The "Daily" Worldbuilding Prompt. Chapter 2

[Vaporo]

Question 89: How does the balance between civilization and nature hold up in your world? (Does one overwhelm the other? Do they struggle against or compliment one another?)

Nature is a thing that exists in my world. Some people like nature. Most people don't like it when too much nature gets in their house. Untia has a lot of jungles that are brimming with nature that needs cleared away before anything can be built. Most Untians who live near jungles will advise you to stay out, or to follow the road if you absolutely must go through. Most people associate jungles with savagery and uncivilized peoples. Some Grat with animal-like intelligence have adapted to exist in the wild and most are seen as pests that destroy crops and kill livestock.

Question 90: How is gambling handled in your world? (Is it legal? Is it organized? Is it lucrative? Who or what controls the gambling scene? What’s the public perception on gambling?)

Most gambling is a seedy affair in Untia. Gambling is frowned upon by the middle and upper classes and is shunned as such. Most gambling parlors are little more than run-down taverns or brothels that also happen to host card games. Such establishments usually only resort to gambling as a last resort to appeal to low-lives when their business has no other recourse remaining.

The Amul preach against gambling, but do nothing to stop it. In contrast to Untia, Kumbaska has huge casinos in almost every major city. Throwing money away for a cheap thrill indicates that you have cash to burn, so being able to gamble is seen as a status symbol.

Question 91: What's the relation between mortal and divine? (Do both exist? What do you define as divine? Can one become the other? Is there anything the divine envies the mortal for?)

Oh boy. Here we go again.

The "divine" beings in my universe are mortals that were given power by Existence in order to defend it from Nothingness. Each divine being derives power by embodying some aspect of the universe, be it a physical property such as light or a more abstract concept such as interpersonal connections. There have been 15 divine beings throughout history. The original fourteen that were created by Existence gave themselves up to Nothingness in order to protect the land of the gods, and a fifteenth came to be later on. However, instead of killing them Nothingness erased their memories and planted corruption in the mind of Light. It then returned them to the land of the gods where they eventually wandered back to the world of O.

O was the first and only world created by Existence. Under the corrupted rule of Light, the gods ruled as bored cosmic despots, rearranging continents on a whim and creating strife however they thought was most amusing. As you might imagine, the relation between humanity and these gods was not a good one. If they heard your pleas at all, the gods were just as likely to turn you into a pile of ash on the spot as to help you. However, two among their number, Thought and Time, felt that something was amiss. In secret, they were uncomfortable with how they treated humanity and could detect the subtle influence of Nothingness on Light. So, they rebelled against the other twelve, but were inevitably defeated.

Since they couldn't be killed, Light exiled the rebels to the land of the gods. However, the two had learned some old powers during their rebellion and had rediscovered the mold from which the world of O was cast. So, they poured their memories into the cast to create a second plane of reality, which contains the double planet system where most of my worldbuilding takes place.

For three thousand years they lived in relative peace in their new world. They didn't interact with the humans of this new world very much, but maintained physical presences with which people could come to converse. They kept no secrets and readily explained their history to anyone who asked, but believed that humanity was meant to grow and thrive of its own accord and so kept out of the way. Some worshiped them, and they didn't suppress such worship, but they would tell their worshipers that they were being rather silly and that the two of them were not gods, but simply extraordinarily powerful spirits. They also didn't suppress the formation of other religions, since they honestly didn't know if most of them were true or not. There are things in the land of the gods that even Thought and Time can't comprehend, and they too believe that there are unknown powers much greater than themselves at work in the universe.

When the other twelve gods found about the new plane of reality, they were incensed. Since they were unable to attack this new plane directly, they created the Generals and sent them into the world to besiege the twin worlds. However, the Generals were ultimately expelled into the land of the gods by Thought when he severed his link with the world, and thus his memories. Thought became little more than a cosmic vegetable, and without his brother Time's power in the world is extremely limited.

Today, people in my world worship little most than shadows of the past, or whatever higher power the Thought and Time believed in. The distinction is often rather vague.

Question 92: How are guilds, or your equivalent, treated, employed and regulated?

Guilds used to be very prevalent in Untia, but have fallen out of favor in recent years. The purpose of the guilds were basically to create a monopoly on a particular product. One of their primary functions was to come up with agreed-upon minimum prices, so that nobody could undercut anybody else by too much. Every craftsman was more or less required to be a member of the guild, lest they be run out of town. In some cases, operating without a guild license really was illegal, since the guilds usually had strong political footing. However, international trade has opened up in recent years and with it more competitive pricing. The guilds were complacent and didn't realize the threat at first, but soon experienced sudden and serious shortages of finances. When the guilds were unwilling to change their ways, many craftsmen decided to ignore guild mandates in order to keep their pricing competitive. There were very few tangible things that the guild had to offer, so by the time the guilds lowered their prices to be competitive too many craftsmen had left for them to totally recover.

King Frenn I also took note of these events and realized how much guilds were hurting the Antisan economy (since economic theory was just invented and all the rage at the time) and took steps to weaken the traditionally strong ties between the guilds and government.

Question 93: Who do the people of your world look to for wisdom and spiritual advice? (Are they a special class of people, a lifestyle, or perhaps simply the local elder?)

Untians would usually look to whoever maintains the shrine to whatever spirit is locally worshiped. Exact traditions vary wildly throughout the region, but usually they will be a village elder or the like.

Amul priests are considered to have a monopoly on wisdom, and that any other wise person has derived their wisdom from the teachings of the Amul.

Question 94: Exclaves, coregions, condominiums and micronations. What political oddities can I find in your world?

The small island of Dantan is in a strategic position that could allow whoever holds it to police all sea traffic in the region. During the Antisan-Iklan-Keflatian war, almost every Untian nation took the opportunity to stake a claim on the island. When the war was over, however, nobody was actually sure who had won the island and everyone had a seemingly legitimate excuse to say that the island was rightfully theirs. So, to this day almost every Untian nation claims the island as their own, but nobody dares build on it since it could bring the ire of literally everyone down upon them.

 

[Miles Lacey]

Question 94: Exclaves, coregions, condominiums and micronations. What political oddities can I find in your world?

The largest country in the world is mostly a barren polar region made up of self-governing entities that move around in the course of a year. These self-governing entities led by religious tribal leaders. Only the central government and a few territories remain in one place. This country is the Confederstion of Northern States.

The story is set in a non-hereditary constitutional monarchy called the Kharran Empire. When the throne becomes vacant candidates go to the Stadium in the Imperial capital and fight it out using swords. Whoever is left standing at the end of it is crowned Monarch.

The State of Ascot is a fishing village with 1072 people living in an area of 163 hectares. It was created by a a cartographer who was distracted. A squiggle was out around the map. When it was presented to the parties holding peace talks they thought the mark was a proposed border and agreed to it! Ascot charges only a 1% annual residency tax so many businesses set up their head office here. To date there's 7508 businesses here.

An aircraft carrier that was abandoned by one of the navies in the Great War was found by refugees and proclaimed the Republic of Salvation. It has an elected government, a standing army of 100 soldiers and a population of 4568 people. It survives by salvaging shipwrecks in international waters. It's also internationally recognised as a nation and there are 17 ambassadors on board.

 

[Miles Lacey]

Question 92: How are guilds, or your equivalent, treated, employed and regulated?

They're treated the same as a professional association as that is what guilds have effectively become.

 

[Ban]

Question 95: What about funerals? (How are they performed? Who is invited? How significant are they? How are the dead honoured? What happens to their body? Are they given a stone, a cross, a...?)

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 95: What about funerals? (How are they performed? Who is invited? How significant are they? How are the dead honoured? What happens to their body? Are they given a stone, a cross, a...?)

Most are burned nowadays. It's easier to keep them from popping back up. A hard learned lesson from the Lich Wars. Some still bury or entomb their dead, but they are mostly holdouts. Most of the dead are usually well honored, though it used to be an honor to eat them too. That's kind of gone to the way side. The big nobles, kings, queens and others get big parades and all before they go to the pyre. Sometimes, dead are dead. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Miles Lacey]

Question 95: What about funerals? (How are they performed? Who is invited? How significant are they? How are the dead honoured? What happens to their body? Are they given a stone, a cross, a...?)

Death is seen as a transition from a temporal to spiritual realm and the longer a body is left unburied or unburned the longer the spirit of the deceased is left in limbo. Thus the faster the body is buried (if a person is good or too young or "simple" to be judged) or burned (if the person is bad) the better. Thus, funerals as we know them are pointless. Instead family, friends, colleagues and well wishers of the deceased will turn up to a wake where they eat a feast, drink a lot of toasts and tell stories about the deceased. State funerals as such don't exist. Instead the day after a Monarch or some other person of importance dies is made a public holiday and mourners are invited to partake in festivities.

Why party? It is believed that when a person dies they will go to the underworld where Hadis will decide if they join the gods in Paradise or wander the Cosmos forever. "Why mourn when they're off to be with the Gods?" is a common refrain. Wakes can often last for a few days.

A fruit tree will be planted where a person is buried and a shrine carved in the likeness of the person will be placed in front of the tree. That will make the deceased more real than if they simply had a cross or stone put on their grave.

 

[ThinkerX]

Question 95: What about funerals? (How are they performed? Who is invited? How significant are they? How are the dead honoured? What happens to their body? Are they given a stone, a cross, a...?)

Depends. A funeral for an upper class patrician is as much a political opportunity as it is a memorial.

For common folk, it's a time to move on, mourning the dead overmuch gets in the way of living.

Usually, the custom most parts of the Solarian Empire (and elsewhere) in internment - digging a hole, and dropping the corpse in, with or without a coffin. Some imperial cities - notably Corber Port - rest atop immense labyrinths of catacombs.

 

[Ban]

Going back, I see I asked about breakfast, but not about the other two main meals of the day. Shame on me.

Question 96: What will be served for a typical lunch and/or dinner?

 

[Orc Knight]

Going back, I see I asked about breakfast, but not about the other two main meals of the day. Shame on me.

Question 96: What will be served for a typical lunch and/or dinner?

How dare you not ask about the other, wait, two? Just two other meals? I suppose they are the 'main' meals. Lunches are a fairly light affair, at least for the world. Sandwiches, cheeses, crackers, beer and ales or harder stuff. Fishes and the like too. Just as long as it fits the light. Supper/Dinners are the quite heavy, more so if one is richer. Meats are plentiful as per the heavily carnivorous population. Most the time, anyways. It's going to be a big one to sleep on with.

 

[Ban]

How dare you not ask about the other, wait, two? Just two other meals? I suppose they are the 'main' meals.

I've been informed on occassion that variating between zero and eight main meals is not normal. Let's stick to the standard three for now

 

[ThinkerX]

Going back, I see I asked about breakfast, but not about the other two main meals of the day. Shame on me.

Question 96: What will be served for a typical lunch and/or dinner?

Depends where you are at and what your social status is. Coastal areas, fish or some other form of seafood is usually on the menu. Poor folks in Solaria's biggest cities - the 'dolemen' - get a daily ration of bread and grain, frequently with dried veggies. Meat for these folks, apart from the rare sliver of fish doesn't happen for dolemen. Fruits - pomegranates, dates, apples, and what not are popular where the appropriate groves are located. Fruit that travels well or can be dried turns up on lunch and dinner platters through the empire. Fresh meat is uncommon for the lower orders outside of cattle/ranching areas, but salt pork/jerky is practically a staple for soldiers and travelers. For commoners, the food is washed down with weak wine or an herbal tea.

 

[Miles Lacey]

Going back, I see I asked about breakfast, but not about the other two main meals of the day. Shame on me.

Question 96: What will be served for a typical lunch and/or dinner?

The Kharran Empire has a major emphasis on keeping its population fed and, to ensure this, the poor are given what is called "Rice Loaf" which is basically rice, cheap fish and shredded vegetables like onion and carrot wrapped in seaweed.

Everyone else will usually have a large meal around 6pm which will consist of dishes consisting of assorted breads, fruits (bananas, citrus fruits, plums, peaches, pears), vegetables (usually carrots, onions, lettuce, sweet potatoes, taro, rice), fish (usually shark, tuna salmon or trout, seafood (crab, lobster, crayfish), seaweed and meat (usually chicken, beef (for the wealthier), mutton and mammoth meat). Most of these foods will be flavoured with an assortment of spices based on where a person lives. Peppers are used in most cooking. Alcohol and assorted non-alcoholic fruit based drinks are also served.

(Note that the amount and types of food served will depend on location and wealth of family.)

Lunch tends to consist of smaller portions and is usually made up of uncooked foods.

A late evening meal (usually served around 9pm) will consist of a soup made up of leftovers from the main meal of the day.

 

[Ban]

Question 97: From Batavians to bikers. Who are the rough and tough folk to be weary of in you world? (And do the myths hold up?)

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 97: From Batavians to bikers. Who are the rough and tough folk to be weary of in you world? (And do the myths hold up?)

The biggest and often considered most badassest (and generally asses) are any number of the wood elves. They can often back up their claim due to thousands of years of warfare (one of their records held is a hundreds of years long three way war, that they also had a civil war in the middle of) and just general nastiness to the other races and peoples. That and they have constantly and consistently ate their enemies and cannibalism was an accepted standard. Any dryad who serves with them tends to be the same way. They have calmed much since the Lich Wars, but even the tamest among them considers a bar brawl as entertaining (and a possible bloodsport) and blood sacrifice of something to be the norm. They're also on a war time out due to their population suffering massive losses.

Tagging into a close second to them is the Herder Dwarves. Dwarven Hun or Mongol style goat riders with an aggressive policy of enslavement, raping and pillaging that makes the northern viking style ripoff clans look positively tame. Their gods are more demonlike and they give off a menacing vibe. Due to their rapacious ways they can corrupt themselves into satyr's and to them it is a good sign. They are often fighting centaurs and orcs for territory to put their herds on and get weapons from their mountain dwelling cousins when they aren't raiding or fighting with/against the wood elves. They also tend to go after trolls, even if the trolls didn't do anything to them.

The third on the tough guy act is the orcs. They can back it up, it's just they're rather tired of doing so. They've got worse press then the elves who eat people, which says a lot. At some points in time the Hordes they created were little more then pissed off farmers tired of getting hit by raiders and crusader sorts going after them. That and adventurers trying to use them as fodder. The rest of the greenskins fall in with them. Just want to be left the hell alone. And if not, they can use a hammer bigger then most the people they face. If only the Narrative went their way.

 

[ThinkerX]

Question 97: From Batavians to bikers. Who are the rough and tough folk to be weary of in you world? (And do the myths hold up?)

I will assume that 'weary' is actually 'wary.'

Rachasa - cat-like humanoids about a head shorter than humans. Tribal. Savage. See themselves as superb hunters and (often) everybody else as prey. Typical rachasa can jump straight up almost twenty feet, jump 40 foot horizontal without a running start, and is stronger than all but the toughest of humans and hobgoblins - in the Traag War, some of the strongest specimens threw fully armored knights. They have retractable claws that can punch through armor. Actually a human/alien hybrid made by the ancient aliens as a sort of scout/security force. (Very) fortunately they are mostly organized into small tribes and packs...on the primary world. On Aquas, some have developed civilizations of sorts; almost invariably either brutal dictatorships or loose confederations bound together with common laws and code of honor.

The rachasa are one of several races (others including humans, goblins, hobgoblins, and even elves) on the primary world that roam the 'Great Unknown Southern Plains' - unknown to civilized scholars because of the vast tribes roaming the area (originally fugitives/outcasts/rejects from the races gathered by the ancient aliens.) These nomads constantly test the borders of the more civilized realms, and occasionally gather into vast hordes that have destroyed, crippled, or founded major nations. One such barbarian horde effectively destroyed central Agba (but decided a cursed wasteland was no place to settle). Another horde forced ancient Chou's scattered city states to unite into an empire; later the Chou (barely) drove off a second horde that went on to found the Hobgoblin Hegemony. And it was one such assemblage, the Marfaki Alliance, that effectively killed the first Solarian Empire.

That said, the Solarian Legions have damn tough reputations of their own. In the old days, these troopers conquered most of what became the Solaria, more recently, during the Traag War, they went toe to toe with Traag's armies of hobgoblins, rachasa, and infernal entities.

 

[Ban]

Question 98: What sort of biomes and landscapes are found on your world, that are rare or even alien to ours?

 

[Orc Knight]

Question 98: What sort of biomes and landscapes are found on your world, that are rare or even alien to ours?

Not too much that would count as completely alien to us. The natural environments are such that you'll not suffer overmuch for startling differences. Sure, there's world tree's and such, which are their own sort of environment (when not being burned down by wood elves). True, the drow have several caverns and such that have been not really terraformed as such, but turned into tropical paradises. Much can be found that is ridiculously huge around the world in general.

The natural caverns or the dwarf tamed ones have the giant mushroom forests and such, lot's of glowing things and an entire ecosystem of blind animals. Be they the root boars, slugs, moles or wyrms among them. One can also find dinosaurs about in many places. Massive mountain ranges with things hidden in, on and within them. The oceans are as alien at times as Earth's oceans can get. Sure, there's squid and octopi in the jungles and swampy forests of the south and some of the plant life is carnivorous, particularly lately with Audrey's starting to try to infest new empty places. For the positively weird, one has to manage to get to the moons. For upon them they will have forests and the like, but inside some of them, one can find the proto creatures and beings inside the tree's. Just, seeming to be there, almost as if the moons are waiting.

For something.

 

[ThinkerX]

Question 98: What sort of biomes and landscapes are found on your world, that are rare or even alien to ours?

Primary world:

Chovos - once a basin with an intruding arm of water from the Sea of Dreams, a seat of the ancient aliens powers, where they delved deep into the etheric realms. The aliens made missteps, resulting in semi-permanent connections with the etheric even as their civilization faded and they became ever more dependent on their servitors - humans, goblins, hobgoblins, rachasa and others. Certain of these servitors were imbued with potent psi abilities (psi bing part of the ancient aliens nature and integrated into their technology). These gifted servitors began striking deals with etheric entities, and developed ambitions of their own. Then they contacted the wrong entity, the powerful demon-god later named Kato-Siva or Three-In-One. That act permitted the demon partial access to the world, mangled Chorvos's landscape, and almost ended in a dead or dying planet but for last ditch measures taken by the ancient aliens even as their civilization imploded. Essentially, Chorvos became *the* link between the mortal and demonic etheric realms, a realm where powerful wills could sculpt the terrain. It's very existence also made demonic conjuration possible across the globe. Ultimately, the connection thinned, and was ultimately severed with the dissolution of Kato-Siva.

Gawana - Much of the ancient aliens technology was biological, not mechanical. Much of the time, they didn't so much 'build' a house as 'grow' a house. Gawana is a supersized example of that, a living labyrinth a thousand miles across, grown from a seed the size of a chest. A lingering remnant of the aliens 'planted' the seed and removed all constraints from its growth as a desperation measure to counter Agba's demon dominated armies, who were encroaching upon valuable storehouses. (Demons find these living constructs disorienting and tortuous to enter.) The measure worked to well, creating an entity regarded as a god by it's denizens.

Aquas - the Strand, the 20,000+ mile long ribbon of land that circumnavigates the entire globe, rarely more than a few dozen miles across. This weird landform is artificial, a creation of the ancient aliens, who manipulated tectonic plates (among other things) to create it. Of especial note are the 'Shrines' - potent reservoirs of psi energy they stationed at regular intervals, places where wondrous things can happen (a bit too wondrous for many folks, as most of the shrines have small populations.)

 

[Orc Knight]

Forgot something for the last question and couldn't edit.

The Mouth. Lot's fantasy and even sci-fi has some area in the world that's named like The Maw or The Mouth of the World or The Hell Mouth. Eld's version is one that is fairly alien and almost normal at the same time. Between the sharp and steep mountains, among the largest in the world, there is a constant storm system that makes it look like a giant sharp toothed mouth, hence the on point name. Far to the north, it starts out regularly enough. Pine forests, chill winds, statues of surly dwarves looking down upon you disappointed and orc statues that look to be rallying armies. The usual sort of ruins, maybe a giant or two chilling out and ready to give you the Holy Writ of their Elders and such. Mammoths and such, so a bit like Skyrim. Hot springs.

The further in you get, pending you don't get killed by any number of the predators, big or small. Or the plant life that surprises you. Then kills you. Or stumble across a secret lair of some villain a century or so behind or a mad alchemists lair or even an aspiring world leader with golems all within the giant range. The griffons within it are as big as small dragons and persistent hunters and the dragons get big themselves. And as you go further, it goes from temperate forests to slowly turning into ferns and fern tree's and other things that are very out of place. It's there you'll run into your first northern dinosaurs, which many may try to kill you. Then the Lost World sort of tribes (maybe even one on a plateau) and make it past that, well, there's a hole that bores down deep into the planet. Possibly the core. Or one of the Hells. No one's too sure, because not many make it beyond the pine forests.

 

[Ban]

Question 99: I arrived to your world from ours 99 questions ago. By now I've spent a lot of time in your world, but I've become homesick. If I aired my grievances to the people of your world, would my story be believable to them? (What would the reaction be?)