Worldbuilding June is a phenomenon every June where, as the title might imply, you answer prompts every day sharing about and building a world of your machination. I love it, I’ve done it before, I finally have a new world in which I can do it again. Great! Except, the official blog who handles all things WBJ ( @worldbuildingjune) is on hiatus this year… so we’re just going to reuse the prompts from last year.
I’m also not going to try to link previous posts because I’ve come to realize that that’s super exhausting. However, I will have a post linking all of them at the end. So.
Day Three - Who live in your world?
This will be a short one, because the answer is sadly quite boring.
Humans - or, what we would consider humans - live on this planet. There are some minor exceptions - historians swearing to have seen serpentine people, people growing wings in remote island communities, people who have forged successful sexual contracts with the dorégal and managed to produce monstrous offspring.... but these are rare and humans are by far the dominant species.
I have, of course, entertained the notion of other, less human races, as I have a mighty desire to read more fantasy featuring such. However, for now humans are what I’m comfortable with? So.... But... harpies or mermaids would be cool, and would make a lot of sense. I dunno.
We’re gonna ignore the fact it’s not June anymore and I’ll just keep posting these, since I’ve been working on them behind the scenes. I have them all wrote out.
Day Four - What’s Your World’s History?
This is going to get pretty long, so I’ll put the rest under a read more. I was too lazy to figure out specific dates, but this is the general trajectory of the world that LVM and Storm Rage and a few other projects are all set on. And since most of this is different countries fighting, I’ll include a map as well to help conceptualize it better.
And now, the history of the world.
The world is made at some point. There’s various creation myths at odds with each other.
Millions of years later, the first humans are observed based on archaeological findings. However, due to the level of science/technology the archaeologists have and the amount of things they’ve found, it’s unclear where the first humans came from, but they believe it was in Parisol, Dinas, or Kastar.
The first tribes of modern-day Parisol are established. Around this time, the first tribes of Kastar and Dinas also emerge.
Civilization in Parisol expands.
First records of tribes in Shalos and in V’shya.
A particularly nasty underwater eruption helps form what will become the country of Pymte. Shortly thereafter, a second eruption forms what will become the country of Acrana.
Civilization expands in Parisol once more. Tribes start to become at odds with each other.
Civilization in Kastar and V’shya expands.
Kastar begins sea exploration, lands in Dinas and makes first attempts to conquer it but ultimately fail.
Dinas steps up defense measures, community forming in this unified attempt against outside forces. They develop tools to turn the shores hostile to prevent future invasions.
Civilization in Parisol expands and begins to unify as tribes begin conquering each other. Make first attempts to conquer V’shya.
Civilization in Shalos expands. Dedicated exploration parties venture south, to Acrana and Pymte and establish first civilizations there.They attempt to surge north into Dinas as well and fail.
Parisol makes second attempt to conquer V’shya and succeed. A mysterious cult forms. It is unknown if the two events are related.
Civilization in Shalos expands once again. A communication network is created with Kastar.
The beginnings of a trade network are formed between Shalos, Kastar, Pymte, and Acrana.
V’shya attempts rebellion against Parish rule and fail. The cult in Parisol expands, bringing with it talks of new magic. Parisol sends first batch of V’shyan rebellers to “acclimation fortresses” to help break down/integrate them. V’shyan attempts to fight this are quickly quelled.
Civilization on Pymte and Acrana expand. The Great Sea Trade Network flourishes.
Having totally consumed V’shya, Parisol sets its sights eastward on the hunt for new territory. Also begins construction on a massive bridge to reach nearby Mellieta Islet.
Shalos territory fractures over political strife, damaging the trade network. A long, bloody civil war ensues. Pymte takes advantage of this war to gain independence, but this first attempt fails.
The war ends with Shalos splitting into three countries: Zezzo, Munnat, and Sallos, but they have frequent skirmishes for decades afterwards. Acrana falls under Zezzan control, while Pymte is governed by Sallos.
Parisol encounters new land in Acrana. Relations between the two factions start off neutral but quickly turn bloody.
Political tensions between the fractured countries on Shalos reignite. Zezzo pulls its forces from Acrana to aid in the fight, leaving it to Parish forces to control.
A mysterious plague develops in Acrana. Parish soldiers attempt to flee before they too get sick, but end up dying before they get too far. Rumors of “ghost ships” emerge as a result by nearby explorers. Natives to Acrana are also consumed by this plague.
Zezzo territory is conquered and split between Sallos and Munnat.
Pymte again petitions for independence and succeeds. The Great Sea Trade Network fractures.
Kastar steps into the war in Shalos and takes control of Munnat. They try to take Sallos as well, but instead fall into uneasy peace. Sallos sets its sights on Dinas but fails to take over the island nation, instead being consumed by Kastar as well. The entire island is henceforth renamed Munniz, following Kastarian naming conventions.
Another expedition group is sent out of Parisol. Again they set foot on Acrana, but quickly leave once they realize some of what happened. They land next in Pymte. The two civilizations go to war for several years, but Pymte is eventually put under forced occupation. As a display of power, Parisol ships off its first group of Pimish children, adults, and elders to “acclimation fortresses” in V’shya to re-educate and control them. A select few from this first group remain in Parisol, having won the king’s favor.
Dinas closes their final entry port and population booms. Much investment is put towards a proto-military force and daily patrols begin on the island.
Tensions increase in Pymte. An expedition guild is instilled on the island, bringing with them a new economy only they control, forcing Pimish residents into poverty and indentured servitude.
Dinas and occupied Pymte are at odds when said expedition guild causes chaos in Dinas. Shortly afterward, members of this guild go missing.
Pymte attempts to revolt again and fails. A second group of Pimish denizens are sent to V’shya for “acclimation”. Realizing this takes too long, Parisol begins planning the addition of “acclimation fortresses” on Pymte itself.
The king of Parisol is murdered by his advisor, one of the first Pimish captives that had been taken into his court. A new war erupts in Pymte, ending with the destruction of Parish forces, divine intervention, and, eventually, a new trade deal.
The mysterious cult in Parisol gains control over major northern cities in Parisol. Tensions between the north and south parts of the country swell. Eventually, this cult gains whole control of the government, bringing with them an aristo-theocracy. Southern Parisol takes its first steps towards secession/becoming their own country.
I have a big backlog of these that I wrote out lmao
Day Six - How does gender and sexuality work in your world?
Boring answer: No one gives a fuck.
Longer answer: Marriage tends to be more transactional than anything else, so there’s no “sex based” reasoning behind relationships. It’s quite common to take multiple partners who meet various needs (children, status, sex, etc) while also seeking more intimate/romantic partners who may align more with your personal interests. In other words, people marry to produce heirs and fulfill business agreements, but they most likely have relationships outside of this - which is widely accepted and can be comprised of any sort of gender combinations.
As for gender, again, no one really cares. Pronouns default to neutral “they” until indication is given otherwise. There’s a wide swathe of genders out there, and there are classifications based on sex characteristics, but this is vastly subdued. More like “I agree with how I was born” and that being all versus “I have these things and thus I’m x”
I’m just gonna keep uploading these at my own pace and no one can stop me lol
Day Five - What civilizations and architecture fill your world?
As mentioned in day four, there’s a few countries I’ve chosen to focus on in this world, and the rest I know a feeeeewww things about, but not a whole heck of a lot. Also, I feel like this info is a bit repetitive based on previous days and answers but... eh.
A bit of a recap/potential expansion:
Pymte is small island nation in the western hemisphere. The overall civilization is split into three groups, each focusing on a different life aspect. Their houses tend to be built from clay, wood, and basalt forged from a safe distance from all the volcanic activity. They don’t have much by way of miscellaneous decoration/structures, as there’s still times they need to relocate due to, again, volcanic activity. Still, much of the island is temperate jungle. One of the three groups builds their homes in the trees, keeping them off the group.
Dinas is another island nation in the western hemisphere, a couple of islands north of Pymte and about twice the size. The island is rugged and mountaneous, a lot of the ground rocky and difficult to traverse. This is aided by the nation’s own efforts against outsiders. Their architecture features a lot of sandstone and their holy spaces tend to be found in natural features. See: Sabbia Cave, a place of great cultural significance, which is just a cave system they applied significance to.
Parisol, a large country on the eastern hemisphere. It’s a massive cultural hodgepodge, considering several communities developed, went to war, and then forged some sort of cultural amalgamation. There’s a substantial cultural shift south of Valettia’s Arc, the massive road that cuts across the country. Still, both halves use a lot of wooden and stone architecture.
Yes, yes, I am fashionably late to this as I am to all things. I’m blaming it on getting the vaccine cause it completely wrecked me. Anyway.
Worldbuilding June is a phenomenon every June where, as the title might imply, you answer prompts every day sharing about and building a world of your machination. I love it, I’ve done it before, I finally have a new world in which I can do it again. Great! Except, the official blog who handles all things WBJ ( @worldbuildingjune) is on hiatus this year... so we’re just going to reuse the prompts from last year.
And with that said, let us begin...
Day One - Tell us about your world.
This year, I’m using the world that Little Vicious Minds is set in - as well as a couple other projects (including a video game). The overall world itself doesn’t have an official name, but I’ve named the major countries and started to finger out how they all work.
The planet is mostly ocean. Like, probably 95% water. What isn’t water is mostly island nations formed from an expansive network of volcanoes, but there are a couple of larger land masses. I’ll go over this more with the next post. A lot of things will be covered later, really.
There’s three major societies I’ve focused on thus far, though plenty more at least have names. We have:
Pymte, an island nation under occupation. It's mostly a jungle island, hot and wet for most of the year. Fun fact, the name is an anagram of Empty and I originally used this name as a placeholder in game development while testing out some software. I've since kept it, having become quite fond of it.
Dinas, an island nation that's quite hot and arid. Think Nevada or California. Lots of cacti, some more ~tropical~ plants, etc. They have successfully fended off all invasion attempts thus far, and in general are QUITE introverted. As in, no trade routes, only one recognized port of entry/exit, almost all foreigners are kill on sight. They take their privacy incredibly seriously.
Parisol, the largest country in the world. There's been tensions between north and south Parisol for decades over technology and disagreements over their magic system. Collectively, they have seized control over a few islands, including Pymte. Northern Parisol is Maltese-inspired (as many things I write are - it's my heritage, after all!) And East End specifically has a Venitian vibe going for it.
And... yeah! That's what we're going to be focusing on for the next month!
Thanks for the ask! I know of a couple of characters. I'm sure there's a couple more characters somewhere that I'm forgetting but here's the ones I do remember!
Sage Aleta is a priestess in a temple who was training to be a keeper of the Archives, which are like... the Library of Alexandria in a pocket dimension. That is, until out of nowhere it was decided her life's purpose was Elsewhere, which put her on a different island entirely. She's part of the main trio of Storm Rage, a D&D thing I've been pecking at off and on for a couple of years.
Adelade Tate is a character I love to kick around from time to time. She makes an appearance in Lilium, as well as a separate story. Her whole shtick is she is, at one point, a member of the Magistrate, who maintains the world of the Supernaturals and keeps them from bleeding too much into the world of humans. She plays a,,,, antagonistic? role in Lilium because she is responsible for Oliver's second death as well as being ordered to kill Lilith. In her separate story, she is a full-vampire ordered to kill halflings (humans who have been steeped too much in the world of the Supernaturals and thus are becoming ones themselves--albeit a lesser, more dangerous breed) The framing of the story is the most interesting part, because aside from the moment where we see her origins, Adelade herself is never the POV character. It's always in the POV of the person she's tasked to hunt next. Nevertheless, we get to see how these jobs she does are slowly wearing on her. I really want to get back to this at some point tbh.
Abraxas is the main antagonist of Lilium, though he doesn't show up directly for half the book. He is a Scourge, which is when a Supernatural loses the rest of their tethers to humanity and goes rogue. He is suggested to have been involved in Oliver's first death and comes back to torment Lilith and urge her down the same path as her brother. I like him a lot because he's just,,, chaos incarnate. While I like most of my villains to have like. Actual goals and whatnot, sometimes it's fun to have someone who just wants to watch the world burn.
Send me a letter of the alphabet A-Z, and if I have an OC starting with that letter, I’ll tell about them.
Another short post. Not because I haven’t considered it, but because I have and the answer is really simple.
Day Eight - Who rules in your world?
Like most answers, depends on the country and the community residing therein. Parisol is an empire with a central ruler, who is appointed by decree of a counsel. Oligarchic in nature. On a smaller scale, major cities possess governors (and will govern neighboring smaller towns that fall within their limits). Cities with one/some of the richest families are granted special favor by the empire.
Dinas has an elected official from each town with a small counsel surrounding them. These officials will often meet to discuss laws, enforce their borders, and trade.
Pymte has a counsel comprised of all its elders. The counsel is split into three, divided between each of the villages, but they convene often to share news and write or enforce laws. Or, at least, they did before Parisol occupied them. Now they fall under the empire’s jurisdiction and thus are governed by officials sent over from mainland Parisol.
Anddddd here’s why this post will be short - I honestly haven’t thought too much on this. I mean, I’ve somewhat tried to, and I absolutely have to considering the nature of LVM, but I’m not 100% sure right now. I’ve thought about some sort of gold standard or uhhh something to do with weight would be neat, too. But I honestly have to think more on how it... actually works. There’s some research to be done there.
