#history development

[worldbuildingworkshop]

Worldbuilding Tutorial #11: Example World B

Intro This is an example of how to develop history for your world. This tutorial will demonstrate a “building backwards” method for when you know what your present looks like and want to figure out what came before; if you’re interested in how to build history forwards from something earlier on, take a look at the example for World A. 

As noted in the other example, I’m going to start placing the examples under a “read more” break because they can get quite long. Enjoy!

Deciding Priorities: This world makes a good candidate for using a building backwards method because it’s (a) further along in its in-world development as a baseline, and (b) already has a clear story and trajectory going on. If your world is fairly early in development - which is to say, there isn’t much that came before what it is now - then it doesn’t make much sense to build backwards. Most of the time folks already have a sense of the current state of their world in mind, though, so usually this is the method you’ll be using.

Check Your Notes: This is the “what do we already know?” stage of the process, and crucial for a building backwards process. In summary, there are several culturally distinct and largely autonomous regions, each with their own traditions and forms of complex government. Many of these regions have relationships with one another; some friendly, others less so. This is also a world in which gods (and other supernatural beings) manifest and meddle at times, sometimes quite directly and others less so. The world is roughly earth-sized, which means that distances have the potential to be quite great in relation to the speed of an average person walking. There’s a lot more detail, of course; but that’s the basics. I’ll pull in more details as they’re needed. 

History from Culture One of the things I noted in the tutorial is that the more similar two culture are, the more likely they are to share common roots; and the more different they are, the less likely. This region breaks down into a few fairly clear groupings; Region #1, Region #2, and Region #3 are quite similar, and Region #5 and Region #6 are quite similar; but Region #4 is quite different from all of them. Of the regions, it bears the closest similarity to Region #3, which can be attributed both to proximity and to the suggestion of more influence than with any of the other nearby regions.

This suggests that there was once a coastal-and-woods oriented civilization on the northeastern side of the continent (regions #1 and #2), an agrarian civilization on the northwestern side of the continent (#5 and #6), and an inland nomadic civilization in the northern central part of the continent. There are enough similarities to suggest that regions 1 & 2 and regions 5 & 6 share a common civilization in their history; and, given that 1 & 2 are coastal cultures, it’s not unlikely that people from that region sailed and settled the regions that would become 5 & 6 long ago. Some of their cultural drift can be explained by separation by the central section of the continent and time passing.

Another factor to look at is how multicultural each region is within itself; a high amount of cultural variance suggests a great deal of migration in and out or else changing hands many times throughout history, whereas a certain amount of homogeny suggests that there has been less of either (though that doesn’t preclude the possibility of that group having colonized or migrated elsewhere). The two regions with the highest degree of cultural variability are Regions 1&3. Each of those is for different reasons - 

Region #1 will, I suspect, owe a great deal of its multicultural background to a long history of sailing, exploration, and trade. This also suggests a history that has been less about imposing its own cultural values on others - though that does not preclude wars or colonial ambitions. The sort of cultural diversity displayed by this region also implies a large influx of people from other places - which suggests that there is something to be gained by moving here. In this case, wealth, trade, connections, and good weather. 

Region #3 owes its particular variant of multicultural influence to being an “in between” sort of place - the kind of place that people travel through to get to somewhere else. This is the sort of region that can’t afford wars and has to work to stay on everyone’s good sides as much as possible - which probably means avoiding choosing sides as much as possible. This implies a very different course of history than Region 1. 

Connecting the Dots Based on the above, let’s outline a timeline. Given the amount of cultural differentiation that’s happened in the cultures with similar roots, let’s start back, oh... 800 years. Region 1-2 has had basic boating technology for a while now, but has started developing something truly seaworthy. Early on, it sends boats out to explore; some go north along the coast, some go south. The boats that go south return a year later bearing all sorts of goods and tales from place they have only ever heard of through long trade routes up the continent, but never seen themselves. The boats that go north do not return. They were unprepared for the harsh storms that brew in that part of the ocean; some ships sank, and others were wrecked in Region 5-6.

Meanwhile, Region 4 is much wider than it is today - more like 4-3-8 - and engaged in its own internal politics and issues. Being a nomad riding society, they cannot feasibly expand into either the rainforest to the south or the vast swamplands to the east; so instead they are engaged in political intrigue, intermarriages, and trade alliances to gain control of these regions through other means. This is a time period when many clans are united under a single leader; but this does not rule out clan-to-clan conflict, and there is a great deal of political intrigue to manage here as well.

Occasionally, there is conflict between Region 4-3-8 and Region 1-2. The former will look to invade the latter, or the latter to push the boundaries of settlement into the former; but by and large Region 4-3-8 has bigger problems to worry about and mostly doesn’t bother with its smaller coastal neighbors. This establishes Region 3 as a place that traded hands between both of these groups many times and has had to play the role of go-between since before its existence as it is now.

Over the following 200 years or so, things change. Region 1-2 has mapped and established safe sea routes that are used for trade and to bring wealth -and resources - back to the region. Region 5-6′s colony on the northern coast has grown into a full stretch of coastal towns and cities; they initially went unnoticed by Region 4-3-8, but had to establish strong centralized leadership early on in order to keep their claim on the region; resulting in a monarchy variant of some sort. By this time, Region 4-3-8 has fractured into several clan federations who continue to vie for control over alliances and one another. One of these federations approaches Region 1-2 with a proposal: use their resources to help beat out their rivals, and the federation will give over control of territory that is still settled by the descendants of its people. With some convincing, Region 1-2 agrees.

The conflict that follows is messy, and there is not a clean victory. It ends with the federations disbanding into many smaller clans. Region 1-2 says that it has fulfilled its end of the bargain and wants what was promised; the clans involved in process argue that they did not actually emerge victorious, and thus Region 1-2 has not fulfilled its end of the bargain; and another war breaks out. Region 3 is taken from Region 4-3-8 by force, and connected up with roads and military outposts in order to keep control. This is the foundation of the warlord government that will develop in Region 3 over time.

Meanwhile, Region 1-2 has supplanted some of Region 3-4-8′s old alliances - particularly in Region 9. This is part of what turned the conflict in their favor and caused the disbanding of the federations - some of them lost their backing. Region 1-2 is beginning to drift culturally: Region 1 is becoming not just a hub for trade but for diplomatic endeavors as well, while Region 2 maintains a much quieter crafting culture as it builds the ships for Region 1. What’s more, Region 1 was involved in the brunt of the fighting with the federations; Region 2 was mostly sheltered from this conflict, and as such was not shaped by it in the same way. 

Region 5-6 continues to develop on its own, and takes advantage of the federations breaking to snap up more territory for itself. More wars and skirmishes result, and for a brief time cause a small group of clans to band back together again; but ultimately it ends in a stalemate. Somewhere around the 300 years mark, Region 1-2 sends another set of ships along the northern side of the coast - these stronger and more able to weather the storms - and discovers the civilization that has developed from the shipwreck survivors. There is cultural distance by now, but a willingness to cooperate - so long as it is as equals rather than vassals. 

150 years later - so 450 years past the beginning, and 350 years back from the present - Region 1-2 has continued to grow and prosper. Or - Region 1 has, at any rate. Region 2 is left out of the broader wealth and decision-making of the region; and given that the crafting of Region 1′s ships and goods are done by it, this does not sit well with Region 2. What follows are a number of crafters’ and guild wars; waged mostly not by armies, but rather through economic and cultural means - boycotts, trade alliances, propaganda, etc. There are of course a number of smaller scuffles, and assassination as a tool falls into favor; but after some time, the situation is resolved by giving Region 2 more autonomy in exchange for certain economic agreements. This is where the two begin to become more their own regions, though there’s a long way to go yet. Meanwhile, Regions 5-6 is running into its own problems. There is a succession crisis that is both practical and idealogical in nature; and two candidates both claim to be the true ruler of the region. As such things often go, a war - and perhaps a series of smaller wars across the next hundred years or so - are fought, and through this fighting two separate regions are established. Each one follows one of the possible candidates for rulership, and their cultures develop and drift according to the differences in values that were in play. Once a few generations have gone by and no one is left living who remembers the original crisis, relations between the two regions calm down and they mostly leave well enough alone. This brings us to 250 years or so in the past.

There are of course a number of smaller historic events happening all this time - historic storms, plagues and fires, new inventions, clashes between worshippers of various deities (and perhaps at times within the worshippers of the same deity), the rise and fall of particularly popular or infamous figures, migration of cultural groups to other regions due to war and conflict, and so on and so forth. You can get as granular and specific as you like; I’m staying more general because 800 years of history is a lot and this is only meant to be an example, but those are a few examples of other types of historical events you may want to consider. In any case, you probably get the idea by this point; and once you have the basic outline like the above, you can go back and work out more of those smaller events as well.

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This has been the “working backwards” method. If you have any requests for the next tutorial, let me know; otherwise, it’ll likely be some sort of day-to-day cultural topic like food, art, leisure, etc.

[worldbuildingworkshop]

Worldbuilding Tutorial #11: Example World A

Intro From this point on, I’m putting the example tutorials under a readmore so that they’re not taking up as much space. This will be an example out how to outline history, using World A; specifically, I’ll be using this world to demonstrate the sequential method I outlined in the tutorial portion.

Deciding Priorities: World A is an odd one to start with because it’s not one that lends itself well to history. It’s a world that roots itself quite firmly in the present, and the beings that live in it are by and large not ones to keep records of history. So I’ll likely be doing a bit more outlining than I would have done on my own, for the sake of providing an example. I’ll use this one to demonstrate the sequential development method, since that’ll work best here.

Check Your Notes: One of the other reasons this world lends itself well to sequential building is because it’s a late hunter-gatherer to early agricultural world so far as technological development goes. That’s quite early on in a world’s history. Societies are mostly structured as villages of extended familial bands rather than broader governments (with a couple of exceptions). That said, historical development in any world you’re making doesn’t need to reflect that of the real world - and because of the underlying metaphysical traits of this world, that applies here. Like I said above, it’s a world that roots itself firmly in the present and in terms of internal logic has less need for history than we do; it also has less need to progress the way we think of progress in terms of technological and civic development. These are all things to keep in mind.

That said:

Where To Start As mentioned above, most of the societies in this world are in a late hunter-gatherer to early-agricultural phase of development. What ties these regions together are similar cultural and environmental features rather than any sort of overarching government. There are the Seelie and Unseelie fey in the Misty Moors, who dislike each other; the humans in Region #3, who get along well with the Seelie; the humans in Region #4, who are at the moment largely isolated; and the elves in Region #6, who are hostile to everyone. 

So where does this go? One of the forces that tends to drive people to change is the existence of an outside threat. This can be anything from an outside invading force to severe changes in environmental conditions. Another force that has the potential to drive large changes is significant technological developments: writing, metallurgy, large sailing ships, etc. Often these sorts of development hinge on the discovery of a new resource, or on discovering a new way to use an existing resource - or, at times, a combination of both. 

That gives us options. You can pick one you like most or that feels like the most likely option; or, you can forecast them and pick the one that seems most interesting to you. For sake of example, I’ll demonstrate forecasting.

Natural Changes: As potential for large threats go, sweeping environmental change is quite possible for this world. There are two primary candidates: one is weather, one is geologic. In the case of weather, because this part of the world is at such a low latitude, a Great Freeze of some kind is very likely; this would drive most of the societies at lower latitudes up to warmer pastures - which, in this case, means that humans and elves move up into the Misty Moors. This has a great deal of potential for conflict between the Fey and Mortals, and is a possibility that stands to force some cooperation between the Unseelie and the Seelie.

The other possibility is geologic: a massive earthquake, or perhaps the emergence of a new volcano. Given that, in this world, the core of the planet is made of mana - and thus rocks are incredibly magically powerful - the fallout from such a thing is most likely to be a long-term positive despite short-term destruction. Based on the tectonic plates, either an earthquake or a volcano are most likely to occur along the northernmost side of this region - which is to say, in Unseelie territory. This likely results in an empowering of the Unseelie, who then turn that on the Seelie; who may in turn seek shelter with humans. This has the potential both for conflict and common cause - in that the greater contact with Fey will likely result in humans both fearing and hating them more, and learning from them and intermingling more. 

Invasion: Without the factor of a natural change - as above - the most likely source for any sort of invasion or large-scale conflict rests with the elves. One possible branch of this is looking to wipe nearby fey out as a way of proving themselves; another possible branch of this is expanding into less inhospitable territory, and thus looking to conquer humans. Both would not be out of the question either. 

Technological Changes: Because most of the magic in this world rests in the bedrock, a technological change to do with stone, metal, or gems is the most likely to result in a big change. The most obvious candidate here is metallurgy, because that’s the path we took in the real world: and in this world, that likely develops into the potential for magical weapons. Another less obvious - but perhaps more interesting - candidate is glassmaking. Glass would be inherently magical as well, and paves the way for technology to do with lenses and far seeing. Any of these technologies are likely to develop with mortals rather than fey. The “where” of it becomes more interesting from there: in that humans have the most access to the physical resources in either case, but the elves are more likely to discover how to craft both by dint of being magic-users and because of their emphasis on skill. 

None of these are mutually exclusive, of course - it is possible for more than one of these to happen, either simultaneously or in sequence. One of the things that is important to remember about this particular world is the importance of Fate; and the way that fate drives cycles in the world. As such, “most realistic” has little to do with it - it’s more about what makes sense for the world, and in this case the world is one possibility in a self-aware cosmos trying to understand the nature of life, and in this case the cosmos looking to understand the nature of life from the perspective of emotion.

What Happens Next Given the above, the most likely event to happen first is the invasion of the elves. Their emotions are strong - stronger than humans’ - and they have a great deal of reason to feel anger towards both humans and fey. Most likely, the world gives the elves a prophecy that it is their time to cause hurt in return for the rejection they were dealt; and the elves invade.

In the state that humans are in - so many scattered villages - this does not end well for them. The elves have a more organized society, access to direct magic, and an emphasis on honing skill; the advantages that humans have are numbers and greater physical ability, but those will only do so much without an ability to organize them. Many humans are killed; those who are not are likely colonized by the elves, which may take many forms. Other humans likely flee to the fey woods and the moors, which is likely to instigate another crisis amongst the fey on its own. Some humans are likely killed by the fey in turn; in other places, alliances are formed and lines are drawn against elves. From these alliances are likely to come more elves - born outside of the budding empire - who are in turn possibly either killed, leave to join the empire, or else become their own way of being. The conflict lasts for some years; then, eventually, settles out.

With the new lands that the elves have conquered, they gain access to new resources. Farming, plants, and agriculture is one facet of this; metallurgy and glassworking, as noted above, is another. This technology is likely kept and developed away from humans, who are involved in the labor to acquire these materials but not to craft them; and then used by the elves to enforce any boundaries between themselves and humans in society as whole. Humans are not stupid, and most likely work to steal this technology or else develop it themselves; but not before - 

Because each generation has its own prophecy in this world, it’s time for a new one. This one comes in the form of a volcano that erupts on the borders of Unseelie territory. The Unseelie, empowered, wreak havoc on the Seelie fey on the southern end of the Misty Moors and keep pushing into what are now elven conquered lands. This is a threat that the elves will not suffer, but most likely cannot stand up to; and, with the humans having stolen metallurgy and glasswork with intent to use them, the elven empire likely dissolves both from the inside and the outside at once.

This ends one of two ways. Either the empire crumbles into chaos as elves fight unseelie and humans and seelie, and the Unseelie end up on top; or, the conflict forces Mortals and the Seelie to work together. Touching back on this world as a way to understand life and emotion, the second option seems the way to go. 

Humans and Seelie is an easy alliance to make; and, with elves having lost their hold on humans, humans are able to use that as a great enough threat to the elves to force an alliance with them as well. Most of all, it seems likely that the key here is the elves: not the empire, but the elves born outside of it. By nature of being like but also unlike both sides, they have the potential to become intermediaries in ways that make the whole process work. The Unseelie are pushed back, their access to the source of the problem - the volcano - must be cut away somehow eventually, and life settles back into something that resembles where we started: only, a few steps ahead. This time, we have new resources and technologies; and this time, there is a greater organization and interconnection to it all; and this time, there is a greater understanding between Fey and Elves and Humans - for now.

After That... You’ve seen the process above; from this point, it is essentially rinse and repeat. What are the big factors that are most likely to induce a big change? Which ones are the right ones, and how do they play out - and how does that change the situation? You follow the trail for as long as it leads, until you find a place you want to stop for now and spend a little more time in; and that’s where your story comes from.

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So that’s the sequential method. I’ll demonstrate working backwards to construct a history in the next example with World B.