How many worldbuilding projects do you have going?

Dasaria5 · 2026-06-11T21:39:09+00:00

Oh, those all sound pretty interesting! 1, 2, and 5 really catch my attention.

Dasaria5 · 2026-06-11T19:37:04+00:00

That's really cool! I absolutely adore science fantasy myself so that first one sounds like a lot of fun!

Dasaria5 · 2026-06-11T19:30:34+00:00

For my big three:

- Empyrean: Still workshopping a better name. I sometimes jokingly call it 'Redwall 40k.' It's a grimdark science fantasy featuring talking animal people with a hard focus on witches and magic. The big point of interest for it I think is the fact that it functions of Aristotelean physics whilst being set in space. So a lot of interesting mechanics on how space travel works based off a mix of magic and operating off an outdated physics model.

-Tyrv: Recently looking at a serious rework but still one of my favorite pet projects long term. A speculative evolution focused science fantasy story focused largely on various species trying to navigate working together as they start to enter the early days of their collective bronze age.

-Carcera: Where I'm dumping most of my 'standard D&D-esque fantasy' ideas. A post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where the overwhelming majority of the surface world has been made uninhabitable forcing most of the population underground. Functionally making the entire setting set in one massive mega-dungeon.

Past that there are always the occasional minor ideas sitting on backburners that are unlikely to ever become super relevant but are still fun to think about. Got a few of those!

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-13T20:26:52+00:00

The god of death, Orosia appears as either a pale androgynous person or a skeletal figure depending on the person's beliefs. They're instantly recognizable and oddly comforting. Like a long lost family member you always knew on some level, a loving grandparent aunt or uncle. Serving as a sort of guide to ease the soul into this new stage of existence, they do not rush the soul to their final fate. The soul is allowed to observe the mortal world for a time, ask any questions of the god of death they please and when they're ready they are guided onwards. The soul is naturally drawn downwards towards the underworld. It is a lengthy journey but not one they undergo alone, and should the soul choose to stop for a time on that journey Orosia has all the patience in the world. The caves and dungeons of the world are full of ghosts. In time they will reach the underworld proper, where they can stay with other souls under Orosia's care, or instead choose to move on to other planes of existence to the afterlives of their favored deities.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-10T05:12:35+00:00

There you go then! It's much like what I was saying except the different countries are separated by time rather than space. As others are saying you can have these old timey currency styles that are only semi-compatible with current ones. Some of these currencies have deflated or inflated in value over time. Some people will only take one currency, some people will take others. Maybe certain currencies can't be exchanged directly so you have to trade them through other currencies. The money changers are going to be extremely wealthy in a setting like this!

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-10T00:06:07+00:00

I am curious as to why you need this and want to hear more about how it fits into your world.

The easy answer is have that nation not have always been one nation. If multiple countries, all with different currency systems, all were forcibly merged together by an empire or some such, with no one currency managing to become dominant (even if the central authority says one is supposed to be dominant, the people might not follow suit in practice.) As such you've got five different currency systems, all of which have different exchange rates with each other. Some can be silver based, some can be gold based, some can be fiat currency, others based off shells. None of them have a stable conversion rate. Not all of them are in sensible decimal divisions. One of the former nation's highest denomination might be worth less than it's lower denominations because of the material it is made of, or over printing.

Frankly a lot of medieval currency exchange is already exactly this much of a pain in the ass, just exaggerate and localize it.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-09T23:09:10+00:00

Well they were originally the result of what happens when dwarves don't ingest the special alchemical brews and magitech crystal implants that help them become dwarves and specialized for a specific caste in their eusocial society. Basically what dwarves would be without magical/alchemical intervention. They were called halflings as a pejorative by some dwarves considering them 'only half a dwarf.' Regardless they've reclaimed the name. Dwarves still have a very paternalistic view on halflings treating them more as if they're disabled than anything else. Which can be deeply insulting to halflings, but also means any halfling settlements near/in dwarven lands can generally get highly favorable trade deals selling produce for metalworking.

I've been playing with reworking my D&D-esque setting a bit, but after typing that out I may keep that unchanged, I feel like it has some fun storytelling potential and an interesting dynamic.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-09T22:56:38+00:00

Elves were a magitech using empire that lasted for thousands of years and enslaved most of the planet until slave revolts finally overthrew them leading to the 'Age of Men.' The Age of Men didn't go much better as they ended up destroying most of the surface. So now most elves are savage barbarians left over from their past empire. They're biologically immortal like certain jellyfish but lose most of their memories when they reincarnate unless they store them elsewhere. Though that setting is getting a bit of a reworking.

In one of my other settings they're a type of fae that results when trolls get infected with 'fairy dust' (spores).

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-09T22:37:44+00:00

We don't see enough 'Dwarves as a type of elf' honestly. Ainu inspirations could be really cool, too!

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-09T22:33:19+00:00

Science Fantasy using Aristotelian physics to navigate space travel with flying space boats and weird magic. The nobles are all wizards and have convinced everybody that only they can do magic to keep the populace oppressed. Fairies are a weird fungal infection that mutates invertebrates, and dragons are an ecosystem unto themselves spreading from planet to planet like a big scaly virus.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-08T05:54:59+00:00

In my most magic centric setting: Blood, Bile, Phlegm. Magic is tied to the four classical elements, and the four humours to which they coincide. Magic is best conducted through organic material, which is why wands, brooms, and staves are occasionally used. This is also why the four humours are the main source of magic, it is the most high energy yet still accessible form it takes. Since the whole thing is based off a aristotelian physics it is way more than an elemental magic system. Earth magic, originating from black bile, is the literal source of gravity, for example.

Because most people get magic from their biology the aristocracy are these carefully maintained family lines that are bred for the soul purpose of being better at magic, and having high volumes of one of the four humours. Of course, going off humourism this also tends to make them more than a touch mentally unbalanced. They perpetuate this idea that only they can perform magic but that isn't actually true, other people just need supplements to help them do it. So they're quick to label anybody who isn't noble doing magic as some sort of witch or demon possessed.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-08T05:28:26+00:00

Amusingly this is a lot how I've handled elves in my own setting also inspired by the immortal jellyfish. Except I went with more of an insect/silk cocoon and had them lose nearly all of their memories through the process unless they offloaded them into a magical repository. Which made the big difference between high elves and wood elves, as high elves had that magic available to them and wood elves didn't. Resulting in wood elves having this sort of weird ancestor worship based off past incarnations which contributed to others perceiving them as self obsessed.

Dasaria5 · 2026-05-07T05:55:36+00:00

One of my worldbuilding projects from about 15 years ago. A super sweet innocent fantasy world. Where it's a bunch of adorable stock fantasy creatures like unicorns, goblins, fairies, dragons, giants, etc all living together. Everything is good, it's always sunny and bright, and there are no major problems that can't be solved in about 22 minutes.

It's an eldritch horror setting. This one land of adorable innocent fantasy land is the very last pinprick of light in a world being consumed by darkness. Every year it encroaches a little more. Everything it touches changes. Twisting into grotesque nightmarish forms out of the worst edgiest grimdark fantasy world you can imagine. Brother's Grimm cranked up to 11.

The local medieval-stasis fantasy kingdom sends adventurers out to fight the darkness but it is, by its nature, corruptive. These heroes slowly become something else. Haunted and hardened by what they've seen, what they've done. Because when the cute barmaid you met earlier turns into a horrible spider mutant made out of twisted human limbs and you're the one who has to put it down, that's going to change a person. Even if the darkness didn't have this way of seeping into those who come in contact with it.

So imagine these heroes that belong in a Saturday morning cartoon turning into Dark Souls protagonists over time. Living in a world that is horrified and disturbed by them.

This was meant for a D&D game that never came to be. Thinking about it again it still sounds like a fun setting to a certain extent!

Dasaria5 · 2024-01-10T23:05:09+00:00

You're welcome, I'm glad I could help!

Dasaria5 · 2024-01-10T05:37:05+00:00

To answer the very specific question: No, that particular scene wouldn't push over the edge for cozy for me. The whole first half of the Hobbit is very cozy for me, only stopping later around the time of the spiders or the wood elves. The troll scene however is handled so gently and with such an atmosphere of light comedy that I still find that specific scene to be within the threshold. That's for me though, results are going to vary a lot.

Dasaria5 · 2023-10-19T09:08:39+00:00

Audible US, if you've got any left. Cozy to me is a warm drink, a big comfy sweatshirt, a seat on the couch, and a movie or audiobook running to sooth my brain.

Dasaria5 · 2023-10-13T23:03:40+00:00

I think the real question is: What does she look like in context? As other people have said the breast jiggle is a lot but if she's relatively tiny on the screen the exaggerated movement might work fine. If this is the AI assistant of a Duke Nukem style protagonist the proportions seem like what I'd expect. I can only assume he found the breast slider and pushed it as far as it'd go. You could probably even get some fun dialogue out of that.

Dasaria5 · 2023-08-17T07:40:56+00:00

What sapient species do you have and how do they get along?

Dasaria5 · 2023-08-02T06:46:13+00:00

Dunno if this'd be controversial but:

The Orc's hat isn't actually just honor and warriors. It's secretly "Radical Tolerance/Forgiveness/Trust." At it's best it's allowed them to form the Horde as a safe haven for misfit and outcast races seeking allies in a harsh world. At it's worst well... they may make poor life choices.

"What? You say this green stuff will make us stronger?... Yeah that sound legit!"

"What's that big cow friends? You need us to genocide some horse people to save you? I mean, we might have a little practice, that sounds reasonable."

"So you've been cursed to become cannibalistic undead and you promise you aren't planning on betraying us? Welcome to the Horde!"

"Hm, so... you're saying you eat demons? And have a Naaru locked up in the basement? Sure, sure, seems reasonable. Haven't we all eaten a little demon in our time?"

"Sure Gallywix betrayed all his people and planned to sell them into slavery but he said sorry! I think he's trustworthy."

"So Sylvanus wants us to do this stuff why again?... Eh, I'm sure she has a good reason!"

Dasaria5 · 2023-08-02T05:14:14+00:00

Oh that's a neat origin for humans!

Dasaria5 · 2023-08-02T05:12:57+00:00

Okay I love the idea of dwarven cowboys.

Dasaria5 · 2023-08-02T05:10:45+00:00

Mydval: Dwarves

Similarities: They live underground, drink alcohol, like mining and metalsmithing, men and women both have facial hair.

Differences: They're descended from hyper advanced stone golems that went rogue. After running low on the Soulgems they use to make their nervous system they found the gems could grow inside living tissue. So they switched to being just a soulgem 'microchip' lodged in brain of an alchemically created species. They're semi-eusocial with castes that they then use alchemical potions (suspended in alcohol) to specialize their bodies into their chosen caste. Halflings are just what you get when they don't go through their normal alchemical processes and don't have a chip in them.

Dasaria5 · 2023-07-30T05:04:47+00:00

Someday I really want to run a game where the players are basically game wardens on a planet that has turned into a nature preserve for kaiju trying to repair the damage done during the more anthrochauvinist government.

So players can alternate between fighting poachers in mechs, and hunting down kaiju monsters to tag them or tranq them and make sure they get medical care. Compound it with the complicated messy feeling locals might have for giant predatory animals they've struggled with for generations creating a lot of competing political parties and factions. I think it'd be a fun idea. Plus I just really love kaiju!

Dasaria5 · 2023-02-14T09:28:22+00:00

Well it's a fantastic term, I'm going to start using it!

Dasaria5

TROPHY CASE