World Building Thread

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Next up, the Mazuani; the slightly wild (by Itjani standards) but largest denomination of the Anitai due to settler policies enacted by the Empire during its healthier years.

Mazuani
The Mazuani, the River Children who settled the frontier, are the largest denomination of the Anitai. In older times, they would have been the outlaws and second or third children who would leave the Old Cities or the farms to raid and settle in new homes. The Itjani always saw them as dishonest and ignorant bumpkins, and the Mazuani saw the Itjani as stifling and deviant. They formed the basis of the petty kingdoms that dotted the coastlines of the continent, and were the stock that Sa'aba the Victor and Sef the Chessmaster hailed from. What was once the greatest military schools ever founded was in the Imperial Capital Of Kailon, the Vermillion City. Most of the Princely States have the Mazuani as the ruling caste, being more "pure" in stock than the other groupings barring the Itjani.

The gentlemen farmers of the Mazuani tend to enjoy the fruits of the land, owning great vineyards and crops of wheat and citrus fruit, though poorer clades of these people prove to be excellent fishermen and hunters, or serve as serfs to wealthier land owners. The Mazuani dominate the river trading systems, using boats to navigate up and down the great lifewaters that keep them connected to their gods. The Triple City of Angrai, Andron, and Anqas clearly shows this, as the intersection of two rivers forms the greatest breadbasket of the old Empire, and is the seat of the largest of the Princely States.

The Mazuani celebrate many of the same festivals as the Itjani, although the particulars tend to be different. They tend to readily indulge in wines and incorporate this into their festivals, even having a holiday centered around the grape harvest. They also tend to love and favor the wild and lively Qiza the Dolphin goddess of mischief, alcohol, and celebration as a patron. Another noted god that was added to the Anitai pantheon by the Mazuani is the ascended Sa'aba, given elements of the Zornian god of the Sun Ogon as well as elements of the storm god Zadam, the wrathful squid man.

The Mazuani formed the base element of Sa'aba's army. Unlike the Itjani, the Mazuani were fielded as skirmisher-spearmen. The spears of the Mazuani are shorter and designed to be thrown. Besides this, they tend to have a large ovoid shield and a shortsword in reserve on top of the helm and grieves. Their mission was to counter skirmishers and to shock the enemy as the main 'picket' of the army held the line.

Nowadays, there are two classes of skirmisher-spearmen. The first were akin to our Peltasts, relying solely on short, dart-like spears with soft iron heads that made removal difficult. They would then fight as light swordsmen when they used their last spears. The latter became something akin to the Theuropeloi or Thorakitai, as they became swordsmen that would unleash a wave or two of spears before charging the enemy with stabbing swords. This system has been in operation for hundreds of years, which may indicate that change is needed based on the current situation.

In the North and East, the Mazuani's star faded. They lost control of the Princely states of Zarbil and Narbil to the mixed peoples known as the Manbali, who prior to this were treated as freedmen, not citizens. In these lands, the Mazuani have been broken as a power, becoming pettier landowners and shuffled out of the officer corps. But this state was not universally accepted, the state of Zarbil is still wracked by the Mazuine Rebellion for instance. The conservative land owners in the south never agreed to what they see as the Imposter Prince Sulin, the bastard son of the last Prince who won the crown using demagoguery. To this end, they elevated the seizure prone Princess Niqa, the only legitimate daughter of the Prince and whom they kidnapped a few weeks into the Prince's reign.

The Princely State of Enik faces another Hegemon War by the tribes of the Broken Lands. Unlike others, there is a unifying chieftain known as Uros Bareshirt. The state itself is suffering famine as well, meaning finding bodies for the war is hard. The other states are winking out of existence, and unless one of them defeats the decline, then the so-called "true" Successors of Sa'aba and Sef will likely fail.
 
I had a pretty standard setting before the WB thread. Human civilization - the Great Flame-Cities - suffering a great catastrophe and being overwhelmed by monstrous foes, and only surviving to the present day with assistance from the Lady of the Torch.

I figured people would naturally form around one another's beliefs and created "Holds"- bastions of civilized life. One was a knightly realm, one was a Wales/Sherwood/Men of Andor ripoff, and one was deceptively beautiful but wholly evil.
 
ActualKiwi said:
That's some fine stuff there @Adamska, Have you done any major writing with it, because it seems rather well thought-out?
Click to expand...
I kept rewriting the setting before I could get into any particular writing project with it; I mostly wanted to focus on getting the setting right before I got into the narrative. I aim to make mark 4 the "fixed" setting and go from there.

You really should have seen Mk I of this setting; that was painful as fuck since I really incorporated weeb shit into it (namely Avatar: The Last Airbender with elements of Naruto). At one point there was a literal tribe of people who could naturally produce poisons in their own body, with purple tinged skin and albino hair. Yeah. And that shit had demons and actual gods and shit, and the literal god of the Darkness was the big antagonist. The Yim took the role of the Anitai at this point and there was a lot more steam punk in it.

Mk II of it dropped the anime and became more generic high fantasy, right down to it being notably more medieval in scope, with dashes of Three Kingdoms China. The element affinity stuff wasn't there, and magic at this point was greater; mages could use the written word and use it to evoke. No deities or demons was in that format. The continent was half-assedly named Ronka, and was more of an island than a continent. Norse Dwarves and Asian elves ahoy for that setting.

Mk III adapted a lot of the stuff you see now, mainly because I wanted a more classical era style fantasy, since I thought that was a bit more unique. I dropped almost all of the steampunk element at that point. This was when I really began creating characters and figures; Sa'aba, Sef, Uros Bareshirt, and Zeng the Witchlord came from this batch. The Yim were much more akin to mesoamericans in this draft, but the Anitai and the Nemlovo (the name of the people the Zorn hail from and those who have an affinity to the sun and fire) were in their present form for the most part. I brought back in some of the weeb shit, namely one of the protagonists was meant to be a monk who essentially the only surviving brother of a clan of samurai exterminated by Zeng.

I'm both rewriting and covering the stuff in a brand new Mk IV.
 
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Found the RTF document I kept my shit in. Postan my favorite of the three

Lionsheade

A Hold of strong walls and stronger men, Lionsheade is ever on the attack - a defense would surely doom it to the depredations of it's many monstrous foes, and spell doom for it's ally, Sheirwood. Lionsheade is ruled by men of wealth and might, who form the Elector Conclave, which elects the High King who presides over them from their number or a worthy candidate.

From the age they can hold one, citizens of Lionsheade are taught to hold weapons and explicitly prepared to join the militia. Often, this means they will be rank and file soldiers, but some can afford to join the elite cavalry or artillery units.

The Lady's followers, though lacking political power, are widespread. Militiamen call out to her for aid, her priests join the fight, etc.

"non sibi sed patriae"
-Unofficial slogan of the Reikswehr.

The armies of Lionsheade are a diverse lot, drawn from throughout Lionsheade's territory and from allied Holds. Universally, however, they are stout-hearted and disciplined men - determined to fight against their enemies and prevail. With a skilled hand guiding this great weapon, few can stand against them.

The Reikswehr are the state military, clad in dark blue uniforms and tasked with holding the ever-expanding borders of the hold. They are well-equipped, and usually well-trained. They answer to the High King, a fact that their generals do not forget.

Freecorps are the common militias every able-bodied man is conscripted into for a period of time, and are administrated by the electors of their respective region. Lesser nobles may also choose to raise Freecorps, though these are often strictly monitored by the electors.

The military tradition of Lionsheade is long-lived, dating back to the men who left the Flame-City of Frankea with the Lady and came to be her honor guard. These men marched under a standard of a lion clutching a torch in it's mouth, and this standard is cherished dearly by their descendants.
 
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I got a story that's basically summed up as "what happens if you took a bunch of urban/supernatural fantasy works that influenced a young Johnny when she was a sperging teenager and put them in a barrel to commingle and (hopefully) age out the worst of the sperging?"

Essentially it's a take on the whole "monsters/gods/angels/demons/aliens/whatthefuckever" live and walk among us but with a healthy dose of conspiracy theory, apocalyptic time travel fuckery, good ol' fashioned humans being bastards, and some tragic romance for the ladies~.

-Demons and angels squabble over soul quotas like it's the floor at Wall Street. It wasn't always like this, though, in fact both factions actually once never even interacted with each other or had reason to hate each other. But as usual, everything is Lucifer's fault.
-The old pagan gods are still alive and kicking but are fucking bored with all the monotheism and science that's taken over their jobs for most of them and really want something to do.
-Meanwhile, there's an international society of government-funded roving death priests (with ties to, of course, Templar Knights and the old Catholic Church) who seek to eradicate anything and everything that they believe threatens God and humanity as a whole. This may or may not include biological weapons as well as magical.
-Aliens are real. So are Atlanteans. Actually they're the same people...but anyone who finds out the secret history as to why they're considered separate species gets eradicated.
-What are Fae? We just don't know.
-A human businessman and professor with more connections to these groups than an LAX flight and an obsession to revive his dead sister through supernatural means seeks to try and play them all against each other for his own personal gain.

The story would basically follow this halfbreed shapeshifting chick who was raised human; never knowing her nonhuman heritage or history or family or what have you; getting thrust violently into the politics of all these different factions vying for power. Along the way she busts a pagan god out of prison and he becomes her mentor, of sorts, and they start picking up all kinds of weirdos from all different walks of life (pagans from different ancient religions, dead relatives, aliens, time traveling relatives) with the same goal in mind: Survive.

I've only just started to really tackle the bones of the worldbuilding, so I started by outlining the bestiary of all the different factions/beings:
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Now let's get into the Manbani; the blended children of Anitai and Nemlovo stock that identify primarily with their sovereign's culture, who dominate the forests and swamplands that make up the northern regions of the empire and who dot the empire as a whole as noted minorities.

Manbani
The Manbani, the Marsh Children, were born between two worlds. The Anitai would often take husband and/or wife from the Nemlovo tribes that called much of the west and parts of the East home, and mixed children would result from these unions. The first cases occured with the Zorninese, who were separated into smaller groups and spread throughout the empire. They would often intermingle with their fellow troopers or with citizens and produce children. Their descendants, the Uman, ride as proud free horsemen, in mobile communities where they serve Prince or Suffet. The Manbani as a whole however are seen as second class citizens throughout much of the former empire, and in the Old Cities often serve as slaves or servants. Only in the north were they seen with any respect, the Anitai blood in the region being quite thin.

The Manbani often work as freedmen or serfs in much of the Old Empire's realm. They often serve nobles or till the lands. In the north, they are yeoman farmers that till rye fields and shepherds, adopting a good portion of the Nemlovo lifestyle due to the lands being harder than the south. They are commonly seen as being less intelligent and servile due to the belief that the Nemlovo were inferior and wild people. The Manbani however are mostly just fine with living life as a free people, and tend to show great displeasure to either cruel martinets or uppity landowners. Sometimes the Manbani can progress beyond their status as a mixed race; the Imposter Prince Sulin for instance won the Prince's seat due to his ability to earn the people's admiration and his own natural talent. Marsu of Angrai was a noted scholar and philosopher as well, given patronage by several Suffets in the process.

The Manbani hold great parties, the greatest of which is the celebration of Yanit, when winter fades and spring begins. Pancakes, honey, and folk songs and shanties mark a one week holiday for these people. They are a musical people, producing some of the greatest poets and songsmiths of the current area. Using the lyres of Ogon, the Pipes of Zadam, and the more common flutes and horns, it is no surprise they favor the Lord of Music, Nuti the Great Whale as a patron. They also worship Ogon, the reconstituted Zorninese Sun God given the appearance of a sea star and given command over luck as well.

The Manbani often form the reserves or serve as bowmen and other light skirmishers for Princely State's Army. These poorer freemen would pepper the enemy with arrows and slings along with the skirmisher-spears, and retreat behind them upon an enemy's advance. In desperate times, they wield their farm implements, with the dreaded Falx blade being among the most dreaded by shock infantry, as the blade could dance behind shields and be used to pull the victim down.

There are also the Uman Tribes, mobile communities of horsemen, being skilled in the ways of their forbears the Zorn. They served either as lightly armored horse archers, or as heavy lancers that under certain conditions can even break a picket line. Not all fight in this way however. One tribe of Uman in particular, the Host of Hazam, serve as mobile infantry that ride to battle, dismount, and wield crossbows or spears.

The Princely State of Zarbil is undergoing a minor revolution in arms as the Mazuine Rebellion wracks this nation. Prince Sulin realizing that decisive battles would not work due to his lacking the support of much of the old military who sided with the landowners, has turned to a new type of warfare along with the old. Rather than focusing on his capital, he fled with the people to the surrounding environs. He fought both in traditional methods, notably adopting the falx blades as a counter-shock force and relying on light cavalry as scouts, but also heavily emphasized what the Tribes of the Broken Lands did that were successful. Using the forests of Zarbil as an advantage, he would use small forces of camouflaged bowmen and axemen to harass the Mazuine forces, burn crops, wreck homes, take hostages, and ally with and free slaves and non-Anitai as citizens in exchange for support. In his words "When the game is against you, you cheat."

In the southern lands, the Uman still loyally serve those they pledge to. They have answered the call to fight Uros Bareshirt, fighting for their home and their way of life. In the farms around the Old City of Nizak, a new concept took form. Following the ideas of the old scholar Naram, the communities of serfs, led primarily by Manbani, have attempted to overthrow their masters, seeking to create communes that answer to the Suffet, but who as one earn what they produce. This is the end of an age, and it may be in the hands of the Manbani, children born at a crossroad.
 
Sheirwood is less a major Hold than a people-group, and their lifestyle reflects this. They are nomads, having been cast adrift since the Great Fall, their ancestors having been sent fleeing from the Great Flame City of Akallathark by the hated Urk hordes and the vile Grobe raiders.

The Sheir live in armed camps, with sentries known as Rangers guarding the outskirts. When the game becomes sparse, they move the entire thing in a matter of days to seek food. Camps are often a single large extended family group.

Once a year, a Moot of the Camps is called- where daughters and sons are married off, games of skill occur, and the elders discuss current events.

Sheirwood, through intermarriage of Sheir daughters to Lionsheade's menfolk, is closely allied to the other Hold. Though relations may become frayed between the two at times, their peoples remain fast friends.

Sheir men and women swear by their archery skills when forced to fight, and indeed their national heroes wield bows. Typically hewn from elm or yew wood, these are ugly but hardy weapons that require great strength - the largest (reserved for monster killing ) having a draw weight in the 200s.

Though the Sheir live in fear, they are fierce fighters when cornered, and will likely die before surrender occurs to them.
 
And before I hit the hay, I wanna polish off the Anitai overview by talking about the Yanani, the Rain Children. Similar to the Manbani, they are mixed stock, but tend to have more Anitai blood in them than their peers and are also the children of Anitai and kinsfolk of the Yim that lived in pockets in the west for centuries prior to this point. These two factors give them somewhat of a leg-up due to the caste system semi-adopted by the Old Empire before its collapse.

Yanani
The Yanani are the results of a different melding of cultures. While the Nemlovo tribes dominated much of the West and North, in the mountains of the Sormir Peninsula, the Rock of Zam, and the floodwaters that fed the Triple City, the kin of the Yim called these places home. The Chai and Wo ruled their own petty kingdoms and settlements, being the people that the ancestors of the Old Cities warred and traded with in the early years.

By Sa'aba's rise, most of the Chai realms were absorbed, as were its people, outnumbered by the scale of the Anitai levies. Their cities sacked, those that survived the wars would be taken by the youngest children of the Anitai as spouses, often hailing from either the homeless or from very small land owners that sought a home in the mountains. This intermarriage formed the basis of these rather hardy people. In older times, they were the poor shepherds and served as above average skirmisher levies used by old system. However Sa'aba appreciated their affinity with the javelin and sling, and this patronage would elevate the people into a notably more civilized group. The Yanani of now do not just herd goats; they also serve as engineers, griots, and magi and are scattered throughout the old Empire.

In traditional Yanani life in the mountains of the Sormir Peninsula, they often live in small to moderate sized communes or hillforts, herding goats and tending to small crops that tend to be barley or rye. In wealthier communes however, they grow a few of the more common spices that can be found, with parsley and cumin being popular selections. When metals are found, they oversee slaves, traditionally either captured from rebellion or who were criminals, and mine for the veins of iron, copper, and in some cases precious gems.

At this time however, far more of them now dwell in cities, and they often live in newer quarters, serving as scribes, architects, priests, or alternatively as merchants. They often are the part of the artisan or middle class in cities, and in the east, particularly around Samar and Narbil, form a large portion of the settler population. What was once wild, is now tamed.

The Yanani are treated kinder than the Manbani, but only somewhat so. They are often relegated to middle level roles in the empire, and only rarely reach the top. They find the most success in the Griot Schools or in the Military, so many famous Yanani hail from those paths, like the great philosopher Naram or Banu Wallbreaker.

The Yanani who still live the old life often hold festivals of the hunt around the time of early autumn, as the hunting god Mahom the barracuda is a favored patron, as is the storm god Zadam. The Kine Hunt often ends with a large feast, composed of the game captured, occasionally spices grown from the community, and a recitation of the old stories.

Besides this old tradition and the worship of the Anitai pantheon, many Yanani are also ancestor worshippers, seeking the aid of the departed when the going gets tough. They often do so by maintaining a small shrine that's often built inside the house, where they are depicted as a particular totem animal of the sea. This is a left-over from old Chai and Wo traditions interspersed with the relevance of sea animals in the Anitai pantheon. Some of these men and women follow an ascetic tradition and become Mountain Elders, seeking a reprieve from the darkness of the natural world through introspection and hermitage.

The Yanani come in two flavors these days; the most common group are the vaunted peltasts of old; those that train in the art tend to be among the most skilled of the skirmisher spearmen, though the raw skill of old has faded as they settled and lived healthier lives, focusing primarily on the gear rather than the skill. The most effective of these, and last connection to the old ways are the Unclad; those that forsake the armor of old to don more spears; they can out pace and out maneuver their peers, but risk far more as a result. Along with these peltasts, the Yanani living the old life tend to be master slingers, with their ranks hitting even beyond the range of some bows. In wealthier states, the Yanani are given lead shot to use; making them the most dangerous arm of a skirmisher unit, as not even the Lamellar armor of the east can stand a Yanani shot.

The Yanani formed a key component in the old empire, and how they behave still leaves ripples even in this degenerate age. Nazam's teaching found root with the Manbani, who have begun a revolution against their landowners to instate their own commune. The mountain homes are under a low boil as a charismatic Elder makes statements that rub against the grain of the current order. In Samar, upon the old Rock of Zam, the children of Anitai and Wo ready for the coming of Zeng. Like the droplets of rain that pepper their home, they impact the realm in thousands of tiny ripples, muddying the future and leaving it uncertain.
 
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The third and last of the Major Holds, a sorta Aztec-Imperial Japanese mix.

Soleil is a nightmare seemingly without end, for those who stand against it and doubly so for those under it's rule. It is a land of blood, blood for their dark gods - and constant war to provide sacrificial captives for these gods.

Having been forcibly expelled from their Flame-City by the Lady for their depravity, the ancestors of it's people wandered hostile deserts for years - hating, and growing bitter towards the Lady. Only they did not join the great migration led by the living goddess, and chose to strike on their own. This continued until the Soleili came across a omen - a great hawk, holding a bleeding Urk heart in it's hands. Hailing this as a sign from new gods, they slaughtered the eagle and ate it's flesh - leaving it's blood for the gods.

Soleil is ruled by the Sun-Emperor, a seemingly immortal being. He rules with a iron fist, and is believed to be the living incarnation of the Sun God, Soleizatl. His mother is held to be the Hawk-Queen, Tsuzatu.

Key rituals include the vast human sacrifices to sustain the Emperor, which require a constant influx of sacrificial captives. For this reason, the Soleili warrior caste is almost always making war for the sake of sustaining the Emperor, and thus Soleil. Those who take enemies alive can look forward to social advancements and other benefits.

Unusually, the Empire of Soleil has access to highly advanced technology despite their crude nature and beliefs.

"The tsunami rises, the Sun's rays spread outwards. Blood falls, the blade strikes. "

Ashilotl ("Light Warriors") : The rank-and-file warrior falls under this group, having been trained from birth for the task. In battle, the Ashilotl wear duraplate scale armor painted bright red, and wield the many-edged monofilament macata swords.

Not as experienced or well-trained as the higher castes, the Ashilotl's tactical value lies in their speed and numbers.

Tlambu ("Captors") : Those who have taken at least one sacrificial captive are admitted to this caste, and receive specialized training for shock warfare.

They are allowed to wield macako, polearms making use of the same monofilament edges as the macata does.

Sabulotl ("Servant-Warriors") : Warriors with three captives taken in battle become part of the mighty Sabulotl, elite horsemen who ride ahead of Soleil hosts.

The Sabulotl are also responsible for the maintenance and deployment of the Empire's armored vehicles.

Cuisabulotl ("Elite Servant-Warriors") : The highest of all castes, the Cuisabulotl have many responsibilities - they eat beside the Emperor, are tasked with managing his holdings, and officiating at animal sacrifices. In exchange for these, they are granted a measure of immortality - they can not die from natural causes, but can be put down with force of arms.

The Cuisabulotl are clad in a terrifying costume based off the big cats native to the Soleil's homelands, and wield powerful beam swords capable of severing limbs with ease.
Onicihuatl, the Demon's Daughter- The Emperor's only daughter and the head of the priesthood, Onicihuatl has long been a trusted agent of his will. It is she who prosecutes most of the nation's raids against minor holds for captives, and she is often the last thing they will see as she performs the sacrifices.

Onicihuatl wields a ornamented obsidian sacrificial knife, given to her by her father. It has been plunged deep into the hearts of many helpless victims in the Emperor's service and has warded off several assassination attempts.
 
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There we go; I finished revising the earth aligned people's main story. Like I said, they were originally much more Mesoamerican in nature, so history was naturally rewritten. Also fun fact: Zeng the Witchlord is a similar, but different figure in this one. The basic outline is the same, but his ambitions are different, as are his means.

The Shingjan – The Grounded Ones
The Shingjan refer to a race of people who ranged from the Sormir Peninsula to the far west, to the Yim mountains to the East. They have lived in the hills and higher plains of the continent for as long as any, with some of their more noted (and bigoted) scholars deeming them the original inhabitants of much of the area. They are shorter than others and mostly pale of complexion. In these times, the Yim are among the last of the great Shingjan realms, their mountain homes never being assailed by Sifu the Violent. They are noted for their scholars, inventors, and philosophers, though their levy armies are known for their number and the tough armor made by their blacksmiths.

History
Before the coming of the Black Fleet, the Chai called the Lung Peninsula their home. They were the westernmost portion of the great Shingjan peoples. Their communities and states were small, for the land they called home was poor for farming anything but the packets of the Bleached Ones was untenable; but they were a hardy and martial people, skilled in the ways of war.

Further east, the Wo lived in the moorlands, valleys, and plains, neighbors to and often ascendant compared to the Bleached Ones. Their greatest realm would have to be the great Kingdom of Zam, built upon the Great Rock of the same name. The City of Zam was a reflection of the greatest realms east and in some ways its superior, being the cultural heart of Nenxi, the great Philosophy, and the birth of iron working.

In the furthest east lay Greatest Yim; the old Hegemon Realm. Yim was the homeland, the lodging of the Emperor, and the Center of the World. The mountain cities produced the great works of man, great polemics and philosophies that saturated beyond their borders, as well as great innovations in technology. The gift of the toughest armors and keenest blades called the forges of Yim home. It was the birthplace of civilization as far as can be determined, and it had the world under its watch.

The first crack in this dominance was a millennium ago, an inauspicious number. The Yim Emperors lost their right to rule as they focused more on their own gain. This situation would splinter the realm, after the impulsive West Warden rose up against the corrupt government. From this point, former servants to the Emperor, self-made men, and teachers and scholars sought to bring order to chaos. Some rallied around the kidnapped third son of the Emperor, most noteworthy of which was the Philosopher Lin and the governor of Dali. Others, like the Bandit King or the ambitious Shin sought a new order under themselves. Lastly, barbarians such as the Bleached Ones sought loot or conquest. The center of the World thus tore itself apart as a new event happened in the west.

The Black Fleet sailed from the Southern lands, intent on finding a new homeland. They picked the realms of the Chai for this duty, a foolish mistake if another people had tried it. However, the Black Fleet subjected the Chai in acts of desperation and treachery; these barbarians forced all of their people in the fight, including their women. The echoes of the Chai can still be seen in their bastard spawn, the Yanani.

In the East, Zam became the great power as Yim declined. This was a golden age for the people; as the great works of Nenxi were completed. It was during this time the mysteries of Iron were unlocked as well, and the use of bronze slowly faded from these people. Yim would finally stabilize under the Son of Shin, but it would not recover its former prestige under this family.

From there, these people fell into their own squabbling; they exploded in population, carving out new homes from those of others. It would not be until one of their petty lords, Saba the Unmaker, united these peoples that the threat became apparent. The great armies of this tyrant swept the land, breaking apart what until then was the domain of Zam. The Proud Sons of the Rock took to battle, employing refugees from Saigu, the many valleys, into the great host. They broke this powerhungry dictator’s forces at Fengi Rou, the Branches, killing the tyrant in the process.

This replaced one tyrant with a worse one, as Sifu the Violent proceeded to enact revenge for Fengi Rou. Employing the use of silver bullets and the traitorous Bleached Ones, this warlord managed to outfox and outmaneuver the Sons of the Rock, knowing that their weapons would not easily avail them in this case. Rather than win by the sword, this villain burned the crops, stealing that which he could for his own. He forced the Rock to the Table using these ways.

Even as the leaders sold their freedom, the Rock refused to be moved; barring the great gates when the Violent One demanded triumph. The long Siege was afoot, and it would take two generations to break the Rock. During this period the Black Host made it to great Yim, now under the weak rule of the Deng.

Despite this weakened state, the Yim proved too tough for the Host to defeat, defeating them in several set battles at Shingong Pass and the headlands of Ra. The new Order would have to focus internally, attempting to seize the Saigu and break Zam instead.

The world works on a scale however; what goes up can come back down. As the New Empire faded in power, the Gong took Yim to newer heights. Gone was the weak administration of the old; rather than an aristocratic means, the administration of the realm became one of merit, as dictated by Nenxi. Respect was a two way street, and the ruled now had obligations to the ruler and vice versa. The armies of the great mountains, long used to defending what they had or fighting each other in power plays, have went north, breaking the Bleached Ones that often raided the state. Trade with the Windy Cities to the south has picked up, and the weakness of the descendents of the Accursed are at their worst.

The eldest son of the Emperor, Zeng the Philosopher, seeks to reclaim Zam from these people, knowing that his younger brother is preferred to him. A scholar as well as warrior, he perused the mysteries of life and found many discoveries, including the Dark Fire, an innocuous substance that explodes when lit. He seeks to use these findings to his benefit, which includes ways of war.

As the fortunes of the Accursed wane, it seems that the Yim’s may rise, at least the portents by the augurs state so. A new age is approaching; whether it’s the age of the Shingjan is determined by how they accord themselves with the world though…
 
There should be like, tons of minor holds. This one is based off the Jewish people of the Old Testament.

The Yehud are considered not a proper Hold, but a people-group with land holdings. They have seen much abuse, from the Soleil and others, as they are seen as weaklings. But, with their mighty and charismatic Shoftim leading them, they seek to regain their ancestral holdings and revenge themselves on their god.

The Yehud's ancestors came from the same Flame-City as the Soleil, but they chose to follow the Lady, who they saw as a promised savior from their God, Yelyon. The ancestors of the Yehud served the Lady as speakers and priests during the Great Migration, drawing more and more peoples from the Old World to her side. However, when they reached the New World, the Soleil ambushed them - led by their terrible Emperor. They were made slaves, as they were in the Flame-City.

This did not last. The Yehud rose in anger, attacking their masters and then fleeing into the night, and the desert. They wandered here for many years, until they came across an amazingly large oasis and settled there. This land was to be their permanent home.

The Yehud value the role Yelyon and the Lady have taken in their history, and have large temples in many of their settlements. Many of these contain a "Aron of Flame" - a box of gilded fir-wood said to contain a piece of the holy Lady's shroud, and various other artifacts. The prime Aron within their capital city claims to have the Lady's Torch and within.

The Yehud value the first-born son above his siblings, and those with one male child are considered especially blessed - for they will not have to suffer the resulting feuds between siblings trying to wrest their brother's inheritance from him. Many a Yehudi city has undergone sudden political changes because of such disputes.

The Yehud are not a unified people-group in terms of ethnicity. There are many tribes, with many differing characteristics - some even possessing strange and alien characteristics, for which they are shunned within the major Holds. For example, the Cater possess patches of fur and the Kherubi have vestigial wings.

By far, the most common profession amongst the Yehud is herdsmen - they are uniquely skilled at it, being capable of calming unruly herds with ease.

Amongst the Yehud, certain people are considered to be divinely inspired by Yelyon. These individuals are called Shoftim - literally "Judge". Those found to be a Shoftim by rigorous examination by religious and civil functionaries are bestowed with the powers of one - namely, anything within reason to enforce laws, resolve disputes and protect the lands of the Yehud. They serve a variety of roles - war-leaders, judges, priests, administrative assistants, and governors of frontier settlements.

"Battle, battle, you must pursue battle so that you may inherit the land your LORD has given you. "


The Yehud do not have a standing army, fearing it's political power. Any force, therefore, has to be raised from scratch by a Shoftim. This results in a rabble of poorly-trained (if at all) soldiers and some highly trained warriors.

The Yehud do not, and have no desire to, use the bow in warfare. They favor the sling, citing it's ease of use (Yehudi herdsmen are already familiar with it) and superior killing power against lightly armored foes. The small, but dense rocks favored for use as ammunition by the Yehud are generally capable of flying great distances and impacting with great force.

Within the religious traditions of the Yehudi tribe known as the Nazir, the role of warrior is given great honor. The Nazir possess great strength - which legend ties to them never shaving or cutting their hair - and are skilled warriors, making Naziri warriors a much-desired commodity in any army.

When the Shoftim take the field, they do so in glory. Accompanied with a lavishly armed and armored retinue of their home village's firstborn, they tend to lead from the front, trusting in the protection of Yelyon.
 
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checked first to see if this thread was available. Good to know I won't be needing to make my own world building thread. Anyways on to the actual world building.

One of many different settings for a series I do with several friends off of this site would revolve around a world where Power Rangers, adventuring parties, kamen riders, ultra men, super heroes, monster, magical girls, metal heroes and all sorts of things have been a established part of history for a great many years with history in general still mostly following the same track of our own world. People have been exposed to fantastical things so much, they've just become jaded and stopped caring a long time ago for the most part and it's a daily fact of life. Some places are more hero rich than others and some less so with a large strip of towns going from east to west coast in the united states near a mountain range been relatively free of stuff like this.

The potential sequence the story would follow would be five main overall story arcs listed below

1: the characters move into the towns with some locals at the start of the school year as cosplaying and larping goes about and get introduced to the towns and various larpers with the finale being a big larping incident on halloween

2: the characters get more involved with larping and exploring the towns, finding more fantastical secrets and factions and finding and getting into more dangerous forms of trouble with the finale being abducted by aliens

3: the group is doing their best to adjust from the towns not being as safe as advertised as fights break out and various incidents with the climax being a massive attack on the towns by a terrorist group that has copied the powers of many different heroes and villains and that have been mentioned or appeared in various ways and roles up until this point

4: the aftermath of the massive attack and the towns becoming a war zone as various groups adjust and try to adapt to the sudden change as various alliances form and new members are recruited as the terrorist organization conducts various operations. The finale of this arc is various attacks on the terrorist group and a alliance of factions starting to form

5: the alliance starts to take a serious form as the attacks and counter attacks continue in a faster pace with the finale being the alliance defeating the terrorist organization and the identities of a group of secret helpers in each group exposed
 
Finally had more time to get back to writing, so might as well show off the Chai. They were the westernmost branch of the Shingjan and they were the ones that the Anitai fought for when they began to settle down in their new homeland. They still exist, but their fortunes aren't good.

Chai
The Chai, the dying hilldwellers, are a rare sight indeed in these dark days. They were the westernmost of the Shingjan, having long settled what they called the Lung Peninsula back during what the most arrogant of Yim scholars like to state was the time where the Yim ruled the world. In actuality, it was more likely that they were a branch of the old Shingjanese peoples who went further west than their Wo cousins, likely to escape depredations by the Nemlovo.

In happier times for these peoples, they lived in their own cities and sedentary camps, being more of a tribal or clan people than their more civilized brethren. They were a proud warrior people, armed with what would eventually be known as the Yanani throwing spear. On top of this, they were skilled swordsmen, with the shocking ability to fight in drilled square formations they called yanzi, or boxes. Using these formations, they would often be able to crack Anitai armies far larger than theirs due to their ability to flexibly alter formations.

However, the Anitai would learn from these setbacks. They would add on more skirmishers, often from their womenfolk, to make their phalanx style army flexible. They would also adopt the javelin from their foes, which would eventually form part of the core of Sa’aba’s Army. With these changes to their army, the colonists were able to fend off the ‘hillmen’ as they were often called, and take the fight to their homelands. Most, if not all of these places has long been sacked by the Anitai, whose many great cities were built on burned stone and bleached bones.

Despite this, they have never entirely faded away from these lands. It is true that most of the survivors were eventually absorbed into Mazuani and Yanani stock, but some still live on. These few communities can be found high in the mountains of the Sormir Peninsula, often ignored barring occasional feuds with the Yanani further down, and the very rare tax collector from the Cities. Up in these harsh lands, most of the Chai peoples left are pastoralists, living in great tented communities. These places often are one part temple complex alongside residential living areas, being evenly split among the two. This has much to do with their religious beliefs, which like most Shingjanese faiths includes ancestor worship.

To the Chai, the ancestors are those to venerate, love, and respect. The Chai most often did so by offering a tithe of their crop or garden to their own home shrines and baking small rye cakes for the spirits. Their most important festival was right at the end of the harvest, which was known as the Red Day. During this day long celebration, they would often host great plays that detail their great legends before ritualistically slaying the fattest and healthiest member of their flock of animals and offering their blood to their ancestors.

Alongside their ancestors, they also venerate their Laoji, ascetics whose great knowledge over lore and legend gives them strong legal sway in their communities. Truly gifted Laoji are said to be able to channel the spirits and ancestors of a clan. Most live in isolated caves that get slowly carved into small monasteries where they attempt to understand the nature of the world.

However, one such Laoji is preaching a different idea. This young man, Menji, states that the spirits and ancestors are all a manifestation of but two gods. Not weak gods like the animals the Anitai worship, but two powerful gods that are in a constant war with the other. Teng, the White God versus Wong, the Black God. He claims that a new cycle is upon the world, and his word has spread into the hearts and minds of several communities. He has now climbed down the mountain and is spreading these words to long hated tribes of Yanani as well, with many of them listening to him. This is the End Times, not just for the Chai, but to the world itself.
 
My world building magnum opus - Sonichu with the plot holes filled in!

Remember the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Yeah they became the Cherokian and Wasabi clans (that's why they're all white!). So what happened is they decided to move inland for the winter, and to protect themselves from hostile Native American tribes they decided to rebrand themselves as "The Cherokian Clan", claiming to be an offshoot of "local" Cherokees (in real life the Cherokee Indians lived hundreds of miles to the south at the time.) They tried to write "Cherokian" on a post to let their fellow Englishmen know what happened to them, but they wrote it as "Croatoan" because they couldn't fucking spell.

So they got really lost over the next couple of years and they would up travelling hundreds of miles north-west to what's today Ruckersville, Virginia. Up there, they discovered hundreds of these weird little yellow and pink creatures - Sonichus! There divides started form - one half of the group found the meat of these Pokémon to be both nutritious and delicious, a fine lean meat that tasted like pork. The other half of the group found that these creatures' insatiable desire to fuck everyone and thing in sight made them wonderful sexual partners. The pro-eating Sonichus group split off and formed the Wasabi Tribe, because they were fucking weeaboos. They took their waifus down south a little and founded what's now Charlottesville, VA, where they had a pickle-based economy.

Now, the leader of the pro-fucking Sonichus group was a man by the name of Edward Graduon, who fancied himself a "count" even though the English have never used the title "count", instead using "earl", as his good friend Queen Elizabeth I tried in vain to convince him of in between trying to stave off her relatives the Westons from begging her for money. "Count" Graduon's wife, Virginia Dare, however, wasn't interested in fucking Pokémon, so she divorced her husband and joined with the Wasabi tribe. Graduon immediately remarried a prostitute by the name of Maria Hamm. Incensed, Virginia Dare, secretly a witch, cursed the Cherokian Clan with the "Virginia is for Virgins" curse, so that their fattest, most autistic manchildren would never get laid. She later remarried a man by the name of Walsh and their descendants continue to live in the Charlottesville area, upholding their ancestress' curse.

Edward Graduon was an obese slob who enjoyed harassing the local Algonquian Indians, who he consistently misidentified as Cherokees. Amused by this man's incompetence, the Algonquians wrote his life story down on a piece of wood and they hung it up in the center of their village. Over time, they accumulated more and more stories of stupid white people, and they gathered around the fire to read the stories of the furries and the weeaboos they'd encountered and their sagas. The spirit of the natives' trolling lives on today in the form of Encyclopedia Dramatica. Even the Cherokian Clan got sick of Edward Graduon's idiocy and decadence and eventually he was assassinated by Walter Hammer, who went on to lead the Cherokian clan into a golden age of prosperity and Pokémon.

Walter Thomas Hammer founded a town he called WTHville "wuth-ville", a paradise for man and Electric Hedgehog, while the Wasabi Tribe to the south gave their town the less retarded name of "Charlottesville". Eventually the two tribes faded away, but the mayorship of the northern town was passed down through the Hammer family, father to son. In Charlottesville, they elected new mayors democratically like normal people. But WTHville, which confusingly changed names each mayor change, was a happy and pleasant place for the most part. However, in 1776, feeling revolutionary fever, then mayor Wilbur Theodore Hammer (to avoid the headache of a town name change the Hammer family had been trying to keep the WTH initials for a couple of generations) decided to abolish the monarchal mayorship and elect someone to be the true mayor, while the Hammer family would just be figurehead royalty, sort of like the English royal family today. This held steady for almost 150 years, until one day, a troublemaker by the name of Joseph J. Chandler rolled into town with his wife and young son.

The year was 1917. Joseph, a travelling conman on the run from the law for killing a man over a round of Pokémon up in New York, was looking for a place where he could start over... and become more powerful. He came to train Electric Hedgehogs to become the greatest trainer of all time to go back up north and destroy all of his old enemies, and those jerkops who tried to arrest him. He decided he was going to become the next mayor of WTHville, whether the Hammers liked it or not. He used his persuasive prowess (and a little help from some psychic Pokémon) and claimed some (non-existant) Cherokian ancestry to convince the town the Hammer family and the current elected mayor, Alvin Snyder, were involved in a Greene County conspiracy to keep their monthly tugboats from coming in. Joseph Chandler led a coup against Snyder and the Hammers, after which Snyder and the Hammer royal family were executed by ten-button electric chair, all except the youngest son of the Hammers, Maxwell Hammer, who was spirited away and survived the bloodbath. He vowed revenge on the Chandlers, but it would have to wait.
To the shock of everyone, Joseph Chandler appointed his then eleven year old son Robert Franklin Chandler the new mayor and renamed the town RFCville, "R-F-C-ville" since they couldn't decide on a good enough pronunciation. Joseph remained the puppet ruler for Robert until he turned 18, after which Robert decided to kick his father to the wayside and declare himself full mayor of the now less-than-pristine RFCville. A lot of the town's richer citizens had fled during the Chandler coup and only the poor and gullible who had followed Joseph had remained. But the town built a cult of personality around Robert, worshiping him as almost divine. Robert Sr. was the mayor until the mid-40's, when his wife died and he decided to run off to North Carolina to escape some of his political foes, and left the town to his teenaged son, Robert Franklin Chandler Jr.

Our beloved lumberjack was mayor over moderately stable times in RFCville history, things weren't great but they were stable. In the mid-50's he took a mayoress, Patricia, who gave him two children, David and Carol. But as they came of age, neither of them wanted to be mayor of the town, they wanted other things from their lives. This caused a rift between not only Bob and his kids but also Bob and Patricia, who supported her kids' wishes to not be mayor. In a fit of rage, Bob divorced Patricia and disinherited David and Carol, who no longer live in what's now CWCville. He took a second mayoress, Barbara, who gave him a single set of triplets, two sons and a daughter.

Now, since Bob had had a heart problem the year before, he was worried about a succession crisis occurring when the triplets were small. So he decided to send away two of the babies to live in the countryside, in ignorance of their royal heritage. The Chandlers decided to keep the baby that reminded them most of themselves ("coincidentally" the only one of the three with autism) and named him Christopher Weston Chandler, and sent the daughter and the other son away. The daughter was raised by friends of the Chandlers, who named her Crystal Weston in honor of her brother (their excuse for the name to strangers was they were blessed with a baby on the same day that the new mayor was born they named her after him). But the other son was adopted by a couple who turned out to be villains of the state, and whisked him away out of the area, no one was able to track them. Christian became mayor in 1996 when his father retired, and he's been the "beloved" mayor ever since.

While all the eggs of the original Sonichus and Rosechus were flung from the Chaotic Rainbow in June 1998, since many of the eggs were flung back in time, your average person would say that Electric Hedgehog Pokémon have existed for centuries. The earliest recorded EHP was a Rosechu taken from the English holdings in the new world (what's now Virginia/NC) by Sir Walter Raleigh and presented to Queen Elizabeth I, named in her honor as "Virginia Rosechu". Since then, EHP's have been found and raised all over the world, but due to their capabilities for human speech and often unruly behavior, they are relatively rarely trained properly as Pokémon, and are unpopular as fighters. Most live in the wild in colonies according to type, with no interaction with humans, but a few have integrated into human society.

Marriage between humans and these sapient beasts is usually legal but frowned upon by both humans and EHP's. Children born to EHP fathers and human mothers are born live and more closely resemble humans, and can with some difficulty assimilate into human society. Children born to EHP mothers and human fathers are born from an egg and more closely resemble EHP's, and can successfully integrate into their societies. Neither form of mixture can be trained, put in a Pokeball, or evolve; human father/EHP mother half-breeds are styled "Sonichu" or "Rosechu" from birth and human mother/EHP father hybrids are never styled at all, usually taking their mother's maiden name as a surname.

Normal type: Males generally reddish-purple, females usually yellow. Because this involves breeding out Electric typing these are rare.
Electric type: Males yellow, females pink, shiny males green and shiny females purple. The most common type. The most popular type among the few Sonichus trained.
Fire or Fire/Electric: Males red-orange, females yellow-orange. More common among bred/civilized EHPs than in the wild.
Water or Water/Electric: Males dark blue, females light blue. Also popular among the few in training. Most wild live in warm salt water colonies.
Grass or Grass/Electric: Males bright green, females minty green. Tend to prefer wooded areas when wild.
Ice or Ice/Electric: Males and females pale blue. Tend to live in groups in mountains.
Fighting or Fighting/Electric: Males red, females dark green. Relatively rare in the wild, they mostly live in training or amongst humans.
Poison or Poison/Electric: Males and females royal purple. Also rare in the wild.
Ground or Ground/Electric: Males olive green, females orange. Tend to live alone in open areas.
Flying or Flying/Electric: Males brown and females white. Known for their feathery wings, they tend to live alone in mountainous areas.
Psychic or Psychic/Electric: Males purple and females light pink. Also tend to live solo in a variety of environments.
Bug or Bug/Electric: Males and females chartreuse. Another fairly popular type for training, they usually live in groups in the wild.
 
whelp, this has been a while but here we go.

What is velyria
Velyria is the main setting of kaiego and where most of the rp takes place. Things to keep in mind about this setting is: It’s a hidden world that overlaps with earth. The inhabitants are known as Fynari/feyi, humanoid arthropod people. It’s more of a collective term than a race name.The people in this world are much smaller, being their appropriate size of the species they’re based on. Although there’s a myriad of races, we have narrowed it down to 9 races to assure not too scare away to many people. The tech level is low level with the occasional advanced tech that's similar to steampunk and magitek.

Origins
The world first began as normal. Trilobites were about to enter land but were guided by ancient gods that helped them in times of need. During this era, a energy called ego pre-existed and was never tamed. It flowed everything, even the trill themselves. they however, didn’t know how to harness this energy. One of their kind had finally found a way to harness it’s essence. He used objects to bind the ego into small towers called Runepillars. Each pillar had aligned themselves to a different direction, dictating the properties of that rune.

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In the dawn of time, there five named directions of nature. The ocean, the flame, the grass, and the sky. The center being the soul. These directions comprise the sections of the great yonder, or the spirit world. Methods of using these directions were rendered impossible as ego was hard to contain. Eventually, a new craft called weaving was made.

Races
lepido- Race of butterfly folk and their kin. The moth race under this collective term are aligned with the great yonder, the spirit. The hawk moth subrace lack this ability.

crau - Crayfish and lobster people. Most of them live in the sea but some live on land. Some have been know to trade with other races or start up shops to sell knick-knacks.

Kakon - Horn beetle race of warriors as well as one of the direct descendants of the scarabs.

Radraxi - Dragonfly and damselfly folk that live near villages that are suspended over water with pole supports. The reason is their care for their young that live in the water for many moons until they come out ot get ready to molt.

Hopaki - Crickets, katydids, and grasshopper people that live in the plain-lands. The grasshopper sub-race were cursed to turn into locust when their was a drought or great famine.

Aranchi - A collective term for the spider folk of this setting. The most notable are the orb-weavers, wolf spiders, and saltci (jumping spiders). Most of their tribes are led by the females.

stagon - One of the direct descendants of the scarabs. They're stag beetle people who live in mostly female bias societies.

dungon - The most direct descendants of the scarabs. They use to be a slave race of dung beetles within the scarab empire caste system until they started a revolt. Now they live as a free people.

Akar - a race of desert to rainforest dwelling scorpion folk.

Note: This setting is pretty out there. So much so, not many people want to role play it as it feels extremely unfamiliar. I don't know if that's a good thing but at least it's different from the norm. That, and the notable lack of humans. I also forgot it was inspired by African, oceanic, as well as ancient Asian cultures. Most of my races mostly live in tribes and clans as many have somewhat shorter lifespans compared to humans or giants as they're called.

here's some pics to sell the idea
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The world I'm writing is basically a tribute to older sci fi novels like Foundation and The Star's My Destination, but also mixed in with a little paranormal elements.

It's part of a series of short stories I've been jotting down about a five-manned space hunter crew (space hunters are basically bounty hunters IN SPAAACE) and their first year working together, but it's less about the hunts and more about the crew, since they each sorta have problems working together.

(If anyone wants to know more PM me, I'm kinda paranoid about posting any more here)
 
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I'm very shy about posting world-building stuff since I consider it annoying for other people to listen to, but I might as well since it's something I've been working on for a pretty long time...

The universe had to go through a "reset" period due to the extreme corruption of the species within it; colonization of other planets was all too common, many species important to various ecosystems had been driven to extinction, and the world was not a good place. Some galaxies had even been taken over by one species; the Milky Way was dominated with humans who were invading the nearby Andromeda. So the Gods and Goddesses of this universe wiped everything away, and built a new universe. Of course, records were kept of the old universe - both good and bad - and saved by the Gods and Goddesses, being re-introduced as time went on as "relics" of what is now called the Old Earth. With the new universe, things were different; there were no humans (as well as certain other species), species previously driven to extinction were re-created and introduced to the new planets, and corruption seemed to have ceased entirely. The Gods and Goddesses who "reset" the universe are known as the Great Creators.

Unlike in other mythologies, the Gods and Goddesses of this world cannot live forever or only die in combat. Over time, they would die and be replaced by an apprentice (these apprentices are known as Lords and Ladies) that they had hand-picked and trained. When the last Great Creator died, it was the end of what is known as a "Generation" - the timeframe where a group of Gods and Goddesses rule. The world is currently in its seventh Generation, and the average Generation lasts for 3000 years (with the shortest only being about 600).

Different plants have different interpretations of the Great Creators and Gods and Goddesses, though. Since other planets don't interact with each other (space travel is limited to certain species that can only survive in space), and the story takes place on one specific planet (with mentions of some others by more minor characters), it's unknown exactly what they are. On this planet, atheism is extremely uncommon due to how open the Gods, Goddesses, and various other deities & divines are with communicating with mortals.

...This is silly and dumb, so I apologize ^_^; There are also probably some holes I'll eventually fill in.

Also a quick note: Since the main planet is very Earth-based, a lot of the species brought back from extinction are from Earth. "Original" species are considered creations of the Great Creators.
 
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