Building a world, Vathen

[JustQuestin2004]

Hello! And welcome to my flailings as a novice writer, I'm trying to create an original world to place into the Cosmere as a side-story to a fanfiction I'm making. I would greatly appreciate some aid in the endeavor.

I'm not entirely sure about the title just yet but it will be part of my 'Cosmeric Tales' fanfic series that I will one day post on Spacebattles, because that's where I've posted stories before and I hope to attract some attention to the Cosmere with a few decent stories. 

Anyway so this side-story will be taking place on a world called Vathen, it's a world designed by Adonalsium much like Roshar, but was never touched by a Shard until very recently.

A conflict between 2 Shards that led to one of them pulling a Preservation and tearing a large chunk of Investiture from the other and hiding it away, on a world that hardly anyone has ever paid attention to. The Shard that visited this world also left behind a powerful Splinter, akin to the Godspren like the Stormfather, to watch over the Chunk hidden away. While the Splinter's creator left to go back to their original world.

This happened decades before the story starts, with the Chunk starting to corrupt the local Magic System and cause problems.

But anyway I'd like some assistance in actually making some worldbuilding, I have some ideas of my own.

I want the Magic System to be based around plants. I want the Destiny number of Vathen to be 7 (like Scadrial's 16). I want the world to be covered in Flora, with giant trees and humongous bugs being the main environmental features that make this world unique. I want the end of the story to have a new and stable Perpendicularity form, connecting Vathen to the greater Cosmere.

I want some societies to live high in tree-cities and I want some to live below around 'Giant Bug repelling Mushrooms'. There will be humans, maybe a new sentient species like the Singers  but who knows.

I want a human society to be near-modern so I can make an 'Urban Fantasy' kind of story though I'm no longer as certain.

Maybe a sequel will have the main characters dealing with one of Autonomy's Avatars?

And this all will take place between the end of the Original Mistborn Trilogy and the beginning of the Stormlight Archives.

And If you're wondering about the Shards I'd mentioned earlier, it will spoil things from the main story I'm working on so I'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler

The 2 Shards in conflict were Discord and Odium, with Discord being an SI from a previous story who imperfectly took Sazed's place at the Catacendre with major consequences.

Discord temporarily left Scadrial and went to Roshar to kill Odium, though Discord eventually found that while he had the advantage in strength and the element of surprise, Odium was just too experienced for Discord to kill, so Discord took a page from Preservation's book and ripped a chunk of Odium's power away and simply left, with Odium unable to follow.

Discord hid the Chunk on Vathen, left a Splinter to watch over it and then screwed off back to Scadrial.

 

Though Odium did take a bit of Discord's Investiture during the fight as well and that will cause some problems later on.

So yeah that's all I've got so far, with about half of that made up as I was writing this.

Huh, I guess worldbuilding's easier than I thought.

 

Any thoughts?

Edit;

Okay, I'm gonna try to sort these ideas out into boxes for simplicities sake. I'll add more as I think of it.

Vathen's Ecology

Spoiler

Much like Roshar, this world is extremely different from Earth in terms of Fauna and Flora, as well as geography.

For starters, there are a lot of rivers crisscrossing throughout the continent.

The Flora is also super-sized, regular trees are usually over 100 meters tall for example.

The most common type of Fauna are giant bugs of many kinds. Such as a giant Centipede/Spider hybrid that dwells in the 'Abyss', or a giant species of semi-intelligent Wasp-like things in 'Paradise' that can be tamed and ridden on.

There are two main ecosystems caused by the massive trees, one is called 'Paradise' and the other is called 'The Abyss'.

Paradise is found at the tops of the trees, with many of the trees branches connecting to other trees like natural bridges. Most creatures here can fly. There are so many branches that if you fell you'd be more likely to hit a branch than fall into the Abyss. Water comes from transpiration and rain. Very large fruits and bugs are the main sources of food for those who live in Paradise. Most predators are easily evaded by the local populace due to a combination of the Invested Art of Vathen and domesticated flying insects that are a combination of a dragonfly and a bee. Overall life is quite easy for those who in Paradise.

 

The Abyss is the ground, which is covered in perpetual darkness due to the massive forest blocking out all sunlight from reaching it. Many of the fauna unique to the Abyss react poorly to direct sunlight, which keeps the nastier predators from seeking prey from Paradise.

Many creatures have developed either Bioluminescene or night vision to deal with the lack of lighting. Rivers are rather common to find.

There exist many large insect predators, such as a spider/centipede hybrid that is larger than a school bus.

The populace usually live communities set up in the roots of trees, which are barricaded to prevent predators from finding their way in.

Overall life is difficult in the Abyss, though not impossible.

 

Vathen's Magic

Spoiler

The Magic of Vathen is based around 7 types of Plants that are Invested.

This Invested Art will be called Korlans. (Not too attached to the name though)

Certain species of plants grow on Vathen that stockpile the ambient Investiture. When these plants are eaten they grant a temporary ability to the consumer. The ability differs on the type of Korlan. Most only grow in certain conditions, some only grow in the dark, some need light to grow, etc.

There is a limit as to how many Korlans of a particular species can exist at one time due to the limited Investiture on Vathen. So when one Korlan is eaten, it will eventually regrow somewhere appropriate on Vathen. Some Korlans have a lower species population than others and thus are rarer, but this also concentrates the Investiture, which makes their effects stronger and longer lasting.

There exist 2 main categories of Korlans, the 'Light' Korlans and the 'Dark' Korlans. Light Korlans only grow above the treeline where there is light, while Dark Korlans only grow on the ground, where there is very little to no light. There exist 3 Light Korlans and 3 Dark Korlans, with a legendary 7th Korlan that can grow anywhere being considered nearly mythical for both it's rarity and power.

When a Korlan is harvested, they eventually start to wither away until they lose all power. Replanting them in soil and watering them can lengthen their lifespan but cannot do so indefinitely. The rarer the Korlan, the longer it will last before Withering away.

Here is what I have for the Korlans themselves:

Light Korlans

1: 'Float-Leaf', this Korlan grows at the tops of trees, it has a distinctive silvery color that makes it easy to find. When eaten it makes the consumer nearly weightless, enabling them to jump vast distances and slow their falls. This is the most common Light Korlan, but it also withers quickly. Many large flying bugs feed on these to help support their weight, making them ideal mounts. It's been estimated that these have a Species Limit of 70,000.

2: These would be estimated have a species limit of 7,000.

3: These would be estimated have a species limit of 700.

Dark Korlans

4; 'Glow-Root', this Korlan grows on the ground, it is very distinctive by it's warm golden glow. When eaten it makes the consumer begin to glow brightly and produce warmth, this light is identical to sunlight, which can allow plants to photosynthesize near them. It's quite dangerous to actually use as it can attract predators. It's the most common type of Dark Korlan. It's been estimated that these have a species limit of 70,000.

5: These would be estimated have a species limit of 7,000.

6: These would be estimated have a species limit of 700.

7th Korlan

I haven't thought it out yet. It can grow anywhere but it only has a Species limit of 7. It's the rarest and strongest of all Korlans, it also takes a very long time for it to Wither due to the amount of Investiture these things have. I'm thinking of making them some sort of apple or something. Some people don't even believe these exist.

 

Savantism

This could only happen if you constantly ate a particular Korlan for several years, which includes several creatures.

It would lead to your body developing somekind of physical mutation, though not a mental one. It would also increase the effect of the Korlan you Savanted in.

For instance Glow-Root Savantism would make you develop some natural bioluminescence, and when you ate actual Glow-Roots you would become nearly blinding.

The Savantism traits would be capable of being passed down. 

 

Vathen's Societies

Spoiler

There are two main societies, the ones that live up high on top of trees in what most call 'Paradise', and the ones that live on the ground in perpetual darkness in what most call 'the Abyss'.

There's some trade between these two societies and it is dependent on the Korlans. Though relations between these two societies isn't great. As many of the 'Paradisians' consider the 'Abyssals' to be 'brutal savages' whereas many of the Abyssals consider the Paradisians as 'condescending idiots'. They do not like each other much.

The 'Dark' society is more technologically advanced than the 'Light' society, due to the environment in 'Paradise' being easy to live in comparison to the harshness of the 'Abyss'.

Foragers and Gardeners are very important parts of society on Vathen.

The actual story

Spoiler

So the stolen Chunk of Investiture is Corrupting the local plants and wildlife, causing a lot of problems, the Splinter is trying to fix it but doesn't really know how, so they pose as a god and try to get the locals to fix it, which leads to the start of the plot. Not quite sure of what's going to happen. Some kind of 'Diet-Desolation' perhaps?

Maybe a person from the Paradise will go down into the Abyss and start off spoiled then learn how to be more understanding while trying to unite the Paradisians and the Abyssals?

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by JustQuestin2004
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[Lord Gregorio]

I'm not sure if you included this already, but with the big plants there'd have to be a lot of water. I did see you said a lot of rivers, so that's good. Unless the plants need less water, the world would probably need quite a bit to sustain the big plants. (Depending on how big they are of course.) 

For the magic system. 

- They could be used for building houses or weapons.

- Or you eat them like what you thought up.

That's all I've got for now. If I come up with more, maybe I'll come back and edit this. Looks cool though

[JustQuestin2004]

5 hours ago, Gregorio said:

I'm not sure if you included this already, but with the big plants there'd have to be a lot of water. I did see you said a lot of rivers, so that's good. Unless the plants need less water, the world would probably need quite a bit to sustain the big plants. (Depending on how big they are of course.) 

Yeah, the big plants need less water than they should due to Investiture, though they do still need a decent amount of it. To the point that they'd get noticabely smaller the further away they are from rivers.

5 hours ago, Gregorio said:

For the magic system. 

- They could be used for building houses or weapons.

- Or you eat them like what you thought up.

I want more than just humans to use them, so I'll probably go with 'eat plants' thing.

The normal 7 plants give you a minor ability that is always on until the plant is completely digested. You don't have much control over the ability, like if you eat the 'Glow-Root' plant, you'll start glowing for until it's digested. 

Then there will be the Corrupted versions, which give stronger and deadlier versions of those powers, though they come with consequences to use.

 

Thanks for replying.

[Lord Gregorio]

18 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Yeah, the big plants need less water than they should due to Investiture, though they do still need a decent amount of it. To the point that they'd get noticabely smaller the further away they are from rivers.

I want more than just humans to use them, so I'll probably go with 'eat plants' thing.

The normal 7 plants give you a minor ability that is always on until the plant is completely digested. You don't have much control over the ability, like if you eat the 'Glow-Root' plant, you'll start glowing for until it's digested. 

Then there will be the Corrupted versions, which give stronger and deadlier versions of those powers, though they come with consequences to use.

 

Thanks for replying.

Ok, that's a good idea. Creatures can eat the plants to become magical. Possibly. That would be funny and possibly scary.

[JustQuestin2004]

2 hours ago, Gregorio said:

Ok, that's a good idea. Creatures can eat the plants to become magical. Possibly. That would be funny and possibly scary.

Imagine giant Glow-In-Dark Spider-Centipede hybrid looking things that could eat a man whole.

Absolutely terrifying.

 

Plus above the treeline, people would eat plants called 'Float-Leaves', which would make them near weightless, then mount giant flying domesticated bugs to fly around on.

Edited September 25, 2022 by JustQuestin2004

[AltonicKeys]

The plot seems a little like Elantris to me? Maybe an Abyssal goes to Paradise instead.

All of the cosmere's magic names derive from what they use. Stormlight - Light from storms. Allomancy - Alloy magic. Sand mastery - literally just that.
So maybe something with plant? Nothing wrong with Korlans.

Can't wait to see where this leads!

[JustQuestin2004]

9 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

The plot seems a little like Elantris to me? Maybe an Abyssal goes to Paradise instead.

I wasn't thinking about Elantris to be honest.

9 hours ago, AltonicKeys said:

All of the cosmere's magic names derive from what they use. Stormlight - Light from storms. Allomancy - Alloy magic. Sand mastery - literally just that.
So maybe something with plant? Nothing wrong with Korlans.

I got the name 'Korlans' from mangling the word 'Flora'. In that case I suppose I could change it to 'Florans'. I just thought that would be a bit too bland.