Discover Top Posts Tagged with #ray blabs

most-definitively-a-human

Good luck with worldbuilding! Hope you have a blast.

Questions for you: how do the people of your world get their food? What is the magic like? And do you have a favourite fun fact about your world?

----

Replying to this here like a weirdo because my response to the magic section has actually gotten more lengthy than I intended!

How do people of your world get their food?

For most people, food comes from their own efforts or from close community efforts - be that farming / gardening or hunting. For most people who live outside of more urbanized / tightly packed cities, it’s not uncommon to have a garden to grow some food, and many more rural civilians know how to hunt game or have livestock of some form (even if it’s just a few chickens). Additional food is usually obtained at local markets or from neighbors. For those living in cities, almost all their food is from surrounding land, which is usually produced on much larger scales than rural communities might. Specialty foods may be imported from longer distances to larger and more wealthy cities, like fruits from the more tropical regions or rare types of treats and game.

There is also a large population of hunter-gatherer or nomadic people in Aanrah, which has resulted in a interesting distribution of plants. Many well traveled paths may have commonly used rest spots that are surrounded by a wide variety of produce planted by previous travelers, left for their future selves or for whoever might travel there next. In areas where these groups are frequent, food can be gathered fresh almost daily for a good portion of the growing season as one travels due to the amount planted on well-traveled paths. Seeds accidently and purposefully spread are tended to idly by those resting there for the night, and it’s considered good practice and polite to add to the ‘garden’ if one takes from it.

Favorite Fun Fact

Since this will be shorter than the magic question!

Aanrah, once having had three moons, used to have pretty violent tides, which left very, very little land that was continuously above water! As a result, some of the best ways to travel long distances is actually the dwarven tunnel systems, which were initially dug with the intention of connecting the sparse few landmasses together in a way that could be traveled without every having to worry about the tides.

How does magic work?

We’re just gonna slap the cut here!

In Aanrah, magic can largely be split into two ‘types’: what will henceforth be called ‘divine’ magic (or inherent magic), and sort of ‘spell’ magic.

In the simplest sense, divine magic is a inherent part of everyone and everything in the world - whether alive or dead, animate or inanimate, sentient or intelligent, everything has divine magic. Divine magic can be thought of in a sort of mechanical/metaphysical sense as a descriptor or ‘tag’ - something that ‘describes’ what a thing is in its most inherent and distilled form. And for most things, they only just legally have divine magic. It exists, but is very weak, and very scattered. But divine magic is what designates a domain if a thing were to ascend to actual divinity, and decides what ‘traits’ a object might have for spellcasting.

For example, a rock. A rock’s divine magic both covers what it’s made of and is (basically in a scientific ‘what are my elements composing me’ sense) as well as what one might attribute to it when spell casting - earth, stone, a location, tough, sharp, and other things of that nature.

For a living thing, divine magic is both a mix of what they are (dragon - fire, sharp, flight, red, etc.) as well as who they are (their personality, life events, goals, likes, dislikes, etc.). A person’s divine nature, so to speak, changes as they go through life - but for the most part, until they ascend to divinity, any given ‘category’ of themselves is usually fairly weak. Even strong immortal beings who have honed themselves on something specific don’t have a strong divine aspect in it, and won’t unless/until they ascend to godhood.

The Outsider god Artitengh is considered the patron over divine and inherent magic and power. The nature of divine power is such that with the exception of actually divine beings, one really cannot find out what aspects might be ‘attached’ to a person. If anyone would know, it would be Artitengh - and if it is an ability Artitengh has, it refuses to share that knowledge. However, Artitengh is known to be able to cause individuals to develop ‘inherent power’ if they come into contact with his scales - a sort of ‘superpower’ or internal, self-driven magic akin to that used by sorcerers. However, Artitengh does not seem to be able to determine what that power might be - and for the recorded cases in universe, the power seems somewhat arbitrary.

From a ooc and mechanical point of view, it is. Mostly. Every individual can basically be thought of having, say, 90 1% traits and 5 2% traits from which their power can manifest or take direction. Non divine beings simply do not hone or lean to any one trait or direction the same way deities do - which is for the better. Diversity in ‘divine traits’ allows for diversity in who someone is and what they can do. A person who has ascended into a god will slowly ‘lose’ parts of themselves as they gain divine ranks, leaning more into certain aspects and becoming more ‘distilled’ versions of that. Divine magic determines a being or thing to its very core in a unshakeable and undeniable way that other forces cannot or do not - which is why it’s very broad for things that are not divine.

For Artitengh’s ability, this means that more then likely, one person’s likes and dislikes, or what they do, will not really have a sway on what their power is. A merfolk water mage is just as likely to roll the ability to control waves as they are the ability to self combust when they sneeze. Even Zhün the Exiled, one of the oldest not fully divine beings (even as a demigod) does not particularly have a strong sway in his divine magic - despite being a practicing necromancer and the first lich since the 2nd Era. Unless he were to ascend to Lesser godhood, his divine magic will remain significantly more general.

For those who do ascend to divinity, divine magic begins to pick a direction. The jump to demigodhood can begin to funnel the sense of self towards something related to the individual, but not always. But once a being ascends to lesser godhood, their divine magic and inherent nature picks a direction, and that being becomes usually fully unable to go down other paths (outside of drastic events). Divine magic tends to go from specific and weak to general and powerful, but this is not a solid rule.

For spellcasting, or otherwise ‘wizard’ / general magic, a large portion of it honestly just follows the vague direction of DnD ruling, just for the purpose that I would like to maybe one day run a campaign in this world. In a less boring and lame way, spellcasting is a mix usually of somatic, material, and verbal components. Prior to the 10th Era and Szaifudrus’s deal with Emrul, spells and spellcasting was incredibly rare. Most magic used by beings was inherent / divine, and those ‘true’ spell casters who used spells for magic were usually taught it directly from Emrul or someone adjacent. Spells were basically impossible to get unless you knew the right people, and even then they were seldom traded or exchanged.

Since the introduction of a lot of spells into the knowledge of more average civilians, the use of spells has taken off wildly. Spellcrafting and theorizing has reached new levels with the amount of knowledge Szaifudrus let into the public, and from what he gave more experimentation and extrapolation allowed magic to become both more widespread and commonplace, as well as far more versatile and deep.

While wizards and various mages use the bulk of the magic, it’s not uncommon for normal civilians to know simple spells to help out with daily life. Magic is a major component in the creation and maintenance of the world’s technology - including rail systems, basic light bulbs, and heated water.

#ray blabs

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#ray blabs