forum Questions about world/characters

Started November 14, 2019 by @Reblod flag

tune

(putting this here because it's…sorta general?..and more active)

I had an idea that might help people develop their world/characters
Someone asks a question and you reply with an answer. Preferably questions that aren't too generic. Ones that need you to really think about them

How about, you answer a question and then ask a question of your own. You giveth an answer and you giveth a question.

I'll go first I guess

If you have magic in your world how legal/illegal is it? Are there any banned forms of magic or is it all banned? Can people do whatever they want with magic without repercussions?

This seems like a really neat thread and I'm kinda surprised no one's responded to it yet? Anyways

If you have magic in your world how legal/illegal is it? Are there any banned forms of magic or is it all banned? Can people do whatever they want with magic without repercussions?

In my main project, their world has people with more superhero-like abilities (stuff like telekinesis, mind reading, invisibility, etc. But I don't really feel it's the same as magic). It's technically legal to have these powers but the people who do are usually not very open about it.
There was a time where having powers was illegal, and it resulted in these massive witch hunts where tons of people were killed. The reasoning behind it was that people with powers were dangerous, but the whole thing got shut down by the grandfather of the current reigning king.
A lot of people still have the mentality that powers are dangerous and bad, so even though it's supposed to be safe enough for them to use their powers in public, a lot of people don't out of fear of how other people might react. It also doesn't really help that the current King hasn't really done much to enforce a safer environment for the powered population.

TLDR; it's not illegal, or banned in any way but there's a stigma.

For the next question: Who are some of the important historical figures in your world? Do people tend to view them as a hero or a villain? What did they do to get that reputation?

Piersy is one of the more important historical figures to the Cave Creatures in my main story. He is part of the reason how the Cave Creatures figured out how to get to the ‘above’ (or at least some of his actions led up to it) and his experiments he preformed led to the Cave Creatures having a greater understanding of the world around them.
While humans don’t really know anything about Cave Creatures, including Piersy; in Cave Creature education, Piersy is learnt about often.

Many of the concepts he started on were built on questions. Despite his achievements, many of the creatures felt he asked too much and solved too little, although some argue his questions led to future scientists moving off of those concepts and delving into further projects on those questions. Piersy even asked at one point; ‘is it possible to create a physically and mentally superior Cave Creature?’ The answer was no (they found that out about 3 centuries after Piersy died) or its just very very hard.

Piersy was seen as the founder of Cave Creature science, and the one who built the first blocks to them having a much greater understanding of the world, below and above. Thus, despite him asking so many questions; which most of the time many creatures weren’t too bothered by it since it furthered their curiosity; the Cave Creatures generally had a positive perception.

Are there any gods in your world? What do they do? How does the general public view them?

There is a large pantheon of gods on Meidas. Many of the gods change throughout regions and cultures, particularly minor ones. The important gods, however, stay the same throughout the continent. There is a hierarchy among gods that goes something like this:

• The moon gods at the top - Diu (goddess of destruction), Iseo (god of time) and Solum (god of creation)
• Other major gods like - Mortessorem (god of death) and Vifira (goddess of life)
• Minor gods that oftentimes change depending on where you are
• Spirits, the manifestations of time - Eira (spirit of winter), Nihil (spirit of the eclipse), Qiu (spirit of autumn)
• Demons, unnatural manifestations of magic - Noxid (the binder), Caldre (the whisperer), Tieus (the corrupter)

And then there are deities that don’t quite fit into the hierarchy. There’s Moukib, the Prophet, who is commonly known as being a demon because people associate him with evil and the end times even though he isn’t (spoilers he’s the god of the mind/knowledge).
Then there are the two original gods Lins and Duns who are considered forbidden gods. It’s pretty much illegal to worship them anywhere. Duns is the sun god who is prophesied to consume the world. Then there’s Lins, the god of magic and allegedly the father of all gods. Even though magic might as well be the lifeblood of everything, there’s a strong universal understanding that magic isn’t inherently good and will destroy you given the chance.
People’s views on the gods aren’t usually good. While there are some benevolent gods that favour mortals, most of the gods are apathetic or despise mortals. This is because of an event that happened a very long time ago that some of them are still salty about. So gods are more feared than revered and people are motivated to worship them to avoid their wrath.

How old is your world? Does it have a rich history or are the people and cultures relatively new? Do the residents believe that their world was formed by natural means or that it is the work of the gods?

My world is a medieval type world, and it's old enough to have a kingdom that has been around for half a century. The people have been around longer than the Mountains, and they run by tradition. To make it easier for you guys to picture it, think Middle Earth. It does have a pretty rich history. So, let's begin. There were once, a very long time ago, three kingdoms, of equal power. One kingdom saw their downfall, the mountain kingdom, and made haste to prevent it. They burned their kingdom to the ground, and moved everyone underground. When Azel came to destroy The Mountains, they thought that the other kingdom, called Cora, had burned the city. So Azel left. Weeks later, Cora came to destroy The Mountains, and found it torched. They thought Azel had burned it to the ground. When Cora was back in its borders, it made a treaty with Azel, and so they divided the Mountains. The people of the Mountains were outraged, but they could do nothing to stop it. So, they moved. Years later, the monarchs of the mountain kingdom, had a single child. A daughter. They thought it would be best that she grew up like a soldier, and so she knew how to protect herself. She stayed in the castle until she was 8, and then her and her parents moved to the kingdom of Cora, to enlist in the service of the king. He thought highly of the monarchs of the Mountains, and so they told the king of Cora who they really were. He was astonished, but greatful. He took them in with open arms, and their daughter, played with the king's only son. They grew up together. Until one day, they were ambushed. The monarchs of the Mountain Kingdom were killed, but their daughter survived. She tried to get the king of Cora to help her, but her refused. So, she did the only logical thing. She enlisted herself as the prince's protector. The king granted her request, but he made her live on the outskirts of Cora's borders. She grew up, running the Mountain Kingdom, from Cora. Everyday, she would fatigue herself by training. She became a better fighter than anyone in the known world. Years later, she turns 18, and the prince has thought to make her his wife. She loves the prince, and the king sees it. So he strikes a deal to marry the two off, so Cora would be protected. The young queen of the Mountains agrees. The day of the wedding, the king of Cora is murdered in his court by the king of Azel and his adopted son. The new monarchs, the queen of the Mountains, and the new king of Cora, declare war, and war is brought. It's a massive fight for revenge and vengeance, and in the end, The mountains pull through with one final push to win the war. After the war, the queen of the Mountains and the king of Cora have children together. Long story short, I want to have a sequel, so I have my current story ending with the Heir of the mountain and Cora kingdoms, getting shot with an arrow on a family outing, and the queen and king vowing revenge to destroy the kingdom that killed their oldest son. They believe that their world was created by one God, and they look to him for advice, and pray to him for protection. Now, for my question.

What gave you the idea for your novel? What inspired your main characters, and how have you modeled them? Are they modeled after yourself? Family? Friends? What makes your characters tick, and what are their fatal flaws?

End of Time is probably influenced by..a lot of things I like. It’s a primarily sci-fi world, so obviously, my main inspiration is Star Wars. But I’ve also got inspiration from Godzilla, as evident from the amount of planets that have giant monsters on them. End of Time officially came to me when I was listening to a song, and I thought of a character idea, who became one of the biggest (literally) plot points in the story. Eventually, I made more and more characters, and soon enough, I decided on the title - End of Time, referencing that first character I made - Nuq, the ‘End of Time.’
My main characters are varied. Of different species, backgrounds, etc - I generally think of them off of sketches I make, and songs I listen to while drawing. Dreams that I may have, sometimes as well. End of Time is different where it doesn’t exactly have any ‘set’ group of main characters, it’s a collection of stories, if you will, and the main character could vary, depending on which part you read. Of course, all their stories tie together some way.

I would not say they’re modelled off of myself, because of the nature of how I made them. I rarely model characters off of myself, only for ‘sonas,’ none of which are in End of Time. I also rarely model them off of people I actually know.

As I mentioned before, the characters in EOT vary. I have at least 60 of them in EOT, and more to be made. So for now, I’ll choose two of them to answer this question, Nuq and Tachyn.

Nuq, the first character I made for EOT. He’s essentially a big, big, BIG grumpy alien dragon sleeping under a few mountains. And he’s also a god of some sorts. What makes him tick is..well, for most of the story, he’s sleeping, so he’s not really ‘ticking,’ per say. But when he’s up and about, he’s doing his job - living up to his name, and restarting the universe. In a way, it’s normal to him. Nuq doesn’t like to stray away from the norms. He dislikes changes. It’s how he was taught, and Nuq believes that restarting the universe, sleeping for a few billion years, then rinsing and repeating is his job.
Despite being a god, he has his flaws. Prejudices, for most ‘ants’, aka smaller creatures (basically everyone minus some species.). He’s grumpy, and gets irritated easily. He dislikes his brother, Azer, and will NOT work with him, no matter what.

Tachyn is a parasite taking on a more humanoid looking form. It’s what he modelled it off of. Humans, though he struggles to retain the head and face, so he ‘hides’ it. Tachyn likes to learn. He’s caring, and wants to survive - and help his fellow parasites move on. He believes that all creatures should be united on one common form - the parasitic one. Of course, that is rather impossible.
Like most parasites, Tachyn is weak to fire, but he can adapt against it. He just hasn’t. Yet. Tachyn is always changing and evolving from new experiences.
In terms of flaws, Tachyn is blunt. He has no morals, despite his kindness to his own kind. He’s too determined, not giving up on his goals, which could lead to his death. But even if Tachyn dies..the parasites live on.

What is the most dangerous creature in your world? Why is it so dangerous? What does it eat? What type of creature (plant, mammal, reptile, insect…) is it? Where does it live? Does it have any weaknesses?

my attempt to revive this

There are a lot of dangerous creatures on Medeis and really, it depends on what type of creature's being referred to. The first 'category' of creatures on Meidas are normal, mortal creatures that are found naturally on the continent. Then there are Void creatures which aren't as natural and are only sometimes found in the world. Finally, there are demons which are entirely unnatural. These guys are probably the most dangerous. They're immortal and are the manifestations of magic in various aspects. Basically, demons are known to corrupt mortals and manipulate the natural order of things, sometimes at the command of particular malevolent gods but usually at their own volition. For example, Caldre is known as 'The Whisperer' and whispers dark secrets and impulses into the ears of mortals, driving them to do bad things and sometimes take their own lives. Caldre often works in collaboration with the god of corruption, Remala.
Demons occupy a separate realm that's separate from the Void and the mortal plane. The cosmology of the world has spherical layers that look a bit like this:
Oblivion/Nothingness
The Void
Estis (The Inbetween)
Korrei (The mortal plane)
The heart of the world
Demons are thought to live in a space that's between Korrei and the centre of the world that's invisible to any sentient being. They will sometimes manifest in other realms, usually as grotesque and unusual imitations of real creatures. While they can't be killed, they can be banished and summoned to and from Korrei. This requires rituals and certain uses of magic that's known as 'black magic'. There are some mortals that are more powerful than demons that can defeat them in combat but the only beings that have control over them are gods.

What are the nations/kingdoms of your world? How significant are they and what part do they play in things like economy and politics? What resources do they provide and what are their relations with other kingdoms? Do they have powerful military forces or do they rely on diplomacy?