Mckeedee123

That's fine, though come to think of it, could you also include the section of the steppe immediately above that? (Compressing us even more. Sorry Edge.)

I'd like to work with the coastal part of the red biome

I think we can adjust as we go. We need to account for eachothers' civilizations when we do histories anyway, right?

And I'm excited to see it in action. Good idea. If we can agree on this, then it makes it plausible for them to be organic life forms again. Perhaps they're like midi-chloreans that survive for a few weeks when provided with a host. I guess the only problem with this (uh oh. I'm being passive-aggressive again) is that it prevents us from having, say, illusatory powers, which seem to me like they'd be pretty cool if used in nature. Gods are left intentionally vague in "my" model. They're kind of there just to fill in the cracks. If you want something unique in the world, you just say that some spirit lives there, or some spirit did this, or continues to do this. They mostly affect the world in extremely vague ways, besides the fact that their descendants in life are demigods. It seemed like the most freeform way to do it. Anyway, I'd prefer to stick with the "uplifted" thing. So that's my two cents.

Nah. Whenever I start thinking about worldbuilding or xenobiology or whatever, I always assume life arose naturally and followed paths of evolution. Then again, that's because I usually don't take magic into account. It's not really plausible for dragons (or whatever) to have have evolved the ability to breathe fire, for the same reason it's not really plausible for macroorganisms to have evolved organic versions of the wheel. Evolution is about proximate factors, "the build-up" to the end result, rather than the end result itself (though, then again, I suppose the "breathing fire" thing could work if an organism mutated an organ for storing the ethanol from alcoholic fermentation, then mutated again to expel that alcohol, then... wait, no, it's still ridiculous.) The whole "magic-as-energy-source-thing" came from my musings on alternate sources of energy life forms could use way back in AP biology, but believe me, I did realize that it made life as we know it on Diaemus sort of redundant, not to mention that there's no way the things would naturally have developed bioluminescence if it made them such easy targets for predation. Right. Again, Jerric brought up a good point when he said that we should be able to do what we want. I'm pretty sure that what was written already is vague enough that people have near-absolute freedom, including being able to have the mineral-based magic system. Granted, I haven't read Adimir's thing as of yet...

I guess I've sort of been working with the assumption that life on Diaemus was created somehow rather than evolving, because of, yes, stuff like this. Not to say that evolution didn't happen but that life here has been influenced to reach the point it's at. How else could creatures possibly have evolved weird and unique adaptations to use magic with? How else could you have independent sapient species that didn't wipe each other out as they expanded across the planet? (Well, I suppose that if they occupied different niches, it's plausible, actually.) Well, we chose not to acknowledge this one before, apparently, but if it bugs you, the nature of these balls of light is definitely mutable. I assume nobody has any problems with removing the biological aspect, correct?

So, I'm starting to do some worldbuilding on the Torbud Empire, and how are we going to figure dates in Diaemus?

I think that it basically is done. Provided everyone thinks that they could work their ideas into this magic system, we can probably just put this whole thing temporarily to rest. Actually, I'm going to change it to say that there are seven main types of Lumuoles, so that people can make new ones if they feel so inclined. EDIT: Ooh! by the way, can I have a coastal chunk of the red biome on the western end of the continent? Waterfront property, baby! Which of those islands are you planning to include, Jerric?

I intentionally left the "spiritual realm" thing as pretty vague in this attempt at codification. Basically, we don't know what the heck is going on over there, but some amount of magic is leaking through somehow and it changes Lumuole distribution over on this end. Perhaps in one of your areas, that's how leaking works. Perhaps in one of my areas, leaking tends to happen in places where feats of magic have been performed by ascended spirits. This system is pretty user-friendly, for us worldbuilders.

Well, Jerric brought up a few good points to refocus things, and yeah. We need to structure the thing in such a way that people can do whatever they want with magic, including this, in their respective regions. That being said, we obviously need to have a codified "base" for the magic system before we can get into our individual worldbuilding, so right now, I have this: -Outside the realm of human perception, there exists a spiritual plane filled with magic. This leaks into the world in random places on the land. The type and intensity of the magic coming out of this "leak," as well as the leak's size, vary wildly. -The only beings that can access this magic are a class of bioluminescent single-celled organisms called "Lumuoles," who use it as an energy source. Lumuoles are usually found as large groups of pinprick-sized colonies, floating through the air. -Lumuoles can be found as different colors based on the type of magic leaking out: Red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, and white are the most common. White Lumuoles don't glow and even large colonies are nigh imperceptible. -The unique residue from Lumuole colonies' methods of glucose production can be used by organisms to do magic "stuff" when ingested, with the exception of the residue of White Lumuoles, which needs to mix with silicon before it becomes a viable magic source. Each species of Lumuoles' residue is slightly different. -A large portion of the continent is covered with massive, weak, sources of the type of magic leak that powers White Lumuoles. Over millions of years, the failed colonies that fall to the ground become fossilized in veins or are absorbed into the soil, mixing with silicon to become usable. -Great Lumuoles appear extremely rarely, and their ingestion links an organism permanently to one of the six corresponding sections of the spiritual plane. Its descendants will have unique abilities and powers, and it will be able to influence the physical world after its death. I think... that's it. Again If anyone cares to voice an objection, I beg of you to do so, but I think this codification is open to interpretation in all the right places.

Nope. I just wanted for the world to have at least one ocean brimming with islands. The rest of it is up to you (or anybody else who cares.) As to the democratic thing, I didn't mean, well, voting. I just thought I noticed a pattern where an idea was suggested, one or two people voiced agreement, then it was assumed that was the general opinion and people were hesitant to argue with it. I just want to make sure everybody expresses themselves fully.

Right. No Sword-of-Truth-esque magical reveals.

Yeah, but I have a compulsive desire to invent lingo whenever we're dealing with something like this. It's our lingo, uh... dawg, not the peoples'. Also: Lumuoles. Keeps the pronunciation but changes the weird spelling. Or, well, meh... Pretty much everything I (at least) know about science comes from Nova and the internet. I wanna know about types of islands? Well, there was that episode on Zealandia that I watched, so I'll just supplement it by googling it. Bam. I'm already an islandographin... an islandogrephe... an islandenamagraphe... a guy who knows stuff about islands. I'm sure Jerric is happy for the feedback.

Huh. When someone else types it, it makes the word look weird to me again... Lumuels? Lumites? Lumions? Lumatites? Lumadiaems? Lumenites? Lucidites? EDIT: ...Lumuoles?

I really like that. It keeps the magic system consistent.

I don't know... I think we can be original without having to be sort of, well, weird (but it's probably just me.) We need more people to express their opinions in this, though. The more democratic this thread is, the better this world is probably going to be. On the subject of opinions, Kobold. Do you want to weigh in on the magic system discussion? Here's my thoughts: The reason I like the "Spirit Model" is that it creates a fantastic template for stories, culture, and lore. Considering that most ancient cultures had unique beliefs and practices stemming from Animism or Classical Polytheism (not to mention that they paid a lot of attention to lineage and ancestry,) making those beliefs real (in a sort of vague way) would open up the door to some great material. For example, the spirit representing passion and fertility manifests itself primarily in the bloodline of the "Smith Family." The Smiths, as a result, are supernaturally beautiful and charismatic, regardless of the members' actual looks. Some Smiths even manifest minor shapeshifting powers, possessing the ability to alter their appearance slightly. Now, how the Smiths' matriarchal bloodline is treated depends on their location. On the Hushu Islands, the Smiths are considered higher beings, and non-Smiths are excluded from being tribal chiefs. In the huge metropolis of, um... Wilbin City(?) their abilities are a slight advantage, but they don't get special treatment. In the theocratic Terbud Empire, the Smiths are priests, receiving gifts and offering prayers in hope of pleasing their "god" along with other bloodlines, like the Millers, who represent fire and industry and manifest pyromancy sometimes. There are some locations in the world that are sacred to this spirit of passion and fertility, like the Ellex Grove on Hushu, where pink lights dance in the sky on certain nights. It's rumored that the white deer of the Ulay coast are blessed by the spirit (or spirits, or god, depending on which culture you're talking about,) and their horns, when crushed into a powder, are a powerful aphrodisiac. Storytellers often speak of Ellu Smith, the Smith who used his wits and strength to gather the most powerful married women of each bloodline and found the Terbud Empire, whose proper sacrifices and prayers supposedly keep the gods from destroying the world. *Ahem* well, enough of that. The "Lumule Model" (still can't tell whether people hate my made-up name or not) in its pure form is probably going to end up being "soft" as a tool in magibiology but "hard" for the worlds' inhabitants; we can basically do whatever we want as worldbuilders with it but organisms are going to be limited (which, unless I'm wrong, is good because it seems that most people in the room want a hard magic system.) The "Mineral Model" is similar to the Lumule Model, functionally, but it sets limits on us as worldbuilders which forces us to think outside the box in order to create magibiology, which theoretically makes the world more unique. Okay, wrapping up, I realized that I just tried to compare the three proposed magic systems but ended up writing a massive paragraph for mine and made the others footnotes. Not my intention. Well, I'm pretty sure we all understand the last two pretty well anyway. There's nothing wrong with combining them, either. It'd probably be good to take what's best from these three systems, which, as far as I can tell, are a capacity for complex lore and a being ingrained into the cultural development of human society, a cool image and "hardness," and forcing us to think about unique ways to do magibiology, respectively. So all in all, we could get the benefits of each system (and here's what I want everyone to argue about) by taking the Lumule Model and adding different species of Lumule to it. Some colors live high in the air. Some live down in the ground. Some are attracted to specific sounds and patterns of light. For animal groups to access the Lumule species that let them do their type of magic, they'd need special adaptations. Also, who's to say that the power behind the Lumules isn't the spirits? What if the Smiths needed to periodically ingest Pink Lumules in order to use their abilities, and the Ellex grove isn't filled with these little balls of light? So there. Please discuss. Again, the more people talk about this, the better.

Well, not strictly humanoid. The two races I was thinking of way back, earlier in the thread (just to get it out here) were Autenots and Hekkites. Autenots are tall and lightly built, with protruding Tubercles and a colored streak running across their face. The magic would allow them to fly somehow, probably by sprouting spiritual "wings" from their shoulders for periods of time. Hekkites are albino, slightly larger than the average human, and are densely built. They have spiky, chitinous growths coming out of their forearm that allow them to slowly punch their way through solid rock. Both are more comfortable at lower temperatures, and as a general rule Autenots would stick to mountains and islands and Hekkites would be the "underground" race, but there'd be plenty of overlap and there would be certain places where people wouldn't really define themselves by race at all. So those are the two races I was thinking about earlier. Idunno what everybody thinks about the whole thing, though.

Nope. You're not too late. Also, in the theoretical Lumule Model (shameless plug,) we haven't really figured out where the magic would come from yet, or what it actually is. I suppose there's still room for the unbearably soft "Spirit Model" to be what orders and defines how organisms use the Lumules' magic. Any comments on this? (I'm trying to get peoples' legitimate opinions on what's going on. The upvotes on these various posts can only tell us so much about where the majority is leaning.) Well, from the way I imagine it, the end result of the "Mineral Model" and the "Lumule Model" would be basically the same; Animals periodically eat something to supply them with a reserve of magic, a mechanism which allows us to do some fun worldbuilding with magibiology. Now, I must not be imagining it right, based on your assertion that it would affect the range of things we could do, but, well, Lumules are a cool image, one that hearkens back to some pretty good magic systems, and so I like them a lot as magical fuel. (What does everybody else think, by the way?) How could we compromise on this? What do you think about different species of Lumules? Perhaps green and white ones could give Ground Sloths mindreading abilities, while red ones gave them laser vision. Perhaps the purples give humans illusatory powers, and the greens give them an extra reserve of strength and speed. How about the sapient species are born with the ability to use only one (or none) species of Lumule? Would you prefer the sapient species to be a bit more... humanoid? I'd be lying if I said I didn't, I guess, since I have a hard time imagining people interacting intelligibly with raptors and spiders unless they had... faces. I think a lot of it depends on what the ultimate source of the magic is.

Well, since you asked (and I hate to ruin your beautiful map with my pathetic scribbles,) here are some suggestions for islands on the west coast. The size is probably way off here, so I probably wouldn't worry to much about the specific islands I've suggested, just the general trends, maybe? -The ones with an arrow labeled "SB" pointing in their general direction are a range of subductive islands straddling the west coast of the continent. In the center-ish area of this chain is a large, compact group of these islands, which could potentially support an independent civilization. -SC denotes a partially submerged continent. I suggested two of these: One is pretty close to the large subductive archipelago and the other is near the equator. These continents could be bastions for unique species that have long-since become extinct on the mainland. -VC denotes an area with a particularly thin shelf seperating it from the mantle, making it prone to volcanic activity and, thus, a bunch of tiny islands. These would be mostly disparate with a handful of small chains which could be home to some proto-empires. So yeah, I could see the western ocean as being Diaemus' equivalent of the Pacific. How about you guys? EDIT: Oh! And by the way, we need a word for the little balls of light... Diaedites? Diaemites? Lumules? Verdates? These are bad names... actually, I sort of like Lumules for some reason. More zippers, Lumule!

To be honest, I'm still sort of rooting for my animist magic system, but that's definitely workable.

*Searches up Aldomania* *Finds a newspaper comic featuring pre-Calamity Aldo.*

Hmm... So Seonid mentioned Ley Lines in the Diaemus thread, which got me Wikipedia Surfing. I just discovered a page about possible endings of the human race. And, um, wow. Apparently, quantum physics says it's conceivable that our universe exists in a "false vacuum" state that could collapse the entire thing nigh-instantly at any moment. Imean, I didn't understand a word of it, but I do understand that I used to be able to sleep at night. And don't even get me started on Yellowstone.

In ancient India, differences in appearance, and perceived differences in superiority between Indo-Europeans and Dravidians, led to the development of a strict caste system, so that's a possibility. On the subject of hominids, how do you think the raptor/spider races would dexterously manipulate objects in a way that allows them to build "stuff." With humans, it's our upright posture combined with out handy-dandy opposable thumbs . With saurians, it's... idunno

Oh. Right. I suppose the image is still subjective then, because it's not fully developed yet. Well, let's get started. I guess I'll give a few ideas and see if Seonid agrees. (To be fair, krill are, like, 2 inches long most of the time. So I was picturing that.) If we wanted them to look, well, magical, they could be tiny, bioluminescent colonies of microorganisms, capable of drawing upon some sort of otherworldly reserve of magic to create energy instead of photosynthesis or chemosythesis. Other organisms can't do this, but they can use the excess magic inside of the creatures to power certain organs or functions of their bodies. The magic leaks into the world through certain "hotspots," and these hotspots are pretty common in most areas of the world. Colonies of the microorganisms can be found floating wherever these hotspots are found, and most creatures get their powers from ingesting them, one way or another. What is the magic? It could be anti-entropy, I guess. Forcing atoms to go against concentration gradients instead of with them.