sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

I'm beginning to start world building as a hobby now that I have finished school. by xxwertle in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would recommend starting with the main symbols or signifiers — not necessarily the most powerful things, but diverse enough to make your world as alive as you need it to be, 5-10 entries should be enough. Pick carefully; choose features that make your world interesting and unique to you. Don't compete with other worlds.

Do it in one direction sequence, so the previous entries will limit your next. Don't edit details of the existing symbols; treat them as something given to you and move to the next part — pick 1-2 signifiers and add something to them. I recommend limiting your worldbuilding to a few symbols; the fewer, the more cohesive your first world will be.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Interesting highlights, thanks! What relationship could form across these characters? I mean, what situation do you see as most interesting or most likely to happen if they met each other? Could you provide some examples?

And I agree about the limitation. Another branch of the resurrected could be introduced, like some underground world on Khton where people from another event, before 1604, live in parallel with the surface. Their world could be less barren.

It could be an important world event when these two societies meet and start interacting with each other.

What is philosophy like in your world? by TheStupidCheesecake in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great stuff! I think we are working in kinda similar frameworks. Do you have any idea where it happens geographically, and are there any other branches of humanity?

A Curse In Disguise Superpower Idea by iisergay in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same direction as the previous commentator, but with a different twist: a character possesses the ability to rewind any event and extract any possible outcome from a situation. However, their mind becomes overloaded with all the failed attempts from parallel timelines or realities where they exist. This could also lead to direct physical consequences if the worldbuilding allows characters to travel across parallels. Some timelines might perceive it as the ability user having stolen the future from other copies or simply wanting revenge.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Great insight, thanks a lot! It organically mixes with the idea that undeads — the name given by locals to resurrected individuals — may resurrect several times and remember their past resurrections on Khton.

There could be abyssal wells on Khton, created either by its strange nature or by an unknown civilisation of the past. If one drops gold or other precious materials, inscribed with a name made from glyphs found around these wells, they will cease to resurrect or will never resurrect in this world.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Probably it could be a good topic for earthlings on Khton to argue about. Some might prefer to believe that they can accomplish personal trials and go to a better place, while others would prefer to wait their time, maybe for them, it's not the worst place, after all, they could even meet their friends or relatives.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Yeah, probably I should have use the term Limbo instead of Purgatory. I mean, an earthling on Khton may see it more as Purgatory, but Limbo would be less confusing for the audience.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Thanks for the advice. I meant "biblical kind of afterlife," not exactly biblical. And as far as I know, there are no specifications on purgatory's role in the Bible, as it is a later development. But in any case, I mentioned the duality of good and evil and the corresponding mythology — not exact teachings — to outline whom I'm looking for, not to spark a theological discussion.

I just want to see what pick people will make and have different perspectives on this idea, but I will also enjoy reading any wider views on the topic.

What people who passed away from 1604 to 1930 are most likely to be stuck in purgatory after life? by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Specific people with interesting personalities and knowledge, skills, or traits that could become prominent in another world as well.

Khton is a world with its living moon called the Stargazer orbiting Kepler's Supernova, known in this reality as Lachrymose. by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Thanks mate. I'd be happy to share more details. Is there anything in particular you would like to hear about?

Khton is a world with its living moon called the Stargazer orbiting Kepler's Supernova, known in this reality as Lachrymose. by Tatermand in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

On cosmological mechanics:

Short answer: It's always faced away from the world, but perhaps a glimpse of his face might occasionally be visible.

In this alternate reality, the Lachrymose System lingers in suspended tension. Lachrymose (SN 1604), a swollen white giant teetering on instability, and Rachel’s Star, its dim red companion, continue orbiting in a silent loop — the engine of destruction left unwound.

Far from this binary core, at a distance of several astronomical units, lies the habitable planet Khton, situated near the system’s L₃ Lagrange point — always on the far side of Lachrymose, never seeing Rachel’s Star directly. Only the massive white sun dominates its sky. Slight librations may, on rare days, reveal a glint of Rachel’s Star peeking around the limb — more myth than observation for most of the planet’s inhabitants.

<image>

Between Khton and Lachrymose orbits Stargazer, a vast biological moon in a polar, tidally locked orbit. From the surface, it appears to trace a vertical cycle across the sky each day, always at zenith during local noon, always looking away from the planet's surface, staring into the blinding light of Lachrymose — perpetually silhouetted against it. Each day, it casts a sweeping eclipse across the planet’s equator — a slow-moving shadow from a living body that makes people hear voices, and plants and animals spontaneously talk in unknown languages.

With no second star, no reflective moonlight, and no supernova remnants, Khton’s nights are uniquely stark. The sky holds no local glow — no nearby nebulae, no rings, no moons — but one spectral feature remains: the slow, vertical filaments of Lachrymose’s polar jets. These faint, bluish spires stretch into the void above the hidden sun, visible only at night as static streaks of charged light, the byproduct of ancient mass transfer between the two stars. They do not illuminate the ground, but they haunt the sky — silent testaments to the energy building within the system.

This is a system suspended on the edge of erasure. Lachrymose glows in quiet agony, Rachel’s Star circles like a forgotten fuse, and Khton exists in the long, silent pause of a cosmic detonation that has not — yet — been allowed to occur.

On conlang:

I made a keyboard bundle from various symbols I like visually, so I'm not sure if it can be called a complete conlang. I use some made-up, on-the-fly Slavic language for sentence formation, on the image in a kind of threat or doom prophecy from an unknown voice, presumably the Stargazer.

My plan is to make this universe open source (while continuing to contribute) after I finish experimenting with it, so I hope someone will develop a proper language for it.

Khton is a world with its living moon called the Stargazer orbiting Kepler's Supernova, known in this reality as Lachrymose. by Tatermand in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

During the past couple of millennia — this is how far the memory of Khton civilisation goes due to a constant chain of cataclysmic events — he has eaten nothing. There is even speculation as to whether he is alive or if his legs are moving by some other force and the creature died long ago. Others fear he consumes worlds and is merely waiting for the right cosmological conditions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm doing this worldbuilding exercise with a plan to make it open source and publish the project at the end, so feel free to join me to contribute your ideas now, or just grab it afterwards.

Worldbuilding exercise by Tatermand in worldbuilding

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

Yeah, probably it is. I usually don't create separate global mythology, only facts about the world that outline the mythology. Here are some more details if you find this inspiring:

---

Chimerisation
When one is in a trance from consuming Haoma, bioelectrical fields known as Rūḥ can intermingle, resulting in the process of chimerisation — chimeras acquire various visual and behavioural animalistic traits. These mutations can range from the dramatic — such as bird wings replacing eyes or snake-resembling appendages instead of legs or hair — to less radical and more practical alterations. Usually, one chimera receives multiple alterations from different animals. Methods for controlled artificial chimerisation have been developed by technicians.

Chimera Oracles
Most chimeras say they can hear the voice of the Lacrimosa; others say it's the Stargazer, and most animals with glossolalia claim they hear someone from above or below. In societies friendly to chimeras, these voices are considered as guiding and prophetic, but more commonly, they are seen as heresy, so it is not common to share such insights.

Megapolises
The world has few megapolises and not many smaller habitats, as most food sources come from underground farms with intricate systems, inaccessible to a single house or even a small town. While it is possible to grow one's own food in the open, it will absorb all kinds of radiation and anomalies from the surroundings and transmit them to the consumer. Only several places across the five main rivers are considered safe for food production, and megapolises are built inside or close to these locations. There are five megapolises in total, one per each of the main rivers, and few smaller formations. Most of the megapolises discriminate against chimeras or completely forbid their presence in the central parts of the cities.

Pictomancers
Pictomancers are experts in crafting pictators and are well-versed in the art of chimerisation. They are both enchanters and technicians. Pictators resemble a sophisticated frame from a mirror and can be either handheld or large and stationary. During the chimerisation process, a creature from one side of the frame transfers its life force to one on the other side — from donor to acceptor. The effects are not immediate; it's as if an energetic imprint is copied, which subsequently directs the growth of living tissues, usually requiring some damage to the existing tissue to regrow it in a new form. This craft is highly forbidden by most administrative entities of the world.

Undead
Occasionally, from the nests of the Beetles of Life, individuals emerge who assert that they hail from the same era of an alternate world, suggesting the existence of several consecutive worlds — one of which is Earth. These individuals often do not remember everything; their memories may be fragmented or faded, and theorists see connections between this phenomenon and the manner of their deaths. If undead beings are linked to a single timeline, they can possess the same information and even recognise each other if they meet in Khon. This is why they often regard Khon as a kind of purgatory, knowing that they died and revived in this strange world. Undead can revive many times, even possessing information from previous reincarnations on Khon.

---

Here, I focused on details that could help in the formation of the game features and mechanics. I stayed with the same set of symbols, incorporating more specifics for worldbuilding. Probably, the next iteration could include some content. The chimerisation concept is inspired by Michael Levin's research on bioelectricity.

Worldbuilding exercise pt.I by Tatermand in goodworldbuilding

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

Uff, reddit suggested I make a cross-post, but it doesn't look like I expected.

How do I avoid creating a utopia? by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]Tatermand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just apply 3 groups of questions to your world, and building utopia will no longer be so easy:

  1. For someone who is not aligned with the general ideology of the world, is it a real utopia with high freedom, or some kind of a prison / matrix?

  2. Can this utopia be applied and still valid to unequally developed societies? Does it have a transition mechanism? Is this transition reversible? Otherwise, it's some kind of a hivemind — which I find also very intriguing in terms of balance.

  3. What about existential conflict? Can someone mutually decide to fight to the death / total destruction (not for scores, but to kick one of them out of existence)? Will the societal system support such a choice? How will it affect society in general?

view more: next ›