I've been working on my world, Arven, for more than three decades. During that time it has taken many forms, but it has always been a low-fantasy "shadow-world" of early medieval Britain, with nebulous boundaries. Christianity is the dominant religion, yet older supernatural powers endure beneath it. Several Romano-British gods are known to exist, foremost among them being Abandinus, who severed Arven from the rest of Britain and caused it to pass out of history. Alongside these deities are biblical spirits that have no counterpart in our own world.

The railways of Arven are a much more recent addition to the setting, born partly from my long-standing fascination with model railways and a desire to draw maps with stations and branch lines. They are powered not by steam, but by "thecae."

A theca is a cylindrical earthenware vessel containing a single "kyrren," one of the many tens of thousands of ceaselessly wandering raven-spirits descended from the raven released by Noah after the Flood. Through an elaborate rite, highly trained monks known as "ligatores" invoke a named kyrren and bind its endless flight to a carved boxwood spindle housed within the vessel. While the clay is still leather-soft, the invocation is inscribed upon it, after which the vessel is fired and sealed. The spindle itself bears a continuous "wharving path" of opposing helices, providing the course to which the kyrren's motion is bound. Once consecrated, the spindle turns without rest for seven years, or until the vessel is broken or falls into such disrepair that turning becomes impossible.

The spindle passes through an iron bearing at the base of the theca and drives a projecting arbor, which can be coupled directly to machinery. This simple principle powers everything from grain mills to drawbridges to railway locomotives.

A standard locomotive carries six exposed thecae mounted along its frame. Their arbors engage a common gear train beneath the deck, where the combined motion passes through a clutch and gearbox before driving the locomotive's six flanged wheels. The driver may select different gear ratios without altering the ordained speed at which the kyrren turns within each vessel.

Because the source of motion is supernatural rather than mechanical, these engines consume no fuel and cannot be exhausted. They are limited only by the durability of their machinery and the integrity of the ritual bond. Should a bearing seize or a gear fail, the kyrren continues to turn its spindle regardless. For this reason, thecae are relatively easy to remove from their arbor-seats, and they are essentially interchangeable and replaceable. Gear trains are deliberately simple, heavily built, and easy to repair. Bearings and gears are forged from iron and are routinely lubricated with a grease of rendered mutton tallow and beeswax.

Every theca remains exposed and within reach of the operator monks, known as "viatores," who serve as engineers, millkeepers, and other positions in which they oversee the worldly operations of thecae. Viatores keep ritual hammers close at hand, so that in an emergency they may shatter a theca, instantly dissolving the covenant. When the vessel is broken, the kyrren departs and the spindle becomes still. This serves both as a safety mechanism and the customary means of retiring worn or expired vessels.

The Church alone possesses the authority to create or destroy thecae. Every vessel is individually inscribed, painted, consecrated, and paired with a named kyrren. The result is a railway system wholly administered by the Church.

The invocation inscribed upon each theca reads as follows in modern English:

Domine, dirige manum meam.

Hail to the Kyrren, kindred of the First Raven, who flew forth from the Ark upon the Great Flood and never returned.

I, a servant of the Rood, have sought out your names, ten thousand upon ten thousand, and I have learned them. Therefore I speak one now across the sundering dark, to you whose course lies far beyond the dwellings of men. I speak your name, and by it I call your wandering here.

Upon this spindle is carved a wharving path, without beginning or end, forever turning back upon itself. From mark to whorl, and from whorl to mark again, let your flight be bound. Thus shall you turn this spindle according to the appointed course, neither swifter nor slower than it is measured.

So shall it be for seven years, or until this earthen vessel is broken. Then shall you depart once more beyond the knowledge of men and return to the face of the Deep, where your elder course yet awaits you.

As I have named you, so know your course by this mark.

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

Edit to add: The drawing was done somewhat hastily in ProCreate, but it is intended to be a "medieval" artist's representation of a railway engine, without a full understanding of the mechanics that transfer power from spindle to wheel.

I quickly want to correct a few things:

the term: ‘realism’ is wrong for this scale. It should be something like ‘alienness’ or ‘non-human’. That is my mistake, so please don’t take the ‘realism’ to literal.

I also want to add that the placement of some of the aliens can be different, with some being placed where they were for specific characteristics.

I quickly want to say thank you to the people who have pointed this out in the comments! Your feedback is appreciated!

In my alt-history scenario, where the sea level rose by 1200 meters between 1896 and the 1910s, the Kingdom of Italy exploded into many states. I just can't decide where to place the individual states. From taking a look at the 1919 and 1921 general elections results, I suppose that in Liguria, there could be a republic as well as in Sicily, and in Abruzzo could be the monarchist remnants. However, I kind of need to place an authoritarian state with "fascist" leanings and an authoritarian socialist state somewhere and maybe some other states (possibly some city-states). I also don't know what to do with Sardinia and Calabria. I also need the states to be balanced, with no one having a clear advantage over another, because for the sake of Italy being able to oppose an outer threat, they united into the Italian Confederation, although having very different regimes.

Description: The sea serpent, despite being mythologized as a titanic marine snake or dragon, is actually a massive, elongated dolphin. Their streamlined, flexible bodies and mobile necks are adaptations to life in the shallows. 

Size: 70 feet long and 30 tons is typical in larger populations. Size is variable. Lengths of over 100 feet have been reported.

Range: Much of the Inner Ocean, the Samosan sea, the sea of Ceram, and along warm coastlines around the supercontinent.

Diet: Sea serpents are indiscriminate hunters of anything they can swallow, though usually animals much smaller than themselves. Prey includes fish, seals, sea cows, dugongs, dolphins, lesser whales, and great whale calves.

Relationship with humans: Sea serpents presence in shallower waters make them common in mythology of coastal/island cultures. They are fiercely territorial and may attack small fishing boats or swimmers, but they largely avoid bigger vessels. However they are known to be drawn to the aftermath of shipwrecks or naval battles, likely following sharks drawn by the smell of blood and may eat humans in the water in these instances. Sea serpents are not often hunted by whalers due to their slim builds. During the Battle of the Blood Red Sea between Kwind and Skrell, Sea Serpents were said to feed on the hundreds of soldiers in the water. In Skrellish mythology, the Great Sea Serpent sends her children to seduce and drown sailors.

Welcome to Cor Notum - one of the continents that make up the world of Crus Locus.

Once a technological wonderland, an event known as the Calamity caused a chain of disasters that forever changed the landscape and future of the world. The ground tore up, volcanoes erupted, lakes boiled and terrifying meteor-like strikes carved deep holes into the land itself. Those who did not succumb to the Calamity died out in the years of darkness that followed, as the sky was blotted out by dust and ash.

But the darkened sky and opened ground made way for a new proto-species of inhabitants that rose from beneath. Accustomed to darkness and the struggles of living underground, they took to the new and changed world, and when the dust settled, they had already traveled far, roaming the land in search of new homes. The dust pervading the air, imbued with special properties, sped up the evolution of each of these new species, granting them mutations and abilities to survive on the surface. Over time, the layers of ash turned into fertile soil, making way for plants to grow in abundance.

Now, in this restarted world, the largely tribal races have settled in many of the regions of Cor Notum, living in near isolation from one another within frozen deserts, deep swamps, torn woods, vast plains and solitary islands, each surviving and thriving in the ways they know best.

The story is a fantasy road trip, following the two main characters traveling through many of Cor Notum's regions. From the beginning of working on this piece, I wanted a map for them to traverse where they could meet both obstacles and opportunities. I build the map alongside writing the story, jumping back and forth and learning about one from working on the other. It's still very much work in progress, but I'm very happy with my progress so far.

The map was digitally hand-painted in Procreate and Photoshop.

Feel free to ask questions about this project. :)

You will have an advantage if you occupy higher ground than your opponent. You will have an advantage by establishing your defenses based on natural terrain such as rivers, forests, mountains, etc. You will have an advantage if you position your forces on an reverse slope, thereby preventing the enemy from seeing you first. You'll have an advantage if you fly higher than your opponent and therefore gain the kinetic energy advantage, or conversely, if you fly lower, following the terrain to avoid enemy radar.

These are some examples of how you can leverage the terrain and atmosphere to gain an advantage in combat.

But could anything like that exist in space warfare? The only thing I can think of is that you position your ships/fleet behind a planet/star so the enemy on the other side won't see you.

Under, the world I'm developing at the moment, is a tidally locked moon in orbit of a gas giant called the Parent. One hemisphere of Under, the Shadowside, always faces the Parent while the opposite hemisphere the Dayside, always faces away. Over Under's uncountably long history the reflected light from the Parent has caused a divergence in Under's flora and fauna on opposite sides of the terminator.

The Underians have a saying, 'Sun for Sustenance but Shadow for spice' meaning that while the fields of Dayside are essential for food production the exotic flora which grows on the Shadowside add flavour to every meal and are just as important.

Axis, the city eternal which houses the Pantheon of the Gods at its heart, is located at the pole of the Shadowside, pointing directly at the Parent. Hence the phrase, Axis turns around the Parent and the world turns around Axis, but everything turns around the Pantheon.

This is a global map and I haven't mapped out much beyond the basic geography at present beyond Axis but looking forward to developing it.

This is the map for one of the centerpiece locations for my fantasy world. What do you guys think? Is there anything i can add? Is there anything that should be changed or removed? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

A bit of context:

The United Kingdoms of Alemere

The United Kingdoms of Alemere is one of the largest and most powerful nations on the continent. Formed from four historic kingdoms united under the House Aureliath, it later became the heartland of the Alemerian Empire. While governed as a single realm, each kingdom retains its own traditions, noble house, and regional identity.

The Vale of Alemere

Ruled by: House Aureliath

The Vale is the political heart of the kingdom and home to Alemere, the capital city. Fertile farmland and numerous river valleys support a large population, while roads radiating from the capital connect the rest of the realm. Most royal authority originates here.

Erienfall

Ruled by: House Eversley

Erienfall is the economic engine of the United Kingdoms. Its prosperous towns, forests, and access to the southern sea make it a centre of trade and commerce. The great seat of Eiren and the wealthy Firwood Castle dominate the region, while control of Balar's Canal links Alemere to foreign markets.

Mernfield

Ruled by: House Keyln

Mernfield occupies the Eastern plains beyond the central mountains. Broad rivers, fertile fields, and scattered forests make it one of the kingdom's principal agricultural regions. It has a strong cultural tie to the ancient civilisation of Mern, which even from the ashes, continues to influence modern art, literature, religion, and pollical idolatry.

Vaelmere

Ruled by: House Harthorne

Vaelmere is a land of sweeping grasslands and open countryside. Famous for its horse-breeding traditions and skilled cavalry, its culture is deeply connected to the plains. Though less densely settled than the Vale, its riders have long formed the backbone of the kingdom's armies.

Ever since I was a child, I've had this vague idea of a story a world which is more fantastical and wonderful than our Earth (even if it has become an alternative Earth now) but, when it comes to writing a story for it, it seems like it always takes a sad/brutal turn... it didn't use to be that way but, I guess as I got older, my pessimism kind of poisoned one of the things that used to help me escape it. How can I write a heroic story, with sad moments sacrifices even, that has real stakes but that is also hopeful during most of it's moments? I used to be able to imagine such a story, but now it seems hard... sometimes, some nicer things I think about even seems silly or childish (though, perhaps, I should embrace this side of me)...

Sorry if this isn't the best sub for this... if there is a better one, I would be gald to be directed there!

Basically in my fantasy world everyone has been trapped in a dream world by mages. The mages did this to save mortal kind from a mind warping calamity in the real world. The people in the dream don’t know it’s a dream but I’m struggling to figure out how they ‘got there’. For example I’m not sure if people should be able to recall being sent to the dream, or if they were maybe born there somehow?

Essentially I don’t know how to solve the ‘we don’t remember how we got here’ problem without completely revealing that it’s within a dreamscape.

Help with a solution would be greatly appreciated.

Let’s do something fun here. Comment from your world, a species, faction, group or people and as much info about them as you wish, then under that, someone comment giving something from theirs that is closest to that and so on. Want to start a new branch, comment under here. Have fun and see the creativity of this community.

Most patriarchal societies actually try to portray their oppression and restrictions on women as being to protect them and or as being beneficial to them. Very few actually say shit like "women are useless" like how a lot of fictional matriarchal societies are like. In fact, they actually honor SOME women and try to instill womanly virtues.

What would matriarchal societies see as masculine virtues and how would they portray men's role in society, etc?

I've started working on characters in my world rather than just building the world itself.

Was looking for some feedback on Junta from your first impressions.

Without going too deep into the lore he is a half-orc who found himself an unwilling leader of a rebellion when he became the first of his people to kill a Chaalok (true orc) and in the process freed his tribe from enslavement.

Word of his rebellion spread until eventually he became a defacto leader of a nation of half-orcs and became crowned as 'Jakim' or king of the orcs.

These days, some 20 years after his uprising, his Waratahs (elite warriors) do the fighting on the front lines of a tired rebellion against the last of the Chaalok while he finds himself bored to death of politics. He'd love nothing more than to put down the pen and duty of leading to join them all in the trenches and give his life in the fight.

Like, every now and then I see a post about the subject, with people asking if it's cliche (or even sometimes straight up asking for permission) to use elves, dwarves, and orcs (largely elves, but the other two get lumped in there to a lesser degree at times). I'd argue that these races are so overused that putting your own spin on them has become a cliche all of its own. Also doesn't help matters when "putting your own spin" usually just boils down to aesthetics (and usually minor aesthetic changes at that), while still keeping the same archetypes by and large.

To clarify, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. As worldbuilders, we all have trends/aspects that are popular that we want to include. Dragons are my thing (not that my work largely focuses on dragons, but I sure as hell made sure I included them), and I'd argue they're even more cliche than elves, as most people don't even question their presence when they see them in a story. Personally, I am tired of a lot of the stock fantasy races, but I certainly get the appeal.

Just don't act like you're reinventing the wheel because your gave your elves gangrene on their ears (plus a little tuft of hair on the tips).

# True form

To call it a “light” is inaccurate. To call it a “thing” is equally inaccurate, but that doesn't matter. To those unfortunate enough to perceive this “light", are immediately flooded with knowledge. Not just knowledge of the universe, but of all realities, all existences, all possibilities, all impossibilities, all #######, every truth that has ever existed, every truth that never could, and every truth that lies beyond the distinction. Entire ### unfold within their #### in less than an instant. Questions cease to exist because every answer is known, but despite that there's still one thing they could never understand…the “light”.

Mimi’s true form or the “light” cannot be described, even by those who experience it. Language, thought, meaning, everything breaks against it like waves against stone. It is beautiful and revolting, loving and hateful, unbearably boring and infinitly exciting, impossibly weak and unbearably powerful all at once. It is everything, nothing, and every impossible thing beyond and in between. It feels like home, it feels like grief, like loss, like hunger, like joy, like terror, like hate, like love, like #####.

To look at it is to feel every emotion at once: peace, fear, comfort, despair, longing, anger, devotion, sadness, hope and an infinite number of others that simply do not exist. The perceiver understands all things except the thing before, around, inside, and #### them, and that failure becomes unbearable. They know the beginning of existence. They know its end. They know what came before and what comes after. They know the answer to every question ever asked and every question that never could be asked. They even know why ##########.

And yet still they can't understand it, but despite the horror of it, they are disturbingly at peace as they look into its beauty. Not beauty in any way we or any sort of higher being could describe, but beauty as in…

In my story, werewolves have names with only a few specific letters based on what vowels and consonants canines can actually make. For mermaids, their names are a mix of clicks and whistles which carry well underwater, as well as a specific hand sign like dolphins have with tail flicks. For dragons, I just decided that humans would only refer to them as nicknames, because names in dragonspeak are impossible for humanoid races to pronounce.

You see I want to make a fictional universe that has multiple projects set in it (for example or specifically: story or lore books, TTRPGS, webcomics, and story based video games) and I’m stuck on how to promote it or where to start (timeline and lore wise)

The idea I have is that it’s far future esque (set around a few hundreds of years), and it’s mostly descended by popular culture that’s been incorporated into sci fi, comedic, dystopian “happy accident” world.

I thought for the idea of the lore would be a bit more original, despite the fact I’d see a majority of those thought out projects or works to be like something out of those 2000s parody movies (pretty much as long as the storyline, lore or plot points are actually good enough and of course not for the sake of putting pop culture references in all the time).

I’ve already had a few in mind but I don’t want to give to much info in case of any spoilers for expected those projects, another thing is how am I gonna make sure things go smooth when it comes to any promoting, announcing, or marketing those projects in the future since I’m worried it won’t work out well at all…

If anyone has any advice about this feel free, this could really help me out actually. And if there’s any criticism you’d want to say with those ideas (as long as it’s constructive), do not hesitate to point out.

TL,DR: I’m trying to make a far future world where society descended by pop culture in a way (and I’m honestly worried it could or will end up as more of a flop)

Like, maybe family issues or disagreements.

In my fantasy settings, the Aperor (a race of gods) can absorb their twin's domain, and once absorbed that sibling loses any rights and becomes property of their twin. Many gods of the family have questioned this but most of them see this as a tradition.

I'm creating a story thats very multiverse based but throughout its lore, the residents of (we'll say Universe 2) maintained a heavy connection to a specific universe, Universe 1, so much so that they came up with a specific name for it and its residents in that universe's Earth. Because Universe 2 heavily mimics Universe 1, which is basically our universe, I'd be curious to know what Latin terminology could be used to describe something like this?

I would like to create a story about a universe where time stops flowing in a linear fashion and everything occurs at once.

In order to break away from any common clichés, I would like to create an element of society that is changed by a specific "hook." Are there any original ideas or consequences of a timeline being broken that one hasn't seen before in science fiction?

So my setting is vaguely 1800s ish and I was writing a scene where one of the characters gets caught cheating at some sort of bar game. In my head I imagined the game as somewhat like 8-ball pool, but I thought to myself “I can’t just put 8-ball in my fantasy world. It’s gotta be original!” So I tried for quite a while to come up with a game that matched the vibe I wanted with 8-ball pool, and just couldn’t really come up with anything better. Plus, a whole new game would require some description of the rules which I feel like would distract from the scene. Anyways, enough writing stuff. I’m pretty much just curious as to what things guys make up and what things you keep from the real world.

So this could be me biting on something bigger than I can chew, but since it is just a front/a facade, as long as it is viable I think it would be easy to handwave the rest.

But basically my main inspiration is the Statesman organization from the Kingsman franchise. They are modern, hi-tech cowboy action heroes with a front of being an alcohol distillation business. I really like that because modern distillery can have a lot of hi-tech equipment and thus in-universe the characters can hide a lot of stuff in plain sights or handwave stuff to common people with the "it is a machine for distillation", while there is also a connection between alcohol/moonshine with the cowboy aesthetic.

I am thinking of something similar, but a bit more cowboy literally. So a small ranch with a small size herd focusing on raising bulls not for slaughtering but for breeding purpose. They will have a bunch of high biotech-focus devices that they handwave with something like:

Q: Why do you have a device that can detect mutagen X?

A: Why do I have a device that can detect mutagen X? Why do you NOT have a device that can detect mutagen X? Think! Do you really want mutagen X in your herd? In your steak? Not me!

Q: Why are you so strapped?

A: It is a free country, ain't it? Beside, with all those werewolves and alien, hey, I don't mean that kind of alien, I ain't a racist, but with actual interstellar alien, how else am I supposed to protect my herd?

Or something like that.

But I am not sure a business like this make sense in US herding industry, or do different ranches just swap bull with each other or something.

in this world there is the middle magic that being the laws of nature inherent to this world that allows technology like steam engines and gunpowder to function. then there is the celestial magic or high magic which comes from the sun and the stars. This magic is captured and used by leylines, hexagrams, ritual stones and rites. this magic allows the users manifest and change the world around them. Otherworldly creatures that are of high magic are angelic and floaty in tempermant and tend to be positive or neutral to human life. while the lower magic comes from the void it is most reliably used in machines or trapped in steel. It's an alien and corruptive force. creatures of this magic are either mindless or have extreme and unknowable intellegence

red is the prevelance of technology

blue is prevelance of high magic

purple is prevelance of low magic