I’m not committed to any of this, I haven’t edited any of it, but I’m just putting it out here to simmer in my brain. I’m brainstorming what it might be like to engage in SciFi/Fantasy in ways that are less rigid. I was so stuck on one story for so long, that I still haven’t finished, I think it’s time to put it away and start a new project.
I want to do some world building for a new world. I loved Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein, Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, He who fights with monsters, by Shirtaloon, Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman… and others. But I want to be inspired by them not derivative. Help me start thinking through what a fictional world of my own might look like.
I’ll ponder some questions in the KM Wieland template and some I got from working it out with ChatGPT… This is just a start, session one… TBC…
Creating a world that’s inspired by some of the greatest fantasy series while ensuring it remains unique is a fascinating challenge! Let’s start by exploring key aspects of world-building, inspired by the elements you love in those series, but with a twist to make it distinctly yours.
Setting and Geography: Consider the physical layout of your world. Is it a series of interconnected realms like in the Chronicles of Narnia, a vast, diverse continent like Middle-earth, or does it have a unique structure like the vertically-layered society in Mistborn? Think about creating a unique geographical feature that defines your world. Perhaps a world with floating islands, connected by natural bridges of light or energy, housing different cultures and secrets.
Magic System: Each of these worlds has a unique approach to magic. What if your world’s magic was tied not just to individuals but to the geography itself? Certain locations could amplify or suppress magic, creating strategic locations that are crucial for the control of power. Your magic system could require a balance between taking and giving back, where every spell has a cost to the environment or the caster.
Cultures and Societies: Inspired by the diversity seen in Wheel of Time and Mistborn, you can create various cultures, each with their unique traditions, politics, and relationships with magic. Maybe one culture has a symbiotic relationship with magical creatures, while another is deeply skeptical of magic. Think about how historical events have shaped these societies’ development and interactions.
Conflict: Drawing inspiration from the epic conflicts in your favorite series, consider what central conflict drives your world. It could be a looming disaster, foretold in prophecy, but with a twist—perhaps it’s something that’s been misunderstood or misrepresented. Your heroes’ quest could involve unraveling the truth behind this prophecy.
Characters: Your characters are the heart of your story. Inspired by the depth and growth of characters in your favorite series, think about creating characters with rich backstories and complex motivations. Maybe your protagonist is someone who can navigate between the magical and non-magical worlds, or someone who has renounced magic but is pulled back into it by circumstances.
Themes and Messages: Each of the series you mentioned explores deep themes—good vs. evil, the power of choice, sacrifice, and redemption. Consider what overarching themes you want to explore in your world. Maybe focus on themes of balance—between magic and nature, tradition and innovation, or individual desires and communal needs.
History and Lore: A rich history adds depth to your world, as seen in Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time. Create myths, legends, and historical events that have shaped your world’s current state. Perhaps your world is at the dawn of a new era, moving away from an age of magic into an age of technology, or vice versa.
Unique Creatures and Races: Instead of elves, dwarves, and orcs, think about creating unique races and creatures that inhabit your world. They could have evolved in unique ways due to the world’s geography or magic system. For example, a race that evolved in floating islands might have developed wings or other means to navigate the skies.
By combining these elements in new and unexpected ways, you can create a world that’s both familiar and entirely new. Remember, the key to unique world-building is not just in the elements themselves but in how they interact and influence the story you want to tell.
If you are writing fantasy or science fiction, use these questions to start your world-building. Or, for an incredibly in-depth setting interview, check out Patricia C. Wrede’s Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions: http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/
What does the landscape look like?
What kind of plants grow there?
What’s the climate?
What kind of animals are present in the world?
What kind of societies are found in this world?
What kind of clothing are in style?
What moral and religious values define people’s world views?
What language do they speak?
What form of government is currently in place?
How advanced is technology?
What forms of long-distance communication are used?
What modes of transport are available?
How has technology affected entertainment and the arts?
How has technology affected weaponry and modes of warfare?
How advanced are the fields of medicine and science?
What are the natural laws of this world?
Which natural laws are different from our world?
Is there a magical force in your world? How does it work? What are its limitations?
What kind of peoples populate this world?
Are there different races?
How do customs differ between different races and citizens of different districts?
Do the ethnic factions get along?
What’s the history of this world?
How many years of recorded history are available?
What historical epochs have shaped society?
Answer these questions just as you did with your Character Interviews. Let your imagination run wild and record every idea—no matter how extensive and silly it may initially seem.
These terms refer to different subgenres of speculative fiction, each with its own distinct aesthetics, technology, and social themes:
Steampunk: This genre is characterized by a blend of Victorian-era aesthetics and steam-powered technology. It often features an alternative history setting where steam power remains the dominant technological force, leading to inventive machinery and vehicles, along with a mixture of historical elements and anachronistic technological features. Themes can include adventure, exploration, and the impact of technology on society.
Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk is a subgenre set in near-future societies that are typically characterized by advanced technological and scientific achievements, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. It often explores themes of artificial intelligence, cybernetics, virtual reality, and large corporations overpowering government authorities. It’s known for its focus on “high tech and low life,” showcasing the lives of hackers, outcasts, and rebels within dystopian societies.
Dieselpunk: Dieselpunk draws inspiration from the interwar period between World War I and World War II, emphasizing the diesel technology of the time. It combines the aesthetics of the 1920s to 1950s with retro-futuristic technology and a sense of noir adventure. It often features airships, diesel-powered vehicles, art deco architecture, and sometimes a touch of the supernatural.
Solarpunk: Solarpunk imagines a future in which society has overcome many of the ecological challenges we face today and lives in harmony with the environment. It focuses on sustainability, renewable energy (especially solar power), and a positive interaction between humanity and nature. The aesthetic is often bright and colorful, with an emphasis on architectural innovation, green spaces, and technology that improves quality of life without harming the planet.
Just letting my mind free flow with a map creator, here is a close up of a portion of the planet.
Planet/World Name: The Lands?? No… TBC…
These names work as Placeholders, I may want to make them less “on the nose” in the future, or maybe smooth their edges. Yet, the vocabulary could help to bring the ANE worldview into modern reader’s minds? TBD…
Aurongale (Dawn’s Breeze) – A land half forests and half cleared-forest population centers. Trees and wood form a major component of daily life, the people are akin to the loggers and miners of North Idaho. Neutral/Neutral? They care for the forest so it will always be there for them, but they subdue it in modern ways. It’s a resource, not integrated. If the Ha’Eretz incorporate nature into their lives, the Aurongales “use” it to build but in ways that remove it from their daily living. Think – Modern 2x4s framed structures vs Log Cabins with living plants inside. Modernization?
Diedusmai (Death People/People of Death) – A land of infected swamps, volcanic ash, ruins of cities with long forgotten names. It is rumored there are monsters there. The Great Wall of The Keep was built to keep these people and monsters out of the civilized society of Aurongale. Chaotic-Neutral? Dieselpunk?
Tohu v’Vohu (Wild & Waste / The Wasters) – Desert dwellers and nomads (akin to Abraham’s father in law?). They survive from dug-wells for water, caves, hunting, and harvesting atypical plant life (low growing shrubs, cacti, moss from caves, etc… glowing magic moss?) Nomadic Peoples, tribal cultures, we not me.
Ha’Eretz (People of the Land) – They have specialized farming techniques that revolutionized food production and distribution. All the peoples of xxx get produce from Ha’Eretz except the Diedusmai and the Wasters. These are people who live with nature, including it in their life, dwellings, etc. They do not conquer nature, they include it. Think Solarpunk, in harmony with technology and nature.
Shalomim (Peace Bringers) – With the most advanced society (advanced technology, scientific achievements, cybernetics, virtual reality the Shalomim believe their society is unmatched by any other. However, corporations rule over individual rights, and while people are able to use the medical facilities, the decisions of medical professionals are often binary and utilitarian ethic. Meanwhile, there are those who exist within the culture who would use technology to fight back. Cyberpunk
Gan Ha’Elohim (Garden of the gods) – The fabels say that the Great Tree was once the center of activity when the gods roamed the land. The people of this land (name tbd) are the religious establishment. Steampunk The Religious Elite that hold to old fashioned values while pushing advancements only they approve of… They look down on people who don’t accept their steam powered items, but they also look down on those who try to take it into further advanced technologies.
There are other lands not on this map, the world will expand eventually to include other peoples… TBC…
The peoples of Ha’Eretz and Tohu v’Vohu both have access to magic which they use seamlessly within their cultures. However, the “modern” societies look down on these peoples are “simple” and have done so for so long that they don’t even know that magic exists, and when they see it, they attempt to explain it away with science. Meanwhile, these two societies use magic, but do so differently. The Wasters use magic with sparing technology, believing that “science” somehow taints the magic. Meanwhile, the Ha’Eretz blend technology and magic seamlessly into one cohesive lifestyle. It is so cohesive, that visitors don’t know or understand the magical components, and since Ha’Eretz people are the primary food source for the lands and were historically oppressed by the other nations, they keep their secrets to themselves unless/until someone who genuine interest and trustworthiness, in which case they share openly and freely.
The Deadlands have been quiet for 500 years… but signs show that the volcanoes are active again, and something seems to be moving in the dark…
At one point in the pre-historical past, there was a version of this planet called “Earth” where humans ruled as the only sentient dominant species. That civilization was destroyed due stripping the planet of resources and polluting the planet for short term profits at the expense of long term health of people and planet. A series of diseases, viruses, resistant bacteria, wars, atmosphere destroying weapons, space pollution, solar flairs, food shortages, supply chain shortages, and a general loss of knowledge about how to live on the land off-grid led to the near destruction of the human species.
A remnant remained but were forced into various silos cut-off from each other. It was over a thousand years before any of the human colonies discovered other colonies due to a complete lack of technological infrastructure, with many believing that this age of “technology” was a fairy tale. Even then, many human colonies were not rejoined for many hundreds of thousands of years.
In the interim, the fallen world’s genetic experiments with animals created sentient life forms just before the age of chaos began. Life forms other than homo-sapiens. Also, the realms of magical creatures came out of deep hiding and began to roam the earth repairing the damage.
In the course of hundreds of thousands of years, societies of various sentient beings developed in isolation from each other, then in groups as they found each other. Just as in the 20th and 21st century, some lands were hyper-technological while others were still agrarian, and yet others were still in hunter-gatherer stages.
Even these societies rose and fell with the tides of time, and the histories of each era became the new world’s myths and legends, and many of those were forgotten in time.
Due to various natural and unnatuarl causes, the earth’s crust moved, reformed, and reshaped, water levels rose and fell during the global warming which was followed by a new ice age and new melting of that ice age as the planet healed itself.
What was is or will be…
It is in the chaos of all these things that we find ourselves in a new world, where things are similar, but not, and different, but not…
The Lands are a collection of nations around a major ocean on the far side of the planet from any other land mases. Those remain a mystery to me right now, but we may explore those in the future.
For now, The Lands each developed with mixed species sentient beings, but each in various different ways. Humans are the minority here but do make up approximately 24% of the planetary population. They are not isolated from the other species, no society is species specific. They are, however, ideologically and culturally specific.
Each of The Lands have their unique culture and technology and relationship to magic.
Speaking of magic, here are some basics for now…
Magic is essentially like electricity, it can be harnessed to power/empower people and things. Individuals can harness magic in their bodies, but technology can also be empowered by magic.
Some societies reject magic entirely, even rejecting the idea that it is “real”, preferring a scientific explanation for all things. “It isn’t magic,” Harvester said, puffing his pipe. “It is simply not yet explained by our understanding. We know that in the old ages they had more understandings than we have here, so we simply have yet to understand the mechanisms.”
Meanwhile, other societies use magic to varying degrees, or hire magic practitioners from the lands that understand it.
Still other sub-groups make magic the centerpiece of their society, education, study, and livelihoods.
The same can be said of the various levels of technology, ranging from groups that could be called Solarpunk inspired, Dieselpunk, Steampunk, and even Cyberpunk. These blends of technology in each society operate seamlessly on the local-global scene. While it is rare for someone from one society to join another, it is not unheard of, and it is acceptable to various degrees in each society.
Each society also has its detractors, dissidents, rebels, criminals, hackers, freedom fighters, etc. Just as Ireland was fighting for independence and the USA was fighting for independence, but these were not always exactly simultaneously, each society has had its developments asynchronous from each other while still influencing each other randomly throughout their histories.
In the case of The Lands, they were brought together when they fought the monsters (a combination of genetic experiments and evolution gone wrong), a people still operate in that region, the Diedusmai. They were walled off from the people of The Lands who had joined each other as one force to push them back. That created a sometimes tense unity, where each society was allowed to develop as they saw fight without interference from the others, while continuing trade relations.
The Diedusmai haven’t been seen or heard in 500 years, but there is evidence that those lands are awakening again…
Meanwhile, we enter out story by learning about the various sentient beings through meeting our cast (protags, antags, and the larger population of supporting roles).
…. But who will they be??
Humans (who have evolved in interesting ways, so not quite human in some cases?)
Breath under water, gills
Extra eyelids
Very small and very large
Eye sight (better and worse, depending on background of that race)
All the current races mixed in interesting ways in isolation?
Could they have developed wings?
Animal Evolutions:
Dolphins & Orcas
Wolf
Cat-Like creature?
Primate that isn’t human
Rats and Bunnies (because they’re so common in current science they’re piratically a trope of experimentation).
Pigs
Snakes/Lizards?
Magic Creatures were real afterall?
Vampires?
Elves?
Dwarves?
Gnomes?
Elohim & Shedim
Anukim
Ents
Do wizards come from entities being taught to harness magic by the Elohim? Ugarit mythologies?
