On Creating Imaginary Worlds: Fantasy

Dear all,

I am rubbish with names. I am developing a world of vaguely humanoid creatures but I am struggling with names for the races. Later I will probably struggle with individual names for characters.
Can anybody give me some ideas?
I have written outlines for the races below.


Marinas
Sea dwellers.
Lower bodies like mermaids i.e. legs fused together to form large fin.
Scales over lower body up to waist. These vary in colour. Reptilian like skin above the waist.
Hands are webbed, although the fingers can still be used to pick things up off the sea bed.
The spine has a long thin dorsal fin which they can lift or lower at will. They have the ability to breathe out of water. The gills in the neck can be sealed shut and lungs take over the breathing. However, they can not do much strenuous activity on land without becoming breathless.
In the ocean they are powerful and graceful – like seals.
They have no hair. The nose is flat, nostrils open and shut like flaps. The eyes on the male of the species are bright blue the females have deep green eyes. The lids are a thin filament that flicks over the eyes when on land but stays covering the lens while they are underwater. They can hear very well, particularly underwater. Their teeth are sharp and pointed.
They are omnivorous. They eat fish, seals, kelp and shellfish. They have the ability to extract the salt out of seawater so they can drink fresh water.
They have a clan structure. Matriarchal. They sleep in caves under the great cliffs. The only accesses to these caves are from the sea.
Religion; Sea gods. They have the ability to call upon the storm god and can influence the tides. It has been known for them to call upon the storm god to blow a gale when the Raptors are circling above them. Though they are generally a benign people.
They trade with the Lolanders; fish, seal oil etc. in exchange for nets, baskets, spears and knives. They do not trust the Raptors who are always stealing their fish and they dive-bomb them when they are retiring to their caves as they nest above them in the cliffs.
They like to sing and make music. Their singing voices are not unlike the song of whales and they make musical instruments from the bones of the beasts of the ocean. Raptors try to mess them about by screeching over head when they sing.
They celebrate birth, death and the coming of the ‘narwals’. Their dead are returned to the sea, at a place sacred to their race.

Lolanders
A farming community on land that backs on to the sea.
A strong, stocky build. Biped form. Huge upper body and arms. White skin, ornately decorated with tattoos printed on them at an early age. They grow their hair long and twine ornaments in it as it grows in length. This denotes their status within the group. They live in one large family group in huts made of wattle and daub.Clothes vary according to rank and job title.
They have an ability to grow almost anything as it is needed and the elements allow.
They trade with Arborals produce for wood to allow them to build ploughs, wagons and use firewood. They also trade with the Hilanders for metal blades and stones to grind their grain. They do not like the Raptors as they raid there fields on a regular basis. They have taken to keeping wild dog like creatures to keep guard over there crops. They have bought these from the Steppefolk who also trade skins and meat.
Religion; Worship of Sun, rain and the earth. Celebrate the changing of the seasons. Especially harvest time which is celebrated by a week long party and feast.
Favourite past times are story telling, weaving and painting. The colours used are pulled from the earth and the art usually take the form of farming and plants.
Their dead are buried in a shallow grave without coffins in a fallow field and whatever remains ploughed into the earth during the next planting season. Returning their essence to the Earth mother.


Raptors
Winged beasts. Nest in the cliffs over the coast above the caves of the Marinas. They are troublesome and noisy. Constantly fighting amongst themselves.
Essentially human in appearance except for the huge wings that sprout from their backs. The feathers line their backs and peter out on the back of their calves.
Their feet have claws on the ends of their toes, strong enough to rip open the soft underbelly of the creatures that roam the flat land above the cliffs. Mainly carnivorous but have been known to raid the fields of the Lolanders for corn cobs to supplement their diet.
They have a crest that runs from the bridge of their long pointed noses to the nape of their necks. They can lift this when they feel threatened or are in distress. Colours vary. They have extremely keen eyesight. The eyes being large and dark.They do not have teeth as such but a boney ridge which runs around the mouth, strong enough to crack bones and rip flesh.
They lay eggs to reproduce but they are manufactured and the foetus is deposited within the container and kept warm and dry until it is big enough to break out into the world. Because the process is difficult the Raptors struggle to increase their population but they are long lived so there is not so much pressure on them in this respect.
They are godless. They have the power to adjust wind patterns to suit their flight and climb to incredible heights.
They mainly feed off mammals that live on the open land at the top of the cliff. They are the sole predators as access to the cliff top is almost impossible. Their prey is about the size of a Coypu who live underground. They are quick across the ground so hunting them takes a great deal of skill.

Hilanders
Dwarf Monks .They live in the mountains in stone built shelters around a central temple.
Short in stature, bearded. Braids intertwined with their facial hair. The hair on their heads is shaved and they wear a skull cap.Their clothes are simple and made of animal skins and furs against the cold weather. They have large lung capacity to deal with the lower oxygen levels at this altitude. They are very strong as they spend their times between prayer sessions mining for ores and gems which they trade with the other races.
Very spiritual, knowledgeable but intrinsicallyreclusive. They are keepers of a library which records the history of the races on the planet.
They are the first to see evidence of the damaging influence of the Techs.
They live off cultivated mosses and lichens. In sheltered valleys they can grow certain crops during summer months which they store in deep freeze.
Religion; they have a more holistic view on belief. They worship a goddess that they believe inhabits the earth itself. They concentrate their efforts on trying to maintain a balance in nature through prayer and music.
Their metallurgic skills are second to none, artistic and functional.

Arborals
Live in the deep forests. They train the trees to form shelters high amongst the branches.
Tall and slender. Essentially monkey like. Long arms, slender dexterous fingers. Hands instead of feet and a long prehensile tail. There bodies are covered with a short hair which covers their heads but not their faces. Large ears and a sensitive nose, eyesight not so good as they would not be able to see beyond the next stand of trees anyway.
Vegetarian. They look after the forests and guard the trees jealously. In return the forest gives them everything they need to live.
They specialise in fine wood work. Art forms are complicated and ingenious carving. They use music to celebrate their festivals, wooden instruments that can produce a wide range of tones. They accompany the music with howling which can be heard many miles away, they can communicate with other groups in this way.
They very rarely travel along the ground preferring to swing amongst the trees. They can therefore travel at greater speeds than those restricted to ground level.
Religion; worship of the many deities of the woods – faery folk, nymphs, treelords etc.
It is very difficult to see their houses as they can camouflage them very convincingly. The only evidence of their existence are the beautifully carved figures dotted around the forest – idols to their gods for their protection.
They will trade with the other species under extreme circumstances but prefer to keep to themselves.

Thanks in anticipation.

Ady
 
Try basing the language of each of these races on an earth language. That gives you a firm basis from which to know how their language may sound or at the very least that their names may sound. Choose languages from various time periods and continents. Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Aztec, Egyptian, German, Russian... There's so many to choose from. If you don't know much about them then have fun researching. Most languages have common name endings or forms, and it becomes easy to mimic these.
 
Fantasy ecosystems.

That is the question.

When creating your fantasy world do you go that deep? What do you use as a base if you do? Do you think it would add verisimilitude to the world if you mention it here and there? Should the characters even be aware of the idea or just the author?

I have been studying up on my forest ecosystem for reasons that are probably obvious, was just wondering what others did.

Do you think about what eats what?

I'm really into world building myself, so this is something I do personally think about. Then again, my approach is "hmm, this scene calls for an ogre-like being, but I don't have any of those. I know, I'll build a race, develop the society, and determine their language at least in sound if not structure" for that one scene. I don't know if I'll encounter another scene later to which this race my lend itself, but knowing it intimately gives me the freedom, and opens up new areas in which I can write other stories.

For mine, I work off of a lot of the horticulture that's known, but change specific aspects to fit what I want and need. It allows you to continue to paint an image the reader will be comfortable with, but with the freedom to remind them that they're still some place special and different.
 
I'm trying to create a realistic feudal government for my fantasy world, starting at the top with the Monarchy and the Clergy and then moving down through the ranks of the various vassal lords. However, I've hit a snag where it concerns the King's Council.

Obviously the business of the Crown cannot rest solely in the hands of the King so I've devised a council to govern alongside him that so far consists of a High Lord Chancellor to deal justice beneath that of the King's concern and a Lord Treasurer to deal in the Crown's various incomes. What else would someone recommend? I'm aiming for around five members of this council.
 
The King's council or "privy council" was the forerunner of the cabinet, and usually had many more than five members. If you want to keep to five, I'd suggest Lord Chancellor, Treasurer, some kind of war leader, perhaps spymaster, and maybe high-ranking clergyman. Which is pretty similar to the King's council in A Song of Ice and Fire - from your username, I'm guessing you've read it? ;)
 
So this sort of runs off of the question about names, people and places, except that I actually don't really want to use actual languages as a base, not really. So...I'm thinking of making up my own from scratch. I'd, of course, try to make the names from each culture sound similar, or at least that they could be related. So the question is...does completely making up names work do you all think? Or does it generally work better to sort of pick languages for each culture and modify them for names? Thanks.
 
The King's council or "privy council" was the forerunner of the cabinet, and usually had many more than five members. If you want to keep to five, I'd suggest Lord Chancellor, Treasurer, some kind of war leader, perhaps spymaster, and maybe high-ranking clergyman. Which is pretty similar to the King's council in A Song of Ice and Fire - from your username, I'm guessing you've read it? ;)

Guilty.

But I don't want to have a copied system so I was thinking maybe the Prince Regent should sit the council and also a liaison with the guilds which have their headquarters in the capital. I like the idea of a high ranking clergyman. There is also a military order running beside the government similar to one of the crusader orders, the the Knights Teutonic in particular, so I might have one of their senior members as your idea of a war leader. Thanks for the input HareBrain! :) It is much appreciated!
 
Creating monetary systems seems to be a little complicated. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I should go about it?

I've thought about using rare and randomly found objects, which lay about the world I'm creating, as a monetary system; but what is the best way to intregate the basics of money into my story without having to make explanatory pages?

Tina
 
I would keep it simple. The simplest thing to me is a precious substance that is mined and minted into coins by weight. Simple concept. Doesn't need explanation. Politically it helps flesh things out as well ie. where are the mines, who controls production etc..
 
I've started creating my world, and have so far sketched out the races, and their broad relationships with each other, the species, a rough governance structure,the geography of the world, and it's communications system.

Being a complete newbie, I just want some advice on how indepth to go in my creation before getting my teeth into the actual story - I'm finding my mind wandering off to create new bits all the time, and the story so far hasn't developed much as a consequence! Any tips would be good:)
 
Being a complete newbie, I just want some advice on how indepth to go in my creation before getting my teeth into the actual story - I'm finding my mind wandering off to create new bits all the time, and the story so far hasn't developed much as a consequence! Any tips would be good:)

Personally, I wouldn't go too in-depth, because it's a bit annoying spending ages constructing a completely believable world before you start the story, only to find that your characters do something you hadn't expected and which makes you want to change something fundamental in your world.

On the other hand, plunging straight into story and working out the background as you go along means that almost inevitably you'll have to go back and make major, major changes as the background becomes more coherent and you realise the earlier parts of your story don't fit with it.

In summary: you might as well just work on whatever interests you most at the time. It'll all come together in the end (I keep telling myself ...)
 
Hello People, I'm a complete newbie on this site. I have been steadily working on a rather large fantasy world in my head, and though it's far from finished, I now have enough 'setting' to try and start some short stories. I'm not a native english speaker but I find that the extensive vocabulary of English lends itsself particularly well for writing Fantasy.

Currently I have one (rather large) continent filled in for the most part. Culltures on the continent vary widely, from the east asian feel of the far southwest of the continent to something vaguely inspired on the roman empire in the far northwest and I could go on.

The problem I have is incorporating a useful mode of magic in the world, I'm really struggling with that. Currently I'm coming from an idea where there is a universal nexus from which all energy and magic flows. With the idea that in different cultures magic is accessed slightly or completely different. However I find it rather difficult to find a satisfying way of making magic somehow limited. Also I have difficulty to get a consistent mythology going for the world, mainly because I do not know how I want the idea of religion in this world. Are the Gods real? and if they are, how powerful are they?

For anyone who's interested I am more then willing to make an overview of my ideas and cultures so far. But because that might take up even more space then this post, I'll refrain from doing it right now.
 
I must admit that I come from the opposite end of the spectrum: plot first, setting second. Which is not to say that I decide to write a murder story and then anguish over whether to set it in the future, in Ancient Rome or in Middle Earth, but that I tend to iron out the details once I know what the characters will see.

I've done two big world-builds, one for an unpublished fantasy and the other for my SF - in particular Urn, a world devoted to the growing of tea. Urn was interesting, as I had elements I wanted to include (largely for the purpose of parody) but I also wanted it to be more-or-less credible and to work in itself. This meant that I had a list of things to include - tea fields, rituals about tea, monsters that live symbiotically with tea - but I was able to improvise around those basic ideas as required, and to show things as the characters saw them.

I took a slightly different approach to the fantasy: I assumed that it was much like our world at a certain time, and differed only where magic and science had altered it. So if a magically-enhanced printing press could produce more books, would literacy rates be raised? And if literacy was raised, would censorship be more widespread, to prevent peasants getting hold of dangerous ideas? Interesting, but I was careful not to run away with this, as it could lead away very quickly from the main plot and the things the characters needed to know. After all, if it's not relevant to the story, should it be there?
 
After all, if it's not relevant to the story, should it be there?
If it is not relevant to the story but still cool, then put it in an appendix. Extra information is always good. 8)

\Spectrum, the worldbuilding nerd
 
I intend to create an entire world, an entire mythology to rival that of Tolkien for my primary fantasy world. I'm working on it, sketching out the details, bit by bit as I work on the plot and Book 1 of the story arc I'm setting in this world.

It will probably be something I'll continue to work on during the course of my life, even as I finish my main story arc, write a few other stories set in the same world and eventually move onto other works.
 
hey guys, been a while, just found out something while i was world building thought it might help someone in the same position i was

basically its to remember the shape of your world

recently i was doodling a world and thought it would be nice to have a land feature north of a previously established feature problem was i was already at the north-most point of the written map so, without thinking i made the feature at the south end of the map, then i realised, video-rpgs are a lie :eek: and if i had actually gone north on a spherical world i would have ended up on the other side heading in a southerly direction and that the world which was instinctively imprinted in my mind was something akin to a ring

so yeah thats my story remember the shape of your worlds people :)
 
Hello all! :) This is a GREAT thread!

I don't know if this question belongs here, but here goes anyway: How to write believable combat? Any tips about recourses for both miltary tactics and general knowlegde on the subjects of weapons and fighting styles would be greatly apreciated.
My tuppence:

For large scale battles, you could get plenty of stuff from the net. Just type battles, warfare, strategy etc. You spend some time familiarising yourself with them, then you could draft something decent. Practice, and patience, lots and lots of it, will give you proficiency. Knowing someone who's in the military would help vastly, I guess.

For individual (mano-a-mano, or one vs ten), you could pick up stuff from fight movies. Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Billy Blanks, Gary Daniels, Robin Shou, Daniel Berndhardt, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, ninja flicks, anything. For your first fight DVD, I recommend Van Damme's 'Cyborg'. Beautiful, soulful moves.

Join a karate, tae kwon do, boxing, wushu, swordfighting, archery etc. class for a while. The longer the better. You'd get a better feel of the real McCoy.

Plus it'd help you develop the ability (not easy, I can tell you) to follow in sharp, focused detail every single fighting move of Van Damme, Lundgren etc., punch by punch, kick by kick, somersault by somersault, sword thrust by sword thrust. To the extent, preferably, that you could copy any move or combination of moves you see, after a few practice attempts (except the somersaults, unless you're a gymnast yourself). Otherwise, everything just looks like a wild, disordered flurry of meaningless moves to you.

You'd also be in the position of close contact with the real experts in the field, who you could consult for free advice when you need.

For both large scale and individual, action novels already on the shelves are another obvious resource. Some guys say Nintendo, X-Box, Playstation etc. give them inspiration too.
 
Last edited:
I have a map based problem. How do I figure out how far distances are on a fictional world map? I want to sketch out a world map but I would like to know, if only vaugley, how far apart continents are and so forth but can't see a proper way of figuring this out. would the 'orange-peel' style map be my best choice?
 
The trouble with the orange peel is that the cuts are generally in the oceans, and it's not clear at all about the distance between continents. On the other hand, a Mercator projection distorts distances near the poles enormously. How about doing a pair of Mollweide maps, one for each side of the planet?
 

Attachments

  • mollweid.gif
    mollweid.gif
    13.1 KB · Views: 3,032

Similar threads


Back
Top