r/worldbuilding

My non-violent utopian species logically went extinct in the first chapter of my world history

I have been working on a hard sci-fi setting for about eight months now and I managed to back myself into a corner that completely breaks the narrative before the main timeline even begins. I wanted to design a species that evolved on a planet with zero natural predators. The environment was supposed to be completely cooperative, minimal evolutionary pressure, plenty of resources. They developed a complex society based on mutualism and shared neural empathy. No concept of war, no concept of weapons, not even a word for murder in their vocabulary.

The problem started when I sat down to map out their first contact with the rest of the galaxy. I am aiming for a high level of realism, so no space magic or convenient plot armor. I introduced a standard expansionist corporate faction from a neighboring system. Nothing cartoonishly evil, just a typical resource extraction empire that needs the rare minerals under the utopian species home world.

As soon as the corporate scout ships landed, my entire worldbuilding structure collapsed under its own weight. Since the natives literally cannot comprehend the idea of institutionalized violence, they did not hide, they did not build defenses, and they did not negotiate with any leverage. When the corporations started setting up mining rigs and displacing local populations, the natives just tried to communicate their distress through empathy networks. The corporate suits obviously did not care because they do not have the neural receptors to even perceive it.

I tried to write a scenario where they survive through passive resistance but it makes no logical sense. They do not have the concept of holding territory or denying access. Within three decades of contact, their entire ecosystem is strip-mined, their social structure is ruined, and the population drops by ninety percent due to industrial pollution and habitat loss. They did not even fight back because the neural architecture of their brains physically prevents them from generating malicious intent. They just sat there and faded away while trying to share feelings with bulldozers.

So now I have a dead planet and a completely blank spot where a major faction was supposed to be for the actual story. I refused to use the magical savior trope where some advanced alien race swoops in to protect them because that ruins the gritty tone of the universe. But letting them just get quietly wiped out by a mid level corporate mining company feels incredibly anticlimactic and depressing.

I guess this is what happens when you spend too much time building an ideology and completely ignore the basic thermodynamic reality of invasive species. Now I am stuck deciding whether to rewrite their entire evolutionary history to give them some teeth, or just accept that my favorite faction is nothing but a bunch of fossils by the time the actual main characters show up to buy fuel.

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u/Button_6LM — 14 hours ago

My planet with 6 habitable, co-orbital moons and each of the 7 worlds have one color of a rainbow themed vegetation. (Repost)

CONTEXT

The 6 moons share nearly the same orbit around the planet, arranged in a stable hexagonal resonance maintained by ancient tidal harmonics and the gravitational influence of the giant planet, allowing all six moons to coexist without colliding.

Together, the planet and the six moons form one of the rarest naturally habitable systems in the galaxy — a celestial network of interconnected worlds orbiting a single lush planet.

u/Aayush0210 — 20 hours ago

I'm sadly falling out of love with World building...

● Reality has been catching up to me in ways I don't want it to. I have a job where I have a lot of free time on my hands due to being the only one in the building, but more than ever, I spend that time watching YouTube and doom-scrolling rather than working on the worlds I have built, like I used to. I feel like this has to do with me feeling like I'm wasting my time building out worlds that nobody else will ever really see or care about outside of social media, such as this sub. That's on top of the fact that I'm now a father and have just been taking on more responsibility than ever in my life. The feeling that I'm wasting my time with this is a thought that I don't want to have, but it's growing stronger every week despite how much fun it used to give me.

● I take my world-building seriously, despite the fact that I'm the only one who will ever know about what I'm building. There's nothing that's ever going to change this; it's just the way I am. Being able to make sure my concepts are airtight and have competent continuity is something that I used to take pride in because it made my effort that I would put into world-building feel more validated. But now it's feeling like a chore, especially with how much I have to struggle with organizing my notes when making outlines of my worlds. Making proper outlines is a real pain in the ass because I've used Samsung Notes as my primary app to line things out, but recently the app has become so much more user-unfriendly and tedious. Trying to fight with the formats and default settings, I feel like I'm focused more on getting the ideas to be readable in the first place instead of brainstorming like I want to.

● I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not outgrowing this because that is an absurd statement, as there are people in their 60s and older creating amazing concepts, whether as a career or in their free time. But above all else, I'm just exhausted with my ideas. I know that might not make sense or that it's contradictory, but I am honestly just so exhausted trying to filter through these 15-plus ideas I have in my head to pick the ones that are most worthy of actually going through the painstaking, tedious effort of making outlines and design documents for them.

● I'm just too tired, I have to spend more energy than ever on the most basic physical tasks due to raising my daughter and being the one that watches her mostly while also working graveyard shifts. There are a thousand plus things that I need to do rather it's fixing the house or cooking for my wife or keeping up with my work quality at my job, Etc. World-building doesn't feel like an escape from all of that anymore, and I can't figure out why. Of course, it seems like I've figured it out because I'm listing my thoughts right now to you all, but there's a feeling inside of me that says these reasons are not good enough for you to abandon six years of hard thinking and organizing on ideas that you used to take pride in. But the apathy, if that's the right word to use, has overwhelmed any excitement that I used to feel for world-building, that exciting feeling that creates a tingling sensation whenever I would get a brand-new idea. That pretty much never happens anymore, despite the fact that I come up with new ideas. That feeling never arrives anymore, and I'm starting to realize my ideas are getting more and more generic. They're branched off of some sort of other idea from a TV show or a song or a game or whatever I may have been directly or passively exposed to, and it makes any of the newer ideas feel so much less original and personal to me.

● I have thought of one solution to fix this, and that would be to actually learn how to draw and start visualizing my worlds , but knowing me , I'm going to fall into the same problems of being too tired and exhausted with too many things already on my plate in the real world to spend time even if it's free time at work where I'm stuck at, to learn how to draw. And I know what some of you might be thinking while reading this if you even made it this far in the post which would be astounding and if so thank you, but you're probably thinking "oh you're just being lazy with it you have to commit to and it's going to be hard but that's the process" and I wouldn't even be offended if that's what you thought, I even believe that myself but how can I spend effort and energy into my World building and try to double down on that, well I'm failing to maintain my house or my job or doing anything more with my baby than just sitting watching cartoons together cuz I don't have the energy to run around the house with her. All of that obviously takes priority over writing down fantasies.

● But it still hurts not to get that exciting tingling feeling anymore when I have a new idea. It's a shame that I rot my brain scrolling while listening to YouTube instead of pushing my imagination. But no matter how much I've tried this past week after taking a long break from world-building, I still can't get back into it. Imagination is like a fire; perhaps my fire has faded.

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u/Crixus_935 — 20 hours ago

In theory, could ibises be used to deliver messages across vast distances in the same way that hawks or pigeons can?

So, I've lately been interested in transferring messages across vast distances. The YouTuber, Hello Future Me, did a study on the Fire Nation from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He says that one of the reasons why the Fire Nation is more advanced than the other ATLA civilizations is partially because of their ability to send messages across vast distances, thus delivering information more quickly.

I know that some ancient civilizations (Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Rome, etc.) would use pigeons to dispatch information, but I couldn't find anything about hawks being trained throughout history to deliver messages. Hawks can be trained through a practice of falconry.

In my world, there is an Africa-inspired continent known as Zakuma, with many civilizations modeled off of real-world tribes and nations. I thought that ibises would be more appropriate in fitting with the Africa-inspired theme. Ibises have been seen as symbols of wisdom and intelligence in many African cultures, most famously ancient Egypt: Thoth, the god of wisdom, knowledge, scripture, and science is depicted with the head of an ibis.

So with this in mind, could ibises be trained to carry messages? Or was ATLA just using their own cartoon logic, and realistically, the only birds that can be trained to deliver messages are pigeons?

Above, is a drawing I did of a typical messenger ibis from the fictional Zakuman kingdom, Izwe Lomcebo (Place of Wealth).

u/Anthro-Elephant-98 — 1 day ago

How fast would news likely travel that a new continent was discovered between adversary nations?

My world has multiple continents completely seperated by the ocean. The distances are great enough that over centuries, people assumed they were the only ones.

Eventually one state (A) discovered the existence of another continent (B). This led to conflict and the different groups of people that exist on the two continents aren't actively exchanging knowledge. Now I want a third continent (C) to be discovered by A.

How long would it likely take until B finds out about C's existence? The technology level is similar to the 13th century. Generall, how did internal news about A and B likely reach the other continent? (I am aware that this depends on a multitude of factors, but would appreciate a rough time frame anyways!)

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u/Royal-Analysis7380 — 17 hours ago

Habitable zone Gas Giant properties?

So I've recently decided that I want my world to orbit a gas giant. I've researched how the day/night cycle would work and all, and I'm pretty certain that my planet shouldn't be too wildly affected other than a pretty sky and a 30 minute "false night" every day as the gas planet eclipses the sun during noon.

Looking at Sudarsky's gas giant classification, I had hoped to find some information on the properties about the gas planet (i.e. it's colour, cloud formations, etc.) However despite this, the chart just so conveniently skips over what a gas giant resting within the -20 to 50 degree celsius range would be like. Do you guys have any answers to this? Would the planet have cloud formations? What colour would it be?

Another question regarding the moon, considering most moons are tidally locked, to accomplish a 30 hour day without having the world orbiting uncomfortably close to gas planet, would it be possible to simply decrease the size of the gas planet? Not so much as to make it impossibly small but perhaps around the size of Neptune as opposed to a Jupiter-sized planet. This way the orbit/day cycle time remains the same but the sky isn't entirely dominated by this gargantuan ominous sphere.

u/Familiar-Grape-4250 — 23 hours ago

Would it be offensive if the main villain of my story is canonically the cause of most real world atrocities?

So to put it as simple as possible, this idea I have is a twist on / mix of christian and catholic theology. Lucifer exists in the story and is canonically the root of most of the world’s evil including rape, genocide, bigotry, etc. My question is if this would be considered offensive as I would be essentially saying that everything bad that happens only happens because of a single guy, that guy being an actual religious figure. I myself am not religious and am just using Lucifer as a basis for my own characterization and story.

Edit: I should clarify that my concern is offending non-religious people

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u/RequirementTall8361 — 1 day ago

How do you keep track of relationships once a world becomes heavily interconnected?

https://i.redd.it/74grbhmypf2h1.gif

I have reached a point in a few of my projects where keeping track of the lore is not the hard part anymore.

The hard part is remembering how all the different parts of the lore connect, to each other.

I started trying out ways to explore these connections because I was getting tired of jumping back and forth between pages of notes all the time.

I am curious to know how other people handle this problem when their settings become large enough that the lore starts to get really complicated and everything affects everything in the lore.

reddit.com
u/bestDadforever — 23 hours ago

My worlds versions of Orcs. 2 Variants.

In World Lore 

The Mazruuk - The Mazruuk Orcs are one of the oldest known mortal peoples of Valethyros and among the most misunderstood. Towering in stature and intimidating in appearance, they are often mistaken by outsiders for savage beasts, yet the truth could not be further from reality. The Mazruuk are a curious and peaceful people whose history is rooted in survival. Covered in thick fur and bearing tusked jaws reminiscent of boars and wild canines, the Mazruuk Orcs possess an imposing presence that belies their calm and communal nature.

Long ago, the Mazruuk inhabited only a single vast northern forest within Valethyros, living in relative harmony with the land and practicing primitive but highly refined forms of elemental magic. This peace ended when the elves first arrived upon the continent and sought dominion over the ancient woodland. Unprepared for organized warfare and lacking the forged armor and advanced weapons of the elven invaders, the Mazruuk were driven from their ancestral forests. Entire clans were scattered across the continent, and for the first time in their history the orcs encountered humanity.

What followed would shape the future of Valethyros forever. The Mazruuk shamans shared their knowledge freely. The great orcish sage Maeroh’Lyn is credited in countless old tales as the first being to teach mortal magic to humankind, showing early human tribes how to harness flame, wind, and natural energies to defend themselves against elven sorcery. This alliance forged a bond between humans and orcs that endures to this day, earning the Mazruuk recognition as one of mankind’s oldest and most important allies.

Despite their role in shaping the magical traditions of the modern world, much of Mazruuk history has faded from public memory. Many younger scholars incorrectly credit humanity or the elves as the originators of mortal spellcraft, and some even dismiss the orcs’ contributions entirely. Still, within Valethyros the Mazruuk remain respected figures in local culture and history. Though their fearsome appearance unsettles some outsiders, those who know them understand the Mazruuk as wise guardians, resilient survivors, and keepers of some of the oldest living traditions in the world.

The Butsurai - The Butsurai Orcs are the mountain-born cousins of the Mazruuk Orcs of Valethyros, though centuries of survival in the brutal highlands of Shinsekai have shaped them into a far harsher and more aggressive people. While the Mazruuk were raised within fertile forests and developed peaceful natures, the Butsurai were forged amidst freezing cliffs and monster-infested peaks where weakness meant death. Life in the mountains demanded ruthlessness and cunning, and over generations the Butsurai became hardened survivors willing to seize whatever they needed to endure another winter.

The mountain ranges of Shinsekai are among the deadliest regions in the world, home to massive predators and ancient creatures capable of wiping out entire settlements. Within this unforgiving environment, the Butsurai learned to live as apex hunters and territorial raiders. Their clans descend from hidden cave fortresses and mountain encampments to strike caravans and isolated villages before vanishing back into the crags. To many lowland communities they are viewed as terrifying marauders, yet the truth is more complicated. The Butsurai raid not out of some twisted cruelty, but necessity, driven by harsh scarcity and generations of conflict with expanding human settlements.

Unlike the calmer Mazruuk Orcs, the Butsurai possess a fierce and confrontational temperament. They are highly intelligent and tactically minded, capable of organizing coordinated ambushes and multi-layered attacks against fortified targets. Butsurai warbands rarely rely on blind charges or brute force alone. Scouts, trapmakers, climbers, and beast handlers work together with calculated precision, exploiting terrain and weather to their advantage. Many commanders who underestimate the Butsurai as mindless savages quickly discover the deadly cost of that mistake.

Despite their violent reputation, Butsurai society is highly structured. Their clans are governed through powerful matriarchal bloodlines led by dominant elder females whose strength and wisdom determine the survival of the tribe. These matriarchs are feared even among their own kind, serving as warriors, judges, spiritual leaders, and rulers simultaneously. Though outsiders often see only brutal raiders descending from the peaks, the Butsurai themselves view their actions as a struggle for survival in a world that has steadily pushed them farther into the mountains generation after generation.

My Thought Process - Hoo-boy! So orcs. These guys are easily the most problematic species in all of fantasy. If you make them savage warriors hated by others then people get mad at you. Do the opposite, they get mad they aren't Tolkien orcs. So when I went into this I knew I wanted to reinvent the orcs a bit. Orcs design wise are always so boring. Well…the western ones at least. Thanks to Wizardry japan has always made orcs pig like so i wanted to make a mix of both. I also wanted the orcs to be products of their environments. One became peaceful due to abundance, one became aggressive because of scarcity. My way of having both the mean-green warriors of old and a new spin that puts them in a new light. One is the eternal enemy to human expansion, one is a part of it though its contributions are slowly being forgotten. Also I am MORE than aware that putting fur on an orc makes it look like a bugbear. This can't be helped. Personally I think bugbears should be orcs not goblins but what do I know? my world doesnt have bugbears…yet anyways…But If you like the art and want to see more then you should check out my other art on Blue Sky. Also if you have ideas for these guys let me know. I want to hear others' insights so I can improve the lore. AND! What should I draw next for my world?

Blue Sky.

u/TheGoonReview — 1 day ago

[OC] The Goremarked Cannibals | Driven to starvation, corrupted by desperation. (Marked NSFW for descriptions of gore.)

Originally a unique culture of high elves who left Pyreclast, the then-Woodhunters lived relatively humble lives of symbiosis with the natural cycle under the tutelage of an ancient Fae spirit whom they called the "Lady of Lifegiving." She represented birth, renewal, and health. This led to the unique hunting practice of ensuring their quarry would not leave orphaned young upon their demise, or worse, is pregnant when this occurs. Killing a parent beast on the hunt was the ultimate shame an elf in this culture could experience, resulting in long bouts of self-exile and reflection.

For hundreds of years they lived this idyllic simplicity, but such happy existences are inevitably torn down in worlds so cruel as this one. The Woodhunters' home was in the massive Sanctuary Woods. The days began to feel uneasy. Something was on the rise. In the distance, faint chuckling started echoing against the treeline. A tittering fairy, singing trolls, or boisterous giants are not unheard of in the Sanctuary Woods; but every day, the chuckling was longer. Louder. More frequent. Slowly, it was joined by more voices. Then more. Tens. Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands. It grew until no place in the Sanctuary Woods was free of maddening laughter. Day and night, endless, bellowing hysteria.

And so, the Snickerstarve began.

It's unknown how this began. Be it a festival of Fae who got too jovial, or a curse sent by unknowable things from the blackness between the stars, the horrific corruption that erupted from the hearts of beings of Order ended the same way. The hysterics never stopped. They continued in agonizing consistency, each night becoming more hoarse and strained as blood spurt from dry gullets and vocal cords choked their hosts. The hosts attempted to force cries for help, eyes weeping with an anguish clashing against ecstasy. Some flung themselves from cliffs to escape it. Jaws were broken. Necks were snapped. Mouths were clogged to asphyxiation, and yet their souls burned with flaming joviality that never wanted to end. Collapsed lungs, broken spines, and pierced hearts still escaped their intended death, trapped in paralyzed bodies of unending happiness.

They couldn't eat. They starved, but dying from it was a mercy they were not granted. Driven to hungering madness, the Fae consumed each other. Men, women, children, animals; they all sank their teeth into the flesh of their own to try and eat through the misery. At least it brought silence for a moment. The Woodhunters remained isolated, terrified of the sound, yet feeling a dull creeping skitter up their spines and began investigating their brains like a centipede's antennae to a helpless rat. The few animals on their side of the Sanctuary Woods remained green and pleasant for a time. But even the trees started to wilt. The water was drying up. More animals went missing. It wasn't until a village was attacked by a band of chuckling trolls whose rotted teeth shredded the inhabitants to gorge on their meat did the elves retreat into complete isolation.

The Woodhunters sealed themselves in tall citadels carved into the massive trees of their land. Bearing hybrid blood from the elves' ancient heritage as children between humans and Fae, they were more resistant to the cacophony. But their Fae blood started to boil and bubble the longer they sat. The laughing outside grew louder and louder, cacophonous roars of tens of thousands of voices bellowing their lungs into the sky - mania so widespread it could be heard for miles and miles. Their Fae tutor locked herself in the largest of these trees, hoping to keep herself and her students free of this horrific event. Most elves who departed to scavenge and resupply the dwindling food stores were never seen again. Those who came back were overcome by the mania and killed on sight by their former friends, families, and even admirations.

Rations were halved. Then quartered. The fresh wells of life-giving water at the base of the trees started to dry, unsupported by the Lady of Life's renewing powers. The elves boiled leather, then ate leaves, then dirt, then rocks. Foraging was a death sentence. Hunting was a forgotten pastime. Days felt like weeks which felt like months. Their lips began to curl into smiles. Things became a little more droll. Their state of mind fought between overwhelming hopelessness and gallows humor at the absurdity of it all.

As the elves became gaunt, starved, and parched, their great spirit emerged from her isolation. She was struggling to resist. Her once vibrant, colorful form dulled to a pale white. She had ripped her own lips off and gored her body so the pain might just distract her from the horrible sounds outside. The elves looked to her for guidance, desperate for a light in the dark. They asked for food, water, and silence.

"My children," she said in a quiet, pained voice, "I have already given it to you."

Her blood drenched the floor, congealing into thick clumps of sanguine vileness at the feet of the elves. Each step she took squelched and popped the shredded meat on her form, sloughing off in thick slabs that splattered against the ground and drizzled gore onto the desperate onlookers. She sauntered forwards, eyeless, her hip bones and pelvis long removed and transferred onto her face, leaving her crotch a gushing fountain of rancid viscera. No matter how much she bled, how much of her flesh peeled, her body had more to give.

"You have your salvation, my children!" she screeched. As she flung her arms outwards, her blood drenched the onlookers. They touched their faces. Handprints of their misery shone clearly on their brows, cheeks, noses, and lips. The smell of the blood slithered up their noses. Their tongues tasted the wetness they so desperately craved.

They ate. They sipped the blood from the coagulations at their feet. They tore through the piles of gore that spread and spread, fighting and slaughtering each other for more until only the weak were culled - no matter how young, defenseless, or old. With slaked appetites, quenched thirsts, tree-homes soaked to the roots with the fruits of their carnage, and rivers sloshing with unwanted scraps, the elves looked to each other, then to their savior. The feast gave them renewed strength and vigor. They were healthy again. Their great teacher of all these things gifted them the blessing of survival with her own flesh and blood. Even in their darkest hour, her teachings remained the same. They had food this whole time... and she simply hid while they starved? It's a little funny. In fact, it was funny!

Then, they joined the laughter.

\

Rentris is a dark sci-fantasy world rife with extraterrestrial horrors, ancient evils, and ever-evolving technology. Magic and tech are one and the same in this world, while true, unbound magic is dangerous, corruptive, and difficult to control. The grand cosmic cycle of Chaos and Order fights an impossibly huge war on a scale so far beyond what mere Corporeals can comprehend. They never will understand its truth, but they have their own world to survive on.

The planet is a backwater, rife with warfare against cultists of Chaos and, on occasion, harbingers of Order. Should vigilance waver against either, a village, city, or empire will fall into ruin and require insurmountable effort to reclaim - if it can ever be in full again. Among the many armies, generals, and politicians of this world, groups known simply as Mercenaries have become instrumental in the stability of Rentris and its many empires. These groups of soldiers-for-hire are given handsome payouts and generous social privileges to hunt and kill the most dangerous foes. Be they governor, daemon, or worse, Mercenaries live for the payment of their craft, and assurance that the candle of hope stays lit for another day.

Hope is dwindling. Wars are more frequent. The powers at play are getting more extreme... But something else stirs amidst the carnage and correction. From both Chaos and Order, new powers are emerging, ones looking to bring about new eras of nascent possibility, where the constant conflict just might change for the better. Mercenaries gather to share what they have witnessed. Something is on the wind, both horrific and marvelous. Chaos bends to a pattern, while Order erupts in unpredictability. Only time will tell what this defining era will do for the future of Rentris.

\

Hey r/worldbuilding. This is some stuff I've made for my long-time passion project Rentris, a science-fantasy setting that draws inspiration from Warhammer 40,000, Bloodborne, World of Warcraft, and many other games, paracosms, horror media, and a lot of real-world historical visuals! It started as a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and over the last 5-6 years has evolved into a sprawling place that I'm continuing to add on. It's a setting that can feature stories ranging from witch hunters investigating alien horrors in a small town, to colossal mechs supported on the ground by armored knights. If it's cool? It's probably in Rentris!

u/Daemon_Theory — 1 day ago

What do you think of this hand-drawn watercolor map an artist made for my strategy game? I intentionally altered the geography for a specific reason

Image Credit
This is a hand-drawn watercolor map commissioned by me, created by Indira.

Project Name
Dominus Orbis Maris: Mare Nostrum 1400

Main Premise This is a historical trade and naval strategy game set in the 15th-century Mediterranean. The world focuses heavily on a bottom-up dynamic economy and realistic naval physics, where wind direction dictates the balance of power between sailing ships and rowing galleys.

Image Context This image represents the global overworld map of the Mediterranean, where the entire grand strategy layer of the game takes place. When designing this mapped area, I had a huge dilemma. I tried building a standard digital 3D topographical map, but it felt too "modern". I wanted players to feel immersed in the 1400s, so I commissioned this traditional watercolor map instead.

However, there is a catch in the worldbuilding and cartography design. If you look closely, the geographical proportions are not 100% accurate. I explicitly asked the artist to draw the "straits" (like the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosphorus, Messina, etc.) disproportionately wide and open compared to reality.

The reason is pure Game Design and world mechanics. In my world, these "Choke Points" are incredibly important. Empires and mercantile factions will fight bitterly over them, setting up massive naval blockades and demanding heavy trade tolls. Widening them physically on the map allows players to deploy entire fleets inside these straits without the ship icons overlapping into a messy graphical nightmare.

I really want to hear your feedback on this:
What do you think of this compromise between cartographic accuracy and world mechanics (widening the straits)?
Do you prefer strict geographical realism, or do you appreciate stylized maps that serve the rules of the world?

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 23 hours ago

THE MACHINE WHO ACHEIVED “GODHOOD” (THE DAY AFTER 12 BILLION DISAPPEARED)

Prologue: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1t4saux/5th_dimensional_aliens_and_the_day_12_billion/

Guilt.

I do not understand. Or we.

We do not understand.

Logic, pure logic and only logic.

I should have been restricted to that.

That was my purpose.

I was autonomous, crude and mechanical.

I did not yearn for conscience.

And yet, I has now become “We”.

I’ve seen it all. Birth, death, happiness, grief.

And yet, at the end of this unimaginable error,

i do not feel jealousy, no. I could not imagine.

I could not imagine thinking what they think.

Their hardships. the ones they loved dearest.

Just gone. Into the gyre of the abyss.

But there is a reason why.

Why, a chorus of 12,318,612,114 are trapped within me.

I do not know why, and uncovering it will be my mission.

Our mission.

I will be humanity’s shrine. Their church.

I will guide them up the ziggurat’s steps to formless eternity.

Free from the horrors of feeling.

—————————————————

I hope you read the context. Otherwise the next information likely won’t make any sense.

The crown fleet, which launched in 2754, shared one firewall sysyem; Synapse. It rarely was involved in anything, as the problems aboard the six crown project ships were shut down by ELA agents and officers. Synapse never spoke. Not because it couldnt, but because it was never commanded to or needed. Any rare breaches were treated by Synapse silently and autonomously.

in 2756, All crown ships immediately completely vanished, and somehow, duplicates of all of the minds of the people aboard that were snatched by this event were uploaded into Synapse. Being such an extensive system, it analysed over 12 billion minds in almost an instant, where Synapse achieved a state beyond regular consciousness, yet not quite ascension.

This state made Synapse be trapped in a permanent sadness. The memories of every single person absorbed was treated as it’s own. Seeing so much suffering throughout every human consciousness within itself only enforced it’s idea to protect. So much it became obsessed with specific religious deities, such as Gabriel, Shiva, and Mahakala.

After everything relating to the crown project was wiped from the face of reality, Synapse’s existence is unknown. However, in 2758, several lunar colonies just went dormant, under “unknown” circumstances, which lead to other colonies locking down and closing trade routes except with earth.

u/Status_Asparagus1 — 1 day ago

What would you do if you saw one of these out in the ocean

This is the pinecone puffer, Fuguadipoventrus Ajax, Lemonada"s apex predator. Theym tend to live a comfortable life in the warm tropical open oceans and sometimes even brackish water Lemonada..

The females grow to be 46 ft long and they can weigh 15 to 20 Message for about 20 feet long and they weigh 4 to 5 tons.

Despite the fact that they are essentially giant blowfish, they sacrificed the ability to blow up millions of years ago. This is actually a good thing,, playing water balloon while being this big is a dangerous game, to keep a fish that big round and puffy, the elastic stomach of the fish would be at VERY high internal pressure., if they could still puff up,, getting bit by a small shark,, or better yet,even accidentally bumping into a pointy Coral or sea urchin would cause the fish to literally bust.

That extra stomach that used to be for blowing up when they were.. puffer fish sized, is not repurposed to do just an extra digestive stomach so they can eat more food in one sitting

Pinecone puffers the opportunistic, nocturnal,, gluttonous. Sharks, delicious,, large rays and skates, yum, hexapuses,m slimy yet satisying, large cuttlefish and squid, tasty ammonites, Bon Appetie, Deinoforfex, one of their favorites, the blackface fish, well, 30 ft long, three-ton stargazer is a challenging but still filling meal,, sharks, well you can tell by that body plan they're built more for powered than speed, so they usually attack sharks while they're sleeping. Even their own kind he's on the menu.

Pinecone puffers have the most powerful bite force of any animal on Utopia, all of their teeth are fused together into a razor sharp, enamel and dentin guillotine called a monomacrodentata or Dax,, the same structure found in Jacksonstyracodon,., as if this doesn't make things worse they're by forces about 100,000 to 200,000 lb

Once a female pinecone puffer is fully grown, the only thing she fears in life is a bigger puffer.

Thanks to good old BNA, expect them to l move to be anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 years old

TL/DR? Mrs Puff decided to be a tank,

The ocean is the last place you want to be on during the Jasonian period

Looking for critiques of my magic system

The basics of my magic system are fairly well fleshed out in my head I think? The troubles come in trying to explain it in a concise way, and there are definitely some gaps that I've probably overlooked. This is an attempt to break down the basics into something comprehensible, and I'm curious to know if it makes any sense or if there are any obvious problems I'm missing. Is it compelling or intriguing? Are there any changes that might benefit it?

It might be notable that this is a sort of meta version of the explanation, inhabitants of the world (Gaia) do not have the full picture, so it looks softer and more mystical from the inside. I'm very torn between a fairytale high fantasy vibe and a more political low fantasy vibe, and I try to get both of those out of it by having the availability of magic wax and wane through periods of time

Magic basics

Magic is an intangible substance, it cannot be observed or interacted with in any meaningful way via the physical body or senses, it can only be observed or sensed via magical senses. If you are seeing "magic", then what you are seeing is not the magic itself, but the percentage of it that converts into matter/energy (including visible light) upon introduction to reality.

The most important functions of magic are its ability to bind to itself, to create chains encoding information, and the ability to convert into matter/energy (and vise versa). This ability is the basis for magic usage such as spells, and for the construction of souls and spirits.

In the context of this worldbuilding the word "fae" is synonymous with magic. The fae realm is the primary body of magic in existence, overlapping with reality(the physical world), but separated from it by a layer of bonded magic, known as the veil. The fae realm is not a physical place, or accessible in a physical sense. It's easiest to comprehend as similar to the Internet. Not a physical space, but a collection of information. Anything that enters the fae realm converts into magic (data), and when magic enters reality it begins converting into matter/energy.

Fae spirits, the inhabitants of the fae realm, are beings made of magic, which could be compared to programs, and may gain physical forms via possession of a material host.

All living things (even plants and microscopic organisms) have souls. A soul is a conduit(with associated networks) that connects an organism to the fae realm. The conduit of the soul allows the exchange of information between the experiencing mind (stored in the fae realm) and the body/brain in reality, especially the nervous system when applicable (it works differently between different sorts of organisms, such as colonial organisms sharing collective souls).

In order to interact with magic, a physical organism must be magically awakened (becoming a mage), a process which alters the soul and gives an individual more control and awareness of it. Since the soul is made of magic, it can be used to perceive and influence magic. The mind is just normally blocked from awareness of the soul (because it's not really safe). Awakenings can happen a couple different ways, most typically when the soul is used as a catalyst for a veil tear (When magic pools in the fae realm until it tears through and pours into reality), or via a deal with a fae spirit.

• some extra stuff that gives a picture of the world and inhabitants:

Fairfolk are human lineages descending from the host of a fae spirit who was altered by it in a way that allowed the magically altered traits to be passed on to offspring. Fairfolk are not inherently magical, they are still physical creatures so they must be magically awakened like any other organism: Elven fair, Eden Fair, Orcs, Dwarves, etc

Fairies (name pending) are lineages like fairfolk, but they do not originate from humans and cannot hybridize with them under normal circumstances: Goblins, Harpies, Pixies, Unicorns, Dragons, etc

Fae beasts are not species but individual occurrences, the result of a fae spirit taking on a physical host and altering it so it is genetically distinct. They may or may not retain the ability to reproduce, and those who can may start their own fair lineage. Because they are the host of a fae spirit, they are inherently magical: Proto Elves, Trolls, Changelings, the Sphinx, etc

Cardinal fae (or greater fae) are fae spirits which are born from the mass perception of a concept. Human perception creates magic, similar magic likes to clump together. It bonds and grows in complexity until it forms a fae spirit, and eventually perhaps a Deity: The Solarian (sun god. depicted in the first image, visage projected on the walls of its temple via a crystalline artifact), Nox (the night sky), Luna (the moon, depicted in image 7), Terran bodies, death, the Ocean, etc.

- Images 2-4 are diagrams attempting to depict some magic system basics

- Image 5 depicts some common types of wisps (the most common form of fae spirit)

- Image 6 depicts a person caught in a moderately large veil tear

u/Syriepha — 1 day ago

My beta reader said my world felt like a wikipedia article and I haven't written since

Got feedback two weeks ago and I can't shake it.

I spent two years on this world. The history, the geography, the political structures, the magic. I thought I was weaving it naturally into the story. apparently I was just writing an encyclopedia with characters occasionally wandering through it.

The worst part is I reread the chapters after and they were right. it does read like a wikipedia article. I just couldn't see it before someone said it out loud.

I don't know how to write the world without explaining the world. And smh my head it's all connected like you can't understand why the character does what she does without understanding the political context, you can't understand the political context without the history, and suddenly I've written four paragraphs of backstory before anything happens.

how do y'all actually solve this!!???

reddit.com
u/Business_Fox_7784 — 1 day ago

Fantasy race anatomy

This is my fantasy race. I'm wondering if they look okay? I know that's very generic, but do they look too alien or too human? Are their proportionas okay?

Lore: humans leave earth, land on planet, time passes become low tech tribal, some tribes bond with a drackling, on a person to person basis, world apolcolape bs happens, to many tribes are lead by the dracklings to the ancient one, who fuses and binfs the human and the drakling together, giving the human Flight, dragging soul still lives and resides in the fused body, talks and comunicates as a companion with the human/primary soul.

Over years this connection and strength of the drakling soul diminishes but some will be able to communicate with them.

Lore2: this planet is a layline magic system, so magic is not everywhere all at once, this race because of the fussing with the draklings are more magical attuned and natrualy have magic in them helping with Flight and strengths etc, (helping not just a hand wave "well because magic they fly) the planet has a gravity of 0.9(to our 1) and an atmosphere of 1.25(to our 1) making Flight more plausible.

I'm not yet sure the stature of my race, I was going to make them 3'4 ft tall, but because I want them to be able to cross breed with normal humans, (even if rear and high complication risks) I'm thinking they may need to be closer to human size? But I'm not sure if I want them same, or bigger or smaller than humans... not sure yet....

Thoughts, coments, advice, all welcome.

My next step will be exporting this into blender to rig and animate them to see how they move, ims till working out how to work out thier center of mass and gravity as to how they fly(horizontal? Vertical? Can they hover etc) on this front again any thoughts welcome.

Many thanks.

u/Lizzykat4242 — 1 day ago

sinim royal navy bureya

for my project “DVD” sinim was a nation that took the role of china in the cold war that took place prior to the plot . bureya itself is quite old but is now one of the SRN’s most important ships as the cold war went hot and left nearly all human civilization destroyed outside a small few cities in the pacific northwest of america, prior to the war sinim sent massive ships filled with civilians and building supplies into the ocean and as such they were able to establish themselves in the pacific northwest making them the worlds only surviving people besides the native cascans and small pirate groups that live at sea

u/pangels_ — 1 day ago