foxlightwitch

[foxlightwitch]

I think I did the most worldbuilding for an unnamed, slightly experimental D&D world, where I'm trying to make intelligent species - humans, dwarves, elves - more unique and distinct. Humans are your standard medieval European society, elves are wild, living in packs and considered little more than (very dangerous) animals, while dwarves are obsessed with laws and contracts and extremely pragmatic. So, let's see what points I hit...

Humans generally use precious metal coins and given they make the majority of the world's population, they control interspecies trade. Elves don't have any currency as they don't really recognise private property and pack members share almost everything. If they do decide to trade with other species they simply barter. Dwarves use tokens issued by crafting clans that basically represent the value of produced goods. It's a lot like stock trading in slow motion that is overseen by trade counsel.

The world has two moons, one regular Moon and the Wanderer. The Wanderer is tiny and has a highly irregular orbit, so it may rise or not, it can hide behind the Moon, it can appear during the day and so on.

Elves don't work with metals, so their jewelry is usually made of wood and bones. They are also very fond of tattoos and paints in general. Dwarves don't see any value in trinkets, except when trading with humans. They do however engrave their armour (almost all dwarves wear armour, including wizards) and weapons with runes marking their station, deeds, allegiance, etc. to the point they resemble art.

Elves care very little about matters of gender and have no concept of marriage or family. Female elves can become pregnant only during the mating season, which is the only time when such things matter. Cubs are raised by the entire pack and allowed to express themselves as they wish. Interestingly, dwarves approach gender with the same pragmatism as everything else. Gender has no bearing on an individual's worth, everyone is treated based on their ability. It helps that dwarven women are generally just as tough and strong as men. Marriage is purely a contract between clans, marriage signifier is naturally a written contract and armour marking.

Elves are obligate carnivores, apex predators that see everything, including other intelligent species as prey. They even have fang-like incisors. On the other hand, dwarves are omnivores, but can subsist on a purely vegetarian diet without trouble, preferring farming and animal husbandry over more risky hunting. They build "crystal towers" in their city-states which are giant vertical greenhouses providing year long harvest.

Small fantasy worldbuilding elements you might want to think about:

A currency that isn’t gold-standard/having gold be as valuable as tin

A currency that runs entirely on a perishable resource, like cocoa beans

A clock that isn’t 24-hours

More or less than four seasons/seasons other than the ones we know

Fantastical weather patterns like irregular cloud formations, iridescent rain

Multiple moons/no moon

Planetary rings

A northern lights effect, but near the equator

Roads that aren’t brown or grey/black, like San Juan’s blue bricks

Jewelry beyond precious gems and metals

Marriage signifiers other than wedding bands

The husband taking the wife's name / newlyweds inventing a new surname upon marriage

No concept of virginity or bastardry

More than 2 genders/no concept of gender

Monotheism, but not creationism

Gods that don’t look like people

Domesticated pets that aren’t re-skinned dogs and cats

Some normalized supernatural element that has nothing to do with the plot

Magical communication that isn’t Fantasy Zoom

“Books” that aren’t bound or scrolls

A nonverbal means of communicating, like sign language

A race of people who are obligate carnivores/ vegetarians/ vegans/ pescatarians (not religious, biological imperative)

I’ve done about half of these myself in one WIP or another and a little detail here or there goes a long way in reminding the audience that this isn’t Kansas anymore.

[foxlightwitch]

Eventually, the sword just becomes a club or a fan...

The Hydrablade, a sword made of a hydra's bone and with its hilt clade in hydra hide.

Unfortunately, its makers underestimated a hydra's regenerative capacity, and Hydrablades are known to occasionally attempt to regenerate back into a hydra.

­

[foxlightwitch]

...facing his toughest challenge - to find a case.

Noir detective in a city with a remarkably low crime rate

­

[foxlightwitch]

That's why you employ population controls. Have something that hunts and/or eats them.

On one of my worlds, the wild elves can theoretically live up to 200+ years (guestimate), but they usually don't live much longer than humans due to their way of life. Pack based society, no permanent settlements, no metal working, no written language, generally considered little more than wild animals by the other races (humans and dwarves). Plus they consider anything that is not an elf a prey, which doesn't win them a lot of friends.

Elves but there's a fuckton of them.

Like, they're immortal, magical and can asks plants to give them food. Their population growth has got to be massive. There's got to be so many elves. They're everywhere. Open your closet and ten pour out, singing prophecies of what is to come.

[foxlightwitch]

"Traitor! How could you do this?!"

I sit on a pile of ruble and look down at him. Captain Steel, the nigh invulnerable leader of the team, can barely move as his muscles refuse to respond to his will. There is a medical term for this disease, but what do I know. I'm no doctor.

"I know, right," I say with a chuckle. "I always wanted to help people. Who could have expected I would turn. But it was surprisingly easy, once I admitted to myself that the people I was helping were not the people I should be helping."

"What do you mean?"

"You really want to know? You never bothered to listen to me, when I worked for the Organisation. I bet you never even went through my file. I was just a handy first aid kit you'd take on missions and stuff it in the locker when you were done."

"So you decided to take revenge, is that it?"

"Revenge?" I say incredulously. "Do you think there is something that you did that would make me seek revenge?"

"I don't know, assholes like you always blubber about how everyone wronged you."

"You still have your sense of humour," I laugh. "But no, I'm not petty enough for that."

"Then what? Was it money? Did they just buy you?"

"Bingo."

"Well that's just pathetic."

"Maybe it is. But as you may know, everyone needs to eat. When I was with you, I couldn't even afford to live in the compound. Not on the alms I got as payment. And of course I couldn't get a job elsewhere."

"Why?"

"Look at me, monologuing like a proper villain."

The fight is over. The heroes team is down and cops scattered when they saw the situation. My new friends are loading spoils into a van or mopping up heroes, who could still be a threat.

"OK, I'll indulge you. It's not like you're going anywhere.

"You know I never finished elementary school? Some learning disability, the doctor said. My brain didn't keep new information very well, but everyone just thought I was stupid. Medication cost an arm and a leg, so I had to go without it. I started working when I was maybe ten. Odd jobs for scraps. My mom died a few years later. Cancer. It was before my powers fully manifested. Now I could heal her just like this."

I snap my fingers.

"Well boo-fucking-hoo. You're not the only one with rough childhood."

"Isn't that right. Maybe someone should do something about it then, no? Give poor kids some fighting chance. Well I got mine, with my powers. I tried to help people. I healed them for a fraction of what regular treatment cost. And you know what they did? They put me in prison. Something about practicing without licence and undermining the economy. God forbid affordable healthcare for the poor. Anyway, that's where the Organisation came in. No education, no experience, ex-felon... I was a bargain. At the time they didn't know I could give cancer as well as treat it. But I could eliminate rejection of cyber-augmentics, make everyone survive the experimental treatments to make new heroes, heal rich sponsors and of course keep you lot alive, when things went south on a mission. All for minimum wage, no benefits and no thanks. I mean I didn't need to worry about dental, but when the city decided to close the homeless shelter, where I was staying, I decided that enough is enough."

The Captain doesn't respond. Maybe he can't anymore.

"Oi, Lifeline!" someone from the van calls my handle. "Come on, we're done here!"

"Seems like my cue to leave," I say as I get up from my concrete throne.

"Wait!"

His speech slurred, his breathing shallow.

"Don't leave me like this."

"Why shouldn't I? You're valuable, the Organisation will pay for whatever treatment you'll need. And even if they don't, you have enough money to afford it yourself. You might never walk again, but at least you'll have time to think about our little conversation."

"Please!"

I crouch and gently touch his back.

"This is the last time I help you. If I see you again as Captain Steel, I won't hold back. And I can do much worse than this."

With a moment of concentration, I unblock the neurotransmitter receptors of his peripheral nerves. Or something like that. I'm no doctor.

You are a superhero who joined a team for pay and benefits. However, the pay is minimum wage since you have no education and they made it so you are blackballed in the civilian world so you can’t work there either. So imagine their surprise when you joined the villain’s team.

[foxlightwitch]

The detective gives me a quizzical look.

"Maybe a couple of minutes, I don't know the exact timeline. But we should have a moment to talk, if that is how you wish to spend your last moments."

"What are you talking about? The machine is gone. Completely destroyed, well before it could start rewriting reality."

Denial.

"Yes, well, funny thing," I give him a wry smile. "You know how knitting works? When you have the yarn on knitting needles... If you remove the needle before you finish the row, it starts unraveling."

A moment of silence passes. I can almost see the gears turning in his head.

"You're saying... the machine was a needle."

"Yes," I say softly.

"Bullshit! We stopped you and nothing happened! The lab rats checked everything."

"Like I said, just give it a minute."

"So you're saying the entire science academy is wrong. That the apocalypse is happening anyway. And conveniently only you know about it."

"Rewriting reality is a complicated process. They don't have the complete theorem."

"So what now? Why are you telling me this? You want some kind of deal? We let you go, you stop the end of the world?"

Bargaining.

"Of course not. I already told you, we have minutes. Even with the... 'machine'... functional, it would be too late. If you look closely, you can already see reality tearing at seams."

You might mistake it for a trick of light. It seems like looking trough a cracked window or into a broken mirror. But it's more noticeable by the second.

One of the broken shards of reality disintegrates into blank void. The detective starts reaching for it, but stops half way.

"God, I thought you were bluffing. But it's real, isn't it? The end of the world."

"Yes. For what it's worth, I am sorry."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do it? You must have known we would stop you at any cost."

Depression.

"Of course you would, I was trying to erase humanity from existence after all."

"But why?"

"The god theorem should never have been discovered. No, the god theorem should never have been discovered by humans."

"You are a human."

"The irony is not lost on me."

"Why not just destroy it, burry it, whatever. Why do something so drastic."

"Because it would be discovered by someone else, even if I didn't share it with anyone. Inteligent life is an aberration that inevitably destroys everything. I hoped that without it, the universe would survive."

The room we're in is more and more rapidly collapsing on itself. I rise my hand and my wrist passes cleanly through handcuffs. The detective tries to stand up, but his legs are missing. There are nine eyes on his head.

"Will it hurt?"

"I don't know."

Acceptance.

NO... IT DOESN'T...

Disembodied voice sounds from everywhere and nowhere. Maybe it's not even a voice, but... No, it's just information. A raw binary array of ones and zeroes. Perhap01010011000000000000

“You are accused of attempted omnicide, what do you have to say for yourself?” “Just one thing, it’s not attempted omnicide, give it a minute.”

[foxlightwitch]

I've been seeing a lot of spellcaster categorization posts lately. A number of people seem to think magic is unfairly easy to get for some classes, so I decided to make one of my own featuring a candle.

Wizard - you have a candle and a magnifying glass. Assuming the world is a sphere rotating at constant speed, formulate the position of the lense as a function of time...

Artificer - you have a candle. You also have a rock, a toothpick, a shoelace and a canon. Construct a device to light the candle.

Sorcerer - you have a candle and an incendiary grenade. You are locked in a small room with both. Good luck.

Warlock - you have a candle. Your local mafia boss has a lighter and an offer you can't refuse.

Bard - you have a candle. Make a presentation about the benefits of lighting up candles. Try writing a song about it.

Cleric - you have a god. Your god decrees all candles are to be lit. Go find some candles for your god to light.

Paladin - you are on fire. Depart on an epic quest to light ALL the candles.

Ranger - you are alone in the wilds with nothing but your wits. Find a tree that grows candles. Track down a newt that breathes fire. Combine at your leisure.

Druid - your glade is on fire. Why is everyone lighting candles?!

[foxlightwitch]

I slept through the whole day today thanks to insane headache, but something good came out of it...

There was an island in the north that was home to two clans. They were rivals, of course, but in a mostly good spirit of friendly competition and occasional drunken brawl.

I belonged to one of the clans, a foundling raised as a child of the entire village. I was a spirit talker, born with the rare ability to see and interact with the spiritual world. I also had the blood of the wolf which allowed me to turn into a wolf at will. This was not uncommon though as several other families also had this ability, most notably the retired chieftain and his wife who spent almost all the time as wolves. None of them shared my reddish fur though.

There were other interesting characters worth mentioning. Like the "birds of a feather", triplets, two boys and a girl, living in a tree house, who were my best friends growing up. They all shared a single brain cell and we got into all kinds of crazy shenanigans together. Or the old shaman, who may not have had a lot of magical power, but made up for it in wisdom and experience. The closest thing I had to a father, he taught me the arts of healing and old rituals. And of course the spirit of a nearby spring, taking the form of a serpent, who I spent hours talking to when I was sad.

Anyway, life was good.

Until a sorcerer came to the neighbouring tribe. They welcomed him, happy to have someone with actual magic among them, maybe to one up our clan that had, well, me...

But the sorcerer fed their ambition. They became bolder and more aggressive, started to get into skirmishes with other tribes and venturing farther on their raids. They were lucky at the beginning and their success allowed them to expand and grow stronger. They started invading our hunting grounds and even attacking our hunters.

The moment it all went wrong was when their chieftain's son was gravely injured in battle. The sorcerer healed his body, even made it stronger with his dark magics. But the mind was gone and he became nothing more than a vessel for the sorcerer's will and this broke his father's heart and mind. As the old chieftain shut himself in isolation, the sorcerer assumed leadership of his clan.

Soon after, the sorcerer came to our village, followed by a host of warriors and his hulking monster, and presented an ultimatum. He would attack our clan, unless they gave up the spirit talker, me, to him. There was no question about who would win, even without the dark sorcery, they would simply overwhelm us with sheer numbers.

I was about 17 at the time, fierce and full of anger at the audacity of this man and the helplessness in the face of his demand. So it was decided I would leave the clan, alone, becoming a tribe of one and face the sorcerer myself, on my own terms. To challenge him not with weapons, but with magic and the help of spirits who, after all, were my true family.

[foxlightwitch]

I often tell about my dreams to a friend of mine. He's probably a bit jealous, as he rarely dreams and usually forgets most of the dream upon waking up.

I believe the reason I remember my dreams so well is the fact that I'm a very light sleeper. I half-wake up constantly and I believe my brain subconsciously fills in the gaps in stories I dream about as it tries to make sense of what is happening.

Indeed I fill in more gaps as I write the dream down when awake. It wouldn't be much of a story otherwise. Artistic license and all that.

[foxlightwitch]

Today I dreamed I was a Keeper of the House. The House was ancient an I was it's only inhabitant for as long as I could remember. Once it has been alive and full of wonders, but over time the House fell asleep and I was left with only a handful of wondrous trinkets and memories.

And then the Strangers came. The Strangers were mortal and they knew nothing of the House and it's rules. They came from... somewhere else. I was cautiously friendly. I showed them around the House and showed them the trinkets I had and they were amazed as they didn't have any wonders where they came from.

But the Strangers were curious and didn't know the rules of the House. And so they found the Forbidden Book and read from it. The Book was forbidden for a good reason, though I couldn't remember why.

As they read, the House shivered and started to awaken and new trinkets and wonders appeared. I was... happy, even though the Strangers broke the rules. I was so happy I shared some of the trinkets and wonders with them.

But the Strangers wanted more. More than I could, or was willing, as they saw it, to share. They were the ones who awakened the House after all, they argued. And so the argument turned into a fight for the wonders of the House.

The Strangers were powerful and they didn't know about the rule forbidding anyone to harm a living creature inside the House. In the end I hid behind a closed door they didn't know how to open. And so they decided to read from the Forbidden Book once more. The Book was forbidden for a good reason, and now I remembered why.

I shouted at them to stop, but it was too late. All the doors throughout the House flung open, including those leading Outside. As the Strangers rushed into my hiding place, I fled into the gardens and further Outside, having forgotten why the House was locked.

When I remembered it was already too late. The Outside was controlled by the Black Sisterhood and their corruption started spreading inside. I turned back to the house, racing the spread of baleful power, using all my strength and trinkets to stop or at least slow it down. The Strangers realised something was wrong and they rushed to me, asking what's wrong.

I was killed before I could answer in full. Perhaps the corruption suffocated me, perhaps a hidden member of the Sisterhood struck me down. With my last breath, I begged the Strangers to protect the House. I hope they succeeded where I failed.

[foxlightwitch]

Today I had a dream about getting lost in a vast city filled with narrow streets and mostly abandoned buildings, some falling apart, some left mid-construction. Most of the inhabitants were gang members and cultists fighting over territory and resources in service of gods-in-making, their masters. Building sized beasts of burden carried precious materials through streets and slithering, tentacle horrors trapped in metalic cages dragged wagons of valuable stuff along railways. A small number of powerful people remained independent operatives, lone wolves selling their skills for scraps of power to the highest bidder. Still a few inhabitants remained uninvolved on the struggle, seemingly ignorant of what was happening around them.

I was tasked with procuring a series of books for an unknown party. The whole getting lost was a result of seeking the last one. I found it eventually in possession of a very sweet, blind girl. And then I got her killed.

Someone powerful sent a creature after me, a huge, terrifying monster. Before I managed to bring it down, it leveled an entire city block, killing everyone in the area.

It didn't tell me who sent it or why. Perhaps they didn't want me to finish my task. Or maybe it had nothing to do with that. Maybe I was just seen as a threat. I did manage to defeat this monster after all.

As it lay dying on the ground, I raised the creature as an enormous undead specter. The first minion on my own path to ascension.

[foxlightwitch]

I suffer from submechanophobia, the fear of artificial objects in water...

Today i had a dream I was on a huge ship. It was damaged, slowly taking in water, and something... dangerous was lurking around.

The lower levels were being evacuated. Our group headed to the bridge and one guy decided to stay behind to hold off anything that might pursue us. He was a huge man, well over 3 meters tall. He had to hunch down to even fit in the corridor.

I saw him on surveillance screen as he moved to follow us, water already reaching his waist. There were three corridors before him. If he went down the wrong path, he wouldn't have time to get out until the entire level was flooded.

There was no way to help. I had to turn away, thinking I will have nightmares about it.