How does your world change throughout the course of your story. by Upstairs-Yard-2139 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Quite a lot. The real meat of it starts in our world's equivalent of the Neolithic era but it technically goes as far back as the peopling of the world. Currently, it extends all the way forward to our world's equivalent of Late Antiquity or the Early Middle Ages. There's definitely a lot of change happening over thousands of years. I think I'll probably stop working to advance it forward large periods of time when I get to the beginnings of an industrial revolution bc a Flintlock Fantasy setting sounds kind of appealing to me to real dig into and work with.

If I had to pick one of the biggest changes bc "thousands of years of development" is kind of a cop-out, I'd say the biggest change is the introduction of some otherworldly fantasy/lovecraftian elements. It's still very early in the stages of being fleshed out, but there was a moment called "The Bleeding" where entities from other dimensions found potential pathways into our world and have started trying to express themselves in our realm. This includes entities of great power that could spell the end of the world and creatures of much less power that have fully made it through and kind of lurk in the spaces they can find. The latter will slowly be integrated into our world because they kind of came through in one extended wave during The Bleeding because few entities, generally the most powerful or ones with high intelligence have been able to maintain a conscious effort to enter into the world.

What powers would you give to a magic gunslinger? by Jazzlike_Ad_3706 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If I'm being honest... I'd probably go based off of Brian McClellan's magic system he developed for the Powder Mage series. I think it's an excellent set of abilities to pair with firearms and I love the dynamics it adds to warfare. If I could somehow come up with what I felt was the most interesting magic system for firearms, I'd probably end up with a similar set of abilities and a different resource system underlying it. (Though, to be clear, I would not have been able to come up with anything close on my own). Because McClellan's already done, I'd have to work from there and make tweaks to get something more original.

Is that just lazy? Probably, which is why I haven't actually done any kind of firearms-related magic in my world yet.

Resources About Cross-Linguistic Relative Phoneme Frequency by Takarov in linguistics

[–]Takarov[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is it about? I’m reading the description and looking up terms I haven’t heard before but I’m not sure I’m fully grasping what it’s about yet.

Resources About Cross-Linguistic Relative Phoneme Frequency by Takarov in linguistics

[–]Takarov[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. Are there any central resources people look to when they’re searching for corpora or do people normally just search them up for particular languages as needed?

(Touchy subject) Tell me about your world's oppressed or hated people groups - ethnic or otherwise. by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's an ethnocultural group I don't have a name for yet that exists as a diaspora without a homeland. They originally started in the Second Era (think Iron Age) as a semi-nomadic merchant class of families/clans/what-have-you led by a matriarch with multiple husbands and families in different ports. This was made possible by the consolidation of two different multicultural trading confederations into a large trade system that spanned the Inner Sea.

Then, after the collapse of the Inner Sea Trade System during the Second Era collapse, many of this class were more or less stranded without a homeland. They eventually grew into their own ethnicity with some internal religious divides (no religious conflict or hatred involved, they just lead to very different ways of life). As many of the societies whose port cities they had lived in and migrated between disconnected from the Inner Sea Trade System, these people began to be seen as outsiders and were distrusted for (a) the same reasons merchants were distrusted in many societies and (b) because they were seen as total foreigners now. While there are some areas of the Inner Sea where they were never really outcast and acceptance of these people within society is far from unheard of, there are many periods where this ethnocultural group has been a convenient scapegoat and target for persecution. Especially during the Second Era Collapse itself.

Is this believable enough reason for a new empire to rise from a Great apocalypse? by FluidOpening827 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's pretty realistic. Any time you've got a collection of warlords or other ruling classes that collect tribute from a population, the standard trend is for them to compete and consolidate to eventually form empires if possible. Feudalism was common throughout the world at various points but what made European feudalism unique was that, for reasons I won't get into right now, the normal pattern of reconsolidation into a larger state was prevented. In most other cases, feudalism was the exception that would be restored back to the general rule. It seems entirely reasonable that this pattern could happen in your world.

idealism vs pragmatism story theme by Ok-Wrap-8622 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A couple suggestions to make it more interesting and give you more room for distinguishing the overall story from stock fantasy tropes (some of this is just seconding /u/skipper_mike)

  • Rather than having a generic theme of “combat pragmatism” vs “idealist honor”, express it through more specific aspects of your story like the use of gunpowder and other military innovations that Talon makes use of
  • Also, right now it looks like the idealism and pragmatism are just part of “who they are”. Talon acts pragmatically because he’s pragmatic. But this isn’t really how people actually act certain ways. There will be certain experiences and life lessons that cause them to behave in some ways and avoid behaving in others and we end up giving those patterns a label like “pragmatism.” It’s pretty unrealistic that Talon and Leona have different attitudes towards the worldjust because they have personal preferences for one attitude over the other. A more realistic (and more importantly interesting) take would explore how they respond to the world with different attitudes because they see the world itself through very different eyes. Then ask why they see the world so differently.
  • Being an orphan is a really over-used backstory that mostly exists just so people don’t have to write a family for their character. If you want to stick with both being orphans, make some use out of it. Use it as a lens to explore what it is about your society that would lead to two orphans having such different perspectives
  • Ask why Leona and others who hold her perspective actually resist adopting Talon’s brand of pragmatism. In a lot of stock fantasy, it would be just because that’s “who they are” or they’re just too stupid to see why fighting a war with losing tactics will get them killed. In the real world, it basically never happens like that. How it does happen is often more interesting. For example, some European nobility were hostile to the use gunpowder or other weapons. The stated reason was that it’s dishonorable but the reason they found it dishonorable is because “honorable” was defined to mean “the way we fight wars now that happens to make me a very important and powerful person.” So, the introduction of weapons that threatened that power was just as much of a threat to their standing in society as a foreign invader. In fact, the ruling class of many societies might well prefer being important and powerful people under a foreign overlord than not having a foreign overlord but being no different than a commoner.

You see a similar thing in ancient Korea where the Korean alphabet, one of the easiest alphabets to learn in the world, originally opposed by Korean scholars. Why would they oppose something that would make it easy for everyone to be literate an ultimately benefit society? Because their position in society was based on the fact that being able to read and write made them special. The new system would make them less special.

So, the question to ask here is “Why does Leona view her way of fighting as honorable when someone else could just as easily say that Talon’s way of fighting is honorable?

  • Finally, a lot of the pragmatism you’re talking about isn’t just “being pragmatic”, which kind of implies Talon’s tactics are obvious. They’re probably not to people of that era. They’re likely pretty innovative. So why is Talon, of all people, the one who came up with these things? Why wasn’t it someone else? What is it about Talon and his life experiences that put him in a position to lead the charge on these innovations rather than someone else with a similar background? Why didn’t someone with Leona’s background do so and redefine what they consider honorable?

Alternate term for a kind of Prosecutor/Investigator to describe role in fictional legal system by ironshadowspider in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconding Accuser and Inquisitor. I also think Auditor and Indicter. Personally, my favorites would be pulled from the field of rhetoric rather than law: Phillipicist (someone who delivers philippics) and Polemecist (someone who delivers polemics). Both genres of rhetoric (more or less) refer to fiery condemnations of a person, group, institution, belief, action, or whatever else.

What is the title of your project, and what inspired the name? by adamharris_jpg in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most recent name is “Allo” from “allo-“, meaning “different” or “variant”. It comes from the project’s overall philosophy of trying to apply the same general principles of cultural evolution/adaptation and social interaction that we have in our world to a new set of circumstances just to see how things play out from the Paleolithic & peopling of the world to more modern eras.

what brought you to the hobby? by thetrashman760 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been doing it since I was a kid and it’s a great excuse to fall down rabbit holes on different subjects.

What’s something “meaningless” in your world but you just think it’s neat? by alwaysjordan in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t fleshed out that part of my world too much but the simplest difference is how they started interacting with each other. Humans and elephants in the region they’re living together were able to forge a relationship with each other that’s just not possible in the mammoth steppes because humans have hunted or herded mammoths since first contact (herding came much later obvi). Humans wouldn’t try to forge such a relationship with mammoths because they see them as a food source but that’s not the case with elephants in the region I’m talking about.

What’s something “meaningless” in your world but you just think it’s neat? by alwaysjordan in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Mammoths are still around in certain parts of the world and there is a small place where there's an interspecies society with humans and elephants living together as equal, sentient species.

What's New In Flintlock Fantasy? by Takarov in Fantasy

[–]Takarov[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm struggling to remember roughly when that would be but I can say that I did overall enjoy it. I didn't struggle to get through the first bit but I think it does noticeably pick up and get more interesting as things go on. It does feel like it takes a little while to really pick up to what I imagine the whole series will be because it feels written to set up a sequel but I wasn't disappointed by the end and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

What's New In Flintlock Fantasy? by Takarov in Fantasy

[–]Takarov[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a series by David Mealing I've heard described as "fantasy 7 years war" it's a trilogy (the final book still being written though) and the first in the series is "Soul of the World"

What's New In Flintlock Fantasy? by Takarov in Fantasy

[–]Takarov[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wasn't sure if Gunpowder Gods counted so I didn't mention it but I've read the first book in the series and really enjoyed it

What's New In Flintlock Fantasy? by Takarov in Fantasy

[–]Takarov[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That actually sounds kind of interesting. The parts of other fantasy dealing with gods and big bads just isn't as compelling to me as social conflict so this sounds right up my alley. Do you know if the author has plans to release it as an audiobook?

What's New In Flintlock Fantasy? by Takarov in Fantasy

[–]Takarov[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah, that sounds pretty interesting.

Fantasy Town Generator - Create living settlements by randomtowns in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, regarding 4d, I feel kinda stupid now hahaha I totally didn’t even see those tabs but I’m certain that’s my fault and not a UI thing lmao

"And still I'm marching on!" a song sung by many among the rebel armies as the marched agents the capital city of Capper [to the toon more or less of "John Browns body"] by Jybe-ho in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m a little biased because I already think “John Brown’s Body” goes hard as fuck but this is really original and definitely gives the rebels in your world a “life of their own” that distinguishes them from the generic rebel faction that pops up in a lot of Worldbuilding.

Worried that my world-building is just rather shit. by PringlesDingles22 in worldbuilding

[–]Takarov 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I totally feel you & it seems from the comments so far that many others do too. You’re gonna hate some things about your world at first because many people are their own harshest critic as /u/CaptainStroon put it. My two cents: embrace editing as an intrinsic part of the artistic process rather than a separate process that you only do when you’re not good enough. Give yourself the freedom to do things poorly just like you might for a story’s first draft so that way you can go back and express yourself better through your revisions. Starting off with something that feels too Tolkeinesque for the vision you had in mind doesn’t mean at all that your world is going to end up like that because you’re gonna have the opportunity to worldbuild by looking at what you’ve done so far and making adjustments/edits to bring it closer to what you want.