I am trying to somewhat explain a planet where life can thrive in this massive trench, but the rest of the planet is uninhabitable. I think my explanation is flawed and was wondering if there’s a more grounded way this could happen? Maybe something to do with temperatures? Otherwise I’ll just settle with my more fantastical explanation. :)

Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster! Love this little nook on Reddit and now I have a question for y’all!

In your world, what makes a god a god? Why are they above than humans? ARE they better than humans?

Edit: wow so many replies it’s super fascinating to read through your ideas and contemplations and concepts! I’m reading to all of them and will try to reply to as many as possible but my adhd ass is a little overwhelmed :D

Edit 2: dang this blew up over night. I’ll add this: I have my own concept and I have actually been pondering about this for years. In my world, the gods were locked away accidentally and later return. But simply saying they’re powerful bc they have powers isn’t enough for me. Powers has to be defined, here. It’s not enough for me to say that gods will be gods bc others call them that or worship them. Yes, theoretically that might give someone power. But it wouldn’t actually differ much from being a king. Here we get to the concept of hierarchy and how the gods also showed humans the „natural order“ of things.

I know the theory behind it, but now imagine that these actual gods come back and they’re fallible and have moods and motives, etc. there’s so much more to the dynamic between humans and “gods” than simply “well they have powers”.

I’ll add this quote by Xenophanes, I believe, that hasn’t left my mind for nigh on 10 years:

"But if cattle and horses and lions had hands, or could paint with their hands and create works of art like men, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves."

Hi! I am a comic artist, and I have been wondering about my worldbuilding for a while.

My world has many fantastical elements such as merfolk, sea monsters, and some magic. Quite cliche, but I love it XD.

Problem is, I love the concept of both pirates and vikings, even though I couldn't find anything on them actually coexisting in real life. (There's probably a research out there on this I couldn't find XD, if you have a link or something related to it, I deeply appreciate it).

I'd like some opinion or suggestions on how I should approach these two without being too disrespectful to actual history. (Or, if should I even care about that too much?...)

I have been thinking of a solution, maybe I could make "my own" version of Pirates and Vikings that would fit my world, but would still be inspired on the real thing? How would you approach this?

The image basically shows a sketch of my characters. I plan to have them meeting at some point in the story.

I think this dynamic would be cool to explore, but I don't really want to change them/the designs that much, because they are already quite concrete on their on own "environments". The problem always comes when I try to mix them.

At some point in the story, the viking joins the pirates and that's where the line of "What are they" kind of blurs.

I asked some other friends, and the question: "Alright, but are they Vikings or Pirates?" Always comes up. And truth is, I never know how to explain it exactly. Any suggestion is welcome! ❤️🙏

I mean like it might depend on the plant but like if a dryad of an apple tree ate cherries, would it be cannibaiizing the cherry dryad? Can dryad drink wine then or would that be alcoholic cannibalism? If dryads needed more food outside of photosynthesis would they eat meat? Are Venus flytrap dryads the only ones that don’t commit cannibalism?

Update/Edit/Explanation: Hello! Thank you guys for entertaining my shenanigans. I did not expect this to get the discussion like it did. I tried to respond where I felt was appropriate and give upvotes. So, I was thinking about my dnd campaign last night, and was half asleep while thinking about it and had alcohol in my system so I apologize that this was not the most thought out question or context. To give more context, in my dnd campaign I have what is basically a small country of dryads, thousands of different species of trees with many dryads attached to these trees. Because there’s so many different species of trees there’s different kinds of dryads. The matriarch of the dryads is based off a bristlecone pine which is a real word tree that lives for 1000s of years. She created a sanctuary for other dryads after seeing some many wiped out after the last calamity/world wipe event. Now one of my players is a human druid who’s also a raging alcoholic. He was raised by the dryads, and I was ultimately debating off how put off the dryads would be by someone constantly getting sloshed one liquid from fermented fruit. I am also a huge fan of the idea that other plants can have dryad like spirits attached to them which is where the Venus flytrap came in. Once again, thank you all for your input and I will totally be coming back to this subreddit with more unhinged questions I come up with.

I’m trying to create a reptilian/humanoid species and I want it to be as scientifically accurate as possible.

Title.

There's centaur like creatures in my universe and i was thinking how they would use clothes. They would simply don't use? Just a shirt? Two shirts or a long shirt? And the pants?

I think it is safe to safe that dragons are somewhat of an immortal trope. Dragons have existed in one shape or another in some of the biggest cultures and civilizations in human history. The innate fear of snakes and predatory reptiles is engraved into our minds. It compels us to write stories exaggerating the ferocity of such creatures.

For the last couple of years now, I have been laying out the foundation for a world that I want to turn into a story. A low fantasy epic that’s molded after the real history of the ancient history. To be more specific, the peninsula that the story resides in reflects the history and culture of Ancient Greece, from Mycenae to antiquity. It is a world of warring city states and kingdoms fighting over legacy and power.

Here’s

Unlike the worlds in most popular fantasies that are out there, there is no magic in my world. There are no blood mages mastering a craft, no gorgons turning men to stone or Cyclopes tending to sheep, and no gods having shenanigans with mortals (I’m looking at you Zeus). Magic is something that exists in the lore and the cultural stories of the people in the story, then actually being something that the people of the story truly interact with. Myth and magic is something that reflects from the characters minds in their faith and culture.

There is one exclusion to the mythological presence in this world, and that of course is the existence of dragons in this world. I’m someone who’s had the love for reptilian creatures, both real and fictional for their entire life., I can’t help but want to include these creatures in this story. It is something that most fiction loving people can look at and say “yeah, that’s pretty cool”.

Dragons play a major part of the human world in this story, they are engraved into their culture as well as the human history of this world. They live in the mythology and the histories of this world. Dragons see a being that can turn the tide of a war, or wipe a city or civilization from its own history. They are a creature that can unite or divide a kingdom.

The dragons of my world are a bit unorthodox compared to the traditional style of dragons that are popular in media. My dragons do not breathe fire, nor do they fly or possess a crown of spikes. My dragons are built as if they were built for the sea more than the sky. They are my take of the perfect apex predator that’s built for a life on land and out at sea.

My dragons are modeled after the multiple real life animals, most predators. That I find the most interesting in this world, both past and present. They have the powerful jaws and striking gaze of a theropod dinosaur. Their rounded, mostly smooth skin reflects that of a whale. When on land, they have the upright posture of a predatory mammal, albeit with shorter legs than a cat or dog. Their feet are webbed like crocodiles, and the large keratinous claws of an ostrich or a cassowary. They possess thick necks of saggy skin and muscle, built to protect the vitals during combat. Their tails are long and powerful, like a sauropod or a gigantic monitor lizard.

Dragons bodies are perfect for life on the land and on the coast, as well as out for sea. Their streamlined body and tails help propel them through the seas and on the sea floor. Likewise, their tails and muscular arms are perfect for climbing up on land to travel inland and rest, or nesting on the shores of the islands, which is a common behavior. They are built for combat and hunting in both water and land. At sea they have the combat of two raging crocodiles or a hippo. On land they fight like an elephant seal or a giraffe does. Rearing their bodies up and slamming into each other with their upper bodies. They can also stand up in a bear like/komodo dragon type posture to fight too.

The most unique thing about them however, is their minds. There is one unique human like trait the dragons have, and it’s that they can basically understand and feel emotion on the same level as a human can. They’re able to understand and communicate emotion practically identical to how we as humans though. This doesn’t mean the dragons can speak and have a developed culture and solving math problems or Anything m. They are still wild animals who think like most do, but they can understand human emotions in a way we understand.

The dragons play a massive role with the major characters and their development throughout the stories, they also exist in a way that they become the weapons of mass destruction and conquest in the war and conflict side of things. They also exist in the heads of the characters through the stories that have been told about them in this world for thousands of years.

This is the most recent illustration that I made which I like the most to describe what my dragons look like:)

For a brief summary of the politics here:

The dimension, Homeland is ruled by the Planetary Imperium, a Fascist Military Dictatorship ruled by the God-King Lokari. Homeland was dealing with a population crisis so they decided to launch a project to find another world to populate and hopefully save their people. This led to the discovery of Dimension X-37, as the scientists called it, a world green and luscious, perfect for settling in. However, people already populated X-37, and Homeland Media refers to them as 37ers. Lokari viewed the 37ers as primitive savages who should be wiped away or enslaved and subsequently started a colonial campaign to populate X-37 and enslave the 37ers.

Thus kickstarted, the 37er Conflict. A massive war between the Union (A coalition of tribes and kingdoms in X-37) and the Planetary Imperium.

The Imperium, especially Lokari, was confident in their ability to conquer the land and subjugate the natives, seeing them merely as a handful of savages that could be gunned down. They were wrong, the Unionists under the leadership of Judas Wilkins managed to score various victories against the Imperial Army, even with just swords and bows. The losses were staggering, especially as one Unionist named Adam started using "dishonorable" tactics like guerilla warfare and fearmongering causing people in Homeland to call him "The Devil". This led to mass desertions in the ranks and a drop in volunteers for both the army and colonies.

Lokari decided to make a heavy choice. Here are some things to note to provide more context in this situation:

1. Lokari himself isn't pro-slavery or owns slaves, but he believes in his people's superiority and that they should subjugate those deemed inferior
2. 37ers around this point in the conflict started becoming the main source of free labor, replacing Elves and Machines (Nonhuman races that exist in Homeland), this was due to them being considered cheaper or free in comparison to other slaves since the 37ers could be purchased at low prices or just obtained for free by capturing them.
3. Around the start of the war, Imperial soldiers would often write about how "fair" and "gorgeous" the native women of X-37 were, which caused the media to fetishize and sexualize the concept of a native wife.
4. The Imperium itself isn't inherently sexist or misogynistic they have various women in all positions, but you can find various forms of Patriarchy and Conservative mindsets in most areas of the Homeland, especially in the Southern Hemisphere of the planet, where the Capital is also located. This made it harder for women to find jobs as many of them would be pressured by society to marry and just be wives and mothers. This didn't stop women from actually getting more positions, but it was extremely hard.
5. A fair amount of this depravity didn't start until later on in the 37er Conflict as the Imperium started drawing in incels and lowlives to help them fight in the conflict which caused more people in Homeland to behave this way. Homelandians by nature are not a sex-crazed culture.

To get more soldiers to volunteer in the colonial efforts and gather more money, the Imperium would promise soldiers a 37er Mistress if they volunteered to fight, instead of paying them money. If a soldier had joined the military on their own accord and fought in X-37 long enough, they would be rewarded with a native woman to have as their... "wife".

It's sex slavery, this was a very controversial choice, sex slavery, and prostitution were banned in Homeland for over 128 years, and now as Sociologist Lyra Thorn states "we're heading toward a society where rape and exploitation are not only normalized but institutionalized". Anyhow, this caused many citizens across Homeland to volunteer with the hopes of getting themselves a native wife.

Many officials and fringe patriots defended this action claiming that 37ers had a "barbaric culture" that allowed for women to be equal to men (ignoring that Homeland had a similar thing), and by turning female 37ers into pleasure slaves or mistresses, they were "saving" them and conforming them into traditional households.

Experiments were conducted to condition female 37ers to become obedient wives. Medical experiments were also practiced to see if they could make the "wives" look more appealing sexually which resulted in high mortality rates.

They even produced extremely unsettling commercials to promote the colonial effort by having the promise of a native mistress. The commercial showcased a soldier watching 37er slaves as they were working in the fields and then him fighting Unionist soldiers before going back to the colony in his home where his "wife" would be waiting for him, it's a female 37er wearing a tight white dress. She's faking all her joyful emotions like there's a gun to the back of her head as she acts and the entire thing is just unsettling. The commercial ends with "For Glory. For Honor. For Her" with a zoom-in on the 37er's face.

It was very unsettling especially as parents grew concerned since their children were being exposed to it. A protest group called the Parents' Coalition formed claiming the Imperium was trying to "groom the next generation of abusers" by exposing young boys to these disturbing ideals.

These events also didn't help when it came to the war against the 37ers. All it did was cause 37ers to spread rumors and stereotypes that Homelandians were all perverted devils who wanted to harm their women and children. This led to an increase in torture, violence, and mistreatment of POWs and citizens caught in the crossfire. People in the Union who spoke out against the mistreatment of Homelandians were accused of supporting rapists. It made everything much harder for everyone involved.

This was mostly inspired by Comfort Girls in Imperial Japan and descriptions Conquistadors gave to Native women.

In my setting I was considering that instead of blindly just going: the "non humans are real life minorities and the humans are white people". I am instead considering to acknowledge real life racism and xenophobia in my setting.

The current idea is that within. "The dark ages". Racism was very much real with closed minds and prejudice, but as the [insert Human Unifier type character] rises up, human becomes an empire and by the 1800s, racism based on human ethnicity is seen as stupid (perhaps with some mild xenophobia based on provinces). But to be a non human is to be a second class citizen...or worse.

Also considering the same stuff, but also with sexism/misogyny, but casual sexism is still a thing and not systemic? (I'd rather just not have any of it)

Inspired by the worldbuilding of the Mass Effect series, and how they tackled the idea of a monogendered species, I want to do something similar with the elves of my own fantasy world, so they aren't just tolkien elves, or humans with pointy ears.

The idea is that their goddess created them in her own image with the help of magic and the elements. Being feminine in appearance herself, It would make sense that the entire species would also have similar characteristics. However, I want to avoid the "making a species of only attractive females for the sake having it" argument that Bioware got flak for when making Mass Effect.

Anyone got some good pointers as to how this could be done?

Edit: Added NSFW tag in case the discussion would lean into the reproductive system and other biological factors.
Edit 2: The idea is for my own TTRPG system set in a high fantasy world.

Just curious if there are any tropes or consistently missing things that don't seem to line up with realistic expectations.

Ok, so...this is gonna go some weird places, but bear with me.

The "mana," the actual substance of magic, in my setting is heavily informed by the concept of "Nu" from the culture of the Yagaria-language people of Papua New Guinea.

[IRL Mythology] Nu is inherently volatile and incapable of being not in-motion, but can be accrued within the body in the same way that a river can "fill" with flowing water. It's the stuff of life and, more importantly, the amount of Nu you have in you is, in the Yagaria-language religion, what determines your gender. (They have four, actually: man, woman, man-who-was-woman, and woman-who-was-man) Like Nu, these (real) people believe that gender is fluid and capable of changing throughout a person's life, and Nu serves as an explanation for that. The more Nu you've got, the more womanly you are. [IRL Mythology ends]

In following that concept, I had the idea that "mana," being the lifeforce of the universe, would have similar effects: working with magic and being a magic user would physiologically and psychologically turn you into a "purely-woman" version of yourself. "optimize" you per the magic's idea of what "perfect" means for a living organism, system-by-system, organ-by-organ, with no overarching vision or plan. Namely, an increasingly alien, incidentally hermaphroditic humanoid abomination.

The problem is that I can't figure out if that's compelling, silly, overly-derivative (hello Saidar), offensive, or some ersatz combination of all of those.

...help?

Edit: ok, so "magic turns you into a girl" is definitely out, but "unless you take precautions, magic will try to perfect you, and you do not share its ideas on perfection." is still very "in"

Hi. For a while now I’ve been creating and refining my post-apo world of the warpedlands. However I keep running into a concern that the warped, on which the whole setting is based on feel like knock offs of other creatures from other media. Is it a me problem or do I have to make a serious redesign? I included some pictures I made for reference. You can read more off the lore made for them here: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/ovYMJlwFJa

Smack in the center of my world is a massive supervolcano. Surrounding it are no oceans or any kind of water at all. Only canyons and giant hoodoos. The oceans only get about halfway through the giant landmass its placed on. Do I know that this would not be actually possible? Yes. Do I care? Hell nah

EDIT: Upon making this post I've learned about the existence of the supervolcano in Yellowstone, which is very cool! I've also learned that you lot adore flying islands.

What do you like and dislike about earthly geography, biology and history?

I'd love if people could ask me questions and try to poke holes in what I have so far.

The lore I've got is kinda based on Onward. Magic is hard and people were inspired to come up with technological replacements.

There's still things that magic can do that their technology can't yet, (and the best mages are trying to innovate faster than technology.) However, a non-gifted person has to invest a lot of time into just being useful enough to earn a living at magic. (Also buying ingredients if they don't live someplace where they can be gathered.)

Mostly gifted people seem to "remember" learning magic in another life, so they get to shortcut some of the time investment. Any that are found are given preference for training because they're less-likely to wash out.

I don't have specific examples of what magic can do because I'm waiting for the plot before I figure that part out. Assume Fullmetal Alchemist with a lot of the flashy/instant stuff nerfed. (Mostly magic is a science, but taking advantage of a reality that works slightly different.) A bad spell is more likely to fizzle than go catastrophically wrong.

Plot-wise, my MC is not gifted. His family-line descended from a mage who washed-out of training and passed down the near-useless spells that she knew. MC is stuck at a frustrating level and wants to learn more, but that means that he's going to have to work harder with less encouragement and support.

Hello, hello! I am making a fucked up city for a fucked up story, but here’s the issue:

How do I make it so awful?

Sure, I’ve got the gist: Trafficking, fighting rings, muggings, gangs- but that’s all mostly surface level.

I want to make it somewhere like gotham. But worse, if that makes sense? Way worse. It won’t be all awful, Since that’s just edgy at that point, but I do want some ideas. Thank you!

It is said that in a time before now, when kings were honourable and armies grand, a world before the tar seeped out of the depths. In the kingdom of the Jotun the lands were dry, the crop yields were low and the king ordered the rivers to be dug deep and torn wide however this made too much water flow {because that’s how water works lol} and flooded not only the realm but the entire world.

I have also considered that another mythos thinks it’s the remnants of an ancient mine but this will not be the dominant cultural decider.

There is another continental feature called “the rift/scar/tear- so that’s taken.

This is NOT how the world will ultimately look like, I just made it to showcase the most notable landmark of it, and its size compared to Earth.

I have a superhero setting. One common trope in those kinds of settings are criminals willing to shoot at police officers. Sometimes murder them. Writers tend to be pretty willing to have their groups resort to murder as a first response.

One group of villains I have is a notorious heisting crew. They’re basically the payday gang. No super powers. They get into gunfights a lot in their heists with takeover robberies.

Yet as I was doing research about police operations, apparently from what I hear if bullets start flying and a police officer goes down suddenly the stakes are at maximum. Even if it’s not an active situation with armed individuals, just a police officer who gets murdered or disappears. It would result in every officer in the country putting their own personal resources into the investigation, a lot of heat on the criminals.

The reason I singled out the US is for two reasons. One the main setting takes place in what is considered a US city. Two the US tends to have law enforcement better equipped than individual criminal groups. It’s not like some other countries where a criminal organization can out fight a military in open combat.

This leaves me wondering. Is there a situation where a group may decide to kill an officer? Seems like one kill could conclude a criminal organization.

There are a few other gangs and mafias in this setting who have to live with the new police commissioner being a cop they can’t buy. How would they respond to that?

What are some suggestions for me as a writer regarding this?