Vahir

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

@Vahir Looks good. Although a bit disappointed in that we won't have a hand in developing gods for the setting.

@Polybius

I mean, nothing was getting done anyway. I had to make some executive decisions to get the ball rolling somehow.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

Here's the OOC for those that are still interested. A bit more official.

The Mythlands - High Fantasy Collaborative Worldbuilding

THE MYTHLANDS

Our Piratepad

Welcome!

This is not quite an RP, but rather a collaboration thread where we will build a world in which we can later set RPs. With that in mind, while everyone will be creating a nation as in a nation RP, a certain creativity is also expected in the way you leave your imprint on the Mythlands. Feel free- in fact, I will go so far as to say there is a certain obligation- to flesh out the world by creating cultures, monsters, towns and geographies. Note that it is also collaborative; cooperation which other people will be required, so as to ensure that the world remains seamless and logical.

This is high fantasy, which means that magic is a reality (although rare), fantastic monsters roam the dark parts of the land, and the gods are active and unpleasant. Humans, of course, inhabit the world, but I encourage the creation of other races, be they based on traditional representations or original creations. The races should generally be, barring fringe cases, very intermixed, with most countries being a mesh of many different kinds. Of course, some regions will be more homogeneous than others, due to isolation or political reasons, but the world at large will be fairly cosmopolitan in outlook.

The driving source of conflict in the world is the never ending wars between the gods. They share the same life force as mankind, which they absorb as mortals die. This has lead to a world in which a group of solidly entrenched powers wage ceaseless and seemingly meaningless wars among each other, leading holy wars to feed their gods with the souls of their enemies.

Mythos

Though many regions revere their own private gods, there are only seven true deities in the world; the others are either fiction or imposters. These seven are comparable to forces of nature; they simply exist, beyond the mortal world, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They wage private wars amongst each other that have lasted since before the world existed. In these divine squabbles, the mortal races are pawns and game pieces, to be used and discarded.

The gods are not necessarily omniscient, nor omnipotent. To them, the mortal world is covered in fog, and they can only see through the lens of their annointed clergy. Occasionally, they may take physical form in the mythlands, but this is an arduous process which robs them of much of their strength afterwards, requiring a long period of recuperation afterwards to accumulate power once more.

There were once more than seven. Some say there were ten, or thirteen, or fifteen, but regardless they were once many more than they are now. Conflict first arose amongst the gods when the world was created, a decision which was not unanimous amongst their kind. And when some gods created life, there was a split amongst those who approved, and those who saw the mortal races as abominations. The schism ended in war, a terrible war that ravaged the earth and nearly wiped out intelligent life. But those gods that defended life used it as a weapon, sacrificing mortals to empower themselves enough to smash their opponents. The defeated gods, known as the Old Ones, were locked away beyond even the reach of a god, ending their interference in the world.

This war, known as the Sacrilege, ended with seven gods standing and the rest banished. As soon as it ended, however, conflict erupted between the victors, which has lasted to this day. In fact, some refer to the current divine conflict as the Second Sacrilege. Though this implies a similar war between two defined sides, in truth the current conflict is a quagmire of small alliances, the balance of power constantly shifting as gods rise and fall in prominence. Writ large, the main impetus of the war is the friction between the four Angels (Tarnis, Horomund, Lysvita, and Nergal), whose views on mortals are generally benign if not always considerate, and the three Demons (Sidhe, Anat, and Pathar), who view mortals as tools and slaves, to use and throw away.

The gods and their domains are as follows:

• Taranis, god of order, civilization, and tyranny
• Horomund, god of chaos, passion, and the wild
• Lysvita, goddess of life and rebirth
• Nergal, god of death and decay
• Sidhe, goddess of plots, trickery, and oathbreaking
• Anat, god of sadism, cruelty, and malice
• Pathar, god of honor, war, and bloody violence

Below is a graph representing the web of relationships between them, with blue representing good relations, gray representing ambivalence, and red standing for hatred.

Magic

The mythlands are a strange place where the impossible is reality. This is magic, the power to bend reality to the user’s whims. It comes in many different forms: an archmage in his tower might be capable of a dozen different tricks, while a wandering sorcerer might be only capable of exercising a single power.

Magic comes, at its core, from the life essence that all beings possess, which is shared amongst all beings, even the gods. Some are born with more than others, and these are capable of a kind of natural magic, though it is often unrefined, all talent and no skill. These cases are rare, but there are recorded instances of farmboys being able to turn invisible, or of children controlling the wind. Cases of truly powerful natural magic are even rarer, as sadly most children exhibiting supernatural powers are killed by superstitious locals.

A second source of magic is the divine, the very gods of the world. Their squabbles frequently involve the mortal world, which use as pawns in their never ending struggles against one another. In further of this, the gods sometimes grant a portion of their power to mortals, as strategic moves against their enemies, or as simple entertainment. This power can manifest to anyone at any age. Those blessed in this manner always carry a marked burned somewhere on their skin, of varying size, but always in the shape of the patron god’s emblem.

Regardless of how magic is acquired, it is always similar in that it is always different; all magicians have powers with characteristics unique to themselves. An example would be a travelling oracle who can see the future, or a psychic that can read minds. It is theorized that the powers gained depend on the personality of the individual.

The Mythlands

Changes can be made to the geography within reason. For example, lakes and islands could be added, but the general shape should remain the same.

Nation Sheets

Name: Include both the official and casual name of the country if they differ. Demonyms are also welcome.
Racial Makeup: The races of the mythlands are heavily mixed after such a long common history. However, if your nation is dominated by particular races or otherwise more homogeneous, this is where the detail it.
Geography: Mark the rough borders of your nation (to be determined precisely with neighbors), and detail the climate and shape of the land. Mentions of what kinds of monsters inhabit the region are also welcome.
History: Include such things as how and by whom it was founded, who were its historical enemies, and how its culture change or didn’t change with time.
Foreign Relations: Elaborate on the relationships between your nation and its neighbors. This can be left until you actually have neighbors, but must be done at some point.
Culture: Detail the character of the nation; Are its people warlike? Are they religious? Are they traders, or are they insular? This section should make clear the lifestyle of the common people, including the economic reality.

Race Sheets

Name: Any names by which the race is known. Demonyms are also welcome.
Societal Role: If the race’s traits push them into a particular role in society, such as being warriors, farmers, slaves, or so on. Optional.
Physiology: Detail the biology and physical appearance of the race, as well as any quirks of behavior.
Habitat: Optionally, if the race can only live in a particular climate, say so here.

I would ask that new players restrict the characters tab to content that I have approved, so that we can keep a clear distinction between what is and is not yet cannon.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

As long as the geographies remain more or less the same, I'm fine with people making as many artistically different kinds of maps as they like. Any differences can just be retconned by the fact that cartography in this kind of setting is not an exact science.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

Right, well I'll be honest, I won't be able to codify some ground rules before next week; Another project will take all my time this weekend. I'll try to get that up on monday, moving this to a proper OOC while I'm at it.

What I'd suggest is that you guys, in the next few days, discuss about what sort of world you envision, and at the very least think about any races, countries, legendary figures, and so on.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

But at least we should add a twist to it. Maybe this world is in the end times and all the stereotypical hur durr im an archer elves and dwarves are slowly dying out, and the appearance of one of these is rare, but gives a glimpse of what the old world was like. Maybe humans and orcs would be more numerous.

@BingTheWing

Well yes, nobody said they wanted carbon copy of fantasy races; we might as well RP in the Forgotten Realms or the Warhammer world if we did that. The idea, if we elect to have these races, would be to give them a fresh spin.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

The piratepad is a tool, nothing more. I only suggested it as an alternative to slowly posting in this thread.

I've been pondering this setup, and I wonder if I've made it too open in scope. We all have different ideas on which it's difficult to build a consensus. If you guys are open to it, I'd propose that I cut to the chase and impose a set geographical world, a set magic system and a group of deities. We could then add features, such as physical landmarks, animal species, and different races, on a one by one basis. You guys okay with that?

My thoughts on fantasy races

I think there's a certain fallacy in thinking that any appearance of previously seen tropes - such as elves, dwarevs, magic, wizards, dragons- is an exact copy of previous iterrations and therefore completely worthless as a work. By that logic, there should not be any dragons, manticores, any angels or demons, any creature at all that come from another source, since they have been seen and done to death over and over. Why do we still have dragons? Because they are easy to relate to. They represent something which anyone can recognize. You could invent a giant horrible monster the heroes must defeat... or you could have them fight a dragon. The later may sound lazy and devoid of creativity, but it draws in the audience as everyone knows what a dragon is capable of. They know what the stakes are, while an invented monster is an unkown. You can explain what the monster is, of course; you can detail out all of its biology, its desires, its intelligence. But all that takes time, and effort, and time and effort on the part of the reader to integrate all that information. Conventions exist because they let you skip all the messy business of learning the workings of the world, and go right to the story at hand.

As you pointed out before, we need to be careful not to become mired in worldbuilding, which I agree with because if it takes too long the whole project will die a slow death as people get bored and leave, and the exponentially increasing complexity makes it difficult to keep track of other people's creations.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

Alright guys, there's been some discussion on what vanilla races to include in the fantasy world. Let's put it to a vote here: I'll list some races here, and you guys can chose which ones you want to keep, and which ones you want gone, taking into consideration the ideas we've come up with for each:

• Dwarves
• Orcs
• Elves
• Anthromorphics (Lizardfolk, cat people, ect...)
• Other races I have ommited

I'd like to see orcs and the anthromorphics stay, while I'm ambivalent to the rest.

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

Alright, I was waiting to see who else would be interested, but I think we're good now. Here's our workspace:

piratepad.net/UjfTxfJpZc

Let's get this thing started!

Collaborative High Fantasy World Building

@VahirDo you have a map in mind? I'd think that would be a logical starting point. Also, do you imagine most of the work will be done via message board off-site?

@Aristo

A predetermined map is a bit restrictive for what I've got in mind here. I'd much rather we piece together a map as we create the different countries, bit by bit. I'll start off with a central region that other people can build around.

The world building will be done in a piratepad. The actual character RP afterwards will be on-site, however.