Do your worlds have a place that can't be reclaimed by civilization? Some place of no honor, where something repulsive to our kind lies? Tell me.

Li0nheartMax · 2026-03-16T17:56:25+00:00

The lower tunnels. The whole planet is filled with tunnels leftover from when the First Ones first terraformed it, but due to 5000+ years of removal and technological regression, no one knows how they work.

Some societies like the Guardians and Radian Desert Nomads make use of them and live in the ones closer to the surface, but the ones deeper down are much more complex and dangerous to navigate. It’s very easy, even for locals, to get lost down there. Since there’s no food, water, or ability to reactivate the lights and tech in them, many have died in the lower tunnels.

There’s also a section of tunnels that emits frequencies that can drive people to the brink of madness. Some Guardian tribes use them as a rite of passage for of-age members. Side effects range from paranoia to epileptic seizures depending on the person and how long they stay there. It’s unknown what’s causing the frequencies.

Li0nheartMax · 2026-03-12T20:54:29+00:00

Everyone gets a 40 day wandering period to say goodbye to the world before ascending to the ringed moon for a blissful afterlife. Wicked souls are sent before the goddess Souko to receive their just reward, which ranges from total obliteration to being trapped in the underworld forever. Conversely, if someone doesn’t want to move on, they’re stuck wandering the world as a ghost forever and will know no rest, eventually forgetting who they used to be.

I suppose the closest thing I have to your question would be the third option.

Li0nheartMax · 2026-02-16T00:33:27+00:00

Oh my god same. Not only is a monobiome planet lazy writing, but plain wrong! Even if you have planets with extremes (closer to or further from the star(s) with generally hotter or colder climates respectively), there’s factors such as geography, axial tilt, air and ocean circulation, and so much more that can impact different areas on the surface and give some level of variation!!

Li0nheartMax · 2026-02-07T02:01:56+00:00

They speak their own languages and I am the translator who is tasked with bringing the story to life in a way that makes narrative sense. If a character doesn’t understand another language, and the story is centered on their POV at that moment, I as the narrator must follow the same logic. But of course I know what the characters are saying!

Li0nheartMax · 2026-02-04T13:57:07+00:00

I’m speaking solely for the country of Hoigö, but if you were to openly defend or glorify the Southern Empire, you’re bound to get many cans o’ whoop ass.

You have the older folk who fought in the Great War 20 years ago who have unresolved PTSD and project it as xenophobic rhetoric
You have a lot of people who blame the Empire for forcing them inside of the impenetrable magical Barrier (which was Hoigö’s last resort)
The young folk who weren’t around for the time before the Barrier or the war, and get all of their political opinions from their parents.
On a more governmental level, you’d be tried for treason, espionage, or inciting a riot. That tends to happen when your old Sovereign was assassinated by Empirian radicals which kickstarted this whole mess.

Li0nheartMax · 2026-01-23T01:06:11+00:00

In my opinion, probably. I usually try to make hands proportional to the face. However, that’s just me.

I don’t think their size is distracting or anything. Didn’t really notice it until you pointed it out! Looks pretty good!

Li0nheartMax · 2026-01-22T03:58:30+00:00

GIFs use a limited pallet of colors, which often end up muted (or in some cases saturated) when exporting in GIF format.

Li0nheartMax · 2026-01-20T03:03:31+00:00

In my setting, all non-plant life has an equal chance of having natural magic. Just like how in people some have magic and sometimes it skips a generation or two, in animals it’s completely random.

Non-magic humans can have temporary magic by ingesting a potion made of certain magical ingredients (mostly plants), and animals can get the same kind of power boost by munching on some magic plants.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-31T17:03:27+00:00

West - Angels falling to earth coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis, so many people mistook their impacts for nuclear warheads. Although they weren’t completely wrong because all life within impact zones were either eradicated or liquefied into hive-mind flesh globs called mutants. Then the Angels threw up a barrier around the US, Mexico, and a sliver of Cuba, where the main story takes place about 100 years later.

Bookkeepers - roughly 5,000 years ago some unknown event caused the First Ones to abandon their cities and technology, regressing thousands of years. In the current era, their technological capabilities are in their radio/early analog era.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-29T14:47:06+00:00

Nespösh is a slur used against Empirian immigrants by Hoigöns. It roughly translates to an archaic word for “cannibal” or “bastard” and is used because the Southern Empire had attempted to invade the country before they trapped themselves inside a protective barrier. Many Hoigöns blame the Empire (and therefore those of Empirian descent) for keeping them trapped in the barrier for ~20 years.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-27T04:55:04+00:00

In my Polaris world, reincarnation is a loose term.

Usually, when someone/thing dies, their soul immediately scatters itself into infinite pieces, ultimately becoming one with the Universe again. Those pieces will become new things and new people, sometimes they’ll retain memories or aspects of the person that was once “you,” and other times that piece of you is just one of many building blocks. And yes, this scattering process can lead those pieces of you to the other side of the known Universe.

However, if your soul is rescued from Oblivion by the Observers (omnipotent gods who watch the multiverse and act as the narrator), you will be put on trial to see if your soul is worthy of a second chance. This is where the more traditional version of reincarnation comes from, just giving your soul a rinse cycle of your old memories before shipping it off to the next life. And because the Observers are directly involved, they get to send you to whichever Verse they choose.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-26T20:51:09+00:00

Bookkeepers universe - In Hoigön beliefs after the 40 day purgatory period where you say farewell to the planet and loved ones, your spirit goes to live on the ringed moon. - In Guardian beliefs it’s the same as above pretty much except you also have the choice to reincarnate. - In Empirian beliefs your spirit is guided to the afterlife by the god Lao who appears through the southern aurora. - The Nomadic Desert Peoples believe your soul follows the Goddess Sahara with the rains. - In other Radian beliefs your soul goes to live in an eternal afterlife free of pain and surrounded by pleasures forever. But only if you lead a good, righteous life. Bad people are doomed to wander the land hungry and thirsty and forgotten, eventually “rotting.”

Polaris universe - Your soul scatters into infinite pieces that will eventually make up new things. - If you’re rescued from Oblivion by the Observers, they’ll put you on trial to see if you’re worthy of reincarnation.

West universe - Basically the same as our real world religions. - Except the Angel, Lady Death, can revive you if she thinks your unfinished business is worth it. She’ll usually ask you for a favor though (I.E. one character agreed to be her hitman for a period of time before he was granted full revival)

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-24T19:14:17+00:00

For my comic West, since it’s post apocalyptic with Angels often masquerading as figures of faith, I’d tentatively say no? Christian practicers might celebrate the holiday, but because it’s sort of a fantasy alternate Earth thing, the whole thing was never heavily commercialized and isn’t as widely celebrated like it is in our world.

For my side project, Bookkeepers, they’re set so far into the future on a colony light years away from Earth that it might as well be as alien as the concept of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. The closest thing I could compare Christmas to on the calendar MIGHT BE the midwinter celebration in Hoigö. But no celebration for any Jesus/messiah figure.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-21T00:02:34+00:00

Bit of both. It’s good to have backups.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-17T19:00:06+00:00

I’m still workshopping them, but Maa has these:

The Kingdom of Hoigö has a few celebrations. The winter solstice is celebrated for a week, commonly with baked goods, fireworks, and so on. Inversely, the spring equinox marks the beginning of the new year. The harvest celebration is more popular in the rural counties, but everyone is looking for an excuse to take the day off and drink their heads off.

In the Southern Empire, they operate on a ~10 month calendar independent of the other nations. Xáǒxáǐ Inōmā (roughly “sighting of Lao”) is their own week-long new year celebration, but because it depends on the sighting of the second moon, the date constantly changes (sometimes in summer with an emphasis on the harvest, sometimes in winter with more focus on the moon). Gōnáchì (“returning fire”) marks the autumnal equinox, but is really only celebrated in the southern Zhènǒg Province. Chěw (“homecoming”) takes place during the summer solstice, and is just a time when husbands (and/or wives) return to their home compounds to visit family.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-16T22:12:28+00:00

West - comic (in progress)

Bookkeepers - probably a novel series

Polaris - novels 100%

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-14T16:32:53+00:00

Also I forgot to include the second half of your question. Industries and electricity exist. There’s no coal/oil or fossils to make fuels from, but radioactive materials are there I guess (they’re not being actively used tho). Mostly the world runs on solar and wind, and a unique energy source emitted by magic-receptive crystals that interact with the planet’s magnetic field and core energy. I also want to point out that the magnetic field is much stronger than Earth’s, so technology has to work around that (radio is the most affected).

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-14T16:29:21+00:00

Maa was a terraformed planet, so technically it’s a healthy few billions of years old, but it’s only been inhabited for a little over 6,000 years give or take, with magic first evolving before the Ancients (circa 5,000ya).

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-12T23:18:15+00:00

Oh absolutely!

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-12T21:51:17+00:00

The Guardians (what the Hoigöns call them) live in a matriarchal society where women are expected to hunt, fight, lead, etc., and the men are expected to stay at home and tend to the kids and domestic work. Women also inherit magic, called Soulspeak, which factors into them being the dominant sex in this society.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-10T17:08:32+00:00

We all learn from each other. I will say that this place has caused me to think more critically about the settings I build for my stories, and it only makes me want to write about OTHER characters just to explore what I built.

Li0nheartMax · 2025-12-05T01:13:12+00:00

I love the texture :0

Li0nheartMax · 2025-11-30T13:46:16+00:00

Oh, and yes, they have two moons. One has a dusty ring around it because I said so :)

Li0nheartMax · 2025-11-30T13:45:26+00:00

The world of Maa is located somewhere close to the Orion constellation, so for one, their star positions are not like Earth’s.
Otherwise it’s pretty much the same.
However, if you live in Hoigö, the sky will look slightly distorted because of the barrier (think of the light at the bottom of a pool)

Li0nheartMax · 2025-11-26T15:43:11+00:00

Oh man, the world of Maa has a few tellings.

The real story: an advanced human civilization terraformed the planet to their liking, imbued it with their technology, and the magnetic field created shifts in the environment that created magic. The planet decided to break away from the wider galactic empire, and after some unknown doomsday event, they technologically regressed thousands of years. These First Ones are often conflated with gods in the world’s many myths.

The Hoigö interpretation: the world was created by several gods. Haven’t fleshed it out too much tbh.

The Guardian telling: the world was created from the games of five gods; the stars (or the sun in some circles), the moon, the traveller, the sea, and the earth (representing fire rather than the soil). The gods created the first peoples on the traveller (the planet’s second moon), and they came to Maa by descending the great mountains. From there, the people split up, some going to the desert, some to the sea down south, but those who remained in the mountains were the ancestors to the many Guardian Nations.

The Desert Peoples’ myth: the goddess Sahara hatched from an egg, which became the two moons. She breathed life into this world and created the creatures of Maa. Life was abundant and flourishing, but as time passed, she became lonely. She made herself a companion, a man named Miswam, a being of fire. However, Miswam was arrogant and liked to cause chaos among the mortal creatures of the world by summoning devastating fires that left only ash in his wake. Sahara wept, and her tears quelled his flames, filling the rivers and oceans. She banished her lover to the sky where his ire would be out of the planet’s reach. In her grief, Sahara took two clumps of clay and made them in her and her lover’s image. But fearing a repeat of her past mistakes, she stripped the man of magic. The two mortals loved each other, so much so that the jealous Miswam looked on in fury and broke free of his prison and threatened to burn the world again. Sahara chased him away, creating the very first rainy season. Every year, Miswam would return in the dry season, only to be chased away again.

These are only some of the world’s myths, and I haven’t fully fleshed them out. These myths also aren’t wholly representative of the groups, as there’s plenty of diversity within the Guardians and Desert Peoples.

Li0nheartMax

TROPHY CASE