My Gotterhavn Project: A World of Immortals with a Twist

[junechevalier]

Hi, I'm very new here, although not new to worldbuilding in general. I'm almost done with my second novel. Unlike my debut novel, I decided that this time I needed to push myself and create a world with a little bit of an extreme take on fantasy. Hence the birth of Gotterhavn. It's a world where everyone from slaves to kings are immortals. When they die, they come back again, meaning that there are tons of slaves who have been slaves for thousands of years. It creates a lot of interesting dynamics and forces me to explore so many aspects of life.
The project as well as the novel (still ongoing) is available to read on my website. I'm interested in listening to some comments. I don't have a friend who's into worldbuilding like I do, so it would be great to be able to discuss with y'all!
Thanks a bunch

 

[CupofJoe]

Hello and welcome!
I like that immortal does not mean invulnerable. But I do have a few questions...
How do the ones that are reborn know that they were previously immortal?
Do they retain memories of their previous lives?
At birth, how do you know who is a slave and who is not?
Is it a Caste system where you can only be X if you were born into X.
Okay, they can die but how long do they usually live?

 

[Finchbearer]

Welcome.

I find it an interesting premise that the immortals in your world basically do not cease to exist, but are sort of regenerated once they are ‘killed’?

Why are there slaves in the first place would be my curiosity, it sounds like purgatory.

I am sure there is lots of scope to explore things like existentialism in there, which would rack my brain!

 

[junechevalier]

Hello and welcome!
I like that immortal does not mean invulnerable. But I do have a few questions...
How do the ones that are reborn know that they were previously immortal?
Do they retain memories of their previous lives?
At birth, how do you know who is a slave and who is not?
Is it a Caste system where you can only be X if you were born into X.
Okay, they can die but how long do they usually live?

Thanks for the warm welcome It's explained through some scenes in the novel, but whenever an Immortal dies, they would have to go through an underworld and find remnants of their gods to be able to be resurrected again. They retain their memories, but they get a new body. So if you die being decapitated, when you're resurrected you have an intact body with the DNA information, meaning you get the same face and complexion etc. It is a phenomenon in Gotterhavn that women who have blemishes or scars prefer to die and be resurrected again to retain their beauty. I hope that answers your question.
They live as long as they want to stay. If they are tired of this world, they can go on a pilgrimage to see if they're worth ascending. So True death can only be achieved through some kind of apotheosis.

 

[junechevalier]

Welcome.

I find it an interesting premise that the immortals in your world basically do not cease to exist, but are sort of regenerated once they are ‘killed’?

Why are there slaves in the first place would be my curiosity, it sounds like purgatory.

I am sure there is lots of scope to explore things like existentialism in there, which would rack my brain!

Hi, thank you for the welcome!
Yes they are like reborn or resurrected through the power of their respective gods. They will still age biologically, unless they consume this natural resource which is very valuable like oil in our world, or the spice in Dune. This resource will make your physical body younger, so the rich will look as though they are in their 20s, and the poor who can't afford it will look as though they're physically 80 in our world.
Slavery existed because of the existence of a rogue god. This god harvests this "Euvene" which is the rejuvenating resource I was talking about, and he feed his slaves with it so that the slaves remain young and strong.
My novel explores soooo many existential questions, which I think are very interesting and thought provoking. For example, there are cannibals who eat only people from within their own tribe, since the dead will be resurrected anyways. Some cannot resurrect tho, if they cannot find the remnants of their gods in the Underworld.

 

[pmmg]

If youve been a slave for 1000 years, i dont think you have it in you to change your circumstance.

 

[junechevalier]

If youve been a slave for 1000 years, i dont think you have it in you to change your circumstance.

Yes, and the thought process of such people is what I'd like to explore in my novels. Same thing with someone who has been a soldier for 1000 years. Imagine dying over and over, only to come back and run to the frontline one more time.

 

[Finchbearer]

Why are there only remnants of Hods in the underworld, and how does that enable someone to regenerate? Do slaves end up killing themsleves and just don’t bother seeking out the remnants of Gods?

 

[pmmg]

Does give one stuff to think about. If I was a soldier for 1000 years, and everyone I killed kept getting back up, I would have to wonder what the point of it was.

 

[junechevalier]

Why are there only remnants of Hods in the underworld, and how does that enable someone to regenerate? Do slaves end up killing themsleves and just don’t bother seeking out the remnants of Gods?

There are many underworld creatures as well, and if someone dies in the underworld, he goes even deeper down the hierarchy of realms into the void, like a limbo. The remnants of gods in the underworld were deliberately placed by the gods so that their faithfuls may find a way back to Gotterhavn. Each god has a different way to bringing back "dead" immortals. For example, the goddess Sivielle has this endless well in her shrines, that whenever someone is resurrected, they would resurface through the water in a new body. It might sound a bit too much info to swallow when explained like this, but in the novel, I'm trying to explain this through an example, by showing how people are being resurrected, incorporating the scene into the storyline. I think that's the art of worldbuilding in storytelling.
And yes, there are many slaves who try to kill themselves, or to seek help from other gods so that when they die, they would either not return deliberately, or being resurrected in another god's shrine. The thing is, this rogue god has a system to keep his slaves in check. Not to mention that whenever a slave can prove himself to be strong, he can be elevated to a higher caste, and the highest caste is a caste of warriors who willingly offer their bodies to the rogue god, so that the god can possess their bodies whenever the god likes. This creates some kind of competition among the slaves.

 

[junechevalier]

Does give one stuff to think about. If I was a soldier for 1000 years, and everyone I killed kept getting back up, I would have to wonder what the point of it was.

Exactly, and that is the kind of dilemma that the main character faces in the novel. Suffice to say, soldiers who suffer more death usually are the ones who lose, because they would be too tired to continue fighting, especially if they also keep losing territories.
I feel like it's such a cool way to explore human behavior. That’s why I love the fantasy genre.

 

[pmmg]

Well, I think its a cool idea. And is seems like you want to do it justice. Hope we can help.

 

[pmmg]

Suppose I should ask the obvious first question. What is the birth rate? Does the population ever grow, cause if it does, and people keep coming back, the world is gonna be very full of people.

 

[junechevalier]

Suppose I should ask the obvious first question. What is the birth rate? Does the population ever grow, cause if it does, and people keep coming back, the world is gonna be very full of people.

Thank you! Just discussing about it helps me develop the world.
Birth rate is slow. It was quicker at some point in Gotterhavn's history, but Gotterhavn as we know today has a very slow birthrate, obviously due to the long lifespan, and possibly infinite. To put you into perspective, the main character's parents were as old as the new gods. The main character even met a mage who is older than the new gods in the storyline.
The oldest being known to them is an old god, who were once a race in itself before being wiped out. Most immortals from that era have either fallen to the void, never to return, chosen not to return from the underworld, or have ascended. This ascension is a part of the religions, which deserves a discussion of itself.

 

[Queshire]

Well, I'm all for playing around with immortal characters and there's a lot of fun you can have with exploring themes of getting stuck in a rutt after centuries, but I'm a bit iffy on the rest.

 

[junechevalier]

Well, I'm all for playing around with immortal characters and there's a lot of fun you can have with exploring themes of getting stuck in a rutt after centuries, but I'm a bit iffy on the rest.

I'm trying to build the world around the themes of being stuck or cursed with immortality. The lore, the economy, the politics, are all created specifically to cater to this central idea. Maybe these short explanations sound too "out there," but there's little exposition in the novel itself. I'm hoping that everything will make sense the further we go into the story. But what makes you feel iffy?

 

[Queshire]

Honestly it's almost completely personal taste. Stuck or cursed with immortality is a bit darker than I generally prefer when it comes to immortality.

 

[junechevalier]

Honestly it's almost completely personal taste. Stuck or cursed with immortality is a bit darker than I generally prefer when it comes to immortality.

Ah, that's completely understandable. It does categorize itself as being on the darker side of the genre. But I don't want to write a doom and gloom, nihilistic story. I like a hopeful ending, whether the hope is explicit at the end, or implied.