think about it. Thanks.
What's wrong with this map?
>>47117997
Lord in his infinite mercy granted you save button, why are you neglecting it?
>>47118865
With its position pretty far north of the equator, I don't see how Hammerfell should be a desert if the westerlies function like they do in our world.
>>47118909
I was too into it man. All I could think about was that coastline.
So, I keep drawing and slightly altering my map to fit my needs better.
Does Spine (Mountain range on the orange isthmus) actually make sense? It is supposed to be two plates rammed into each other obviously, but could it be this narrow?
>>47118948
>With its position pretty far north of the equator, I don't see how Hammerfell should be a desert if the westerlies function like they do in our world.
I'm no expert on TES lore, but wasn't Hammerfell magically nuked or something?
>>47118998
I honestly can't remember. It would make sense if that were the case though. You can handwave anything away with magic.
Does this continent make sense?
Brown is mountains.
>>47119550
For me, the line seems too jagged. How did tectonic plates come to be?
It would make more sense to me to cut the middle part and expand the range west.
>>47119613
It's just a draft so the jagginess of the mountains isn't actually supposed to be there.
Unless you mean the shoreline?
>>47119681
Jagged may be the wrong word. I meant it's curving awful lot, I can't make sense of it.
>>47119693
Do you mean shore or mountains?
>>47118983
Not a problem, but if you want to simulate tectonic plates crashing together you'll want to put a few small islands in the water nearby following along the fault line where the spine is, and have there be a few protruding bits of land instead of a hard cut to water. it sells the idea that the plates crashed, because that would happen underwater too and cause islands to form along where the spine would be in the ocean.
Fantastic work on the geography by the way anon. You really nailed the natural looking landforms and merges into rivers, and the way biomes are sculpted around coasts and mountains really sells it.
>>47119738
Good idea, thanks. I will see how to better place it.
>>47119734
I mean mountains.
Please critique the Pantheon I've been working on:
>Solus, The Sun God, “Burn Alone”, God. Lawful Good.
Too distant to hear his worshipers, but so large and powerful he doesn't mind when they use his miracles.
>Gog’Magog, The First Man, The Last Titan, Son of Brun. Neutral Good
Last Titan to live through the war fought between Gods, Elemental lords and Titans. Asks for nothing, but allows people to become giants themselves.
>Panthalassa, The First/False Mother, The Tide, 'Daughter' of Brun. God(dess) of the Sea. Chaotic Good
Crawled out of the deep long ago; one of the oldest and more obscure gods. Cultures have mistakenly worshiped him as female: takes on a feminine appearance because of this. May want to flood the earth because of this.
>The Crystal Prince, Prismatic Coward, The Diamond Prince, Last Elemental Lord. Lawful Neutral
Last surviving Elemental Lord to live through the war fought between Gods, Elemental Lords and Titans. Everyone else died; leaving him all by himself. Worshipped out of pity.
>Death, The Beginning & The End, Alpha & Omega, The “True” Mother. True Neutral.
The First God and the Last one. Is fanatically loved by those who've witnessed her humility and grace. The "truest" God: she commands both life & death and is desperately trying to combat entropy so as to not spend eternity alone.
>Zoonostrisism, The Zizz, The Behemoth & The Leviathan. Chaotic Neutral
Literally the worship of any animal bigger than a blue whale.
>Baphomet, The Dark Father, The First Satyr, Lord of The Red World. Lawful Evil
The face of "lawful evil": established and founded his own kingdom in the native endless realm of demons and his own apostles/saints "Demon lords".
>Echidna, Mother of Monsters, The Endless Primeval Lover. Chaotic Evil
Ancient Titan that's been revived countless times due to her love of having sex with her followers. Been around since dinosaur times. Amalgamation of an endless hydra with very busty Gorgon maidens for heads.
Rate my proto map. Gonna start placement of mountains and rivers next. Maybe add a few islands in the ocean
>>47122124
Wanting to flood the earth because people thought you were a chick is pretty petty for a good deity. Hell, if he crawled out of the fucking ocean, he probably doesn't give much of a shit about human cultural norms or gender at all.
>Zoonostrisism
How often do people see animals bigger than a blue whale? Are most followers of this CN, or are a lot of them CG, CE, TN, etc.?
>>47122147
I like the island in the middle, although landmasses extending beyond the map's borders will never stop triggering me.
>>47122447
Its not a world map
>>47122124
these sound rad as fuck, distant and imposing just the way I like my pantheons (kinda like the Bastion pantheon with a touch of Dark Souls)
>>47122460
I know, however I much prefer making a detailed meta map of the world, and then making an in-game regional crude map for the players based on the meta map.
![behemoth-and-leviathan[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/MIdMuIx.jpg "behemoth-and-leviathan[1].jpg")
>>47122198
>How often do people see animals bigger than a blue whale? Are most followers of this CN, or are a lot of them CG, CE, TN, etc.?
During caveman times there were essentially three to five species of "Gigafauna" Godzilla sized creatures that were so absolutely immense that their mere presence effected their environment from local weather, the tides, certain geological happenings and even seasonal changes.
Primitive species and cultures as you could image worshiped them as Gods.
In Contemporary times though these creatures are extinct, but the religion and practice is still held up by people who worship the creatures that remain: Dragons, Hydras, Rocs, Garms,
I'd say "most" people who follow the religion are CN, but they have a general predilection to align themselves with any chaotic alignment due to their belief that Nature is without order and that structure is fleeting and sporadic; easily stopped out by something bigger.
>Wanting to flood the earth because people thought you were a chick is pretty petty for a good deity. Hell, if he crawled out of the fucking ocean, he probably doesn't give much of a shit about human cultural norms or gender at all.
This is mostly tongue-in-cheek due to the world being a super continent with a super ocean: The Ocean is extremely dangerous, violent, stormy, with very few people living on it or near it, but at the same time it's fit to burst with life and bounty.
I felt it an appropriate sentiment for the "people" to have to describe the ocean's eccentricities.
Quick! Pic related is now a deity in your setting, associated with death, oblivion, and the apocalypse. Which of your existing cults and religions would consider worshipping a god like that and why?
/fit/ here -FUCK BREAD
>>47107241
Besides HUMANS! Ahh!
How to I write songs for my world if I dont write songs good?
I want to write songs like these
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43FnCO1DkOU
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGMSN_dQgLg
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48reRkVI-UE
Is there somewhere I can study how to write lyrics?
>>47124199
I'm fairly sure 90% of "good" songs are written while the person's high on something.
>>47124473
eyy but Tolkein never did drugs and that motherfucker had songs every twenty pages.
>>47124531
That's because he was a gifted polyglot. Dude had levels in Wordsmith.
Does anyone have magic systems that work along the lines of allomancy from the Mistborn books or furycrafting from Codex Alera?
I rather like the innate ability angle; it's sort of like putting super heroes in a fantasy world.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
>Describe the police in your setting
>What equipment do they use
>What's their SOP
>Is it possible to make abuddy cop show in it?
>>47127741
Was city watch as it appears in medieval fantasy actually a thing in the past? I always read stuff that says first coppers appeared in XVIII or maybe XIX century.
>>47128339
Sort of. There were various kinds of law enforcement in the Middle Ages but a full-time dedicated force of professionals was really a 19thC development. A big distinction is that while watchmen and constables kept the peace and pursued suspects, actual investigative police work was usually outside their remit.
In most cases communities policed themselves in a number of ways. In rural areas there was a system called "frank-pledge", which meant that a small group of freemen (e.g.10) swore an oath that if one of their number was accused of a crime the others were obligated to deliver him to the court or be fined themselves. Court offcials and justices could also call upon upstanding free men to assist the both formally and informally, a little like a Wild West sheriff with deptutie and a posse. Sometimes these offcials were chosen by the feudal overlord and sometimes elected by the free community.
In towns there was a similar process. The right to choose their own legal officials was very important to a community, it was one of the rights that towns tried very hard to obtain from feudal overlords and enshrine in charters. Whenever they could towns would try to elect upstanding citizens (merchants and tradesmen) to these roles.
Underneath the constables, beadles, reeves and magitrates was the watch. In many cases these were volunteers drawn from respectable citizens who served part-time or on rotation. There were legal requirments for wealthy citizens to own arms and armour, so watchmen supplied their own equipment. Voluntary watches were mostly drawn from the upper tier of townsfolk with service to the city being a point of civic pride, so they tended to be very well equipped. Watchmen patrolled the treets, manned gates, kept order and responded to requests for assistance from the offcials to pursue and arrest suspects.
>>47128339
The ancient athenians used Scythian mercenaries (or were they slaves? I can't really remember) as a police force.
>>47129591
The nightwatch deserves it own special mention. There was the concern that cover of darkness provided opportunity for crime. Curfews were the norm, and nightwatchmen patrolled the streets at night to arrest anyone acting suspicously (which included not having a lit lantern to announce your presence).
Legal procceedings were very important to most Medieval cultures, and there were a number of ways that suspects could be brought to trial. The typical pattern was for a very small number of officials who served the courts and magistrates to oversee an area, with voluntary or part-time watchmen drawn from the community. The watches main job was keeping the peace and catching criminals in the act, and were mostly drawn from the wealthy levels of society (although "mercenary" watchmen paid for by the community were a thing in Italy).
Investigative work was mostly done by constables and Justices of the Peace working with the court, and it was not the duty of the watch.
The standard fantasy city watch tends to be 1-part backwards projecting modern ideas about policing, and 2-parts hapless mooks, which is a far cry from the reality of medieval law enforcement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constable#United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reeve_%28England%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchman_%28law_enforcement%29
Also check out Fief and Town for how it all worked together and the interlocking complexity of medieval courts. Battles over jurisdiction were the driving force behind some of the most bitter disputes of the period.
tips/r8 on mountains, and biomes. there are only three plates, bottom right moving left, top left moving right, middle staying still. prevailing wind from north west, set in the southern hemisphere because why not.this is for a book not a game
>>47110920
Why does your continent look like Ukraine?
>>47098531
That's too little desu, if a person was that huge they would be eating 5000-6000 calories a day.
>>47130451
Because I used Ukraine as the base shape and then I took a bunch of other countries and smashed them into it.
What do you think about this island? Did I go a bit overboard with the coastline?
>>47131007
How big is your island? Because if it is small then it is a bit too jagged and probably precision is not very useful due to tides.
>>47131037
Let's say it's roughly the size of Sicily. Would that be acceptable? If not, how big would it need to be?
>>47131007
too jagged, you typically only see that sort of shape around headlands and cliffs and they only tend to exist in areas with a particularly large amount of sea flowing past, for example around channels or on one side of an island facing a large current.
>>47131091
I may be wrong, I have lousy sense of scale, but even though cliffs are jagged, they should not be this visibly jagged on that scale. Does your island not have beaches? Because beaches are usually straight.
Where's a good place to start when world building?
>>47131007
Looks way overdone. Different types of coastlines occur due to different factors. That island on top looks the most natural. Consider this map of Oahu and research more coasts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast#Types_of_coast
>>47131178
You will start with the endgame anyway, you have no choice. You won't just make a world out of map, you are going to have things that you like and want in the world and this is your endgoal.
So make a rough draft of what adventure era is like, build a rough draft of the world to accomodate it and then see how can you make it make sense.
>>47131178
In the beginning. How was your universe created? Big Bang, God, or gods, or maybe it always existed. Is it the only universe in existence, or are there parallel universes? In what ways is your universe similar/different to/from ours? How was the world where your story takes place created? Is it the only one, or are there others? Is it a planet, a circle, or something else? What kind of sapient creatures live there, if any? How did they come to be? Evolution, gods, or are they aliens that came from the outside? Or maybe a mix of all of those. What are the regions like, what's the fauna and flora like, and what are the cultures like. What is the level of technological, scientific, and societal development like? And then you go from there, developing each culture.
What do I need to look at to decide which cultures get to herd pigs, cattle, sheep or poultry as their primary source of food.
>>47131489
sheep prefer mountanous regions/they're the only thing that can live there. Pigs require a lot of care and feeding so expect them near more populated and slightly richer, but still rural regions, clustered around cities or market villages mostly. Cow pastures can be put anywhere grass will feasibly grow, but as they are used as part of the crop rotation in a lot of places, clearing the fallow growth and fertilising the fields cows are often found alongside non-pastoral agriculture.
t. Yorkshireman who knows shit all about farming.
>>47118998
Yokunda was nuked, which is why the Redguards went to Tamriel and Hammerfell.
>>47131007
Does this look better?
>>47083894
>Food of your setting?
I had a few examples of cultures in non-standard areas who had their own cuisine. Of course there was trade and stuff, but it was local stuff.
One was a very hot and humid swamp. They specialized in alligator and other large reptile meat (as well as leathers and hides for good armor, not so much food), which they would spice and jerk for either just easy trail rations or to turn into soups (boiled water + jerk = simple soup). They also had a native "ice melon" which was just a slightly sweet, little mint melon said to help make you feel cooler. It has high water content as well, so helps keep one hydrated. A quarter melon and a slab of spicy lizard-on-a-stick is available at stalls for hungry folks on the go.
The other was a settlement in low mountains, they had lots of scrub land and underground areas. This meant goats and mushrooms, so they would make lots of broth from the goat meat, the pour the near-boiling broth over mushrooms and perhaps for the fortunate a few strips of goat meat.
Another was in mountain highlands, and was all about yaks. Yak hair clothes and ropes, milk and cheese and of course meat. Yaks are pretty amazing animals all around. They had some kind of grain that survived in high elevations, that grain + yak + some other vegies made yak sausages, both fresh for local specialty and hard, dried ones for trail rations.
Finally, a new settlement founded in ancient ruins of an old city, they had lots of fruit trees. While having most normal foods, they were big on fruit pies (more like hand held British pasties than American pies in a pan), fresh made in the mornings and this, over time, made pies super popular in general so all meals came in easy to carry pie form.
I love pushing local cuisine on players until they either adopt it or start saying "Ok, enough spicy fucking lizard on a stick, we go try to find proper food!" then you gouge them on the price, muahaha.
>>47131812
Much better than before.
Trying to find a way to make my rivers not look retarded and I think I am failing in that regard.
>>47133137
it's because they all go exactly the same direction
>>47133137
As someone told me, rivers join together as they get closer to sea, not split up.
>>47131178
Full Tolkein autismal mode? Etymology. What eats what? How do advanced species get materials and resources? Where did they come from?
I find that's the best order to keep it interesting as you can just continually come up with absurd things. Few species survive for any period of time, so make a thousand and make nine hundred of them extinct.
>>47096792
Mounted archery often just wasn't practical for hilly, western Europe. It wasn't nearly as dominant as the great plains of eastern Europe or Asia. Plus the west didn't use thumb ring
>>47090903
You could have little people, like the Koropokkuru of the Ainu people (natives of Japan).
What are people's thoughts on humans in fantasy worlds? Personally, I find them to be a boring addition, and would prefer a fantasy world containing elves, dwarves etc... but without humans
>>47133346
Unless you are going all xecofiction, you already are writing humans. So stop pretending otherwise.
I myself dislike abundance of non-humans.
>>47133346
I tend to favour the opposite these days. Human-only world mean that it's harder to fall-back on cliches as a substitute for personality for the token elf/dwarf/tapeworm in the party. It also encourages more thought-out cultures since you can't just say "ELVES!" and call it a day.
You could also have the whole party/world focus on one particular non-human stock. When everyone is playing a dwarf you're going to have to move past "Rockbeard Smash-Hammer" and start to make more individual characters. A lone dwarf can easily ride on being the token dwarf who does dwarfy things. Make everyone a dwarf and hopefully it will add a bit more depth.
>>47133522
I agree with your point.
The party that I've created for a story project I'm working on is completely comprised of elves, and none of them are blonde or immortal or fall into many of the main elvish stereotypes.
>>47133210
>>47133239
This looking any better?
>>47133621
It's not so much that you completely eliminate stereotypes, but it does mean that they don't form the majority of the characterisation. An immortal blonde elf could be fine, as long as there is also an interesting personality. The whole party playing elves throws a sharper focus on everything beyond the cliches as when everyone is immortal that fact by itself is a lot less interesting and so the player/GM has to go a bit deeper. It's good practice in general, but it becomes particulary noticeable in by-the-numbers fantasy as if everyone is an elf it is obvious if they are all Legolas/Dirzzt/Oberon clones and that is the extent of elven characterisation in that setting.
You can also get an interesting variety of interpretations of the same common aspects. A party full of elves will probably have very different takes on what is means to be immortal and how you spend the time as that serves to make them indivduals with personality instead of clones who think the exact same elfy thoughts all day.
>>47129708
This is some great stuff.
>>47133346
Kinda like what this guy >>47133388 said.
Unless it's a plot or theme related point, no humans while everything else acting human seems needlessly contrived to me. I remember reading in /co/ years ago that one of the reasons anthro(acting human) cartoons became a thing was by using a fable-like setting they were able to tell stories and explore subjects that would have been too controversial for normal audiences. Or some shit like that.
>>47133839
where the river splits in the bottom right hand corner either turn it into a delta system or get rid of it, rivers don't do that.
>>47119738
Per your advice I extended mountain range into a series of islands. Did the same to the range between Reesa and Kais, it's probably a bit weird to have mountains just drop into sea but it's necessary for the world to work as it does to separate them fully.
Also I effectively merged Spine with range in the middle of Cauldring, crating a somewhat oddly shaped plate. But it doesn't seem too outlandish compared to real world.
Still a very early work in progress, but can anyone find any major issues that need to be address?
There's a decent amount of magical shenanigans that keep the northern interior areas from being well settled. The capital in the middle has a grand canal through the mountain that took fucking forever to get through, but made the capital itself the undisputed economic powerhouse.
>>47134825
Shouldn't area between two mountain ranges fall into rain shadow and be more arid?
And the way your rivers come together and split back apart is the way rivers do. If this four rivers meet hex is three go in, one goes out, they probably shouldn't intersect elsewhere.
>>47134825
Also, you split rivers downstream and one of your lakes looks like a penis.
>>47133346
Humans in my world are well regarded for their potential physical stamina. Elves are faster, many creatures are stronger, but humans can keep going a long time. They recover well from injury
Elves view humans as a mix between friends and pet dogs. Loyal if well trained and great companions, but don't trust wild ones.
Beastpeople (basically anthropomorphic lions) see them as sturdy, beasts of burden.
> And the way your rivers come together and split back apart is the way rivers do. If this four rivers meet hex is three go in, one goes out, they probably shouldn't intersect elsewhere.
Could you rephrase that?
>>47134327
the word Tarn means teardrop shaped lake and is a pretty common place name in Northern England, might want to go with that instead of just a plain descriptor.
>>47135012
>Could you rephrase that?
I think I've lost half of my words between my brain and the keyboard.
This place. How it works?
>>47135048
Oh yeah. Now that you point it out I have no idea how I managed to do that. I know dick all about geography and even I think that's weird looking. Will fix, thanks!
>>47135074
Why are you using hexes, by the way? Nothing seems to be actually aligned with them. Two tiles at the bottom of map are missing as well.
>>47084870
Maybe think of a name more inspired then tallowfish. Good stuff otherwise though.
Help on this
>>47135758
anyone?
Sci-fi questions!
>method of space travel, FTL or not?
>space factions?
>aliens or humans only? Who are your aliens and humans?
>space ships? What do you have?
>>47135098
No reason. I was just messing around and forgot to turn the hex grid off
>>47084870
wow, that's pretty terrific stuff.
>>47084870
I like it
What sort of celestial bodies does your world have? A single, lifeless moon? Many moons? Rings? Returning comets every 100 years to usher in a new era?
Any constellations of note?
Is it dumb that my fantasy world has ancient, crashed colony ship remnants on it?
Sci-fi people long forgot their origins and the world granted them magic. Any old technology is long gone, but the handful of pods left are just revered heaven-seeds that prove that the people are of divine origin and have a rightful place on top of this world's inhabitants.
>>47110341
I also drew up a map. It's a WIP so some criticism would be appreciated.
>>47087000
>>47136040
>>47139454
>>47139475
Cheers.
In relation, the increase in industry which led to the high demand for cheap tallow is what led to coastal exile colonies being converted into industrial fishing operations.
This has driven the northern fishing settlements into ruin, some of which have been established settlements for hundreds of years, since they cannot even begin to compete with the scale and demand involved.
This has, in turn, led to a mass exodus of migrants from the north to the more temperate and urban-based south, and they have become something of the new labour underclass. Forced to work in factories and agricultural communes for coppers, many have turned to crime, with new groups of hardy and cunning Northerners competing viciously with the established families for control of the prostitution, smuggling and protection rackets in the capital. whilst leaving the chance houses and money lenders, and similar white collar crime, untouched for the most part.
Instability and social upheaval ahoy!
>>47140446
Cool map. I touched it up a little. What do you think?
