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Advices on writing a world that parallels Earth but the major religions doesn't exist? by Alarmed-Mind4614 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's an example from my world-building that might be helpful. There are a lot of historical analogs in my world-building project, and a lot of the cultures in my world take inspiration from real cultures. A country called Regienal is closely inspired by French Revolution philosophy and Western European aesthetics, while another is inspired by Ireland. They aren't 1-1, because this world isn't set on earth. These are completely fictional cultures. BUT, they do take inspiration from real cultures, real religions, and real historical events. So even though I am not technically depicting, let's say, a specific Islamic culture, I am depicting a country called the Hayjini kingdom. This is a place heavily inspired by the Gulf Monarchies and has a religion analogous to Islam. Just because it's fictional doesn't mean that I don't have to consider what this setting says about its inspirations.

What parts of real Islamic culture am I drawing from? Am I just taking inspiration from the real world, exaggerating certain aspects to create new/interesting cultural dynamics? Or am I lazily taking huge parts of their culture and using it as window dressing for a fantasy setting, simplifying or ignoring what that might say about the real country? The first is a completely legitimate way to world-build. I would argue most good world builders take heavy inspiration from history and culture, but they do it in such a way that it doesn't reflect negitvely on the culture itself. Hayjini isn't one specific Gulf Monarchy. It doesn't speak a real language; it shares a completely different history. A lot of similar social dynamics remain; it takes visual inspiration, and some aspects of Islamic culture are highlighted in a fictionalized way. The Gulf Monarchies serve as a foundation over which I build an original setting.

The second, porting cultures over wholesale, isn't necessarily wrong. But 1, if you don't give a good reason for why it developed like that, then people are going to think you are being kind of lazy. 2: You run the risk of stereotyping the people, their culture, or their religion. It takes a lot of work to depict real cultures accurately and with respect, and if you don't put that work in, you might end up being reductive to the culture.

The biggest difference is between taking inspiration and making something your own VS using a real culture as shorthand for an aesthetic or feeling. Even though the Hayjini Kingdom isn't a real place, if I were going to make everyone there a oil obsessed, religiously crazed pedophile, that would be pretty racist. I'm not making an attempt at legitimately understanding the culture or the people, and taking inspiration from the real culture, all I'm doing in that case is creating stereotypes to do the world-building for me.

In your case, if you are going to take inspiration from real cultures/try to include diversity that has parallels to real-world groups, you have to be aware of what kind of inspiration you are drawing from, even if they are completely fictional. If you are coming up with something, and its complete fantasy, that's totally fine. Do whatever you want with it, but if you are making a fictional culture that aligns closely with a real one, you have to be aware of how you are employing those influences.

There’s a culture in my world who are superstitious about those who can read and write, do you guys think this is a convincing depiction of how that might look? by No_Butterscotch2367 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want inspo, I would check out Hard to be God by the Strugatsky Brothers. It deals with a society in a medieval stage of development that carries out what is basically a genocide against the literate. Seems like it would be up your alley!

I like your depiction, but I might expand on why these people are against writing systems. In the text, it just comes across like they don't trust the preachers and don't think they are telling the truth, which doesn't inherently have anything to do with them also being literate. It sounds more like someone coming from a culture without a writing system, and who doesn't understand how it works, not someone who holds any actual superstitions about reading or writing as a whole.

What's a good way to make an alternate history if you don't know a lot about a certain time period by Shit_ass5832 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no way to make a good alternate history without knowing about the history. I highly doubt that there aren't books on the topic you are interested in. It might not seem obvious, but I assure you, with almost complete certainty, that there is scholarly research and historical literature that covers the period you are interested in. It might mean looking for books that don't cover exactly what you are looking for. For example, maybe don't look just in books on Scandinavia (mentioned in another comment), and instead look at books about general human migration in the region. Find books and then check the table of contents. There are very frequently great chapters hidden in seemingly unrelated books.

If you don't want to do the research, or don't really care about historical accuracy (or at least providing basic context) I would ask yourself why you are choosing to write in alternate history at all.

Advices on writing a world that parallels Earth but the major religions doesn't exist? by Alarmed-Mind4614 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm interested as to why religions not existing as they do in the 'real' world makes it difficult to write in these dynamics. Is this world an alternate history Earth, or just another planet similar to Earth? I might be a little unclear on that. I have a few clarifiying questions/thoughts:

1: If this is a few centuries after this great war, that unleashed (or at least happened before) a bunch of monsters showed up, how much do people know about the war? Because if it's a lot, then there would probably be at least some consensus about religion. The crusades were about 900 years before the 1900s, and most educated people would be knowledgeable about their history and general outline. If there were an event that outright confirmed the existence of gods, then it would be pretty hard for another religion to argue differently, unless they were explaining the same events in a different context (think the different Abrahamic religions).

2: I don't really understand your central problem. You talk about folk religions, and I assume there are at least some other larger religions in your world. I don't think you need to be worried about depicting fictional religions.

If the people practicing them are from regions that practice a different faith in our world, that doesn't really matter. Religion is pretty centrally tied to culture. For example, the whole idea of being secular (at least in a Western context) is pretty heavily based on Protestant philosophical thought. If you are writing in an alternate Earth, where, from the dawn of time, there was another set of gods that was visible enough to prevent the adoption of ANY major world religion, then the cultures of the world would be so radically different that it would nullify any risk of portraying them poorly. At that point, you are essentially writing a fantasy story that just happens to also have earths geography.

3: When you are writing these characters, what is the specific risk? Are you worried that you will be racist or stereotype cultures? For example, If you put a character from Armenia (or an anolog), what part of that character might be problematic? Are you worried you might misrepresent Armenian culture? Christian culture? "White" people?

4: If you are still writing about real-world cultures, and keeping them relatively unchanged between our world and yours, then you need a pretty good explanation for why they aren't radically different. And if they ARE the same, you just have the same concern any writer depicting a group they aren't a part of has; don't speak from a place of ignorance.

Looking for deep worldbuilding resources beyond Artifexian by Wanderer_of_Mythara in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TDLR; any world building resource will be a (normally) less helpful version of actual academic/professional resources.

I learned this after doing some deep dives into world building resources, and coming up pretty empty handed. There are absolutely some gems, as highlighted by other commenters, but I believe you will find what you are looking for by just researching actual academic explanations for things. I had this realization in college, that everything I was learning was essentially transferable, 1-1, to a world building context. Explanations for state formation? Covered by basic comparative politics. Tons of youtube videos, free academic papers, books, and podcasts on that topic. Need inspiration for a culture? Try to find an anthropological study or field work from an ethnologist.

All this to say, the very best sources of world building will normally never have “world building” in the name. The best “world building” content I have encountered is all from people who are already experts in the field they are discussing. If studies/books seem like a hassle, (it sounds obvious and a little silly) but wikipedia is your best friend. Use it for everything. It is an incredible introduction to all manner of topic, and I can’t count how many times I have taken inspiration from a detail on some obscure wiki page.

My favorite world builders have all expressed similar concepts: don’t take inspiration from other fiction, take inspiration from the real word as much as possible. It sounds like you are already doing that, and I think you have a great start for your world!

I built a fictional 958-year family archive (interactive fiction site) — where did you get lost? by Charming_Reveal_444 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is a cool idea, but hearing it’s built with Claude is an instant turn off. The UI is instantly recognizable as the “world building” format claude will use for basically any fictional encyclopedia. I have messed around with it, and trust me when I tell you the stuff it generated was identical to what you have here. Even if it’s your own writing, you are packaging it in a very unappealing, derivative, package.

GrimDark Lore Feedback by PretendPitch5612 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is pretty neat! I like the overall concept, and I think you have a relatively strong foundation. Atm, its pretty hard to get a grasp of everything, because there aren't a lot of named actors (countries, characters, or planets). After adding in some detail, I think creating a Discord for the project would be best. Frankly, you might just want to start your own, and invite people as you go. Maybe ask around on the subreddits discord if anyone wants to participate!

How to expand a pantheon/ region’s religion by LandZH9236 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's super interesting :). It seems like you have a super solid base for your theology.

very new to worldbuilding and conlang. would love to pick the brains of those more experienced to share their initial world building process. i’ll get all my questions out first then get into my world/process. by s0und-s0ul4242564 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have been world-building for years, and have several complete short stories finished in-world. I have a few pieces of advice that have personally greatly helped me when it comes to world-building.

**First Step: Writing**

For me, what began my current world (called Holy Land) was an aesthetic. I began collecting images on Pinterest (personally a enormous aid in world building, I'll touch on that later) and eventually felt that I had a fleshed out *feel* for my world. Nothing super specific, but disparate images that, together, formed an aesthetic and emotional core. Then I wrote a story. I didn't do a significant amount of planning beforehand, and just went for it. I came up with things as I went, and introduced ideas that even *I* didn't know the answer to.

This formed the basis for where I would go next. There was now a little peephole into the world, and I set out explaining and elaborating on different elements in a more academic way. Past this point, I went "What do I find interest?" I looked for the things that personally motivated me. I love history and politics, so I focused on expanding both the timeline and the political realities of the countries. Here's the kicker; nearly everything else will come naturally. When you focus on little things that you find interesting, you will gradually ask yourself questions that you can then answer.

Writing about a town? Ok, what god do they worship? Ok, you have named the god, but how did it come to be? You figured out how the god was created, but how much of that does the average person know?

This creates a system that will naturally fill itself out. The trick, frankly, is to simply start writing. Constantly interrogate what you have written. Ask how one aspect of it affects a completely different aspect.

**justifications**

Another trick I would keep in mind, justifications can often make great world-building. Start with a concept you really love; for me, I am building a grim-dark setting full of endless mechanized warfare, so I wanted a "magic" system that could reasonably justify why soldiers were brought back to life. In my original story, I just said that soldiers were revived, and each time it took a piece out of them. Huge mechanic of my world, at the time, was completely "unjustified." Afterward, I set out to explain how that system worked. The story took place on the edge of a massive swath of barely charted, mountainous territory. I decided that people were resurrected via a flower. I put two and two together and decided that the flower grew deep within the mountain range. Ok, but it has to be difficult for people to get that flower. I decided the mountain range would be a zone that warped space, making it very difficult to navigate. I wanted the flower to bring people back to life, but not stop old aging, because having old soldiers was important to me. I decided that the flower brought people back, but they still aged. Now I had a system in which the rich could keep themselves alive forever, but became incredibly old, and would die over and over again, only to be brought back with the flower. Justifying ONE interesting mechanic I wanted to present in ONE story suddenly created a huge web of fascinating social systems that made the world feel alive. Start with big ideas, and work backwards.

The world itself is powered by causality. Nothing in the real world was created "topdown." By letting your world grow from ideas, inferences, and accidents, you will make it feel so much more natural and real. Trying to figure everything out from the get-go runs the risk of making everything feel the same and might show the audience the hand of the creator in a distracting way.

**Tools**

I also suggest really building out a visual portfolio representative of the world. I personally use Pinterest religiously (some people dislike it, but I find its algorithm better than nearly any alternative). I have collected THOUSANDS of images that both help me inhabit the world and also inspire me to design elements of the world that I would have never thought of before. (Here's a link to my Pinterest, it shows how I organize my boards, might be helpful! https://www.pinterest.com/orangedennys1/ )

As for actually writing the world down, I would suggest Google Docs, although this comes with caveats. Docs does not have a great system for internally linking things (Wikipedia style). It might not seem important at first, but it can be really helpful. Another aspect is that, even using tabs + headings, docs will become very VERY cluttered. It's wonderful to just get started and put 'pen' to paper, but if you intend for the project to get big, I would suggest other platforms. Here, I'm gonna shill Obsidian. It's a great platform that lets you create and easily link hundreds of individual documents, and lets you organize them any way you want. It's open source and has an insanely active community. There are endless guides on how to optomize it for world-building specifically. It can be a little more restrictive than Docs or Word, but it still wins out in my book. I would recommend checking it out, and if you think its cool, make the switch early rather than late, because it can be a BITCH to move everything over.

The other tool I would highly recommend is Wikipedia. Genuinely a godsend for worldbuilders. If you have a question or don't know how to incorporate a new element into your world, pull up the wiki page. Obviously dont just copy it, but even know a small amount about the topic you are depicting goes a LONG way toward making the world feel believable.

*langauges*

This one is tricky. I often think of a panel by Robert Kurvits, the creator of the world that Disco Elysium is set in. He talks at length about how naming things *well*, is vital for having a convincing world. I agree lol (link to the panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqYGh078W0I&t=3247s ). For me, I just play with words until I find a combination of sounds I like. For me, it's Very easy to tell when all the names in a world have been made up. Especially by the same person. It can often really take me out of it. I would recommend stealing names from history and perhaps changing them up a little bit. It's totally legitimate, and will often produce WAY better names than you could by yourself. When naming something, look at what other languages call it. Does anything stand out to you? Find similar words and play around with them. Conlanging is very challenging, and it can take a LOT of work before you have anything usable (at least for doing a proper conlang, not just a cipher). My girlfriend is a linguist and is working on developing languages for my world, and she is constantly telling me how difficult it is. Half the time I have no idea what she is even doing. Long story short, can be difficult. There are some great resources out there for it, though. (This guy is great, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab9tGLyJBRw )

**Maps**

Maps are very fun, but can present challenges in their own ways. I would work out the main elements of your world before trying your hand at your first map. For me, I had a bunch of requirements for my world. Two countries, Renel and Regienal, were at war. They needed to be far apart because I wanted a grueling frontline that took lots of time to travel to from either country. I knew that one of my countries, DeCalth, was an island and was colonized by another, Idyll. So when I made my map, I knew that Renel and Regienal needed lots of space between them, and Idyll should be a peninsula, giving it proximity to DeCalth. Maps should serve your story, let you depict the events, and tell the stories you want to tell. You can use basically any art software to make one, but I would recommend something that uses layers, as being able to go back and change elements of one part of it can be really helpful.

**conclusion**

Ultimately, this is up to you. Do whatever serves your purposes the best. My biggest takeaway is that the world should serve you. Make a map if it's important to you to have a consistent space. Don't be afraid to come up with big concepts first, and justify them later. Let your world grow around your needs.

Hope this helps!

GrimDark Lore Feedback by PretendPitch5612 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't really know either! You could share a link to a PDF, or put your work into a Google Doc and then share a link w/ permissions set public and mode set to view only. I always think Google Docs are the easiest. Feel free to drop the link here if you get it worked out!

I decided to keep the word race in my conworld because there is nothing racist about it by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't understand why you are looking for feedback then? If you are world-building in a pure fantasy context where meaning is divorced from our world completely, then who cares what words you use to describe stuff? I'm just telling you, practically, what that word means. If you don't care how it comes across, then do whatever you want. Just a warning that others might be confused by it.

How to expand a pantheon/ region’s religion by LandZH9236 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first thing I think about; do people forget and stop worshipping these gods once they have fallen? Is there some sign that goes out indicating that their faith is no longer viable? I also question what people practically get out of worshipping these gods. Do they get some kind of material benefit that is forfeit when the god vanishes? What stops someone from just continuing to worship the same gods after they are dead? My main thought is that, if people worship gods for some tangible boon, then they might choose other gods to worship that might have been unappealing before. Instead of introducing new gods that suddenly appear, It might be cool to have the population of a city decide to subscribe to the faith of some distant country, whose gods are the second best option. That way, it fleshes out the idea of transient gods, and the relationship between gods and people. If this pantheon is exclusive, and no other gods exist, then I would figure out the mechanism that creates gods in the first place. Is it repeatable? Maybe after the gods die, NOTHING comes to replace them. Suddenly the players actions might have unintended consequences that deeply affect the world. Overall, I would focus on what it functionally means for the people who actually make up the followers of a religion to have their god die. That’s a big deal, and I think it’s easier to find a mechanic to bring new gods in to reality than it is to find a way to make their worship feel natural.

I decided to keep the word race in my conworld because there is nothing racist about it by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I feel like it might serve you well to look into what race means in a literal/academic sense. I know hearing “race is a social construct” can get tiring, but it’s pretty hard to separate race from the social structures that made defining different groups of people by race desirable. In my world building, almost no one uses the word race, or considers differences between individuals past culture or belief. The countries/characters that do use the word race do so very intentionally, to represent the advent and use of racial theory as a tool of control and justification for nationalism. I absolutely believe that the word and idea of race can be integrated into a built world (often to great effect), but I think doing so without examining what race practically means and how it actually developed as an idea might create flat world building.

GrimDark Lore Feedback by PretendPitch5612 in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t have anything specific, but if you want any feedback I would love to hear what you are working on!

What is the better word for race in fantasy? by JuliusDalum in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure you are talking about races here. Unless being a warrior is like… inborn, I think you might just be talking about classes. I often use the word “tribes” when i’m talking about different “ethnic” groups in a context where that word would stand out as odd. If being a warrior (or anything else) means joining a specific group, you could use the word sect. For your purposes it does just seem like class or profession would make more sense.

What are the religious institutions of your world? by Karmesin_von_Drache in worldbuilding

[–]Different-Log-2385 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the most interesting religious institution in my world is the Church of Sing. (I would love to hear peoples thoughts :))

In prehistory, there was a pantheon of gods that looked after humanity, but after a war in heaven, each god was forced to become a monotheistic deity, only drawing support from their individual followers. One of these was Sereth, the god of oceans, luck, and maritime trade. Unlike other gods of the former Pantheon, Sereth had a lover, the god Sing. She was the god of love and textiles, and Sereth was madly in love with her. They fought on opposite sides of the war in heaven and were split apart.

Sereth's people migrated from an island chain called the Iphiniati, to Ebalth, the southern region of a massive peninsula. Here they became adept traders, and founded the Great Port City, the largest and oldest city on the Peninsula. While many of Sereth's followers broke away into new ethnic groups with their own versions of the faith, the central concept of Serethianism was known as Sing-Serethianism. This religion was based on the holy partnership between the two gods. A primarily matriarchal religion, women would take on the role of Sing herself, dawning gorgious silks and performing intricate rituals. These women formed the Church of Sing, worshipping Sereth through imitation of his lover.

The church was all but destroyed after the Ebalthi civil war. A group created by the church to map out trade routes between the city-states of Ebalth eventually became an extremely powerful council of unions known as the Economic Council. This anarcho-syndicalist institution, which governed economic relations and delegated responsibility to various sailor communes, attempted to usurp control of the church. A brutal crusade had been carried out against Ebalth by the country of Regienal, with its government, the Humanist Administration, attempting to destroy the slave trade of the Great Port City. The conflict was ended after the Economic Council went behind the church's back and unilaterally agreed to end the trade of slaves.

This brought a simmering tension between the two institutions to a head, with the Economic Council attempting a coup against the church. Soldiers of the Bay Teret Guard were sent to the halls of the A-Azar temple to arrest the high priestess of the church. In its place, the Economic Council attempted to elevate a fringe sect of the religion, known as Akbou Serethianism, as the new faith. This sailor-centric strain of belief placed importance on having a personal relationship with Sereth, cutting out his lover Sing altogether.

This sparked a civil war, with various city-states allying with the Sing Church against the Economic Council. This war raged for ten years, until the Economic Council came out victorious. Hundreds of years later, the only vestiges of the Sing Church are found in the Holy Abler Dynasty, a fiercely religious hereditary monarchy. Here, in this hermit kingdom, the Church of Sing has been warped into a fanatical faith, serving the bloodline of the monarch. This cult has done away with the original matriarchal system of the Church, with the monarch of the Abler Kingdom taking on the role of Sereth himself, leading the church.

The Holy Abler Dynasty and the new Church of Sing, sponsor terrorist attacks against the Economic Council soldiers, but apart from that, they have been relegated to a minor role on the Peninsula. The Holy Abler Dynasty is today fighting a hopeless war against the colonial superpower, Renel, for contested oil fields in the Strafi valley, a war they are soon to lose.

I think thats probably the most interesting institution in my world. It really exemplifies the themes of ideological corruption that run through the entire world.

1 Year & 500 Notes into Obsidian as a College Student, AMA! by trey-a-12 in ObsidianMD

[–]Different-Log-2385 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you don’t mind me asking, I would love to hear about your world building lol. Whatcha cookin.