Indro Lore Part 2:

So, in an earlier version of the project, the God Indro is actually real. You still find the tree and eat the fruit, but instead of locking you in an infinite void for all eternity, you instead have a crazy trip sequence and then wake up and be able to see the truth of the world -- that truth being that there are Lovecraftian monsters that were previously unable to be seen.

The sun is carried by a giant baby, who turns into an old man at night carrying the moon.

Oases are formed from titanic skinless monkeys vomiting water.

There are weird gelatinous creatures in the clouds, cities built atop giant people, and random monsters just hanging about, etc.

There is also the Death God, who is a meerkat that smokes a lot of mystical grass and rides around the deserts.

Hey, it's me! The guy who constantly redesigns tolkien and folklore creatures for his fantasy world/game now presenting…an original idea! The Oremar!

The Oremar are a rare race of mollusk-like beastfolk whose origins are forever intertwined with the ancient dwarves.

Long before the fall of the ancient dwarven kingdoms, the Oremar served as “attendants” within the endless forges beneath the mountains. They were valued because they could safely consume slag, molten ore, and failed castings that no other creature could. Ancient dwarves regarded them as little more than useful beasts, unaware that each generation was slowly becoming more intelligent through centuries of exposure to dwarven society. By the time the Cataclysm destroyed the great holds, the Oremar had already begun taking their first uncertain steps toward true civilization.

Unlike the dwarves they once served, the destruction of the mountain kingdoms did little to threaten the Oremar. Their bodies were perfectly suited to endure volcanic heat, collapsed tunnels, and rivers of magma. As the centuries passed, isolated communities developed deep beneath the world's mountains, where they continued refining the skills they had unknowingly inherited from their former masters. Modern Oremar settlements are rarely seen by surface dwellers, hidden among volcanic caverns, geothermal vents, and forgotten dwarven ruins.

Although they remain uncommon throughout the Thousand Realms, the Oremar have become a respected curiosity among scholars and smiths alike. Their natural understanding of metals borders on instinct, and few races can rival their knowledge of stone and ore. While their culture is still young compared to many civilizations, the Oremar possess a quiet determination to forge an identity of their own rather than forever living in the shadow of the ancient dwarves.

The Oremar possess long, slender humanoid bodies lacking any true skeletal structure. Their muscles are supported by dense connective tissues rather than bones, allowing them to stretch, compress, squeeze through impossibly narrow openings, or reshape portions of their bodies when necessary. Their movements are smooth and deliberate, more akin to the slow glide of a slug than the stride of a mammal, though years of adaptation to dwarven architecture have given them a surprisingly upright posture.

Covering much of their bodies are overlapping metallic scales that function as natural armor. These plates are not separate from the Oremar but are living structures continuously produced from minerals consumed throughout their lives. The metal grows thicker and more elaborate with age, creating protective shells across the shoulders, back, forearms, and legs. Beneath these armored plates, their soft skin glows with warm hues reminiscent of molten lava, giving the impression that heat burns constantly beneath their flesh.

The Oremar sustain themselves through an extraordinary diet unlike any other sapient species. Their preferred nourishment consists of molten minerals, refined metals, volcanic stone, slag, and even open flames. Fire itself provides energy to their bodies, while consumed metals are broken down and gradually incorporated into the metallic armor they naturally produce. Although they are capable of eating ordinary food or common stone, such fare provides little nourishment and is generally consumed only when necessity demands it.

Their physiology grants complete immunity to heat and fire. Indeed, environments that would kill most living creatures are comfortable to the Oremar. Volcanoes, active forges, geothermal vents, and rivers of lava are considered ideal habitats. Their boneless anatomy also grants remarkable flexibility despite their considerable weight, though the heavy armor covering their bodies makes them naturally slow-moving.

Creator Notes: These lil’ dudes are based on the scaly-foot gastropod, a species of volcanic, metal producing deep sea snail. I love them and think fantasy worlds need cooler beastmen then just dogs, cats, and lizards…(the creator says knowing their world has all 3 and the next design will be a fae-dog creature) so yeah! What do ya think? Would you ever play a freaky alien looking thing like these? 

If you like the art and want to see more then you should check out my other arts on Blue Sky. ALSO i have been working on an archive of sorts for the project over on WorldAnvil (best i've found for what i want) so if you want to check out more in depth lore than what's here or see articles on things that aren't posted here then you should check it out. Maybe leave a follow on one of the 2. I work very hard on these things :’D

Blue Sky.

World Anvil

Izmea is a worldbuilding project that explores stories of fantastical cultures and people set amid the post-apocalyptic ruins of grand megaprojects and impossible marvels of a long buried futuristic civilisation, recontextualised by modern inhabitants of the world as part of their folklore and mythology.

A world of blasted arcology giving foundations to a Belle Époque industrial metropoles. A world where inteligent machines became fae of legends, offering Faustian deals of cybernetics. where shamans communicate with pre-historic AI bound to the electronic "spirit plane", where biological experiments become part of nature's order, and where autonomous geo-engineering keeps reshaping the landscape of the world.

Where alchemists debate mathematicians debate theology, where martial artists settle grudges in the shadow of industrial chimneys build in to the ruins of skyscrapers, where historians discuss the glory of ancient Khaganate as industrialists salvage warmachines that build it to power their factories.

Here are the crests of four countries that make up the western regions of the Continent, typically stereotyped as traditionalists, where supercentenarian nobility still maintains a considerable sway over their politics and culture separated from more reformed, open midlands by a vast sea of trees.

Rather then attempting to fully commit to the traditional rules of heraldry, my primary goal was to convey the vibe and atmosphere that each nation is meant to represent, so any feedback on whether I failed or succeeded at that will be appreciated.

Going clockwise from top left:

Kingdom of Ciria: a diarchy of love, wine and violence, of hundred cults and thousand festivals whose cheery scenery hides a vast and bloody criminal underworld.

Kingdom of Fire Isles: an island nation that only recently ended its centuries long isolation, and emerged in to the international theatre under the restored rulership of its Oracle-Queen, but one whose future prospects remain uncertain as their prophetic machine begins to fall apart even as the palatial infrastructure meant to aid it keeps expanding.

Crown of Westerii: A dominant power in the west, nation defined by cycle of foreign conquest and integration, where children of crusaders marry horse-bound nomads, where authority of the Black Church of the Dais looms over a child-empress and her council of regents.

Kingdom of Wiberion: located on the western most edge of the continent, is land of barren hills and silver veined mountains where witches still wield considerable influence over the nation snake barons beholden only to the long dead Witch Queen that founded their nation.

I saw an older post discussing how they (the poster) was tired of worlds that were Dark-Souls-Like, defined as "motivated by the breakdown and insanity of a number of small gods."

Come to think of it, I've seen worlds like that... (I loved them, partly because it's something I wouldn't have thought of!) Is it because it's a whole *thing* spreading without my cultural awareness?

If you were to make educated guesses, what sorts of tropes, ideas, or settings are currently "trending" among people writing this sort of big-picture speculative fiction these last few years?

Several of the color sketches and process work for the Chansent. It was a lot of fun playing around with these, as I imagined that different regional varieties would present a range of colors depending on whether they lived in the steppe-tundra, arctic, taiga, or alpine biomes.

Herds of orange-backed Appelsiidna Chansents are the most numerous, thanks to their preference for the abundant grasslands that make up a majority of the far north, with herds of brown Eaktodáhtolaš Chansents seen mingling with the large numbers of Appelsiidna even though they prefer the taiga’s hugging the south of the steppe-tundra. Continuing south/southeast, the gold-coated Meahcci Chansents are very rare; individuals can only be found in the secluded alpine regions that hem in the other biomes, along with the purplish-grey Sáhppat’s in the lower alpines and highland regions. Further to the north, the snow-blending Muohta can be spotted on the bleak arctic flats nearer to the poles, and elusive blue-cheeked Gobmi’s have been purportedly seen in every northern biome, but tales of them are few and far between.

Unlike their ancient brethren, Chansent horns blacken with age, in no small part thanks to their continuously-growing nature, and the oldest bulls and cows possess grand crowns of a deep obsidian color.

Their cloven hooves, other than being larger than their smaller, earthly ancestors, bear few fundamental differences with them. Notably, however, they’re a bit longer and flatter than other Wisent-descendants, with a narrow, somewhat sharp edge, leading to local xenozoologists theorizing it’s useful for both stabilizing on the cold northern earth, and digging through the frozen ground.

Also toyed with the idea of it evolving non-cloven hooves, with those bearing more similarities to rhinos or tapirs. Gonna try to make use of em on another creature (or maybe the saiga-looking chansent sketch), since it was quite fun studying both animals very strange, and quite alien-looking feet.

(if linking to other sites/accs isn't okay pls lmk)

I often post process work on insta, if you're interested, it's @ jo.baylis

I am so tired of seeing the same post every single day. Someone comes in here and says something like "I have an idea for desert vampires who drink sand instead of blood, has this been done before?"

The answer is yes. It has been done. Everything has been done. You are not going to invent a new color. You are not going to create a fantasy race that doesnt have some root in folklore or existing tropes. I feel like we have this collective obsession with being "unique" that is actually just paralyzing our ability to create anything at all.

Its like people think they are going to get sued by the ghost of J.R.R. Tolkien if they use a dragon. Who cares if it has been done before? What matters is how YOU write it. I saw a guy yesterday who was genuinely worried that his "underwater city" was a ripoff of BioShock. My brother in Christ, humans have been dreaming about cities under the sea for thousands of years.

I should of spent my time actually writing my first chapter instead of googling if "floating islands" are copyrighted. It is just ABSOLUTELY exhausting. We are all just remixing the same basic human fears and desires. Stop looking for permission to be creative. Just build the world and stop worrying if someone else got there first. Why is this even a thing?

Here are four fully augmented bodies from some of the top corporations in the megastructure alongside some weapons of the same companies. These bodies are considered to be some of the most expensive, elegant and advanced for the elite as they can turn one person into a one man Army capable of giving them superhuman strength, speed and agility to survive any situation they are in. These bodies belong to different corporations which is why they all look different as almost all of them research different types of technologies giving them a unique look letting you tell who's is who's.

In my world several companies offer several products like weapons, armor, implants and fully augmented bodies. But only a few produce products of such quality and advanced technology that they are considered to be their own independent nation inside the Empire as they gather so much wealth and influence inside their own sectors making them dependent on their infrastructure.

Several corporations that are in the weapon and augmentation industry only offer one product or service but those who are considered to be the most influential and powerful offer several as they are the only ones considered to have the time, money and resources to investigate new and old technology which they quickly monopolize as they don't want to lose their grip on the power they influence on the Empire and sectors they control as loosing a contract to a better product could become financial ruin.

All corporations must pay a corporate tax to the Empire but those corporations that are at the top aren't taxed but instead are hired as the Empire's industrial and manufacturing powers and are given a lot of liberties to rule their own sectors as they see fit as long as they supply the Empire's armies either with weapons, armor, augmetics, vehicles, medicine or manpower to aid with the several wars. Being hired as an Empire supplier is the most difficult contract to obtain in the megastructure but it is very easy to lose the influence to keep the contract as the Empire always demands better equipment and augmetics for their troops making corporate espionage, assassinations, sabotage and theft very common in the corporate world creating several conflicts between various corporations inside the megastructure that sometimes blow out in corporate wars so massive and violent that the whole sector is put in quarantine to let the war burn out.

Crest/Symbol Reversal Post, where the example symbol looked like a cylinder

Post 2 - The Deities of The TriGod Earth

OG post's text:

(Note: This is the first world that I'm actually trying to flesh out that's written down, so there might be some stuff that aren't realistic so yeah)

Symbols and Crests function very similarly to Signatures in the TriGod Earth. But Symbols are personal or your own, and Crests are for Clans/Families. (Crests are usually more intricate than Symbols)

When addressing people in a letter, you usually put your own symbol/crest on the front of the envelope, and the person's symbol/crest you're sending it to on the back. (You usually put the other person's symbol/crest with magic or magic items, and not by drawing or stamping it on)

However, putting someone's symbol/crest, one-to-one is a sign of disrespect or seeing them as less than you. So, people instead flip the other's symbol/crest (usually horizontally, but if the symbol/crest is symmetrical, then it's usually vertically flipped)

This can be traced back to a time where slavery was legal. Where Slaves had symbols and their Slave-Trader put their symbols on parchment as a sign that they owned them.

Of course, slavery is now highly illegal and everyone hates it. And because of that practice, copying symbols was associated with seeing someone as very much lesser than you by everyone, and especially by former slaves and their families.

Modern(and many old) Religious groups started adapting to this, reversing the symbols of their gods as to not disrespect them deeply.

When two people (from families that have crests) are to get engaged. The fiancé would put their family's crest and their fiancé's reversed crest on the front of the envelope, and vice versa, until they are married where they are then able to use both crests one to one.

Weather due to personal preference, it not being something you're good at or something you think is overdone. Here are mine:

-Slavery. Even though my worldbuilding takes place in an early modern era adjacent time, I don't think this topic is necessary to create a believable world. Also I find this topic disturbing and rarely done well/tasteful.

-Gods interacting with mortals. My world is not dnd or mythology. There are religions, but no diety is confirmed as an actually existing entity. There is no confirmed afterlife or anything of sorts. I don't like gods in fantasy (except God of War that game is a masterpiece)

-Angels or demons. Especially half demons or half angels. The only time where demons weren't extremely cringe and edgy to me is Witcher and Baldurs Gate 3. Same goes for angels. I don't like the idea of a race being naturally good or evil. Also I am not drawn to the occult or holy topics.

-Prophecy and chosen ones. 99% of chosen ones are boring mary sues. It is extremely hard to make a world with a "chosen one" without making the whole world revolve around them. It is much more interesting when somebody who people thought wasn't destined for much, becomes a champion.

I think little traditions often make fictional worlds feel more alive than huge history dumps.

Maybe:

• People never whistle after sunset.

• Every traveler leaves a pebble outside someone's home.

• Children are given two names, but only one is spoken aloud.

• Bakers always bake one extra loaf for strangers.

Small customs like these make a world feel lived in.

What's your favorite tiny tradition from your world?

Chronicler is the free, offline and private worldbuilding tool for Windows, macOS and Linux.

The wonderful Discord community (almost 4000 members now!) have designed some lovely little critters as mascots for the project :)

All 23 mascots now have a home on the website, and they will ALL remain, but it's also time to pick a winner for a bit of fun :D

The mascots can be found here - https://chronicler.pro/mascots

Massive thanks to all the super talented artists! And double thanks that they've now been making transparent png versions so we're turning the mascots into emojis in the Discord server too :D

Also, stay tuned for some big updates over the next couple of weeks 😎

Grave purifier: Specialized priests from a clan of chiropters, involved primarily in preparing and purifying bodies for burial. With the return of the Tsukuyomi emperor, they have assumed the responsibility of stifling lunar necromancy, an art not seen in east Asia for over a century. Because of this they were retrained on old protocols from the early Ling. Corpses are stamped with a special pyromancy to render them inert towards reanimation...........Shengmao is a young member of the purifier clan, having to receive his priestly training on the battlefield due to Tsukuyomi attacks.

It's something I rarely see discussion of online but I find it interesting to note how a lot of horror tropes come straight from our own biology. Things like fear of the dark (we lose the main sense with which we interact with the world), fear of what's behind you and or lurking still (we have a narrow field of vision and even narrower field of vision where we can see things that aren't moving), humanoid dolls and monsters that are almost humans (the uncanny valley), ect.

If not, the tropes are cultural based, often about atrocities the group has experience (say racism, mysoginy, ect on both the sides of the bigot and the victim of bigotry) or fear of a specific tech advancement in their recent history and what it could mean for society if all the bad things were to happen (recently it's been Ai, surveilance, ect).

I'd be interested to read about your species and what tropes they'd likely create based both on their culture and social structure, their technological advancement or their biology, especially if your species is very different from humans.

I have an idea inspired by *The Dagger and the Coin*: standard fantasy races were created for specific roles by a fallen empire. Their original roles were: High Elves for administration, Dark Elves as assassins, Dwarves as miners and craftsmen, Giants for manual labor, Orcs as gladiators and heavy infantry, and Halflings as servants. How do I present this without appearing to support eugenics (since I don't)? I’ve considered incorporating biological flaws, generational trauma, and the impact on their daily lives, but I’m worried that might not be enough. What else should I do?

While the modern keldar'ja empire values function over form in everything from clothing to architecture (leading to a lot of grey concrete and crude but functional equipment) it wasn't always like this. According to offworld keldar'ja they used to have "beautiful things" and I'm trying to decide what those might look like.

Keldar'ja would be legally blind by human standards, they can see movement and values but struggle with details and lack depth perception. Their planet is darker than ours, with thick clouds (it's further from the sun, the clouds keep it warm). They *do* have a better sense of smell and are better at finding and differentiating sources of sound, but I'm not sure how to use this in their art.

They also have really bad hands, basically just two large fingers (each the size of a human forearm) and two thumbs (one larger, one smaller) and the ends are capped with thick keratin nails. While something might be impressive for them, it'd be crude to a human eye.

One cultural detail is that they historically haven't been able to make portable *and* complicated written work, because their "writing" system uses differently sized and textured disks on a string (read with their tongue because their skin is thick to block radiation, they wouldn't be able to feel the difference with their fingers). Formal/instructional ones can consist of a series of codes, but you wouldn't be able to get very good prose out of this system. Detail and eloquent wording would require lots of these strings, far too many to carry around.

Some ideas I've had:

Music, the obvious one. Even if the background radiation of their home means modern electronics are less viable, I can imagine some form of record disks being made. I can even see them ending up offworld. The main issue is a meta one: I have no idea how to make music.

I imagine they quite enjoy live plays or performances. Combining those two, musicals? I'm wondering if there'd be a way to funnel scents into the seating areas to enhance the mood. Not campy musicals though, they're still *keldar'ja*, but maybe they used to be more introspective and philosophical about their inherently brutal nature (they're very territorial, especially the males, and their ancient instincts clash with their own society).

They collect loot/trophies Yautja style to impress potential partners, maybe there's a way to work with that? It'd be a bit gruesome, but taxidermied monsters or art made using bones and skulls could be a good way to show off power for them.

Food? The main issue is keldar'ja eat a *lot* so it's not economical for them to make nice food except for special occasions. Besides, other species can't eat the same stuff anyway, it'd either do nothing or give you food poisoning. So that's probably off the table.

While they can't see many colours, I can see them working with opacity to make some really impressive stained glass art too.

What do you think of these? Do you have any advice or feedback?

Hi everyone,

So, I’d like to know what makes you like or dislike certain magic systems.

For me, what makes me not even interested in finishing the description is when terms like “four elements” or “elemental” show up in the elevator pitch;

And what gets me interested is when it’s not just another variation on D&D, the occultism (mainly british-like/victorian-like), and stuff like that. Because I prefer things like “Nen” in Hunter×Hunter, and I also think psionics is underutilized as a core system in fantasy worldbuilding, it seems like it’s usually understood only as moving things with your mind, telepathy, and derivatives of that. But you can actually do something really expansive with psionics and implement restriction mechanics and costs similar to those seen in Hunter×Hunter.

What about you guys? What works for you and what doesn’t in magical systems?

Thanks for your answers.

This is for my setting, but the discussion can be broadly applied to most superhero settings in general.

What are your thoughts on the in-universe approach to costume design? Obviously the legless wonder woman leotards you see from time to time would be egregiously risky for a standard human in an actual combat scenario.

But, what about when you get to "can shrug off being thrown 20 miles into a skyscraper" territory? If *you* functionally are your own armor, that opens up a lot of freedom in what you can wear, no?

And there's also the public figure aspect in lots of superhero media. If superheroes are meant to be colorful, flashy beacons there to comfort the masses, you'd expect costumes that favor looks.

I was curious what people here think.

Hi!

I'm probably going to just randbetween, but not having a solid number annoys me.

Pretty please tell me if there's a fun way to do this.

Edit: Thank you for the replies!

The northern island Alithon is pretty unashamedly a fantasy rip off of Britain (not the most original ik, though I’m making a deliberate effort to focus my story inspiration more on the Celtic and early medieval cultures of Britain)

Meriden is basically like high medieval England if the Normans never invaded, so stronger Saxon influence, with the separatist north eastern islands having a pagan Norse-like culture.
Strythany is the Celtic one- the more tribal northern half (analogous to Scottish highlands) of the kingdom is ostensibly ruled by a central government at Dincoel, the southern half (more Brythonic inspired) comprise a number of petty kingdoms that nonetheless all owe allegiance to the high king at Dincoel.

Gerantos is the larger island, home to a fractured empire based more specifically upon the late medieval Byzantines rather than western Rome. Capital is Gerantipol.
The south and west are much more sparsely inhabited, isolated from the rest of the land by mountains, and are much drier, with some deserts. A middle-eastern inspired culture thrives here.

Maoli is the island way to the south west- it is home to a Polynesian-like people, though undiscovered by the European style cultures until the events of my story (a 14th century-ish world).

Assuming the northern island is roughly the size of Britain- does the shape of the landmasses and their sizes make sense, mountains/rivers/settlements etc.?

Does it make sense for the islands in the south west to be undiscovered by high medieval sailors until the equivalent of the 1300s, given their relative proximity?

And do the cultures make sense with the geography of the land?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

(This is another in-universe reason why the cultures are so similar to real world Earth cultures but it’s not relevant here)

Hello, I’m back! I have been thinking about what the Ancient Civilizations supposed to be like for sometimes.
The concept is done, but the visual is still need some polishing.
If you had any question, you can comment down below!
Edit : I accidentally deleted the original post.

Here’s a link to my previous post for context :
[Lore of Asterra : Asterrite] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/aMHsB87G6J
[Lore of Asterra : Life-Force] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/lKg9XAeVvn
[Lore of Asterra : Magic&Elements] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/Ggd4ArfD4N
[Lore of Asterra : Monster Types] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/8WgpyGbJPy
[Lore of Asterra : The Asterra] https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/IUwbbAgpov

The Ancient
For the modern Asterrian, little is known about the Ancients. However, it is widely recognized that they were the original ancestors of the human race. They were the first to discover Asterrite, gaining immense knowledge, technology, and power from it.

Following the collapse of the Old World during the 6th mass extinction, the Ancients left behind a legacy of relics, ruins, and automated Sentinels that still roam the planet. These dangerous locales draw many adventurers hoping to loot the ruins and sell ancient technology for a fortune.

The Old world’s Civilization
Before the New World, the civilization of the Old World lived mundane, ordinary lives like our reality.
This changed entirely with the discovery of Asterrite, which propelled the Ancients into a Golden Age where the mineral became a necessity for everyday life.

One such innovation was Asterrite-Alloy, a pristine white metal capable of withstanding weathering, environmental damage, and decay for millennia. It became the primary component for many infrastructure, vehicles, and machinery.

Over time, the Ancients even learned to contact Elder Beings and master Elder Glyphs. They seamlessly integrated these glyphs with technology to achieve teleportation, genetic enhancement, and the early stages of hyperspace travel.
Sadly, their Golden Age ended before they could colonize other planets, as the world's Asterrite supply finally ran out.

The Fall of The Ancient
Unlike the abundant Asterrite found today, the Old World's supply was finite.
Because society depended on it entirely, the world quickly devolved into chaos as nations fought over the remaining reserves.

This global conflict led countries to develop devastating experimental weaponry, including magnetic armaments, magma fuel, weather-control matrices, and weaponized microscopic tech—all of which left permanent scars on the environment of the New World.

The most impactful experiments involved "DNA Splicing." In a desperate bid for power, the Ancients bio-engineered the first Ancient Beasts and monster-kind. By imbuing these creatures with Elder Glyphs, making them as dangerous as a natural disaster.

Engineered strictly as weapons, unable to choose and rid of free will, these beasts grew to harbor a deep hatred for their creators. Eventually, the monsters rebelled.
overwhelming the Ancients, forcing rival nations to ally with each other to fend off the beasts.
Unable to defeat the allied Ancients and their superior technological knowledge, The Ancient beast triggering the 6th Mass Extinction by summoning a cataclysmic meteorite that clashed into the planet, intended to wiping out all the Ancient from the face of the earth.

The Ancient’s Legacies
Millions of years have passed since the collapse. Today, the pinnacle of ancient civilization lies in broken ruins and abandoned cities claimed by nature.
Trees grow through concrete walkways, and non-alloyed structures have long since decayed.

Monsters—the evolutionary descendants of the Ancient Beasts—now claim these ruins as their nesting grounds.
Many structures hold countless relics, ranging from worn, brittle fragments to rare, perfectly intact artifacts awaiting discovery.

While what’s roaming nearby are the automated robots now called Sentinels. Even when rusted and degraded, these ancient machinery and robots relentlessly pursue their original directives, remaining dangerous enough that even apex predators avoid confronting with them.

Fate of the Ancients
While the Ancients are considered extinct as a distinct civilization, their bloodline survives.
During the 6th Mass Extinction, desperate factions attempted to flee the cataclysm.

Some escaped into the deepest trenches of the ocean and were never heard from again.
Others fled into deep space; though many failed, a few may or may not have found distant planets to colonize.

However, the majority of the human population retreated into deep underground bunkers and entered cryostasis.
These frozen survivors became the direct ancestors of modern Asterrian humans.

Even now, some of these original Ancients awaken from their stasis chambers from time to time, stepping out into a world they no longer recognize.
Where many of the Ancients refused to cooperate with Asterrian, and wishes to change the planet back to how it was, no matter the cost.

I’m curious what aspect of your world you overthink to the smallest detail just for fun. I’ll go first. I’m working in fantasy semi based/inspired by DnD, so what I overthink is Elves. Here are some examples:

Elves are technically immortal (at least immune to time and age) so how big do elvish families typically get?
How many kids is normal?
What does a typical age gap between siblings look like?
Is it related to fertility?
How often can elvish women give birth?
What does a typical gestation period look like? Is it longer? Short? How many trimesters do they have?
Is it painful to give birth?
How long can giving birth take?

Elves typically don’t sleep, instead using meditation to regain their energy.
Is that something they can do from birth?
Do they have to learn it? Practice it? Who teaches them?
Are there reasons an elf might choose sleep over meditation? Like injury? After giving birth?
Is it different for half-elves?

These are just some of the (for fun) questions that run around in my head. I’m curious if anyone else does this and what parts of your world do you overthink.

See original post text

Hey everyone! I’ve been expanding on the lore of my dark fantasy world, Eutodia, specifically focusing on how magic interacts with human biology.

In this world, every human possesses "mana veins" that function just like arteries and veins in a normal body. It means everyone has the potential for magic to begin with.

However, if those veins suffer a catastrophic disruption, it triggers a horrific transformation into what the people of Eutodia call Nightwalkers.

They become relentless predators hunting any living thing. The terrifying part for the commoners is that the human consciousness is often still trapped inside, suffering unimaginable agony, to the point where death is seen as the only mercy.

How do magic systems or mutations in your worlds affect the human body or psyche when things go wrong? Would love to hear your thoughts!