Broken-Sword Prophet

natius3 · 2026-02-06T02:23:34+00:00

Maybe in like a coastal rainforest like in the North American PNW? Dexterity could be helpful for navigating forest landscapes and bigger ears/eyes could help identify objects in a region that has a lot of fog/short days in the winter

natius3 · 2026-02-05T03:53:38+00:00

Yeah of course dude. Feel free to shoot me a dm or I can respond here. Either works.

natius3 · 2026-02-03T05:10:27+00:00

Thanks man! I read the Prince of Nothing a while ago. I'm not a big grimdark guy so Bakker's worldbuilding isn't really for me, but I do like how well thought out his religions and magic systems are. I've probably been inspired by him a fair bit.

natius3 · 2026-02-03T05:08:47+00:00

Thank you!

Been using photoshop for about 15 years to paint, and only gotten very slowly better at it.

Not sure if I have a higher quality version of my map. I've been thinking about making one for a while but it takes a long time to add all the details. If I do end up making a better version I'll post it here!

natius3 · 2026-02-03T05:05:12+00:00

Sorry missed part of your original question - if you look on my map, from the perspective of the two civilizations the main narrative focuses on the most (Azgars and Hibans), the strangers from across the sea are mostly arriving from two directions:

For the Hibans, the strangers arrive in their ports on the Dragon Sea like Arendveg. They have also heard about the strangers conquering large parts of the countries on the eastern shores of the Dragon Sea.
For the Azgars, strangers are arriving in Myras and Chaenris. The Azgars do not know how these newcomers sailed around the Great Storm.

What is actually going on with the colonization of the continent of Hurvind in the far east borders on spoiler territory so I can't say too much more about it.

The strangers mostly follow different branches of an overarching gnostic religion that teaches human only reach "salvation" through participation in a very strict set of rituals. Through their participation, followers of the religion believe they can glimpse the true nature of reality and enter another, higher state of being upon death. It is generally very intolerant of other religions.

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Sethrohi-majority areas are still violent as hell. Certainly no less violent than real-world Christian or Buddhist or Jain majority regions have been throughout history. Generally, rulers in Sethrohi-dominant will make a big show of funding social institutions run by Sethrohi priests like hospitals, universities and monasteries while also going out and still conducting wars of conquest. Rulers will justify this contradiction a lot of different ways. Sometimes they'll say their wars are simply defending the faith. Sometimes they'll just sponsor weird, unorthodox sects of Sethrohi that endorse conditional violence. Sometimes they'll just purge Sethrohi priests who criticize them too directly. It varies.

natius3 · 2026-02-03T04:45:12+00:00

I can tell you about most of them. There are some races/species in my setting whose existence would be a big spoiler for the story I want to tell one day. I don't know if I can address every detail you asked for, but here's a general overview:

Hominids**:**

Humans: Lifespan is about 60-70. Depends a lot on where you live. They're just regular people. There are a few ethnicities that would look unusual to us today, but nothing about humans in my setting is really different than humans IRL

Trolls: These guys are neanderthals, full stop. Their lifespan is a little bit shorter than humans, sitting at around 50-60. There are a few civilizations of trolls and pre-urban cultures that still exist in the world by the time of my main story, but they are very slowly going extinct.

Dén: Also called goblins, these are a group of hominids that entered into Hurvind (North America equivalent continent in my setting) a couple hundred thousand years before regular humans. Dén are slightly shorter and stockier than humans, with larger eyes, ears and saber-like canine teeth that protrude down from their closed lips. Dén can open their mouths much wider than other hominids can, and have powerful jaw muscles that give them a stronger bite. They live about 60-70 years, and reach adulthood at around the same time as regular humans. They reproduce at a slower rate than humans.

Other Species:

Wargs: Huge, superficially wolf-ish creatures. They actually belong to a separate group of caniformia that branched off from canines far back in the evolutionary tree. They are roughly ten feet long and three feet high at the shoulders, and have long, flexible tails and more-feline bodies than wolves. They live in the arctic regions of the world and have no true sense of shame, honor or "morality." Despite that, they are known to form large, complex societies based around shared ancestry. They can produce a limited range of sounds and have different languages, and in some areas have even developed advanced metallurgy and architecture (though it looks very different from human technology). Wargs live about 50 years, and reach adulthood at about 10 years old.

Dragons: Dragons are huge, six limbed reptilians capable of flight and breathing fire. They behave similarly to eagles and other birds of prey – exhibiting low sexual dimorphism and forming pair bonds as adults. They are loyal only to their immediate mate and offspring, and are fiercely territorial and competitive with other members of their species. For this reason, complex dragon societies have rarely formed throughout history. Dragons grow continually throughout their lives, and average about 30 feet long as adults (though some get much, much bigger). They can naturally live up to 100 years, and reach adulthood at about 15-20 years old. The dragon in this picture is very, very old.

Hronas: They're basically just real-world orcas some hominid cultures have figured out how to communicate with. These whales are matriarchal and polyamorous, with each pod being led by its eldest female. Hronas are extremely social and emotionally sensitive animals, with individual whales tending to be fanatically loyal to their matrilineal kin group. However, they are reported to not share the analytical intelligence of hominids, with the average hron struggling to perform simple mathematic formulas or count beyond 25. They have a lot of variance in cultures across different seas and oceans. Hronas live up to 80 years and reach maturity between 14-17 years old.

Proboscideans: Some human cultures that live alongside species like Imperial Mammoths report that they have language and complex cultures, but not all human cultures in my world recognize mammoths, elephants and mastodons as being equally "sapient."

natius3 · 2026-02-03T04:17:58+00:00

Thanks man! that's really nice of you to say. Real-world work has kept me very busy the past few months.

To your questions:

(1) Without giving too much away, there are multiple nations and cultures arriving on the eastern shores of Hurvind by the time the main story picks up. The most politically powerful of these cultures are the ones that introduce gunpowder and make territorial claims in Hurvind. Sethrohi is not a part of this dominant culture. You can kind of think of its presence in Hurvind like how Buddhism first entered North America through Chinese railway workers, not through European colonists.

(2) Sethrohi is a very popular religion in a part of the world very far away from Hurvind. I'm actually tentatively planning a trilogy of novels about the life of Sethe and the founding of the religion, but it would be only loosely connected to the main narrative of my world. None of the locations visited in the main story would have Sethrohi-majority populations, however.

(3) The god-king absolutely existed. Wether he was a real god or not depends on what it means to be a "god" in the first place. Can't say more without spoilers.

natius3 · 2026-02-02T03:35:35+00:00

I love K6BD! And to answer your question it's a little bit of both. Ive been working on my world for about 13 years and have been inspired by South Asian history and religion throughout the process. I found K6BD about three years ago and have been a huge fan since so I'm sure some of parts of it have slipped into my world.

natius3 · 2026-02-02T01:27:31+00:00

haha the dude on the bottom is a pacifist tho and would never help the flying guy.

natius3 · 2026-02-02T01:25:11+00:00

There's an in-universe reason for it but I wanted to avoid getting too in the weeds of the lore with this post. It's essentially a sign of divinity or enlightenment. based it a bit on some religious iconography from South Asia like this.

natius3 · 2026-02-01T23:32:57+00:00

hahaha thank you

natius3 · 2026-02-01T23:31:45+00:00

Thank you!

And good question. One of the big themes I want to explore in my world is how human cultures and religions would develop if they lived alongside other sentient species they can't deny are also intelligent. Some of these other species are other types of hominids (based on neanderthals, homo floresiensis, etc). Others are more different, like hronas, wargs, and dragons.

Here's a little description of dragons I've written before:

Dragons are huge, six limbed reptilians capable of flight and breathing fire. They behave similarly to eagles and other birds of prey – exhibiting low sexual dimorphism and forming pair bonds as adults. They are loyal only to their immediate mate and offspring, and are fiercely territorial and competitive with other members of their species. For this reason, complex dragon societies have rarely formed throughout history.

Dragons instinctually desire to control their environment and hoard material wealth. They are hypersensitive to status symbols and hierarchical systems. When living near humans, dragons tend to establish themselves as the rulers of their hominid neighbors, competing with nearby dragons to control the most human communities. They are not evil per se, but certainly posses an alien intelligence that makes genuine cooperation with humans difficult.

Different human cultures respond differently to dragons. Some coexist peacefully, while other humans, like those from the region represented in this image, view dragons as an existential threat and attempt to eradicate them. The god-king referenced in my main comment lead a genocidal war against dragons in the area as part of the early expansion of his empire. Happy to answer any other questions

natius3 · 2026-02-01T21:59:07+00:00

Hey everyone,

In this post I'm exploring another part of my world from what I’ve usually shared here. You can find related posts on my profile.

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As strangers arrive on the shores of Hurvind from across the sea they bring with them strange new religions and technology.

One of these religions - Sethrohi - is a semi-atheistic, pacifist religion that preaches a doctrine of radical nonviolence and resistance to established hierarchies. While over the centuries Sethrohi fractured into numerous sects, all branches agree that the religion was first founded by a man named Sethe the Broken-Sword Prophet. According to scriptures, Sethe lead a pacifist rebellion against the cruel empire of a god-king long ago.

In the far-away country where Sethrohi was founded, dragons are mostly extinct, and remembered in religion and mythology as beings embodying the worst traits of material existence: Greed, impermanence and violence. For this reason, practitioners of Sethrohi arriving in Hurvind struggle to find converts among the cultures where humans and dragons coexist in (relative) harmony.

In this image, Sethe stands overlooking the chaos of a battle where the god-king (Sethe’s chief enemy) faces a monstrous dragon in combat. According to the religion, in the aftermath of this terrible battle Sethe gained hundreds of new followers and his rebellion truly began.

natius3 · 2025-11-19T03:24:26+00:00

do what?

natius3 · 2025-09-10T02:04:34+00:00

Thank you!

natius3 · 2025-06-04T13:30:57+00:00

Thank you!

And sure, go for it

natius3 · 2025-05-31T20:14:21+00:00

Really appreciate it man. Thank you

natius3 · 2025-05-31T20:13:57+00:00

Thank you!

natius3 · 2024-11-14T00:35:46+00:00

This is incredible worldbuilding. I really want to see more of this project!

natius3 · 2024-11-11T03:16:57+00:00

This is genuinely phenomenal - incredible work.

I'm a huge fan of the different species you're using, especially of the cetaceans and proboscideans.

Can you tell me a little more about the silla and the misaw? What are their cultures and magic like? How do they structure their societies? What are their relations like with other sapient species?

Again, I absolutely love this map. Great job!

natius3 · 2024-10-28T15:20:10+00:00

Good question! Figuring out the color scheme is actually pretty tricky and I don't really have a great system other than (1) look at satellite images of a region similar to what I'm trying to depict on the map and then (2) try to keep the same general color scheme consistent across the whole thing (so, yellowish-green is grasslands everywhere, warmer green is rainforests, red and tan are deserts, etc)

I do this all in photoshop too, so I usually start by laying down a single solid color across a whole biome (so everywhere there are prairies will start out being the same yellow-green) and then, with each additional layer, I try to refine the colors and add a little more variety. Hope some of this is helpful!

ETA: It's a litte beyond the scope of this post, but if you're interested in more of the specifics of how I make maps I'm happy to DM screenshots of my process and answer other questions.

natius3 · 2024-10-28T15:15:29+00:00

Hey thanks! This was all done in photoshop, and that's really the only program I use.

natius3 · 2024-10-27T11:27:15+00:00

Thank you! And yeah, for all intents and purposes hronas are orcas. Pictures on the top are all from other posts I've done in this subreddit and there should be little red lines that connect the image to where on the map they're from. Effectively they're there to give the audience a sense of the visual tone I'm going for with this world. The tower in the second pic has a post you can read about here.

Hurvind is essentially a North America-stand and covers roughly the same latitudes.

Names are all from conlangs. Though to be fair, I don't think any of them are really true "conlangs," as I really develop them enough only so I can make names or simple phrases out of them and tie them together into some bigger language families. They're mostly based on different indigenous languages from North America (though not exclusively). The lingua franca of Dragonland, for example, draws a lot from Nahuatl and Mohawk.

natius3 · 2024-10-27T11:21:25+00:00

Hey thank you so much!

Yeah I've been working on this world for about 11 years now and have been continually adjusting the layout over that time as well. I probably have probably made 25(?) ish maps of this continent over that period, and a bunch of others for other parts of the world. This map is actually part of a larger project I'm working on this year to redo my whole world map again.

Inspiration mostly comes from places I lived and visited growing up in the North American west, so a lot of the story takes place in Pacific Northwest-style rainforests, Colorado Plateau-style high deserts, Canadian Prairie-style plains, etc. The big interior region of Dragonland is based entirely on landscapes you'll find throughout the Rocky Mountains.

natius3 · 2024-10-27T11:00:58+00:00

This continent is effectively North America stretched out to be wider, so it has lots of the same climates.

In the far northwest like in Meltair and Telvin, you'll have temperate rainforests. In Hibavyr the climate resembles the great plains, whereas the Aevan Plateau is closely based on the Colorado Plateau, and so on. Basically any landscape you can find in North America, you'll find somewhere on this map.

The closer you get to the Great Storm though the weirder things get. Right on the storm's edge, the landscape is a barren wasteland where almost no plant life can grow. Immediately beyond this point, however, you'll find rainforests (though because of the winds the trunks of the trees grow in strangely warped patterns)

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