# Scale, metaphysics and cosmology.



## Anders Ã„mting (Jul 2, 2012)

I've been thinking. Most of us use the word "universe" to describe our fictional settings, but how many actually design whole realities? As opposed to just continents and kingdoms and cultures, I mean.

I think the fun thing about fantasy is that its boundless - you can make up the rules as you go along, which allows you to tell stories in basically any way you have the imagination to concieve of. HP Lovecraft dreamed up cosmic horrors beyond human understanding. Terry Pratchett made a flat world that rests on the back of a giant turtle. Stephen King's Dark Tower is the axis around which an entire multiverse spins.

In your universe, what is the nature of time and space? What exactly happens to you when you die? For that matter, what is the definition of being "alive" in the first place? In what way are the laws that govern reality different from our own? What layers of existance lies beyond the mundane world? And what constitutes a "world", anyway?

Does anyone here take questions like these into consideration during worldbuilding?


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## Saigonnus (Jul 2, 2012)

Well, I never considered a "name" for my "universe" just elements within it. My planet of Aern is second out from the sun (still in that sweet spot of habitability) and has three moons, one of which is also habitable (with it's own sentient life as well, though most is different from the life on Aern) At certain times of the year when the moons and planet are close enough together or in alignment they create their own energy and form a gateway that spans from the inhabited moon to Aern in a random location on both celestial bodies. 

Generally the portals don't last that long, but since all it really takes is two of the three moons being close together for the effect to happen, that it happens two or three times a year. It has happened that creatures from the moon sometimes "escape" and come to Aern... and likewise creatures from Aern travel to the moon. Usually it has no effect on the local ecology since none of the creatures can really survive for long outside their habitat (since the plants and animals are different and may not fill their dietary needs). But the sentient creatures have often had a greater level of influence over things. For example in ages past a large tribe of elves living in the jungles had a portal appear in their territory and they sent search parties into it to determine where it went etc... but it closed before they could return. Now there is a race of elves that have adapted to living on the moon and can "feel" when they are close to a portal, making it easier for them to find one. 

Beyond that I haven't really considered anything because it's unneeded for my story.


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## Telcontar (Jul 2, 2012)

In the novel that I literally published today (wink, wink) I refer to the entirety of reality as "the cosmos." That is to say, the cosmos are an infinite collection of separate planes of existence. Several are mentioned in the book, including the mortal world - though "world" isn't quite accurate. When my characters refer to the mortal world, they are actually talking about the entire physical universe, which is itself only one of the planes of existence. It just happens that all the action in that universe takes place on one planet.

I do not delve too far into it in this novel, but the guiding idea was that the mortal plane had central tenets of existence that were not found elsewhere: mortality and individuality. When the mortal world was 'discovered' and joined the rest of the cosmos, those tenets affected everything else to varying degrees. However, before this discovery, everything was eternal and everything was only a fuzzy part of the much more distinct whole, meaning that there existed no real individuals - these "wholes" could not be divided into parts. 

However, this is all only hinted at in the book. I tried to keep it grounded and not delve too far into abstracts. I'll explore those later.


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## Ankari (Jul 2, 2012)

I do.  I create everything.  Religions, natural laws, metaphysical laws, history, number of planes (or planets), previous civilizations, etc, etc.  If you create it then you can leave tidbits here and there for the reader to pick up on.  It gives your story a lot of meat for your readers to chew on.


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## Kevlar (Jul 2, 2012)

I haven't really had to worry about such a large scale before, most of my worlds have been low magic that only have humans as opposed to other sentient species - meaning they basically take place on an alternate earth. My most recent worldbuilding project, the one I'm writing a journal entry for with every single thing I do, already has three "realms," though, and I eventually plan on creating geography, history, and ecology for each... or at least a part of each. I might end up expanding further into a sort of cosmology like that of Norse mythology, I don't know. I'm actually finding the possibilites quite refreshing as compared to my normal work.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jul 2, 2012)

Cosmology in fictional universes tends to work the same way it does in ours, mostly because the details of it aren't relevant to the story. Our universe is about 13.7 Gyr old, but the age of the universe in my NIP does not matter. How particle physics works does not matter. The cultures in the world have myths about the creation of the world (as do virtually all cultures in the real world), but these are myths and don't necessarily represent reality.

It's fun to come up with stuff like this but it's also not a great use of my time when I should be working on story and character instead.


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## Lorna (Jul 2, 2012)

Metaphysics and cosmology are central to my world. The plot evolves as much around revelations about the nature of reality as it does action. 

In short- time and space are the vision of the world soul. The world is an artwork in which the world soul views itself for pleasure. In the ancient world humans who were worth representing in the arts got the best fates. Those unworthy were sacrificed to the elemental hearts. 

The rulership of the vision was usurped by humans who depend on a visionary to keep their rule. She divided it into elemental and material planes and shut the elementals out. A New World was created governed by human laws. Humans forgot the dependency of the material plane on its elemental source along with the knowledge their world is a vision. 

At the beginning of my WIP the ruling visionary is flawed. The illusion of reality is beginning to slip. The elements are resurging. The MC battles to reunite the material and elemental planes and return the vision to the world soul. 

My aim, as well as telling a good story is to put into question the contemporary materialistic conception of reality and the domination of humanity over the elements and nature.

(My ideas originated from a combination of Gnosticism, William Blake's rewriting of Christian Cosmology in 'The Four Zoas' and 'The Book of Urizen' and Nietzsche's artist's metaphysics in 'The Birth of Tragedy.')


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## ScipioSmith (Jul 4, 2012)

I've given this stuff a little thought, but honestly only as far as it affects the plot.

The world of Pelarius, the main world, is one of many which are all linked to one another and to a central hub world thing controlled by the Celestians, Above Good and Evil keepers of cosmic balance and all round well-intentioned jerks. When two worlds are connected via a portal their time keeps pace, but when the portal closes then the time differential can sometimes approach Narnia levels.

All possible afterlifes exist (in Pelarius) exist on the same spiritual plane, with various gods carving out bits of it as their dominion. In between these domains lie a grey shadowland, filled with the anima of long dead monsters, furies, and the spirits of those unfortunate souls no divinity desires, who wander the wasteland forgetful of themselves, losing their minds as they become bloodthirsty animals. It is possible to travel through the spirit realm in order to move quickly in the mortal plane, but it is dangerous to attempt. Virtuous individuals may also draw upon the energy of the souls within the spirit realm to fight, known as Spirit Magic. Resurrection of the dead is possible by dragging a spirit out of the spirit realm and into an available vessel, but the effort would kill all but the most powerful magic-wielder and the risk to sanity of actually searching for the soul you're looking for is even greater.

Life is defined as the presence of either a soul or an anima. Anima are possessed by animals, and can be created by sufficiently powerful magic. Souls mark out the higher life forms, which are able to comprehend notions of duty, virtue and morality that are lost on those possessing only anima. A soul cannot be created by unnatural means save by a god.


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## dyga19 (Jul 10, 2012)

For me, Cosmology plays a big part in world building.

In my world/universe Ekko, reality is the end result of an event called the Cataclysm, when all the boundaries between worlds in "our" multiverse collapsed, allowing every world/planet/universe to merge together. As a result, Ekko (both the name of my universe and the single planet that dominates it), is a patch-work chimera of a planet, its surface made of different fused regions. It's taken millenia for Ekko to stabilize its physics and natural laws, allowing life to continue, evolve, and develop.

Since stabalizing, the natural laws of physics are comparable to that of Earth, with a few known exceptions; gravity seems to be altered, as Ekko is a truly gargantuan planet of unknown size, yet has gravity comparable to Earth's. Various forms of exotic matter exist, such as aracanotrons, aether, vril, and dark matter. 

Stars as we know it do not exist; instead are dense spheres made of a fusion of dark matter and arcanotrons. The majority are very small, with Ekko's "suns" and "moons" being the only known exceptions. Space is not a true vacuum, but is instead filled with vast, colorful nebulae of exotic gasses. There are also enormous asteroid fields made of many types of elements and materials. Magic (or "majik" in Ekko) is an anomaly of physics and exotic matter, derived from one's perception, focus, will, and mental ability to manipulate arcanotrons. 

So that's pretty much Ekko's cosmology. Hope it's interesting.


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## shangrila (Jul 10, 2012)

Honestly, not much. If I ever wrote a story where this was a central part then I would, but so far it hasn't come up and I don't want worldbuilding to get in the way of the plot or character development. To me, world building is far less important than the rest of the story, so I tend to leave it to one side.


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