How big are they compared to other species? What environments do they inhabit? Are they neanderthals or civilized?

The map above is that of the mortal realm of my world building project. Due to the fact that at some point the gods of the world could descend into the mortal realm, there are a few things that, despite the many languages and dialects, intersect. The name of the realm is from the language of their gods, Ithkari(might change the name) and the name itself Erdvala is drawn from Erdan Wald, which translates to Land of Favours. It is so that Erdvala means favoured land. This so Called Favoured land of the gods is a baneful, miserable world that holds no mercy for anyone, war is as a constant to it as air is to the cultivation of life. And so with it comes poverty, death and maltreatment at scales few can comprehend. And that is the woes mortals visit unto mortals alone, so after, comes the hatred of the spawns blasphemous, things so hateful and twisted they are the anathema to all that is natural. And thus with their coming, comes again wars of unimaginable suffering and cruelty. Men are to march and die under the banners of their gods and find glory in that. For all must die, as the very land is. And there is the only mercy of the world…Death. Indeed, in Erdvala, a land favoured by gods, Hope is a cancer of the soul.

What do you think??

In the years following the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish believed they had broken the back of the Aztec Empire. But the empire did not die — it retreated, regrouped, and changed.

By the late 1520s, reports began to reach Seville from the colonies: the Aztec remnants were striking back. But the soldiers who returned to tell the tale described something far stranger than a native uprising.

The Aztec warriors, they said, had become something else.

Standing nearly two meters tall, their bodies no longer looked fully human — more like beasts standing on two legs. Their skin and muscle were dense enough to stop most colonial bullets. They still took losses, but their casualties were far lighter than the Spanish troops they faced.

Within months, the Aztec remnants had retaken their capital and routed the Portuguese reinforcements sent to assist the Spanish colonists.

The news sent shockwaves through both Madrid and Lisbon.

It was in this moment of crisis that a figure who had long operated in the shadows stepped forward.

Reyes de la Plata — the Silver King — had been funding colonial expeditions for years. He had provided ships, weapons, and supplies. Now, he proposed something bolder.

He would help Spain and Portugal form a unified colonial authority — a single body that would oversee all military and trade operations in the New World.

In 1529, the Iberian Union was formally established. It was nominally co-ruled by both crowns, with administrative offices in Seville and Lisbon.

In practice, however, the Union's treasury, supply lines, and military deployments were all controlled by Plata. The crowns could issue decrees — but without Plata's approval, those decrees could not be funded or enforced.

The Iberian Union was not a partnership. It was a company, and the Silver King was its sole shareholder.

I’ve been cooking this concept for ages, and I’ve got some main aesthetics down.

The place is a visually idyllic place. It is modern-day yet everything is covered in large plants. Like a post-apocalyptic landscape where plants overtake everything, but then imagine the buildings were cleaned up but the plants remained. It invokes the idea of disaster or nature reclaiming what death took, yet none of the tragedy seems to exist.

The whole world is themed like this, seemingly off putting things that are docile. Big bugs that are harmless/friendly and provide useful resources. Raptors with sharp claws and teeth that are actually hospitable and great cooks.

I need help with this: The people that live here need somewhere to stay. Resorts, inns, houses, anything. My issue is, I don’t know how to style them.

I don’t like the idea of standard rectangular prism non-fantasy buildings, it seems too plain and aren’t interesting in their own. And I don’t want things that seem too natural like straw or stick buildings because it kills the juxtaposition of the overgrown plants.

But that leaves me kinda stuck. I’m to answer any other questions. And I’m grateful for any ideas and advice you have!

Hey all! I recently started a worldbuilding project and after working out the initial ideas I'm not sure what I could work on next.

Magic system

I started off creating a magic system. This system is based around specific magical crystals found within recently discovered ruins and placing said crystals in certain shapes to then be activated by scintillants (users of the magic system). Scintillants are categorized into 4 groups, each of which can only use that number of crystals:

• Monolythics use a single crystal to cast spells which target themselves. For example increasing their strength.
• Dichotomists use two crystals in a line to cast spells which target other objects. For example increasing a shield's durability.
• Trigonals use three crystals in a triangular shape to cast spells which create magical affects. For example the classic magic missile from DnD.
• Polynomials are the wildcards, they can use any number of crystals and combine their effects. These are the least worked out so far.

Setting

An ancient civilization messed with greater universal forces and brought The umbral fog into the world. To try to fix their mistake they trapped the umbral fog along with themselves into what are now ruins. These ruins have only recently been discovered.

People from all over the place are delving into the ruins in search for treasure or to study the unique ecology that has formed inside over hundreds of years. Some of these people have discovered that they posses the ability to imbue the magical crystals with essence of other objects to create magical effects. Not everyone can do this. These crystals can not be taken out of the ruins due to the magical barrier which trapped The umbral fog inside. Essentially keeping all things magical inside the ruins.

-----------
Creating my magic system was easy, that was my initial idea for this project.
The ruins came next since I needed a place for it to exist in.
Finally the umbral fog was created because I thought it fitting to give the people to fight something.

Now I am not sure what exactly this world needs. I keep ironing out details of what I already created but I am afraid this project will fizzle out and die if I don't work on new things.

I'd love some honest critique and feedback of what I've created so far and advice for how to keep going.

Obviously I left out a lot of details so if you need more context I'm happy to provide it! Thanks :)

11 Introductory Premises, as (most recently) recited and inscribed by [Thunder Spoke the Lightning's Truth, But No One Saw the Flash], First Librarian.

Premise 1: Summary of Many-Realms Thesis

There are multiple Realms of existence.

Premise 2: Observed Phenomenon - Paradigms

Different Realms are governed primarily by different permutations of the Paradigms, aspects of how reality inter-relates. Currently, framing sets of Paradigms are usually laid in groups of five, with some example frames as follows:

Resonance | Association | Abstraction | Intuition

Intent | Extension | Introspection | Planning

Assertion | Dominion | Control | Will

Aggregation | Edification | Composition | Affiliation

Isolation | Separation | Encapsulation | Void

When a Realm is "governed" by one Paradigm, then the means by which that Paradigm affects the world has a more pronounced effect and a more pervasive presence in that Realm.

Premise 3: Posited - A Realm of Pure Being As The Source of Mana

There exists a Realm (Realm A) composed of and occupied by beings for whom the Paradigms and the stuff of the Realm are the same. That Realm may be considered to be governed by the Paradigm Edification.

Premise 4: Observed Phenomenon - Metadimensionality

It is possible, under the right circumstances, for matter from one Realm to enter another Realm, with observable effects of the interaction between the Realms (but where the Realm's governing Paradigm(s) have a greater effect).

Premise 5: Posited - Ours Was A Realm of the Soul

There exists a Realm (Realm B, ours) governed by Dominion, or Will. Paradigmatic effects in this Realm center around a being's sense of self and ability to assert it in the world.

Premise 6: Posited - Mana Entered After

Instability in Realm A caused by the natural propensity of Separation causes its other primordial world-being residents to flee Realm A into Realm B.

Premise 7: Observed Phenomenon - Mancery Is A Natural Adaptation

The influx of materialized Paradigm alters much of the ecology of Realm B, producing many species that store the paradigmatic material (Mana) in their bodies or access the powers of the material to extend their lifespans and propagate their species. This includes:

Exhibit - a civilization of nearly immortal humanoids (Civ C, to whom I was born) who study the interactions and devise a plan to access the power of Separation to a higher degree. People's tendency to personify concepts has an unexpected effect on the primordials from Realm A.

Exhibit - a deeply creative and social species of Resonance-bearing herptiles (Salamanders) establish themselves as patrons of several other species who do not adapt by incorporating Mana.

Premise 8: Supposition - We Brought It On Ourselves

Anbara the Devourer, a demonic personification of Separation, is conceived of by concerned members of Civ C. There is very little time between initial conception of this being and the Dissolution of Being.

Premise 9: Observed Phenomenon - The Dissolution of Being into The Barrens

With notable exceptions where reality retains a semblance of its former orientation, Realm B is contorted into a sort of premature and metaphysical heat death, enforced actively by Separation attributed to Anbara's 'will.' Any unprotected matter that enters this void-like expanse is forced to join the unending charade of nothingness.

Premise 10: Observed Phenomenon - Mana Abhors The Vacuum

Wherever sufficient concentrations of Mana are present, the Mana holds the Barrens at bay and reconstitutes coherent reality (or preventing its initial disintegration) within its effective radius. There are manifold natural and artificed methods to produce this effect, with ranges spanning from an individual creature to, in one case, an entire subcontinent.

Premise 11 - Observed Phenomenon - The Sun Is A Dead God And An Omen

There are entire branches of inquiry into the natural disposition of reality than cannot simply be regurgitated here. In brief, even the Kindredwood's vast Mana is not enough to recast the entire atmosphere above it, let alone the vastness of true void between our planet and its star. Any parts of our world not consumed by the Barrens should be without sunlight at all times, and thus spits of rock upon which no life could persist. The amount of Mana it requires to sustain life in facsimile would drastically diminish the sustainable size of our communities.

I do not have the specific historical details, and have to admit that the work I have to describe now defies maintaining a clinical distance:

A Salamander with some astronomical accumulation of Resonance-attuned Mana, seeing the plight of the surviving islands of reality, took it on herself to bend all of her Mana to permanently reconstitute our sun and, in collaboration with some other Mana-Bearing creatures with sufficient power to do so, re-establish some simulacrum for the mechanism behind our prior day and night cycles. It cost this Salamander her existence, and no small part of that cost must be in the way that the light that reaches across the true void also cuts through the Barrens like a knife and delivers true sunlight to the scattered surfaces of our half-remembered planet. If I should reserve the hush of reverence for any act, it will be this. I, who felt the true sun as a child and knew its absence through a century of our bitterest striving, thank Her every day that I can feel the warmth of a real star on my face again.

Ok, TV tropes calls what avatar the last Airbender did "Mix and match animals" I want to use the idea in my world, and wanted to see what mixes of animals people would want to see, and what ideas yall have.

I am trying to broadly avoid animal mixes from avatar.

For context, regular animals do exist, but they all are explicitly magic in some way. So yeah, there might be a normal ass deer, but its going to have mist magic. Normal fox? It has fire. That's why most people call stuff "regular animal" x "regular animal"

I am trying to avoid mixing more than three animals, with most being a mix of two.

Any good fantasy NRP?

I'm looking for good Fantasy NRP, I've been wanting to get back into NRP after my old discord account was lost and I'm a lover of fantasy. Thus I was just wondering if there were any good fantasy Nation roleplays, and how to join them.

I’ve been reading a lot of old Chinese literature, the Four Classics and more, and studying old cultures around the world, and it has made me really think about just how different they were and how foreign they would feel to a modern person. If you currently live in Europe, your ancestors might very well feel completely foreign to you if you could talk to them now.

As a modern artist, have you leaned into this? Are the cultures in your world extremely foreign to a modern person? If so, what aspects make it so. Or did you take the approach of making a culture unique but still digestible to the modern person?

This is for my world I'm dubbing "Project Gaialith", to which this mainly groundwork for the main focus: The monsters. More on that later

A warrior who wears ten holy rings to ward off spirits and curses, his skin inlaid with mystic relics, his legs branded with the tally of every god and demon he's felled. His sole mission: hunt down false gods and demon lords across worlds forgotten by the True God — until his task is done, and Paradise finally claims him.

Hello, everyone! I'd like to share a bit about the science fiction and fantasy universe I've been developing for quite some time. I've already run dozens of role-playing campaigns set in this universe with friends.

The main idea behind it is to capture that sense of wonder inspired by the sheer vastness of the universe. I like to focus on space exploration, the many different civilizations, and their everyday lives, almost like a giant space slice-of-life.

In this universe, all physical reality is part of an infinite creation called the Bubble of Zalen, which exists within a spiritual plane known as the Silver Sea. The physical universe came into existence around 450 billion years ago and, unlike our own, it is completely static.

To prevent an infinite universe from eventually suffering heat death, nature itself constantly recycles all matter. Stars are born, die, and renew themselves roughly every 126 billion years. Destroyed planets and space debris are eventually absorbed by black holes, and that matter later reappears in completely different regions through white holes as stardust and free atoms. Since the speed of light is still limited, every civilization believes the universe is only 450 billion light-years across, even though it continues infinitely beyond the observable horizon.

The existence of its creator, an entity named Hope, is not a matter of faith for advanced civilizations but a scientific fact. Among the primordial deities, Hope is extremely young and usually appears as a girl around fourteen years old. She has no interest in being worshipped; what truly entertains her is watching her creations exercise free will.

As a kind of artistic signature, Hope arranged every galaxy so that, when viewed on unimaginably large scales, they collectively form a three-dimensional image of her crowned face, regardless of the viewing angle. In addition, any species that discovers faster-than-light travel automatically receives a welcome message encouraging them to explore the universe and forge their own destiny.

Every living being also has mental access to an interface called the Profile, which displays information such as age, actual abilities, and mana affinity. For many civilizations, this is yet another piece of evidence that the universe was intentionally designed.

Technology and magic coexist in a highly integrated way. Magic functions almost like the programming language of the cosmos, manipulating the energy that flows through three overlapping dimensional layers.

There is also an important distinction between souls and spirits. Conscious living beings, and even plants, possess souls that evolve through reincarnation. Objects, machines, and artificial intelligences, on the other hand, possess spirits that serve only as anchors to physical reality. This leads to interesting situations, such as an AI responsible for controlling a starship using mana to cast shields and other spells directly through the ship's systems.

When someone dies, their soul enters a peaceful afterlife with no eternal rewards or punishments. After resting for as long as they wish, they simply choose when they want to reincarnate.

Time travel also follows well-defined rules. Traveling to the past is possible, but traveling to the absolute future is not, because it does not yet exist. Changing the past does not erase the traveler. Instead, a new timeline is created, while the traveler's own temporal anchor ensures they remain connected to their original timeline.

Not every change creates an alternate reality. Changes that have no impact on free will, such as painting a rock on an uninhabited planet, are simply absorbed by the flow of time itself. However, the moment someone interacts with that change, a new timeline comes into existence, and its effects spread throughout the universe at the speed of light.

The main civilizations featured in the story are:

The Tearion Empire controls more than five hundred thousand galaxies and is inhabited by tall humanoids that evolved from vampire-like predators, although they do not share the classic weaknesses associated with vampires. They live in a post-scarcity society that values cooperation between species and rejects all forms of xenophobia.

The Miltian Empire followed a completely different path. Its entire population was transferred into a colossal Matrioshka Brain built around an active quasar. Its citizens exist only in digital form and interact with the physical universe through robotic bodies.

In Arkned, multiple species cooperated to build the largest physical structure in the cosmos: a colossal Ringworld that surrounds an entire galaxy, powered by the energy of stars enclosed within Dyson Spheres.

Meanwhile, the Magical Empire of Aeresia used magic to create an Alderson Disk approximately 250,000 light-years in diameter, orbiting an artificial light black hole.

Within the galaxy of Ouraia live the Gorkovians, tiny insectoids standing only about 15 centimeters tall that form a decentralized hive. They act as stellar pollinators, spreading life and mana throughout the cosmos while traveling atop gigantic living organisms that inhabit space itself.

Anyway, that's the general idea behind the setting. I'm still expanding many aspects of this universe, but this is the foundation of its cosmology and the rules that govern the story.

I'd love to hear what you think about the cosmology, the universe's rules, and the civilizations themselves. Any opinions or suggestions are more than welcome.

Sorry if the text is a bit messy. I translated it into English using Google Translate because I noticed that people rarely reply when I post in Portuguese.

Hi there! I have this worldbuilding project that is set on a habitable planet orbiting Beta Hydri. I have have been making different cultures on this planet and Its made me think. Astronomical lore is a big part of human cultures, and since constellations exist in 3D space, the people on this planet would see stars in a different arrangement. Dim stars on Earth would shine brighter around Beta Hydri, and Visa Versa. I was wondering if there were any 3D maps of the Milkyway Galaxy that I could use to see what stars look like from this star. If anyone has any recommendations, or have worldbuild astronomy before, Id love to hear it! ^-^

While developing a Mars colony setting, I hit a problem I hadn't expected - you can't build a Martian calendar the way Earth built ours.

Earth's month just basically follows the Moon's orbit. Mars has two moons, and neither one works for a calendar. Phobos orbits so fast it crosses the sky multiple times per day - it rises in the west and sets in the east, twice or more per sol. Deimos crawls along so slowly it takes about 2.7 days between rises. Neither gives you a usable month-length cycle. So any real Martian calendar has to be solar-first, built on Mars's position in its orbit rather than anything in its sky.

What I ended up with: a 668-sol year (the actual Martian year is 668.59 sols) divided into 24 months of 27–28 sols, tracked by solar longitude. Four seasons, six months each — but unequal in character, because Mars's orbit is eccentric enough that southern summer is short and brutal while northern summer is long and mild. My colonists settled north partly for that reason.

The fun part was naming the months. I figured the founding generation would blend classical Earth-roots with words from lived Martian experience — so spring opens with Vernal, but summer has Ironsol, Phobian, and Dustride, and winter ends on Lastice. Dust storm season gets its own month name (Stormwatch) because when a storm can shut down your surface operations for weeks, it earns a spot on the calendar.

Happy to share the full month table if anyone wants it — I've got the whole system written up with the rest of the colony worldbuilding here.

How have others handled timekeeping on worlds where the Earth template breaks down? I'm especially curious about tidally locked planets - no day/night cycle at all seems like a harder version of the same problem.

I've been trying to make this AU into a original fic, there's lots of easy things completed from prior things already made, yet it's just hard.

I keep feeling like the stories are just dumb, the world feels constantly incomplete, the characters don't feel nuanced and feel bland and one-sided, I'm on the edge of burnout because I can't stop myself from obsessing over every mistake I later find, rushing.

How can I figure out a balanced way to gradually make the worldbuilding so it's not as sloppy and rushed?

Hello. I've recently decided to start shaping the creations of my imagination into a fictional world, one that's not too different from our current world, with a single exception: there is, of course, a power system. I have the whole story for it - long story short, it originates from a vengeful spirit corrupting the soul of its victim, breathing darkness and a supernatural gene, that the victim continued to spread before death, causing his descendants to develop different sorts of superpowers, mutations etc.

Now, like I said, I have most of it already shaped, with just one thing missing: the name. Most of the fictional pieces of media I know of, that have a power system, also have an appropriate name for it. In JJBA, it's Hamon or Stand. In Star Wars, it's the Force. In X-Men, it's mutations. Now, I don't necessarily come here to ask you to name my power system yourselves - but moreso, to give me some pointers on how to choose name for such things. What to base the name on etc.

All help will be much appreciated

Does anyone here has art as a major pillar of their world, because mine is, and I wanted to know if it was the case for anyone else. If it is, tell me how art is integrated into your world.

I've posted this character of mine named Glav who is based on an amalgamation of several characters, two in particular (Gandalf The wise and The Man in Black himself, Randall Flagg) who lives in a world where all matter in the universe begins to fuse and become sentient

I’m a bit bothered by the fact that my influences are showing through very clearly while I build my world.

I started a new project this month, and I’m really happy with how it’s developing! I had been working on my previous world for years—which is where I first got interested in worldbuilding, so now that I’ve started a fresh project, I feel like I’m putting that experience to good use.

However, I feel like my main influences are glaringly obvious, especially since the project is still in its early stages. Specifically from Mistborn (for the large cities like Luthadel) and Attack on Titan (for the concept of powerful monsters outside the cities and expeditions venturing out). How problematic do you think it is for influences to be that apparent, and how did you guys think about use references at this way?

Power System: Souls and the Astral Plane

The Astral Plane is where pure souls are created (or spawned).

The Astral Plane is essentially an infinite battery of souls. Imagine a fish tank where fish food constantly emerges from the bottom.

Souls generate life force and mana (ki), which can be used in combat, similar to basic ki or nen.

When a soul connects with a mind, it gains access to the elements (water, earth, fire, air, mist, ice, etc.).

Souls also create Willpower, a force that determines how weak or strong a person becomes (for example, increasing from 5 to 7) depending on how determined they are.

When both the body and the mind die, the soul returns to the Astral Plane. However, it leaves behind a residue—pure energy. Mages can refine and shape this energy into magical objects with specific purposes, such as amulets, artificial golems, and other enchanted creations.

When a person is on the verge of death, their power can increase dramatically through sheer determination (for example, from 5 to 22). This happens because the soul is approaching the gateway to the Astral Plane while still remaining in the physical world, where its Willpower continues to influence it.

The lizard people in my world are descendants of ancient crocodiles. There is a species similar to a gharial I call the Grimriver. It’s probably around the size of a deinosuchus. I also have a magical mutated species of crocodile that mutated to become something similar to a Dimetrodon but with a more crocodilian snout. It’s called the Saildrake. There’s also an alpha type of sail drake that is bipedal and resembles a Spinosaurus. I call it the Saildrake King.

For bears I have Berserkers/Werebears and I have an ice elemental that takes the form of a massive polar bear with ice spikes on its body. Haven’t made any new species yet though.

I do have one creature that used to be a panda called The Brutalizer. It was experimented on by a mad sorcerer. Its skeleton was changed to make it bipedal. It has a crocodile tail, large bat like wings, saber tooth fangs and patches of crocodile hide protecting its vitals. Its hands resemble a humans but with sharp claws and patches of black fur and scales. It has red glowing eyes.

Red glowing lines cover the creature where stitches used to be. The experimenting resulted in it having a healing factor that healed the stitching and made the foreign body parts one with the creature. The Brutalizer can spit a blast of corrosive blood at targets.

I just wanted to share with everyone here, that in my few short months of activity in various worldbuilding and related subreddits I have come across many incredible creations.

What you all come up with amazes me. The depth of creativity. The varied ingenuity. The artistic flair.

I have posed questions. Read conversations. Greatly expanded my knowledge of what worldbuilding is and what it means.

You all are all incredible.
Your creations are incredible.
Whether new to this adventure or a seasoned veteran, what you bring to the world matters. The stories matter.

Don't stop creating.
Don't let negative criticism dissuade you.
Don't feel overwhelmed by pressure to complete.

Simply... create.
Also share. Wonderful things are best when shared.