worldbuilding Fantasy World planning

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

2 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

Hey guys, so I was thinking about the origin of our world and its corresponding mythology, and trying to make one that would fit. So I turned to the best example of worldbuilding in a fantasy setting known to man: The Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings. I looked through that and was inspired to suggest a few things.

The first, is how the world was founded.

The idea I have now, is that For some reason there were a bunch of people in the alleys, from all the guilds. This would maybe be a few people from present day alleyverse. They would be walking, and then the DA would have another random black hole, or dimensional collapse that would leave them stranded on a barren rocky planet with nothing but what they had on them.

The planet would be the original version of jörð. All it would have would be Ritual Magic and the leylines/investiture crystals.

Through one mean or another, our people would discover ritual magic, (probably via Maq, who can see the entirety of the spirit realm.) they would use this power to connect them to the planet and use the ley lines for sustenance, like the Dor, giving them immortality. They would proceed to basically reconstruct the world, as any path back to the alleyverse would be lost. They would become the original gods, the Valar of Tolkiens world (arda). They could build up the world to where it is now, essentially saying that they will stay out of it and let people live their lives as much as they can.

If we want to iron this out, and pursue it further, I have thought about how we can do it using ritual magic and have the details, but If we want to start it as a parallel plot, I can also explain it in character.

I figured that if I included all of the details it would bog down the post.

Or, if you guys don't like the idea, we can not do it.

Thoughts?

Ooh I like it! I’m on mobile rn so I can’t be super eloquent but I am glad we’re discussing the origin of the world and some mythology. I think eventually this will become quite relevant if we want to create a larger conflict arc or any problems with one of the magic systems. I am super interested in discussing and fleshing this out whether in character or just here!  

[+Ark1002]

I think that is awesome and perfect

[MacThorstenson he/him]

Yay! People like my idea!

Some other stuff that I was thinking of that would be interesting:

Due to Maq's unique nature, he would be able to understand all of ritual Magic, because he can see all of the spiritual realm. He would use this to give himself and the others the ability to use the full strength of the ley lines, and a near ultimate understanding of Ritual Magic.

What he could do, is try to give a limited version of that ability to some people that they create, and that creates the 'fair folk' as they were known in the common tongue. These are basically innates who can see the whole of the spirit realm. Through them marrying other humans, this gets diluted into what we call innate magic today.

The FF would be immortal, as they would instinctively know how to do that from birth, and they could be responsible for some of the great and terrible acts of wizardry/sorcery that make up the big stories, the legends, they wouldn't have the ability to reshape anything too large, as they still lack a large enough power source, but they certainly could try.

In my mind, the OG characters would be the Valar and the Maiar, while the Fair folk would be the original Noldor. Feanor and the such, who created the palantir and the Silmarillions, capable of mighty feats, but not of godlike abilities.

What the gods could do, is instead of using ritual Magic to do everything, they could connect themselves, using the ley lines as power, to certain aspects of the environment or world. Like Mack would connect himself to the earth and the metals and the Jewels, so that he could craft amazing things. They would gain incredible control over these things, and they could structure it in a way to make it easier.

A metaphor for this one would be programming languages. Ritual Magic is like using Binary. It has a ton of versatility, but you can't do jack because it's so complicated. What the characters would do is create other programming languages for them to edit the world more easily. They would create html to make web pages. They would make it so they could instinctively create different forms of life, or create things. 

Another thing that could happen, was that in order to wage war against the other gods, one god could create Natural Magic, then create armies of people and say that the other gods are doomed to lose. Everyone's belief would force them to eventually lose without more natural magic.

Finally, one thing that I kind of want to have is rings of power. Like the Fair Folk tried to trap the essence of a star in a ring, and make it that they could control it. Or something similar.

[kenod]

7 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

Yay! People like my idea!

Some other stuff that I was thinking of that would be interesting:

Due to Maq's unique nature, he would be able to understand all of ritual Magic, because he can see all of the spiritual realm. He would use this to give himself and the others the ability to use the full strength of the ley lines, and a near ultimate understanding of Ritual Magic.

What he could do, is try to give a limited version of that ability to some people that they create, and that creates the 'fair folk' as they were known in the common tongue. These are basically innates who can see the whole of the spirit realm. Through them marrying other humans, this gets diluted into what we call innate magic today.

The FF would be immortal, as they would instinctively know how to do that from birth, and they could be responsible for some of the great and terrible acts of wizardry/sorcery that make up the big stories, the legends, they wouldn't have the ability to reshape anything too large, as they still lack a large enough power source, but they certainly could try.

In my mind, the OG characters would be the Valar and the Maiar, while the Fair folk would be the original Noldor. Feanor and the such, who created the palantir and the Silmarillions, capable of mighty feats, but not of godlike abilities.

What the gods could do, is instead of using ritual Magic to do everything, they could connect themselves, using the ley lines as power, to certain aspects of the environment or world. Like Mack would connect himself to the earth and the metals and the Jewels, so that he could craft amazing things. They would gain incredible control over these things, and they could structure it in a way to make it easier.

A metaphor for this one would be programming languages. Ritual Magic is like using Binary. It has a ton of versatility, but you can't do jack because it's so complicated. What the characters would do is create other programming languages for them to edit the world more easily. They would create html to make web pages. They would make it so they could instinctively create different forms of life, or create things. 

Another thing that could happen, was that in order to wage war against the other gods, one god could create Natural Magic, then create armies of people and say that the other gods are doomed to lose. Everyone's belief would force them to eventually lose without more natural magic.

Finally, one thing that I kind of want to have is rings of power. Like the Fair Folk tried to trap the essence of a star in a ring, and make it that they could control it. Or something similar.

Sounds interesting. How much of their original things are still around though? I'm guessing that they needed to have at least some form of civilization, so did that all get destroyed or are there still lost ruins in the world? Also, how many artifacts and hidden magical things would still be lying around?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

2 hours ago, kenod said:

Sounds interesting. How much of their original things are still around though? I'm guessing that they needed to have at least some form of civilization, so did that all get destroyed or are there still lost ruins in the world? Also, how many artifacts and hidden magical things would still be lying around?

I am assuming that you are referring to our characters when they get trapped in the world. 

So my initial idea was that they would be trapped in the world with only the stuff they had on them. 

This would have been like arriving on earth when it was still a boiling mess of volcanoes, its not life sustaining, and there is no and has been no civilization. The only way things are built is if they made them. 

If you are referring to modern civilization, then I would say not much. 

Most of the gods would have no need for sustenance, because they use the spiritual realm for power. They wouldn’t have to build anything except to house their creations.

the Fair Folk on the other hand, would leave a lot of different ruins and weapons around. They would be pretty careless as they went completely overboard on immortality, not only do they not die of old age they have also tied their souls to the planet, and thus get resurrected. 

 

[kenod]

2 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

I am assuming that you are referring to our characters when they get trapped in the world. 

So my initial idea was that they would be trapped in the world with only the stuff they had on them. 

This would have been like arriving on earth when it was still a boiling mess of volcanoes, its not life sustaining, and there is no and has been no civilization. The only way things are built is if they made them. 

If you are referring to modern civilization, then I would say not much. 

Most of the gods would have no need for sustenance, because they use the spiritual realm for power. They wouldn’t have to build anything except to house their creations.

the Fair Folk on the other hand, would leave a lot of different ruins and weapons around. They would be pretty careless as they went completely overboard on immortality, not only do they not die of old age they have also tied their souls to the planet, and thus get resurrected. 

 

That was basically what I meant, that after arriving the people who first came there as well as the Fair Folk would have build at least something of a civilization. Also, to which degree are the Fair Folk still around, and how much do people know about them?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

19 minutes ago, kenod said:

That was basically what I meant, that after arriving the people who first came there as well as the Fair Folk would have build at least something of a civilization. Also, to which degree are the Fair Folk still around, and how much do people know about them?

The fair folk are definitely still around, but I wouldn’t say that they have a noticeably civilization. 

Most things from that time would fear natural magic as it was initially a weapon against them. So they would try to remain unknown. 

I’m general, I don’t think that any stories would be told of this time unless they were heavily warped, because they would have suppressed them. 

Tho I am open to any change that people want. 

Edited April 23, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[MacThorstenson he/him]

Hey guys, sorry for the double post, but do we have anyone controlling the monster in the main thread? I would like to try and move the plot along a little if possible, but if not its ok.

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Uh oh. I started working on an origin story with Zinc... Are all my ideas going to get steamrolled? 

[MacThorstenson he/him]

1 hour ago, xinoehp512 said:

Uh oh. I started working on an origin story with Zinc... Are all my ideas going to get steamrolled? 

Oh Sorry! I didn't know that you were doing that.

Do you want to try and compare notes and see what can be fit together to work?

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

5 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

Hey guys, sorry for the double post, but do we have anyone controlling the monster in the main thread? I would like to try and move the plot along a little if possible, but if not its ok.

Sorry! I was kind of controlling it but I don't have any real firm lore on this thing, except in order to kill it you need to show it it's own reflection. I didn't want people to have to wait on me to move the thing around, so I left it pretty open-ended. However, I'll step in and get things going there. Apologies, I've been neglecting this to work on pet projects!  

Also, @xinoehp512 and @MacThorstenson please feel free to come up with something, compare notes, etc. I am totally okay with whatever we end up doing with origins. I'll add you to the PM Mac. I'd love to be involved but have no firm ideas I'm married to for lore, world origin, etc. so I'm just here to help create! 

[Chasmfiend#1]

Is it okay if I briefly take control of the thing? I was thinking of making it attempt to lure us into its liar so as to trap us. Maybe have it send Karl away as the new gang leader.

(I have kinda been thinking on this creature and what it's motives and origin could be, if it was okay with the group.)

@ZincAboutIt @Sorana @Vargo Seldon @Turtle373 @Steel Inquisitive @Invocation @MacThorstenson

[+Sorana she/her]

5 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Is it okay if I briefly take control of the thing? I was thinking of making it attempt to lure us into its liar so as to trap us. Maybe have it send Karl away as the new gang leader.

(I have kinda been thinking on this creature and what it's motives and origin could be, if it was okay with the group.)

@ZincAboutIt @Sorana @Vargo Seldon @Turtle373 @Steel Inquisitive @Invocation @MacThorstenson

Go ahead!

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

6 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Is it okay if I briefly take control of the thing? I was thinking of making it attempt to lure us into its liar so as to trap us. Maybe have it send Karl away as the new gang leader.

(I have kinda been thinking on this creature and what it's motives and origin could be, if it was okay with the group.)

@ZincAboutIt @Sorana @Vargo Seldon @Turtle373 @Steel Inquisitive @Invocation @MacThorstenson

I’m just fine with it! Please do!

[Chasmfiend#1]

@ZincAboutIt, did the piece I wrote for him fit correctly? I am sorry if it seems long.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

9 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

@ZincAboutIt, did the piece I wrote for him fit correctly? I am sorry if it seems long.

Ooh unexpected but I like it. Honestly I never imagined it so clever but I'm kind of fond of it now.  However, it seems very powerful quite suddenly. Is it still evil/negative, and just trying to trick everyone? Or is it misunderstood? Or simply trying to figure its own self out?

[Chasmfiend#1]

25 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Ooh unexpected but I like it. Honestly I never imagined it so clever but I'm kind of fond of it now.  However, it seems very powerful quite suddenly. Is it still evil/negative, and just trying to trick everyone? Or is it misunderstood? Or simply trying to figure its own self out?

I imagined it doing all that to trick them into trusting it. For example, when it said Reiner died to a gang. You had said it was quite, a gang would have made noise. I kinda see it as a poker player: showing just enough of his hand to make us trust we're winning, then to pull out the set of aces. The shadow bandich isn't really power, as it stated, one strand of light and it's ruined. That and it, at the root, is still just a shadow, meaning it can't truely heal, only make the dilution of okay.

@ZincAboutIt

Edited April 26, 2019 by Chasmfiend#1

[kenod]

1 hour ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

I imagined it doing all that to trick them into trusting it. For example, when it said Reiner died to a gang. You had said it was quite, a gang would have made noise. I kinda see it as a poker player: showing just enough of his hand to make us trust we're winning, then to pull out the set of aces. The shadow bandich isn't really power, as it stated, one strand of light and it's ruined. That and it, at the root, is still just a shadow, meaning it can't truely heal, only make the dilution of okay.

@ZincAboutIt

So is the creature that is currently talking to everyone some kind of central nexus?

Also, given Lilia's abilities regarding interacting with and damaging spirits, what would happen if she decides to stab it? Since if it's the actual spirit we're talking too it would probably manifest as a physical wound, but if it's just part of the creature, like a puppet it is using to talk to us, it might destroy the puppet and possibly hurt it but I don't think it would kill it.

[Chasmfiend#1]

7 hours ago, kenod said:

So is the creature that is currently talking to everyone some kind of central nexus?

Also, given Lilia's abilities regarding interacting with and damaging spirits, what would happen if she decides to stab it? Since if it's the actual spirit we're talking too it would probably manifest as a physical wound, but if it's just part of the creature, like a puppet it is using to talk to us, it might destroy the puppet and possibly hurt it but I don't think it would kill it.

I was thinking when it had first attacked, it was more a mindless attack, like it was there, it knew what was happening, but at the same time it was somewhere else. When it got pushed back, it took more notice and decided to send a small fraction of it's own mind to lure us into its trap. If you where to stab it (the shadow with us), it would immediately realize how much of a threat it could be facing, even if we aren't aware yet. In regards to wounds, it would feel the stab wound, but it would be able to cover it up, being made of shadows and all.

At least, that's what I think would happen, you guys may have other ideas or plans.

@kenod

[Chasmfiend#1]

@Sorana, I have an idea of how to get you to Fritz, but it does involve you consent.

It would drag you to its liar, and order you to heal him, and possibly some others that it has.

[+Sorana she/her]

5 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

@Sorana, I have an idea of how to get you to Fritz, but it does involve you consent.

It would drag you to its liar, and order you to heal him, and possibly some others that it has.

Go ahead. But leave her alive, please.

[Chasmfiend#1]

2 hours ago, Sorana said:

Go ahead. But leave her alive, please.

Now why would it kill her? If that was it's plan, not would he waste time taking her somewhere, and not just snap her neck?

[+Sorana she/her]

32 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Now why would it kill her? If that was it's plan, not would he waste time taking her somewhere, and not just snap her neck?

 Thanks!

It's a monster, who knows what it plans.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Ye gods, I am woefully behind! Aldred is nigh useless unless this thing wants something he can strike a bargain for. What exactly does it want, @Chasmfiend#1? Any ideas? 

[Chasmfiend#1]

1 hour ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Ye gods, I am woefully behind! Aldred is nigh useless unless this thing wants something he can strike a bargain for. What exactly does it want, @Chasmfiend#1? Any ideas? 

As of right now, it is establishing itself as the alpha of the city, starting by forming small attack teams to take out troops and acquire weapons. It knows that it needs to make the common folk it's friends, so it intends to use Fritz as a way of saying it can protect and heal the locals(which is why it needs to keep an eye closely on @Sorana, to learn and understand how to do more permanent healing methods.). If that plan fails, it would, by that point have enough followers, trained and created through natural magic ( as in he has his followers believe and create monsters out of normal people, Reiner would have been one of the more early trial runs of that plan, but it ironing out the kinks, hence why it doesn't want people near the heart of the Fens), to stage his own assault on the city, resting control from Kuria altogether.

The main thing @ZincAboutIt needs to worry about is a spike flying for your characters head. And @Vargo Seldon might be in a little trouble.

Is everyone cool with where I am taking our dear deceptive friend?