#World Building Wednesday

[comical-fr]

Lightning Flight has the phrase, "Don't trust lightning that doesn't strike twice." The phrase is akin to 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' and with Lightning citizens being so used to multiple, rapid succession lightning strikes due to the multitude of metal spires, each bolt is met with anticipation for the one that usually follows. Outside of Lightning this phrase isn't popular, due to the previous.

[shy-raccoon]

Worldbuilding Tip

If you have a fantasy race with animal traits look at that animals social structure when desiging their culture.

A kingdom of lion people could have 2 types of towns, one with mostly women and one man as mayor and another made up of men banished from the first town when they hit puberity. With duals to decide the mayor of the first town.

Fauns and satyrs could banish all men from town except for during mating season with only women running socity or have seperate towns for each gender like actual deer herds.

Most cultures in fantasy are real world cultures with the serial numbers shaved off or a mish mash of real world cultures. So this is a great way to make more interesting cultures in your setting.

[rachelillustrates]

Artificer (Orctober 2024/WBW)

Day thirty!! 💚⚔

That said, time for another "Tock the Gnome" world building post, dear readers!

This week, from the literal definition of the word of the prompt, we are looking at an in-realm Orcish takeback of the term "Orcs."

Full notes here ✨💬📜💬✨

(Only one left, ya maggots!!)

~

Bonus art and stories ~ Prints, comics and more!

[thebibliosphere]

Happy WBW!

Is there any magic in your world?

Happy World Building Wednesday to you too!

And yes! Thank you for asking. There is lots of magic in Hunger Pangs.

There are enchanted forests dotted around the earth that are the sole source of all remaining wild magic in the world.

The rest of the magic was drained from the world in a war against the gods, who now lie imprisoned between worlds for their crimes against mortals. Neither living nor dead but a secret third thing (Trapped in an eternal slumber of howling nightmares.)

The forests are primarily protected by werewolves and some other shape-shifting creatures who act as custodians of the land. As the series progresses, you'll find some other wild and magical creatures in there, too.

There are also magic users like witches, necromancers, and vampires, who all have their own form of ritual magic. And Ursula, who is her own wild thing.

Even the 'science' veers toward the magical, hence why Hunger Pangs falls under the gaslamp (magic/fantasy) subgenre and not steampunk (fantastical science/sci-fi).

There are also some magic standing stones no one can quite figure out. But I'm sure those won't be relevant. Not for a while, at least...

[xaz-fr]

OKAY. Finally thought up a good one, my brain was broken there a second. Were you to choose from any of your dragons, who would you say is the most dangerous? Whether through actual physical prowess or something like connections to dangerous folks--anything goes!

At first I was like 'this is hard' because most of my dragons are like... nice. Then I thought for a second and OF COURSE

this motherfucker

This is Aiden a Bishop Prime Hunter. What's a Prime Hunter? Effectively it's a magic energy vampire. Magical energy during Dominance battles collects into solid forms and usually produces Progenitors spontaneously via magic. But if the magic ends up festering or going undeveloped it eventually 'mutates' into a Prime Hunter, a creature without true form. It is a collection of limbs and teeth and hungering mouths that can mimic the shape and sound of a dragon from afar. It is decidedly Not A Dragon and if you get too close the uncanny valley is so real. That is when the Prime Hunter attacks and devours its first meal. The Prime Hunter than takes up the guise of its meal. So in Aiden's case when he was born his first meal was a Skydancer so he looks like a Skydancer.

To continue to exist Prime Hunters need to stalk and kill/eat dragons that is the same breed as them. Doing so maintains their strength. While eating isn't required most Prime Hunters do. Really a Prime Hunter just needs to suck the magical energy out of the dragon and they can leave its corpse around. But over the centuries Prime Hunters have discovered that the best way to avoid suspicion is to just eat the whole thing. This can be done over days or weeks depending on the size of the dragon and the residual energy in its corpse can thus sustain the Prime Hunter until its gone and they must hunt again.

Aiden is the leader of a group of Prime Hunters, known as a Temptation (because they are. The easiest way to hunt dragons is to tempt/seduce/or otherwise charm them). But even among Temptation leaders Aiden is very powerful, a Bishop. Typically Bishops might oversee several Temptations and while Aiden did that for a while he doesn't anymore. He manages his single Temptation with his mate within a great crack in the ground of Dragonhome. His Temptation is large and quite powerful. Aiden himself is very dangerous. While Prime Hunters start out as a mockery of a Progenitor Aiden is old enough and has accumulated enough power to go toe to toe with a Progenitor, who are established (in my lore), the most powerful dragons to exist outside of godhood on Sorienth. His reputation as being utterly ruthless keeps most dragons from messing with his Temptation, or other Temptations from trying to pick fights with his or get in his turf.

I also have this girl and idk who or what she is but I know she is VERY dangerous and you should not even look in her direction.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Happy WBW! What is the most extreme environment people live in on Alium?

Hello! I'm backed up on asks but I thought of something for this one despite it being my most recent.

I thought about this, cause world building comes along as I think about it, so I thought about extreme environments for a bit.

I'm no scientist, but I think this is the most extreme. But I do know that ultimates and even speedsters can resist extreme pressures! Which means there could be deep sea colonies or cities. I wouldn't be surprised if Alii are scientifically advanced enough to be able to make others without the natural ability to be able to live in that environment. And hydrokinetics may have some environmental adaptation, and their powers would make it easier to construct. Same for stuff that's deep underground that terrakinetics could easily hollow out.

Thanks for the ask!

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

@nebula--nix @literarynecromancy @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet

[fenneckitsune]

Tell me a little bit about Amora.

AMORA!

madly in love with her husband Eros

She's captain of the Night watch over the forbidden portal while he's captain over the Day watch

the pair meets at dawn and dusk to share a meal together and talk about their days. woe be to anyone who dares interrupt their time together

the dagger on her back leg was a gift from her love and she only ever uses it as a last resort or if she's beyond furious with her adversary

generally a no nonsense kind of person when it comes to assuring peoples safety from the creatures emerging from the forbidden portal

[midoridragonuus]

the vibe of your lair is very cool!! i havent looked thru it thoroughly yet, but do you have like. an elevator pitch style about whats happening in there?

Thank you for the compliment! :)

Do you like a high salary? Paid accommodations? Free food, utilities, and schooling? How about free medical care? A guaranteed career in your specialized interest?

Yes?

What about more niche wants? A lunch date with your favorite celebrity? Your name on a new scientific discovery? A one of a kind artifact? The answer to who murdered your brother?

All this, for the low, low cost of signing your name on the dotted line! What other job has better benefits? Truly?

[kc-rising]

WORLDBUILDING WEDNESDAY!

Ask me about my dragons or my FR headworld!

Anyone in my active lair is fair game! Below is a directory of my different lore groups and their associated lair tabs/pages:

🔴The Sanctum of Outcasts (Main)

- Bonewardens

- The Swarm

- The Bazaar

- The Black Market

🌿The Bog

⚙️Neon Alley

- The Neon Fangs Mafia

- Coglight City Locals

- Those Who Devour the Moon Cult

⏳Sand Nomads

🌒Crypt Keepers (Monsters)

🌊High Seas

- Crew of the Ashspine Widow

- Sea Monsters and Cryptids

🦖Timeworn Isle (Dinosaurs)

- Front Desk/Education Center/Lab

- Raptor Paddock

EDIT:

You can ask me questions even if it's not wednesday!

[ashen-crest]

Happy WBW! As I continue my reading saga of death and grief, tell me a little about the subject in your world. How is death treated and thought of? How do your characters-- or the world at large-- handle grief in relation to it?

Hmm- it's not a subject I've explored too much in either series, tbh. There's a short story for Lutesong that I plan on revamping that kind of covers funeral rites and Aspen's realization regarding their conditional immortality- but seeing as I might release that for newsletter friends/on my site, I don't want to give too much away. :)

[dysthanasia-series]

Dysthanasia Faction: Council of the Sepulchral Lamp

Pulled from the text message histories of Cassius Mergus (CM) and Phileas Hawthorne (PH):

CM: Phileas, please come to my office.

PH: y

CM: Is that a "y" for "yes" or "y" as an inquiry?

PH: 2nd 1

CM: We need to discuss your recent proposal.

PH: y

CM: Perhaps we can have a talk about your texting etiquette while we're at it.

PH: email or whtev

CM: It's a short walk upstairs. Given your limitless lifespan, it's hardly a burden.

PH: just say ur mad abt my plan to nuke europe

CM: I'd been trying to avoid doing that in written and traceable forms.

PH: we need to destroy them

CM: We spent centuries among the Europeans before coming to this country. What's made you suddenly hate them so fiercely in this age?

PH: ffs not humans the council

CM: Your lack of punctuation is doing you no favors here.

PH: IDGAF ABOUT EUROPE. I WANT TO KILL THE COUNCIL, WHO'S HIDING THERE.

CM: Ah. Well, that's a bit overboard, don't you think? Even if we only had France bombed. The Council is still hiding in those damned catacombs, aren't they?

PH: they need to be dealt with

CM: They have been a constant irritant since the Renaissance or so, but why are you so insistent we act now?

PH: 1 of them got to s america

CM: How?

PH: museum xibit

CM: Well, damn. That is a problem. Come to my office and we'll talk about how to solve it without starting another world war.

[Several minutes pass here with CM's message having been received and read]

CM: Phileas?

[Another read message sits here for a ten minute interval]

CM: As long as whatever you're working on isn't...messy...you can bring it with you.

PH: fine omw

Dysthanasia Taglist: @thatndginger @space-writes @thecyrulik @sunset-a-story @scoundrelwithboba @extrabitterbrain

Other Factions:

The Coven

Magic Dept.

Spirits Dept.

Werecreatures Dept.

Bloodborn Dept.

Coven Enforcers

Coven Archives

The Unseen Hand

The Aquilae

Hellhounds

The Ouroboroi

The Skeleton Crew

Bleeding Hearts

[comical-fr]

Canyonwalk Flood, 3rd, 53 T.C.. An isle from Arcane Flight crashed into the ocean, which isn't unusual for the most part as pieces of rock seemingly randomly fall or raise into the air all of the time, except this one was exceptionally large. The result was a wave of water that crashed into the western side of Earth territory with all of it funneling into the expansive canyon system that many dragons called home. The flood water recorded to hit more than one hundred feet high - one hundred and fifty at the highest points within the canyon walls. Raging sea scraped low houses off the sides of cliffs and tore into dug in homes.

World Building Wednesday yippee.

[necoryn-rising]

🍉

Share the dragon who would be most likely to get banned from a grocery store, and talk about why you picked them

This question was very silly and I had a lot of fun thinking about it lol, thank you! As a Shadow clan I'll be honest, a lot of my dragons would probably be kicked out for general low level mischief, but the one who would be fully banned would be Dianthus!

He is very small and very angry about this. And also just angry in general. Very much a "look at me wrong and I'll bite you" type of dragon. I can imagine him getting in a shouting match with a cashier over something really dumb like an expired coupon and having to be forcibly escorted from the building. Or perhaps starting an actual fight with a fellow customer over like, the last ham available..

[rachelillustrates]

Mage (Orctober 2024)

Day two!! 💚⚔

AND, with it being Wednesday, time for another world building post, dear "Tock the Gnome" readers!!

This week, we are looking at what Orcs believe about themselves and magic, and what their magic was truly like before they lost it.

Full notes here ✨🩸🍃🩸✨

~

Bonus art and stories ~ Prints, comics and more!

[amaiguri]

Worldbuilding My Magic System FOR REAL

So Yssaia has HAD a pretty developed magic system for a while. And to recap it for you... I'm going to paste my half of me raving about this on Discord (thank you to @zebee-nyx and @galacticsand and @reaperofcrows for being so cool and letting me be an unhinged worldbuilding mad lad XD):

"What is Ysse?"

So the way Ysse works is its basically invisible dust floating in the air. And if it hits itself at certain velocities and in certain volumes, "spontaneous effects" happen -- like water materializing out of "nowhere" or fire exploding or wind gusts. You're limited a little by Avatar Last Airbender bending logic (you can't summon fully sapient creatures, you can't teleport, you can't control people's minds unless you're like... touching their nervous system, etc.)

So Mages invented the first writing as a way to record what patterns of movement did what. And eventually, used them to communicate these patterns as a shorthand for more generalized concepts...

So writing also got invented sometimes BEFORE agriculture...

"How precise do these movements/velocities need to be?"

It needs to be PRETTY precise. And this is why the average person CAN'T learn magic -- because Ysse in low amounts is invisible to the average person

But mages can see Ysse, which helps a lot. And they can see these shapes OCCURING in the natural world too -- when the wind blows, its because Ysse particles FORMED the Wind Rune/Sigil in the sky BUT this still doesn't guarantee that they cast any spells if they don't have the physical discipline too

So, in theory, "anyone" COULD move their hands PERFECTLY to spontaneously start a fire. But they PROBABLY won't

"How does this impact the natural world?"

This is also how animals and plants can do magic too. Tree roots in the north have roots that have specific patterns that warm up the soil, so snow can actually MELT and give them water and the tree doesn't die

And this is also my excuse for why so many things have bunny ears -- normally, long ears in colder-than-average climates (i.e. All of Yssaia) would be bad. But in Yssaia, these long ears are convergently evolving to channel Ysse. What they channel, exactly, I haven't decided (probably heat lol or something to increase air density so sound travels farther???)

AND all this is ALSO why the Demons are such an abomination -- because their Blood Magic doesn't obey particle physics, they just fucking do whatever they want

"Why do you need to know all this?"

The question at this point, I guess, is basically "How do I make fantasy technology that looks whimsical but also looks at least hypothetically functional under closer scrutiny?"

Yeah, and the full Answer TM to that right now is just <insert the entire design philosophy I haven't discovered yet here>

"So how IS magic going to shape technology, when you design it for the Untitled Yssaia Video Game?"

...Yeah, okay, after brainstorming all this, I think here's my strategy for how I'm going to tackle technology:

Step 2) Create a master list of technologies I will worry about/actually visualize in the game I will want to keep an OPEN LIST so I can add more things to it as I do research/find really specific use cases (such as scrollcases or chopstick holders)

Step 1) Establish symbols for a handful of common things in both the North and the South that at least vaguely make sense with the concept of the particles. So things like: - Fire/Heat - Water/Melt - Ice/Slow - Wind/Quicken - Earth/Apply Force - Sun/Light - Moon/Closing/Locking (Thanks to @zebee-nyx for this one!)

Step 3) Design simple sprites for things that can later be shrunk down and used as set-dressing for maps BUT at a little bigger in scale so they can be shown to other people sensibly (maybe on the same sheet at the walking animations for scale?)

AND WITH THAT, after 5 years of only vaguely imagining all this, this is what I designed, using a combination of symbols I had already designed and dice that I pushed around on my desk to see what kind of patterns they'd make:

Are some of these a little funky and don't really work with real particle physics? Yeah, fair. I'll take notes, if you got 'em. I'm open to critique, if you wanna lol

Last comment that didn't make it into the big discussion with my buds tonight: Ysse particles are how temperature is distributed. So, hot areas have fewer, cold areas have more. I know that isn't how thermodynamics work but does anyone else really?

(Something something eldritch horror thermodynamics post... And my magic-god is an eldritch horror! See? It's perfect!)

Thank you for coming to my #WorldbuildingWednesday post! If you liked this, don't forget to REBLOG and follow the #Yssaia tag or something🥰 (Are calls-to-action cringe? Publicly shame me, if so)

[xaz-fr]

WBW and I bring you a collection of stars from the Deeprealm.

In the Deeprealm dreams are real and time doesn't make sense. It is every hour of every day at the same time, forever, the stars and the sun and the moons occupy the sky all at once. It is both dusk and dawn at the same time. Time and space are the same thing and to move forward in space you do so in time and to see the future or the past all you have to do is get there.

But it can be a dangerous place. Especially for baby stars that are the favorite easy meal of Deeprealm Hunters.

Which is where Altair (Imperial) and Malik (WC) come in. They're both adult stars. They run a nebula nursery of sorts. When a star is born they pluck it out of the sky and raise them into proper adult stars. While in the nursery they get to play with other baby stars and stretch their powers without fear of a Hunter coming to gobble them up!

While stars wear the guise of dragons, especially around visitors, they are not dragons. They're stars. They're made of gas and light and stardust. But when dragons of Sorienth visit it's polite to wear the guise of a dragon and not a towering being of light and fire and smoke.