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Hello, fellow world builders,
this is a little space where you can share worlds or creature or fantasy things that you have created. Because some of us just get really excited about these things.
Here’s my most recently created world:
Once, long ago, (21,000 years ago) a world was created quite unlike anything that we have ever seen.
It was given the name “Fairenland” for its people, the Fairens.
Fairens were tall and stately, with black hair and eyes of the most exotic colors. They lived in a huge kingdom whose leader was one “High Fairen” who ruled with peace and dignity.
That was 21,000 years ago, of course, and we’re talking about their years, not ours.
7,000 years later, there was a Great War. The High Fairen’s son decided he wanted to take the throne once his father died, but this was not the tradition. The Seven Scrolls they had at that time made it clear that the throne rotated through twenty-one families, ticking through once every seventy-seven years.
Many Fairens died that year and the years following due to the selfishly-immature acts of the High Fairen’s son.
To end this terrible war, the Creator gave each of them “Grand Uniquenesses.” This split them up into the Seven Nations, which formed the One Great Kingdom.
The first nation was deemed “The Tall Fairens,” and they looked just as all the others had looked before them, but now, looking normal was unique.
The second nation was deemed “The Ocean Fairens,” and they were fairly normal-looking Fairens, but they had many fins along their body and could only walk on dry land for short distances.
The third nation was deemed “The Forest Fairens,” and they lived in the trees and looked as the trees looked. They had branches of flower and foliage jutting out from their heads as deer’s antlers, and their skin was brown and mossy.
The fourth nation was deemed “The Cave Fairens,” and they were short, stout little Fairens, with thick black fur for warmth and eyes that shone with light in the night. They were nocturnal.
The fifth nation was deemed “The Air Fairens,” and they were like bird-people, having two eagle wings and a tall, ‘normal’ frame. They lived in huge, spherical nests that hung from the trees.
The sixth nation was deemed “The Arctic Fairens,” and they lived in the cold places of Fairenland. They had white fur and black eyes that could barely be seen. They lived in snow homes most of the year. Sadly, because of their white fur, they were looked down upon and seen as animals.
The seventh nation was deemed “The Mountain Fairens,” and they were fawn-like beasts, with sure-footed hooves for feet and much black fur to keep them warm. They lived in little mountain homes, chiseled into the sides of the mountains.
This kingdom was a very grand one for 7,000 years. Then, the “Great Calamity.”
Fairens left the “Law of the Creator” and took up the “Laws of the Creatures.” They took care of animals and gave them food and were worshiping them in some ways, when they should have kept their focus on the Creator and His “Great Creations,” the Fairens.
To respond to this Great Calamity, the Creator handed down seven more scrolls, one going to each nation. Now each of the seven nations had three scrolls, making twenty-one scrolls in all. These scrolls returned their hearts and minds to their Creator for the next 7,000 years.
But it could not last. The world, at this time, was nearing its end.
To understand its end, though, you must understand its beginning.
The Creator came to the Dark Space in the Void with a song in His heart. He took seven angels, who witnessed and took part in the Creation of Fairenland.
The first angel sang his song, a song about light and darkness. Through the power of the Creator, light was unleashed upon the world of Fairenland.
The second angel sang his song, a song about the forms and spheres that cast light and hold beings. Through the power of the Creator, forms and spheres were created to cast light and hold beings. In all, 77 star systems were created, Fairenland’s planet being in one of them.
The third angel sang his song, a song about hills and valleys and mountains and caves. Through the power of the Creator, hills and valleys and mountains and caves were created.
The fourth angel sang his song, a song about rivers and lakes and oceans. Through the power of the Creator, rivers and lakes and oceans were created.
The fifth angel sang his song, a song about trees and bushes and food-bearing plants. Through the power of the Creator, trees and bushes and food-bearing plants were created.
The sixth angel sang his song, a song about large animals and little creatures and insects of varying sizes. Through the power of the Creator, large animals and little creatures and insects of varying sizes were created.
The seventh angel, the angel given the most power since the rebellion of the Dark One, sang his song, a song about a people with intellect and emotion and great form. Through the power of the Creator, people with intellect and emotion and great form were created.
Then the Creator spoke, and the angels and new people watching with careful interest. He told them that this creation was indeed very good and wholly beautiful. But He told them He knew, as He knew with all other worlds, that this world would not always be very good and wholly beautiful. The people were saddened by this, but were trusting of him.
He told them that once the world had accomplished everything it was meant to accomplish, He would bring an end to the world.
And, 21,000 years later, He did.
None of them know how Darkness entered their world. This moment is not documented as it is in our world. But somehow, Darkness came, and made it all imperfect. The Fairens are saddened by this.
So, today, they are aware that their world is imploding upon itself, coming to an end. As they make the journey to other worlds, they must say goodbye to their homes, their castles, their language, their culture, and their world.
I wrote this out for my blog readers and have scheduled it for… let’s see… ten days from now. My blog is at levipierpont.com. Pretty simple URL, right?
Excited to see other people’s worlds and peek into other’s imaginations.
Let’s see; I’ve three…no, four fantasy worlds. But my most extensive one is Cember Earth.
There are 6 official Cember Earth nations, five in a landmass plus an island nation offshore (and a hidden, currently undiscovered city-state deep into the desert in the east.) Many of these nations are monarchies of various sorts, though some kings have more power than others. And, on the other side of the Cember Ocean, there is another nation, long forgotten, with four regions. And that is about as dry as a geography lesson…I don’t have time to go into all the details I’ve created about the world and about various nations and the religion, so instead I’m copying so of the important points from documents I’ve already written. 🙂
Religion (in fragmented note form)
The King of life and light:
He is the Creator of the whole earth. He is loving, holy, and just. He knows all, sees all, can control all. He has servants who are invisible and travel on the wind (most of the time). He helps those who serve Him.
You have to pass through the ‘fire’ to be healed. The flames set you free from the dark chains of doubt and darkness. The fire is the symbol of the King.
The people call the King El Elyon or the Creator. There are a number of other names, like First One, Great One, Great King, etc.
The Aara are servants of the King…they look like people (when visible), but sometimes glow; are very strong and can move very fast.Dargoth, the Dargoth of death:
He was one of the Creator’s servants who rebelled. A third of the servants followed him. His mission is to turn the people of Cember Earth against their Creator.
In worshiping him, his followers sacrifice animals, paint themselves, and sometimes mutilate themselves. They speak to him through chants, trances (and this only happens to the ‘priests’). Grand temples are built to this lord-filled with hideous masks and statutes.
At the end of the earth the Creator will cast him into outer darkness. This is also where those who follow the lord (or who don’t follow the Creator) go when the die.
The people call him Dargoth or the Dark Ruler.
The Dargoth’s greatest weapon is death; his second greatest weapon is fear.
Sarka (Sarki) are his ‘angels’.
The Three Scrolls (their version of the scriptures)Scroll 1: Legends
This contains the story of creation and how the Prince came and what he did.Scroll 2: The Decalogue
How people should treat each other; punishment for crimes; the roles of men and women; how the Lightfollowers are to serve the Prince…Scroll 3: Psalms
Psalms and songs of encouragement
Ways of WorshipThe King of life and light and His Son the Prince:
Followers name: Followers of the Prince, or simply Followers
Sabbath day: This is the traditional day off work. Lightfollowers like to rest and meditate on the scrolls on this day. The meet at a Sanctuary if their town has one and at someone’s home if it doesn’t
Place of meeting and leaders: Followers meet in many places, from homes to forest groves. They like to build airy building with tall windows and soaring arches called sanctuaries. A fire is kept always burning. They are surrounded by gardens and there are alcoves jutting from the sanctuary into the garden and curtained off for private use. The leaders of these establishments are called Watchers. They teach on the Sabbath day and there is always one ‘on duty’ in case of questions during the week. They live in small huts behind the sanctuary, keeping the gardens and helping the poor. There are usually 5-10 Watchers per sanctuary, though sometimes as few as 2 or 3 if the village is small.
Countersign: The Prince prevails-His light reveals
Dargoth, ruler of death and darkness:
Followers name: Dargothite
Sabbath day: The Dargothites will meet in secret at night, in underground temples. There they go through their rituals.
Place of meeting and leaders: They have sprawling underground temples that are sooty and smoky and always full of shadows. These temples are a maze, but there is one central chamber where a priest will dress all in black and read from the Dark Scrolls, normally ranting against the Followers. In more secret temples there are sacrifices, sometimes animal, sometimes human. In side chambers the priests live and work, plotting or making fake potions for money. They also teach boys and apprentice young men. There is a high priest in each temple.
And I’ve more about culture, but that’s enough for now. 😉
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Yikes! You guys are much more of a writer than I am. How do you come up with it all? *Bows in respect*
Wow! I must say those are super impressive.
I guess the closest I’ve come to creating a “world” happened during my obsession with the idea of “Pangaea” which theoretically was what the world would have looked like before the continental drift. Super fun idea to play with. Creative? Not so much. Unless you count the fact I made Atlantis it’s capital.
Can I just come to you guys next time I want to create a world???Some more fun stuff…I’ve six pages worth, but have cut down to the interesting parts while keeping most of the categories so anyone interested in worldbuilding can see all the different things one can address (and I’ve not been exhaustive in the least; every month or so I remember something I’ve forgotten to add).
Traditions and ways of the Cember Ocean lands
Eating:
• In rough or poor settings people use their daggers and fingers to eat. Soups and stews are scooped up with pieces of bread.Sleeping:
• The poor sleep on the ground wrapped in a blanket, or on a rough platform covered with straw or reeds.
• Those who can afford it have beds with high posts and canopies. The richer a person is, the bigger their bed and the more blankets, sheets, and pillows they have.
• At inns there is a main room where people can buy a meal. There is a platform around the edge to sleep on, for free. A room can be rented for a price.
• The inns are usually on the outskirts of town. In the cities there are Houses the rich can buy rooms for a night or too. In the country the people are hospitable and travelers can find shelter in their houses.Doctors:
• There is usually a woman or two in each village or town who knows all about herbs. They can take care of most injuries. Mothers are also very proficient.
• In the great towns there are some doctors who have studied plants and cures-some of fakes and some know quite a bit.
• There are nurses (both men and women) who travel with armies. They are very adept at caring for wounds and infections.
• In battle, if someone gets wounded, either a friend helps them off the battle field or they crawl off themselves. After the battle the two sides gather up the wounded left. A large tent is set up were men are taken care of by nurses and doctors. Most men are sent to their tents in the care of a friend, but the most serious cases are kept there.
• There are no hospitals. If the case is serious, or the patient rich, the doctor comes to their house. Otherwise, especially in large cities, doctors set up booth where people come to be treated.Fire:
• Fire is a symbol for freedom and honor.
• Fires are burned beside the graves of the dead to honor them.
• Massive beacons are lit during celebrations and at the new year.Cities
• Laurenthalas: the old cities are walled, the newer ones are not. They are laid out in a round fashion, like a wheel, with roads shooting through to the Round in the center. The buildings are stone, some flat and some domed. Follies from the 1800s scattered around old plantations and such; you might come on the ruins in a forest, though others are kept up.
• Shangar: Their streets are narrow and laid out in a haphazard manner, except Estebain which is modeled after Laurenthalas’s cities. The houses are mainly wood with peaked thatched roofs.
• Atharim: The cities are laid out with straight main roads and winding side roads. Most of the roads in town are paved and fairly wide. Most cities have walls, but not very strong ones. The building are white stone and have flat roofs.
• Ryshan: The cities are laid out in a square with wide paved roads running in a grid fashion. All the cities are walled strongly and have a garrison. The houses are a mix of elegant stone buildings and crude wooden houses.
• Fairith: The port cities center around the harbor, with curved roads and straight ones running through to the water like half a circle (more or less). Inland the villages are irregular while the larger towns, surrounded by low parapets, are more or less square, with main roads and side roads like an Atharishian town. The houses are earthy stone or solid wood.Death:
• It is deemed a disgrace to be buried in a mass grave.
• It is a honor for soldiers to be buried where they fall.
• People are not buried with possessions, except in special cases. They are however, buried with a jar that contains scrolls telling of their life. Flowers are then planted over the grave. These white and yellow daisy-like flowers are known as Grave Flowers.
• People will keep fires lit by the graves to honor the dead; the more important a person, the longer the fire is kept lit: Common people (5-25 days) middle class (25-40 days) nobles (50 days) princes (100 days) Kings (a full year and one day).
• A respectful salute to the dead (or to those who may be about to meet death) is to bow slightly, pressing right hand over heart then raising it toward the person.Education
• Private tutors are used for royalty and the rich. Learning is a mark of status. Teaching is in the middle of honorable jobs; below soldiers, but above common workmen.
• There are village schools in Atharim and the other nations, though their state depends on the kings and rulers. In the Fairlith Isles, mothers teach their children. And in Calenthia, only the rich go to school. Others learn as they are able.Wild Animals
• There used to be dragons in the north, but they are gone now.
• Wild bears, lions, wolves, and boars in the north and some wild bears and mountain cats (kind of like mountain lions) in the Shangar mountains. Blood panthers in the wilder parts of Ryshan and (more rarely, in Atharim.
• Poisonous serpents in the fens of Laurenthalis, the most deadly being the Green AdderBearing weapon’s before the king (love this one)
• In the Fairlith Isles, it is every man’s right to bear weapons wherever they go…and they do too. Though they aren’t allowed to unsheathe them before the king/rulers unless in dire need.
• In Shangar, wolf riders may carry small weapons before the king; their spears they leave outside. Peasants are not allowed any weapons.
• In Atharim and Ryshan, it is traditional for everyone to be unarmed before the king; wearing weapons before the king is either a great privileged with is granted, or it is a sign of defiance (unless it is war, in which case soldiers are allowed in the presences of the king with weapons…but not in the throne room).
• In the land of the Wauketa, everyone bears their weapons; it’s a sign of the power you have to defend your king…and of the power of the people.
• In Laurenthalis (and in Calenthia), bearing weapons before the king without express permission (which is only rarely given) is punishable by whipping. Drawing a blade is punishable by death.
• In Zenovia, rarely anyone carries weapons, but they carry daggers everywhere.Other:
• Roads: In the country most roads are dirt, while in the city they are normally paved. Depending on the kingdom, there are usually several wide roads crisscrossing the country that are paved in kept in good condition. These are roads that the army may need to use in an emergency, or else roads that messengers use a lot.
• A king or queen will hold out their hand to honor a subject who will bend down and kiss it. A great honor is when the king or queen raises their hand up to the subject’s lips.
• Slavery: Slaves are not kept or sold in the Cember Lands, at least on publicly in name. In Laurenthalas and Ryshan there are those who are suspected of owning some of their ‘servants’ (usually Wauketens). It is a thing no one talks about. There is also a class of people who are not slaves in name, but are treated as such and are little better then slaves in condition.
• On one side of a coin is the nation’s symbol while on the other side is the standard measure symbol. Huge sheets of gold or silver are stamped with huge presses then cut apart.
• In all large cities there is a market, usually in a public area set aside for the purpose like a Round. In large cities the market goes on every day and parts are lit up at night. In smaller towns there is a single market day each week. The roads will be crowded with booths covered with bright clothes; flags signify what country the merchandise is from. There is yelling and some fights. There are no guards so whatever happens; you are on your own. Anything can be found at a market in large cities, from cons, to jewels, to building contracts.
• It is an unspoken rule in the Cember Earth countries that healers are except from the horrors of war; they will tend to both sides and neither side will harm them. Even the Shangarians (for the most part) follow this rule. Even in peace, a curse is thought to fall on the head of a man who harms a healer. The Calethians don’t follow this rule though, for practical reasons, they do respect their healers. But, to them, the Bards are the revered men (while in CE they are respected and loved by the people but viewed with slight suspicion by the leaders because they know how they travel and can gain information). A Calethian will not kill a bard. He will be banished, or left to die, but they won’t kill him.INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Umm, I hope that wasn’t too much. I just love all the little details. 😉
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
A few things that I am super curious about:
-language: which language(s) do they speak? If they speak English, why is this? Or is English not addressed because no one from our world is there, so their language is just their language?
-where is this world: where does this place exist? does it exist at all in relation to our world?I loved reading this in my email, thanks so much for sharing. You’re a neat creative.
Oh yikes yikes yikes, you guys, that’s a lot. Very impressive.
I would share mine, but y’all would be stuck reading one post all day. 😉 Besides, a lot of it is still moving and growing and shifting, so I’m hesitant to put down anything in stone.
I have so many cultures, and so many different ways they changed, and morphed into other cultures and mixtures of other cultures, I could literally write a whole book about nothing but the cultures alone at their separate stages, even leaving out all the history that made them change! 😛And I really like both the name Cember Earth and the Fairens.
Daaaaaaang, guys…. This is intense. XD
I’m in the middle of creating a world right now (@kate-flournoy, Quinn’s world), so I’m not sure exactly how organized mine would be at the moment.
I shall gather my courage and return. 😛Okay, scratch the first post. 😉 I have to share a little bit about one of my favorite cultures with you.
So, there are these short people that look like really ugly dwarves. People call them trolls. But they’re not— they’re actually Ingrim.
Theirs is a very solemn, serious culture— they live underground, in all these magnificent but simple halls they carved out of a special dark green stone. They make their living mining stone and trading it, but they are a very intellectual people as well. They love music, but not instruments— they have these amazing a capella choirs. Singing is the most beautiful thing in the world to them— that, and logic.
The familial structure is incredibly important to their society— they are ruled by a council of select Ingrim who had proven their wisdom and ability to lead by leading their families first. Children are cherished, and there are many of them, but they are strongly encouraged to be ‘seen and not heard’, in public at least.
Each family of Ingrim is a separate clan unto itself— they all have their different little ‘caves’ and cubbies where one family lives together.Their religion is more or less Christianity, except they take a very legalistic approach to it. Salvation must be earned— forgiveness must be deserved. Salvation by works, if you will.
One of the extra special things about Ingrim culture— they are able to distill juices out of different gems, and no one but an Ingrim or someone raised among them can drink more than a tiny bit of that juice at one time and not knock themselves out. This drink, coupled with the Ingrim’s rare gift for song, can make a stay with them very dangerous if you’re not used to their ways. Their music is very slow and methodical and rhythmic— it can easily, easily put you to sleep, and if you’ve drunken any of the ‘gem juice’ (that sounds terrible) you’ll more than likely fall asleep for a week.
Not joking.Their culture and religion encourages loyalty, familial love, courtesy, wisdom, and discretion, and though they are so ugly to look at (they are, believe me) they are beautiful inside.
Kate Flourney: I am amazed. Your delivery just makes it all sound so amazing. You remind me of my cousin Andrea. This reminds me of the weaknesses I created for Fairens. #1 is that their muscles are very weak, and don’t grow much at all. They have certain physical things that they do, and no more, like taking seven walks every day, and making journeys to the grand hall. The Fairens don’t like the cavers/ cave Fairens. They also don’t respect the air Fairens much because everyone thinks they practice the old forbidden magic. There is no magic in Fairenland except Magic of the Dark One, which is looked down upon.
Anyway. Way to go on your world building!
Oh boy, you guys are making me so envious. Writes note to self – *create world of my own* Nods happily. 😀
I’m totally with you on that @bluejay A world of my own must be created fOR ME TO REIGN SUPREME… I mean for my characters to live in happily ever after, of course.
“Ferb, I know what we’re going to dotodaytonightover the next several months.”It is totally an excellent brain exercise, @bluejay. Do it. 😉
And thanks @levipierpont! That’s really cool— I hadn’t thought about giving them physical limitations that extend to the entire race. That’s really… I hadn’t thought about it. 😀
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