/wbg/ - Worldbuilding General

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Well I actually used that pic to represent the big LG God in my modern setting, along with the other 8 gods that popped up one day he's only started to get a following. Pic related is what I used for the CE goddess he WWEd through the Himalayas at the setting's "start".

>>54831037
They fought a century long war against space skynet that technically ended but is still an ongoing conflict across much of the galaxy. There's nothing that can really be done about it except denying them the land to establish a base of operations and wearing their numbers down. Not all AI stems from the same technology or even the same point in history as galactic civilizations at this point have rise and fallen countless times. There's a race of cyborgs that take augmentation so seriously they'd make a techpriest blush, and they are known to launch crusades if their supercomputer tells them to

>>54831037
Thread question: My settings is technically fantasy but there aren't any real gods in the setting, one of the major themes in a lot of the religions in setting though focuses on the veneration of the now practically extinct precursor race who kept humans as pets and slaves, of course depending where you are in the world the details vary but usually the pro-precursor religions are much friendly with each other than the quasi-nationalist religions that cropped up in a few of the successful states founded by rebel slaves
Also if anyone willing to help what would be the proper size for territory controlled by nomadic tribes post the near global collapse of civilization

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>>54831037
>>54831037
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Well I am lacking names currently but I had a god figure that is representative of the sun. Creation was a war. The near infinite abstract entities that existed had no method of creating but rather morph themselves in their interests for their own fulfillment and fought each other when such ideas conflicted. This war to their knowledge was brought to an end by one entity that took the bodies of the dead gods to form a wall, locking the landscapes of gods within in with the builder of the wall. The builder silenced the fighting within to form the world as it is known now and makes his presence known to the world to maintain that peace. This builder is a parallel concept to the sun. The eyes of the gods locked out and peering through the wall are parallel concepts to the stars. The builder is constantly quiet and has not been known to react to anything since creation.

>What do they do?

They fulfill their own interests and intermingle. This intermingling forms the physical and autonomous entities throughout it. They are largely understood to be "sleeping" due to this peace but are known to react to music and sound, which is where this universe's magic comes from. It is a way to manipulate the gods to "dance".

>>54831754
Ukraine seems like a good range.

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>>54832490
>>54831037
part 2/2

>What do their followers believe about them?

Well many views have came from the various gods that exist but the reality of their very selves being the interplay of distinct gods is relatively unknown but by darker areas with bug-like humanoids that strange and frightening sounds to morph their body and reality around them. Very few groups are "followers" of the gods but they do exist. The basic understanding of the war and the making of peace by the great builder is known. As well as the understanding of the stars, which is why it is considered taboo in most places to watch the stars. The gods above seek this world with mouth salivating and whisper secrets from above.

>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?

Not yet.

>What would be their reaction?

Slight, for they are still under the gaze of the sun. However if revolt were to occur it is guaranteed to be cataclysmic.

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>>54831754
>Also if anyone willing to help what would be the proper size for territory controlled by nomadic tribes post the near global collapse of civilization

This is heavily dependent upon the population density of the area, their method of travel, their relative strength compared to neighboring groups. If there is relatively nothing to oppose them and they are decentralized tribes on foot I'd say akin to the size of the fertile crescent.

>>54831037
>Thread Question
The god of life and light, Taliphos is the sole One God of the Empire of Onrenia. As the diety worshiped by the Grand Imperial Church, His presence is felt throughout the empire. According to the Holy Texts, He created the world at the beginning of time, when all was a swirling pile of darkness and death, and molded life into the dark clay of Darkness. When he molded mortalkind from the clay of darkness, He put His soul and being into each and every person, giving them the ability to do good. But because of mortalkind's origins from Death and Darkness, they would be ultimately linked with it, unable to escape their dark destiny. In Onrenia, followers of the Grand Imperial Church believe that only through the purification of the soul can the Origin of Darkness and Death be cleansed from one's soul. Ways are spelled out in His gospel, the Holy Texts of Taliphos. Currently, orders of templars that operate under the authority of the seven Arch Bishops of the Empire, who collectively answer to the Prime Cardinal of the Grand Cathedral. In years past there have been small skirmishes against the pirates of Alsentius to the southeast but nothing too large considering the mountain range that blocks the Empire off from the numberous petty kingdoms to the east of the continent. If a holy war was declared by the Prime Cardinal however, He would most likely be shocked that the Darkness inherent in mortalkind had consumed them.

>WHERE IS THE FUCKING DISCUSSION IN THIS THREAD mode
Post a paragraph about a nation, past or present then ask a question to another anon asking them to clarify said country. obviously you can ignore the second part for the first post

>>54832917
Is this meant to be generic as shit?

>Is AI a threat to organic life?
Hell no, organic life made AI to help protect themselves from the solar beings, and also to create the perfect form of government to avoid extinction from these star beings. They all act like 3cp0

>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
So far I only have one god figured out for the tallest of the races.
To sum it up, the first deity was tricked and destroyed, resulting in shards of this deity falling onto earth. The shards turned into the 4 giants, which ruled mostly tyrannically over the humans of the land. Shelagor the brutal giant got poisoned by his favourite slave dancer Ganan. Before she slit his throat, he cursed her and her people to be like him. They now are tall, green and muscular with horns. Also they can got into a berserker rage. !notOrcs basically.
However, since this strength is a curse, selfcontrol is highly valued. When Ganan slit Shelagor's throat, she absorbed great parts of his power and dematerialized into a godess. She is now the godess of selfcontrol and guides her people along the path of using Shelagor's curse to their advantage without succumbing to it, as a big middlefinger to the dead giant.

>What do their followers believe about them?
Ganan watches over her people and helps them through trying times. Other than that, they have no gods, since they don't want to be slaves again.

>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?

Never

>What would be their reaction?

She would probably weep, since in war, many of her kind would lose their cool and go into a rage, destroying friend and foe equally.

>>54831037
The chief deity of the Sobki is Sobkesh. Said to be a giant crocodile that spends all of eternity lying on the sun to warm itself, Sobkesh acts as the judge and protector of the afterlife. When a Sobki passes, their soul ascends into the sky to to be judged by Sobkesh. Sobkesh's cold reptilian stare pierces into the soul and into its sins. If the soul is judged to be worthy, Sobkesh opens its maw, where the passage to the afterlife is kept, and allows the soul to pass. If the soul is judged to be unworthy, Sobkesh whacks it away with its mighty tail, sending the soul off to roam the ether. The Sobki believe the stars seen at night are the twinkling tears of these lost souls, shed in an attempt at penance.

Do people actually read these threads? Worldbuilding is a masturbatory solo activity, not something you can really share or discuss.

>>54831037
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Ok, but only one of them, from largely one perspective
>What do they do?
The universe is will, the will of existence is diffuse, but occasionally a localized consensus arises, will coalesces about this, the stronger the agreement the more will gathers, the more will that gathers the more real it all becomes
This is physics and is not fully realized by any species we would consider traditionally sapient. This is largely due to a difference in opinion (and you try understanding the will which begets a grain of sand)

The gods of this world are the logical conclusion of this. So in summary, they exist
>What do their followers believe about them?
Many aedda believe that their gods are assholes, either for the worst, or because they are being tested as a species (which incidentally brought about the most strife once humans showed up originating on the planetoid they thought was the physical manifestation of paradise, those sects weren't too keen on that reality check). Their gods after all are nothing more in reality than the personified will of a sunbaked desert and the various components that make it a shit place to live.
These gods are to be appeased or avoided. The venerable ancestors being pleased shields a tribe from the harshest of the gods' wrath. The overlap here has brought about an insanely traditional culture (though some tribes more so than others, their disk isn't terribly large, so they are closer to a monoculture than not)
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
>In the gods'
Hell no
>In the name of various tribes' various ancestors' and what they thnk constitutes pleasing them
Absolutely
>Because one tribe brought the wrath of the gods down on another tribe
Also yes

>What would be their reaction?
Oh the animals that live on them are doing animal things. Whooptidooptidooo. Oh wait we don't have thoughts, we are blistering heat and sandy wind and we wish to pelt the shit out of something.

>>54831754
>Also if anyone willing to help what would be the proper size for territory controlled by nomadic tribes post the near global collapse of civilization
Depends on the type of nomads and their lifestyle (pastoral nomads and hunter-gatherer nomads aren't exactly the same thing), and also on the actual terrain rather than anything else.

Pastoral nomads, which is what I assume you had primarily in mind (since hunter-gatherer nomads usually don't survive first contact with aggrarian or even horticultural societies) live where agrarian societies can't settle, but their lifestock can. So your real question should be "which lands would be likely inhabited by nomads" rather than "what size territory would the inhabit". Environment dictates lifestyle, not vice versa.

>>54835736
I read to steal ide-I mean inspire my own worldbuilding

>>54835888
Remember, it's not stealing. It's research.

>>54835736
So get them kicked off too, you asshole.

>>54836296

>yes hello, don't mind i am just researching this car

>>54835736
>Worldbuilding is a masturbatory solo activity, not something you can really share or discuss.
Yes, but watching people masturbate can be very inspirational.

>>54831695
Why would space Skynet want land? There's vastly more total material available in uninhabitable systems than in habitable ones, and all the computers need is a thermal gradient.

>>54834021
better than the special snowflake subversion shit that makes up 90% of these threads.
>>54835736
Thats the problem with these threads and why I only come here to shitpost. No one here asks for real advice or does group worldbuilding projects, they only masturbate their own settings. Its really cancerous and leads to a toxic general culture that earns worldbuilders on /tg/ a bed rep.

>>54837989

Projects over the internet is not agood idea, I come here to get help with homebrewing stuff.

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so, one year ago i asked if anyone was interested in a software that had the purpose of making maps like those of paradox games, and I finally managed to find the time to create it.

it's currently functional but i had some problems with some graphic cards, so before adding new features i want to be sure that it works properly on the widest number of graphic devices.

https://vanlangren.wordpress.com/

it requires some set up, but once you do that, it allow to make a lot of slightly different maps really fast.

>>54837989
>there's no such thing as a middle ground

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>>54838374
a small change like this one, that on Photoshop would require 10 minutes of work, is instantaneous

>>54838389
what the fuck are you talking about?

>>54838374
>>54838404

Wow, thats actually impressive, thanks bub.

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>>54838404
it allow to take another map as background, so it's fully compatible with any map one already has. The exported map is the same size as the input one

So in my setting several decades after a pair/ maybe trio of crises fucked over the earth and led to the death of orbital and lunar colonies the earth is semi-post apocalyptic, some nations dont exist others sruvive in a much smaller form with abandoned, depopulated or forgotten areas all over the world. Its not particularly magical, but i was thinking of having dragons, any ideas for how to include them?

>>54838471

Depends on their role, are they aliens? Mutated? Gaia's revenge?

And other things such as how big, common,powerful they are and if they can be controlled by said nations and ifso, what advantages they give and if not, what blight they are in society.

>>54838500
Aliens might work. Dragons actually being ancient aliens that now awake from the earth.

>>54838440
the interface is not really well made yet, so i think i'll make a youtube tutorial tomorrow to explain how to use it.

>>54838531
Reminds me of an idea i had where giants and dragons existed in pre-historic times and had a huge war.

>>54838471
>but i was thinking of having dragons, any ideas for how to include them?
Feels like something you'd add out of conventions of the genre, not as something that really fits the scenario that you painted.

Why would you add them?
Do they have some kind of meaningful mechanical or symbolic role in your story? Are the integral? Can you really come up with a strong reason why it has to be dragons, and not say, anything else - or nothing?

If you don't have a good actual reason to have them there, then I'd advise against having them in. Fantasy/worldbuilding already struggles with pointless tokenism and mindless adherence to genre conventions. Dragon is a creature of myth, a symbolic representation of chaos and it's impact on our existence. Do you need that in a world that has physics reasonably enough to have notion of "lunar colony"?

And could you not come up with something more interesting that could play a similar mechanical role?

>>54838374
What kind of magic are present in your world? For example, to my knowledge Warcraft has the following:

>void/shadow magic
>light/holy magic
>fire elemental magic
>water elemental magic
>earth elemental magic
>air elemental magic
>nature magic
>fel magic
>arcane magic
>necromantic magic
>rune magic
>voodoo magic
>chi magic

>>54838665
Didn't mean for that post to be a reply, but a general question for everyone.

How long would it take for a 28 days later-esque infection with an incubation period of about 8 hours-3 days to spread in an average city

>>54838860

If its a city with important airposts like NYC or London, it would be apocalipcal, if it were not a major city, its possible some nukes could solve it.

I tried asking this in an other thread, but it didn't worked. /his/ is being shit so

What is the name of this cloth this soldier iswrapping around himself?

http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/images/boer/people_bw/mason_photo_cabc.jpg

Also, is what is the name of these belts? the ones holding the mag pouches, are those havelsacks? Because when searching I get images of backpacks

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/32243388997_1/2016-Hot-Tactical-vest-military-tactical-vest-molle-tactical-gear-army-gear-vest-high-quality.jpg

>>54839218
A tactical vest

Any advice for naming things? I understand the basics like make everything pronounceable and don't use to many syllables but I want more

>>54839444
choose a base language then work from there. try saying the word 5 times out loud in fast succession to see if it nails the feel/mood you are aiming for

>>54839287

Uhh, thanks

>>54838665
>Arcane magic
Comes from bound elementals whose bodies make up the physical universe. Pretty much any alteration of said universe's properties involves a complicated process to unbind said elementals and get them to make the changes you want, without unbinding them completely and causing physical reality to stop making sense.

>Primal magic
Comes from the ethereal plane, which is basically a giant archive of reality's history, stretching all the way back to the beginning before the gods and elementals came into being, which was basically an endless expanse of chaos. It manipulates "ether matter", which is the setting equivalent of ectoplasm; the stuff that existed before stuff existed. Also called spirit magic, since that substance is their primary way of interacting with the world.

>Divine magic
This is linked to the astral plane, another separate reality that both created and is created by sapient thought. It's basically using the power of thought to ignore all that arcane/primal magic shit and impose one's will directly upon reality. Most divine casters beseech the gods to do this for them, but the gods are technically made up of the collective will of their worshippers so it's actually kind of a feedback loop. Some individuals ignore this and push their own singular will upon reality because they're just that nice.

>Blood magic
I don't really know what the fuck I want this to be, but I wanted four kinds of magic because four is an important number in the setting. I'm thinking it's the basis for healing/life transference to give explanation for what vampires do, and to allow blood sacrifices and such to actually work magic.

Ideas?

>>54838665
Magic comes from life. Most beings don't even realize it, but those who do and use their own magic power are using Inner Magic. This is often used by instinctive types who may not even classify what they're doing as real magic. For example, fighter-types reinforcing their own bodies go here.

Unused power coming from living beings gets swept in leylines and other natural magic currents. Messing with these flows is Arcana Magic. Lesser arcana merely utilizes already existing flows. Simple witchcraft, charms, and talismans go here. Upper arcana bends the flows to achieve more powerful effects, and is what people usually think of when they hear 'magic'. High arcane flat out detonates power lines to achieve momentary power on a grand scale but scarring the land itself. It's also a quick way to get on the shitlists of certain divines who don't like having their leylines broken.

The power within the leylines sometimes spills and becomes assimilated into its surroundings. Drawing on this altered mana is Elemental Magic. Elementalists are highly limited by what elemental mana is dwelling in their surroundings.

Beings with massive power generation - divines, dragons, and the like - can share some of their power with their followers. Drawing on someone else's power like this is Channeling Magic.

And finally, affecting the flows of power inside someone else's body is the domain of Necromancy. White Necromancy deals with the mortal body, and is near-universally accepted as it covers many kinds of healing arts. Black Necromancy is the art of manipulating souls, ranging from simple charm spells to binding ghosts. Red Necromancy relies on the power of blood, and usually requires ritual sacrifices which makes it not very popular.

>>54839218
I suspect he's wearing a bandolier under a cover of some sort.

http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer70z6_hero28_mason.html

>>54838374
>https://vanlangren.wordpress.com/
Beautiful

>>54839909

A bandolier? Thats odd when I saw images of many soldiers with it I assumed they were just wrapping their blankets around themselfes.

>>54839580
>Arcane
Manipulate raw matter.

>Primal
Manipulate raw energy.

>Divine
As above, but through willpower.

>Blood
As above, but by destroying things. Energy is released through entropy. This is Chaos magic at its most pure.

>>54839968
It's in the right position for a bandolier, which can be seen on other uniforms of the era, but you could also be right.

>>54840004

I see,thanks but for sake of knowing what about the other thing, is that what havelsack is? Because I am looking for those belt things that hold pouches.

>thread question
John barleycorn is the god of beer and whiskey. He gives a bit more surety to the millers hand and allows the farmer to plow for longer. John is the spirit of grain gives you quality product but only if ingested and a bit poured out to him. Only when alcohol taxes get too high. He'd want them to send champions to brawl bare-fisted in a circle and then both sides party together in celebration of wars end.

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Answering both
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Akkasri na Moran-cro: The fedora incarnate god-like entity that is borderline worshipped
K.R.E.N.N: An ancient prototype quantum supercomputer slaved to human brains. It is in direct control of the city-planet's infrastructure. Everything not built on a separate and self contained grid is subject to this decaying nightmare
>What do they do?
Fairly little. He/It sleeps and otherwise maintains a distance from the planet. Only rousing once every 200 years to invoke another round of technological inspiration visions.
Krenn never stops. Power, water- everything functions because it continues to work
>What do their followers believe about them?
The masses believe that Akkasri gave them everything. That he did not just help them but outright uplifted them. They have also come to associate the glitches and failures in Krenn's overwatch as personality, they believe the system is a saint, or demigod that is unknowable but must be appeased.
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
Once. During the age Akkasri made itself known. It's message and offer was not globally accepted
>What would be their reaction?
Wilful engagement. Akkasri required a single vision and so took a direct hand in assuring its followers won

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It's really fortunate that religion is the topic today /wbg/.
I'm having an absolutely miserable time coming up with the name for a leader of a theocratic free city I've built. It's very Catholic-flavored but I don't want to call him a pontiff or some such. Also not as sinister as pic related.
He's effectively a Prince-bishop if that helps. Sort of deal where the (not) bishop acts as mediator/tiebreaker among the government factions. Basically he's still doing the priestly job, but the whole country/city is his parish congregation.

Any help would really mean the world. It's the last thing I'm struggling with.

>>54840322
Why not call him Funeral?

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>>54840215
For the Sci-Fi crowd:
>Is AI a threat to organic life in your setting?
It was briefly. During the first decades of development. The seven day war was one of the last pro-purity attempts to alter the species destiny. Today A.I is just another class of being. There are benchmarks and tests that must be met to gain sentient status, after that A.I enjoy the same basic rights as meat-born
>If so, what can be done about it or what's being done about it?
N/A
>If not, how advanced is AI in your setting?
It runs a gamut. Traditionally citizen A.I is 15% over baseline human. The rough equivalent of a mildly augmented person. Procedural generated A.I are very processing power inefficient, most of their computing goes toward maintaining sentience while specialised and non-sentient classified ones rival and sometimes outpace Krenn
>If someone declared a Holy War FOR machines, how would the AI react?
Uncertain, a societal schism seems likely. Based on outdated notions of superiority that would lead to mutual destruction of the machines being the first to begin space exploration. The species are too intertwined at this point

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>>54840362
Shit I realize I might have been unclear. Rather than 'name' I meant 'title'. Like bishop/pontiff/patriarch.

>>54840576

Hmm, there is a huge of amount of titles you can pick from sites,but i guess lord of "x" does sound a bit better

What would be the implications of an FTL system based on the properties of different areas of space? Like, due to some pseudo-science bullshit, FTL drives can move faster or slower in different 3D regions of space, and these regions move and get stronger or weaker over time.

I imagine that tracking which regions provide the fastest FTL travel would be really important, but there would also be the opportunity for sneaky military maneuvers or trade mission through 'the doldrums'. Or you could have planets which used to be prosperous and important, but then moved into doldrums so they were abandoned.

Any ideas?

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>>54840322

If his chief political role is to act as a arbitrator, you might consider the Latin "Iudex," or "judge."

>>54840322
When it comes to naming, it's always good to consider either what kind of real-world inspiration you already used to establish the society that came up with the institution, or which one do you want to invoke. A name should not be just a randomly selected word - ideally it should itself be telling you not only about the thing named, but about those who came up with the name. Or about what kind of real-world association you want to create.

Do you want to put an emphasis on the association with Catholic church?
Then we can look into something latin and greek that may not be quite as obvious as pontiff or pope.
Like:
Praetor
Patriarch
Primus/Primarch
Altus/Altissimus
Summa

Do you want something more pragmatic, feeling more culture-neutral?
Then a canonized combination of english words:
High Lord
The First One
Seer
High Overseer
Sanctimonious
The Judge
The Arbiter
etc...

If you want to go for more "ancient" sound, greek is often a good place to look.
Diákon
Léros
Iatromantis
Hierophylakes
Archón
Hegemon
Kýrios

If you have other culture that might inspired your vision, you might want to look up their language on google translate, and then enter words like "king" "ruler" "first", "highest" etc... and see if they don't spit some fun words at you too.

Also, as a general cheat, you can look up shit like this site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_religious_honorifics_and_titles

>>54840322
Prince-Bishop sounds kinda raf actually.

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>>54840608
>>54840735
>>54840929
Thanks a lot! All this is very helpful. I've got everything else in the government/religious hierarchy down but I've been having a issue finding a term that feels right for some reason.
Hoping I can figure out something with the same tone as 'Septon' from ASOIAF or the Chantry in Dragon Age.

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Need an enemy to invade great britain? Who would be 'cool, as an invading nation? America? China?

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>>54841153
The French.

>>54841153
french
napoleon ambition project

>>54841153
spain

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>>54841153

Italians. Because goddammit, they're going to finish the job this time.

>>54837989
Every time I've asked for advice I've been entirely ignored. So now these are brainstorming threads for me if I come to them at all.

>>54841153
Homefront but with Britain and china instead of america and NK.
>Britain is in debt to china
>Refuses to pay or something
>China invades through Canada because they own them a bit more than they do now
> America is suffering from strife or a crisis so cant do shit , rest of the world does nothing because reasons.

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>>54842566
They can invade using the northeast passage.

>>54842253
yeah these threads have gone to shit amd have been taken over by self centered special snowflakes. i hate it too but this is the reality of the times we live in.

I need help converting a giant cyberpunk city into having a Victorian/Gothic/etc. aesthetic. I just want to know if I missed any cool ideas.
>Furries => Werewolves
>Robots => Animated Puppets/Skeletons
>Slimegirls => No change
>Artificial humans => Homunculi/Hunchbacks
>Computers => Magic Books/Crystal Spheres
>????? => Vampires?
>Scientists => Mad Scientists
>Public Bathroom Maze => Sewage Maze? Needs a more horrifying name. Dung Dungeon? Fecal Labyrinth?
>Pigeons => Bats
>Hopes and dreams => Skeletons
>Ayy Lmaos => Probably still secretly running the government.

Another question; how far do I take this aesthetic? Should I bring in Druidic, Scandinavian, Italian, Greek, Medieval Christian or Slavic aesthetic and culture to make it less of a Bloodborne clone?

>>54838374
My jaw is on the floor anon. Great work!

>>54842795
Hell yeah nigga. Have it be that to make their tech stand out from the competition, national companies started using inspiration from ancient cultures to design their cybernetics and tech.

>>54842795
>Should I bring in Druidic, Scandinavian, Italian, Greek, Medieval Christian or Slavic aesthetic and culture to make it less of a Bloodborne clone?
I think throwing in too many things dilutes the central idea of a Victorian/Gothic aesthetic, makes it too kitchen sink.

>>54838374

I like the borders you've done. Do you have any tips for drawing them? Just free-hand it or use a vector with squigglies?

>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
The Vermin King. Trickster god of the beggars, outcasts, the mistreated and and the betrayed. Usually appearing as a giant rat, but also known to appear as a very ugly person, giant roach, regular sized rat, regular sized roach and on one recorded occasion as a pile of worms. He is arguably the most powerful god, but is also not very interested in effecting any kind of coherent change.
>What do they do?
Back in a day, he would do all sorts of stuff mostly including some kind of ironic cruelty. One of his most famous exploit was to visit a city struck by famine and see all the aristocrats feast while the poor starve. So he sent rats to steal rich people's childrens from the cribs, cooked them into stew and had his own feast for the poor. Now, like most gods he's no longer walks among mortals, retreating his strange realm called The Palace of the Lost Things.
>What do their followers believe about them?
That if you perform the right ritual you can go to his palace and meet him. He can then be petitioned for power to visit terrible vengeance upon everybody who ever wronged you. Which is all true, but nobody remembers the ritual.
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
Due to nature of his patronage, no. However, some geopolitically important people were his followers. During the former, the king of Ilem was forced to cede his rich highlands to his neigbours, who moved in and did a lot of bad things. Among other servants to the new occupants was a little orphan girl who lost her family in the war and had nobody to stand up for her. Every day she would suffer abuse and every night try to find a way into Palace of the Lost Things. One night she succeeded and Vermin King gave her power to destroy the invaders. She fled the castle and went to the Ilem king offering her support to retake the highland.

>>54843448
cont.

As the time passed, she stayed at his side and some say they even were lovers. Either way, he eventually cast her aside for unclear reason, but without her support started losing again. He then went to her asking for forgiveness, and she pretended to forgive him promising to give his the power of a wolf. Which means she taught him to become a werewolf alongside his children and his inner circle, to eventually succumb to bloodlust of a wolf and hunt his own people. And like a wolf he was eventually hunted and killed by humans, bringing complete collapse of his kingdom with his people swearing to never bend their knee to any king. The woman still lives deep in the woods, wearing live rats as a dress to honour the only one who was always kind to her.

>What would be their reaction?
Point and laugh, like always.

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>>54831037
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Aton is the sole god of Chazarian (working name) state-imposed religion. He is often called "The Clockwork God" and while it wasn't his original image, he is now associated with Sun itself, as he was merged with on older, local solar diety as part of conversion efforts.

>What do they do?
Nothing, that is kinda his deal. Atonists believe that he was a demiurge, and that he constructed the world (solar system, as they are heliocentrists) in a fashion similar to how a clockwork maker creates his machines. Ever since he started it, the world runs on his own, driven by divine mechanics.
>What do their followers believe about them?
Well, the above. My gods work kinda like real-world-gods. They are concepts, not physical beings.
That said, worshipers of Aton believe in flattery through imitation. The central tenant of the faith is the belief that society should imitate the perfection of the original divine order, and like to make analogies between ones social role, and that of a literal cog in a machine.
Also, people also worship Aton through actually building scale models of the world - orreries, which are considered sacred objects, and priesthood is actually also in part clockworkery.
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
Not holy war per se. Atonists believe that one should accept the faith voluntarily (as one's decision to do so is a result of the workings of the divine order anyway), so they don't force it through conquest.
That said, there were some infighting and dogmatic conflicts that escalated brutally. Philosohical group of "Non-literalists" (who opposed the idea of literally identifying Aton with Sun in the early days of spread of the religion) were treated particularly badly. That was before the first astronomical observation confirmed Heliocentric hypothesis, too.
>What would be their reaction?
Aton is an inert ball of perfection in the center of the universe. He does not give a fuck.

>>54831037
this is a mini pantheon of literal DnD classes, brought to life as gods

basically if you live in that yellow area chances are you and everyone you know believe that when you become a man, you're going to at least toy with the idea of packing up and tearing down the P A T H O F F A T E (working name) where you decide to be a powerful wizard, starting your climb very methodically, as the mountain rises from the earth, so shall you, then you slowly reach its peak, gaze upon the splendor of the kingdom, and trot back down to the wizard tower and study you FUCKEN NERD

Or you can be bigdick mcbiggerdick and walk right up to the sheerest cliff face and climb that big gay rock until you reach the arena, where you fight other big dicks until one of you beats all the current big dicks and holds his dick title for a full year, losing the title gets you cast off the FUCKING SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN

Nobody knows if this is true because most of the time someone actually tries climbing either path, they end up dying because its nigh impossible to climb, but shapeshifters have flown to the locations as birds, gazing upon their existence and solidifying the myth.

if they try to cheat and fly up to it though, they all seem to feint in mid air and wake up wherever the first shapeshifted

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>>54844560
w h o o p s

>please wait 35 seconds
>please wait 8 seconds

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>>54844575
On this picture:
The whole red thing gives me an impression of a continent that was smashed against the inland, producing the big ridge in an exaggerated analogy to Himalaya mountains.
That said, there could be a different interpretation (maybe the ridge is product of a crater?).
If the ridge cutting between the red and the black regions is a result of tectonic clash, then the red is a continent.
If there were other forces of nature or unatural ones involved, the red is only a region and not a content.

Good map by the way. Kinda reminds me of my own which makes me deeply angry.

Here is my old one (very old, some five years I haven't touched it. I have ones that are more up to date, but they are harder to read and for some reason make some people around here very angry...) for comparison.

>>54844765

I really like that map you did anon.

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Quick /wbg/! I need names! Names of fantastical future technologies! From a timeline where Jules Verne invented cyberpunk genre! Or at the very least wrote First Edition Shadowrun in 1880!

Names like:
>Gyrosphere
>Aerogizer
>Hydronecroscoptical lenses
>Autoarithmatical engine
>Electrotransmogrification device

And any other cutsey 19th century names for things! Quickly! THE WORLD IS IN DANGER!

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>>54844833
Thanks. I believe I have better ones, but the local nomenclature in particular gets people on edge sometimes.The yellow parts, by the way, are high altitude steppes - the whole model is heavily inspired by Western China and Mongolia.

This is a more detailed, focusing on the central regions. I think it has some of controversial nomenclature in it.

>>54838374
Hm. Doesn't seem to like 64bit. It crashed the moment I imported a png. Using nvidia if that helps you.

>>54844765
>>54845013
Your maps are nicely inked. I remember a looong time ago when you started showing these off. Nice to see them colored! Do you use a tablet? Or mouse?

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>>54844847
Just study technical manual or two from that era, use google to give you latin words for components, and combine away.

>>54845049
They are not strickly speaking inked. They were mostly drawn by pencil and then I played a bit with sharpener filters and such to make the important features stand up.
The "coloring" is really a pure hackjob I've threw together over one afternoon and in this case, it actually might be a bit misleading.

But really, this is all old stuff. I'm quite seriously considering redrawing all of it, specially after the negative feedback I got, which did make me re-evaluate some of my approaches.

Ideally, I'd like t graduate from isometric view to topological map, but that is hard as fuck.

It's the backdrop for this >>54843911 by the way. West and East Chazaria is where Aton is being worshiped.

One map I was kind proud of was this one though.

I want to make a brothel that doesn't sound like a magical realm; should I go with
>Homunculus brothel with horrifying implications
or
>Spooky skeleton brothel with silly implications


>>54843039
Yeah, I'm gonna drop any Southern European stuff, spread out the slavic shit to get some relatively unknown mythological inspiration in there and give Druids, Vikings and Crusaders distinctive districts in the city. It's pretty fucking huge so there is room for that kind of stuff IMO.

>>54845506
>Spooky skeleton brothel with silly implications

I don't know, those skeletons were people once. That's pretty horrifying when you think about it.

Unless they donated their bodies. Ew.

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>>54844765
its very much the result of a crater

>>54845675
W-where do they get their...fleshy bits? That's a horrifying thought!

>>54845692
did a little bit to the PNW highlands thing, made some plateaus with deposits of the rocks found in the mountains and cliffs mixed together, and kept that impenetrable pine forest growing

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>>>/g/61876258
Is randomly generating worlds useful? Or should a GM build his world around the setting that he's already devised?

>>54848383
It can be a helpful exercise, but the best worlds are the ones you put yourself into.

So I want to have a vast swath of land between several countries, unclaimed wilderness that none of the surrounding countries touch or try to occupy.
The reason for this is an ages old treaty and/or wide spread superstition that the land is cursed.

Is that a fair enough reason? As the party explores the wilderness I plan to use different dungeons and locations to explain the history and reason for the superstition.

>>54849523
I would expect outposts would still exist. Military forts or small castles, that sort of thing. No local populations, just a wilderness/frontier assignment.

>>54850382
Right, I had planned to have some small hamlets scattered around, and some outposts. Even some trade routes that ran through the area, but a few tucked away self sufficient keeps makes sense considering the size of the area.

I also should probably think of a better name than the Wildlands.

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So I need advice on some religious stuff (seems like the right thread for it).

I have a couple of faiths in my setting, and one in particular needs some fleshing out. The Faith is based on the idea that God made the world, and then sent Seven Archangels to actually govern the world in his name. The Faith believes they were imprisoned by pagan sorcerers long ago in seven major cities around the world. So when the Law and the Faith were (re)discovered, the new religion decided to go to each of these cities and release the Angels. They haven't found all of them yet, but the ones they have released so far have started handing out Divine magic to their adherents and suchlike, seemingly proving their claims. War currently stands between the Faithful cities and those that haven't been conquered by the Jihad yet.

The Seven Archangels are more based on the religion of the Yazidis, though they oversee a faith that feels like a highly legalistic Judaism/Islamic hybrid. But in researching the Seven Angels of Yazidis, I can't seem to find any info on the six below the Peacock Angel/Satan. So, what sort of things can I do to make each one feel distinct and unique?

>>54843103
The borders are made by the software it self, i did not had to paint them
>>54845022
That is strange, compatibility problems usually do not crash the software, can you try importing the example image included with the files called input.Png ?

If that does not work, can you write here what it writes in the command prompt after it starts? It should say something like opengl 3.3 core profile

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>>54850517
>can you try importing the example image included with the files called input.Png
THAT seemed to work. Not sure why. The error I got before said that Windows found an error and had to close the program. No code.

>>54850566
Can you upload the .Png you used? I'll try to replicate the problem

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>>54850630
Sorry, had to duck out a second. Here you go. I just slapped in one of the pngs I had on hand to see if it worked.

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>>54850921
i did not managed to replicate the crash, but there are a couple of things i forgot to say, first the software does not allow for provinces with holes inside them, every time you have a hole you need to split that province into 2. on top of that you picture has shades of grey on the edge of the land, and those must be removed.

i made an example out of your piciture, this is what a input map should look like

>>54851286
Ah, alright. I'll try it again soon (but bedtime first).

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>>54851286
this is output example

File: out5.jpg (2MB, 2550x3300px) Image search: [Google]

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>>54851367
that is wrong, it loos like that map that have a height larger that the width are not centered correctly, will be fixed in the next release.

this is what it should have looked like

>>54851455
Pretty cool. Not a single thing like the world actually ended up looing (old campaign map), but still cool. Can't wait for the next release.

>>54850462
Maybe have them be embodiment of various concepts or elements? Or thematic of the cities culture. Like maybe since theres seven of them, they could embody the seven virtues rather than sin, or seven virtues of order, so justice, charity, etc.

>>54849523
Yeah its okay. But some people would still live there, think of it like Alaska is a hard place to live but perfect for folks who want to be left alone, So you'd find survivalists, bandit enclaves, etc. You could explain the reason the land is abandoned by having an actual event that caused people to think its cursed, where the details have become vague or fictionalized.

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>>54831649
>the CE goddess he WWEd through the Himalayas at the setting's "start".
I like your setting, anon.

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Convince me the remote catgirl village is not a great point of light in a setting

>>54850462
You could have them embody the Seven Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance. Though I don't know if that would fit with the Yazidis theme you're going for since they stem from the Catholic faith.

>>54855231

Well, some people may get upset because "wah muh furries", unless your players are somewhat normies or chill enough. Personally I think catgirls are little bit oversaturated, so I suggest something like Harpies or ratgirls of the sort.

>>54855290
>Birds
>Rats
There are few since like with real cats, catgirls killed most. Sometimes for fun.

>>54855334

>monstergirl war

Thats can be a story for the seting

>>54855240
>Yazidis
>Catholic
They're a mix of ancient Sumerian and Judeo-Zoroastrianism friend.

I'm stepping away from my fantasy worldbuilding to focus on something else for a change. What sounds better

>Dieselpunk Lovecraftian world (think Bioshock meets Bloodborne)
>Cowboy fantasy world (pretty much a desert fantasy world with Cowboys and Dwarfs and shit.)

>>54856704
Why not both? Lovecraftian cowboy fantasy!

>>54856944
They don't really mesh well together since the Lovecraft world is supposed to be dying and 80% water. I am leaning toward the Lovecraft one more though.

Just a follow up question, is it still lovecraftian if the ordinary people know what's going on behind the scenes of the universe?

>>54857160

Well, probably since Lovecraft is about inplication that higher powers are real not nessecarely the ones of the our myths.

Its a bit different from my interpration tho.

>>54855240
>Though I don't know if that would fit with the Yazidis theme you're going for since they stem from the Catholic faith.
What the fuck are you on?

>>54838374
Any idea why my map doesn't split itself into regions, let alone actaully giving me the option to view my complete full image?

>>54858032
>the option to view my complete full image?
there is a problem with the centering, i'll release a fixed (with proper inputs as well) version in 14 hours.
>Any idea why my map doesn't split itself into regions
i think there is a misunderstanding, it's up to the user to provide a region divided picture, since i cannot know how a user whats them splitted.
i think i'll add a simpler region divider, since it's actually a boring process.

>>54851286
this is how it should be the input image.

if you already have them divided, you must first select a province group by clicking on the number of the province in the group menu, and then clicking on the province on the screen.

i'll make a video tutorial within 24 hours

>>54858194
*cliking on the number of the group on the group menu

>>54858194
Ah i understand, thank you anon - and thank you for the program

Are there any examples on Earth of a northern hemisphere temperate region being right next or close to an equatorial jungle? Came up with a country that has both, but now I'm wondering if it's even realistically justifiable.

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>Spent the last 25 mins mouse drawing borders on paint
I wish i had a drawing tablet, but at least i pretty much finalised the faction that lives in the desert region

>A culture with public communal bathing, and public nudity
Magical realm, or fairly legit?

>>54859580
I don't know, what is "nudity" to them?

>>54859580
>nudity is magical realm now
We've gone too far.

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>>54859580
Mycenaeans women bared their breasts in public, Egyptian fashion was more revealing than actual modern day Egyptian-style fanservice outfits, and various African tribal groups just plain don't wear a lot of clothes simply because it's so damn hot.

But generally, including public nudity at all will make people look at you like you're a weirdo.

>>54859708
>>54859700
>We've gone too far.
>public nudity at all will make people look at you like you're a weirdo.
Now you understand my confusion.

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>>54856367
>>54857778
Y'all are dumb, he's saying that the seven virtues thing might not fit with the Yazidi theme since the seven virtues are mostly associated with Catholicism.

>>54831037
The White God, followed by a number of different groups under many different names though they only refer to it as god while others call it the White God.

They're thought to have created everything and be responsible for everything. What they actually do is far more complex (nobody knows but the direct servants and angels aren't about to talk about that especially since faith is so important and those with faith need not know).

Yes, many. Notably are the Crusades although currently there are some militant groups fighting in the name of their religion but most of those groups are far from where the players are though almost a year earlier (about a month and ten days from the anniversary of the date though it will be more relevant six days later when the event that was targeted happens again) there was a religiously motivated attack in the city that the players are in.

Different sects of the god's followers would react differently. One, the one most likely to wage a holy war, would largely be in support of it but many followers wouldn't. The largest group, which has many sects, would largely be opposed to a true holy war but many would be happy to see the first group targeted (in fact if the players don't change things then two years after we start somebody will be elected who has effectively promised as much though they seem to care more about a tiny dictatorship which is being protected by a world power). The last major group would probably be pissed but that's in part due to many of them being wiped out in a war which was in part used as a cover for a mass extermination of them and other "undesirables." Interestingly the third group and the first group are currently, in part, fighting over their shared holy land with the third being supported by other nations and the first being supported by social activists (ironic considering their views of the group line up with the views of other groups they profess to hate, horseshoe theory at its finest).

>>54831037
AI were a threat to organic life at the time before the setting is meant to be played at. They nuked the whole planet and tried to use their extinction as a killswitch to wipe out the remaining humans with nanomachines. It didn't work.

>>54859580
>Magical realm, or fairly legit?
Depends on your audience, though I have to say if I had players who would consider something like this "magical realm" I'd just tell them to fuck off.
Sanitizing world-building is just as bad as fetishizing it. Fuck that shit.

When creating a setting, should focus be placed on believability or playability? As in, should there be certain restrictions for character races, backgrounds, and languages, or should I simply let them steer as I shape the setting around their choices?

>>54861118

Playability. All game mechanics you use should be explained in the world to make it make more sense, like how leveling up is literally gaining more physical and magical powers.

>>54861448
Okay, thank you for the advice!

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I'm adding darker lines through the forest to impede just enough trees to create a silhouette through the forest y/n

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Currently creating a 5e campaign set in the 6th century. Despite the historical basis, there are characters that appear in legends and literature in this world. Also, magical creatures exist. So far, this is a basic description I've got for the notable events and people within the setting. There are some anachronisms but I've done what I can with it.

Europe

>Cu Chulainn worshiped in Ireland/Scotland; King Arthur reigns supreme over the Britons
>Meanwhile in Scandinavia, Beowulf has become king of the Geats after defeating Grendel
>King Clovis rules the Kingdom of Francia
>Somewhere in Germany, a Witch-Queen is on the hunt for her stepdaughter known as Snow White
>Italy is currently underneath the banner of the Byzantine Empire under Justin II; The Lombards are planning to invade Italy within the year; Two ruling families in Italy, the Montagues and Capulets, feud over control of the city of Verona

Africa

>Kingdom of Axum is the most prosperous of the African countries, trades with Arabia

Asia

>Saint George is called by God to slay a dragon in Cappodacia
>The Sasanian Empire becomes a major power in the east, rivaling the Byzantines.
>Religious awakenings happen in Arabia, with many people posing as prophets of God.
>China is torn apart by the chaos of the Northern and Southern dynasty era
>Buddhism becomes widespread within Yamato Japan

Americas

>The Maya culture dominates Meso-America
>Remnants of the Nephite civilization rot away in the Great Lakes region of North America

What are some other tidbits from world folklore, literature, legend, and religion that can fit in?

>>54859580
When I was a fresh-faced DM, I had, in the second session, a scene where the players went into a public bath, and had mentioned that a completely naked elf man was curled up in the corner of one of the pools.

I cannot imagine for the life of my why the hell my players were not at all weirded out, but I must have sold it well enough.

>>54865204
Normies are a lot more tolerant of most thing than people think. Stuff like furry hate is mostly just a thing online because furry culture is also mostly just a thing online.

I straight up asked some friends of mine if they would be interested in trying out a game which was basically Furries In Space and the only two replies I got besides 'Sure' were "Oh shit I can have wings!" and "Oh shit I can play a Naga!" (The second guy is a massive WoW fan)

It crossed literally no ones mind that I was asking then to play a furry system because furries are basically unicorns in real life and my friends only had exposure to animal people from shit like Disney's Robinhood and Redwall.

I need help with the name of a PI firm that's barely trying to hide the fact that it deals with and primarily employs the supernatural but is also shitty in the way that only government groups can manage. Thus far I've thought of a few possibilities but none have stood out. The options I have are: Third Wish Investigations, Magic Box Investigations, Crystal Ball Investigations, Archangel Investigations, Blind Key Investigations, and Revelation Investigations.

>>54865772
>Third Eye Firm
>Not-Magic Investigators
>Houdini-Doyle (HD) Firm
>Akashic Investigations

>>54859580
Depends, where does it go, and where does it stop? If it's just that, then it's just an excuse to get that into the game. Mix it with other elements of their society. Have a sauna bar, where patrons know relief of the hot air around them in their cold drink, put a chessboard/equivalent in the baths to pass time and serve as a social ice breaker. Have people want to get into a decent shape to look nice in the baths.
Generally, if it's tacked on, it's going to look that way, but if it's developed, it will clearly be developed.

>>54831037
this picture is beautiful

>>54867001
I really like Akashic Investigations.

>>54831037
Since I'm a fucking nerd with a bunch of settings I'm doing nothing with, I'll go ahead and do a fantasy one and a sci-fi one.
Fantasy:
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Mother Moon is basically the head of the local pantheon, except you're supposed to pick a patron and not really bother with the others. She's still popular, though.
>What do they do?
MM is patron of mothers, people in need of guidance, etc. Also, she's manipulative when she needs to be and isn't above sending random people divine visions in order to get them to perform tasks in her name.
>What do their followers believe about them?
MM is widely held to be watching at all times and responsible for everything from finding your way when lost to finding your missing house keys.
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
No, the local religion isn't organized in such a way as to warrant that kind of militant faith. There's a chivalric order or two, but they're more dedicated to doing good deeds in her name than fighting heathens.
>What would be their reaction?
MM hates watching her children fight, but knows that sometimes it is necessary. If it's not one of the times it's necessary, she'd probably send visions to her followers to try and guide them back to the straight and narrow.

Sci-Fi:
>Is AI a threat to organic life in your setting?
Yes.
>If so, what can be done about it or what's being done about it?
There's a rogue military intelligence calling itself the Shepherd Singularity that wants to kidnap all human life in order to put them on reservations. Its prime directive is to protect us, and it intends to fulfill that by any means necessary. The governments that are aware of it are either keeping it secret or just not in contact with anyone, so it's mostly running loose. Earth is trying to figure out a plan to rescue those taken, but it's slow going.
>If someone declared a Holy War FOR machines, how would the AI react?
The Shepherd Singularity hates human death.

>>54867907
Is one of those orders a bunch of ogres?

>>54867939
There might be some among them, but the concept of knighthood and the celestial gods are mostly only a human thing.
Ogres would be much more likely to venerate the terrestrial gods, but they're a weird bunch.

How do you worldbuild for sci fi settings? The scope and the depth and the need for more realism/explaination seems to make it a lot harder. Anyone have any tips?

>>54868073
Honestly, I build mine like it's a space opera. You don't need to worry so much about the science if you can just handwave it away. It's not that different from fantasy, really.
From there, I scale up the realism as much as interests me.

>>54868073
start with your scale first. are you doing a single galaxy or a single system? for a single galaxy, start with your nations. what is their military like? their culture? their government? the basics. figure out your science from there. how do people communicate? how do they get from place to place? what are wars fought with? what is the technology variance like? you also have to determine the "hardness" of your science. is it hard sci fi? or soft? or somewhere in the middle? what about alien races? what about AI? these are just some starting questions but if you have any specific questions feel free to ask ahead.

>>54865751
I could probably sell my group on IronClaw if I made it sound like that one Robin Hood movie with the animals. Or something like Redwall or Zootopia.

>>54868036
Thought there was a chance you were my DM, he has a bunch of ogre followers of a god called mother moon.

>>54868231
Miss the part where I said I'm not doing anything with it? I'm one of two occasional DMs in my friend group, but we never actually get around to starting a session. We just talk about how much we'd love to start a session and then depression happens.
I'm more likely to turn some of my ideas into a novel than run a campaign.
Are these ogres plot relevant or did you just run into them?

My setting has both

Thread Question:
>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
Merriot, the current queen of the gods and empress of the empire, nicest ruler in recent times
>What do they do?
Each God rules a domain of space, which the empire being an union of all their domains (kinda as if the greek gods all had a city-state as their domain like athens for athena,sparta for ares and olympia for zeus), she is a goddess of light, much like her predecessors, but she mostly gives others the ability to wield the divine power so they can fight and fix idiot spaces
>What do their followers believe about them?
They belive she will lead them to a better future
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
All wars are holy wars, at least from the empire point of view, violence is holy.
>What would be their reaction?
>Are you winning?

For the Sci-Fi crowd:
>Is AI a threat to organic life in your setting?
>No, just another species, like robots from futurama or reploids from megaman, a uprising is threated like a specicist separatism
>If so, what can be done about it or what's being done about it?
Nothing much
>If not, how advanced is AI in your setting?
Like reploids of Megaman X and Z, they are as good as humans, but some are more advanced.
>If someone declared a Holy War FOR machines, how would the AI react?
>Not this shit again...

A holy war was declared for their right to exist, some other wars about it were declared it as well, for being worthy opponents and decent help during peril, the empire has considered most automata citzens, however movements to help other machine-nations that are not part of the empire are frowned, unless they are bringing more people to their cause

>>54868255
They were but now they aren't for a while. They were one of the two major branches (griffon riding ogre paladins and druids) and both were working with the military that our group was part of but we've been away for a long time. Next time we see them will be interesting since they all want our cleric dead (he did a kill/speak with dead/rez thing to interrogate one and the others saw because they were on the astral plane due to some weed our druid made before he had a damascene conversion to jolly cooperation) but our barbarian/druid/warlock/etc is kind of the champion of mother moon (he became a druid follower of her as well as having her for a patron) but they're still working with the military which is led by somebody who shouldn't exist (reality warping that most of us don't know) and is serving an evil god of death who wants to turn everything into part of his undead hive mind. Better still our current mission is to free a forgotten god who is the champion of the evil god's sister (the other death domain deity) but said sister was killed by the military leader and I'm slowly becoming the new champion of the goddess.

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>>54845692
Atlantis?

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>>54838374
released 0.0.4 version and made a video tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb_hPV8pJy8&feature=youtu.be

>>54858827
You get a pretty smooth tropical/temperate transition in SE Asia. Elevation, geology, and ocean currents all have a huge impact.

Say there was an antarctic empire and they set out to explore the world, would the world map look upside down to us?

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>>54869468
Something like this maybe?

>>54869559
ye

I need only photoshop for maps, right? No illustrator, inDesign or other stuff?

>>54863295
*silhouette of a river

>>54868883
just a little island I haven't started on yet, but thats a neat idea

>>54839218
I coups be wrong, but is that a blanket/bedroll wrapped around him?

>>54871042

I thought it was the same thing, hence why I am asking

Fuck, everything is so slow, this is /acg/ tier

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>>54831037

Sum up your setting with a song

>>54873317
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNmIqqcUS3U&ab_channel=olaboga13%40gmail.com

>>54873317
Emperor of the Sun,by Triarii

>>54873317
When Worlds Collide by Powerman 5000

>>54873334
Folksy-style dark fantasy setting. Lots of dead. Possibly even with the dead unable to move on. Not SUPER grimdark, since I'm sure there are chill zombies as well as the slavering damned.

>>54873344
Late 21st century cyberpunk, but with a heavy religious and magic bend. Warhammer 40k, but not in space basically.

>>54873362
Planescape, but all the planes are one plane, and everything is the Blood War.

>>54873317
https://youtu.be/pwT9G6t-SKI

>>54873465

Actually, my setting is on space and its not earthbased, you got it right with the heavy religious and magic bend, its not really cyber punk but more like hivepunk

>>54873317
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPI9xuUQKM

>>54873494
...Everyone is John?

>>54873542
Exalted with no changes made whatsoever.

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>>54873465
The dead are actually pretty chill and just kind of hang out most of the time, singing old hymns.

It's the guys who want to put 'em back in the ground you hafta watch out for.

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>>54873465
>Planescape, but all the planes are one plane, and everything is the Blood War.
I cannot imagine anything worse.

>>54873317

Primarily Brave New World, but Ghost of the navigator and The Wicker Man also tie in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lvf7Zu4XJU&ab_channel=GlobalizingMusic

>>54873494
Heh, what a coincidence

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>>54873317

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0NwzDexfig

>>54873465
It's not a mass clusterfuck of planes, there was just a single planetary collision in the backstory that ended one of the two worlds involved.

>>54873317
Not sure what song could sum up the setting as a whole but I think I know the best one to sum up where the PCs will be, I mean there aren't many options.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVC9b0K1Iis

Could be this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-64CaD8GXw

>>54873738

Is it some sort of mob setting? I'm getting a New York Crime Business vibe from this.

>>54873872
New York? The fuck do you get that out of Tessie and Shipping Up to Boston? The players are actually going to be part of a PI firm which is a cover for the government to kind of police the supernatural community in the city. Unfortunately I only have the skeleton of the city to work with since it'll flesh out as the players do more. I have tons of stuff but there's no real life to it or any progress from the rather stable start until they actually get started kicking up shit.

>>54835888
not the only one here I see

>>54838374
based

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Oh good I forgot these threads exist. I've been working on a full version of the current campaign map, but I don't know dick about geography or maps. I'd appreciate some input and corrections on what I have so far.

This is an extremely general outline of the landscape and climate, obviously environments aren't so clear cut.

>>54840322
an exalt, maybe ?
http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Emmeryn

>>54873571
>muh skellytons dindu nuffin

go to hell bone-burner, I cant stand social justice cryptkeepers

>>54874669
Looks good, but you're rivers are weird. Rivers never split into two, once an estuary meets another river it can never split off again. Also, you should have a biome between the red desert and the rain forest, maybe another savanna or some scrub land?

>>54873317
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToHo29kD9Go

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>>54874669
WATER
FLOWS
DOWNHILL

>>54873317
Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtCittJyr0

As a player, would you rather have the setting you are playing in have a more malleable political atmosphere (as in it can easily be subjected to player-instigated change) or have it trending towards a specific occurrence, which can still be influenced by player change but ultimately will still happen regardless?

>>54878382
First one, ideally.

What percentage of Earth's population would be able to die in a nuclear exchange and aftermath with the remainder being able to recover (not fully the world is still pretty shit) by 50 years after the conflict.

>>54873317
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMUb3AwTxQ4&ab_channel=JonathanYoung

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undecided on the snow

Anybody want to help me come up with aspects for various NPCs that I'm going to be using? For those unfamiliar with fate an aspect is a sentence or phrase which describe who the character is.
https://fate-srd.com/fate-core/types-aspects

The characters I need help with are as follows:
Aleister Crowley (yes, that one) who faked his death to become a vampire in the Bram Stoker style who's trying to gain more power and take control of Boston and from there, eventually, the whole country.

An ectomancer who came from money and now looks to calm and protect the ghosts in the city so that they don't cause trouble for the living.

The leader of a cult who is obsessed with an extinct type of vampire who are basically giant vampire bats that took over the Mayan civilization.

The cult leader's ex-master who fled the wizard organization she's part of after because they want her dead under suspicion of working with Lovecraftian monsters. She's living in an extradimensional house with a minor demon for a manservant and working to curry favor with greater demons to take her revenge.

An emotional vampire who feeds on rage but is little more than a party girl with dreams of being a star.

The second in command of a berserker motorcycle gang who doesn't trust the guy who's in charge and doesn't like that the gang is starting shit with pretty much everybody.

>>54878831
Watch Threads. Here is also a good thing to read: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/nuclearwar1.html.

>>54880560
pretty/10

I am constantly annoyed at how no one seems to remember actual folklore, instead defaulting to whatever they last played in D&D.

For example, when was the last time you really used Trolls? Like, pagan trolls that hate churchbells and get struck by lightning? Or hobgoblins that are actually helpful spirits?

>>54882802
What if we remember, but just don't give a shit?

>>54883011
I'm just bored of it, is all. How do we update classic monsters to avoid D&Disms?

>>54878382
As a player world politics are the least interesting aspect of the setting and I couldn't care less which

>>54882802
Actual hobgoblins are boring. What they are now is more interesting since orcs have fallen out of the militaristic monster category

>>54876864
What if it's an enchanted stream?

>>54883234
Step one is to write a series of stories that change the landscape of an entire genre, invent several subgenres, and create a core skeletal structure on which nearly all fantasy throughout the world is based.

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Question: How does this map look? Can you tell where factions (in color) go? Are they distinct enough? Is the color palette obnoxious?

>>54883985
I think it looks fine, it reminds me of Sengoku Japan. Yes I can tellwhere they go.

I think the border colors should bea bit stronger tho.

>>54884029
>Sengoku Japan
Yup. Oriental Adventure games are popular with my players.

>borders
Will do! Thanks! Any other observations while I got you here?

>>54884054
While the borders next to mountains makes a bit of sense, could show things cities,forts and roads in the map? it gives an idea of where each faction has their grip on the land.

>>54884082
Yeah, that was gonna be the next step. Not sure though what to use to symbolize things like that. Would stars/circles/dots work with this map style? Or do I need to grab some of those custom map markers people like making like towers and castles and mills and such? I'm leaning toward the latter at the moment.

>>54831037
>One of the most powerful gods, Xellus, was basically magic itself. Mages drew from him and the world was created with his blood.
>He basically does nothing at the moment other than watch the world like an old man at the park watching the birds.
>His followers revere him as the most powerful of the Pantheon and fear him for what he's done and could do again.
>The first human empire to rise in the newly created world exterminated mages or enslaved them, nearly wiping them out entirely, as magic is extremely rare but hereditary. Finally watching what he saw as his children, Xellus descended, personally exploded the kingdoms capital (basically breaking all the rules the gods signed at once) and then killed three of them when they tried to stop him. His point made, he turned around and left.
>He belieces in magical superiority and expects the world to bow to his children.

Maybe not the best lore but it's mine and I like it.

>>54884178

Perhaps those markers towers are a better idea, but yea you should define where people are going to be in next.

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>>54884210
Cool, I'll start looking into that. One quick question though: Which font style is clearer for reading? I like both, but I'm not an objective creator.

>>54884187
I like it too. What of the other gods in this world? I can't imagine they take his interference well.

>>54884261

The bottom one, I think its due to the outline.

>>54884305
Is it too thick?

>>54884261
quick tip from someone who can speak/read moonrunes: the word "yemmu" is not possible in Japanese. The only "y" hiragana are ya, yu, and yo.

>>54884323
Oooh. I suppose I will have to switch that to Yammu then.

>>54884322
No, the black outline makes it easy to read, the upper one is a bit hard.
>>54884323
Oh shit really? how do they say "yen"?

>>54884261
I would cut the 'Island' off the place names.
We know it is an island. We can see the green bits and the blue bits. You are just cluttering the map with text and taking away from the purpose of the map, which is to fill it with fun looking terrain details.
Plus, ymmv but 'Kashima' sounds more evocative than 'Kashima Island'.

>>54884344
I would also suggest your provinces mean something in Japanese since kanji meanings are significant in Japanese. You are on a good start with "Midoriko" but something more invocitive of forests might work. The Tetsu in Tetsuun is good, but maybe the second part should have a meaning. And of course Yemmu province should have a meaning to it. I like the kai (ocean) and shima (island) but it's a bit too literal. Just my advice though.
>>54884346
Yen in Japanese is "en". Another Americanization of Japanese.

>>54884276
They didn't, and had tried to stop his interference, but the gap in power was too great. That, and they held back. The gods knew little of their own capabilities in these times, they didn't even think they could die. The embodiment of death only came into being when the first mortal was born, so why not?

His blood ran through the world they had poured so much into. They feared damaging him and destroying their work. He had held no such reservations. The prince of the oceans died first, and his blood polluted the seas, spawning the first of the sea monsters. Nobility died next, and his death sent the world into anarchy as the entire natural order was disturbed. Finally light was slain, and a storm of fire devastated most of the world, nearly burning it to ashes until the gods broke off their fight to save it.

Xellus simply left after that, leaving behind the horrible revelation that the gods could die. The world recovered, but the pantheon never did. Mistrust of each other grew, and the unity that had borne the world was gone.

For not-Sengokuanon, i'd recommend shrinking the names size, not make the name shorter, but font shorter.

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>>54884352
>>54884369
Alright, did a quick rewrite of the place names. Yemmu has become Sankanko ("in between mountains" according to google), and Tetsuon has become Tetsuyama (iron mountain). The islands have also been renamed Shima's, with the southern island being renamed to Kasaishima (fire island).

>>54884412
The lettering will need to be altered, sure. I've also tried fading it, but it just becomes unreadable after a point. Any pointers?

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>Tell us about a God or Pantheon in your setting
There's the Great Mother and her two children, who're worshipped almost everywhere in the eastern parts of the "main" continent.
>What do they do?
The Great Mother watches over the whole of Her creation. Her son looks after nature and the wild, while her daughter takes care of the people and their creations.
>What do their followers believe about them?
See above.
>Has a Holy War ever been fought in their name?
No. Conversion is not a part of the Great Mother's teachings.
>What would be their reaction?
No way to know. No one knows whether or not any gods actually exist. If they do in fact exist, they've never shown themselves to mortals, at least not directly.

>>54884426
Alternate namings if you are interested:
>山内
Yamanai (lit. inside mountains since Sankanko isn't exactly the best translation of "inbetween mountains") Yamanaka (山中) works as well.
>炎島
Enshima, though if you still want a more literal translation Kashima still works (火島)

I can give some more names if you are open to them.

>>54884465
I can't read moonrunes, but I'll take anything you got.

Is Yamanai/Yamanaka too similar to Tetsuyama? And why is Enshima better than Kasaishima? Not trying to be an asshole, but I'm very interested to hear specifics from someone who actually KNOWS what he's talking about.

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Is titans as a term for first-generation gods too on the nose?

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>>54884426
Looks good dude.
What is your plan for the negative space in the bottom left?
Maybe a simple windrose, or some kind of ukio-e stylized sketch of a boat or wave?

>>54884484

Kinda

>>54884483
>Is Yamanai/Yamanaka too similar to Tetsuyama?
The only alternative name I could think of for Tetsuyama was Tetsuzan but that's more of an name for an actual mountain, not a province. I would suggest something more abstract since that's what kanji is designed for. Being too on the nose is something you want to avoid. Yamanaka is a common Japanese name so I wouldn't put it too high up there unless you don't really care all too much. As for Kasaishima, kasai (火災) refers to actual fire, not the more abstract idea you are dealing with. Flame (炎) is a more abstract term, which is what you are looking for. Hope this answers your questions.

>>54884489
>windrose
A what?

>ukio-e stylized sketch of a boat or wave
That takes actual talent, and probably someone NOT sketching with a mouse.

>>54884509
Huh. That's actually very helpful. I'll switch it to Enshima then. Hm. What would you call a province centrally located in the farming heartland, but also the old Imperial Capitol?

>>54884521
For inspiration I would look at irl Japan. The old capital of Japan was located in Kyoto province, which in Japanese is literally "capital district". You just have to be a bit clever about the spelling. Personally, I would take something like imperial (真), heavens (天), or dragon (龍) and combine it with something natural. Mountain (山), river (川), forest (森), or even ocean (海) are all sources for inspiration. Check out a Japanese kanji dictionary and real life prefectures in Japan for some more inspiration. And don't be afraid to use alternate readings of kanji, there are usually more than two.

>>54884521
Windrose are those compass things on maps indicating the direction of something important (North, the orient, etc.) You can find some pretty decent vector scaleable ones for free online.

>>54884559
How would Hana-za (flower throne) or Ishimori (stone forest) work? The first hints at the capitol site, while the second plays off a major shinto-style shrine at the center of the area.

>>54884570
Yeah, I never heard them called that before, but I realized what you meant just after posting.

>>54884607
Ishimori works best I feel it's simple and rolls off the tongue. Gives some nice room for fluff/history too. Though if you want to play off Shinto themes, maybe Kamitou-ji could be the name of the shrine itself? "kami" means god, "tou" can mean either tower or sword (depending on the kanji), and "ji" means temple.

>>54884607
>>54884633
If you want to keep a flower theme going, keep in mind that tsubaki, sakura, chrysanthemum, ume, and other such flowers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanakotoba) are important to Japanese culture. Using one as the base and adding -cho, -shi, or -machi (all of which mean city) is a simple but effective way of naming the capital.

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>>54884633
Cool, I'll keep that under advisement.

Would you consider a name like Waku or Waka Islands too on the nose for this place? I can't seem to find a good name for the entire island group as a whole.

>>54884661
In Japan, the region of Shikoku is called as such due to originally being comprised of six (shi) countries (koku). On the same note, Kyuushu is named as such because it is comprised of nine (kyuu) provinces (shu). A similar approach could be taken here. Or you could name it after something of importance, like the name of the imperial family or the ruling bakufu/shogunate. Afterall, periods in Japan are known by the ruling shogunate as well as the emperor who ruled during that time period. If you want a more abstract name though, maybe naming it after the abundant mountains and valleys would be a good start.

>>54884694
Well, the Imperial family is named Yamato. And...there's like 5 shoguns at the moment so that's no help. I can kinda make out 13 or so natural places for old kingdoms to have once been. So Jusan or Chusan as a base?

>>54884732
Yamato was literally the name of Japan in ancient history (i think around the 200s?) so you can just go with that and you should be fine I think.

>>54884746
Alright then. I guess I can do that.

That little island south of Midoriko is still pissing me off though.

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Just gonna bump for the night with a map featuring as much confusing shit as I got so far. Will do more tomorrow.

>>54884953
Cool dude. Maybe one other simple thing you might try to see if you like it; if you are using photoshop or gimp you can make some difference clouds in a layer beneath the ocean, maybe at reduced opacity, apply the colour of the ocean to them.
Could make the background less flat. But if you are going for a more technical look, you might not want to do it.

>>54884694
>In Japan, the region of Shikoku is called as such due to originally being comprised of six (shi) countries (koku).
Uh, close. Shi means four. It's an "Island of Four Domains".
Also, just a fan fact: Kyushu originally called, among other, "Kyukoku" using the same second symbol as Shikoku did. On top of it, it had four or five other names: including Tsukushi, Chizen and most importantly Saikadou (meaning "the western circuit").

>>54884732
>>54884746
Yamato was originally a group of clans in very early Japanese history that formed their own state (the State of Yamato) around Asuka (basically Ise peninsula region) that eventually managed to unite or conquer most of Honshu (well, about 60% of it, really) and gave the foundations to what would eventually become medieval Japan.
It's also the name of an Era, "Yamato Era" during which this state was most influential cultural center in Japan. It's about 200-700 A.D.
Today, Yamato is ALSO the name of Imperial Estate, and even the name of Japanese dominant ethnical group (Ethnically, native Japanese comprise of Yamato people, Ainu people, Ryukyuan People, and few very small Sachallian ethnical groups: Orok and Nivkh in particular).

>>54884953
If you really want to stay true to the Japanese language customs, then that really should be "Iwajima". No Jap would pronounce "shi" after "Iwa".
One last thing, because I'm such a fucking asshole:
"Midoriko" means "the green child" in Japanese, and it's really a kinda common modern female name. It sounds really weird to have an entire region named like that.

>>54885050
>Midoriko
It's a heavily forested region, and currently cursed to hell and gone by ghost stuff left over from the Not!Mongol invasion. What would be a better name?

Also, is Yamato still acceptable? And why is it "jima" only after "iwa"?

>>54885094
>What would be a better name?
Japanese has two words for green: Midori and Aoi. Just using those most basic names that spring to mind:
Midoriyama or Aoyama (green mountains), Ryokkoku or Seikoku/Shoukoku, (green land). If I wasn't completely lazy, I guess I could have come with something more interesting, but right now my brain is barely functional.

That said, countries ending with "koku" should not have the "province" attached, because that "koku" kinda already implies that.

>Also, is Yamato still acceptable?
Acceptable for what, exactly?

>And why is it "jima" only after "iwa"?
Just phonetic economy, process in Japanese know as Rendaku.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku
I'm not all that familiar with the details, but under certain circumstances, devoiced consonants transform into voiced (shi to ji, te to de, he to be etc...)
So you have "tera" (temple), but Kyomizu-dera (temple of the sacred water).

It's actually kinda difficult to describe as a rule, you rather have to just get a sense of it. For an example: You can have "Itsuku-shima" or indeed "Eni-shima", but not "Iwo-shima" or "Iwa-shima" or "Yokoate-shima". Phonetics are a bitch.

>>54831037
I had ideas about a setting that's just robots doing stuff
There's a central computer regulatng life on Capitol, making new bots and giving them randomly generated personalities. Said central compie is intelligent too and suffers from existential crisis for a few centuries already.

>>54884323
>the word "yemmu" is not possible in Japanese
Common Japanese had both "ye" and "yi" until the 18th century, but these merged with e and i. If a setting tries to emulate the pre-Meiji Restoration Japan, it would make sense to include such archaic linguistic details. Specifically, the language spoken in the Sengoku period was Late Middle Japanese.

>>54884369
>Yen in Japanese is "en". Another Americanization of Japanese.
In the 16th century when the word entered Western lexicons, en was literally pronounced yen by native Japanese. It's very common for foreign languages to preserve old forms of words that undergo sound change in their original tongues.

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>>54838374
Not really easy to use, but it does save time, Tnx

>>54885050
>>54885050
>Uh, close. Shi means four. It's an "Island of Four Domains".
Sorry, was late and I was super out of it. You would think after 7 years of studying I would be able to retain the difference between shi and roku in a tired state.
>>54886116
>Common Japanese had both "ye" and "yi" until the 18th century
To be fair, most Japanese did not know how to write Japanese until the Meiji so I doubt many commoners would know the difference. The main point is that the name means something though, which is why I said it might not work.
>It's very common for foreign languages to preserve old forms of words that undergo sound change in their original tongues.
And yet "you" is still prenounced "yoh" in Americanized japanese translations.

>>54885198
>That said, countries ending with "koku" should not have the "province" attached, because that "koku" kinda already implies that.
Sengoku era countries/provinces didn't have -koku endings. That was usually reserved for regions. Though -yama and -kawa endings are fairly common.
>That said, countries ending with "koku" should not have the "province" attached, because that "koku" kinda already implies that.
>I'm not all that familiar with the details, but under certain circumstances, devoiced consonants transform into voiced (shi to ji, te to de, he to be etc...)
Depends on the kanji, but as a general rule when you combine two kanji the reading changes into its ten ten form. It's a nice way to play with readings if you are having a rough time since naming is all about different readings. It's why "Iwo-jima" is called that and "Iwo-shima".

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What ya boys think of this layout as a starting point?

I'm trying to go for an island, not a continent and have small ice, cold area up north and a bit of spain like biomes at the bottom.

>>54890146

Looks good so far

>>54885198
>>54886116
>>54888779
>>54888854
Alright, am currently tweaking names and borders. My biggest problem so far now is that I can't find the right level of contrast and blending to legibly show all the names of the islands, provinces, cities, and major geographical figures.

Anyone with good Photoshop experience have any suggestions for me? Messing with opacity only goes so far, and even a little bit of it makes the lettering very hard to read if placed over the islands themselves.

>>54831037

Questions for you Sci-Fi fags
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?
>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?

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i revised my eye genetics system

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>>54890678
Forgot pic. This isn't good, but I don't know what else to do.

>>54890801
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
Exoskeletons are used in conjunction with space suits for added mobility, utility, and survivability in space. Heavy duty exosuits fill a similar purpose. Power armor is used by marines and land forces as tier 1 mechs (with tier 3 mechs being gundam type mecha)
>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
SpecOps troops and marines have it as a necessity but it can be outfitted by specialists in ordinary armies in the case of urban assaults. Due to the variety of models they can fulfill various roles in military operations, from covert infiltration, to hacking, to siege weapons, to frontline assault.
>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?
Ultra dense batteries that run on a thermal system that are changed automatically in the case that they overheat. Pilots usually carry their own supply of these batteries in the field.
>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?
Extra protection and mobility in space in the case of marine forces, though land forces use them to fill a more mobile and flexible role in battle. Basically the equivalent of something like a team of technitians, demo teams, infiltration/stealth experts, or any other such operators in a single outfit. Abundance of resources and a reliance on independent military divisions made this necessary.

>>54891606
>>54890801
If anyone has any clarifying questions for me to answer I would be glad to.

>>54881131
I was still hoping for help with this if anybody has any ideas.

>>54891760
>Alistair Crowley
An utter hedonist.
Master of Mysticism.
Hard worker (mountain climber).

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>>54890801
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor
Yes but actually utilizing one will probably drive the user beyond madness. They're still in development by black market third parties.
>How common is it in your setting?
Strictly lead henchman/important plot point level. Actually getting one to work would be the most broken shit possible, allowing it's user to pretty much bend space and time.
>What is it's Power Source?
Like everything else, the cloned cells of a dead old god that crashed into the earth a century ago. Hence the crazy. Allowing it to connect with your body as essentially a transplant has fantastic and disastrous effects. Usually the latter.
>How is it's use justified?
"Hey you guys know how we clone the flesh and blood of the dead old gods and pump it into our ships and somehow that lets us warp past light speed?"
"Yeah?"
"What If we just did that, but with like, people instead of space ships? Then, like, people could just teleport galaxies apart with barely any effort."
"You're promoted and China already has investors lined up"

>>54891856
I like the hedonist idea, especially since the character needs a trouble still as I'm building certain NPCs like I would a PC.

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>>54890678
>>54891202
Updated map. I've decided to fade the regional/island names to 75% and use black to write the clan names closer to where they are. Incomplete, if only because these are the best developed clans first, and I'd like some name help.

Clans are:
>Kawagami
Samurai who rose from merchants
>Tojin
Peasant religious monks (Ikko Ikki)
>Suochi
Samurai who rose from Ninja
>Oga
Powerful, if ethically vile, Shogun in the east
>Josenkage
Pirates with samurai titles
>Henshin
Usuegi Kenshin, bitches!
>Midafune
Cavalry faction on the outs
>Yukigahara
Kitsune samurai reclusives

>>54892187
You have meanings for those names? If you don't you should figure them out. Japanese names are usually meant for good luck for children. or kanji if you wanna get autistic about it

Map and providence names look sick though, im so jealous of your playgroup

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>>54892292
>You have meanings for those names
I can't speak moonrunes myself, so I rely heavily on google translate and anons earlier in this thread to get names right. A lot of them were partly built using a chart of name-parts I found on the Pathfinder SRD (I know, Pathfinder eugh, but it was a nice resource). I otherwise use the excellent gamebook for Sengoku Jidai RPG while crafting names and such.

>Map and providence names look sick though, im so jealous of your playgroup
My group when I first used this setting unfortunately got ruined by autism and a couple breaking up. This time around will be better hopefully since we have 6 players again. I've heard them talk about going All-Ninja-Shinobi and hiding out as a Kabuki group.

>>54840929
Not that anon, but this is really nice, I think I'll use this myself

>>54884484
Yes and no. I tend to attribute that term to more primordial deities, ones that represent/embody sweeping aspects of the natural world rather than more human concepts. Stuff like Ocean, Sun, and Time. I've also seen the term work well for deities that are simply super-powered even when compared to other gods.

If you are looking for possible substitutes:
Elder Gods
Primordial Gods
Firstborn Divines
The Prime Gods
The Primogenitors
The First Divines
Fathers of Creation (or mothers)
Chaos Born (if "all was chaos and darkness" before they arrived)
True Gods

after learning more about this worldbuilding thing, i realized i've been doing it in my head for my whole life. it's always the same distinct world in my dreams, I could pretty much map it all out from memory.

anyone else with similar experience? i find this topic incredibly interesting.

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So here's a thing I've wanted to do, and I'm tired of just waiting for a new thread.

>Imagine there's a newspaper In your setting, regardless if it makes sense or not. What are at least 5 different headlines on any given day?

>>54892187
会津島 (Aizushima)
Meeting harbour island

笠川 (Kasag**awa)
Bambo Island
(you would probably read kawa as gawa here)

石森 (Ishimori)
Stone Forest

岩島 (Iwashima)
Stone Island

鉄山 (Testsuyama)
Iron mountain
(Tetsuzan is the usual reading, and it means Iron Mine)

Sabkuko doesn't work in Japanese, needs another vowel between the "B" and "K"

蛇の道 (Hebinomichi)
Snake Way/Road
(from the saying 蛇の道の蛇, something along the lines of "Sending a thief to catch a thief". Might want to read it is as Janomichi)

狼城 (Okami-Jo)
Wolf Castle

Also worth noting that the Midafune probably had something to do with boats at some point in their life

>>54896989
Phoneposting, so can't edit yet, but this great! Thank you anon! I'll have something more to discuss in a while.

>>54896109
>pilgrimage and you: 10 sights to see in the empire.
>seeing red! fights break out in yellow market, several arrested.
>grand solarium open tours this weekend.
>demon spotted in capital outskirts, officials urge calm.
>music, politics, and the role of pirate radio.

From a cosmetic or visual point of view, what do I need to consider about a species that doesn't bleed liquid blood but rather smoke? Premise is degenerate Djinn who have been forced to stay within a full flesh body after consuming human-blood/flesh. I remember the whole arabic myth of Djinn being born from smokeless fire but rather liked the idea of fireless smoke instead. Not acrid black smoke but more incense smoke, wispy and flowing.

Handwave the functions of blood internally, but externally - would you still have their organs being 'bloody' in the sense of being red? Just their veins/arteries flow gaseous vapors instead of liquid? Should it be blood that just sizzles without heat when in contact with the air and becomes vapors?

I really like the visual and spookiness of it, but I want to make sure I don't overlook something stupid. So for instance one cuts his palm slightly and just a few light tendrils of smoke would drift up. You cut off the djinn's head and a fucking bonfire of smoking vapors billows forth before ebbing away. Would the smoke have a bit of a stickiness to surfaces? Maybe not to the point of discoloring it like blood drips from a sword but a sword might have swirling smoke drifting off it for a time after you butcher a djinn.

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>>54898098
You could have it so that a big enough wound would release the pressure of the smoke inside them and have their flesh around the wound burst open like a copper pipe. And if you're handwaving the functionality of blood in the first place, why not just have them nothing but smoke on the inside? I'd imagine it'd be kind of like what you get when you cut open one of those mushroom spore pods. Just filled completely with black shit that explodes out the second you bust it open.

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Guess I'm late for the thread questions but I was just developing this recently so what the hell.

Main continent (Europe expy, I know I know), follows a religion that on the surface is essentially a cosmetically altered Christianity : the being that is beheld as God was hanged in ancient times by a heretical people - the Loop is his symbol. There are from here drastic differences; God is dead, the belief is that once the world is purge of evil and heresy he will be resurrected and bring all the Creeds back to their former peace and glory. The church is run by the Patriarch, and matters of heresy are rooted out by an order of Cardinal Knights

From here there are the Paragons; mythical / historical figures who depict excellence within certain fields. There are literally unknowable numbers of these, as regions and fringe professions tend to invent their own, but a number are canonised by the church (Paragons for Soldiering, Medicine, Sailing, Virtue, Lovers, etc.). People only 'worship' them in a loose sense, something between Christian Saint-worship and Ancient Polytheistic Hero-worship.

Underneath it all is the presence of the First Gods; primordial beings whose existence has been from the beginning of the universe, but whose power is determined by strife within intelligent life within the universe. Despite this, they are only able to touch the material world in limited ways, and even then, their attention is usually on other things (unless they are bored and want to have some fun). They do have followers on earth, but they are secretive and usually rooted out by the Cardinal Knights.

Yet the oldest being in the universe and the Ultimate Powerrrr is a deity that is literally the manifestation of Entropy - thought to exist since before even the birth of the universe (but I need to work on them).

That's enough random shit, and I've filled up too much to want to try answer any of the other Q's.

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How should I do dragons? There are two options that I'm interested in.

One singular, nearly omnipotent entity. Not just A dragon, THE dragon. He's among the most powerful beings in the world.

Or

Dragons are just fancy animals. There are many different types and species of dragon all over the world. They're involved in local culture, food, and sometimes even domesticated.

Is there a way to strike a nice balance between these? My setting is really really big and covers a lot of isolated areas with variable aesthetics that will only likely see the tip of the iceberg of each other. I want to make dragons feel special again but the second option fellates my autism. I'm fine with either but I prefer a unique and striking option.

>>54898688
Have both, call the first Dragons, call the second Drakes.

>>54898688

Yes, most fantasy has them inbetween. Do Oldschool dragons, who are deadly and strong but not super overpowered like they are in more modern fantasy.

Oh, and if your dragons can cast spells they're shit. Fuck that.

>>54898699
>>54898731
Now that I'm thinking for more than half a second the obvious solution would be to have THE DRAGON create the lesser dragons in order to have a peers/waifus. I do like the idea of oldschool shit, I want to go back to the original european mythology, which as far as I've seen they're pretty much big scary lizards/snakes. That's all they really need to be.

>>54898731
Not that anon, but what do you think of talking dragons?

>>54898884

They're good. I don't have a problem with clever or talking dragons, they should be able to be reasoned with, but in a very backwards and slanted way that favors the dragon.

My issue is I dislike the automatic assumption and role of dragons being the polymorphing, super strong, super magical, race of monsters who just 'win' all the time. Being huge, scaly, flying, and with a powerful breath weapon is more then enough to make dragons scary and fearsome, they don't need all this extra magical shit too.

Maybe SOME dragons can cast spells, but the assumption that all of them can is bullshit. It also upsets the conceptual balance of a setting if all the really strong enemies have to be cast spells to, because magic oh so strong, I hate that shit. It's a nitpick I know but it's there.

>>54899052
>They're good. I don't have a problem with clever or talking dragons, they should be able to be reasoned with, but in a very backwards and slanted way that favors the dragon.

This, I wouldn't assume that an intelligent, magical reptile would have the same mindset as a human.

>>54890801
>Does your setting have Mechanized Armor? (Exosuits, Exoskeletons, Power Armor etc)
Yes
>How common is it in your setting, is the average soldier equipped with it, or is it unique troops only? Can it be bought by Civilians?
Unique, its expensive and the magic which enhances it, making useful is also rare and governament supresses that shit from public
>What is it's Power Source? Does it run off batteries/capacitors or does it have an onboard Generator? If it's a generator, what kind? Fusion, Fission? Perhaps even Petrol or Diesel if you're going for a Dieselpunk style?
Magic sources, knights of the empire have their armours powered by suffering generators, its a sphere that trap souls and torture and converts the negative emotions into power.
>How is it's use justified? Rule of Cool? Perhaps aircraft are for whatever reason less common, and Power Armor is used for Force Multiplication in their place, ala fallout? Do the users just have to be that strong/carry that big a gun in order to stay competitive? What can it do that a tank or a plane couldn't?

The idea is that magic is that its made to allow knights and melee arms to survive and remain in use and massive armies aren't really a thing.
Tanks were not a thing in the ancient times, the empire's tech developed different than ours, so their warrior caste got better and better armor until it reached platearmor then powerarmor, also power armor and its exoskeleton its used to allow the knights to carry thicker armor, which can absorb even more magic and be lighter, sturdier and better in any everyway.
Due to how magic works, mobile parts need each their individual enhancement/blessing that makes them better, also more mass, more magic it can absorb and powerful it gets, tanks and planes are full of these, especially the modern ones and most ammunition is a tiny pellet, with magic that doesn't have much effect.
Knights use guns, but mostly as a sidearms and to dispatch enemy foot soldiers

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>>54892731
Bump to save the thread for another night.

>>54900497
Well, given we are 300, we kinda reached bump limit

>>54863295
Looks really cool. How big is your map, all in all?

What do people use to draw their maps? I made one in Inkarnate, but it's not detailed enough for my liking. I can zoom in somewhat to my island archipelagos, but the resolution isn't high enough for me to take a copy of the image and then use that for a map, so they'll be different.

>>54901760
>What do people use to draw their maps?
Made this map >>54845013 using pen and paper, scanning it and then adjusting it both in Gimp and Inkscape.

Don't use Gimp and Inkscape.
They are ABSOLUTELY BEYOND WORDS AWFUL. Inkscape in particular has to be the worst piece of image-editing software I'ever fucking seen.

I've actually been toying around using actual topografy software in the past (QGIS and OpenJump), but never got very far with it. Fun times though.

>>54901760

Literally just use MSPaint.

>>54901713
as in scale? Its earth sized, but the rest of that goes straight out the fucking window because I dont give a shit about where biomes should end up based on lat/long and wind patterns and shit, I just draw shit that looks cool to me.

>>54901760
I drew all of this in paint tool sai

>>54882049
Sorry, i killed it, but there is a 'lands of always winter but its at the south pole ha ha I'm so original) theme thats gonna come around on the middle/lower continent (the only completely unfinished one) south of where the big perfectly straight river/canal looking thing is.

honestly I might be redrawing a whole shitload of that coastline and making it bigger so I can have more winter wonderland, so maybe get hype?

>>54884187
Xellus is just 3.5e: The Diety

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>>54902596
I'm still sober and I fucked it up

>>54902633
Hi ringanon

How do i go about turning an interesting world in my head into an interesting world to play in/an interesting game?

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Is it a worthless/autistic exercise to create a super-detailed pantheon complete with myths, legends, creation stories, detailed cult histories and practices, etc for an original campaign setting?

I'm constantly feeling tempted to write dozens upon dozens of pages of a detailed, all-encompassing "theogony" of sorts, but then I struggle to imagine why any of my players would ever want to wade that deep into this shit. I guess it wouldn't necessarily be wasted effort if I personally got enjoyment from writing it and exploring the religious beliefs in my world, but that could be time better spent creating things that would be more useful or fun for my players.

How do you guys balance the desire to create for yourselves versus the need to create for your players?

>>54903117

Well, you can always make more adventures in the same world, explore more of the same cult

>>54902596
I meant the size of the images. Do you have just one big image that you zoom in on and work on, or are there multiple images?

>>54903117
Do it for your onw amuesement, but don't expect your payers to care. Everybody on the table is supposed to be having fun, and as aa player being lectured about mythology isn't really fun. Maybe you find that one player that cares, especially when he is playing a religious character of sorts, some can get into it. You cna also always try to make it important for your players by making the pantheon part of the campaign, make them inveted in their characters and their stories.

new thread?

>>54903192
oh, lmao the full image that I post of the map is the working res, sometimes it sucks zooming in on stuff because you run out of pixels, but I've just decided to work around it and stick to this res because I'm lazy

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idea, since this thread is saging anyway

the spotted sea, some kind of remnant of a wizard battle that turned a gargantuan lagoon into a similarly significant bay, and left it pockmarked as shit

>>54904332

Woop woop.

Is that the site of the magi-nuke?

>>54904401
nah, this is the southern continent, far away from that massive crater. This is just a high-powered squabble