Fantasy Gods, Races, Settings, Magic Systems and Miscellaneous

HAHA

Yeah, no problem. This was one of the most enjoyable topics I've tackled lately.

edited 16th Mar '15 2:12:10 AM by nekomoon14

I have to say that is a very interesting approach to the elemental magic system, having healing as a top tier talent. Kinda reminds me of doodle god a little! A nice twist on the "Avatar" series as well.

Going to throw my race ideas down as well - a setting I'm working on, shamelessly inspired by other universes - see if you can guess which!

_

Two factions -

The Great republic, governed by the Conclave, made up of a unification of races:

The Ostermen - pale skinned, balding humans, they are a nomadic culture which makes a lot of use of technology - steampunky gears and alchemy. Not much more to add, other than they're a bit bureaucratic. They originate from a nomadic culture of traders and desert dwellers, and have a natural penchant for alchemy and more scientific approaches. Orators, philosophers and scientists, they tend towards the spoken word first, then nasty technological marvels if you threaten them. They mastered gunpowder and are excellent marksmen, but due to their tribal origins, tended to not have a standing army. However, their skil lat trade with other race,s plus the medicines and marvels they have created made them invaluable.

The Trull-kin - like Nordic trolls, these are pig-faced creatures, short and stocky, they are numerous, tend towardsa a brusque nature and make up the bulk of the Republic military - they aren't, contrary to belief, subterranean; they originate from a marshy part of the nation and have their origins living in the swamp trees, large, hollow things. As such, they tend towards tactics that involve guerilla warfare, knives and mobility. Their women are more numerous and thus tend to be more prominent, the males being smaller and more docile, tending towards alchemy and passive actions, with the women taking up combat roles. In direct combat, they use numbers and skirmish tactics, drawing opponents into protracted fights, using their natural nimbleness and stature to their advantage.

The Osrin (Razormen) - a society of bird-men, more humanoid now, with a culture that is highly aesthetic - they come from the mountain ranges and have temples and eyrie towns connected by bridges - oriental in nature, their military is built around flexibility - light armour, striking moves, archery, with their fortifications relying on kill-zones, height advantages and choke points. they, like their predatory ancestors, rely on precision strikes to cripple an opponent and then bleeding them if necessary on the defence.

The Menhirr - a race of giants, standing at twelve feet tall at their shortest, these beings are highly intelligent and master smiths and craftsmen. They take joy in creation - anything from vast mechanical engines of construction and destruction to tiny, intricate mechanisms; their large size belies this, but they can craft amazing things, from iron-frames to crystal chandeliers; watches to steam engines. They are master builders. Their society tended not towards warfare as they had no real natural predators. And their ability to craft giant homes that, due to scale, could resist most assaults meant even basic settlements were a fort to most raiders. Their ability to build siege engines and masterful traps makes their lands on the plains hard to navigate safely - they are also partially responsible for the speed of construction of the Great Acropolis.

—-

The Northmen

The other race of humans, a unified culture of clans that live on an archipelago of volcanic islands, centred around a single island with a large lake in the middle. They have been resisting attempts by the conclave to absorb them by first diplomatic and trade means, then by an expeditionary force.

They have resisted because they are the only race with magic, which comes from the "dragons" they revere - really, worm-like creatures that align with certain "elements" - a water wyrm, which grants the power over ice; a fire-wyrm which allows the mage to manipulate heat; the earth-wyrm, which allows the mage to create toxins in the air and manipulate earth.

There isn't an air wyrm. However, to get these powers, the mages must bond with one of the wyrm larvae - which coil themselves around the person and dig into their skin. The initial bonding is painful and the wyrm also needs to separate and occasionally rejuvenate in it's element - water, a bank of coals, or a pool of oily marsh-soil. So, most mages look sallow, drained and hunched, to adapt to however the wyrm has coiled itself around them.

The dead are fed to the greater wyrms that live in and around the central island. Greater mages can also control the larger wyrms directly the through the larvae.

The Conclave don't know the source of magic, nor do they know about the larger Wyrms - all they know is that their forces have been repulsed by a supposedly inferior society. The story would start with a delegation from the Norsemen going to the Great Acropolis and meeting the Conclave, wherein they'd get drawn into a conspiracy. Still working that bit out.

I didn't want to go with traditional "warrior / smith dwarves" or orcs, or elves. Or that the good guys have lovely pure magic. Or that there're even "good guys"

I confess, I have no idea what your inspirations were. But man oh man is your world interesting. What is alchemy, exactly? What is the seemingly inevitable war about? Do you have any elf stand-ins, or do the trull-kin occupy that niche?

edited 17th Mar '15 5:52:33 AM by nekomoon14

The Ostermen are sorta elfy - willowy humans, "philosophers" etc. But they're more about tech than nature. The Trull-kin are squat, not particularly pretty but cover the whole "ranger" style that elves do.

The nature / willowy thing is done by the Osrin / razormen, who are more Japanese / Chinese in terms of inspiration (at least militarily) with their homes looking like all those stylised imagines of mythical china - rope bridges, trees atop narrow mountains. But they are more structured, more military, so not really "elfy".

But the Ostermen cover the arrogant "can't argue with elves" thing, although they aren't RIGHT about stuff, they just think that the fact they have guns makes them right. And the co-operation of three other races who can help strong arm things.

I see. What about the alchemy? Is that just like potion-brewing or something?

Yes and no - it covers medicines and is standard fantasy, to an extent. But it also has things like explosives, drugs, fantasy plants as well. So the races use it to create gunpowder, salves, medicines, alcohols, drugs, and also really resilient building materials and cements. The Trull-kin tend to use it for toxins, explosives that also have a corrosive element to them, medicines and hallucinogens. The Ostermen use it for medicinal purposes and "enhancements" - such as simple things like pigments, to tonics to improve sight, strength etc (They are the scientists).

The Menhirr use alchemy to create cements and fuel sources or to help with adhesives. The Razormen just make use of herbalism and medicines.

So, you'll have the rural villagers who know how to make poulticies; the ones in Trull-kin land all know about venoms and how best to distill a nasty odorless toxin and in the city an apothecary can mix you a mix that will get you drunk and change your eye colour, should you need it. Mostly it's medicinal and industrial, not magic related.

Really wanted to enforce that "grounded" civilisation full of typically fantasy race tropes, but who are the "real world" archetypes, whilst the humans are magic users, but with a hideous twist to it.

I definitely need to write something in there. I have a plot in mind, but haven't committed anything to paper beyond the setting.

I see. I like the direction you've gone in. I feel an inevitable war approaching What a perfect opportunity to show off different races and countries.

Are you familiar with Harry Turtledove's Darkness series? I'm feeling something similar about to happen, where you have different perspectives on the same war.

edited 17th Mar '15 7:44:46 AM by nekomoon14

I haven't actually - I think I need to broaden my reading pool, so may take a dive.

In the setting I am hoping to get a war going, some betrayal, a bit of false flag operations etc. Then something that threatens to split the Great Republic as well. The Northmen will start as the initial heroes, mainly by default, but they aren't "good" as a culture. The people are honourable etc, but I want to get that feeling that each culture has its pros and cons.

Hows the world building for your system going?

Worldbuilding is tricky for me. I feel like a creator should know most (if not all) of the details of their creation, and to that end I tend to go overboard. I can come up with all kinds of scenarios, but at the end of the night I can rarely ever settle on the one idea I really want to use. For example, I still don’t know whether I want to call my Fairy/Eldritch Race “faeries” or “demons”. Both words work in their own ways, but sometimes one feels more right than the other. I don’t think it’ll be resolved until I’ve finally published something

My Black mythos is intended to be a Science Fantasy inspired by Exalted. The theme is “the mystery of magical science is terrifying”. The mood I’m going for is one of “pervasive dread” with an atmosphere of “vast darkness”. The cosmos is magical and the realms are cosmic objects orbiting the mouth of the abyss. It’s an anachronistic setting combining 2015 with 1502 (so, there are smartphones and motorcycles along with swords and castles). The faeries/demons are the primary villains and the main heroes are wizards and crusaders. Magic fuels the technology. Magical powers are inherent abilities in faeries/demons but mortals and monsters must rely on wizardry. Faeries/daemons are Semi-Divine shapechangers descended from gods and monsters; they regard themselves as The Beautiful Elite, but Aristocrats Are Evil as far as mortals and monsters are concerned. Faeries/daemons are incomprehensibly powerful beings, but mortals and monsters can prevail against them if they’re willing to pay the price.

One of the more interesting ideas I’ve had is that different cosmic features are actually elemental planes. Constellations (rocky planets orbited by millions of glowing asteroids) represent earth, nebulae (gaseous planets orbited by clouds of glowing dust) represent air, suns (fiery planets) represent fire, obviously, moons (watery planets with no dry land) represent water, duh, and worlds represent the elements combined harmoniously. There are an additional eight objects possible in a realm: ones between the constellation, nebula, sun, and moon, and ones between the world and these places. Not all realms are the same - some are sun-centered while others lack suns altogether. Some are smaller than others.

edited 17th Mar '15 1:32:49 PM by nekomoon14

That does sound fun - I could see a detective noir story being set in it, or a cyberpunk fantasy mish mash. It'd be interesting to see how "space travel" works in the world.

And are Fairies the ones in charge? Or are they a rival "nation"? Are they from one of the other planets?

I was going for that kind of thrilling, urban feel. I think the crusaders fit the detective niche better than wizards.

Void navigation is accomplished through the use of junks (as in those Chinese boats, because they look so damn kool) that can sail the currents of essence connecting the “organs” of the realms. The void is empty, except for those currents. Wizards are obviously extremely important in void navigation because non-wizards can’t ensure the trip will be safe. I took a page from Spelljammer’s book and made pockets of air “stick” to the boats, and gravity is oriented toward the bottoms of the vessels. Only faeries/demons can survive in the void, but they don’t like being there any more than mortals and monsters do. I decided that every ship should have loads of plants so the wizards can make them suck up all the “dead air” and pump out all the “living air” the sailors need.

The faeries/demons are the new gods of the cosmos. The elder gods retreated to the nebulae after the faeries/demons freed them from enslavement at the hands of the ancient gods, who slew the primeval gods and bound the elders’ magics. The primevals’ deaths created the abyss, a dark and undead reflection of the (relatively) bright and living cosmos. The ancients were mortified and became the first mortals; only a handful of wizards know the forgotten history of their ancient ancestors. The faeries/demons live in all kinds of realm organs, but mortals and monsters can only live in hospitable ones. There is one cosmic faerie/demon government versus countless mortal and monster kingdoms, duchies, earldoms, and baronies throughout the cosmos.

Another thing is that the realms closer to the mouth of the abyss are closer together than those further away from it. Nobody knows how new realms form, but the cosmos is always expanding, pushing back the true void beyond. Not even the old gods know what the true void is like. The faeries/demons are always the first to colonize new realms, but mortals and monsters always arrive within a few centuries. Nobody in the stories would know it, but I know that the rate of realm formation is slowing and will eventually cease altogether; after that, even I don’t know what will happen, but there are lots of stray prophecies.

edited 18th Mar '15 9:14:27 AM by nekomoon14

WARNING: LOTS of text

Ok, so I've been thinking a lot on my magic system, and how it relates to the setting's deities, cosmology and backstory, and I've come to a crossroads of sorts between two potential scenarios of how those things tie together. I could use a little assistance in choosing between them, and possibly alter the preferred choice if needed.

In the first scenario:

• Magic (or whatever I end up calling it) is a component of the world itself, an invisible force that is part of all living beings (in the form of the chakras), but also runs through the atmosphere and the planet itself. In this case, deities therefore also exist in the same world as mortals.
• The known gods can be divided into what I call "Primordials" (or "Elementals") and "New Gods".
  • The "Primordials" are each manifestations of the seven elements (which, similarly to Wu Xing, in this case means that they are less elements in the traditional sense and more like energies that cooperate, empower and/or conquer each other in various phases and processes, resulting in the world's and its inhabitants' creation). As the seven elements - Air, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water (the Primordials representing these five live on the planet itself), Aether (fundamental component of all magic, makes all magic stronger, symbolically represented by light and chaos, the correspongding Primordial manifests in the form of the sun and the stars) and Nether/Anti-Aether/Void (weakens and restricts magic - preventing it from going out of control and just destroying everything over and over in an endless colorful cycle - symbolically represented by darkness and order, the corresponding Primordial manifests as the space around the stars and planets) - were used in the world's creation, everything in it possesses a piece of each of these deities (indeed, the world's creation in this case would have weakened the deities as they essentially created the world out of their own essence), in sentient beings taking the form of chakras.
    • I imagine at least one culture recognizing that the Primordials created the world, but adding to that by believing in an omnipotent creator deity, thus making the Primordials something more like angels given the job of creating the world in the true god's place, or possibly as aspects of the true god that broke off from Him/Her/It.
  • The "New Gods" are those mortals who successfully unlocked and properly aligned all seven chakras.
  • For whatever reason (the assumed cause varying between different cultures), the Primordials and New Gods ended up fighting a bitter war with each other. The war ended when the Nether Primordial or a New God particularly proficient in the use of Nether magic (again, the exact cause and circumstances vary based on culture) very heavily damaged the Aether Primordial - thereby weakening all magic and magical beings. The Primordials were essentially put into the divine equivalent of comas, still existing and allowing magic to function, but with little ability to consciously affect the world in any way except with the help of worshippers. Meanwhile, the New Gods were subsequently turned back into mortals, with alignment of the chakras to achieve divinity becoming impossible.
• However, as with any cycle, anything that is powerful will eventually become weak, allowing something previously weak to become powerful. So, the Nether becomes weaker as time goes by, and the Aether more powerful.
• So, in this scenario, a major theme would be that magic, which was previously abandoned for a long time and replaced with technology (which I imagine as being around a 15th-17th century-esque level), becomes more and more powerful, once more making it an important part of the world and its people, but at the same time opening up the possibility that the Primordials will once more awaken and threaten mortals, and for new mortals to become New Gods.

Second scenario:

• Magic and gods originate in a magical dimension (or a parallel universe, if you prefer a scientific word for it) separate from the world mortals live in. Mortals simply access the power in the magic dimension and then "pull" it into the mortal world. I'm thinking that it works in this case by the chakras, when opened, essentially acting as portals into the magic dimension, through which they pull the corresponding elemental energy and then use it in the mortal world.
• Gods would probably be divided the same way as outlined above, but they would exist in the magic dimension rather than in the mortal world. The Primordials would obviously already be there (and it would be unclear if they are gods, angel-like, or non-sentient magical forces), but New Gods going there would be explained by having the very process of a mortal achieving divinity severing their links with the mortal world, thus shoving them into the magic dimension (seems like one could draw some parallels to the concept of Nirvana in this case). Thus, gods can't directly affect the mortal world, which also solves the problems that too much divine involvement IMO brings to a setting.
• I don't really know which elements I would use in this case. There are a few alternatives, as I see it:
  • The seven outlined in the previous scenario
  • The seven Neko and I discussed (and I still appreciate your help with that, Neko, I just feel like tweaking the elements may be necessary now that I've thought more about the rest of the setting).
  • Another possibility is taking the above and replacing Fire with Lightning. That way, the four "basic" elements would - in a meta sense - correspond to the four states of matter (Earth - Solid; Water - Liquid; Air - Gas; Lightning - Plasma). Or alternately, keep Fire and add Lightning as a fifth basic element; that way, there's the four states of matter, and heat, which is what moves something from one of the states to the next (I think - I'm not a physics or chemistry student, so I don't really know how plasma works, exactly...). In that case, Time and Space could be merged into one, or removed - the last two in that case would probably be Aether and Nether like in the previous scenario.

So, any thoughts? And sorry for the wall of text...

EDIT: Oh, BTW, what are you guys' thoughts on reincarnation? Personally, I imagine that it could work at least in the second scenario, but maybe it's one of those things that are best to leave ambiguous in-universe - a belief held by some people, but impossible to know for sure?

edited 18th Apr '15 11:04:53 AM by Kardavnil

man, those feels when you make a list of 7 virtues while using alliteration (in this case, everyone begins with P) and only the very last one cannot properly be represented by a word beginning with P

my luck ran out ;_;

oh well. i'll just have to work it into the fluff. a saint with 2 virtues assigned to him (2 of the closest i could find to what was intended while still beginning with P) that scholars frequently argue over which virtue is more appropriate, which was actually intended, or if either of them were at all.

its late and i have to go to bed, so im afraid i cant comment on the meat of your post, but as for reincarnation, yeah i think it works better as an ambigious thing, and if its real only a few should know. but i think theres an interesting plotline to explore in everyone knowing about confirmed reincarnation; presumedly there would be people who could pin point who's a reincarnation of who, and there'd doubtless be people looking to satisfying grudges of a past life. it'd be like guilt by heritage but the people being attacked over it are literally guilty by virtue of being the guilty party in a new life.

There's an horror manga about that. Sadly, that's a spoiler, if you're interested in reading it.

I think you should use the setting that fits your story better. I think I prefer the first over the second slightly, though really, it's your choice. Also, I don't think there should be a clear cut divide between technology and magic because I don't think they are "opposites", if you meant to go in that direction. Regarding your question, as far as I know pressure and temperature are the two things that can make substances change states, but I don't know plasma that well.

If reincarnation isn't going to be a big deal in your story, make it only an unconfirmed thing some people believe in, maybe throw a character that looks like the reincarnation of some guy, if you feel like it.

A shame. It would've been really cool if you managed to make all seven alliterative. And good points, thanks!

I probably worded that bit about magic and technology poorly, because I didn't really plan on making them "opposites" or anything. The point was more that, in a period when elemental powers were very strong and (relatively) easy to learn, there was little need to look for alternative means of filling their niche in combat, healing etc. With it being weakened for a long period of time (or even impossible to use for a while), however, there would be a push to find ways to fill the void it left - hence a push towards making breakthroughs in other sciences, and in turn the creation of firearms, more scientifically-based medicinal methods, etc. On the other hand, I wouldn't have guns disappear just because the elemental energies become more powerful again - because, after all, anyone could still use a gun, while harnessing the elemental powers - more powerful again or not - would still take long time and practice to master.

At any rate, thanks for the input!

so, there are 7 saints of the theocracy that represent the 7 aforementioned virtues, and each saint was supposed to have a statue with some connection to their finest hour or virtue (ie, Visri Vershi, the saint of perseverence's statue symbolizes her virtue through use of Kintsugi)

i was thinking tho, instead of giving Visri Tulshi, the saint of Piety his own statue, that it would be more appropriate to instead have temples built in his name in which to house the statues of the other saints; though he like the rest of his companions has ascended to the status of diety upon death (Visri) it was known while he was alive that he was very disdainful of being worshipped himself, and so while given the same respect afforded to all divine beings in the theocracy, he's the only deity who is not worshipped and as such has no statue

I've been working on a side project lately where necromancy is used in the manufacture of Organic Technology. Corpses are rednered down into a necromantic reagent called "necromass", and then magicked back into flesh and nerves as part of the machine. Brains are tricky; as the seat of consiousness any "necromechanical" device is taken over by the most intact brain wired into it; so brains are liquified and mixed together to be reconstituted into blank slates for easy reprogramming. Brain slurry is also used as necrotic fuel.

edited 4th May '15 12:38:38 PM by dvorak

Wow, this is a thread that I needed, but did not know existed until now. ^^ Friendly warning, I'm about to drop a MASSIVE amount of text.

EDIT: - Has Been Removed -

edited 28th Jan '16 1:56:50 PM by Soopor

That's the most well-thought-out planetary magic system I've encountered ever, so thank you Mr. or Ms. Genius.

Why thank you. ^^ And it's 'Mr.'.

I didn't realize just how much I had written in that post until I looked back at it. XD

Bloody hell, dude.

...Mind if I use that?

wow. thats a pretty cool system.

Does pluto still count as a planet in your system? I miss Pluto...

Nope, it's mine.

Thanks. ^^

No, and that reminds me of the small caveat I forgot to add concerning dwarf planets; they're just too small to be felt from Earth, and most of them, including Pluto, are ridiculously far away. Even Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the inner system, is too small to be felt from Earth. It would have to be at least as close as Venus, and still wouldn't put out much vis. Also, Pluto wasn't discovered until the 1930s, and I don't intend to attach this magic system to a story that close to the modern age.

edited 6th May '15 12:57:04 PM by Soopor

This is quite a major setting detail, as it connects all four major settings of the stories that I'm writing.

—-

There are four universes, the timelines of each reality stemming from a single point in time and space that is the simultaneous creation of all four of them. Two universes are different versions of Earth, one is a new world all together and the last is obscured and hidden to even the most powerful all-seeing entities.

The first version of Earth is on a looping timeline, constantly being remade, with various individuals being the only ones who retain the memories of the timelines that they've been through.

The second version of Earth is afflicted by temporal wounds that have caused the timeline of this Earth to converge on itself, putting all points in space and time, including possible divergences of this timeline, in a single spot. The timeline is essentially stagnated and can't go forward or back. Time still passes, but not in the "right" way.

The third timeline, which is new world all together, could be considered the most successful timeline, as it continues to progress where the other two are stagnant or broken.

The last timeline is actually an experiment to see if the possible combining of any of the three other timelines can result in a more successful timeline than the third. This timeline is actually made of copies of the other three timelines, constantly being separated and unseperated to try and make a more stable timeline.