#worldbuilding fantasy

[amaiguri]

The Yssaia World Guide 2024 (1-10)

[the-writers-secret-corner]

That annoying moment when you're worldbuilding for a new novel and you have all of the images in your head. You want to go searching for fanart, and images, and deep analysis of your world and the characters within it.

Except you can't find any, because you haven't written it yet.

I just want the pretty art and sometimes I just want it to be there instead of existing in my head where it's only going to exist if I do it myself.

[redd956]

How to make a fantasy city seem fantastical

Have it reflect the city's culture, economy, and government

Add fantastical elements whenever you can, understandable to your worldbuilding

Remember how cities are made. Ask yourself how this city was made and why do people live here?

Exaggerate! Do it! Trust me it helps!

Use the worlds magic and technology to shape the city

Fantasy diversity

Make sure the city is a still a functioning place. (Food, labor, electricity for high technology)

Start with a "draft" version of the city, look at your draft and build upon it even further

Make fantastical elements seem or feel like this worlds norm. Make characters respond to fantastical elements with casuality.

Reflect fantasy versions of modern day phenomenon with your worldbuilding in mind (advertising, pet ownership, beauty standards, pastimes)

Think of who/what lives here, and how do they shape it. Harpys obviously won't have a city built the same as sirens.

[thecrazyworldbuilder]

Bit dark but here's an idea.

Gargoyles don't turn to stone at day - they are always stone. Humans were known for hunting gargoyles, beheading them and using their petrified heads as water fountains, or otherwise utilizing their dead, stiff bodies.

Same goes to dryads/spryggans - the human race turned many of them into little relics, like a chair made out of a wooden ribcage or a wall decoration that bears the remaining beauty of the once alive guardian of the forest.

[warriorrat]

What is a human's primary element?

At any given time, a living human holds some of each of the primary elements. Air in the form of oxygen, fire in the form of body heat, earth in the form of minerals, and water. But which is a human's primary element?

An argument could be made for any of the four.

If we're judging by composition, a human is made up of 70% water. This is by far the majority of our bodies. It could easily be argued that since we humans are mostly made of water, our primary alignment must also be water.

We might be made mostly of water, but we have the greatest need for air. We're constantly breathing in air and we go through an comparitively high amount of air in a day; far more than any other element. It could be said that our high dependency and consumption of air makes it our primary element.

On the opposite end of the scale, we require the smallest amount of earth. We only need to consume a very small amount of minerals a day; such a small amount that it's measured in milligrams. You could say that it's because we're already aligned to the earth element, so we don't need to take as much of it in to maintain a healthy balance.

Finally, fire is the only element that the human body can produce for itself. While we still have to live in environments within a certain temperature range, our bodies produce and radiate heat in a way that we just don't do with other elements. This could mean that our primary element is fire.

There are compelling answers for all four, all of which would have implications for the rest of your worldbuilding. For example, if humans are water elemented because they're mostly made of water, then an air elemented creature would mostly be filled with air. Or if humans are earth elemented because they don't need much extra earth to be balanced, then presumably other species would need to balance themselves too.

[thecrazyworldbuilder]

Magic is the blood of the soul. Some people have magical iron deficiency, others have magic leukemia. There are different kinds of magic, different types.

Tears are the blood of the soul. When a soul bleeds, the person cries.

Tears are magic. Shed in sorrow, shed in pain, shed in grief, anger, hatred, sadness, fear, or in love, happiness, surprise, acceptation, hope.

Magic can be liquid. It falls to the ground, giving birth to flowers with unique properties. Bladepetal that gives strength and soothes pain grows from tears of warriors. Mementoia grows from the tears of mothers grieving their children. Aladus grows from tears of disbelief of being loved.

Magic can be solid. Dried tears turned to salt, they can make metal glossy and channeling pure emotion, unlocking abilities when attuned to the right feeling.

Magic can be gas. We can smell the world the way it was when we cried and remember things we have forgotten. Evaporated tears are in the air everywhere, carrying memories in them, and not everyone can feel the scent, not everyone can look into the past of others.

You can bleed your soul to death by crying so much it dies.

Magic is the blood of the soul. Blood of the soul is tears. Tears are magic.

And I haven't cried in a long, long time. And everyday, I wonder if my soul is dead.