worldbuilding Fantasy World planning

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Hello everyone! This thread is for planning a fantasy world as voted on in the Chat Thread.

Fantasy is a pretty broad topic, so there are a lot of different settings that we could come up with, ranging from the extremely bizarre to the almost normal. In my opinion, it's probably best if we based it off of Sanderson magic systems, but that still leaves a wide range of possibilities open to us. A few options have already been presented, but nothing's been decided on yet. Post here if you have an idea on what you think this fantasy world should be!

Master Planning Google Doc 

Here's what we have so far:

Spoiler

Natural Magic:

Human Deification Process

Renowned. This person is known for a skill and Natural magic is starting to enhance his/her abilities. (i.e. An archer who would hit the target 9/10 times is now believed to be incapable of missing so now never misses.)

Legend. This person has gained a reputation for skills/abilities that are uncanny. (i.e. A bounty hunter who now can sense the general direction of his target.)

Hero. This person is known for having magical abilities. (i.e. A physician who knows exactly what's wrong with a patient just by looking at them and can do some minor healing with magic.)

Champion. This person is known for their powers. (i.e. a warrior who can kill with a touch, doesn't grow tired easily, and can take a lot of punishment.)

Demi god. This person is known for being practically immortal along with their powers. (i.e. a famed ship captain who is immortal and can control the ocean to a degree.)

Ascendant god. This person is worshiped as a god and has lost all physical form and can give powers to followers in certain cases. (i.e. a famed merchant has become known as the god of wealth, and some followers might be able to call on his power to allow them to know if a business venture is a good idea.)

 

Animal rankings:

Beast: Still a normal animal, they normally live longer and are stronger than general animals. Might be a bit more sentient than normal animals as well.

Elder: Appearance begins to visibly differ from normal animals, through mostly in size. Longevity is further enhanced. Will need less food than normal animals of it's species, and is better at gathering it.

Alpha: Unusual aspects start manifesting, such as a noticeable level of intelligence, and depending on the stories their behavior might start differing, such as a predator that only hunts humans despite the original species never doing that. Animal stops needing food, subsisting on the magical energies alone. Lifespans approach human lifespans.

Apex: Undeniable sapience, they are at least as intelligent as humans, and are capable of communication, though they might need to learn the language first, and their moral compass might be weird. First supernatural abilities manifest, often connected to their legends. Appearance can be radically different than that of normal animals. Immortal.

Monster: Great powers, and often possess a great stature, but might be capable of taking human form as well. Depending on the stories told about them they might lose their intelligence to some degree, becoming berserk monsters, or they might become more intelligent, still acting on their own bizarre morals, but not innately destructive. Capable of destroying entire towns when angered.

Proginator: Appearance is different enough to classify as a new species, and they're capable of spawning children of their species, though with far lower intelligence and powers, these children are generally mortal and don't depend on believe to keep going. (bold part is a suggestion). Immense powers, capable of destroying entire armies, they are often regarded as natural disasters, but most will generally retreat into their territory at this point, becoming hidden guardians and legends. (most destructive ones would have already been rampaging in the monster stage, being killed at that point). Might have trancended physical form at this point, becoming bonded to their territories instead.

Nature Spirit rankings:

Will-o'-wisp: These have no real form or intelligence, and are basically just small bits of Investiture floating around, though they might react a bit to certain things around them. The level of Investure required for them is so low they can manifest in hot spots or even sometimes cities naturally, without belief really being necessary.

Sylph: Child-like intelligence and no real physical form, they start getting a distinct appearance (which some might manipulate to some degree), and start becoming capable of communication, though, not much in the way of intelligent conversation. Compare to wind spren.

Fairy: Basic sapience, though still not very intelligent. Larger, can take physical form, and interact with their environment. might have some really simple powers. Can be dangerous.

Haunt: Intelligent, stronger abilities, they might be able manifest multiple bodies, but are more likely to get locked into a physical body, unable to dematerialize again.

Daemon: Extremely powerful, these are much harder to kill than other spirits, and are generally much more intelligent than humans, but often far more alien in intelligence.
Genius Loci: A special type of Daemon, they are a manifestation of a specific location. They have complete control and knowledge of this location, but if the location is damaged they'll be damaged as well. Will generally act as guardian spirits.

Deity: Same power level as ascended humans, but often kept in check either by a disinterest in the rest of the world, or the other gods intervening.

Special cases (spirits generally can't ascent to this, but are created at this level):
Force of Nature: A personification of a force of nature, like fire or storms, these hold absolute power over their assigned force, but aren't capable of affecting anything outside of their sphere of influence. Think most polytheistic gods. They are stronger in the area of the world they originated,
Concepts: A specific concept of the world gained intelligence and a will. Think Discworld's Death and the Four Horseman. They can only affect things related to their concept, but are basically untouchable and can easily (in most cases) destroy gods if they try to go against the concepts they embody.

Notes:

While I've been talking about intelligence and sapience here, it doesn't mean that it resembles human intelligence in any way. While this is possible, there's also a good chance it'll be quite alien to us instead, or even unrecognizable as intelligent to most humans.

Higher-ranking animals can take traits of spirits, and vice-versa. The main difference is their origin, and if they have physical form.

Spirits who don't take physical form will generally be greatly diminished in strength, mostly to prevent an unkillable monster from rampaging around.

 

 

 

Ritual Magic

Academy

The academy offers a variety of degrees and paths that one can take.

 

They have a general ritual degree which lays out the basics of the magic system. People generally get this degree to help them in their careers and they don't become general wizards.

They offer 10 year specialization programs for different careers. Accelerated programs are 5 years long. This can help in things like blacksmithing, farming, construction, whatever.

They also offer 20 year magic specialization programs such as alchemy and soul working, enchanting, flechcrafting (healing). They don't mess with necromancy.

 

After that they offer a 40 year advanced theory course. You don't become a master in all magic, but you do understand the entirity of the theory behind every part of ritual and what we know about innate and natural magic. We don't know that much about the innate and natural stuff though.

During the theory course the wizards figure out how to change their ages on their own. They don't tell this to non theory students or anyone else due to the complexity and rather disastrous consequences of failure (when you are messing with the spirit web like that all the symbols are very similar and a difference of a degree of rotation or a millimeter of line width can destroy your soul forever).

 

After the advanced theory courses they can do the equivalent of a PhD and study one aspect of the field, expanding it and developing new parts to it.

 

 

Common myths, legends, and superstitions

Legend of the Dark Apple: Long ago, a powerful magician asked to marry a king’s daughter. The king turned him down, and the magician grew angry. So, using strange ritual magic, he changed the king, slowly, into a beast. The King, partially transformed, invited the whole kingdom for a feast. In the end, he slaughtered them all, except his daughter, and the transformation was complete. The daughter was now unguarded, and the magician came to take her away. But the king had some small bit of anger at the magician left over, and killed his daughter before he could take her. He killed her by choking her on an apple. It is said that the magician tried to kill them both, but the apple, which had turned midnight black, absorbed any magic he tried, gaining small veins of red and purple. It is said that too this day the castle, the daughter’s corpse, and the apple are guarded by the beast.

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by xinoehp512

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Yeah, we are sticking to Sanderson. This is the Alleyverse.

[kenod]

Given that we're trying to keep it alleyverse related (I think), I'd suggest by seeing how the (great) guilds would work in this. It would probably also be good to decide which of the magic systems we want to use, and if we want to include non-humans, and if so, how.

As for guilds, my suggestions would be the following:

Ghostbloods: Assassins, plain and simple. Probably would have access to some type of supernatural abilities though, possibly the ones that are quick to use, such as physical enhancement and stealth.
DA: Insane, underground group of mages with little ethics. Would probably be using the more darker types of magic in the setting, as well as the ones that require a lot of research (human sacrifice, necromancy, flesh sorcery).
TUBA: Official mages guild. Not allowed to use certain restricted magics the DA is known for, would probably have more numbers though (npcs), would probably look more into things like Aons and Fabrials.

For these, exact magic systems would probably change depending on later decisions, and are mainly specializations, any member of any group could theoretically use any type of magic (not counting possible special qualifiers), but the group specializing in them would be better at them, having better training and knowledge.

Edit:

8 minutes ago, Darth Woodrack said:

Yeah, we are sticking to Sanderson. This is the Alleyverse.

We might not want to fully stick to Sanderson though, or at least modify his magic systems slightly, to make them fit this world better. We might also want to cut out a few if they don't work in the setting, or introduce something of our own if we feel it would fit well.
To me, it would be better to stick to the general theme of Sanderson magic systems instead, and modifying or adding our own things if it would make the setting better.
Also, I'd say the core of the Alleyverse is the guilds, not Sanderson magic systems (case in point, WH40k). While sticking to them would be preferable since it'd fit better with the greater universe and it would be easier for newcomers to understand, it shouldn't be done if it would be detrimental to the setting, or if adding something new improves it.

Edited February 27, 2019 by kenod

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

I agree with that.

For 40k, we would have to stick to psykers, if we use anything from 40k at all.

[kenod]

12 minutes ago, Darth Woodrack said:

I agree with that.

For 40k, we would have to stick to psykers, if we use anything from 40k at all.

I'd say Warhammer Fantasy might be better, but still, it probably wouldn't add anything to the setting that really makes a big difference without just ripping it off or just having a variation on a standard fantasy trope like Orcs, Elves and sorcerers.

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Well, Orcs are essential for a classical fantasy world. I mean, Sanderverse is anything, but classic, but still.

[+Ark1002]

57 minutes ago, kenod said:

Ghostbloods: Assassins, plain and simple. Probably would have access to some type of supernatural abilities though, possibly the ones that are quick to use, such as physical enhancement and stealth.
DA: Insane, underground group of mages with little ethics. Would probably be using the more darker types of magic in the setting, as well as the ones that require a lot of research (human sacrifice, necromancy, flesh sorcery).
TUBA: Official mages guild. Not allowed to use certain restricted magics the DA is known for, would probably have more numbers though (npcs), would probably look more into things like Aons and Fabrials.

Hey, you're forgetting the Keepers. We're one of the great guilds, you can't really ignore us.

[whattheHoid she/her]

Are we opposed to taking little bits of other fantasy worlds, like WOT? How do we feel about some MTG stuff? If there is anyone here who plays or is into it? To be clear, I'm basically down for anything.

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Yes, we can completely ignore them. It is very easy. When writing a list of great guilds, don't include them. It is that simple.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

What would be kind of cool would be a wildly varying landscape based on what guild is most prevalent there.

For example, in nature, the DA’s land would be very rough terrain, mountains, boulders, as city like as possible, but still very chaotic. 

In cities, the DA areas could be darker and filled with alleys. 

We could do something like that for the other guilds. 

Edit: as an origin for the world, we could have a team of super powerful channelers and elantrians that tried to shape the world to make it, they all disappeared shortly thereafter, with the only thing remaining was a few cookie crumbs. 

Edited February 27, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[+Ark1002]

19 minutes ago, Darth Woodrack said:

Yes, we can completely ignore them. It is very easy. When writing a list of great guilds, don't include them. It is that simple.

Sure.

Now wait a second while I hire the Ghosbtoods.

2 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

What would be kind of cool would be a wildly varying landscape based on what guild is most prevalent there.

For example, in nature, the DA’s land would be very rough terrain, mountains, boulders, as city like as possible, but still very chaotic. 

In cities, the DA areas could be darker and filled with alleys. 

We could do something like that for the other guilds. 

In that respect, the Keepers would have mountains with valleys, waterfalls, and clear lakes, with lots of snow. You know, like the actual mountains we're in.

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Yes, I agree with that.

Are we going to do universe crossovers?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

No, the entire purpose of this is to simplify things on a lower level of play. Universe crossovers would defeat the purpose. 

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Wait, we will still gave the main Alleyverse where everything is there, right? This sin't splitting it up or anything. It's just creating alternate universes so we aren't doing any extreme fantasy or horror, or sci-fi plots, correct?

I mean in a large scale end of era plot.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

Yeah we still have the main alleyverse, this is just alternate universes. 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

1 hour ago, kenod said:

Would probably be using the more darker types of magic in the setting, as well as the ones that require a lot of research (human sacrifice, necromancy, flesh sorcery).

Hi I'm 100% here for all three of these things, anyone who needs help writing whatever this ends up being, I want in. When you say "flesh sorcery" I'm guessing you're including old-school sympathetic magic, hoodoo, wax poppets, mind/body-control via blood, that sort of thing?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

 I would like to be a part of this, so if any PM’s are created, can people please add me?

Also, I figured out another way the land could be connected to the guilds. 

This could be a normal  planet, but different aspects of the environments had the guilds identity spiked onto them, causing them to shift to how the guilds viewed themselves. 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

2 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

 I would like to be a part of this, so if any PM’s are created, can people please add me?

Also, I figured out another way the land could be connected to the guilds. 

This could be a normal  planet, but different aspects of the environments had the guilds identity spiked onto them, causing them to shift to how the guilds viewed themselves. 

I'm imagining enormous railroad spikes here, but there's no railroad... Maybe road-markers? Like there's a large central "Roman Road" type of thing, and the way-markers are the identity spikes, acting as a sort of "you are entering _____" type of thing?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

3 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

I'm imagining enormous railroad spikes here, but there's no railroad... Maybe road-markers? Like there's a large central "Roman Road" type of thing, and the way-markers are the identity spikes, acting as a sort of "you are entering _____" type of thing?

While that would work for defining the areas, the spikes themselves would be singular spikes in a specific place.

I would imagine instead of a spike stealing the guilds identity, and attaching it to an aspect of nature, it would just link the guilds identity and the aspect of nature, making it fluid and changeable. 

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Ummm... Sure.... I understand that.....

[+Ark1002]

You better remember the Keepers, or I'm gonna eat you.

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

I order you not to eat anyone. If you do, I will punch you in the gut.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Darth Woodrack

[+Ark1002]

3 minutes ago, Darth Woodrack said:

I order you not to eat anyone. If you do, I will punch you in the gut.

I won't.

I'll put them in mu mouth, chew, and swallow them.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

44 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

While that would work for defining the areas, the spikes themselves would be singular spikes in a specific place.

I would imagine instead of a spike stealing the guilds identity, and attaching it to an aspect of nature, it would just link the guilds identity and the aspect of nature, making it fluid and changeable. 

Oooh, so the landscape could change subtly over time? That could actually be a potential negative plot point, if the collective identity of a group changed enough to cause nature to degrade... makes me think of the myth of the Fisher King.

Edit: Also has a PM been created? If so please add me! If not maybe I’ll make one  

Edited February 28, 2019 by ZincAboutIt

[MacThorstenson he/him]

41 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Edit: Also has a PM been created? If so please add me! If not maybe I’ll make one  

I think we should try to keep the planning in public.

But yeah, I love world-building fantasy areas.