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So I've been doing some worldbuilding for my Soulsmiths and one person I've bounced my ideas off asked why no mage ever has gone and straight up took power? They're pretty powerful since the discovery of Soulsmithing and that have been around at least since Middle Ages. Once there were two brilliant Soulsmiths at war who reverse-engineered vampires and werewolves, respectively. So there has been some war but I imagine it to be rather secret war. Maybe a few cities has been killed off and written off as "plague". How to make it fit with the premise that mages did not took over countries? Those two could do that if they were not fighting each other. So far I've only patched it up with assigning the task of enforcing the Masquerade to the secret organization of assassins but that feels... well, patched up. Why no mage ever just went and showed off his magic and took the power and ruled ever after? If the answer is "other mages stopped him" then the question changes to "why no group of mages ever took the power". I'm not sure about some Magic Council enforcing that; either they're already ruling the world or the question "why no one has gone rogue" arises. And so on, and so on. Alternatively: how about "nobody knows how things went back then" and just drop the whole issue altogether?

Hey, everyone. I'm pretty new to the forums so I figured that I might as well post something here. Gotta put myself out there somehow, right? I'm thinking about magic systems for a book that I eventually plan to write. A magic system that I'm thinking about revolves around two mechanics that are quite broad, so broad that I'm a little worried. I have a specific direction that I want to take with these mechanics, but I want to see what impressions people have when I mention concepts that I have. These two concepts are: -Mages function as spirits after death and can possess other people (including other mages). Once the spirit of a mage possessed a body, it cannot leave until the body dies. -Mages can manipulate crystal structures of solids and can absorb magical energy found in special fantasy glow crystals. -The general setting of this story is a fantasy land similar to America or Britain in WWII (nationalism, struggle against fascism, fate of the world on the line, all that stuff) If you saw a book that revolved around this type of magic, would you be excited? Skeptical? What would you expect to see from these mechanics? What would you want to see? What would you want not to see? How do you think that the magic would interact with a culture similar to WWII America or Britain? In the spoiler below, I lay out my thoughts in more detail, but I'm hoping to get first impressions on broad concepts to see what direction people would expect me to head in and see I'm missing something that people would want covered. If you do look at the spoiler, perhaps you could form impressions of your own first and then see if you are satisfied by what I came up with? Thank you for reading through my post!

This is just a theory. It's probably too simple to be the whole story. But it makes sense, and I think it could be useful for (among other things) identifying Alethi characters in foreign lands, and creating Alethi OCs for fanfiction. In Writing Excuses, Brandon once mentioned a linguistic paradigm for "classical" Alethi names. He didn't describe it in detail, but he said it was invented to explain 'Dalinar,' which didn't really fit with the Vorin naming convention. He also said that 'Kaladin,' which he came up with by altering 'paladin,' conveniently fit this new classical paradigm. He also said this, in a 2014 interview: But there's a much simpler pattern in these names. And here it is: A simple alternation of Consonants (C) and vowels (V). (C) V C V C V C The initial consonant is in brackets because it's optional. It can be dropped, so names begin with a vowel. But the rest of the sequence doesn't change. No double vowels or double consonants. (Digraphs, like Th and Sh, count as one letter because they represent a single phoneme.) This holds true for the following Alethi names. Dalinar Adolin Renarin Gavilar Elhokar (assuming Lh is a digraph, the Alethi version of a double-L in English) Kaladin Meridas Amaram (coincidentally also a proper Vorin name) Aladar Arafik Avarak Avaran Alabet Lamaril Jakamav Kalishor Isasik Salinor Talanor Thanadal Tinalar Helaran (not Alethi, but close) Notice that all of these are men. This paradigm is only used for male names. As far as I can tell, all Alethi men have either Vorin names, or names in this pattern. (Vorin meaning palindromic, with one letter added, subtracted, or changed.) The only complication is Restares, whose name is neither Vorin nor classical. It violates my classical pattern because of the "ST" in the middle. But since Restares hasn't been confirmed as an Alethi, this may not be a problem. I'm wondering if anyone can see any additional patterns or rules that govern this system. Just for fun, I will now list some names from other Cosmere works that conveniently match this pattern. Galladon. Aredel. Luthadel. Aledin. Aradan (Yomen). Bevidon. Bavadin! Devanex. Dukaler. Galivan. Goradel. Heberen. Ishathon. Caberel. Nikolin. Arelon. Opelon. Duladel. Seraven. Enelan. And now some names from outside the Cosmere, to illustrate the general fantasy-friendly vibe of this paradigm: Saruman. Denethor. Boromir. Faramir. Azeroth. Suramar. Dalaran. Selidor. Eragon. (Po) Dameron. Caladan. Muradin. Mogenar. Telamon. Galadan. Malekith. Malacath. Akatosh. Zenithar. Kynareth. Erikur. (Obviously it also fits many not-so-fantastical names, like Cameron and Oliver. But let's leave reality out of this. Although Pokemon also fits.)

So... I am writing a fantasy novel and have run into a bit of a snag. I have this thing (definitely an outgrowth of reading too much Sanderson) to have as much of my worldbuilding as possible have a concrete backing in scientific fact. The problem is that I know nothing about astrophysics, biology, or anything that could really help me work out the permutations of certain changes to the world. Here's my current situation: The world I'm building is plagued by abnormally high temperatures throughout half the year (comparable to a constant heat wave) and similarly cold temperatures for the other half. They are mitigated by a short, two-week period of regular weather in between. During the Heatsurge there is week or so long period where the sun does not set, mirrored by a similar period during the Coldsurge when it does not rise. These events repeat in a constant, yearly cycle. The flora and fauna have all had to grow around these extreme conditions, with adaptability becoming even more important to survival. My questions are twofold: First, is there a way to make this astronomically grounded. Would something like the axial tilt have to change to keep the continuing cycle of Hot and Cold surges, or does that have nothing to do with it? Multiple astral bodies? I don't know, just throwing things out there... Second, how would the flora and fauna adapt to such extreme changes in temperature? I've been reading up on some animals' ability to survive temperatures below freezing using something called supercooling, but I feel I would need more of an adaptability factor here. This world's plants and animals have to be able to change throughout the year, as protection against one half of the year would likely be harmful during the other. Any biologically-adept people that can help me out here? The original idea for this came out of a desire of mine to create something fundamentally connected to the world that affected all the life within it, from biology to culture to business (similar to the highstorms of Roshar). Let's see if this can work! Hope you all can help me out! Thanks for your time!

I've been working on worldbuilding for the last few months to stave off boredom in numerous situations. What I'll use said world for is still a matter of debate, but it may be a Roleplay. I've come up with two systems of magic which I plan to implement, and am greatly in need of others insight upon the matter. As they haven't been named, I'll merely refer to them as my current terminology: Proficiency and Soulbearing. Proficiency: This is my version of the older-than-dirt elemental magic cliché. Magic will be divided into 5 primary aspects, and each one is attributed to a certain proficiency and requires a certain input. Along with this, there are fifteen secondary aspects. The base elements are air, water, earth, fire, and life. Every person is born with affinity to one of the five based randomly upon whatever their parents have. It is expressed through markings upon the lower dominant arm. Ambidexterous people have markings on both arms. If your arm is severed within 5 inches of the elbow, you lose your powers. Growing stronger: Every 5 years, a person gains one "tier" of proficiency. Directly killing another (i.e. stabbing, strangulation, pushing down stairs) even accidentally grants you another tier of proficiency for every multitude greater than you they were, rounded down but excluding one. For example, killing someone of ToP 32 at ToP 5 will grant you 6 ToP's, more than doubling your strength. However, killing someone with ToP 6 at ToP 7 will only grant you ToP 8. Tiers are recognizable via markings on the arm, as are elements. There are no indicative symbols other than increasing complexity, but one simply knows by looking. This has leaf yo the social preference of longer sleeves and wrist wrappings. Requirements and boosts given by elements: Water manipulation uses body heat and can be used with more precision the stronger one grows, allowing for nearly artistic precision at high Proficiency. Fire manipulation uses hydration and can be used with greater power the stronger one grows, allowing for one to achieve unbelievable heat and speed of use at high Proficiency. Air manipulation uses wakefulness and can be used with greater ease the stronger one grows, allowing for practically subconscious use at high Proficiency. Earth Manipulation uses stamina and can be used to greater scale the stronger one grows, allowing for the movement of multi-tonne objects at high Proficiency. Life magic has the temporary drawback of poisoning onself, leading to a state similar to drunkeness after extended use. Doing so for long enough causes a number of permenant effects upon health and gradual withering of stature. Those with life magic grow more in tune with other things the higher their Proficiency, allowing for stronger use of their magic. Secondary Elements: One chooses their secondary element at 15 years, and it can be one which their parents had. If only one parent was metal and another vapor, they couldn't be dual water, as only one had a water-based power. If someone kills another before their 15th, the dead person's power will latch onto theirs, assigning them an element without them choosing. Ice (water and air): Can control and freeze water and other fluids at a moderate temperature range and below. The heat removed must be redirected somewhere else, and there must be a significantly colder object to start. This power emphasizes working easily in a detailed manner. Steam (water and fire): Can control vapor (including smoke) and fluids of a moderate temperature range and below, along with heating said substances. The heat added must be pulled from surroundings. This power emphasizes working with powerful, fast, and dramatic percision. Clay (water and earth): Can control stone, water, and most forms of damp earth. Given enough time, they can meld water with stone into clay, often on a massive scale in an elaborate manner. This power emphasizes intricate work on a large scale. Plants (water and life): Can control plant life and how it grows and interacts, along with modifying oneself to a minor degree with features like poisonous blood or the ability to photosynthesize. This power emphasizes complex, but often subtle changes to oneself and their surroundings. Metal (fire and earth) Can control most concentrated metals in a solid or liquid state, but can only melt them given a catalyst of intense heat (difficult for anyone without very high Proficiency). The only advantage to melting them is their heat and fluid nature even when not being controlled. This power emphasizes fast control over large quantities of materials. Lightning (fire and air): Can control and generate lightning. This can be within a wide range of strengths from the power to stun people (low Proficiency) to cooking someone on contact (high Proficiency). This power is hard to work with in a cold environment with minimal movement of energy i.e. lack of friction, wind, or burning. This power emphasizes powerful, instinctive manipulation, using lightning reflexively if needed. Flesh (fire and life): Can control and alter one's own body temporarily and permenantly. Temporary changes operate in a way similar to physical metalminds, and permenant ones can change anything from hair color to organ placement and bone density the stronger one is. This power emphasizes drastic changes to ones own physique. Dust (air and earth): Can control dust, dirt and sand, creating a temporarily solid substance in enough density. Using this, one can create bludgeons and barriers from mundane materials. This power emphasizes being able to do things of large scale with little effort. Beasts (spirit and earth): Can control animals of the surface and mimic animal traits, such as claws, teeth, and night vision. This power emphasizes large scale control with connectivity to what one does. Avians (spirit and air): Can control animals of the sky and mimic avian traits, such as feathers, talons, secondary sets of lungs, and wings. This power emphasizes forming close bonds, allowing easy control. The other five powers are the base 5, coupled the same power a second time: double air/fire/earth/water/life. Life allows for mental persuasion, great understanding of the actions of others, and heightened senses. In Summary: Every person is born with Proficiency in one of the five elements. This is represented by a marking on the dominant arm. If the dominant arm is removed, they lose their powers. One becomes gradually more powerful every 5th year, or by killing another. At 15, every person picks their second Proficiency, which combine into an alternate one (vapor, lightning, metal, flesh, avians, beasts, plants, ice, clay, dust, and each of the initial 5 at a greater strength). An ambidexterous person has two secondary Proficiencies. I'm considering adding the sixth element, which I'll refer to as "force". The abilities of force would be friction, tension, sound, light, and bacteria. Soulbearing: This is a far more simple power which is much less common. In my world, when anyone dies, a "shadow" of their existence forms 12 hours later. This shadow generally resembles the person the moment before death, only an opaque greyish color. Those with greater proficiency will often have unnatural shadows, with unnaturally long and angled appendages and great physical skills. They're violently inclined to kill humans who intrude upon their territory, but work in packs with other shadows. They immediately recover from all wounds inflicted, except those inflicted with an item made of or plated in gold. Killing a shadow infuses one's body with a portion of its energy. Doing so about 15 times results in a complete loss of Proficiency. This has caused killing shadows to be viewed as a great sin by some religions. By absorbing souls, one gains the ability to perform incredible feats at the expense of one soul each. These include becoming temporarily incorporeal, moving with incredible speed, amplifying healing, teleporting short distances, and a handful of other things. Gaining hundreds of souls gives one the ability to kill shadows with anything, and to regrow lost limbs with an inky blackish substance. Enough souls manifests in black eyes and veins. So that's all for my systems, pending revision, quantification, and fine-tuning. Give me any advice or thoughts you have upon the systems, and thanks for reading!

So, I saw this whole AMA thing, and I thought to myself: Gee, self, you should probably make one. Just so that the 3 Sharders who have embarrassingly personal questions about you can ask them there. It's all about them, of course. Nothing to do with you. But if you do have questions, embarrassingly personal or otherwise, this would be the place to ask them. -Seonid Keeper of the Edassan Tomes Lorekeeper of the Worldways He Who Stands and Watches Servant of the Light

So I am trying to build a hanfdul of worlds similar to the kind of worlds we'd find in the cosmere, and i'm struggling to come up with any magic systems with that level of inginuity. I know there are 3 parts to every sanderson system, but cannot remember them properly (something like: fuel, intent and focus?). Has anyone got any advice for making them more creative? So far, I have one magic system based around soldiers in a war (in the same way that allomancy is based around a thieving gang) but have yet to come up with the abilities. I am playing around with a few numbers that could be important to the world, but dont just want to copy the KR. The source is a fruit that grows along the lines of power on the world. Another magic system I'm working on is based on a familiar system, where a large cat will willingly give up their tooth to one of the humans to create a bond between them. However I have no idea what kind of ability or story to craft out of this. On top of all this, what advice in general would other fans of Sanderson's magic systems give to someone aiming to create something similar? How should I come up with such specific abilities (my mind keeps going back to Ironpulling and Steelpushing. It's really clever and I have no idea how to come up with something like that.) Thank you all

If you dream walk a little bit too far, beyond the phantasmagorias of your mind, if you remain undistracted by the naked celebrities, if you walk past the baboons that give sage advice, if you pass the halls of Azathoth and keep walking, flying, swimming. Keep moving. If you do you may see shimmering orbs in the distance, you may see planets in all manner of possible and impossible shapes and sizes, you may see clouds and fishes and birds and ships, all this just floating around in the air. Then you will realize that there is air to breath, you will realize that you need to breath. You are not dreaming anymore, you have entered Skyverea. It sort of annoyed me that every time I needed help with Skyverea I had to explain the entire bizarre setting it has and usually I just ended up copy-pasting an explanation from earlier, but then I had to find the explanation to copy paste... so I am just making a thread that I can link people to every time I need help. And you get to read my strange ideas. Everyone wins! Skyverea is my weird, insane, surreal science fantasy horror mystery serial web novel that will happen one of these days as soon as I can get the magic figured out. The Skyverea itself is, as the blurb above says, basically Super Mario Galaxy that lies beyond your dreams~ It is a portmanteau of Sky-Universe-Sea, so it is pronounced "Skay-ver-ee", not "Skay-ver-ee-a". Dont blame me, blame English spelling. The plot goes something like: "Riem the theif lives in a planet system by the name of Hela, on a large planet (though of course to us it is just the size of a country) just called The Harbor. He steals things, cons people and takes jobs stealing things and giving them to other people, for a fee, of course. One day, during one of those jobs he gets set up for a murder, captured and sentenced to death, but manages to escape and then goes on a bizarre adventure trying to find out who set him up." Now, that's out of the way, world building details! Stars: Stars are glowing spheres of differing sizes, the main source of both light and magic. They grow brighter and dimmer as the "day" goes because I wanted day and night cycles. Once a "year" they stop glowing completely for a "day", signaling the start of a new "year". This is for some reason uniform all over Skyverea. Planets: Planets come in all shapes, sizes and kinds of material (me having stolen the setting from Super Mario Galaxy), there are regular, round planets made out of dirt, planets made out of mostly rock, ice or metal, square planets, flat planets, planets that are giant tea cups, flowers or ancient, sleeping gods. Gravity? Gravity just works. It generally pulls things to the middle, but sometimes pulls in other directions. Clouds: You know how you can sometimes imagine clouds taking shapes? In the Skyverea clouds actually take shapes, if that wasnt enough they also feel the need to move like the things they are taking shapes as. It is not uncommon to see an entire zoo of clouds floating across the sky in shapes of people, birds and dinosaurs, or see clouds silently acting out Hamlet. There is a debate going on if clouds are sentient or not, but sometimes clouds takes things, or creatures. Everyone knows someone who's grandmother was taken by a cloud and her remains rained over two planet systems over and everyone has had bones rained over their ceiling. Moons: Moons are pale, glowing rocks. They have lunar phases, just like on our world, but rather than one half being blocked by the earth they shine light on their own and one half disappears and shows up somewhere else in the Skyverea. They are also a source of magic and a way to measure time. On to the magic. I keep changing my mind on this, but I'll share what I have. (Yes I really like Chromathury) First we have Starlight. It exists on a spectrum from cognitive or illusionary magic to more physical magic. It used to be like this: Seeing the problem? It is now this: 7 is now fused with 9 (So you can get more stuff than you put in because the Starlight creates the rest) and 8 is its own system (I just really want beams, force fields and lightsabers, ok?) Problems I have now is the awkward jump between 3 and 4 and the fact that it is now a little short. Ideas? Anyway, this tells you nothing about how it actually works, does it? If you are human you are born with three of these Illuminations (that's what I call the 'colors', or numbers). If you get them all in a row or all over the spectrum is up in the air at the moment. Magic is done by 'grabbing' the Starlight (which is not regular light, you cant do magic from a candle flame), weaving it around to put your intent into it and letting the Illumination loose (The Spell). Of course to make sure the characters cant just do anything they need to practice. Take 5 (Jazz pun intended) for example. Moving wood isn't the same thing as moving steel, they are similar, like picking up a bass after learning guitar, but if you want to move fire you need to start practicing again. You can move something you haven't practiced enough by really putting time and intent into the Illumination, but you may not have the time. 7 is one of my favorites because how odd I decided it to be. In an old manga called Law of Ueki most powers work by turning x into y. So you have stuff like turning trash into trees, beads into bombs, towels into steel, tomatoes into lava, so I just decided to steal that. You need to figure out both what you are transforming and what you are transforming it to. Making Starlight Magitech is common, you need a special kind of metal to program the Starlight and a special kind of crystal to save the Starlight in. Saved Starlight can also be used to normal Stargazers (Mages) when there is no natural Starlight to grab. Aurora/Bowlight (Rainbows, but without that entire rain thing) You remember that missing 8? It is this, except now a lot more versatile. I havent really gotten into how this works yet, but I'll share what I have anyway. Aurora can be shaped into hard, physical objects, like platforms, blades and shields. The objects are uneffected by gravity, unless the.... auroraist (?) wills them to be effected by gravity, it can also be formed into beams and fired. Maybe also into gasses or liquids, maybe different colors have different effects, I don't know yet. Moonlight: As Moons are not as common as Stars Lunatics are rarer and they can usually not just grab the light and wave it around. Rather they save the Moonlight in their eyes and expand it upon use. I don't have a nice spectrum list for Moonlight yet, but I have ideas Weird senses: Hear the voices of objects, light pre cog, retro cog, hear emotions, smell which person it is you need at the moment. Summoning: Summon things out of other things. Dragons out of fire, birds out of the air, ants out of flesh, flowers out of earth, ninjas out of everywhere. It doesnt need to make that much sense, but it helps. Change tangibility: Act as if things aren't there, or even better, force the guards that are chasing you act as if the air is a wall, or the ground is a liquid (make it a non-Newtonian one for extra fun), if someone is acting especially heartless pretend their chest isn't there and fulfill their wishes. And the floor is lava, that doesn't make much sense, but it did give me ideas... There is also time/space manipulation, just a bit more limited than usual. You can reverse time in a certain area, but everyone will remember what happened (and be lightly annoyed that they have redo whatever it is they were doing), fold space and make point a and point b be much closer or just slow down whoever you are fighting. Lunatics are in general at least cloud cuckoo landers, their magic hitches on them being able to make sense out of what they want to do, no matter how little logical sense that actually makes. While Starlight messes with the rules of physics Moonlight makes reality and logic look the other way. All these are light based, but I want things that go bump in the night. On random idea, which is cool, but I may use for something else, or not at all was Soundmagic (Don't worry, I know you are tired of reading this, I am almost done with this very ranty post) Soundmagic works though sound (obviously). Some ideas I have are controlling certain things that can hear the song you are playing, making it so no one can make a sound and thus forcing them to move very silently and they can forget about punching your face in, whistling in the pitch of something to break it... or cook it, recreate the T-rex scene from Jurassic Park by drumming on something and actually summon the monster, create a cursed earworm that must be passed on to get rid of the curse, saving sounds to then summon the effects of the thing that made the sound, like a bomb... I don't know, all weird ideas that could be something. If I have sound magic I could also have scent magic and taste magic... So, now Im done, until I think about names for more than 3 of the characters and post a character list.

Hi all! So I was curious if anyone could give me any feedback or ideas/critisim on an idea that's been rattling around in my head for a while; Bascially the concept is that a people, or more likely a religion encompassing many peoples, in a book would believe that they're in a book. Not that they know that they're in a book, but that they believe that every man's existence is being written by a god, the Author of Fates, and that they exist as both the protagonist of their own lives, and of books being read of their lives as they happen. Being an author would be either very holy, or a profae calling, I can't decide whether they would find the concept of being a god to whatever world someone writes about an honour or a sin... I think this could make for an interesting viewpoint character, as the narrative would have him musing on how he hoped that the reader was enjoying the story of his life, and thanking the author and reader for anything good that happened, as without the author writing it it couldn't happen, and without the reader, nothing could progress. And the inspiration for this idea was the idea of a character, possibly a priest of this religion, in some kind of disaster, a building collapsing on him or someone about to kill him. He would either be pleading aloud or in his mind, screaming to the heavens for the reader to stop turning the page, to stop reading so the world would pause, for the author to not write such a tragic end to him.... and then his story would end. (That last bit was inspired by the cobbler interlude in the Stormlight Archive, where "Experience... ended." ^_^) What do you think? I'm curious about a third person narritive that could slightly interact with the reader in the way a first or second person one could, and about the effect a chapter like the disaster one would have, if the reader would feel guilty for reading onwards and ending the character's life, since if they didn't turn the page and advance the story by reading it he couldn't die, at least in their minds.

Welcome everyone, to the general thread about Life on Diaemus! Here you will find a master list of all of the inhabitants of Diaemus, sentient and not, as well as discussion on possible new life forms, various ranges and overlaps between species, and how they interact with the magic system. Even better, it's all conveniently gathered into one place! By way of bookkeeping, the main information thread can be found here, and a discussion of maps and claimed areas can be found here. Sapient Species Non-Sapient Species This is all of the detailed information I could find on various species. As this project grows, I'll separate these out into regional variations, given that we have tundra-dwellers next to steppe-dwellers all mixed up with everything else. But for now, since I don't have enough time for a massive organizational project, here we go. If I've missed one of your creatures, post it's profile here in this thread and I will eventually get it into the OP. I hope that this will become the go-to resource for all of our different species.

Basic Information All magic is based on Potentia. Potentia in its many states, the 7 elements, and souls are all the same substance. In Noctiva's early stages, it was impacted by asteroids containing solid Potentia. Some of this Potentia became liquid and was buried beneath the planet's crust. Some evaporated into Flux that acted as a catalyst for the development of sentient life on Noctiva (because sentience is a byproduct of having a large soul, and the Flux-rich environment allows organisms to grow souls). Noctiva is about the same size as Earth. It has one pangean continent, Cerrador [possible revision 1: maybe another continent]. Noctiva is surrounded by the Veil, a ring of asteroids. It has no moon. Magic Potentia: The first Material Form of Potentia. Liquid Potentia is just called Potentia. It is an azure blue color. Aether: The first Immaterial Form of Potentia. The radiation-like state of Potentia. Liquid Potentia can be converted to Aether and transmitted across long distances quickly, before being converted back to liquid state for use with formal glyphs, or drawn out of the air directly to power tonal glyphs. Flux: The second Material Form of Potentia. The gaseous state of Potentia. Liquid Potentia exposed the open atmosphere directly will quickly evaporate into Flux (it boils at room temperature). Flux, in turn, will have a effect on the seven elements around it, though this does not always happen immediately and is only dangerous in large quantities. The boiling process can be stopped by encasing the liquid Potentia in glass or another container. Soul: The second Immaterial Form of Potentia. This form is undetectable by normal systems of measurement and can only be seen through an Elementalist's Sight. All living things have some soul-form Potentia attached to them. The more soul a living thing has, the more conscious and sentient it is. A creature becomes fully sentient only if it has a very large soul. The more complex a living thing's mind is, the larger a soul it is capable of developing. All biological sentient races develop a large soul from birth by drawing in Flux from the atmosphere, and add to the size of their soul throughout their life by consuming and converting the seven elements as part of natural processes. This is why a person is born barely sentient, and becomes more self-aware the longer they live. Ordinarily, the soul would sink into the ground after the body's death and slowly decay into Aether. The Aether would saturate rocks around it, slowly causing them to melt into liquid Potentia over the course of centuries. In this cycle, Potentia is a semi-renewable resource (reserves will replenish over the course of centuries). However, the Veiled Ones' actions cause souls to instead be stored in the Veil after the body's death. Seven elements table: Kinetic energy - C - rage electromagnetism - D - excitement cohesion - F - fear metabolism - E - happiness solids - G - confidence liquids - A - sadness gasses - B - disgust Glyph: All magic relies upon glyphs. Glyphic languages differ between nation-states, as do their functions. Glyphs don't need to be in the form of a rune; they can take many other forms as well- somatic glyphs, for example, take the form of specific motions or movements preformed by a person or a machine. A Pattern is a specific combination of glyphs made to accomplish a certain effect. Different glyphs have different purposes when building a Pattern. Patterns manipulate the seven elements as well as the various forms of Potentia in different, specific ways, depending on the glyphs included. For example, a Pattern to shoot a fireball would include glyphs that specified the shape of the effect as a sphere, glyphs that defined the radius of the sphere, the basic glyph for kinetic energy, and additional glyphs to specify the form of the kinetic energy as fire. Elementalism: Some Humans are born with a fragment of the mind of a Veiled One contained within them (see: Veiled Ones). This fragment gives them the ability to see the universe as the Veiled Ones do. The development of the Sight, along with the manifestation of the Elemental Spark, is sometimes a sign that a person is an Elementalist, and usually occurs during puberty. An Elementalist can only learn one glyphic language; if they attempt to learn a second, they will forget the first (although this could be circumvented if the Elementalist possesses a larger portion of the Veiled One's mind). Elementalists can use magic by providing a mind-body-soul framework. Potentia is the soul component and provides the power for the magic. The Elementalist must keep the form of their glyph in their mind and focus on it in order to provide the mind component. The glyph itself acts as the body component. Elemental Spark: An Elementalist's Sight is capable of seeing the fragment of a Veiled One's mind within another Elementalist. The people of the world, not knowing what they are really seeing, refer to this as the Elemental Spark. The Spark appears as a pulsing black flame within an Elementalist's head, and usually appears around puberty (though Amadorians have one from birth) (see: Amadorians). It can be made invisible to the Sight by a simple mental exercise, and most Elementalists do so all the time, making the Spark only useful for locating Elementalists who don't know of their powers. Glyphic Engineering: A person who is not an Elementalist and does not possess the Sight can still take advantage of glyphs. Even without a person directing them, specific combinations of glyphs will still form Patterns if built correctly. The fireball example used above could be created by an Elementalist activating the glyphs mentioned. However, a well-crafted machine could also activate the glyphs and create the fireball when a stimulus was applied, such as the pull of a trigger. Creating machines that mimic the power of Elementalists is the focus of glyphic engineers. Formal glyphs are particularly useful for glyphic engineering, since they draw power from liquid Potentia and take the form of a rune that can be easily stained onto a metal surface (see: List of glyphic languages). A fireball-thrower made from Formal glyphs would use liquid Potentia stored within the device's ammunition clip as the soul component. The glyphs drawn on the device would act as the body component. Without a Elementalist focusing on the Pattern, the mind component would instead by provided by the precise geometric and trigonometric relationships between the positions of the glyphs on the device. List of known glyphic languages: Formal glyphs (Praetomancy)- a runic glyphic language that draws its power from liquid Potentia. Formal glyphs must be tattooed or otherwise stained on the material they are on. Elementalists harness this language by injecting liquid Potentia into their veins through a syringe and tattooing the glyphs onto their skin. They can then activate specific combinations of glyphs by focusing on the Pattern they want to form. Formal glyphs are also the most useful for creating magical technology using glyphic engineering. The nation of Amadaria was the first of the modern nations to master their use on a widespread scale (see: Amadaria). Veiled glyphs- a runic glyphic language that draws its power from soul-form Potentia. Veiled glyphs must be etched into the material they are on. These glyphs are the only ones known that are capable of manipulating soul-form Potentia. They can extract the souls from humans, but only at the moment of their death, as human bodies and souls are too tightly intertwined for the soul to be extracted during life. The extracted souls can then be changed to other states, such as liquid Potentia, for storage or use with other glyphic languages. The glyphs are so named because the Veiled Ones were the first species seen to put them to widespread use in the modern era, though they play a part in dwarven and silthen culture as well (see: Veiled Ones, see: Dwarves, see: Silthen). Tonal glyphs (Sonomancy)- glyphs in this language are composed of specific combinations of musical notes. The basic glyph for each element is composed of a single musical note according to the seven elements table. Tonal glyphs draw their power from ambient Aether saturating the air. Prior to the Deicide, this small amount of Aether was barely useful for parlor tricks; however, the Deicide left enough Aether lying dormant in the atmosphere for tonal glyphs to gain power equal to that of the other glyphic languages. Elementalists take advantage of tonal glyphs by creating them using a musical instrument or their own voice, usually as part of a work of music. These glyphs can be used in glyphic engineering, although they require devices that play the notes continuously to be placed in a precise trigonometric pattern, making them far less useful for small-scale technology than formal glyphs. These glyphs were discovered by Jolen Endries, the founder of the Order of Muses, and the Muses remain the only faction to put them to widespread use (see: Jolen Endries, see: Order of Muses). Somatic glyphs (Choromancy)- glyphs in this language are composed of specific sets of movements. Somatic glyphs draw their power from Flux. Elementalists take advantage of this glyphic language by drinking liquid Potentia (allowing it to instantly evaporate into flux in their stomach) before preforming the movements themselves, usually as part of a dance. If the Elementalist does not use all of the Flux, they will cause serious harm to themselves and will likely die. These glyphs can be used in glyphic engineering by creating machines which mimic the specific motions required- for example, a machine which elevated an appendage before lowering it to the right could mimic the glyph formed by raising one's right arm above one's head before lowering it again. Obviously, the complexity involved in this renders the glyphs far less useful for glyphic engineering than formal glyphs. Only the nobility of the Shattered Baronies put these glyphs to widespread use (see: Shattered Baronies). Emotional glyphs (Motomancy)- glyphs in this language are composed of specific sets of firing neurons. The neurons must already have a high level of Potentia saturation to form these glyphs. Emotional glyphs draw power from the seven elements within a person's body; one using them will become fatigued and hungry at a faster rate. All amadorians, and only amadorians, are capable of using these glyphs (see: Amadorians) by focusing their emotions according to the seven elements table. These glyphs are utterly useless in glyphic engineering.

And, as promised, here is my new thread! Background: Recently, I decided that I need to move forward with developing my fantasy world. It has been a fun diversion, but little more, for the past decade or so, but I want to buckle down and get serious with all sorts of detail-oriented fleshing out of political structures and relationships, economic trends, and culture-stuff. And working on fleshing out the (currently rather sparse) magic system. So I decided to start a forum roleplay set in the world to help flesh out those things. This thread will be a place to post worldbuilding information, character info, roleplay questions, and basically general discussions. When we are ready to get started, I'll post a new thread for the roleplay itself. Currently, I have posted brief overviews of the cosmology and magic systems. This is strictly background information for now, but creates the framework necessary to understand magic as it will play out in the roleplay itself. Feel free to ask any questions you like about it. This weekend, I will begin posting the brief overviews of the cultural, geographical, and religious systems that populate this world. For now, the sections will remain in this post, but labeled as under construction. Cosmology Magic: Geography - Landscape and Culture Updated with Map! Geography - Politics and Religion Under construction! Summer, 1375 S. E., City of Menkor RP Thread

THE GARDEN OF MIRRORS "Create to understand your creator." Welcome, transcendent wayfarer. I am Echo of The Eternal Dream, keeper of the lore of the Garden of Mirrors and one of the seraphim. I was chosen by my dominion to be the one to instruct you on the history and workings of this Universe, and on the restrictions placed by my kin on ones like yourself under the authority of the very Maker. You may ask questions, if you consider my initial explanations lacking, and I will do what is within my ability to answer. All too often transcendent beings like yourself give in to their arrogance and do not report to the keepers of the Garden before intruding upon it, so I am thankful for your willingness to listen. Although the distance between us is great, my analysis points with a great degree of assuredness that you must be a human... but such thing certainly isn't possible. However, if you are capable of disguising yourself as one, or your Material Aspect is similar enough to one to fool my senses and sensors, then I have some measure of what I need not to explain to you, and the fact you were intercepted so close to a Havenworld clearly indicates an interest on the Children of Shadow. While I will sate your curiosity about humanity and the planet of Argina after explaining about the Garden as a whole, I must inform that the area around the Havenworld is off-limits, and should you try to trespass or interact with the planet in any way, action will be taken even after you inevitably fail. Remember, transcendent wayfarer, we seraphim make sure the planets run on time. Cultivating this Universe is our birthright, and only God can take it away. Now, I must begin your introduction to this world by explaining some key concepts. Aspects: there are many ways to model they ways different parts of reality behave and interact, some more useful for some phenomenons than others. And there are times when which model is useless and which corresponds to reality is complex to determine, as if different sets of laws of reality, generally either parallel or aligned, started to conflict and act out of synchrony. The controlled desynchronization of aspects is what we call magic. Throught study of those events, we seraphim have been able to distinguish different Aspects of reality, and some of the ways they interact, but those Aspects aren't exactly solid and discrete parts of reality as much as they are a way to understand things beyond our perception, and there are still doubts about when to make the divisions. The model of most relevance to you and most accepted amongst the scholars of my people who are used to dealing with other classes of beings is the model of the Four Aspects: Matter, Vibrancy, Principle and Image, or Shadow. According to this model, all things in the Aspects of Matter and of Vibrancy have presence in all four aspects, to a greater or lesser extent, and all things have some presence either in the Aspect of Image or in the aspect of Principle, if not both. There are those who say all things exist on all aspects, but there isn't evidence to support or deny said hypothesis. A being is considered more belonging of an Aspect the better it can function in it without Aspectual desynchronization, while simple objects are considered either belonging or unbelonging based on their capacity to exist in an Aspect without desyncrhonization, and only things from the Aspects of Principle and Image can be fully unbelonging to other aspects. A being is considered active in an aspect if it is capable of consciously perceiving it and interacting with the world through it. The Aspect of Matter: The Aspect of Vibrancy: The Aspect of Principle: The Aspect of Image: ((more will come))

This is the worldbuilding thread for CC. Add characters, gov't, places and your personal character profiles. I had a idea for Sao University and the gov't is ruled by a King and Council.

**Ythvinaj Khriniahnya is a member of the Priestly caste of the Chaod Leu. They are extremely xenophobic, and they believe that unless you are Chaod Leu, you don't have a soul. Outsiders are killed with no mercy, and no remorse. He isn't too happy about being forced to do this, but I insisted. His text will be written in red. Background information about his culture can be found here. What is this? What sorcery has roused me from my chambers and my temple? And why am I set thus in front of a rabble of Soulless and demons? I object to this treatment! The Great Elements will consume you for your blasphemy! It appears I have no choice at present. Whatever demon binding has brought me from the sacred place also compels me to answer your questions. Under duress, I will introduce myself. I am Ythvinaj Khriniahnya, priest of the Great Fire. I am the first-son of Subrahta Mahravaj, son of Chandrasek Adioniv, son of Abhilasha Lodha, slave-elect to the priesthood of the Fire. I live in the city of Adalaj, at the Temple of the Great Fire. I cast the omens for the fire-chirnigi in the great Temple, and I watch the society of the Chhuyha at that place. I must find a powerful purifying spell after consortings with such Soulless and demons as this, though. But for the moment, I am bound. Ask me your questions, and I will answer.

(*This is inspired on Kobold's thread. Feel free to upvote him, althought I feel he doens't really need it at this point. This:(**) means out of character. *) Dreamer, I do not know what tides carried you here from your time and world, nor do I divine why the engines of fate have brought you to me, but please rest calm. I may be a monster in the eyes of some, but I will not hurt you. My name is Iluinirumave, meaning "subtle shift of the tide", although most call me Ilui. I was once a mage, a scholar, and perhaps even a hero. I was also a cannibal sorceress, more shadow than flesh, more monster than person. Now, I quietly sleep below earth and sea, waiting for the day humanity reclaims their homeland far beyond the stars. I've learned much in my sleep, walking throught shadows of memories, but I am not divine, and most of what I know comes from the times of the Second Age, before the rising and fall of Saint Temã, and is about the Eastern Half and the Princedoms of Creizem, home of the vaults that guard dangerous relics of magics of dream and flame, both ancient and new. Wait, I feel another mind manifest... I... I am sorry if I disrupted, but I could not avoid feeling summoned by this. Maybe it is because of the nature of my soul, but I was called, and I think I now must answer as well. Very... very well. I think it would be good to hear from other times and places. Thank you, master Ilui. I am from the Third Age, being comtemporary to the restauration of Temã, although I don't think I should speak too much about that specific event. I was born in Imeriz, capital of the Imeric Empire, but if I had to call any place my home, it would be the Cireze Dominion, built on the ashen ruins of the Creizem Princedoms. More specificaly the city of Tevirre, know as the second capital of the Empire for good reasons. You can call me Guivere, althought my father calls me Zenith-37. I am a failed prototype of divinity turned spy. I feel qualified to answer your questions, and mildly inclined to do so. (*Try to restrain your questions to worldbuilding and the characters themselves, not plot, ok?*)

I am River Leaper of the Indigo Moon Cluster. My species and yours have quarreled in times past, but there is space enough in the galaxy for us to coexist in peace. It is my wish that all sapient beings one day inhabit one cluster of allies as close as any blood-family; to pursue this goal I open this conversation to questions about the ways of the Supernalian race, the functioning of our society, and any other topic that piques your mammalian interests. For those unfamiliar with our species, we are very social carnivores native to the Jewel Supernal, a beautiful moon hundreds of light years from your Earth. Our appearance is such as this, as depicted by a human artist who goes by the name LarkoftheRiver. (A wonderful artist, as your kind goes. It is a shame she was born with human eyes.) Please feel at ease in asking me anything which comes to your minds. May this mark a day of harmony between the Humaneria and the Supernal Sky-States!

Hello there, 17th Shard. As some of you may know I engage in a lot of worldbuilding for a space opera setting, one that puts a lot of emphasis on the many alien species populating the cosmos. I've been keeping info about these species in an OpenDocument file for my own access, but I thought I'd test the waters by posting this essay on the species here for the community to take a look at. I know it's pretty dry, so don't feel the need to read through every word. It'd mean a lot to me just for people to skim through it and maybe comment on anything that really jumps out at them. Thanks in advance, and I hope you enjoy the fruit of my obsessive mind. ---------------------------------------- On the Yulli The Yulli are a herbivorous rodent race from the planet Yullus, simply called "Homeworld" by expatriates. They are a strong interstellar species with numerous colonies, trading outposts, and drone fleets. Homeworld and Natural Habitat The planet Yullus is a terretrial body with around twice the mass of Earth but a gravitational pull of only 1.2 g. There are four continents; two form a collective land area the size of Eurasia around the northernmost latitude while the other two are small island continents located closer to the equator. Aside from the north polar sea there is only one ocean, a vast and turbulent body of water with supermassive storms blowing across its surface and tremendous sea monsters lurking underneath. The planet has one moon, a large body three times the mass of Earth's Moon that is tidally locked and serves to stabilize the homeworld's rotation. The Yulli evolved in a cold desert on one of the northern continents, and many of their adaptations reflect this. They have a proclivity for cold and dry climates to this day but are adaptable enough to make themselves comfortable in many other environments. Appearance and Anatomy The average Yulli stands three feet tall. The body type is similar to that of a hamster, compactly built and rounded. There is no neck to speak of and only a nub of a tail. As a bipedal being, a Yulli stands balanced on two strong back legs, and uses evolved forelimbs to grasp and manipulate items in its environment. The hand has four digits, three fingers and an opposable thumb. A Yulli's face is dominated by sensory equipment. Massive black eyes are positioned on either side of the skull, rendering the beings more efficient at monitoring their environments than humans but diminishing their binocular vision. The nose is at the end of a short snout and is highly sensitive, and Yulli suffer a fear response when exposed to the scent of a predator or dead Yulli (though the degree of terror varies from individual to individual). The ears are the most outreaching part of Yulli facial anatomy; wide and round, they swivel reflexively to pick up sounds in the being's vicinity and become more active in times of fear or stress. The mouth is small but filled with powerful incisors, much like those of Earth's rodents. These are for gnawing into the centers of leathery plants found on the homeworld; juicy cactus-like plants still make up a substantial part of the Yulli diet, and most meals would not be considered complete without a hard-to-chew first course. Outside the skin, a Yulli is covered by a layer of fur, usually pale pink but occasionally rosy, majenta, or even red depending on the ethnicity. The Yulli have been colonizing other worlds long enough for some adaptive radiation to have taken place; the descendants of Yulli of particularly cold colonies have thicker coas and more substantial fat reserves than those of more traditional arid desert settings. Internally the Yulli are fairly typical as far as carbon-aqueous vertebrates go. A strong skeleton supports the usual organs: heart, lungs, stomach, etc. The largest deviation a human anatomist would notice is the structure of the torso skeleton; rather than sporting a defined rib cage, Yulli organs are protected by a mesh of dense bone just underneath the skin and fur. Broken portions of the rib mesh will heal in a scar-like knob visible as a lump under the fur. Life Cycle Yulli are eusocial. Within a typical family group only one female is fertile and capable of nursing young. Infertile females and males are difficult to distinguish, but the fertile female is larger, endowed with a thicker layer of lard, and has eight teats and mammary glands for young to nurse from. It has been argued by some that fertile females have a higher-on-average intelligence quotient, though this is difficult to ascertain. Where the physical act of reproduction is concerned, Yulli are also mostly typical. Two genders are required to share genetic material and create a new Yulli, a process which is carried out via coitus. A mother Yulli will birth a large litter of young, which begin life no larger than mice but are kept clinging to her nipples nursing until large enough to detach and explore the world around them. Yulli childhood can be considered to last the equivalent of fifteen Earth months for a female and twenty for a male; the pups usually take part in community labor as soon as they are capable, however. Males will become sexually mature upon reaching around twenty months in age but will not necessarily mate unless given the opportunity. Most females' reproductive systems are stunted by the presence of their mothers' hormones and will never reach total sexual maturity. The equivalent of thirty Earth years has traditionally been considered a ripe old age for a Yulli, but medical technology can increase the lifespan by many decades. Yulli nowadays can live for nearly a century. Outlook and Society As with most species, Yulli culture is built around the family unit. The single breeding female is the mostra, who after mating with a male will give birth to six to eight infant Yulli. These will remain clinging to their mother, constantly nursing, for a period of several months before detaching to begin forming life experiences. During this period the lactating mostra is cared for by a petostra, literally a "patron family." The petostra is usually the extended family of the pups' mother or father, and the mostra and her brood are seen as owing love and allegiance towards the petostra. The first brood of pups are sostras, infertile females who make up the mostra's inner circle. The mostra secretes pheromones which keep her daughters from developing functioning reproductive systems while in her presence. Any sostra who spends enough time away from her mostra will eventually develop larger size and teats, and ultimately become a fertile mostra herself. Most sostras are content to remain as handmaidens to their mother, however, and will not become mostras unless the old mother dies. It is only ambition, overpopulation, or a significant conflict with the mother that will prompt an infertile female to voluntarily leave the family to start another. Once the family group has become established and the mostra considers herself to be in a stable position, she will begin to give birth to bostras. A bostra is a fertile male, a drone, that makes up the primary work force within a Yulli family. They are slightly larger than a sostra though smaller than a mostra, and anywhere between twelve and thirty bostras may be birthed for service to the family. It should be noted that the Yulli do not constitute a true hive society; individuals possess free will, and while the roles of mostras, sostras, and bostras generally remain the same, exceptions abound. It's not unheard of to find a mostra working a low-paying job on an alien world, or to find a bostra serving as a politician. Regardless, in traditionalist Yulli households, of which the most are found on the homeworld, mostras are considered the heads of their households, sostras perform day-to-day duties of the home, and bostras are sent out into the world to bring resources home to the family. The personal name of a Yulli reflects the family basis of their society. The naming convention for the primary Yulli culture is Personal Name, Caste, Apostrophe, Surname. Example: Yig Bostra'Yarno. While family is the foundation of Yulli psychology, their sociable natures do not end at blood ties. Friendship is highly valued amongst the Yulli, sometimes to the very same degree as family. It has been proposed that Dunbar's number, the theoretical limit to how many stable relationships a human can cognitively process, is half again as large in Yulli brains as it is in human beings. While contested, it is evident to all who have gossiped with one of the creatures that Yulli adore large and extraordinarily complex social groups. Being such sociable creatures, it is unsurprising that the Yulli tend to be exceptionally bright, friendly, and talkative creatures when around each other. They are inclined to instinctively like others of their kind unless a grievance becomes known, and the streets of a Yulli metropolis are generally noisy with the sounds of rodents chatting with strangers in their squeaky languge. Despite this general air of camaraderie, Yulli remain curiously tight-lipped around aliens, which tend to trigger a fear response in the herbivorous rodents. There are exceptions, of course. Modern Yulli society, especially around the homeworld, has become highly industrial and economic. Many bostras work jobs at mining and production facilities, and some sostras work similar jobs or hold management positions outside the home. Political power, once the sole province of the mostras of established families, is now consolidated into a series of corporations that themselves rely on the edicts of benign artificial intelligences programmed to maximize Yulli chances of survival in the universe. Corporations are not related to blood ties and include workers and managers from thousands of Yulli from across the planet's surface, much like a human business. Culture and the Arts Yulli culture on the homeworld has become highly homogeneous—not due to invasion or genocide like in many human empires, but as different tribes through history merged together to share resources during one of the many cataclysms the planet suffered. Inter-Yulli war is not unheard of, as the rodents are willing to fight over sparse resources or territory. Violence invokes a more visceral atavistic repulsion in Yulli than in humans, however, causing difficulties when raising armies in anything but the most dire of circumstances. In most cases rival groups will either merge together over a period of generations or the weaker of the two will migrate to a new area. Beyond the homeworld the culture is similar, but has diversified due to distance and isolation. Over a thousand years, different Yulli worlds have often developed their own distinct customs and regional governments. While the homeworld is capitalist, some colonies are communist. A slight few have even seceded from the rest of the species government, and a couple are known to have rescinded into barbarism. Nonetheless, certain characteristics are repeated across the majority of Yulli cultures. Family ties and sociality are highly valued across the entire species, for instance, with very rare exceptions. Cultivation of grains and other food plants is practiced among even those Yulli that have ceased to be civilized, as the ability to control food quantity is immensely valuable to fast-breeding herbivores such as they. As a consequence harvest days have a special significance and are often observed long after a population has ceased to be close to food production; thus, Yulli celebrate holidays much the same way humans do, though sans religious implications. Festivities are generally simple and focused on drawing groups closer together, generally through a communal project. For instance, on one Yulli colony world inhabited by native insectoids, every member of a family decorates a plate-shaped sheet of paper and connects it to others in the shape of a centipede. Yulli architecture is built low to the ground and is more likely to extend underground than it is into upper stories. Older, wealthier families may reside in entirely subterranean bunkers isolated from other households, while the majority of homes are all interconnected and see frequent visitations between neighbors. Where multiple stories are a necessity it is not uncommon to see residents flocking to the lower floors whenever possible, as the Yulli prefer to stay close to the ground when not traveling or working. The Yulli, like most sapient races, possess an artistic side, but it is not highlighted or deemed historically significant as in human society. Many Yulli are inclined towards the creation of artwork, but this often takes the form of scrawling simple fractal shapes on the sides of buildings where friends and family members may see them, or by crafting rings or small figurines out of clay or metal and hanging them from chains above doorways. While gifted with an excellent sense of hearing, the Yulli dislike music and do not engage in it, preferring to keep their ears open for the chatter of friends and for possible threats in the environment. Individuals with more melodious voices are encouraged to talk more, not to pursue a career in singing. One particularly odd quirk of Yulli sociality is spontaneous drama, essentially a game of unscripted make-believe played between friends and family or between strangers in public places. In young Yulli the role-playing serves to sharpen developing social skills, and adult Yulli adore it as it stimulates their more developed minds to practice the same. It is initiated with a husky coughing noise that has been described as the Yulli equivalent to laughter and usually involves one of a number of stock characters that have been passed down over the centuries. Religion The Yulli as a whole are not remarkably zealous when compared to humanity. Belief in higher powers has been frequent throughout their history, encompassing the worship of deities and spirits as well as myths that seek to explain natural phenomenon. Religious rites are almost entirely absent, however, and while religious Yulli may utter personal prayers in times of crisis or fear, there are no established guidelines or templates for these orations. There are no priests, temples, or holy books, and the very concept of a crusade is alien to the Yulli mind. The dominant form of Yulli spirituality within the modern culture is a simple system that places value on the enlightenment of communities through cooperation and interpersonal harmony. To treat other beings as one would treat a close family member is considered the epitome of this practice, and a tolerance towards other cultures, Yulli or alien, is encouraged. A creator force called the Goodness may or may not be included within this system at the digression of the teacher; Yulli are the type of creatures that consider the question of whether a God exists to be a boring piece of theological minutia not worthy of the average worshiper's time. Monotheistic and polytheistic religions continue to exist among the Yulli, and given the casual attitude Yulli treat their faiths with, the religions tend to merge and become interconnected as teachers of these ways borrow characters and concepts from one another's myths. Technology An advanced interstellar society, the Yulli possess a high level of technology that allows them to build spacecraft and colonize other worlds. Yulli warp stations are predicated on plutonic technology, like those of most other races in the galaxy. Plutonics are also employed in myriad other pieces of tech, especially in weapon systems and the notoriously resilient Yulli vehicles. The bulk of Yulli spacecraft belong to the Kill Fleet, an armada of remote controlled defense drones armed with plutonic plasma beams and a quantum computer system used to synchronize strikes during combat. Most of the Kill Fleet remains in orbit around Yullus to defend against surprise invaders, but regular patrols sweep the surrounding solar system in search of stealthy invaders. These are produced en masse at stations in orbit around Yullus, and platoons of the drones make periodic visits to distant colonies to remind aliens—and the Yulli colonists—that the homeworld defense force is not to be trifled with. Manned spacecraft are relatively uncommon, but come in a variety of different shapes and sizes depending on the corporation that manufactured them. Scout crafts tend to be small, diamond-shaped, and accompanied by escorts of drones to uncharted parts of the galaxy. Colony ships are huge and round, capable of holding thousands of Yulli in the ever-ongoing colonization effort. Command ships are the closest thing the Yulli possess to manned warships, and are small, unobtrusive vessels designed to observe and deliver commands to drones while in areas beyond reach of the primary control stations. Plutonic-powered hovercraft are a ubiquitous form of transportation on Yullus and other civilized planets, though on the homeworld itself a system of ancient railways are also maintained. Individuals usually do not own hovercraft, instead renting them from the corporations when they are necessary, or more frequently, boarding public craft supplied by the city companies. The public trains and hovercraft of Yullus tend to be cramped and noisy, precisely as Yulli like them. (As mentioned, Yulli have refined chatting with strangers down to an art form.) When on hostile planets or among questionable company, Yulli make use of large robotic suits called bipods. These can be anywhere from four to twelve feet tall depending on the make, and are usually armed with single action railguns or simple plutonic plasma launchers. (Sonic weapons are not unheard of, and on worlds populated only by simple wildlife flashing lights may be the sole armament.) The primary defense value of a bipod generally lies in its bulky armor and intimidation value towards aggressive alien life forms. History Archaeological findings suggest that Yulli civilization has existed for slightly over forty-five thousand years, a staggering amount of time when compared to how long other civilizations tend to survive. The species itself dates back four million years, and survives multiple closely related species which died out during a dry spell in the homeworld's climate. Written Yulli history only documents the past ten thousand years, and much of the earliest portion of the documentation is mired in mythology and revisionism. For most of Yulli history the species existed as a collection of unaffiliated families which dug community burrows and foraged only enough food to survive. Agriculture became prevalent among some family groups as early as one million years ago, and forty-five thousand years ago families began banding together to share resources and to build the first cities. These early cities sprouted all over the largest continents of Yullus, and separate cultures formed from families which spread to offshore islands. War during this period was largely unknown save for occasional skirmishes, but around seven thousand years ago the Yulli cities began to clash more frequently over land. During the next couple of millennia the Yulli cultures that would eventually dominate the species became powerful, spreading across the continents assimilating most other factions and occasionally driving out hostile forces that refused to merge. Many noteworthy historical conquerors were born in this period. The wars and competion between wars brought new technological innovations, but eventually the world settled into a period of high metallurgy, exploration, and steam-powered technology reminiscent of the 19th century of human history. Another plateau settled upon the Yulli as technological innovation stagnated. Then came the Luprex War. Seventeen hundred years ago a species of predatory reptilian megafauna called the Luprex invaded Yullus, wiping out many cities and establishing small colonies and outposts across the planet. The Yulli of the time period were taken completely unaware by the invasion force, and were unprepared for the high technology war the Luprex waged. Yullus was occupied and Yulli society was badly shaken. During a period of several decades, however, surviving Yulli orchestrated a violent logistical war against the occupation. Gunpowder, before largely used as enterainment, was adapted into firearms and artillery. Luprex units were ambushed, killed, and their technology was appropriated by the bands of Yulli. Raids were launched against Luprex farms to destroy their equipment and livestock. For every Yulli rebel killed in an ambush there were several more being birthed at hidden nests in the countryside; little by little, the Yulli outbred and outfought the occupying force until the Luprex began to leave the planet, the cost of occupation now greater than the cost of finding a better planet. The victorious Yulli had by this point become a more paranoid culture than they had been previously, and set about rebuilding their society with a greater emphasis on security. Yulli scientists were now aware that travel between the stars was possible, and left behind artifacts of Luprex tech were reverse-engineered until their principles were understood. The scarcity of the resources in the damaged, post-apocalyptic countryside triggered the consolidation of power within several merchant groups which established control over important resources, paving the way for the commercialism-focused Yulli culture of the modern day. Scarcely two hundred years after the Luprex had left the planet, the Yulli were launching their first unmanned probes into space, while building massive nuclear missiles pointed at the sky in fear of new invaders. The exploitation of asteroid resources was begun by the corporation shortly thereafter, and the development of the plutonic engine made interstellar warp possible. Scouts were sent, finding both uninhabited worlds ripe for colonization and outposts of the Luprex advance force. The Kill Fleet was designed and established shortly thereafter, with the original model being a self-replicating drone armed with mass drivers and strength of numbers. From safe on their homeworld the Yulli controlled a fleet of remote-operated drones, using them to launch assault after assault on Luprex-controlled worlds. The Yulli took pains not to allow their drones to be traced back to their own planet, and upon discovering the homeworld of the Luprex devoted their entire economy towards pushing the offensive. Three hundred and fifty years after the end of the first Luprex War, the Luprex homeworld had been seized by the Yulli, the last survivors of the Luprex fleeing into Kuraurus space in disarray. Since this historic event, the Yulli have enjoyed over a thousand years of stability. Several dozen planets have been heavily colonized, including the former Luprex homeworld; drone fleets are everywhere and have defended their creators from several would-be invasions. Yulli traders and scientists are a common sight throughout this area of the galaxy, and can even be found doing business within the Humaneria.

Just Post anything to do with worldbuilding. Just as long as you have a good imagination, and decent descriptions, you will do great here!

Being fans of Brandon Sanderson, we suffer a terrible curse even as we enjoy his blessings. The author we adore creates brilliantly, breathtakingly well-designed worlds. We fall in love with his worlds. We wish to explore them to the fullest extent. We wish to see more of them than even his prolific novel-writing can sate. One world that I and many others have fallen in love with is the world of the Reckoners. If you're on this board then you've likely read at least Steelheart; I think we've all gaped in awe at the vividly realized world of heroes and tyrannical supervillains that Sanderson weaved for us. To be honest, my heart fills with sadness whenever I contemplate how we will only be treated to three total novels set in this world. I weep at the thought of how much of the Reckoners' world must by necessity be forever unseen. Darn it, Kobold, I hear you saying, why are you depressing us? Why are you pointing out these sad, sad things! Well my friends, I am saying them because I've been doctoring my melancholy with a vivid fantasy that I'd like to share with you: "The Illustrated Guide to Epics." Great authors like Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin put out compendiums detailing the histories and landscapes of their worlds. What if Brandon Sanderson created a similar compendium of the Reckonerverse? While his massive workload might very well prohibit this, I can't help but give a wistful sigh at the idea. (And rest assured I'd lay down good money to read it. If you see this, Mr. Ahlstrom, be sure to tell your employer that I said that. ) A few things I'd like to see in such a compendium, if one were ever published: An in-universe point of view; the book could be written in the form of David's notes about various Epics, detailing both his categorization system and the amount of knowledge he was able to accumulate on them. Bonus points if his (in)famous metaphors are brought up at least once--"Obliteration melted San Diego like a scoop of buttery ice cream laid on top of a nuclear reactor while a giant hairdryer blows on it," for instance. A detailed map of the Fractured States, marking the territories of various Epic tyrannies. We know that Steelheart and the Coven at least laid claim to large portions of land; wouldn't it be nice to know the boundaries to their kingdoms, or to learn about the other Epic nations scourging the land? Bountiful information on the many Epics known to David. Definitely more detailed accounts of Epics we've seen in the books, like Steelheart, Nightwielder, or Newton, but I'd also like to see bios of Epics who are either mentioned only in passing or not heard of at all, such as the Snowfall, the Pink Pinkness, or the nameless Epics responsible for the destruction of Oregon. And last but not least, a general overview of how the world in general responded to Epics. Have all the world's countries succumbed to their tyranny? Are there still human strongholds in the world? Those are just a few things I'd like to see in an official guide to the Reckonerverse. Does anyone else have anything they'd really like to see?

This is one of my personal sayings, probably because research is one of those things I "do" as a historian...or so they tell us; half of history is research, half is opinion, and half is spinning stories that make some sense. The truth is, of course, that we can't do math to save our lives...that's why we chose history, not science. Anyway, what I wanted to talk about today is research, and how it applies to creative crafts. Ironically, research for world building or a story has always boggled my mind. While I find conducting research on a topic for a class, a paper, or an article quite easy, I already have a direction for this. It's in my study area (modern U.S. history), it relates to my interests, and I already have a set path to some extent. I know where to find good materials and I also know where to get more materials from if the need arises. As long as it's my area, I'm pretty set. Yet, whenever I even consider (briefly) worldbuilding or going back and writing a story I pause in fright at the mountainous research required to write a story that wouldn't relate to my...errr..."special interests". Even though I know how to research properly, researching in an unfamiliar area is somewhat frightening. There just seems like so many things and directions to look into. From culinary practices, to how this or that ethnic group's farming techniques in this or that period, to music styles, to their history, to scientific practices/medical practices that were common in that culture (Arabs washed their hands in the middle ages a practice that was deeply influenced by Islamic ritual cleansing), to how does my magic system tie into economics, culture, history, religions, and physics! Such things as that. The topics for research seem insurmountable. When I do research for some topic (let's say philanthropy in modern America) I need to learn the terms, how it relates to economics, and such things as that, but it never seems this downright crazy. It's narrow and given to me in a nice, neat package even though I probably spend quite a bit of time researching a few philanthropists and what makes them tic (so to speak). Instead of rambling on, I'll offer a list of questions to get the ball rolling (but you don't have to answer them): How does one organize the vast numbers of topics into something isn't overwhelming? That list is far from exhaustive, and, while no one is going to really care about what your farming techniques are (unless it's a story about farmers fighting giant shadow monsters from the nether), some of these topics aren't that important. Still, a lot of them are important, which leads me to my next question... How does one know when enough is enough and what kind of topics one should really focus on? What parts would you say are the most important? When does "rule of cool" out weight "rule of correct"? If you've done this type of research, how have you organized it? Is there a system that you personally use or have seen other use? Say, if one knew that they want to tell a story where the main character is military in a certain period (Enlightenment; that is, 16th to 17th C Prussia, per example) or a "doctor" in Japan in the same time period (Edo period), how would you go about writing that without being overwhelmed (or cultures similar to that)? In short, I just want to encourage discussion on research and advice on how to do it, I guess...

The forest frosts around you, but there's a spring in your step. The wood's getting colder by the hour, and already most of the region's larger wildlife has retreated to its dens. Or at least, so you hope; not many of Rimelight's nocturnal fauna have been catalogued yet. Stopping by the shores of an iced over lake, you set your gaze skywards. A mere glance upward justifies this world's name; the sky itself almost seems to have frosted over. Arcs of magnificent icy rings dominate the heavens, appearing in celestial increments around the enormous turquoise globe in the center of the cosmic firmament. Finding yourself beaming once again at the sight, you begin setting up your trusty telescope. There's a lot of ring-gazing to do before the sun rises in twenty more Earth-hours. This is the vague conception I have for a new science fiction worldbuilding project: I am attempting to design a planetary system in which a functioning multicellular ecology could evolve on a shepherd moon. I think I could do some pretty nifty things with the setting, but I need a little guidance on the proper astrometrics of such a system. A shepherd moon is a moon that orbits around the edge of a gas giant's ring system. They may also appear within gaps between the rings. A shepherd moon is defined by the gravitational effect it projects upon the ring particulates--it "herds" the dust and ice particles into sharp, stable shapes like those of Saturn's characteristic rings. Shepherd moons orbit close enough to the rings of their planet that I imagine the view from one would be spectacular; unfortunately, there are a few astronomical issues I'm facing in this world construction. First of all: the moon can't be located too close to the planet itself. The tidal forces of an object as large as a gas giant could literally destroy the moon every other week. If you don't believe me, check out the maps of Io--or the lack thereof. Jupiter's tidal forces, coupled with those of the nearby moons, is enough to bring the moon's magma to the surface and completely restructure the continents on a regular basis. It's hard to imagine carbon-based, water-filled life surviving in such an inhospitable habitat. That means that the moon of Rimenight will need to be an outer shepherd, orbiting far enough away from the planet that the tidal forces don't tear the crust apart like an almond flour pizza crust that's been in the oven too long. But if I position the moon too far away, it could take well over a week to orbit its parent body--thus radically lengthening the day/night cycle. Weeks of day followed by weeks of night could make for a fascinating setting itself, but it isn't at all what I want for Rimenight. I want a day/night cycle no longer than three Earth days. The proper distance from the gas giant would be bewildering enough for me to figure out--but since I want this to be a shepherd moon with a good view of the rings, I'll need to contend with the issue of the moon's "flock." Wikipedia cheerfully informs me that one of the primary mechanisms of a shepherd moon's herding is the accretion of rogue particles from the ring system. Now, "accretion" is just fine for a rocky potato like the ones that pick up rocks as they orbit Saturn, but for a world with a complex ecosystem, "accretion" looks more like this: I'm fine with a few extinction-level impact events on this world. As long as the major impacts are limited to once every thirty million years or so, I can play around with a fascinating Eocene-like ecosystem for this moon's bioregions. But my concern is that a shepherd moon, even one with a thick atmosphere, even one with other moons drawing away fire, would undergo such a massive and continuous pummeling that cellular life, much less multicellular life, might never get the chance the evolve. So in summary: I need to know the habitable zone for a moon orbiting a Saturn-sized gas giant. I also need to know how common and how severe impact events would be over this moon's history. If the answer to the previous question is "pretty sparking bad", then I'd appreciate some guidance on how to lessen the hostility of the environment. Thanks in advance! Anyone who posts comments on this thread gets a Rimenightian geologic feature named after him/her!

Ok, the story is continuing from the first 1000 words. These next 2000 cover the follow up to the battle and the realization more is coming. Always looking forward to your thoughts!

For a fantasy setting I'm trying to figure out how I should date my main characters diary entries. I'm using the basic 12 month thing it's just this:How do I write the years? I would also appreciate you guys doing a podcast on alternative calendars if you don't mind-Alex