World Building World Building: The New World

[Ludwig]

I saw someone else use this to gather advice in developing their universe, so I thought it might be productive if I tried the same thing. I'm still looking for people to join, mods to help write and toss around ideas, and I'm still well into streamlining the server but maybe things will progress easier when I have something definitive! Please offer any comments or edits you would make, and any ideas that I should expand upon, along with deficiencies that need changing.

current outline:

The Homeland: a sub-continent full of diverse cultures, powerful civilizations with quickly advancing technologies, but unfortunately over-run with overpopulation, corruption, and only years away from mass famine. Our solution? The New World, a distant supercontinent, unpopulated, full of resources and only now within our reach. Gather your friends and family, hop on a boat, and sail across the ocean to stake your claim, but be wary! Pirates will harass your journey, other colonists will battle for your resources, and ancient creatures inhabit the land like Gods.

things that i wish to work on and add in the server:

• magic! my current idea (helped along by a friend in the server) is that Magic originates from the roaming creatures that inhabit the New World. Long before the New World was discovered, in the Homeland, the creatures use to roam as well, before a militaristic civilization (enhanced with the same magic the creatures produced) hunted them to extinction as to have more land to expand into. They lost the connection to magic as the creatures died out and adapted into a more technological savvy civilization. Now, people who are going to the New World and those with a familial connection to magic (those whose ancestors practised long before them) will have to learn how to control and use it to their benefit.
  
  
• The Homeland! I wish to expand the histories and cultures, but that relies upon people joining and giving me an idea on what type of characters they will be making. That "militaristic" civilization is being made by my friend and I plan on making them the dominant force upon the Homeland unless I gather some other powerful civilizations. I guess I would also need a map for the Homeland, something small and easy to map onto.
  
  
• Pirates! I think it's a hilariously fun idea, people who instead of attempting to colonize, deciding they would steal from those making the journey. With so much prey, they might actually develop into a powerful raiding force.
  
  
  Throw me some more ideas! If you find yourself interested hmu on my discord: Lüdwig#1234

 

[MDL]

Hey. Good to see another world-builder here. I don't know if it was my thread you looked at that prompted you to make your own but I'm nevertheless glad you did. We need more of this stuff. Exchange of ideas and whatnot.

I am personally not looking to join any world-building project or RP server at the moment as I am knees deep in other projects. But I would gladly offer my thoughts and problematize some of this stuff for you so you can further develop your setting. But before I do that I would note that it is easier for me to think about your setting if you ask more specific questions. Not that this way doesn't work, but I think that the more pointed the question is, the better. An example of that can be what I did when I asked about the economic aspects of my setting in this tread (The OP).

So here are my initial thoughts:

1. I am a little bit unsure of what the tech-level is. This is an technologically advanced setting? Is what I got from the post. This raises a lot of questions about the New World and why sufficient technology to get there wasn't in place before all this other technology? I mean the vikings got to North America with the simplest of ships.
2. How can pirates suddenly fund their own voyages to this barely reachable continent when the technology has only just been made possible. Emergent technology tends to be expensive and remain in the government's domain for a while before it is common among the public. Unless the pirates are corporation-like with huge resources. Or perhaps the technology isn't so expensive.
3. I think the magic idea is solid and interesting. That's your strongest aspect atm. Would be interesting if you could post more information about how magic works and especially how magic goes from magical creatures to being wielded by humans. How does that transformation take place in history. And if they've totally forgot all about it, how will it be apparent to the people arriving there that they are ever able to use this phenomenon to their own advantage.

Hope you find people to play with. Usually I find cooperative world-building, unless it is with a small team of people you know shares your mindset, to be disastrous. But I'm sure you'll make it work.

Cheers.

 

[Ludwig]

A lot to update here, thanks for the helpful questions.

1) I was going along the lines of. Culturally developed in unique and individual ways, however, they allowed themselves to be distracted by simple human nature (wars, infighting, more wars, constantly dwindling resources that if improperly managed may result in mass "global" famine), additionally, they might have never even thought other lands could be possible as a result with of being so distracted. Now that I'm thinking about it, now that my magic ideas have developed further it might be easier to explain away the tech deficiencies (I'll get to it).
2) think californian gold rush or oregon trail. they are trading all of their worldly possessions and hitching along with their families and friends in exchange for (let us be honest, a better chance than the rush or trails) a chance at making it big. i think the discovery of the new world would be honestly so huge (like, literally as in the new world is much larger and basically solves the only big problem in everyone's life: resource) that it might flip local government on its head. it would be a race of resources (the leaders) vrs determination(the people) as both stake a claim.
3)my refined idea on magic: Instead of it being wholly based on the creatures, the creatures are just more attuned to using magic. Its more of an everpresent resource that some can tap into, in certain limited forms, that can be improved with practice, as if your body becomes acclimatized to channelling the everpresent mana. The creatures, however, almost seem to have evolved with the abilities, so much so that they act as amplifiers, making it easier for humans to find and channel that mana-like energy.

my magic is going to be based more on its limitations, weaknesses, and its costs (as recommended by a video with tips for writing hard magic systems).

while the creatures who evolved to use magic have an almost mindlessly easy way about using it, the magic seeming to warp itself to mimic the creatures natural habitats and mannerisms, implying that the creatures are advanced enough to have this superior control, humans however are untrained and are not naturally equipped to handle the natural mana. the magic they attempt most certainly changes them, as that is the only way for the magic to channel itself through the vessel easier over time, forcing the vessel to specialize. if someone is unmindful or overzealous in the pursuit of magical abilities, it would be destined to warp and change them, weakening them in a sense. say the magic you produce seems to change how strong your willpower is, or maybe you don't have enough control over the magic, therefore letting it destroy your mental state. the magic would seem to warp and become more volatile the more you use it, bringing you to "the point of no return" thats just theorycrafting tho

 

[MDL]

I was going along the lines of. Culturally developed in unique and individual ways, however, they allowed themselves to be distracted by simple human nature (wars, infighting, more wars, constantly dwindling resources that if improperly managed may result in mass "global" famine), additionally, they might have never even thought other lands could be possible as a result with of being so distracted. Now that I'm thinking about it, now that my magic ideas have developed further it might be easier to explain away the tech deficiencies (I'll get to it).

This kind of works. I think the aspect of dwindling resources is good, it gives purpose to the new world and why the "rush is on", so to speak. But consider also that if resources in "the old world" are dwindling for a long time, this would make it increasingly plausible that the discovery of the new world would have happened sooner, that's just kind of how humanity works, we look for what we need to survive and we usually get it. You could write it, like you hint at, that the resources are so low, that any attempt at discovery could tip humanity over the edge and set in motion famine or anarchy or whatever. But consider also that such an "on-the-edge" situation would result in famine or anarchy soon any way you go about it. There is no way to manage resources just on the edge for very long. You could go with some magical reason for the new world being inaccessible for so long. But then without magic in the old world, how does that magical "barrier", or whatever it is, get reduced or go away?

2) think californian gold rush or oregon trail. they are trading all of their worldly possessions and hitching along with their families and friends in exchange for (let us be honest, a better chance than the rush or trails) a chance at making it big. i think the discovery of the new world would be honestly so huge (like, literally as in the new world is much larger and basically solves the only big problem in everyone's life: resource) that it might flip local government on its head. it would be a race of resources (the leaders) vrs determination(the people) as both stake a claim.

If you're going to do the "leaders vs people" thing you need to account for how a high-tech government is so weak that it can't just claim everything for itself immediately. The government usually has so much more resources than normal people, except perhaps multi-billionaires, or whatever the equivalent is in your setting. But in our world, IRL, billionaires still can't match large countries like the US or China for example, not even close. So consider this.

3)my refined idea on magic: Instead of it being wholly based on the creatures, the creatures are just more attuned to using magic. Its more of an everpresent resource that some can tap into, in certain limited forms, that can be improved with practice, as if your body becomes acclimatized to channelling the everpresent mana. The creatures, however, almost seem to have evolved with the abilities, so much so that they act as amplifiers, making it easier for humans to find and channel that mana-like energy.

Both your original idea and this edit works I guess. I would focus first on the creatures, their history and why and how they are magical and then transfer that over to humans.

my magic is going to be based more on its limitations, weaknesses, and its costs (as recommended by a video with tips for writing hard magic systems).

That sounds like a good way to go about it.

the magic seeming to warp itself to mimic the creatures natural habitats and mannerisms

Now this, is a cool idea. Especially with their habitats. You could have creatures that live in caves for example that have magic connected to the dark, or the rock-element or whatever, or fungi. That's a great idea I would say.

implying that the creatures are advanced enough to have this superior control, humans however are untrained and are not naturally equipped to handle the natural mana. the magic they attempt most certainly changes them, as that is the only way for the magic to channel itself through the vessel easier over time, forcing the vessel to specialize. if someone is unmindful or overzealous in the pursuit of magical abilities, it would be destined to warp and change them, weakening them in a sense. say the magic you produce seems to change how strong your willpower is, or maybe you don't have enough control over the magic, therefore letting it destroy your mental state. the magic would seem to warp and become more volatile the more you use it, bringing you to "the point of no return" thats just theorycrafting tho

The effect on the mind and how taxing that is for the user is a good way to go about it.

Seems like you got a pretty good starting point here. Good to see.

 

[MDL]

BTW did you make the map yourself?

 

[Beckoncall]

Have an Rp based on this very concept! You can find it searching the nation builders - it’s called lost continent: flight from muurdaan! Id love to talk to you about your Rp, on discord in real time even, (if you use discord)

You have a lot of established symbolism to draw upon from history, so I’d first suggest you come up with analogs for various imperialist powers and then add an Asia analog, Africa analog, or whatever analogs of earth culture your players want.

Just a word to the wise, give incentives for the various colonizers to settle in the same place or at least near each other or you may end up running a bunch of parallel rps without interaction between them.

Think about plants, metal and other commodities the new and old world have to trade. Stuff the colonies need and the old world desperately wants.

 

[Beckoncall]

Did you make the map with “inkarnate?”

If so it’s one of the best I’ve seen!

 

[MDL]

Did you make the map with “inkarnate?”

If so it’s one of the best I’ve seen!

I didn't know about inkarnate is it free?

 

[Beckoncall]

I didn't know about inkarnate is it free?

Yes! It's presently in open beta and I made MY maps with it... and I'm TERRIBLE at making maps.

 

[MDL]

Yes! It's presently in open beta and I made MY maps with it... and I'm TERRIBLE at making maps.

View attachment 592525

lookz awesome mate

 

[Ludwig]

sadly i didn't make the map myself, and i couldn't remember where i found it for the life of me. but i did really enjoy the different biomes you can see throughout.

i'd love to discuss your roleplay on discord! mine is: Lüdwig#1234
insight is always welcomed, i'd love to know what works and what could be improved.

 

[Beckoncall]

Here's the link to my Lost Continent RP: "Lost Continent: Flight From Muurdaan" (BeckonCall's FNB!)

I'll contact you on discord!