Your own Fantasy Universe

[SpaceMarine93]

Sometime ago, there was a thread in the Science Fiction section asking "Do you have a Sci Fi universe?", encouraging people in the forum to present their own homemade sci-fi settings. I want to restart that kind of thread here, but for Fantasy settings.

To help your presentation, write under these headings:

Title

Summary: a brief abstract of your fantasy world and story.

Setting:

- Geography: What does your fantasy world look like? What are the geographical features? What unique places/properties does it have?

- Races: What are the main races that populates this world? A short description of their history, culture and unique attributes. Special bonus if you have precursor civilizations, list out racial relationships, which one is generally good and generally evil? Which one is dominant and why?[Bonus challenge: Give evil races sympathetic backstories]

- Nations: What are the main factions that dominates this world? Which one is the Empire(s)? The Kingdom(s)? Who is in Alliance with one another? Who plays the barbarians? Who is in decline or on the rise?

- History: Long story or Short, How did the setting came to be? Who or what created your world? What are the major events that shaped the world's fantastical, racial, political, social, cultural elements and relation to your plot?

Fantastic Elements:

- Magic: How does Magic (if any) in your world work? Does it rely on Spells and Rituals? Must the magic users have some form of connection to mystical energies? Do using magic come at a great price and consequences(e.g. Soul? Sanity? Sacrifice? Humanity? Cosmic Stability? Cash?)? Does using magic require some form of resource or energy? Is usage of artifacts involved? How available and accessible is it? How the heck did the Magic came to the world anyway? [Bonus challenge - briefly or extensively comment on how the existence of magic affect the world socially, politically, economically, etc.]

- Monsters: Feel free to make up special monsters of your own unique designs. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What special quality make them deadly and dangerous? What are the legends surrounding them? Why are they here in the first place? [Bonus challenge - portray them sympathetically]

- Divinity: Do Gods exist? How many of them? Is there a pantheon? Where are their headquarters? What are their roles in your fantasy universe? Are they good and noble (ala Lord of the Rings Gods)

- Realms: Is your world the only fantasy world or does other worlds exist? How do you access it? What are their uniqueness? What wonders or horrors dwells in those other places?

Storyline:

- Type: If you have a plot, what kind of fantasy plot? High Fantasy? Heroic Fantasy? Low Fantasy? Dark Fantasy? Comedic Fantasy? Steampunk? Clockworkpunk? Magicpunk? Dungeonpunk? Some other genres I don't know of?

- Scale of Idealism and Cynicism: Is Good and Evil well defined in the story in some form of Moral Alignment, or is Morality and right and wrong subjective? Does your characters' actions have far reaching consequences on the world that benefits it or is their actions have little impact in changing the state of the setting, if not make it worse? Are the people and factions behave nobly or act like complete bastards to one another?

- Source of Conflict: Now what's going on that is causing the events of the plot to happen? Is an evil overlord trying to conquer the world? Is a demon/monster/eldritch abomination trying to break out of prison and plunge the lands into darkness? Is a brutal war about the break out between the nations? Is the end of the world coming and someone must go to save it?

- Characters: Heroes, villains, major figures and players that would affect any potential storyline. Why do they act and behave the way they are?

[mr friendly guy]

Well I am challenging myself to write a long piece of original fiction. So far 25 000 plus words. Of course in my mind it should be a trilogy, in a similar manner to Trudi Canavan novels.. The longest I ever wrote was a fan fic of 90 000 + words, which is somewhere on this board. One of the other board members is acting as my beta reader, so I will just give a bit of hint to it.

I have sort of gone the Scott Bakker route, and have races roughly analogous to real world civilisations. If anyone has read his novels you will realise that he has Muslim analogues, Christian crusader analogues, and Neanderthal analogues and space aliens. Just to make it fun.

To help your presentation, write under these headings:

Title

3 novels of “Song of heroes trilogy”

1. Courage of warriors
2. Power of the iconoclast
3. Empires rise and fall

The title "Song of heroes" becomes obvious from the opening chapter.

Summary: a brief abstract of your fantasy world and story.

Essentially shows characters live their lives and how it impacts the current events of the world. And they will have a huge impact.
Book one will be predominantly set on one continent but showcase others briefly.
Book two will be set on another, and again showcase what goes on in a third continent.
Book three will showcase things from the continents in book one and two as the forces collide.

The main story starts with the Defeat of the Vashnan military expedition onto the Lorn continent. Despite its obvious strengths, eg being the first nation to industrialise (they have the magical equivalent of firearms), have a high education level such that wizards are relatively common, and experience in conquering others, they are defeated by the Conclave of sorcerors, despite the latter's "inferior" magic.

Seizing advantage of that weakness, their nearest rival the Arben republic declares war, war which seems never ending.

Meanwhile we find that inhuman foes are just waiting for the human nations to fight themselves silly before striking their own blow. For in history, Empires will rise and fall.

- Geography: What does your fantasy world look like? What are the geographical features? What unique places/properties does it have?

This still needs to be fleshed out. But essentially five continents. The fifth one is lost and legend has it humans originated from that continent. The other four continents are separated by ocean, unlike say on Earth where Asia, Europe, Africa join together.

- Races: What are the main races that populates this world? A short description of their history, culture and unique attributes. Special bonus if you have precursor civilizations, list out racial relationships, which one is generally good and generally evil? Which one is dominant and why?[Bonus challenge: Give evil races sympathetic backstories]

Humans obviously - One thing I decided early is that nations should be somewhat like real nations, ie ethnic minorities abound. Not this homogenous racial crap. So the humans come in numerous ethnic groups with different languages etc.

Since I am not a glutton for punishment and am not going to create a separate language like Tolkien, I simply based the different languages in the same manner real world languages vary. For example one of them is an alphabetic, phonetic language like English. Another is ideograms and tonal like Chinese.

Avath - I haven't fleshed them out as they don't make an appearance until book two. They are however mentioned in passing several times by characters. I am thinking of them analogous to Elves. Fights with bows and arrows, while their human opponents have firearms and cannons. Their magic is also much inferior to humanity's.

Gelf - Based on the faerie folk. Pale skin with eyes which are totally black. One Gelf has the strength of several humans. While they are the most populous race in their country, they are by no means the majority. Their slaves (composed of predominantly humans and other faery creatures) outnumber them 53% to 45%. The other 2% are made up of mixed blood people, who while not slaves, don't enjoy the same social standing as pure blood Gelf.

Their society is somewhat like Sparta, in the sense they pride themselves in being warriors and keep slaves. They are forced to adopt human methods of fighting war, like Iron Clad ships, cannons, firearms to have any chance to matching humans, despite their own powerful magic.

Demons - not their real name, but just what the inhabitants of the world call them. Appears as bogey men, but with crucial roles to advance the plot.

- Nations: What are the main factions that dominates this world? Which one is the Empire(s)? The Kingdom(s)? Who is in Alliance with one another? Who plays the barbarians? Who is in decline or on the rise?

Obviously the Vashnan Empire - sort of like the British Empire in their hey day. Expansionist, but see themselves as spreading civilisation. Aren't adverse to keeping slaves themselves. Oh, and their military has a problem with looting, raping etc when they win.

Their country is an island off the mainland for their continent.

Government - shared power between the monarchy and the democratically elected commons, with the monarchy becoming weaker as time passes

The Arben Republic - Another highly industrialised nation. Their navy is smaller than their rivals, however they hold a lot of land on the continental mainland, with several minor powers siding with them purely to balance out the more powerful Vashnan Empire.

Note, its a republic in name only. Ruled by a chancellor who does what he wants.

Gelf holdings - Monarchy. However religious factions are powerful in their own right. These however theoretically serve the King rather than balance him out. Their territory is the largest by land area. At the time of the first book, they are thought extinct by most of the human powers, having been defeated by the Vashnans when the latter started industrialising.

Seres Empire - analogous to China, which I have mixed various parts of their dynasties together. Ruled by an incompetent Emperor who has lost islands to the Vashnans. Reformers exist, but for now they bide their time. Home to the Conclave of Sorcerors. The most populous of the countries.

Theoretically neutral in the war between the Arbens and Vashan, however following their defeat by the Conclave, no Vashnan ship is allowed in its ports on pain of death. It also maintains extensive trade with the Arben republic, its resources going to fuel Arben mercenaries and allowing them to field a larger army than the Vashnans, if not as well trained.

The Empire has areas populated by ethnic minorities, where its reach is limited and territory is under Seres rule in theory only.

Crodan Empire - ruled by an Emperor. The second largest area by land mass, because it extends across two continents. Neutral during the war between the Vashnans and Arbens.

- History: Long story or Short, How did the setting came to be? Who or what created your world? What are the major events that shaped the world's fantastical, racial, political, social, cultural elements and relation to your plot?

The world is essentially a prison planet, where human POWs where dumped by the Gelf in times past, because of the planets location, ie far from the main theatres of war. There is a continent inhabited by the indigenous species, the Avath which was left alone. Over time both sides have lost a lot of their technology, and now utilise "magic".

I have a timeline. But the major events are the defeat of the Gelf by humans back in the time when both sides had technology like star ships etc. When the Gelf retreated they opened a doorway allowing demons and a host of other critters to migrate. Humans eventually prevailed but it weakened them greatly, and a lot of technology was lost during this period, as well as the means to communicate off world. This is now remembered as a time when Gods walked the world, modern day humans not realising that the Gods were their ancestors.

Eventually humans will fight the Gelf again and defeat them such that they are thought extinct.

Human empires then start expanding including into the territory of the Avath and into each others' lands.

Fantastic Elements:

- Magic: How does Magic (if any) in your world work? Does it rely on Spells and Rituals? Must the magic users have some form of connection to mystical energies? Do using magic come at a great price and consequences(e.g. Soul? Sanity? Sacrifice? Humanity? Cosmic Stability? Cash?)? Does using magic require some form of resource or energy? Is usage of artifacts involved? How available and accessible is it? How the heck did the Magic came to the world anyway? [Bonus challenge - briefly or extensively comment on how the existence of magic affect the world socially, politically, economically, etc.]

Human magic
Sorcery – older style magic utilising movements to achieve its effects. Requires practioner to be able to channel said energy, but without the movement it can do no more than heal. Movements include martial arts type moves plus loud chants (note its not enough to simply chant, one needs “the voice” to be able to do it effectively). Draws power from spiritual energies (innate within the practioner).

Note - sorcerors tend to manifest superior physical senses. Training tends to improve it beyond normal, however those who are gifted already have superior senses, and even training of a non gifted sorceror will not allow better hearing.

Its essentially inspired by martial arts and fighting games where people shoot out fireballs.

Wizardry – more modern style magic. Utilising words to achieve its effects. Note unlike sorcery the words don’t have to be spoken in a loud or forceful manner. In fact thinking it out alone can achieve (only for the more powerful wizards). Given that its effects are unchanged despite how its spoken, it is believed it achieves its effects from the meaning of the words rather than the way the words are spoken, contrast with sorcery. Draws energy from the cosmic energies.

Grouped into several fields based on application similar to how modern sciences has several fields

Alchemy – chemistry / biochemistry

Physicks (healers) – medical science, doctors

Mind magics - psychiatry / psychology

Geomancers - geologists, materials science

Goldsmiths – engineers, responsible for “steam powered” ships.

Warlocks – classical physics, can manipulate air, fire, water for offensive purposes.

Note not all wizards fit neatly into each category as there is a crossover of disciplines.

As you can imagine, wizardry is inspired by modern science. There is a saying in my setting, "Ancient sorceries are no match and never will be a match for modern wizardry."

Gelf magic

Similar to human wizardry in that it involves chanting words to achieve desired effects. More powerful spells require several castors and rituals (so useful for strategic but not tactical battles). Can only be performed by those with certain amount of Gelf blood. Draw energy from extra planar sources.

Their magic users are divided into
Templar (religious)
Priestess (religious)
Eldritch (secular)

They all use the same energy, however each “profession” has a different set of spells available to them. All have the “generic” spells. Its possible for a Gelf to have degrees in either profession.

Also Gelf have own innate ability besides mastery of magic in these fields. These innate fields include.
Seductress
Doppleganger

I will add more as I require them.

- Monsters: Feel free to make up special monsters of your own unique designs. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What special quality make them deadly and dangerous? What are the legends surrounding them? Why are they here in the first place? [Bonus challenge - portray them sympathetically]

In my setting the monsters are just people, so there.

- Divinity: Do Gods exist? How many of them? Is there a pantheon? Where are their headquarters? What are their roles in your fantasy universe? Are they good and noble (ala Lord of the Rings Gods)

Humans have no gods. The Gelf have two factions, the

Temple of the old gods – Gelf faction dedicated to the old gods, before the time of the Stellar Giants. While most Gelf acknowledge and pay reverence to the old gods, they do so because it is useful and they see the old gods as demigods, shepherding them until the arrival of the true Gods ie the Stellar Giants. The names of the gods are now lost.

Their members are priestess.

By ancient convenant all members are female. Does not include slaves, who can be male.

Monastery of the stellar giants – Gelf faction dedicated to the new gods or the Stellar Giants. Rival of the temple of the old gods and at the start of book one have prominence.

Their members are templar.

They can be either male or female. Concurrently their members serve as advisors to Gelf nobility.

Note - humans killed most of the new gods in the war (when both sides still had starships).

- Realms: Is your world the only fantasy world or does other worlds exist? How do you access it? What are their uniqueness? What wonders or horrors dwells in those other places?

More exist, as this is just one world where the old space faring human empire once stood. There are also different "planes" where demons reside, and areas where magic users can draw on power.

Storyline:

- Type: If you have a plot, what kind of fantasy plot? High Fantasy? Heroic Fantasy? Low Fantasy? Dark Fantasy? Comedic Fantasy? Steampunk? Clockworkpunk? Magicpunk? Dungeonpunk? Some other genres I don't know of?

High fantasy, although some sci fi themes are mixed in. I definitely want to have a Wuxia type feel with occasional elements of battle scenes. There is also quite a scientific theme, if that makes sense, since Wizardry in my story is an allegory for science. In fact the Wizards even have some views as a nod to the discussions on SD.net - for example they oppose slavery (on the grounds that it retards industrialisation) and a lot of them believe an equivalent to Darwin's theory on evolution. Here is an interesting thought, if you subscribe to the theory of descent with modification, and you find that humans can't fit into this scheme, what do you conclude? That humans migrated from other worlds.

- Scale of Idealism and Cynicism: Is Good and Evil well defined in the story in some form of Moral Alignment, or is Morality and right and wrong subjective? Does your characters' actions have far reaching consequences on the world that benefits it or is their actions have little impact in changing the state of the setting, if not make it worse? Are the people and factions behave nobly or act like complete bastards to one another?

Hell no. The characters are conflicted, and have their own neuroses. However generally some characters we can easily identify as "good", and "evil". However their nations are nothing like that. They are countries with their own national interest, and sometimes don't "play nice." Remember, Empires rise and fall.

- Source of Conflict: Now what's going on that is causing the events of the plot to happen? Is an evil overlord trying to conquer the world? Is a demon/monster/eldritch abomination trying to break out of prison and plunge the lands into darkness? Is a brutal war about the break out between the nations? Is the end of the world coming and someone must go to save it?

Its the game of nations really. Humans fight among themselves, inhuman foes seeking to get their revenge.

- Characters: Heroes, villains, major figures and players that would affect any potential storyline. Why do they act and behave the way they are?

Lets see. I don't want to give too much away as I am still fleshing things out, however we have.

A Vashnan wizard crippled after their defeat by the Conclave. He struggles to maintain idealism in an army which loots and rapes when it wins, despite being disciplined in battle formation. He entertains dark thoughts of revenge even as he fights it. What he wants is really closure, not revenge, although he does not realise this. He will receive closure, but not in the way he imagines.

His younger brother, who is forbidden to fight after his older brother's injury. He seeks to fight for a worthy cause. He does, but it is not the cause he envisages.

A Seres sorceress seeking to find her way home. The foreigners she encounters will change her POV forever.

Another sorceress, given in to her hatred, who tortures POWs. She will find redemption, although she wants it not.

A mixed blood Gelf Priestess who has become as hardened as the pure bloods who taunt her. Her power has grown, as well as her ingenuity. Her character however, only grows when she refuses to sacrifice a human woman for a Gelf ritual spell. This will lead to her seeing things in a whole new light.

A pure blood Gelf noble, eager to prove himself against the humans. He does, but in doing so, he realises how Gelf society is sick, but he still has no idea how to change it.


Thats it for now. However I am inspired by Joe Dever's Lone Wolf and Graystar game books. Lone Wolf was a pugilist character with elements of magic, while Graystar was a magician with some pugilistic skills. I've heard it said he wanted to create a game book where the characters will team up, but he never got around to it. So among those characters listed I will have a Lone Wolf equivalent and a Graystar one. Oh, and they will team up to kick arse. Eventually.

[Knife]

My fantasy world?

I call it tentively: The Cities of the Gods.

Basically you have an earth like planet/continent with very primitive humans on it. The gods decide to send their son's and daughters to earth to 'lead' the primitive humans. The story starts out with a mud hut village by a river, with a flash of light and bang of thunder, a pale skinned, naked, bald child appears. The village women take him in but after only a week, the village is amazed that the child is growing at an amazing rate. Staying with the villagers for only 6 months, the child grows to manhood. He learns all he can from the villagers at rapid rates, their languge, their primitive technology, everything. At six months he is a man and declares himself son of the gods sent to lead them. Of course some disagree, on of the warriors actually attacks him, but the demi god lives through what should have killed him.

The story basically follows this Child of Ithea, his name is Odi, as he slowly shapes the culture and destiney of the small village to a town, then city, etc... He institutes a religious based off the mother (Ithea) and father (Avo). The story breaks down into 'events' that the demi god knows will happen, just not the nuts and bolts of it. The first one is the introduction to another tribe from the north, later learned to be lead by another child of the gods. Odi and his people step up to the plate and militarize to defeat the horsemen of the north.

The second test or event happens a couple generations later where the military put together to defeat the horsemen rebel, not really against Odi, but against what they see as a soft culture. They are defeated and actually move north and join the Horsemen whom they deem more warrior like and as such, like themselves. Odi see's the danger and again marches to defeat the northmen and the traitors.

The third event is another tribe from the southern deserts are discovered. Odi tries to take a different tract this time, taking their time to investigate, learn about them, before contact. The last thing they need is another war and another large military. The Child of God in this tribe, when contact is initiated, seems friendly and cooperative. Time is spent between the two cities and cultures learing each other. Odi meets the leader, no name yet but later gets tagged the Sand Devil, and his harem. Odi falls in love with one of the harem and learns that that woman is actually another Child of the Gods who's tribe was killed by the Sand Devil and she, herself, put in bondage.

Odi saves the girl, thusy turning the Sand Devil against him and war beings. Long hard fought war but in the end, Odi makes alliances with the Northmen to defeat the Sand Devil.

Peace reigns for centuries and ever so slowly the civilizations run so well, the children of the gods are not really needed anymore (tech level at roughly middle ages). The other children of the gods wish to sail over the ocean to uncharted lands, to begin again. Odi resists for a hundred years but decides to go in the end with his wife and and northern ally. Odi sets up a 'secret' organization in his cities army to last down through the years. This secret society will meet every 5 years at a certain place and one of Odi's men will contact them, to keep tabs on the Cities of the North and South.

Years pass and every 5 years the meetings happen, but ever so slowly the men of the secret society start to no show up. After 80 of no contact, one of the rangers of Odi meets with a man who said he is the last of the secret organization. His brothers were killed a long time ago and he had waited 20 years to make contact for fear he would be caught and killed by the men of the city. It seems that while Odi and his kin were away across the ocean, the Sand Devil had come back and conquered the cities of the Gods.

This sets up the final battle where Steampunk/victorian like forces of Odi and his kin come across the ocean to liberate the Cities of the Gods and their renaissance type armies.


Needs some work, but that's the basic set up.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Title

Working title of "Empire Chronicles"

Summary

It's a sort of amalgam of stuff I like in fantasy (though I suppose most fantasy settings reflect their author's preferences to some degree or another). It's heavy on anachronisms, but ultimately grounded in a very down-to-earth, low-magic and traditional aesthetic, not unlike ASoIaF's Westeros. I use it primarily as a D&D setting, so it's got dragons and goblins and wizards and whatnot, but I try to keep a lid on them. The anachronisms take the form of the world's naval technology, which more closely resembles 18th century Europe rather than the otherwise 13th century feel I'm aiming for. I also like strong Roman themes, and much of the medieval culture and society is visualized as if classical Rome had been a feudal kingdom alongside England or France.

Setting

- Geography: I'm unoriginal, so the (known) world doesn't deviate much from a rough Europe analogue. The British Isles equivalent (where most of the action currently takes place), however, is firmly attached to the continent proper.

- Races: Plain old D&D races, for the most part. The significant differences are that humans are by far the most common and the others are very rare in "civilized" parts of the world or even nearly unheard of. Half-elves are the only exception, and I've changed them to be a discrete race in their own right, rather than a human/elf crossbreed. It's a medieval setting where things like "elves" or "trolls" are things whispered about lurking in forests, not everyday sightings.

- Nations: There is a central empire dominating the continent, but it is heavily decentralized and feudal. Outside of the central provinces, feudal politicking often takes precedence to the point of nearly being discrete nations. Not unlike the Holy Roman Empire in some respects, I suppose. There are vague Mongol/Hun/steppe dudes analogues roaming around the east, and I have some ideas for a more well-developed analogue to Africa (sort of in line with the anachro-Rome vibe; i.e. Carthage, etc), but they aren't particularly fleshed out at this point.

- History: Again with the unoriginal: A demigod-like figure rose up out of some dark age and united the disparate factions of mankind into a continent-spanning empire. The Empress is removed from the day-to-day affairs of the empire and functions more as a religious figurehead. No one really knows what she's up to or if she's even still alive.

Fantastic Elements

- Magic: Since the setting pulls duty as a D&D setting, magic effectively works in a D&D-style way. Wizards memorize spells and so on. There is a difference between "arcane" magic and "divine" magic. The magic in the world is fairly low, but wizards and sorcerers and such do exist.

Excerpt from my rarely updated actively maintained wiki re: divine magic:

While the details of religion vary widely across the Empire, its state religion is a Catholic-like collection of saints, and its church is nominally headed by the Empress.

Divine magic is not necessarily tied to worship of any particular entity. While it is said that particularly powerful saints have occasionally visited miraculous abilities upon their worshippers, most divine magic is performed through an innate connection with the divine and/or with careful study of its properties. There are many priests, but only a handful are capable of true spellcasting.

Outside of the official state religion, many cults, pagan pantheons, and nature worship exists. Worship of demonic entities or other extraplanar forces is also known to happen. Indeed, the Old Magic of the world is considered divine, though it is mostly confined to isolated regions far from the encroachment of civilization.

- Monsters: Goblins, orcs, dragons, undead, the usual suspects. They are brutish and uncommon in civilized parts of the world. Usually only people from rural communities would even have a chance to see a "monster" in their lifetime.

- Divinity: There are no terrestrial "gods" per se, at least not among most of human civilization. The racial and planar deities of D&D exist for compatibility purposes. There are whispers of "old gods", tied to the ancient history of the land, in the rocks and trees and earth... though most dismiss such talk as superstition. Much of the human-civilized world follows the Catholic-like church briefly mentioned above.

- Realms: The setting is designed to be completely compatible with Planescape cosmology. So, portals to Sigil and whatnot if you know where to look.

Storyline

- Type: "Classic fantasy", maybe? It's a deliberate attempt to get away from World of Warcraft and Forgotten Realms and Dragon Age and so on and so forth. It's a little more the Witcher, more ASoIaF, even a bit of Mount & Blade's fictional setting.

- Morality: Morality is strictly defined in a mechanical sense, and interacts meaningfully with a lot of magic. That said, those are largely mechanical abstractions for gameplay and description purposes. In practice, things are played a little more loosely, particularly since the setting is (in part) designed to support political-style play. There is a lot of leeway in the traditional D&D alignments in this respect. A Lawful Good lord can be a bit of a bastard sometimes, and a Neutral Evil baron may do right by his subjects even if his goals of bloody conquest put him firmly in the "Evil" camp.

- Conflict: It's a sandbox! I'm currently running an undead uprising sort of plot, but really the world is built to provide a framework "simulation" where events and players drive what's going on.

- Characters: Again, sandbox. It's like an over-arching setting that then has a series of vignettes which take place in it. Each of those vignettes features its own heroes, villains, and other characters, but there's effectively very little cross-over, so the setting as a whole doesn't necessarily have any real characters of note.

[Zablorg]

Title

"A World Without This Thread"

Summary

An alternate universe very similar to our own, with one exception: this thread was never created. My setting explores the amazing advances made by humanity as a consequence.

Setting

-Geography: Very similar to our own, with one exception; the gods themselves have opened their realm to us as a reward for our excellent conduct as a species. A veritable utopia, this new land is free from hunger, any and all threads similar to this one, and disease.

-Nations: National divides dissolve almost immediately, and an era of peace begins.

I've been developing this setting for some time but I still haven't fleshed out all the details, so that's as far as I've gotten.

[Guardsman Bass]

I just have some concepts, less than what I've sketched for my SF story.

- Geography: There's three continents that I've thought of so far, and a couple of chains of smaller islands. One of them is literally Antarctica without the ice and positioned in the temperate zone of the world (it's an easter egg to potential readers). The other two are the size of South America and Africa+India respectively, with the bigger of the two being extremely isolated (literally on the other side of the planet, across a vast stretch of open ocean). There are some island chains, but they're very spread out, which has plot purposes*. The world is relatively poor in coal (most of what's mined is used to make steel), and has virtually no petroleum reserves (although it does have methane hydrates, which the octopi mine and use for fuel on their surface platforms). The overall world is much warmer than our own, with no ice caps (although the southern hemisphere has slightly more extreme seasons, and occasional winter ice at high latitudes).

* I wanted to create a situation where hybrid sailing/steam ships dominate long-distance travel until they develop the means to artificially make liquid fuels.

- Races: There are two broad "races" of human, a species of sentient avians on the isolated continent, and a species of sentient aquatic creatures (think unusually long-lived and intelligent octopi). The two big civilizations amongst the humanoids are originally supposed to be based on Mayan and Iron-producing African civilizations, except that they're moving into a weird kind of industrial age civilization. The avians are building aircraft (magic blimps and seaplanes!), while the octopi are the most advanced of all with electricity, their own unique brand of metallurgy, and platforms that they're constructing in order to use fire.

- Nations: The Mayan knock-offs are mostly a bunch of monarchical and/or theocratic states that are moving towards broader representation. The african civilization knock-offs have a fairly loose confederacy with competing kingdoms that are consolidating into more modern-looking nation-states. The Avians actually have a kind of democratic government, and the octopi government is rather difficult to describe.

- History: All the cultures in the world, human and otherwise, have creation stories - none of them accurate. The humans have been mostly concentrated on the Antarctica and South America style continents, which are about 1-2,000 miles apart with a few islands in-between. There's been lots of competition between those two, and occasional trade and combat between them and some of the octopi adventurers and traders who come south from the high latitude ocean.


- Magic: How does Magic (if any) in your world work?: Magic is related to process, such as chemical reactions, changes in temperature/heat, changes in potential energy, increments of time, etc. Anyone can potentially learn its rules and use it, but it's extremely difficult to do so - like getting a PhD in Physics. It's also "path-dependent", and learning one form of magic (such as controlling the flow of energy and heat between two or more objects) usually locks you out from learning other "paths". Actually doing any magic that requires energy needs a power source, and you can't create or destroy matter/energy ex nihilo. Alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist was an inspiration.

- Monsters: There are some unusual sea creatures, although I wouldn't call them "monsters".

[open_sketchbook]

I've got a whole bunch, not as many as my sci-fi settings but every once and a while one pops up in my brain. Let's do one I haven't touched in a long while.

Title
Never devised one

Summary
The basic idea was to create a fantasy universe with no "evil race" and with the traditional fantasy counterpart cultures mixed up. Designed for roleplaying in D&D 3.5/Pathfinder.

Setting
Geography - A single continent centered around a massive supervolcano (bigger than Olympus Mons big) The whole place is like a supersized volcanic island, with an increasingly mountainous core and a wide variety of different climates based on the Eurasian supercontinent. As you approach the center of the continent, it gets rockier and more inhospitable. From every point of the continent, the huge volcano is visable, which implies a very large or very flat planet, but watercraft are very crude generally, so nobody really knows.

Races - Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Halflings and Kobolds.

* Humans - I wanted a setting where Humans aren't top dogs or uber adaptable or whatever. In this setting humans are considered clever tricksters and intellectuals, egotistical to the extreme but also willing to stand up for their allies; the quote relevant to them is "Humans make the best friends and the worst enemies". They are a peaceful race that prefer to trick or negotiate to fighting, a tactic which has earned them unrivaled insight into other races and their skills. Humans have recently broken out of a dark age and are culturally similar to an egalitarian 15th century Italy mixed with a bit of Classical Greece. Culturally, they are atheistic, but "worship" concepts of natural beauty, philosophy, and mathematics, building huge temples called "universities" to their own achievements.

* Dwarves - A race of luxury and industry, the Dwarves has built up a huge technological civilization in the mountains on the backs of a series of colonial kings and, essentially, slave labour from Orcs, Goblins and Kobolds, but they were forced to give up much of their empire by an alliance nearly a century ago. This isn't the first time, either; the Dwarves used to have a massive magical empire thousands of years ago, but when it was overthrown they were cursed to be unable to interact with magic. They are basically the "First World" of this setting; powerful, distant but hugely influential, and technologically advanced, built on the backs of others. Culturally, they are essentially Victorian England; they generally believe it is their duty to save the "savages" from themselves. Everyone has an uneasy relationship with them; having them on your side means having the backing of the best technology, but everyone also has memories of Dwarven rule. Dwarves have guns, steam tanks, trains, telegraphs, zepplins and other such insanity, but keep most of it locked away in their lands.

Dwarves worship a pantheon of three divine beings; Victoria, a creator goddess, Ignis, god of fire and industry, and Ferric, god of warfare and art.

* Halflings - A fey-ish race with heavy connection to the earth and friends to all children, Halflings (and many other species) believe they were created as a "pure" race, innocent and free of sin. Nobody, not even the Halflings themselves, know where they come from; new Halflings just sort of appear in the forest where nobody is watching. They guarded children from the dangers of the forest, protected the forests from the aggression of other species, and plant and maintain beautiful gardens. They were incapable of violence; they protected their charges with magics of life and healing, at most immobilizing threats with vines and such.

A century ago, the Halflings found themselves on the losing side of a Dwarven attempt to exterminate them, as they were preventing exploitation of the forest. They made a deal with the Daemons for the ability to do violence, forming themselves into an army and leading the alliance against the Dwarven empire, but in the process they lost much of their innate magic. Now, the rate of new Halflings have declined greatly, and they have retreated back into their forest realm to try and figure out a way to restore their peaceful nature.

The halflings have a vaguely Scottish thing going, especially in war; they wear kilts and play bagpipes and such. Thanks to their dealing, they are "born" with a uniform and a musket, and they never seem to run out of ammunition or powder, but they have lost their innate magic and must learn it from books like Humans. They try to keep up their old role as protectors of children and the forest, but they are considerably more frightening now and it's much harder for them.

* Elves - Culturally similar to Feudal Japan, the Elves are a race of warriors and fiercely isolationist. They are served by sprites that magically maintain their way of life, allowing each and every Elf to dedicate themselves to the study of philosphy and war; this is good, because Elves can't reproduce. All the Elves their are were born with the dragons at the dawn of time, and their numbers are very slowly dwindling. They are very cautious and slow to action, but if they do decide to intervene things tend to go badly for those opposed to them, seeing as they have tens of thousands of years of experience. Those few who go adventuring generally seek enlightenment or a means of saving their species; their legends tell that those who achieve perfect enlightenment either become angels or gain the ability to reproduce.

Elves are towering, lithe giants, standing at nine feet tall on average, and they are legendarily hard to hurt. They also don't seem to have a set density; they fall lightly like a feather but hit like a freight train, and it isn't clear exactly why. Culturally, they consider magic to be a vulgar expression of the powers that created the universe and very few practice it.

Elves have a sort of Zen Buddhist-thing going. They believe that when they die, they are reincarnated as dragons.

* Orcs - A highly magical race who live deep in the southwestern jungles, building huge cities of gold, legend says that orcs started as Elves who lost their way or were cursed. They wear masks of gold to hide their features, often featuring savage or terrifying designs, and it isn't clear exactly what an Orc looks like under it, because if you try to remove the mask after they die you'll find it has fused to their face.

All Orcs are powerful sorcerers, and they have built their civilization on their strong magic connection with gold, gems, and obsidian. Unfortunately, this came back to bite them because they didn't have the technology to stop Dwarven colonization, and the Orcs lived under Dwarven rule for centuries. Having been recently freed, they are attempting to rebuild their civilization, but have lost so much magic that much is unrecoverable, so many leave their golden cities to try and recover magics, or learn new spells, in order to help rebuild

The Orcs have a dizzying pantheon of hundreds upon hundreds of deities.

* Goblins - A peaceful, nomadic race of pint-sized green critters, Goblins would be nothing if not for their innate connection with wolves; they have a symbiotic relationship with them, their whole civilization based around riding them to new lands around the base of the southern and western mountains. Every Goblin is paired with a wolf at birth, and the bond between them is so strong that one will not survive long without the other. Accomplished archers, they live a simple existence with few expectations, but when you piss off the Goblins, you piss off ALL the goblins. They are quick to unite behind a leader when times get hard, and with their cleverness and tenacity it's generally not a good idea to have them opposed to you.

Goblins are struck with serious wanderlust, and frequently individuals break off from the tribe to "go looking for something". They have a sort of Mongol horde thing going, and worship the wide open sky itself.

* Kobolds - A race of somewhat xenophobic and insular reptilian creatures, Kobolds are the only intelligent race who don't share the same basic form as the other species. This generally freaks everyone right out; their facial expressions are very hard to read, their language is difficult to comprehend, and so forth. In turn, Kobolds care little for the outside world, maintaining their huge empire in the desert lands that, frankly, nobody else cares about. This would be all well and good, but Kobolds also love shiny metal. Like, seriously love it. They've long mined up the pitiful amount in their home lands, so going off looking for the stuff is a keystone of their economy.

Kobolds have a sort of Arabian Nights thing going, plus dinosaurs, so that's pretty cool. They are the all-rounder race of the setting; lots of magic, scrappy fighters, good clerics, etc. They don't have druids, though. The Kobolds worship a single reptilian creator-god in their own, strangely detached way. They believe it is their deity's job to watch out for them and not vis versa, and that their god needs them more than they need him, so their prayers essentially consist of "Shape up, or I'll find another god!"

Nations : Most races are fairly united. Goblins have a tribal structure and the Orcs, Kobolds and Humans have city-states, but are fairly united.

History : The world is just about to turn 10,000 years old, and nobody knows for sure how it came to be. Everyone knows the exact day the world came into being, but who is responsible and why is unclear to everyone.

The place used to be run by the elves, but they wittled their own numbers away in pointless wars and made room for other races. The Dwarves had a thousand-year Roman-ish empire three thousand years ago based on magic, but the Angels overthrew it and cursed them so they cannot use magic. They built another one two thousand years later, but it has been steadily in decline as other races assert themselves.

Fantastic Elements
Magic : Magic is basically the cheat codes to physics; everyone agrees it's how the universe came into being. It can be innate, or learned as invocations, and everyone but the Dwarves has at least some inherent to their being and the ability to learn more. Magic is very powerful and capable of reshaping the world, but misusing it draws the attention of the divine and fallen powers.

Monsters : There are dragons; they used to be very rare, but are more common than ever, which fits the theory that elves which die are reborn as dragons. Dragons are powerfully magical and grow more so as they age; their bones are also invulnerable, because if you manage to get the skeleton, or just the skull, of a dragon back to the Mountain and throw it in, that dragon will be reborn.

They also have a general greatest hits of the D&D monster manual; lots of undead, golems, elementals, genies, griffons and other mythological beasts, all the good stuff.

Divinity : Nobody knows for sure who is in charge up above or down below, but it's generally accepted by everyone but the Humans that there is somebody or multiple somebodies running the show. The weird thing is, everyone's clerics work roughly in the way they expect; even the Humans have Null Clerics who channel the power of philosophical constructs like nihilism, empiricalism, and solipsism!

There are angels and daemons who are locked in an everlasting war with one another; they grant favours and make deals with mortal races on occasions. The Angels appear as twenty-foot tall beings of pure, white light, and every species sees their own when they look upon them. They never speak, so their motivations are unknown. Daemons have much more diverse appearances, as they are shapeshifters, and they are much more talkative, but also pathological liers so are terrible sources for information. Though the instinct is to trust the Angels as beings of good and daemons as evil, mortal races have grown wary of both; though a daemon might trick you, the Angels might simply exterminate you for their own reasons.

Realms : There is just a single world. There are beliefs in various afterlives, but nobody who is resurrected can remember where they were.

Storyline
This is a D&D campaign setting, so their is no big storyline. There is, however, a lot of opportunity for conflict; opposing the Angels or Daemons for your own reasons, going diving into the ruins of long-fallen civilizations, hunting down the dragons, fighting Goblin raiders or Dwarven imperialists, that sort of thing. All the races have reasons for adventuring; knowledge, safari, redemption, enlightenment, magic, wanderlust and greed respectively.

[Coalition]

How about a variant of Amazons and Aliens, but without the stupid, the or the lag problems for the insects?

Humanity is nothing more than a bunch of scattered tribes, trying to survive among the two other alien races. They have magic users among themselves, and can turn a desert into a vibrant forest, full of plants to harvest for food. They can teleport if there is a mage at both ends to hold open the tunnel, otherwise they have to travel by foot or critterback. They can fight a small tribe of the other two groups, but if they cause too much of a problem the local group of Pimmon or Sajki will counterattack.

The Pimmon are a fungal/lichen lifeform, think WH40k Orks. They have multiple hierachal units, but can only produce the basic trooper. However, if there are enough of the lower trooper, one will automatically upgrade to the next level. The tougher troops will degrade over time, but not fast enough on a tactical scale. Their food source is mushrooms, which auto-spread over neighboring biomass (think Zerg Creep, but it has infinite expansion potential, and the more there is the more resources you get). The mushrooms can be burned or purified to knock them back, creating a firebreak that the mushrooms cannot grow as fast through. Mushrooms can be cultivated on the far side of the firebreak, allowing the expansion to continue. Due to the loss of the Warboss, the various Pimmon tribes will fight amongst themselves instead of coordinating a full scale war to conquer the planet.

The Sajki are the token insect race. They lost their Queen, so the Hives will fight amongst each other as well as vs humans and Pimmon. Their food is nectar, which is gathered from flowers. Flowers can be consumed by Mushrooms, unless there are enough drones to take care of them. The drones also serve to gather the nectar for the Hive. Sajki have various castes, and can breed them all at the beginning of the map. The problem is the higher tech ones take so long it isn't worth it. The Sajki can also develop new breeds during the game, so if they are in an area with lots of small islands, the original swarm stats developing more swimming and flying critters. To avoid being spotted, their exoskeleton is modified for a chameleon capability, etc.

[Zixinus]

Hmm, I had a fantasy story idea but honestly, I only had the characters. Things like technology-levels were fluid.

Title: Wonderings of the Virgarior

Summary: After finding his magician guild's home destroyed, Gregorious has prepared for years for the very long journey to another guild-home, in lands unknown to him. However, years of fending for himself, wondering the lands for any work, creating a reputation for himself and meeting perhaps the love of his life has changed him. He is afraid that he has strayed from the path of wisdom that his guild taught him and has become unlike them. Still, after all these years he cannot abandon the idea.

- Geography: What does your fantasy world look like? What are the geographical features? What unique places/properties does it have?

Mostly typical of Earth, with various anomalous patches of strongly magical things here and there.

- Races: What are the main races that populates this world? A short description of their history, culture and unique attributes.

As of right now, I only have one race, the Kreken. The Kreken are sort of monkey-men that have access to pretty powerful magics that effect both wildlife and wild plants. They actually manage to live above medieval-level life quality. They suffer from innate pyrophobia and have problems getting along with humans.

- Nations: What are the main factions that dominates this world? Which one is the Empire(s)? The Kingdom(s)? Who is in Alliance with one another? Who plays the barbarians? Who is in decline or on the rise?

I haven't worked that out, but mostly early pre-industrial nations fighting one another (there is gunpowder but only in the form of canons). From the main character's perspective, the exact identity of the kingdroms are irrelevant. There will be no mercy spared as to just how "glorious" medieval or pre-industrial warfare was minus all the subjective context.

- History: Long story or Short, How did the setting came to be? Who or what created your world? What are the major events that shaped the world's fantastical, racial, political, social, cultural elements and relation to your plot?

As of yet, I plan to have them go around the world a bit. The most developed bit is the Guild's history.
However, on general idea the world is sort in the period of what Europe was in after discovering America. There is lots of call for new lands, but there are plenty of plaques and an upcoming equivalent of the Ottoman empire.

I'll continue this post later...

[Starglider]

I created a fantasy setting for my game project, Windhaven. Geography is a planetary archipelago so relatively low population, otherwise very similar to earth. Magic is pervasive but relatively low powered, no sentient species other than humans, politics and technology are comparable to 18th century earth with the cutting edge of progress represented by limited steampunk elements. The ability to transform into a bird is relatively widespread (about 0.2% of population) and being transfomed makes using many other kinds of magic easier (a gameplay contrivance, but perhaps inspired by Josepha Sherman's The Shining Falcon). There are assorted great powers with age of sail fleets and a few prototype ironclads. Several related species of giant flying extradimensional monster invade in the course of the main storyline, with their apparent motivation being to eat everything. Religion appears to be primarily a mix of animism and ancestor worship, with more conventional polytheism in some areas; this is not explored in depth. The setting is generally intended to have enough character to be unique but be 'generic' enough that it isn't confusing or distracting for typical players. The four playable protagonists plus assorted supporting NPCs spend most of the game shooting down monsters and defending ships and villages. A plot involving religious cults, political intrigue, desperate scientic and historical research, opportunistic military actions and the details of a similar invasion almost a thousand years ago is told via voice acting and limited animation cutscenes.

[Zixinus]

/\
II
Yup, and we can't wait to see how it will go.


Well, in case anybody cares:

- Magic: How does Magic (if any) in your world work?

The world is strongly influenced by magic, overtly shaping its history. For example, the last Empire (obvious analogue to the Roman Empire to a certain extent) had emperors crowned by magical crown. Beyond powers, the crown was semi-sentient and "chose" people who would be worthy of being it. In-universe, many attribute the fall of the Empire to the loss of the crown in a great battle (it was far more complicated, complete with an analogue to the Byzantine Empire).

The exact way magic works however is never completely known. Gregorious's Guild is the oldest and their magic is most-understood (by themselves only of course). However, different variations of magic work different ways. Gregorious (and his Guild in general) have more-or-less a strong grip on how magic works, but even their knowledge is limited.

Otherwise, magic comes in a variety of forms. Some claim that they understand it well (and can even control it well) but in the end, everything gets clouded in mushy meta-physics and vague guesses. In the end, magic is mysterious.

Must the magic users have some form of connection to mystical energies?

No, one can use magic a bit like how you can use a TV remote without reading the labels.

Do using magic come at a great price and consequences(e.g. Soul? Sanity? Sacrifice? Humanity? Cosmic Stability? Cash?)?

Yes. Some are luckier than others and present itself as a life-choice that they can cope with. Others can become overwhelming.

The most important to the story is how Gregorious's magic works. His magic (mostly) comes from his staff. The staff itself is not earthly wood, but from a special "tree" (for the lack of a better term) that their Guild grows and makes. The "staff" (henceforth "virga") is a branch given by this "tree" and can do a variety of things. Gregorious, among other things, can make light, apply Force (push, pull and hammer objects), open "dimensional" gates, sense magical entities from a distance, disrupt spells. The limits require study and the Guild has a variety of experts. Each virga is hard-linked to its user and cannot be used by anyone else, not even among the Guild.

Now, the price: first off, the virga is part of the user. Any damage to it will have a serious effect on the user. Thankfully, the virga is very difficult to damage by conventional means (only diamond can carve it and at one point, Gregorious uses it to stop a stone tower from tipping over). However, using magic tends to make a build-up of "metamorhpic" energy, that will transform the user. Anyone graduated to a journeyman level does not look human anymore. The changes are often a mixed bag, always rendering the virgarior sterile, as well as utterly erratic. Some develop new allergies, some lose the ability to see color, etc. Grand masters typically look more like alien beings from some surrealist painting. Coughing up your kidney is not a joke but a sort of wound of honour among the Guild. However, there are positive changes as well, including resistance to poisons, longevity, greater endurance, the ability to see in low-light conditions, seeing infrafred and other random traits. The change is mental as well as physical, symptoms including autism, OCD, fixation, unexplained phobias, inexplicable compulsions as well as more mystical effects (visions from another realm, seeing magical "fluxtations", hearing things that don't actually make a sound). Both physical and mental changes are connected to what type of magic Due to these changes, virgarior are resilient if not downright immune to diseases and magical mental manipulation.

How available and accessible is it?

There are cases where one is able to find and use magic or magical artifacts, but I'd like to keep magic an erratic, mysterious and enigmatic force. People usually find magic (or the magic finds them) rather than just "get it", either by accident or "fate" or other means.

[Bonus challenge - briefly or extensively comment on how the existence of magic affect the world socially, politically, economically, etc.

Like, I said, magic is omnipresent in the world. There is a downright industry for handling magic-related problems and it manifests in various forms. Undead come around and priests, witches, knights looking for a name usually put them down. It is one of the landlord's responsibilities to do their best to keep their slaves subjects safe, but it's not very simple.
Everyone keeps a court wizard, sorcerer of some calibre. Nobles often hoard magical trinkets of whatever value. Powerful magicians pop up and fight over each other.

The most important tie-in is religion.

Divinity: Do Gods exist? How many of them? Is there a pantheon? Where are their headquarters? What are their roles in your fantasy universe? Are they good and noble (ala Lord of the Rings Gods)

Some sort of extremely powerful enteties exist out there, but their roles and purposes are unknown. They are not completely Lovecraftian, but their role I leave somewhat vague as with magic itself (read, I either not sure what to do with them yet or I want to have them open for possibilites).

The point however, is that human worship is about as engaging to them as the a fly flapping its wings is to us. In effect, the big theist question isn't whether the gods exist but whether they give a crap. They usually do not seem to do, however various religions have popped up regardless, along with suitable fiction and dogma pre-packaged to suit the needs of the priesthood.
The most prominent is, of course, the Christian-analogue with some variations. It's best appeal is that the god worshipped is not supposed to be some alien, super-strange entity but an ascended human who also happens to be the last Emperor. Of course, the churches/cults have a strong element of conning the believers, using magic or artefacts unrelated to their faith to make "miracles".

There is one diety, or rather, Psychopomp: death itself. By it's own admittion, it being an entity is more of a self-defence measure of the universe from all the freaky, reality-warping and breaking. Technically, it does not kill people but things can get complicated with him and his appearance can change appropriately. In certain circumstances, it is even possible for him to just show up and start killing/taking people for no apparent reason (issue of balance). There is no proven afterlife, but Death often refers to an "abyss" that "all enter".

- Monsters:

Monsters come in three variates: folklore monsters, such as vampires or fairies; specific monsters from a certain origin and "otherworldy" monsters that are unable and unwilling to stay in the earthly realm much.

- Realms: Is your world the only fantasy world or does other worlds exist? How do you access it? What are their uniqueness? What wonders or horrors dwells in those other places?

There are other realms. The Guild in particular has Planewalkers, specialist virgarior that study the other planes of existence and what is in them. Usually, the things or beings inside do not like the intrusion. There are other ways I have not thought of yet.

One plane in particular, whose name I forgot. Here were exiled the criminal virgarior, because it was assumed to be an utterly hellish realm where they would starve and die in short order. Those that managed to get back were partially forgiven.
However, the exiles managed to survive and adapt. They attacked the Guild and managed to steal seeds of their own to create virgas. Who they are and what exactly happened to them is something that I actually want to to explore and detail. Gregorious will meet them. Since then, the Guild simply brakes the virga (virgi? forgot the plural form) of criminal virgarioris, which at best kills the criminal or leaves them in a horrid state at worst.

If you have a plot, what kind of fantasy plot? High Fantasy? Heroic Fantasy? Low Fantasy? Dark Fantasy? Comedic Fantasy? Steampunk? Clockworkpunk? Magicpunk? Dungeonpunk? Some other genres I don't know of?

I don't like pushing my ideas into pigeon-holes.

- Scale of Idealism and Cynicism: Is Good and Evil well defined in the story in some form of Moral Alignment, or is Morality and right and wrong subjective?

More subjective, but in general this is a theme for the stories. Gregorious has to find his own path of wisdom and has to realize what wisdom itself is. I want to make philosophy and the subject of morality something that the book deals with.

Generally, people doing nasty things like raping babies or eating human meat will have clear-cut, far-reaching consequences that can end up biting the perpetrators in the ass, hard and sharp. But there is no end to the supply of people that will do bad things in what they think is good or just people that want their own way.

Does your characters' actions have far reaching consequences on the world that benefits it or is their actions have little impact in changing the state of the setting, if not make it worse?

Gregorious prefers not to get involved in things that has far-reaching mechanisims that may bite him in the ass. Initially at least, he does not want to change the world nor does he think he can. However, he does in time end up in situations that has consequences on many people's lives. It is his efforts to pursue wisdom he tries to avoid making things worse, but that does not always prevent shit from rolling downhill.

Are the people and factions behave nobly or act like complete bastards to one another?

There are no factions that are without self-interest and a degree of ruthlessness, however there are no factions that exist solely to do pure evil (at best, they do things because they feel they are forced to). Thief "guilds" are just gangs or the equivalent of organised crime, who in the end are in it for the business. Some noble characters do exists and do good though.

- Source of Conflict: Now what's going on that is causing the events of the plot to happen?

Gregorious's journey to find out what happened to his guild-home. In this, he finds himself in the position of a semi-exile and has to uncover a lot about the guild's history, secrets and a whole bunch of things that are beyond his guild. Including the origins of the "trees" that the virga are from.

[The Yosemite Bear]

MI-6 Otherside

Part Spy/Action stories based on the premise that the supernatural came back into contact with the world back during WWI, The trade of inflence and economic power in excahnge for the children that they used to kidnap. British Intellegence then created an entire branch for fighting supernaturals, composed primarily of supernaturals.

well: starting out absolute monster fair folk
selkies who drown people in the shower, Trolls, vampires, varities of undead, witches, Rakasha, etc.