There are many ways to construct a planet, notably earth-like geoids in space, infinite planes, limited planes within cosmologies, but the Hingescape is a different approach that allows interplanetary travel at varying degrees and connects the universe into a web, not unlike sci-fi warp points.
The Hingescape is so named because of the Hinges of the World, areas with high natural or artificial magical residue/potential. Naturally occurring hinges are present in every planet in extreme natural locations - think Natural Wonders of the World. Hinges are gateways to other planets, but instead of acting like a stargate they are more subtle. Take, for example, the Grand Canyon. A Natural Wonder no doubt in the Hingescape one could descend into the Grand Canyon from one side and leave planet X, while ascending the other side enter planet Y. All Hinges lead to different planets, and the connections are determined by extremely fickle 'ley lines' which are doubly dependent on the alignments of the asters and their satellites as well as events on the planets where the Hinges are located.
The ease of travel in between planets is dependent on how dangerous Hinges are. If high danger Hinges will usually only be accessible to potent spellcasters, often travelers across planet that dwell little where they walk. Usually they are on a religious pilgrimage to the center of the universe, where it is believed the God(s) that have created the Hingescape reside. Consequences for not being careful with powerful magic like this would be going insane, or perhaps being ripped into your consecutive bits and cast into space. Low danger hinges allow for migrations of entire communities across them, and crossing them would be so easy as to not even notice. Note that while in the previous example crossing the Grand Canyon would transport you to another planet, simply going around it would keep you in the planet where you were.
Hinges of the world can also occur at sites where powerful magic has been wielded, such as battlefields of battles during Age of Heroes analogues, locations of the death of important figures such as legendary beasts or lichs, etc. Naturally occurring Hinges as well as artificial ones ensure a healthy amount of individual connected planets, making the Hingescape a truly complex web of planets spanning the whole breadth of the Universe. Note that planets as orbiting geoids still exists, and space travel would theoretical be possible. The Hingescape is more of a magical superhighway.
Jaxson Ward
I personally like lower danger Hinges because it allows planets around the campaign setting, or around other planets in general, to serve as 'reserve' planets for great combats. Take, for example, the classical great human kingdom assaulted on all sides by necromancers and undead. They are the last shining light of humanity, and must face this great evil on this own. However now imagine this scenario in the Hingescape, where the human kingdom can draw manpower and supplies from surrounding lands accessible through a Hinge (with low danger). The communities around this kingdom are by response more agricultural, prospering off trade for food and in turn profiting from the protection of a strong kingdom aided by the levies drawn up from their own prosperous lands. The kingdom might in turn be fighting a multi-planetary undead horde, that has already consumed entire planets and fights multiple front wars. However even the largest of conflicts are small when you consider the vastness of the universe. The Warhammer 40k universe and all its planets would be a blip zooming out on the Hingescape, which would be the size of the universe itself.
The cultural exchange over planets is also interesting, where you can end up with multiple types of the same race in a planet, and lends itself easily to questions of provenance and 'otherness' like those of Orcs from WoW.
Thought I'd write this up at last since it's what I'd used on an old worldbuilding project that's now defunct. Tell me what you think!
>pic is what I imagine the Hingescape looks like
David Long
interesting idea. Having there be various realms of existance with earth (or what have you) being a hub realm is cool. the north pole has a hinge to the elemental plane of ice. Mount Everest to the plane of air. Auschwitz has hinge to the plane of death or something like that.
Parker Reed
I really wish Veeky Forums could expand on this comic's setting >Adult have disappear and the children that are left haven't age in years >Class is determinated by hair color, blonds are knights, redheads are pirates or outcasts and black/brunettes are magic users >Religion worships adults and heaven is living with one's parents.
Dylan Foster
Pretty much, in my setting I had a huge lake *deepest in the world" and at the bottom there was an underwater hinge yet to be discovered.
It led to another planet that had an ice sheet above it and all sorts of strange lovecraftian beasts living underneath the ice in the water.
Occassionally one of the larger beasts would swim downwards from the ice planet and pass through the Hinge, downwards becoming swimming upwards in my world. That's how legends of freshwater Krakens begin. Sometimes dead things washed ashore.
Lucas Gray
So I've actually recently been digging around my old e-mail in search of my earliest worldbuilding project.
Really tragic story, there was multiple drafts, the original handwritten notebook got left outside in the rain once and everything was ruined. Was complete with battle plan illustrations for big elf vs dwarf battles and had full speeches in my conlang. 12 year old me was devastated. holy shit. Still am.
But anyways, I found a super short draft of the first part of the collection. At the time my only worldbuilding inspiration was The Silmarillion, LOTR, and The Bible in some ways. That means exhaustive naming and that the story was formatted much like a bible. Composed of different books, titled fancy elven names.
I'm gonna post it next, just giving you guys some backstory.
>pic is the language tree I made for the setting where I used the Hingescape
Elijah Long
ohhhh shittttt I just realized it's all in fuckin spanish bros you'll just have to settle for some shitty story i made to impress a girl in elementary school
listen to it so you can chill out from being so mad at me
Angel Brooks
also, on a sidenote, on a new computer and need to know if openoffice is good or if there is something better. I hate how regular word isn't .odt compatible so I cant send my files to other people. I have Notepad++ right now and that's just... not acceptable.
Chase Carter
textuploader com/5bqj0
holy shit this is cringey
Christian Kelly
Though the giant-men of the Far North are admired for their rarity and mysterious stoicism, people who border the Northern Lands will tell you that the mildfolk (compared to warmfolk and shiverfolk) of Aslaug are a much more exciting bag of hens.
Aslaug borders both the Fur Sea and a great lake, their community at the base of a crescent-shaped mountain range that traps the cold sea weather. As such, the city and its infrastructure adhere to two simple rules: to stay warm, and to accommodate swift transit. The need for warmth meant hunting for furs, and an excess of furs made for lucrative trade. The strong trading roots of the Aslauger meant that nearly every family could live in some degree of comfort, and they became used to humble lives of happiness. Only the trading families felt the bite of ambition - but as the trading families had the wealth, they also possessed the power.
The fur trade became less lucrative as contact was made with the Far Northerners and their furs, of Great Mammoths and Snow Dragons, and Aslauger wares were no longer considered exotic. Though they still lived fairly enough, the trading families decided that a downward trend was unbecoming of their people. In unison, they established a Republic of the four families, allowing the most respected and populous of them to lead the rest. These were the Aslaug, from who the city-state takes its name. This Republic declared its trading competition to be enemies of every hearth and home, and called for great plundering.
Aslauger society was one of brotherhood. Family ties were the strongest - but if you were an Aslauger, you were your own kind of family. So when the call for war came, many enlisted just to see that their friends would come back safe and to bring prosperity to their loved ones. It was around this time that the Aslauger came to worship their current deity, Jarlot - God of War and Trade.
CONT
Jose Bailey
Very cool, was the Republic an confederation or more a Hanseatic league sort of deal? Was one of the families 'first among families' so to speak?
Isaac Harris
You know, as much as that downtime was awful, it gave me time to turn my viking shit into a 1,800+ word document. Dumping what I wrote here because fuck I love writing
Based on the Republic of Venice, not that I actually know much outside of playing Crusader Kings 2
Samuel Davis
Scholars and priests from the Empire of Man put considerable emphasis on understanding Jarlot worship when considering the Aslauger society - the first shrine, wreathed in the decadence and stolen thrones and scepters and silver candlesticks and chromatic shards, was erected shortly after the Goddess of Love, Lannes, was purged from the hearts of her worshipers. It is an accepted theory that it is actually Lannes who watches over the Aslauger, drawn to their bonds - and thus, lending the modern Aslauger their monumental sense of empathy and capacity for sorrow. This Southern idea has led to a mild, culturally-tolerated schism of Lannes and Jarlot worship - but more on that later.
The Aslauger quickly re-established their monopoly in the area, and Aslauger culture was forever changed by the monumental control that their conquest brought them. Though initially feared for their extreme success in plundering and looting, it became apparent that the city of Aslaug were one of the best enemies you could have. If their demands were met, the city in question would lose a considerable amount of wealth and suffer some degree of damage, but with nearly no casualties to speak of. If fought, they would fight with the ferocity and fury of soldiers who would die grinning for the man beside him - and even in the event of surrender, the Aslaug would treat their prisoners mercifully and with respect.
The Duke of Garden, angered at the raids upon his counties and seeking to appease his weakened vassals, had every Aslauger trader in his lands seized and thrown into his pit of vipers in response. When the Aslauger descended upon his lands, they came not for wealth, or to defend their home. They came to carry home their dead. At the end of the three month war, the Duke was thrown into his pit of vipers with the rest of the male adults in his family.
To this date, none have dared another 'personal war' with the Aslauger.
Owen Perry
This has been the history of Aslaug: trade and war. But what of intricate details? For consistency, it will be best described with the Imperial theory of Lannes in mind.
Before inheriting the Goddess of Love as the champion of their people, the Aslauger were already tightly knit. The bond of being neighbors was just as strong as the bond of being family. Only women left their family homes, and that was to settle into the home of their husband, unless the husband himself chose her home or to build his own; both rare. The Aslauger were also very isolated people - very few ever left the homeland, unless on business or war, and there was almost always an empathic promise to return. The wars only reinforced their brotherhood, and this degree of connection is what brought Lannes to give her love to them, with the destruction of her religion in the Empire of Man.
Lannes touches the heart of every Aslauger at birth, manifesting in their minds and hearts with considerable empathy. Post-religion Aslauger exhibit very large, powerful hearts and wide, emotive eyes, and a strong tendency to shed tears during any emotional display. Aslauger physicians strongly assert that the tears of grieving family can heal the injured, and often incorporate this into their medical practices. While war and trade fosters an environment for greed, most Aslauger are considerably generous with their wealth - even to former enemies and rival families. The Aslauger take exceptional pride in their personal belongings, and gift-giving runs closer to the heart than any other flattery imaginable. The Five Families proudly display their treasure hoards to the public, and very few dare the Red Eagle punishment of theft.
But let us look past the society down to the man - a single man.
Dominic Williams
Romund of Aslaug is the heir to his family’s name.. When his brother passes away, this whole society shall look to him as their great father.. Yet, the young Romund - known as The Plunderer, for his affinity in claiming the greatest treasures - finds himself driven mad with wanderlust, and has flown the nest to explore the lands of the warmfolk. This is unusual because he does so for himself, and not for Aslaug - he intends no business, aims for no enemy or conquest to bring back. He wants to move his feet. The only other Aslauger who have done so are exiles - but, as Romund is a local hero, his family and friends assert that their God has touched him with a higher purpose, to better cope with missing him as dearly as they do.
Romund is tall, broad-shouldered, hefty in the gut but solid with muscle, and bears a youthful, friendly face buried in a tremendous nest of honey-golden hair and beard. He wears a glimmering steel hauberk and carries with him a halberd, along with a skeggox and sturdy thrusting sword. He makes his living in mercenary work, valued for his unshakable loyalty and martial prowess, though he has worked as a professional appraiser more than once.
“Ay am Romund af Aslaug,” he said to the quiet, white-haired elf with whom he shared a tavern’s fireplace. “Ay was dere fahr de slayung af de blahk dragund, as you wehr.”
She had seen him there. Where the paladin charged its head and broke his arms, while archers flung frail arrow after arrow, Romund snuck around the flank and charged his halberd into its ribcage three times, hiding under its wing, and clove in twain the beast’s heart with the final thrust.
She thought him to be a friendly drunkard oaf, and offered him enough respect to keep him happy. But as the night went on, she found it difficult to leave her chair and go back to camp. His exuberance to socialize was simply infectious, and she found herself smiling for the first time in weeks.
Justin Wood
A few days after their meeting, she found him in the unkempt graves outside of the town. He was wearing outrageously flamboyant clothes of silk, with gemstones in the cuffs and multi-colored sashes wrapped around the waist of his yellow jacket, and blue-striped breeches that hid inside of boots inlined with fur. He was on his knees, his clothes covered in filth and tattered from labor, piles and piles of ugly weeds and dandelions piled up around him. He was angry.
“De graves,” he said, struggling back a choked anger in his voice. “Dey are lef tu ruin.” He put his hand on the gravestone, touching it with sacred respect, and underlining the faded letters with his palm. “Dey haf forgotten de person who sleeps here. A stranger like me es de only company de haf.” His hands went into fists, and he couldn’t look at her.
“It es shameful.”
A storm was coming. He offered, and then pleaded with her to come spend the night in a friend’s manor. Though she was unused to civilized amenities, she saw that it would give him comfort and accepted. On the way there, she could not help but ask why he was being so open towards her, and expressive - where she came from, these sorts of displays were private.
He looked at her in surprise. “Becahs you ahr my friend,” he said. With that, the matter was settled.
Jacob Reed
As the weeks came by, she came to learn that he was not a stupid man, but a man burning alive with passions. He saw tragedies and victories in everything - in living smiles and empty graveyards, burning fires and dead candles, bountiful nature and dead grass. She enjoyed his company - though she didn't’ speak much, she could listen well, and that’s what she did for him.
But one day, through a mixture of curiosity and concern, she couldn’t help but ask. “Why do you care about these things, Romund? And why do you place in me your trust as a friend, when we’ve not known each other very long?”
He reached out, and asked to see her hands. Surprised, she offered them to him. He placed a gold coin in her hands and guided them together as though she were praying, with his larger and stronger hands folding over hers. Then, in a voice so quiet that it stole away his accent, he spoke. You are my friend - and thus I am your vanguard. I will not abandon you in moments dire. I will throw my life upon the blade and forbid it from touching yours. Our heads lay in the same pillow, our souls dance in the same song. If I should outlive you, the mourning will be without end. Yet if you should survive me, I only hope you may smile again.
Should your arms break, I will be your hands. Should your eyes dull, I will guide you. Should your legs stumble, I will carry you. Should your heart tremble, I will empower you.
May ever we be prosperous, and our hoard large. But even when our coffers are empty, and our clothes are but rags, and our swords dulled to ore, I will bear your burdens and carry mirth to your door.
Sebastian Martin
His hands moved from hers, leaving the coin in her hands and her eyes wide in the realization that he had never needed a reason to care.
and that was it. I know it gets more into actual writing instead of worldbuilding as it winds down, but hey. Gotta show the world from a lot of perspectives to really fill it out, I think.
Brayden Hughes
>Get on subject of homebrewing while at my lgs >I bring up my setting and the owner just starts laughing >"you made racist europe where orcs are brutal and savage because theyre from Africa, right?" >well, theyre actually based on Moors, theyre just also slavers >owner is still just laughing >"no no man its fine. Theyre brutal and savage because theyre from Africa. Everyone should own an elf slave" >awkwardly transition to a different topic
One of my ex players talked. Which is really odd because he was laughijg about ircs when Africa is actually populated by demon worshipping beast races that eat humans. And theres relatively common dragon (drake technically) rape, hence why people hunt dragons.
Lincoln Nguyen
fuck, man, i'd play in your game
Evan Nelson
what the fuck is that sentence supposed to even be
