/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

>>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
Not!England
>>HOW undisputed do they rule?
He is now in civil war - this is how disputed his rule is
>>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
His mother was a slut. Which makes people question his legitimacy and side with his half-sister whose mother was not slut, but also died. Something needs to be done with hem, especially since rebel actions made loyalists hungry for her blood. Which is bad because he loves his sister, and even considered abdicating in her favour before he came to know her husband better.
>>WHO do they have to fear?
Anyone who might think he's weak and his brother-in-law is better candidate (Everybody knows his sister is a pushover and would be a figurehead for her husband)
>>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscap?
Well, he is still a king of a major nation, which puts him somewhere in top 5 most ifluential people of his nation and maybe top 15 most influential people on the world. He just started he didn't do anything worthwhile yet

what culture is the Empire of Ghorod molded after? sounds oriental. Is Huril in any way magical?

>what culture is the Empire of Ghorod molded after?
I haven't really pinned it down to be honest. I think I started out with it wanting to be Eastern European but I think I've drifted away from that.
>oriental
It's not Asian-influenced.
> Is Huril in any way magical?
No, their entire religion is just ancestor-worship that puts their emperors up as saints/gods (depending on what they did in their lifetimes). By default though, a living emperor is referred to as a Saint-Emperor. Only after their death are they raised (or lowered) to a rank equal to what they accomplished in life.

How different WERE medieval or what have you european countries? more different than modern day? would a traveler going from france to say the roman empire find their customs odd? assuming there were no language barriers (i.e. everyone spoke "common").

would they mostly dress the same? eat roughly the same, just different crops/meats depending on the geographic location? did their buildings look essentially the same?

i need to crack open some history books i guess but where do i even start?

also interested in other places too, not just europe. that just sprang to mind first.

What is the difference between a diverse setting (like Earth) and a "theme-park" setting?

Theme-park settings are made up of set pieces, with no explanation or reasoning why the set pieces exist.
>giant chasm of death with the Ultimate Evil's secret base
>ancient Elven forest where they grow no food but somehow survive on hunting alone; No Trespassing!
>huge Human city somehow made up entirely of inns, shops, and city guards

>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
Worshipers of Soth, the pyre god, make their encampment along a river, where his body lies, dead, but still warm, as dying embers.
>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
Not yet, but maybe I'll add one. Currently there is a river constellation, Anduane.
>What's your setting's longest river?
Not sure yet.
>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
We'll see.

>split as they flow towards the sea
What is a delta?

The one below charlie

Which should be called Dragons?

>pests with vestigial wings that kill farm animals and are a danger to villagers/children but can easily be fought by a normal guy with a spear, perhaps they breath a pathetic amount of fire
or
>huge flying beasts, the second largest non-aquatic animal, which are closely based on Fell Beasts and have almost the exact same appearance. No fire breath or magical abilities, not very smart, but they're still the most dangerous creature in the world

Should the latter just be called Fell Beasts? I fail to see the difference from using elves (although I don't), I guess it just happens that people didn't steal fell beasts so they never caught on in other settings.

>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
Yes, the river Mandrigo is worshiped by the Apemen of the Dingi Jungle as their birthplace. It's custom for mothers to give birth to their infants their, as well as for every infant to spend the first 6 months of their lives by the river.
>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
Nope, magic is rare as fuck in general.
>What's your setting's longest river?
A dried up river that used to extend across the main continent. It's used as a road nowadays.
>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
I don't have many rivers in generally, but there are 2 that split into larger deltas.

>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?

The Bindun used to be a bit like that - The Siernal people followed a religion of domainism, meaning every significant part of nature, every valley, every mountain, every pond and every river had its own god. And the Bindun, being the lifeline of their culture, where information and trade traveled on, was seen to be the domain of an especially important god. And even now, after the shackles of paganism have been thrown off, there are certain crimes that can only be punished by drowning in Bindun water.

>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
nope
>What's your setting's longest river?
Well I don't know if it's the longest, but the Qualba river is proper long, going through half of a pretty large continent.
>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
Of course loads of rivers split, all the time. They just find around to themselves again very quickly. The image in OP for example isn't how large rivers look - at least not before man gets a good crack at regulating them. Real, big rivers go into complex networks of swampy brooks whenever the soil allows it and are a pain to deal with.

Is it okay to justify a Theme Park Setting when the world was crafted by gods that are still around and involved in the world?

Like, the dark lord's evil plains of evil are surrounded perfectly by a mountain range because the gods raised those mountains to make holding him back easier?

Tolkien didn't invent elves, he just created a race that resembled the elves in the original anglo-saxon myths. Why not have dragon be a term that is interchangeble, but the small ones are called worms and the large ones wyverns.

sounds awesome

>tfw you are working on sonething and you keep thinking of things you like and how to stick them in
How do you stop from making a kitchen sink setting? I already did that with my fantasy setting, trying to avoid it for my sci-fi.

>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
Several. I guess the most important would be the Gunavi, seeing as three different religions see it as their holy river, as did some ancient cults. And at least one kingdom required its kings to be anointed with water from the river before they could sit on the throne.

There's also the Golta, which is said to be a holy river for warriors of all lands, because a great battle was fought in one of its fords, and the ghosts of the dead warriors now watch for brave souls, to teach them the ways of war in order to help them avoid death.

>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
Again, several. The Gunavi is also one of these. The general idea is that at its source rests the entrance to the domains of the gods and the afterlife, so the souls of the dead must travel upriver if they want to reach the Otherworld. The Golta would also count.

To be honest, in my setting if a river is holy, it's probably magical too.

>What's your setting's longest river?
I haven't thought about it yet.

>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
Not really. Well, some rivers have deltas, or become swamps, but it's not like that common.

>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
River Plerun is considered holy by the largest religion in the world as well as many of the tens of smaller religions that live along the river. Most of these religions baptize children in the water, and some either perform their sacrifices in the middle of the water or dump the bodies into the river. The first human civilizations of relevance were built on this river.

>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
No

>What's your setting's longest river?
Kmazal, but by definition it isn't actually a river, but an awkwardly long semi-underground body of water opened to the surface by a tectonic cataclysm millions of years ago. Pretty much a narrow extension of the ocean that extends far into a landmass. From above it appears to be like a river.

>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
Nope

>Gods outright crafted the world
>it's their literal theme park
Seems like proper justification.

Here are some of the questions from last thread, if anyone wants to answer

Easy Mode Questions:

>What's the name of your world/city/star system/etc?
>How many continents/planets does it have?
>How many races? What are they?
>How many days in a year, and how many hours in a day?
>What's a random fact about your world?
>Describe a random person from your world, and what they're doing right at this very moment

Hard Mode Questions:

>How many (major) religions does your world have right now?
>Pick one of them.
>Describe the god or gods of this religion, if there are any. If your religion revolves around some abstract, higher concept, describe that instead.
>How many sects/denominations does this religion have? Do they ever conflict with each other? Are there any heretical sects?
>How was/is this religion spread?
>What are the tenets of this religion?
>What is the hierarchy of this religion. Describe the higher level positions of this religion, starting with the highest position of power.
>Is there an adversary figure or place of punishment for those who went against the tenets of the religion, or both?

Dante Must Die Questions
>Part 1: Magic
>If you are doing a no-magic setting, disregard this post, there will be a post for you later.

>How many systems of magic exist in your world/region/etc? What are their names?
>How has the introduction of magic changed the course of intelligent life in your world?
>Are there any major inventions/breakthroughs that, for the equivalent Earth time period in your world, haven't been invented/haven't happened due to magic either replacing them or making them unnecessary?
>Does magic have to follow the laws of physics? If not, why? If so, are there any interesting applications/side-effects of this?
>Is magic hereditary/genetic or can anyone use it with enough training/willpower? Or is it something that is granted by either a higher power or through some of trial? If there are multiple sources of magic in your world, pick one of them.
>If magic is hereditary/genetic: how common is it for the 'magic gene' to appear in the offspring of a successive generation of children? Are there any unique side effects of this 'gene' (hair color, eyes, etc). If no, through what process is magic ability found in a person?
>If magic can be used by anyone (no trial/granting of power): how is the misuse of magic controlled, since theoretically anyone can use it ? Is there any of training to prevent the users from hurting themselves?
>If magic is granted by a god/higher/trail/etc: describe the process of 'granting' magic to someone.
>How does magic affect trade, commerce, and the economies of your nations? Do certain types of magic give certain nations a significant advantage in this area?
>Is magic looked down upon, or revered? Are those with magic abilities granted any special treatment or privileges? Does magic ability directly affect your social class (whether positively or negatively)? If the answer to this question varies from place to place, pick one region of your world for this question.

>PICK a leader in your setting
Emperor Gwalather II, scion of the Sun, the lightbringer, the Conqueror.

>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
The Albani Empire, consisting of Alban, and recently the 'serpent isle'(Placeholder name)

>HOW undisputed do they rule?
The rule of the Emperor is absolute.

>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
The influence of the Deicolorii on trade in the known world, giving them more power than money-grubbing merchants should have.

>WHO do they have to fear?
None. The Albani are destined to shine over the world like the mighty Sun.

>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscape?
He took a small island of fishermen and nobles, and began to build their power base. The Sun will never set on the lands of the Albani. This Gwalathar decrees.

Hit a block in my recent building. Trying to construct a sky world setting in which the only land are floating Isles in the sky varying in size and airships are the way to get around. But also want there to be a sea as well but not sure how the two can coincide, not mention was thinking the lands be at different heights. Welcome any thoughts or suggestions.

Confession time: I've been creating the histories for all my countries by playing Crusader Kings II and changing the names

>no Part 2

The way I see it, the easiest way to do that would be to have be planet be 100% water, except for the floating islands. Also, despite gravity being weird in this case, the thing that would make the most sense would be to have small islands (Look at a map of the southern Pacifc: islands about as large as those islands, tops) floating higher up, while the medium sized ones (between the size of Iceland and Madagascar) ones are floating in the middle, and at the very bottom, floating just above the global ocean, are the biggest islands (Borneo to Australia-sized).

I found this cool fantasy map generator. I've been mucking around with it for the last couple hours. Check it out!

mewo2.com/notes/terrain/

Maybe the islands are floating above the sea and they're the place to be because the sea is full of super-krakens. The lower islands are in danger of one of the said super-krakens reaching up and pulling it out of the sky to get at all the living things on them, or cracking it open to get at whatever's allowing the island to float. Like, maybe the floating islands have an inner core that's some prey creature of the beasties and they evolved to float above the ocean once they get old enough.

Could lead to several plothooks. Gotta fight a super-kraken to defend an island; explore a newly-risen island from the ocean's depths; maybe a scenario where you gotta nurse an important island's core back to health before it sinks into the sea/into range of the super-krakens.

Have the ideas spaced far away apart that their "otherness" isn't a jarring issue. Make sure to blend aspects of your world together so that they make sense together, with a shared history.

Above all that, though, always evaluate what the core of your setting is and what is superfluous. If you know what is important and what is just cool, you know where to make cuts.

The first should be dragons, the second should be pterodactyls or wyverns.

All the islands float above one central, massive island, with an inland sea in its centre. What the central island floats above, if anything, is unknown. Of those explorers who went to find out, and came back alive, they all say there's nothing but an endless cloudy expanse below.

I have those elves, minus the forest being ancient. They're bound by a curse not to harm the forests they live in so they hunt what they can, send expeditions far from the forest to bring back valuable vegetative matter and game, and either raid or perform cannibalistic sacrifices when times are tough.

>PICK a leader in your setting

Esosa, Holy Prince of Igo

>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?

contrary to his title, Esosa is actually a duke, ruling the duchy of Igo (a semi-autonomous vassal state of the Ahigbeni Empire) - a rich agricultural region with a strong navy and a prospering silk production. since Igo is the only place you can get silk from in the Southern hemisphere, this has made the duchy into a cashcow for the Empire because it basically prints free money as long as no one manages to steal the secret for themselves. because of Igo's special status, the duke of Igo is awarded the title of Edaiken (Holy Prince) and treated like the crown princes in all aspects except claim to the throne.

>HOW undisputed do they rule?

Igo is prospering and does not face any dangers of war currently. Esosa is known for being strict, but fair and a good businessman. he is in the God-King's good favors, so no one within Igo dares dispute his rule.

>WHICH are their greatest challenges?

keeping the secrets of silk production safe and hidden from outsiders first and foremost, with keeping the young men of his duchy mostly safe from the military conscriptions of the North being a close second. legally, he has to allow Ahigbeni soldiers and recruiters into his lands and has to provide for them, but they only receive the bare minimum.

>WHO do they have to fear?

apart from his sons, who are most definitely scheming to mercy kill him once he's grown fat and old, he has an irrational fear of tailors ever since he was conned by one (which cost him a fortune)

>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscap?

Esosa is the eyes and ears of the God-King in the South. whatever his advisers and secretaries come across finds its way directly to the Imperial Court in a matter of weeks. and since the God-King and His colossus of an army can't come down South themselves every time something goes awry, Esosa also enacts His justice.

>Pick a leader
Emperor Solarus II

>What do they rule
The continental empire of Rekaz

>How undisputed
Fully undisputed

>Which are their greatest challenges
Seen empire wide as a weak emperor due to his father being held in such high esteem. Fairer critics acknowledge the mess he inherited, including the aftermath of the Orc-Turtlefolk wars, as an unfortunate circumstance.

>Who do they fear
The machinations of the Cult of Kaz, the fallen god of chaos as well as rumors of assassination brewing among the halls of the Imperial Palace

>What is their greatest influence
He negotiated a renewal of the 500 year old peace treaty between the Ash Tribes and the Empire despite heavy pressure from provincial lords to just wipe them out entirely.

>PICK a leader in your setting
King Arlan Rantel II Ignace
(the final word of the title refers to their domain)
There are two people who go by this exact name and title:
King Arlan himself, a 644 year old vampire, now old and decrepit. He is only a fifth-generation vampire from the original strain, which allowed him to live so long. However, he has grown grotesque and his mind has rotted from age. He is no longer capable of making plans and his circle avoids waking him unless they are in urgent need of counsel or decisions.
King Arlan's de facto son, we'll call him the prince, who is 182 years old. The prince was conceived by another man and Arlan's fourteenth wife (also his 12th-great-granddaughter) at his decision. No one but the inner circle is aware that the prince is not actually the king. The prince does the bulk of the work and holds the realm together with the help of the inner circle as well as high nobles of varying loyalty.

>WHAT country/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
The Kingdom of Ignace, and by extension the regions (mostly former kingdoms) of Balnar, Lornath, Verren, Yorace, Hartgen, Aldin, Canoris, Kymore, Enbaught, Metakath, Orwierwaith, Varlant, and Keralon. He is also the former ruler of the kingdoms of Buroth and Audriff, who successfully declared independence decades ago.

>HOW undisputed do they rule?
If enemies of the king were to discover his condition, they could contest his claim as vampire law does not allow the senile to rule or choose heirs manually. Prince Arlan is not the legitimate heir, and vampire law makes things extremely complicated due to age. King Arlan has hundreds of tenth-great-grandchildren and more, as well as grandchildren to fifth-great-grandchildren surviving as vampires. However, claimants are not as big of a threat to Arlan's rule as pure usurpers. In the deterioration of the king's brain, his dukes have built their own standing armies and wrote their own laws. The stability of his empire is an illusion.

>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
Wild vampires. They are growing wildly in population as they do not follow vampire traditions or laws (which are meant to prevent excessive reproduction by only allowing one vampire per clan to infect others). King and Prince Arlan have worked tirelessly to train and arm vampire hunters to protect the peasants and townsfolk from wild vampires. While humans once revered vampires, modern humans loathe vampires from a combination of idolizing vampire hunters as heroes and seeing villages and friends slaughtered by wild vampires. Nearly all of the peasants (who are pagan) are now united as sun worshippers who have no respect for the crown and instead turn to tribalism and nationalism, strengthening the vassals and weakening the core. More and more fiefs are preparing to declare independence, and to the west, Audriff and its saboteur allies are preparing for an all-out assault on the empire.

>WHO do they have to fear?
The Exalted Master, Khorath, who claims to be the first vampire (meaning he was never a human but rather a monster that infects humans to become like him, less and less with each generation). With the facade crumbling, Khorath has little reason not to execute the royalty and take direct control with his fiercely loyal early-generation vampires, who have military supremacy over the rest of the realm.
The "Three Kings" of Yorace, Balnar, and Aldin. They are called kings as a formality but function as dukes. Big armies and loyal nobles, none of whom are vampires.
The peasants who are sick of blood taxes and impurity punishments.
Foreign hostile armies like Portage, Dhorinia, and Audriff.

>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscap?
He created the largest empire the world had ever seen and ever will see and united most of western humanity under one language and crown, as well as ushered in the medieval era. However, his empire is holding back technology to protect vampires from new weapons.

This sounds pretty interesting. I hope to see it come to fruition one day.

What's it for, game? Novel? Movie?

>huge Human city somehow made up entirely of inns and shops

Nothing yet, it will be a campaign eventually and possibly a novel. However it would not be a novel about court politics but rather the story of some normal people experiencing the world changing without knowing what the nobles are up to, mostly because it would be ridiculously difficult to organize the politics of the setting as its on a massive scale. There'd be at most two highborn POV characters, only one of them from Ignace.

Sky rivers. Caused by the true love of an air spirit and a water spirit. They most often appear at would-be waterfalls or in high mountains.

might as well post this here

Setting: mid-fantasy in a ruined world, on a planet far away and probably in the future. Resembles Conan or the recent Homeworld game. People live in arcologies, mostly giant pyramids built before the flu killed 99% of the population. About two centuries worth of atmospheric terraforming (and generating a planetary EM field by detonating nukes in it's core, heating it up) has led to the creation of seas. The people are mostly afraid of them, as all they know is desert. Most trade is done via airship.

Factions:

1. "the family" - an acology led by an influential pre-event family. Nobody (not even themselves) remembers how they got to power but their ability to make aluminum makes them the leader in planetary weapons markets
2. "spartan federation" - rumored to be descendant from Ares himself. While their weapons are primitive (mostly spears), they command a good sized federation of lords whose main industry is grain and vegetables. As their land is "low", it is slowly being claimed by the rising seas. Thus they have great demand for levee construction
3. "high rock" - a city built atop a massive plateau which gives them ideal access to the tradewinds. Despite being a relatively small state they more or less are the lynchpin of global trade. Due to promiscuity and greed, slaves can be found cheaply here
4. "Afel" (AFL-CIO) - a mysterious, subterranian and xenophobic people. Despite being hated on the surface due to their aloofness (and mocked due to their pale complexions), they have access to prewar mining equipment and some level of secret knowledge. Their main trade is in ores and dirt, however getting their product to market can often be a hassle as they have no airships or desire to build them. All their products are delivered on the old ironways, some of which are washed out due to rising tides. Most have Dutch names.

5. "Cael" (latin for sky) - people who live in big floating cities, some of which are pre-event. They dominate airship construction but their high altittude makes them a bit isolated for trading. They have unprecedented astrologists, including a catalog of planet's satellites
6. "Pos" - a stupid, mostly disorganized and backwards people driven mad by their religion (based around a crashed USPS starship). They would be conquered, however their homeland is planet's most important (non water) natural resource: a huge redwood forest. As such they are deathly afraid of fire and have extensive knowledge of pre-event electronics (which they don't share). Some claim their preexists can still communicate with the gods. They export one good and that is timber.

(smaller factions)

7. "Dow" - necromancer cultists that come from a pre-event biogenics lab. Some claim they themselves destroyed the old world to create the new one, and that they will do it again. They are persecuted wherever they are found, but they are excellent doctors.
8. "gypsies" - self explanatory. Their secret base is a pre-event car factory.
9 . "Gnu" - cultists that do sex and drugs in order to spend more time in the "dream envelope". Actually, they workshop a programmer in a cyro bed. He gifts them VR trips in exchange for various knowledge. They can often be found as royal escorts or maids, as for some reason they are able to stay unnaturally young.
10. "Civil Defense" - prewar CD bots that patrol ruined cities and the planetary aqueduct and aquifer systems. Almost impossible to fight, unless you have the proper shutdown codes (which only few have)

most of the planet looks like this

No
No
The one that forms deep in the mountains, and bisects an entire landmass as they flow towards the sea

They were a lot more weird than they are now, and they're weird now as well.
Source: went to france, got a culture shock from the lack of strong coffee, big breakfasts, and finnish autism.

These are good, thanks! Love to hear more any may have but thoughts on a whole Mermaid vs sky themed Royal Family in past? The humans having ridden Griffin's, winged Knight's, etc?

or this.

Technology: most villages have at least one radio (with an accompanying mage to operate it), and "magic" is plausible through nanotech syringes (ala Bioshock or Deus Ex). The "Dow" are particularly exceptional here and it's why they're so hard to permanently stomp out. Most cities have a few talented mages willing to teach those interested in giving them their free labor. The "Afel" seem to be very adept as well, but they keep it to themselves.

Conflict (ie the start of a game): the Civil Defense bots are becoming more aggressive (and sea levels rising), and the PC must find out why. Given direct orders from the Spartan Emperor himself, he is to find a way into the "Afel" as it is suspected that they know (but their diplomats deny everything). Gypsies supposedly know a back way in, as do the Gnu. The Cael might be able to offer some star charts that the Afel might want. The Emperor hopes he can blackmail them into giving them what he wants.

Palacus the Third

>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
Palacus ruled over kingdom known as The Circle, the largest and most powerful dominion of the first era of my world.

>HOW undisputed do they rule?
The crown of The Circle was always a dubious institution, and the kings were never entirely undisputed. The kings were selected from members a royal bloodline, but over time the royal family grew pretty large and branched - falling into multiple clans, resulting in a situation where there were always multiple claimants to the throne. The nobles had a say in the process of selection and could potentially even dethrone their own king to replace him with a more suitable claimant - though this did not happen very often, there was always the risk.

>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
Like most large societies of my world, the Circle was fueled by slave wars, so the ability to secure a steady influx of new slaves was always the biggest concern.
The other was the growing power and meddling tendencies of the Circles second leader, The Mouth of the Gods. The Mouth - essentially highest priest of a key religious sect, was always selected from the same family as the kings - in case of Palacus, it was actually his brother. The King and the Mouth were always at odds with each other, each trying to usurp more power for himself.
Palacus was also the unfortunate king who ruled during two of the biggest uprisings in Circle's history: Daant and Caliopa rebelions, which were never actually supressed, and marked the begining of the end of Circle.

>WHO do they have to fear?
Palacus feared his brother the most, though in reality, he should have been much more worried about his right hand, Caleb of Gulab, who defrauded half of the kingdom and even plotted to have Palacus murdered.

>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscap?
Palacus was often marked as the man who destroyed the Circle, though in reality, it was not really anything he did.

>Holy river
Yes, the A'quio which runs through the fertile midlands of the providence of Dasuko. Said to be the creation of the goddess of storms herself, it is revered for its alleged healing properties and crystal clear waters. In fact, according to Aerovel (birdfolk) folklore, gazing deep into the water during a full moon will reveal the secrets of the heavens.
>Magic river
No, though legends tell of a great artificer named Gillianna who attempted to use artifacts and magic to enchant the lower Ravelki with the power to heal and revive the dead.
>Longest river
The upper Ravelki which spans roughly 3,500 miles.
>Other stuff
No, the only uphill river is the result of the interloper (spirits with power equal to gods who range from benign to malevolent) of festivals, trickery, mischief, merriment, and gluttony settling a bet with/playing a trick on the goddess of storms, water, and travel.

Cont...
>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
>What's your setting's longest river?
The Yellow River, which is my settings longest river, is also considered holy by some cultures. Especially around it's upper stream, around the region called "Heart", it is a place of pilgrimages performed by some of the nomads worshiping the old cult of The Great Bull.

>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
No. No magic, really. At least not in the conventional sense.

>Please tell me you don't have rivers that flow uphill, bisect entire landmasses or split as they flow towards the sea.
See the map of for yourself.

What happens when a river ends at a lake? Does lake water make a new river flowing into an ocean?

One more map, it's really outdated, but actually depicts Circle at the time of the rule of Palacus the third. The patterned regions are the regions affected by the uprising.

>split as they flow towards the sea
That actually happens though

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_bifurcation

Hey /wbg/

Do you think that an AI god (not just a god-level intelligent AI, but an actual artificial god, with godly powers) could turn a cyberpunky scifi setting into a pic related -like magitech world?

The idea I'm working with is that the AI god (That has actually split up to hundreds of forms, some of which have even died), made for the betterment of human condition, would see that humans understanding their technology is some sort of a hindrance to their lives, thus it works toward a goal of a magitech world, where humans don't understand the nittiest of grittiest of magic, but can utilize it.

And even more, make humans return more into their past form by introducing new threats to the world, so humans don't just become couch potatoes in a world where everything is done for them.

Like, of course, the logic and intelligence of an AI God can be molded to any form, but does this make sense?

Also, the setting does actually become a final fantasyesque setting with swords and magic, due to old parts of dead gods becoming the strongest weapons they can use, due to their godly powers. And unsurprisingly, it's much easier to make an artificial god's machine parts into a melee weapon than an AK-47 or a plasma gun.

Is this kind of forceful towards a certain kind of setting, or does this actually make sense on some weird level?

...

>tumblr
Besides, most of these are insanely easy.

>lol i unno
>1 known continent, 3 distinct geographical zones though.
>5 and a half. Dwarves, Humans, Centaur, Catfolk, and Faun/Satyr. Satyr are corrupted Faun that revert the subtle faun social hierarchy to pure lewd domination, and they are the definite antanogist race. Like Dunmer, except not as popular.
>lol i unno
>Centaur are quickly going extinct due to Faun and Dwarves entering their territory and bringing new things such as agriculture and metalworking
>Since it's 01:29, the Satyr named Baccus is firmly asleep in his bed. Baccus lives alone, and is roughly in the middle of the social hierarchy. He's not confident enough to go naked and proud, but he does take glee in bullying his lessers.

Hard mode
>6 to 10
>Satyr pantheon, unnamed
>The craftsman, the learned, the soldier, the farmer
The craftsman is the Satyr patron god of.. Well, craftsmen. He's depicted as male, and so only male Satyr may ever become craftsmen. That's the same concept for the rest of them, too. The Learned goes for politicans, teachers, scholars, and priests, and is depicted as male. The farmer is only depicted as a female, and is also a fertility goddess. Thus, only females become hard labourers. The soldier, however, is androgynous. Portrayed either as an extremely timid and frightened child, or an extremely sexualized hermaphrodite. Due to this, the military also just so happens to most intelligent Satyr women. In fact, the satyr senate is almost half women, only because the female warlords greatly outnumber the male ones, as war is the only thing the females can gain from.

>It has two main sects. The Satyr kind, and the Faun kind. These do not conflict much, except for the upper castes of the Satyr religion, which is more cultlike, and has the power to turn Faun into satyr. This cult preaches domination of the strong over the weak, sadism, and hatred for anything standing in the way of your goals.

Cont, also r8 worldbuilding

>It's originally from Tumblr, that automatically makes it worthless!
>being this ad hominem
If they're so easy, answer them.

Looks very good, shame the regions are so small.

I get a Bob Page (Deus Ex) vibe from this. Assuming this is a cyberpunk world, I'd have the AI setup their own company and start selling whatever juice creates the magic. At the end stage, he hires terrorists to spike the global water supply in order to "infect" everyone.

Well, the gods themselves create magic though (Lol), so it can be anything.

Well yeah, it can be anything, really, from terrorists spiking water supplies to fucking gargantuan monsters, lol. I was more leaning towards the latter, but I would also probably put some more "mundane" threats so people would be on their toes even in the safe confines of large cities.

They're just absurdly simple questions.
>The rivers and via infrastructure (canals ect...)
>The cooks (ie the working class)
>The merchants who own the stores
>No modern utilities
>It gets thrown into the streets then cleaned by the church
>Gets thrown into the sewers
>Wood, stone, clay, iron, ect...
>Go to the church/local healer and/or apothocary
>Hide in their homes or flee the city
>Run and let the city guard handle it
>Manual labor
>Through stores

Like honestly, all of these are retardedly stupid. Leave it up to tumblr to make shit like this.

>How was/is this religion spread
The Satyr upper cult infiltrated faun societies some hundred years ago in a memorable way, and I assume that that counts. Generally, one satyr and one satyr-loyal faun "bait" moved into a nearby cave, or village, respectively. The Faun bait spun amazing tales of the power to make others jealous of your amazing charisma and silken tounge, and took young, promising Faun to see the preacher, where he preached to the few faun who wanted to listen, turning them from simple, life-loving faun, to cruel, opportunistic Satyr. Then, the preacher moved on, and the satyr moved to a satyr village hidden deep in the wilderness away from prying eyes, and built their strength in a new society, a society shaped by the domination of the strong, and the fluid hierarchy of pure force of character, and physical strength.

>What are the tenets of this religion
Already said, oops. Anyway, strength, the particular lack of respect for arbitrarily decided leaderships, and domination. Also, lust and virility are big ones.

>What is the hierarchy of this religion
At the top are the re-incarnation of the gods themselves. Of course, they are not respected, and tend to get assassinated. Very quickly. Then, below those, are preachers, those who are able to spread the gift of Satyrism. Under those are the Preachers' apprentices, who work as an entourage, harem, and underlings in general to the preachers. Under those are the common people. Of course, the church is separated from the state, and indeed, killing a preacher is no more frowned upon than killing an urchin.

>Is there an adversary figure or place of punishment for those who went against the tenets of the religion, or both?
Naye. The tenets are being strong and dominant however. So, if you fail that, you have an extremely bad life in front of you, as a doormat, victim, and what not. You are practically worthless.

>>Pick a leader
Techlord Grod
>>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
The Dirod Enclave, a nation of Half-Orc exiles banished past the Durathi mountains for refusing to submit to the rule of the current Oregli Warlords' rule.
>>HOW undisputed do they rule?
He tends to rely on others for important decisions and has a council elected each season to help him make important decisions. Ultimately however, he calls the shots, and the people accept that.
>>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
Surviving in the region beyond the mountains by selling what little scrap they can find to passers by. Also, they have to watch being consistently raided by the Warlord's raiding parties, seeking both vengeance and conscripts.
>>WHO do they have to fear?
The Oreg Warlord's, wandering Machinist bandits, Undead spirits of the Old World, Mutant Beastmen, the regular.
>>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscape?
They represent a commitment among a set group of Half-Orcs to abandon the warlike ways of their ancestors, and instead forge a peaceful existence as nomads who wish nothing more than to be left alone.

Satyr user here.
Water comes from the practically unlimited amount of fens, natural springs, and plants soaking up moisture in the swampy jungles of the Satyr homeland. It's up to each person to get it, unless he can send someone else to do it for him.

The food is home made (of course) what the fuck else would it be? Usually gathered fruits and plants, and small game. Satyr are relatively good trappers, and navigate the ground floor of the jungle exceptionally well.

Trash is thrown in the community bog, where it slowly turns to compost. Same with sewage.

Wood and mud is available for practically everyone, as indeed, branches is easy to get, and sticky mud even more so. The capital and other monuments however are made from mossy, overgrown blocks of sandstone, varying from black to sparkling white depending on their age and kind.

When satyr get sick, they keel over and die. Or they walk it off. They might try brewing some tea to see if it helps.

In the case of a flooding, the people simply flee to find somewhere better to live untill the natural disaster has passed. Nigger why the fuck do I need to write this down isn't it kind of fucking obvious.

>Fire
Satyr hardly use fire, and good luck making a moist swamp ignite.

>Large objects
Satyr do not have moai or trucks or obelisks or whatever you'd imagine. Their society is antique, at the very best.

>skilled labor
Made by craftsmen, and sold by craftsmen to all kinds of people. Again, this is dumb as fuck, and a good reason for why is 100% correct. Dumb as fuck questions.

Every question is simple if you're intentionally making the answer as short and meaningless as possible.

Observe.
>How many continents/planets does it have?
Three.
>Describe a random person from your world, and what they're doing right at this very moment
A baker, baking.
>How many (major) religions does your world have right now?
Four.
>How many sects/denominations does this religion have? Do they ever conflict with each other? Are there any heretical sects?
Three; yes; yes.
>Does your setting have a holy river like the Ganges?
No.
>Does your setting have a magical river like the Styx?
No.
>What's your setting's longest river?
The Red River.
God, leave it to Veeky Forums to make such stupid questions.

That's you. That's what you sound like.

>tumblr kid literally this #triggered

world build your own, you're the general now

I got the picture from Pinterest. I don't use Tumblr, because the general quality of Tumblr is pretty low. You, however, have taken this to stupid lengths. Even if the average output of something is low, it does not rule out the possibility of producing something good. M. Night Shyamalan is a terrible director; The Sixth Sense is a good movie.

You, however, are so fannyflustered by the mere mention of Tumblr that you just assume anything they produce is bad; you then unironically say someone is "#triggered" as spittle sprays from your mouth and you point a trembling finger to say "u r bad".

The user that responded to you wasn't even me you blazing faggot.

>she keeps responding

So what's your response?

You mean the one before episolon and after gamma

>Please tell me you don't have rivers that...split as they flow towards the sea.

>The capital and other monuments however are made from mossy, overgrown blocks of sandstone, varying from black to sparkling white depending on their age and kind.
>Satyr do not have moai or trucks or obelisks or whatever you'd imagine. Their society is antique, at the very best.

Er... you've got a conflict there, Satyranon. You can't have giant sandstone monuments without some way of moving giant blocks of sandstone. Through a swamp. Preferably in a way that doesn't cause your structure to burn down, fall over, and sink into the swamp.

Of course, if there are only a handful of monuments around, plus an ancient capital, "a wizard did it" is a perfectly good answer.

I remember the folks at the Carrizo Plain don't even allow tourists to touch the sandstone because otherwise it'd get worn down too quickly. It's probably not the best material for buildings.

>Invent a race of genetically engineered humanoids born without hands
>They have telekinesis instead

Figuring out how a society would work without hands is something I think I need to be high for.

Vienna's most famous church is made of sandstone and it's been standing for about 700 years now.

Well, how mechanically advanced is it? Things like buttons, switches, knobs, etc. would either
>be larger, so they can be operated by wrist-nubs
or
>not exist, as the machines are operated by telekinesis

It partially depends on how advanced their telekinesis is. Is it as easy for humans as using our own hands? Or is it like, say, jumping--where anyone can do it, but it can get tiring, so we invent stepstools?

Oh. I guess they're different kinds.

Which church?

i think it's just better to abide by that rule tbf. for some reason people get super triggered about river systems, and whether your rivers split or not doesn't actually matter than much to your overall worldbuilding.

it's just not worth it, unless you happen to be a limnologist or something and can shut the people who get triggered about it down easily.

>PICK a leader in your setting
High Priest Ramin Makri. "High Priest" currently is a placeholder title until I can think of something better. Or maybe it'll stick. Not sure yet.

>WHAT counry/faction/kingdom are they the leader of?
De jure leader of the the Great Suban Temple in the city Hram. De facto ruler of the Suban religion. The current "pontiff" is incapacitated, and his replacement (Farhad Lija) highly respects Makri and values his advice perhaps a bit too much.

>HOW undisputed do they rule?
As temple leader, undisputed. As religious leader, there is more strife. The pontiff has been quite ill, but stable, for two months now. If he should come to pass, there are two likely follow-ups. The first is that the the temporary replacement pontiff becomes the new pontiff. If this is the case, various high priests might well conspire to if not kill the pontiff and Makri, at the very least get them far away and in a position of non-religious leadership. If somebody else gets elected, Makri should be safe. Makri is ineligible for the position.

>WHICH are their greatest challenges?
Part of the responsibilities of the Great Suban Temple is the educating and training of acolytes, which are also the settings mages. One acolyte has shown signs that could indicate that he's a prophet to be. This might be somewhat problematic, as his family originally comes from a region where Suba is considered a devil who does nothing but tempt Man, and the acolyte is still not quite at peace with reconciling his past and current beliefs.

>WHO do they have to fear?
The possible political upheaval of a dead pontiff. Though Makri would use his own influence to attempt to not get Lija elected pontiff, Lija enjoys the blessing of the pontiff, which is generally a guarantee for succession.

>WHAT is their greatest influence on the political landscape?
Instrumental in establishing various treaties with the neighbouring heretical kingdom of Shirin, which a lot of the clergy opposed.

St. Stephen's Cathedral, literally in the middle of the city.

But then you're just giving in to peer pressure. At that point, why not engage in unsafe sex and smoke heroin?

But Wikipedia says St. Stephen's made of limestone, and also in need of constant repair. Are you maybe thinking of a different church? I'm not trying to say you're wrong about there being a long-lasting church made of sandstone, necessarily.

In north, the rivers flowing from the great glacier have very strong religious significance in many original religions of the area. I have no names for it yet, though.

Spirit Emperor of Desw - an actual demigod.
Leader of Desw people, although operates in utmost secrecy - only the top dogs of the empire are allowed knowledge of it, and indulging these secrets can make whole families disappear.

As for rule, rather undisputed. It is the sole reason how their wheel of reincarnation keeps spinning and doesn't revert to the natural cycle of souls returning back to original chaos. And of course, dishing out divine curses keeps people's belief in karma empire and karma strong.

Of course, there are still some tribes around the empire that don't acknowledge the empire's rule - they are kinda shortlived after being found, unfortunately.

As for challenges, in modern world it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain secrecy.
The emperor fears few things, but most a human dickbag whose artifact was his/her ticket to divinity, the west collective and whatnot.

And the influence is obvious. While the formal emperor does handle some affairs, he/she responds directly to the spirit emperor. The spirit emperor's word also dictates the dogma of their state-religion, as well.

Huh, no my bad I was wrong. And we don't talk about the constant repair thing, it's embarassing

>she

But that user's correct. "Pinterest" should be a dead giveaway.

>being a homo-nazi /owutg/ Tobycux(tm) shill drone idiot brainwashed neo-liberal post-2007 hippie communist hipster /mu/ memesexual mutantgendered stupid parroting SOCJUS puppet writing gay furry goat fanfiction for 25 hours every day

kill yourself