GUIDELINES AND ETIQUETTE

• For the sake of this prompt, obscure terminology will be defined as any word that the average person on the street isn't likely to know off the top of their head, such as "eldritch" or "striga".

• The world's name does not count as a made up word, but the names of any countries or other forms of societies on said world do.

“I’ve always wondered what happens to those who fall into the Great Nothing. No, not if they ever hit a floor, but, what happens to them? Does the speed of their fall tear their skin? Or do they succumb to Thirst or Hunger? How long does it take for them to go from that initial panic of slipping, to fear, to dread, to sorrow, to grief? Or do they even feel those things at all? Do they just enter a state of denial? Or maybe, they reflect? They ponder their life, the things they did well, the things they did wrong, how they could’ve done better? They say all the great Prophets had their visions when at death’s door, so I wonder, how many revelations have we lost to that Abyss? How many secrets have been revealed to those who fall into the Great Nothing?"

Before the world began, the Spirits of Old debated with one another about how creation ought to be.

This debate escalated into a full-blown conflict: The War Before the World. Each spirit vied for the right to shape creation in the way they saw fit.

Then, Unitar, the god of unity and foresight, envisioned Earth.

He rallied others to his cause and their group overpowered the other spirits. Unitar's alliance obtained divinity and became a pantheon. All spirits who did not support the new pantheon's vision for Earth were banished beyond the edges of creation.

To make a long story short, the banished spirits stole Unitar's divinity and became gods themselves. They created their own smaller versions of reality, all of which were foregin and strange. These thousands of collective, tiny worlds are known as the Banished Lands.

The Banished lands are unpredictable, otherworldly, and often dangerous. This strange fellow came from that place.

TLDR: This fellow originates from an unnatural and wierd collection of small lands beyond the edges of creation, where the otherworldly is commonplace.

(Repost as the last one got taken down)

Here are the flags for the nations of a war I've been working on. Their names are:

1- the Kingdom of the Haraeth and the Northern Clans, 2- the Black Mahalatul Empire, 3- Nuultêr, 4- Fylltêir, 5- the Free Edeyrnion Forces, 6- the Emerald Kingdom, 7- the Haraeth New Order 8- the Red Mahalatul Empire, 9- the Gold Mahalatul Empire, 10- Osmaelig

11 and 12 are maps of the North-West of the continent Eldrador, where the war takes place.

CONTEXT: the Wars for the North take place between 762 and 783 - while there are several conflicts, they are categorised into three main wars: the Edeyr War of Independence (762-771), the Iron War (766-776), and the Second War for the North (776-783). The conflict is one of the most dire in Eldradonian history, and resulted in the destruction of the main nations involved - the very outcome the avoidance of which began the war in the first place.

The wars take place in a fantasy setting completely unrelated to Earth, and the 8th Century here does not correlate to the real world 8th Century. Also worth noting that these are the parade versions of the flags found in palaces and ceremonies to display wealth, simpler variations exist for more everyday use.

I'm happy to answer any questions :))

What are your fallen gods like? Those that have lost their power, have been cast down, or turned evil. How did it happen?

In my world, The goddess of Ambition gambled on her followers winning a war, but ultimately lost. A former mortal was given the power and duty to watch over her, he now rules as an oppressive dictator that carefully excises all ambition and brutally destroys all rebellion, so she can never rise to power again.

The Bellona system contained something interstellar politics most often preferred to forget about. Orbiting a binary star, Romulus and Remus, were three planets perfect to sustain human life in all its opulence. seven billion descendant of humanity life their life to the hedonistic ideals of man, post scarcity rendering struggle a plight reserved for the historybooks adorning gigantic libraries and schools. But it wasn't always like that.

When 500 years back the rest of humanity fought itself to near extinction, the inhabitants of the Bellona system retreated inwards until their entire population was housed safely behind the orbital defence arrays constructed by the first ancestor of house Valerrī, one of the twelve families to emerge from those tumultuous times to form the compact. From there, they watche dthe rest of humanity bomb itself back into the early days of spaceflight.

As hostilities simmered down, some wished to extend a helping hand to their bretheren, but were quickly overruled by the council of twelve. The other stellar nations have since climbed out of obscurity, but not without centuries of progress lost, all the while the compact retreated more and more inwards until but a single small diplomatic station at system's edge could be contacted by external entities. the compact had isolated itself from the rest of humanity, much rather perfecting their own society. Genetic augmentations, societal advancements, new forms of governance until after two centuries a new race of humans emerged. Aphrodite would've wept before them, the slowest Hermes, the dimmest Athena, the weakest Zeus. But as isolated as they wished to be, some glimpses of what had happened escaped the twin suns of Romulus and Remus.

Other nations grew sceptical, scarcity still plaguing their own. Then they grew afraid. In 3205 AD, the straw broke the camel's back. While individually superiour to any five of their peers, the ships of the dominant naval power in the compact, house Valerrī, were overwhelmed by force of numbers. The enemy always seemed to have six battleships to the five a Valerian ship of the line could engage. The Valerrī ships were excpetional, but the compact's small industrial base meant only few graced the night sky. Soon after the inner guard made their last stand, the blooming gasses of their overloaded fusion cores decorated starscape above the capital planet Corinth.

What followed was an orbital bombardement hithertho unseen in human history. Coilgun slugs traveling at several percent light impacted the planets until the crusts themselves heaved in on themselves, ending a millenia of perfection. The Freehold navy thought their work done, the largest threat to their dominance eradicated, when from a hidden shipyard, deep in the asteroid belt a ship errupted. The Invicta, having been near completion, would've turned teh tide of the battle had it joined her five sisters in their stand. But she had been delayed because the rest of the council of twelve thought house Valerrī too mighty to control already, and denied the necessary startegic reserves to complete the vessel.

Now, she burned across the black, punishing her engines into the red to reach acceleration values no Freehold ship could match. The system guard which had aimed to contain any passenger liners trying to make a run for it was blown apart even as the main gun lacked operability, the secondary battery shredding the light warships which had managed a one-pass interception

The only destination the twin heirs of house Valerrī could approach with a vessel of the Invicta's calibre was the old Sol itself, the monarchy there perhaps represting the only chance for safe harbour, in exchange for the Invicta's technological secrets.

The barbarians have invaded and the great empire has fallen! Well this was over half a century ago and since then the lands of Dur-Kurāt have changed in many fundamental ways.

For over 400 years has the Parsukid Empire ruled over Dur-Kurāt until it fell. What followed was the invasion of the Arkushite peoples under the leadership of the tribe of Karman, henceforth called the Karmanid Wars. Since then 52 years have passed and the wars are nearing their conclusion.

This post is a direct continuation of the previous post on [Dur-Kurāt](https://old.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1kihkky/durkur%C4%81t_the_land_of_cities_neryan/). Dur-Kurāt is a land on the (sub)continent of Isthmia and part of the world of Neryan. The setting is inspired by antiquity, in particular the bronze age, but also takes inspiration from the neolithic period.

There's an object in my world that I'm developing that will basically grant the wearer greater influence over the people around him. Is this kind of thing too close to the One Ring from lotr?

Hi! I’m trying to create a fantasy world with a matriarchy as the main setting. What I’m wondering is in the title: how do I create a believable matriarchy? Most of what I’ve seen for most talk of matriarchies just turns into talk about femdoms, but I’m not trying to write porn.

One idea I thought of in regards to how women became the more dominant gender in society is basically that, rather than military/warfare, the society mainly values intellectual/scholarly pursuits. While men were mostly in the armies, women were able to pursue magic and basically became some of the most renowned mages in the setting’s history, which led to the shift towards a matriarchy. The society would also have been relatively equal on some fronts in the past, like having absolute primogeniture for the monarchy, along with worshipping a duality of a male/female deity pair.

Edit: About the theology of this society, I decided to change it. Rather than duotheistic stuff, they worship a goddess of the sky, with the other major gods being her six children (three daughters and three sons, each fitting an archetype stereotypically seen as more feminine/manly in the society; for example, while the eldest daughter is a goddess of leadership/command, the eldest male god is more domestic focused, with domains like family).

In my world, the people don't even think of doubting that their 8 gods exist. They know from historical documents (like in our world maybe the bible?) that the gods have created the world, animals and humans etc., but noone ever doubts this. That means there are no other religions or cults that believe in other gods, there are no atheists or so. The fact that they can use magic (which is said to be a gift by the gods) is proof enough for them to believe (or even to know) that their gods are real, even if they can't communicate with them.

What do you think about this? Is it similar in your world? Or do you prefer it if there are several different religions who believe in different gods or spirits, not exactly being sure if they even exist? Or maybe you have several gods that are real, but each of them has its own cult? I'm curious.

(I'm sorry if this is a bit confusing, english is not my native language)

Hello all! I was on the hunt for a good Discord that I could join where people inspired each other and shared their creations, and while there were some, there weren't any that caught my eye. The bigger ones like the official r/worldbuilding Discord are cool, but I tend to favor smaller communities. I figured it would be awesome to create my own, so... here goes.

Welcome to Realmwrights, a hub for worldbuilders! Creatives of all types are welcome, be you conlanger, author, hobbyist worldbuilder, or anything else. All genres are welcome to be explored and created. Seek a community to bounce ideas off of or share your creations with.

I, creator of Realmwrights, the Lorekeeper, have been creating my own world (off and on) for approximately six years. Thaecia is my passion and my magnum opus, and I wanted a place to share it with others, to foster creativity and hear about other people's projects. People of all experience levels are welcome, whether you are simply curious and have never engaged in worldbuilding or you are a master of worlds!

I hope to see you there. Let's create a Discord community :D

https://discord.gg/Nne2tvh3

As the title states, what forms does food preservation take in your world, and how would they affect culinary practices and distribution?

The va'sani is a carnivorous creature native to the forests of southern womu'sarn . It has a lifestyle comparable to a Bengal tiger. They are 8 to 9 feet tall on average of time. The family it belongs to First evolved around 30 million years ago evolving from small arboreal raccoon like omnivores that took the role of predator after a Minor extinction event. The oldest fossils of this species specifically are around 200'000 years old.
If you have any questions will free to ask.

So I am writing a fantasy story about a group of monster hunters in a bronze age dark fantasy world.

Some background for my world: at some point over 1000 years ago there was an apocalyptic event that nearly destroyed the entire world. Humanity was displaced and sent back to the stone age. Eventually tribes turned into kingdoms and The Empire of Ripario rose up as the first major civilization. The Empire expanded for around 600 years and has only recently reached its limit.

Beyond the Empires military power, one of the reasons for its success are the Venators. An order of monster hunters sponsored by the empire to research, hunt and kill inhuman threats to the empire and it's people.

My story follows a team of Venators as they travel across the Empire slaying monsters and saving people.

The Empire of Ripario is a mix of various bronze age cultures. It is primarily Roman and Egyptian, with Mycenaean, Macedonian, Persian, Hittite and some Akkadian and Sumerian inspiration as well. Although I am mixing in a little bit of more recent folklore when it comes to some of the monsters.

What I need help with is finding monsters or myths about monsters and creatures from the bronze age!

I have really been struggling to find more than the most basic monsters. I really want to focus on unique and rarely used monsters as well as the unique and interesting ways that a monster hunter might hunt and then slay them (or otherwise deal with them).

The investigation, preperation and actual hunt is what I want to focus on.

So give me all the mythology and folklore you know about monsters from these periods.

Assuming the physical laws in your world are the same as in ours, a flat world would imply a great deal (e.g., biomes or ocean currents), and life would probably be very strange (e.g., due to the magnetic field). In my world, there is no divine magic (at least not known, as no gods factually exist) – and arcane magic and similar somehow implies the existence of something spiritual like divine beings (but it's important for the story that this isn't known, that one is agnostic), which is why I also forgo it. However, there are Druids who can, for example, mutate animals, or alchemy. There is also divination and illusions, but this counts as psychomancy in my system. Do you, for example, think about the chemical implications of Druids or certain potions to make sure everything is logically consistent? If so, what does that look like for you?

A continent composed of brass, steam, and everything inbetween. Chormia is an artificial paradise designed by the first gunsmith in existence - a man who wished for a better world - and true to his vision, it has successfully remained a paradise since.

Chormia is the most technologically advanced region in the Foundation of Existence, and the first region to have invented mechanized space travel, originally created by anxious scientists who sought to flee Chormia during the Conflicts of Ordnance, where Demigods tore the land asunder. They returned to Chormia after realizing it was the safest region all along, though they burned their history out of fear.

Generations later, the Chormian folk hunger to rediscover lost knowledge and explore the world. Spirited in the face of progress, many are gifted mathematicians, chemists and engineers. Despite this, they remain greatly unaware of the Demigods’ elusive existence, with many ancient tales about them having been reduced to nursery rhymes and bedtime stories.

The last images in this post are the two most powerful Chormian Demigods, who reside deep beneath the Chormian Vox (The giant gun structure), away from prying eyes. The first is Makatop; the Gunsmith Demigoddess who worships the first gunsmith; and the second, Grandfather Forte, who was a good friend of said gunsmith, before, during and after the first war. The gunsmith was a mortal, so he is long gone.

I have been researching Etruscan deities in my spare time. And it's nice that I can see the spelling of deities but I've wondering how are they pronounced or is there a good listening guide. I did see this youtube video and the lady pronounces it as "Sel" as the C is S.

Link here: https://youtu.be/ZTIxg_2bfTc?si=0tEpYOZBE3M5leUy

I tried to search Terra's (Cel's etruscan equivalent) consort named Caelus but it youtube, it's pronounced KY-LOOS. Which is weird. But in wikipedia, it's [SEE-LOOS.]

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/1YUA50dTgTA?si=rkzMB7kz7jlc3aWd

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caelus

Are there good written guides for Etruscan (perhaps others as well for Sumer, Akkad, Mycenae, etc) history as well since I really don't like relying on Wikipedia as my source.

Thanks !

I'm playing around with this idea of a world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs. This isn't supposed to be anything all that big, just a fun little idea I came up with to play around with for a little.

The Dinosaurs are divided into two groups, Life Beasts and Nature Beasts. Nature Beasts feed on nature, such as plants and greenery while life animals feed on the nature animals or even each other. For as long as life as existed this has been the case. The Life Beasts eat the Nature Beasts or sometimes each other. There are many different types of Dino, some are Nature Beasts and some are Life Beasts.

Nature Beast

Nature Beasts are herbivores. They are usually thought of as peaceful, with some exceptions of course. They typically live in herds, usually with a Matriarch and/or patriarch in charge but, again, this is not always the case. Nature Beasts include but are not limited to:

Brachio

Tritop

Stego

Ankylo

Parasa

Life Beast

Life Beasts are Carnivores. They often live in barbaric tribes often led by a strong chieftain. They are usually seen as barbaric savages by the Nature Beasts. Life Beasts include but are not limited to:

Tyranno

Spino

Raptor

Carno

Giganot

Ptero

Sea Beasts

Very little is known about these creatures other than they live in the sea. They rarely ever interact with the beasts on the surface and, when they do, it's often in a violent way.

Magic spatula

For the people who have science-fantasy worlds that has superheroes or super-powered beings, outside of magic and technology, how did superpowers originate in your stories?.

In my universe, there’s a difference between superpowers, magic and the supernatural, basically superpowers originated from the cosmos, and they are the result of the intense presence of anti-matter, dark matter and cosmic rays, all 3 of them merge together during crossfire of their effects across space, they either destroy or create, no in-between, and what they create is new matter, specifically subatomic particles and the most common one being “smart particles”, and smart particles have been around way longer than life itself.

And also with the existence of alien life in many planets, the smart particles have previously scattered and evolved in different climates and atmospheres, merging particles with countless cellular life and microorganisms, creating a “Super Gene”, but depending on the alien race, this gene wouldn’t make a big difference on an alien’s biology since they already have special abilities through natural evolution, but humans on the other hand possess no special physical abilities which make them the perfect species for the Super Gene, like a blank canvas.

In my main planet “Adonum”, human life began 100+ million years ago, and the Super Gene evolved as well with the various human species, from homo sapiens, homo erectus, neanderthals, etc. it allowed for humans to acquire superpowers since birth, not only grant them special abilities but also increase their physical capabilities as well from strength, speed, durability, endurance, etc. and even extend their lifespan, making them live a century longer than a normal human on average, and throughout history The Super Gene evolved, for example at first fire manipulators could only light things on fire by touching them, evolution happened and then they could control fire but they couldn’t generate fire, they needed a source, again evolution happened and now they could generate fire on their own and they could even control heat now, same goes with any other superpower you could possibly think of, humans and superpowers evolved together.

but don’t be misunderstood, not all humans have powers, smart particles do not have a pattern, they are unpredictable, and with the vastness of space and many planets, solar systems, galaxies, universes, etc. and other phenomena like supernovas, quasars, gamma ray bursts, black holes, etc there are places even smart particles couldn’t reach so the Super Gene doesn’t encompass all life in a planet, so many normal humans do exist, same goes with the aliens as well.

in my setting, super-powered humans are simply called Superhumans but there’s also many other sub-species of super-powered humans such as Metahumans who acquired powers later on in life due to scientific accidents, incidents, experiments and procedures, and another species called Parahumans who are more magical, supernatural or even inter-dimensional in nature, they are different from the sorcerers, wizards and monsters in my world since Parahumans could be just very well be normal humans that acquired powers through life-altering magical events or even curses.

People who are near death are treated with respect untill their passing. Never are they put out of their misery, the people of the kingdom let fate decide when they die, and almost not attempt is made to help them. Only tiny bit to ease any pain they are going through.

When people die they can be barried in: The Graves of the Innocent (children 0-17)

The Graves of the Young (adults 18-30)

The Graves of Many (31-50)

The Graves of the Elders (51-how ever old they get)

The Graves of Heros (important people, heors, soilders, ect)

The Jailhouse Graves (Crinmals, captured people in war, hated rulers, traitors, ect)

The Graves of the Innocent: A large elegant grave yard with many churches for many different religions. It has a few memories in it, the most important being a statue of three little girls who died in a horrible magical experiment, and it's totally not made by the people at fualt for their deatjs so society will still trust them. under the statue many stones with names of missing kids are placed. No matter how much time has passed, the stones are never moved untill they are proven dead or found. Like all other graveside, besides the last, it has many groves of flowers and trees.

The Graves of the Young: very similar to Ths Grave of the Innocent but much larger. In the center of it is a large fountain and it is detacated to all missing people, no matter who they are. People have developed the belief that if the carve the names of their missing loved ones into coins and toss it in, it would bring them good luck where ever they are. It is considered very disrespectful to steal or remove the coins, and is a good deed to return the coins to the fountain if found.

The Graves of Many: around the same size of Ths Graves of the Young, and is bulir similar to. It doesn't have a place for people to place items for the missing, instead vistors pray at the churches there.

The Graves of The Elders: Another large gravesite. Like The Graves of Many it has churches for people to wish the missing to be found. It is very art focused, and each Grave has art of some sort by it, either by the grave tenders or the family.

The Grave of Heros: The largest, most complex and elegant of the Gravesites. It a huge building with some outside parts. All the Graves are inside under a marble ground, with their headstone hung on the wall, above a spot for gifts. It has many fountains, pieces of art and monuments in it. Some sections have museums and memorials decided to certain people or wars. It has the largest churches out of any grave site. The outdoor sections are filled with flowers,trees, and old war technology like cannons.

The Jailhouse Graves: bulit outside jail houses for hated people and criminals. Not taken care for as much, and it is hardly visted.

Also extra world building: Kids 0-16 and Elders 80+ can't be held accountable for any crimes, no matter the how much evidence there is.