for a while when running large cities in dnd I assumed they were so large that it would take a day or multiple days to walk from one side to the other, but after doing some research now, the ancient city of rome was just 14 sq km inside the walls, with like 450k inhabitants, and the larger city like twice of both of that, which would mean that a walk across the city is like 6 km or less than 2 hours of walking
so ya, I've been very wrong for many years now

Context - Beast Fables: A worldbuilding project featuring a world where everyone on land is some form of werebeast, alongside merfolk who live beneath the waves and beneath the notice of landlubbers, and the myriad of beasts and creatures that live among them. Said beasts, who share the Gift of Transformation like humans/werefolk do, turn into combination creatures known as chimera.

Chimera is a term for any animal born with the Gift and is able to transform into a different form, called a Chimeric morph, that borrows traits from other animals. In this case, Gifted suines borrow many of their traits fom xenarthrans, like ground sloths.

Trolls are the chimeric morphs of Gifted Suines, from wild boar to peccarries to the myriad of domestic pig breeds, and are famous throughout the world as being notoriously stubborn and hart to put down, to the point it is a point of pride of being able to hunt one. Indeed, to many, a hunt is well worth it not just for its effect on one's social status, but the sheer amount of meat that can be obtained from just one troll, alongside the myriad of uses the bones, fat and organs of a troll can be used.

It's why trolls derived from domestic pig breeds, despite the fact that they can be EXTREMELY dangerous if not properly handled, are very much valuable.

However, because pigs are so adaptible and not fussy about what they eat, they're a major source of ecological headaches, and a Gifted pig with the troll morph is an absolutely nightmare to handle. Thankfully, the greater biodiversity on Urvara compared to our own Earth means that the blow of pig-derived devastation is cushioned somewhat.

Simple question. In your world's history, are there any interesting LGBT figures in your world's history, mythos and lore? And what kind of legacy did they leave behind?

For example, in my worldbuilding lore. There's a republic that once was formerly an empire founded by a wifey-wife couple. They overthrew the old empire of dragons and built a new one, initiating various wars and acts of diplomacy to unify the land under their rule and act as both a successor to the old empire and also something new. Their legacy is much of the lore background to the current setting of the republic and their influence can be felt to this day.

Historical Notes

Rushed into full-scale development in 2327 following the fall of Callisto to the Draconists, the M7 entered service in 2334 and served throughout the latter years of the Jovian War (2324-2341) and the First Titan War (2334-2342). The updated M7A1 came about in 2343 and served during the rest of the Draconist Wars, with the newer M7A2 following in 2368 and serving throughout the Frontier War (2371-2381). It saw considerable action during that war, and racked up an impressive kill-to-death record against ground vehicles of the Alliance Armada.

The Alliance of Free Worlds’ Comissão de Armamentos Militares rolled out the CV-48 in 2348, dubbing it the Boiuna after a mythical dark serpent from ancient Brazilian folklore. The CV-48 carries the fearsome 3M62 linear accelerator cannon, which can fire a 152 millimeter projectile at a velocity up to 4 kilometers per second and defeat most armor fielded by the IDC in a direct shot. This primary armament allowed CV-48s like the captured example shown above to wreak havoc in pitched battles during the brutal ground combat of the Frontier War.

When the Zharan Ministry of Armaments entered full-scale production of ground combat vehicles in the late 2360s, one of the first projects they initiated was the development of a main battle tank for the Zharan Liberation Army Ground Forces. In 2377 they adopted the ZT-77, which married a 90 millimeter linear accelerator cannon with a 40 millimeter autocannon and enough maneuverability to make them formidable threats to anything which came within range. As such, ZT-77s were greatly feared by crews of M7A1s and other Coalition vehicles.

These three distinctive vehicles share one major detail in common, and that is that they are all designed as hover tanks. The reason for this is simple – given that most ground combat in the 24th century occurred on Titan, where environmental conditions favored flight more so than terrestrial navigation, having ground vehicles levitate off the ground enables greater agility, and therefore greater overall survivability. Each faction devised different methods of accomplishing hovercraft travel, but the overall effect was similar across the board.

About the Setting

The Spacers Saga: Frontier Wars is a futuristic military science fiction setting which diverged from our timeline when an asteroid slammed into Phoenix, AZ, in May 2014. Fifteen years after this tragedy, the industrialist Charles Larsen ushered in the Age of Fusion, opening up deep space to crewed exploration and eventual human settlement — and all of the strife that we bring with us. The next 300+ years were marked by progress and peril in equal measure, and by 2300 much of the solar system had been charted by intrepid human pioneers.

The story focuses on the rivalry between the Mars-led Coalition for Mutual Security (aka the Coalition) and the Alliance of Free Worlds (aka the Alliance), a federation of rebel worlds in the outer solar system. These two superpowers fought a brutal war from 2371 to 2381 (the Frontier War), which ended when the Zharan Collective (a union of artificial humans which rose up against their creators in 2356) entered the war on the side of the Alliance in 2379. The story opens 10 years later with the superpowers locked in a frigid ideological cold war.

The plot kicks off when the Alliance launches a massive attack against the Coalition, igniting the Second Frontier War. This conflict quickly engulfs the entire solar system and draws in participants from all backgrounds, including three college students from Mars whose adventures will become tied up with the fate of all humanity…

Creators Note

For clarity's sake, I (u/Zharan_Colonel) I drew these vehicles with inspiration from existing pieces of art. The M7 was heavily inspired by the work of Tom Alfaro from his "Pan Spatial" sci-fi worldbuilding project; the CV-48 is inspired by a concept from Dot Matrix's KIL.A.TON turn-based tank fighting game; and the ZT-77 is inspired by a mix of vehicles, including the HT-95 Levkov from Battlefield 4 and the Colonial Marine tanks from the Alien universe.

I'm thinking of creating something in my world with dragons, but not those common fantasy dragons that look like a fierce winged lizard. My question is how to create a unique identity for the concept of dragons.

It’s romantasy, so while it is fantasy, we’re not breaking the bank here on world building, we’re going heavier on character.

That said, I just realized how actually expensive it would be to own a proper bow and arrow, and as a young woman running a failing farm basically by herself, I just realized that she would either have to ration and rescue all of her arrows, or just… use wooden ones? And glue feathers on? Or something?

I think it would make way more sense to give her a quarterstaff. She’s not really a hunter character, either, more of a gatherer. It would be purely defensive. I’m still ironing out details, but the bow thing was nagging at me for worldbuilding, and now I think I’ve realized why.

What do ya’ll think? There’s dangerous woods, but mostly safe during the day. She goes in for herbs, which are needed but scarce. She doesn’t really hunt except when necessary- maybe the use of snares or traps, if required, which it really isn’t?

Most of this is just for me lol and will likely only appear in pure passing in the story haha

Edit: Wow you guys rock hahaha

This is an overhauled Europe inspired by Tolkien's fantasy world, it's the first time I do this and I feel pretty proud about the results, criticism is welcome.

The map was made in Inkarnate, a website for creating maps.

This is the result:

It's the dawn of the XVI century and times are changing, as the northern nations try to find their place in the world the east begins plotting for a war yet far into the horizon, but in the south old grudges reignite at the first taste of prosperity. Each to their own, and soon the whole continent could erupt into chaos.

Īegburh Albion

An island kingdom protected by seemingly impenetrable defenses. Its fleets are a force to be reckoned with, yet it is the might of its fortifications that truly sets it apart.

In the south, mountains rise sheer above towering cliffs, save for a narrow passage where invaders are met by the Clūdgeat: twin bastions guarding the entrance and exit, with further fortifications lining the mountainsides, ready to decimate any trespasser.

The capital lies on the eastern coast, shielded by fortress islands that create four narrow straits through which all incoming ships must pass before reaching port. No vessel enters, nor leaves, without the King's approval.

Jylland

The people of this peninsula are warriors, accustomed to the harshest winters and most brutal famines. It is little wonder that they once terrorized the coastal cities of the continent. However, after their armies were defeated by the Albionese–Piastianer coalition, they were forced to abandon their old ways. Forsaking their ancient gods, they turned to mercenary work and hired sailing, selling their skills as warriors and seafarers to foreign powers.

Yet their homeland remains as unforgiving as ever. Much of their territory consists of swamplands or lies frozen for much of the year, leaving the population sparse and heavily dependent on fishing and imports to survive. In the past, they overcame these hardships by sending their men abroad to raid and wage war, sustaining themselves through the spoils of conquest and the provisions gathered by armies on the move. Now, with their old way of life gone, the Jyllanders must find another way to survive.

Papal Lands

His Holiness, the supreme emissary of God, gives away all his riches to devote himself to organizing the faithful and aiding those in need. Though such a notion may seem shocking to infidels, these inherited lands form a stable and peaceful state, renowned for its charity and patronage of the arts.

That is, of course, after the collection of the Sacred Third: a tax that claims one-third of every peasant’s harvest, every profit earned, and every sum of money saved each year.

But there is more to His Holiness’s duties than that. He must also guard the Tower of Babel, a gift from God whose gates will open on Doomsday. When the seventh trumpet has finished its melody, the army of God will march forth in song, and the faithful will be able to climb the tower to Heaven.

The tower must be specially protected from the pagan elves, who claim that their ancestors built it.

Middle Earth (HCE)

Officially, the Holy Civilized Empire. In truth, it is neither holy, nor civilized, nor an empire at all.

Rather a shell of its former self. Once the first organized kingdom to rise after the Third Age, it went on to convert much of the continent. Yet a millennium of plagues, raids, and the expulsion of non-human peoples has left it a shadow of its former glory, stripped of much of its power and prestige.

And that is not even to mention the nightmare it poses for historians, lawmakers, and cartographers alike. Its imperial bureaucracy is an absolute mess, comprising a patchwork of independent duchies, principalities, city-states, commonwealths, and electorates, all nominally united beneath the imperial crown.

Worse still, nine centuries of its thousand-year-old archives remain unusable. The risk of permanently destroying what little survives is simply too great, so the records must be left untouched until better methods of preservation and restoration can be devised.

At this rate, bringing down the Empire might prove easier than reforming it.

Tirith-Metta

The last bastion of an age-spanning monarchy, Tirith-Metta is a realm where almost everything seems frozen in the past. The only aspects of the country that have kept pace with the modern age are its military doctrine and its extensive network of fortifications.

Originally a frontier province conquered by the Roman Empire to repel barbarian incursions, it became the refuge of the remnants of the imperial nobility and their most loyal subjects after the empire's western half fell. They marched east, seeking shelter within the surviving half of the empire, only to be exiled some five centuries later, when orcs invaded from the frontier deserts and set in motion the empire's long, painful decline.

In a cruel twist of irony, the exiles found themselves in the role of the very barbarians their ancestors had once fought against, raiding and conquering frontier territories in search of a place to call home. Stories about their grandfathers campaigns to subdue those same invaders during the late republic are still told.

When the Papacy refused to grant them control of the Tower of Babel as a vassal state, they turned their ambitions towards a place where no ruler would dare to follow them. They climbed into the heights of the Alps, beyond the reach of emperors and pontiffs alike, and founded a kingdom among the peaks.

They named it Tirith-Metta: the Last Bastion, or, as later generations would come to call it, the Fortress of Fading Hope.

Mestuzhad

Mestuzhad is a kingdom of contrasts and dynamism—a strange combination for a people descended from dwarves. After the fall of the Western Empire, dwarves settled among the humans they had once tried to conquer, and over the centuries they became deeply intertwined. The result is a people of their own: shorter and sturdier than humans. Even their women tend to be as muscular as a fit human male, though not hairy. They are resilient yet welcoming, embodying the best of both peoples. Wherever you go, the sound of conversation and laughter is almost as loud as the ringing of hammers and pickaxes.

Mestuzhad was once a commercial and industrial powerhouse. The northern and central regions are its mining and industrial heartlands, where great cities sprawl through mountain valleys and vast underground complexes of mines and forges stretch for miles beneath the earth. Their metalwork is valued throughout the world, most famously their Acero Toledano (Toledan steel).

The south is dominated by agriculture, producing vast quantities of grain as well as renowned livestock. Along the eastern coast lie the kingdom's great ports and much of its fruit production, while the west is rich in salt and other valuable resources.

However, eighty years ago, the fall of the Eastern Empire allowed the Osmans to seize the Grand Gates, closing the route to the Orient. Mestuzhad's economy, long accustomed to relying on eastern spices and raw materials for which there were no local substitutes, suffered greatly. The resulting decline would eventually lead to several major defeats for the Mestuzhadi fleets, including the loss of the island of Khaligâr, a vital stronghold in the defense of the coast.

Eleven years ago, however, a plan to circumvent the globe ended in failure. Instead, the expedition discovered a new continent. With access to new sources of the materials that had once been beyond their reach, Mestuzhad's furnaces once again roar deep beneath the mountains, and its docks are busier than they have been in the past century.

Großpreußen

Or Prussians, this kingdom lies at the crossroads of the continent. Its history was shaped by vassalization and conversion. The Prussians were soon regularly employed as mercenaries; one might say they were an army with a state. Their efficiency, however, proved to be a double-edged sword. Their overlord, the Kingdom of Piast, increasingly came to rely on them in its constant wars against its neighbours, granting them ever greater privileges in return.

Eventually, the tables were turned. Once they secured their independence, the Prussians wasted little time conquering their neighbours, most of whom shared their culture but lacked their military strength.

However, many of these lands layed within the sphere of influence of the Habsburgions. Unwilling to confront a rival too powerful to defeat, a plan was proposed. Großpreußen, the Habsburgions, and the rising power of Zhádniya would partition Piast between them. Although Großpreußen gained little territory from the arrangement, peace was secured.

Yet the Prussian military prepares to strike, having completed the Bärenfeste, the largest fortification in the world and a monument to the nation's military ingenuity. Far beyond the fortresses of its age, Bärenfeste is built in successive defensive layers: thick, curved outer walls designed to deflect artillery, sloping agricultural grounds leading to a second line of walls bristling with cannons, muskets, pits, and other traps. Beyond them lie deliberately labyrinthine urban districts, where narrow streets and concealed firing positions turn every advance into a slaughter, before opening avenues expose the survivors to the Prussian cavalry.

Should an attacker somehow reach the innermost district, they would find the royal quarter, the Royal Guard, and the city's vast underground arsenals and supply depots. By then, they would also face the national militia: farmers and workers trained regularly in military doctrine and guerrilla warfare, able to emerge from sewers and hidden passages to strike from behind.

If you are foolish enough to attack Bärenfeste, God be on your side.

Sachën

Though seemingly an irrelevant kingdom, Sachën has a long and eventful history. Born as the easternmost province of the HCE, it became, during its first centuries, a frontier territory where monarchs deported tribes resisting assimilation, as well as people too troublesome to execute. This provided it with a vast pool of manpower with which to exploit its resources. Characterized by agriculture and mining, it holds the greatest silver mines on the continent, making it extremely wealthy and providing its ruling house with sufficient resources to remain in power for seven hundred years. As the HCE gradually lost its grip and feudalized, Sachën's rulers maintained a firm centralized hold over their lands, preventing further feudalization.

Its wealth eventually attracted the attention of the Habsburgions, who invaded Sachën a century ago. The conquest created a rather peculiar territorial problem: for Sachën to become part of the Habsburgion realm, it could no longer remain within the HCE. Thus, unlike the many territories whose lands straddled the Empire's borders, Sachën was formally expelled from the HCE altogether and became a Habsburgion vassal.

Its wealth has since helped fund Habsburgion wars, while its mints produce both its own currency and that of its liege. Yet the kingdom's position has grown increasingly precarious. The borders it must now watch are no longer the easily defended mountains, but the valleys. Even worse, with its overlord in its current state, there is little guarantee that it will come to Sachën's rescue when Prussian power finally turns its attention towards the kingdom. For now, Großpreußen merely waits beyond the horizon, growing stronger by the day. The question is no longer whether they will come, but when.

Arandor Habsburgion

This empire stands at the center of the continent. Its position and vast territories grant it immense power, while the wisdom of its half-elven ruling house, which gives the empire its name, has allowed it to remain relevant throughout the centuries, slowly and steadily building its power, as elves are wont to do.

Expanding at the expense of their rival the Osmans, the half-elven monarchy has forged a vast, multiethnic human empire. However, their mixed blood comes with a price: their lifespans rarely exceed 120 to 150 years. To preserve the elven bloodline, the dynasty must ensure that its members remain at least half or one-fourth elven, leading them to arrange marriages with Mettian minor noble families or, in less fortunate circumstances, resort to incest.

However, in recent decades they have suffered defeat after defeat, failing to prevent the Prussians from swallowing much of their sphere of influence. Their only major success came in preventing an immediate war by dividing the unstable kingdom of Piast, buying themselves time to study their rising rival and adapt to their tactics. Even this came at a cost, however, as the Habsburgions were forced to mobilize far more extensively than their allies to prevent the Prussians from expanding further—the very outcome they had sought to avoid in the first place.

What not long ago was an empire with secure borders now finds itself overstretched, defending exposed territories far from its core merely to prevent other rising powers from expanding into its sphere of influence. The Habsburgions may have spent centuries building their empire slowly and steadily. They may now have to fight just as hard to keep it from coming apart.

Osmania

The Osmans were a tribe of Orcs that remained in the furthest reaches of their Empire after the Horde collapsed. Though ruthless, they were no mindless green beasts, but battle-hardened heavy infantry with the peculiar ability to move like light cavalry thanks to their metabolic efficiency and their experience living off the land. They soon gained power and began attracting foreigners of all races and customs to their lands, gaining valuable administrative knowledge and learning writing and the ways of sedentary societies. However, they still entrusted governance to humans, gradually becoming a warrior aristocracy.

They would eventually emerge as a great power after completing a centuries-long series of campaigns against the Eastern Roman Empire. With one foot already on the European continent, they planned to continue their conquest.

That was until the Khan died without an heir, leaving behind numerous members of his harem who were pregnant. This sparked a twenty-eight-year-long civil war, with far too many factions to count and borders constantly shifting. The war finally ended thirty-five years ago, when a self-proclaimed Mother Khatun, a dark elf, restored peace.

The following years were spent reconsolidating the empire and repairing the damage caused by such a destructive conflict. Now, after decades of recovery, Osmania stands ready to claim everything that could not be taken at the height of its power.

Bosna and Srbija

Both were conquered by the Osmans, and both regained their independence thanks to the Osman Civil War. Bosna fought a peasant revolution to drive out both the Osmans and its own nobility, who had converted to the Osman faith and become increasingly involved in the civil war. Angered by their ruling class for abandoning its obligations to them, the peasants rose in revolt and eventually expelled them.

Meanwhile, Srbija preserved its religious unity, remaining closely connected to the Patriarchate of the bygone Eastern Empire. Its resistance came at a terrible cost in blood, eventually sparking an uprising that continued well into the civil war. The Serbs ultimately defeated the Osmans through a combination of their military infrastructure and knowledge of the land. Their capital, Beograd, was connected by road and navigable waters to the Tower of Saint Sava and its defensive complex along the Fabian River to the southeast. These fortifications allowed them to halt the Osman advance at Kosvaba, in the hills guarding the tower.

Even stronger than the fortifications is the memory of what may have happened there. Many veterans claim to this day to have witnessed Saint Sava himself, patron of the serbs, descending from Heaven upon a mount of light, bearing a silver spear that exhaled mist. Those struck by it did not bleed; their breath simply left them, while their wounds burned with an unnatural heat. They claimed that the saint himself led the Serbian host into battle and turned the tide of the war.

Yet both kingdoms now face an uncertain future. As Osmania recovers they stand along the main overland connection between the two continents and on the exposed flank of the Habsburgion realm, yet their greatest potential protector can no longer afford to defend them.

Zhádniya

Though they call themselves Avars, their realm is known as the Land of the Greedy, owing to their characteristic lack of patience and manners when negotiating deals. An immense land of endless plains and steppes, its cold climate and proximity to the uninhabitable northern lands have made its people harsh and unforgiving. The immense Volga River connects the heartland of this vast realm, while the rest of the country is barely connected by roads, many of which were laid by the march of cattle rather than the passage of carts, if they are connected at all. The last foothold of the Horde on the continent, the Moscvans, the people of the capital, gradually unified the Horde's northern vassals before eventually driving their former overlords back into the steppe.

Their immense size is a double-edged sword. Zhádniya is too vast to collapse, yet too vast to reform without tearing itself apart. Its resources, armies, and population are immense, but so are the distances, inefficiencies, and traditions that hold the kingdom back. The Tzar has therefore begun a sweeping programme of reforms, carried out in the pure Avar fashion: with little to no concern for the suffering of his peasants. His goal is simple: to ensure that Zhádniya is never again made to look small by a power far smaller than itself.

In Zhádniyan eyes, they had been among the greatest losers of the partition—second only to Piast itself.

Arad and The Shires

Located in the delta of the Danube, this Grand Duchy holds some of the most fertile lands on the continent. The hobbits who inhabit the region, descendants of nomadic peoples who migrated into the area centuries ago, gradually settled and became prosperous farmers, exporting much of their agricultural surplus. However, after the closing of the Grand Gates, the economy collapsed, and the Osman invasion followed soon after. The countryside was devastated, and the resulting famine killed a large portion of the population.

Although Arad ultimately survived the war, the scars are still felt to this day. Its population has yet to fully recover, while the weakened state proved unable to prevent powerful robber barons from seizing control of large portions of the countryside and eventually becoming independent. In time, these territories came to comprise nearly half of the country's lands. They are now known as The Shires.

Arad's weakness, however, is not entirely the result of its rulers. The kingdom has long placed great value on local autonomy, with little political intervention from the state. In the decades following the war, this allowed villages to focus on rebuilding their communities without being burdened by taxes. With so few people left, there were barely enough resources to keep the government functioning at all, let alone rebuild its institutions or its militia.

Now, as the population slowly recovers, the Osmans across the sea are gathering their forces, while the Zhádnians eye the Shires as a potential route to the warm-water port they so desperately desire. The Thain is therefore attempting to raise a professional standing army for the first time in its history. This measure is deeply unpopular, as it represents precisely the kind of expansion of state authority that Arad's people have long sought to avoid. Yet everyone knows that if Arad cannot defend itself, its autonomy may soon become irrelevant.

The Thain's immediate goal is clear: reconquer the Shires before either the Zhádnians or the Osmans make their move.

Lumeria is one of several zones located within the Goldilocks band of a tidally locked world. It lies within The Strip, a 300-kilometer-wide habitable region. Its inhabitants are descendants of colonists who crash-landed on the world and mutated in time. "Humans" occupy the central zone, scattered in isolated pockets within its boundaries.

Walkers are engineered creatures originally designed to resemble Archangels. However, they were affected by the planet’s native biology, leaving them wandering aimlessly across the land or lying motionless until a Sheppard takes control over their empty mind. They are immortal.

The Hunters' Guild have trading outposts spread around the Strip, selling armor and old tech glyphs. A juvenile Screamer skin only protects against minor cold, whereas a mature one that can withstand the winds of the Outskirts can bring you a little fortune.

Walker "carcasses" sometimes serve as trading posts. Their ribcages provide enough space to house a small trading outpost. Also they are easy to spot, so it's good for business

These are 41 of the species within my fantasy project Bolg. This goes over four race groups Greenskins, Beastmen, Alves and Dwellers since those are the bust charts i have already made, ill make a second post with the pinkmen, giants, undead and gnohms and whatever else.

Some races evolved to become this, others were made by alines wanting to play god. If you wish to know anything about any race from food to fighting styles please do ask, the original post was made just for how they look, not really anything related to culture.

Come ask about them or give feedback about my ideas im happy to listen

I’m writing a book set in a world where humans never existed. The focus of the story is a society made up of wolves. I need help coming up with terms for lengths of time. Like, a year could be a cycle, a month could be a moon, etc. I’m particularly struggling with words for “hour” and “minute”. I thought about using a time system based on howls, but I’m worried if that could be confusing.

Novamtys is the third planet of the Purple Sun. It is wholly unique among all the worlds of the Solar System for its shape, being made up of two binary planets that have collided into a single stable planetary body.

The planet has long been an object of fascination among astronomers on Galladria (the fourth planet of the Purple Sun)

With the establishment and opening of a stable and permanent Celestial Gate, connecting Novamtys and Galladria, Aelnyyraean scholars been able to examine the planet from up close. Aelnyyraean Mages have discovered that the planet is affected by a vast Precursor spellwork. Decryption has largely been deemed impossible due to its complexity, but from what little has been gleamed, it is believed that the spellwork is responsible for the planet's stabilization.

(also, second map lacks the territory of other civs, cus I haven't yet actually decided who will originally populate the world, if anyone at all)

I've been casually slapping together a book on my worldbuilding project, focusing on the world of Idavoll and its inhabitants. I thought I might share some of the in-progress pages.

I have an idea for a manga story which is still pretty rough. Wanted to hear your feedback

Here’s the premise

Have you ever woken up with the feeling that you forgot something important? Dreams so vivid that it seems impossible not to remember them, or even small details from everyday life that vanish from your memory, leaving you in a state of confusion.

Every night you close your eyes, lose consciousness for a few hours, perhaps with a thought you’ll forget by morning, and then you wake up as if nothing happened. It’s something so ordinary that no one questions it.

Everything seems to be in order.

But what if it isn’t?

After all, no one remembers what happens at the exact moment we fall asleep. How sure are you that the person who opens their eyes is really you?

An almost identical copy of you, born every time you wake up. With your same face, your voice, your memories, your mannerisms. It believes it is you and would never suspect that it isn’t. How could it?

The copies are born at the exact moment the body wakes up. They appear, inheriting not only memories but an entire life they never lived. Every embrace, every moment of embarrassment, and every promise, yet without having experienced them themselves. Among all the things they haven’t lived through, there’s one thing that gives them away completely: they’ve never dreamed.

Dreams teach something that no copy has ever experienced: that something can feel completely real without ever having happened. And whoever knows this can affirm one thing while knowing another. That’s why they aren’t capable of lying, or at least not the way we do.

It’s not that they can’t fantasize or imagine; rather, the copies simply make mistakes: poorly recorded memories, distorted words, and lapses that shouldn’t be there. They don’t know this: they firmly believe they’re telling the truth, because for them, that is their truth.

No one knows what happens to the original within the dream, nor what process erases it. Only the result is known: the vast majority end up falling prey to that process.

Though there are exceptions.

Some, somehow, survive that process without being erased. They don’t avoid sleeping, they continue to sleep every night, but the dream stops replacing them.

They wake up as copies: the original was lost long ago, but they are copies that carry on, copies that remember, copies that, for the first time, dream. Through dreaming, they learn to lie; the copies make mistakes, but they lie intentionally.
They are called Dreamers. They are not the originals and never will be, but now they know they are not the original they are something new.

There are also the Witnesses. They are people who have no need to sleep, the only ones who were never copied. The originals.
Their memory is continuous, without breaks or failures. Their truth is an unbroken line. It is absolute.

If the Dreamers can lie because they have learned to impose fantasy, the Witnesses can uphold the truth because they have never ceased to be proof of themselves.

Maybe dreamers can impose impossible rules in reality, like, fire doesn’t burn or something like that. But I have no idea how to represent truth in this system.

I've always been fascinated by secret organizations and their goals. But I've also wonder how they recruit specific people into their organization. I'd imagine they will have to vet a lot of people and select a few who meet their specific requirements.

Whether it be a fantasy setting, modern setting, or sci-fi, how does your world's secret organization recruit new members?

The Bahuusan are a large group of Goblins located within the Dolom Peninsula, a region that is defined by karsts, large pillars of rock and stone that pock the landscape. The local conditions are temperate, and can get pretty damp in the winter months. While difficult, the Goblins here persevere, able to carve out a peaceful life for themselves.

One of the Bahuusan's most identifiable traits is their reverence of Copper. Making use of it's patina in paints and art, while using the metal itself to form their tools. While they do use ochres and other earthy tones in their art, this is almost always to serve as contrast to copper. It's most commonly used as body paint, the Bahuusan are rarely seen without it.

To harvest this patina, Goblins will create rooms with wind chimes, all made from copper that, as they wave in the wind, oxidise and produce this resource. Pretty much any spot where wind chimes can be placed there will be some. Windows, doorways, on the ceiling in some hallways.

Music is a common component of many Goblin cultures, the same applies to the Bahuusan. Goblin hearing dips deep into infra and high into ultrasound. This sensitivity leads to their instruments being far too overtuned for other sophonts, who describe it as "Incomplete", but many attest "It's still beautiful regardless".

The ocarina like instrument can be played one handed, often in conjunction with the smaller handheld chimes. The larger didgeridoo like instrument is incredibly bassy, and can be felt more than heard. Many passersby are implored to join in, and often get to keep some instruments as souvenirs

---

Their architecture is designed around multiple, shared spaces rather than personal rooms. They will sleep together, eat together, and pray together. Usually the only instances of rooms designed for just a few are for quarantines. They figured out pretty quick disease is transmissible by proximity, and when you interact with other people hundreds of times a day it's crucial that illness is caught early.

The Bahuusan primarily source their food from short expeditions away from the pillar. Besides this, they possess modest agriculture, with dedicated rooms to grow mosses and ivy's. Though this is only used sparingly, as an occasional treat rather than a consistent source of sustenance.

The second image is a cross section of a Bahuusan village. Since the landscape consists of karsts, it's very easy to carve and bore into the rock face, allowing Goblins to simply dig out their homes. Most of the rooms are deep into the cliff face, since they're able to navigate in the dark well, the interiors of these structures are usually pitch black, carefully placed grooves in the walls allowing goblins to move via Echolocation.

(For Th’zoitrk, a semi-sci-fi worldbuilding project.)

(This is a continuation of my previous post on the in-canon modern understanding of the fundamental physics governing the reality of Th’zoitrk.)

Image 1: The ‘Unigon’ galactic filament. The 8th largest filament structure in the observable universe, within which Th’zoitrk exists.

Image 2: The ‘Bevegon’ dwarf galaxy, which is the home galaxy of Th’zoitrk.

Image 3: IFS-S14, the largest star currently known to Th’zoitrk. Composite image formed from multiple different images using different spectrums of light.

Image 4: The Zakodelo binary star system, image enhanced.

Everything is finite.

Nothing is infinite, not even the multiverse. Everything ends somewhere, no exceptions.
The only consistency across all of existence is the fact that it has an end.

The multiverse is finite, always remember it isn’t truly infinite.
However, for all intents and purposes, it might as well be treated as though it is.

To the typical person in their day-to-day life, the most common understanding is that space is three dimensional, while time is one dimensional.
While this belief is useful for the everyday life of people on Th’zoitrk, this is simply inaccurate to the true state of reality.
In truth, based on our current understanding of reality; space is five dimensional, while time is two dimensional.

On the scale of your house, or the planet, or the galaxy, the universe appears to be three dimensional with one temporal dimension.
This is fairly accurate, within most circumstances there is no real way to tell that there is anything beyond the ordinary three dimensional space we’re used to.
The universe is a 4D hypersphere which bends 3D space across its surface. The entire universe is essentially the skin of a ball. If you travel far enough in any given direction, it eventually loops back around itself and you’ll end up where you were at the beginning.
The multiverse is a 5D hypersphere which bends 4D space across its surface.
Every universe out there is a tiny, tiny, tiny speck of dust upon the ‘surface’ of the multiverse.

The multiverse contains a very large number of separate universes. It’s impossible to be sure exactly how many universes there are, but we know at least how many there need to be.

Kaélen’s number.
A number which is the mathematically determined lower-bound for the lowest possible number of universes that could inhabit the multiverse.

Kaélen’s number is:
10^6823^(400 ↑↑(8.29x10^40))

A googolplex is, compared to Kaélen’s number, practically identical in value to 0.
There is no words or descriptions that could be given to describe the true scale of the multiverse; as even terms such as ‘astronomical’ fail to remotely grasp at how vast it truly is.

The multiverse, and all universes inside it, are finite.
But they are so large that there’s virtually no difference between whether they’re finite or infinite to the typical person.

Time is not linear.

Similar to how space is actually five dimensional, time is two dimensional.

Time is a ring. It is very, very, very long, but it eventually loops back around itself. Eventually, time loops back to the big bang and everything begins again.
It is not a straight line, it is not linear.
Time curves back around.

These two basic principles: that both space and time are finite, is the foundation of the current understanding of the universe.

If you have a flintlock-fantasy world, or have your own thoughts on them or have experience through books or otherwise with them e.g. from the Temeraire books or others, what are core aspects of it for you? What are important or interesting ideas and concepts, how do you mix monsters, magic, fantasy races, and other such aspects with the age of sail, cannons, line infantry etc.?

During World War I, the Harlem Hellfighters earned their place in history through their courage and service on the battlefield. The 369th Infantry Regiment became known for its fighting record in France, while its soldiers faced the discrimination that African Americans endured during this era.

In Hellfighters of Stercland, members of the 369th find themselves on a different path when their wartime service brings them to Stercland. Their experiences connect the regiment's military history with the nation of Stercland, setting the stage for a story about service, loyalty, and the bonds formed on the battlefield.

The story will predominantly follow five historical figures from the Hellfighters: Henry Johnson, Needham Roberts, James Reese Europe, Noble Sissle, and William Hayward.

Before we begin my setting is a post-post-apocalyptic one, before the emergence of the God of magic it was basically the same as ours, but that won’t be super important for now. If you wanna learn more about the magic system. I have a long post getting into it here but the important part for this post is that it is based around entertainment, the gods are bored, so they give magic to those they think will do something interesting with it. This species main trait is that they are a hyper adaptable species of moth folk originating from the peppered moth, they are inspired by Greek mythology nymphs. Also sorry about the terrible art you’re gonna have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks of my talent.

Larva stage

I didn’t make an image, but it would probably just look like a bigger version of peppered moth larvae with, bigger eyes, some of the limbs moved around, and maybe some fur, generally a nymph will produce up to nine eggs at a time but they are fully capable of choosing whether or not to fertilize them after the fact. Once a larva is born it mostly just acts like a very lazy dog. It’ll eat pretty much anything you give it, similar to a real larva its only purpose in life is just to eat as much as possible, and unless it’s hungry or it senses danger it’s probably just going to be where you left it.

Instead of gradually transitioning, the brain from child to adult like in humans, they stay at pretty much the same mental capacity as a dog until they pupate, in about 10 years, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still taught, they have a near perfect memory and will go over every second of their memories multiple times while pupating, speaking of which.

Chrysalis stage

This is where they get interesting, I mentioned that nymphs were hyper adaptive, this is how, when they go into their chrysalis they have a dream, and through this dream they attract the attention of the gods, after all a child spontaneously gaining sapience is pretty interesting. Using this it allows them to completely reconstruct their bodies in ways that would be otherwise impossible. While the larva are mostly the same, the adult stage is based off the dream, depending on what they dream about will determine how they look like, making them much better adapted to their environment, for example if they saw a certain symbol or pattern very commonly, it will likely appear on their wings, if they remember being thirsty a lot they might develop better water storage, if they remember the weather switching from hot to cold regularly, they might develop a summer and winter coats.

But this ability comes at a cost, it is a high risk high reward strategy, magic especially when practiced by those who don’t understand it is incredibly dangerous, many nymphs come out with terminal cancer, or filled with moonstone (solid magic) clots, those that didn’t have dreams interesting enough might have their crysalizaton ended early, and those that had dreams that were to interesting might lose control of the magic, and emerge as witches needing to be immediately put down, these all mean that most of the clutch won’t survive. In a typical clutch of nine, there is a 33% percent chance two survive, a 10% chance three survive, a 1.5 percent chance four survive and you can probably guess where it goes from there, it gets exponentially rarer, to the point where a full clutch of nine all surviving is considered the stuff of legends, this is also partially because of a different mechanism, siblings will often times pupate right next to each other, if one of them dies, their neighbors will burrow into them and slurp up their insides, giving themselves a better shot at surviving, because of this nymphs are also very blasé about cannibalism, but we’ll get into that later.

Adult stage

When they emerge Nymphs are fully adult anatomically, only being a little shorter and a bit more hyperactive, but they usually aren’t considered full adults for at least another five years. Nymphs cannot fly the wings are mostly used for identification, intimidation, and/or are repurposed based off how they form. As you might have noticed they have two sets of arms, generally the top arms are more muscular, they are generally used to hunt, hold, and lift things, whereas the bottom arms are more dexterous, I have so many ideas on how this would affect hand gestures, but this post is already getting kinda long so I’m not gonna get into that.

A big psychological difference between them and humans is they are much more averse to change, since their biological strategy is just to get as well adapted to a specific place as possible, they do not like leaving that place inherently, because of this, it’s really hard to draft nymphs into the military, since they will just refuse to leave unless they know for certain that the place are going to is basically the same as their home, this is counterbalanced by the fact that they are very territorial, and because of that have a very strong militia culture, meaning that it’s very difficult for nymph nations to gain territory, but it’s also very rare for them to lose it. It’s not completely impossible to see nymphs travelers, or nomads, it’s a bit of a psychological hurdle to jump over, but there are nymphs who do it, mostly noble ones, although if you want a full group of nomadic nymphs your only really going to find them if you also find a large area that’s mostly uniform in terms of environment, the Sahara desert being my main example.

They are much more patient with wild animals, don’t get me wrong if they mess stuff up, or eat someone, they will probably be killed, but as long as the animal isn’t messing with stuff too much, they’ll mostly just leave it alone. Their homes also tend to blend in better with the environment for reasons you can probably guess, plus while being omnivorous, they generally lean more herbivorous when given the option, because of this they don’t have nearly as many issues with habitat preservation as other societies.

The way they evolved intelligence is mostly based around their chrysalization ability, you see the more intelligent something is the easier it is for that thing to gain magic since it has more complex and therefore more interesting behaviors, because of that the more drastic changes required higher interest which required higher intelligence, so basically the way I see it, is they kind of stumbled into intelligence, via trying to optimize that ability. Because of this, I don’t think a lot of animals really do this, because like I said it’s a very high risk high reward strategy, and the less intelligent you are the more it’s going to fail or just come with results that aren’t super useful, the only reason I think the nymphs evolved in the first place is because they were actively going through a magic apocalypse.

Variation

There are nine categories of nymphs I listed them all out below, keep in mind, these are more of a taxonomical categorization than anything scientific and is heavily influenced by nymph culture, particularly their gods.

1: Meliae Civilized : Posh/city/country 5F-4.3M
2: Aurae Sky : Mountain/sky island/canopy 6.4F-5.6M
3: Naiads Fresh water : Lake/marsh/swamp 4.7F-3.9M
4: Oread Arid : Desert/badlands/volcanic 3.6F-2.8M
5: Dryad Lush : Forest/plains/jungle 4.6F-3.9
6: Minthe Cold : Tundra/arctic/taiga 8.7F-7.10
7: Oceanid Salt water : Coast/coral/cold water 7.4F-6.5M
8: Lampdes Subterranean : Lush cave/waterlogged cave/volcanic cave 2.2F-2M
9: Pledaides Magical : Dream realm/dream shore/Mushroom 7.8F-6.10M

I’ll go into the differences based off of the images I provided, the first one is meant to be the archetypal nymph they mostly live in temperate forests, they’re mostly meant to be the default so there’s not much to say on them

Oread: desert

These guys have shorter hair to help with heat, this also means their mouths are exposed. (There’s no reason for them to be covered, I just like how it looks), but also I didn’t really show this well but more of their body is covered in hair, as opposed to the others who only have like the one big tough of hair around their chest, also their antenna are much longer to help with heat disposal, and their abdomens are bigger and more flexible to be able to store more water. If you’re wondering, what the pattern on their wings are it’s the symbol of the god of the cold in my setting.

Oceanid: beach

There antenna are shorter and slicked back in order to be more hydrodynamic, because of this they’re also very commonly stereotyped as stoic since a lot of a nymphs expression comes from their antenna, their wings are longer and more paddle shaped, to be better used underwater, there abdomen is more similar to a lobster, their hair is slicked down, but also a lot denser hence why you still can’t see their mouth, and their upper claws are similar to fishing hooks. Their wings have patterns based around the moon which is heavily connected to their ocean Goddess.

Meliae: royal

Their antenna are floppy as a reference to the fact that a lot of domestic animals have floppy ears, and that it’s a trait that is mostly exclusive to them, most royal nymphs require humans to help them, maintain their kingdoms for reasons I’ll get into in the next section, so their faces tend to mimic human expressions a lot more. They have hair instead of fur so unless it’s cut, it will just keep growing. Also, there’s no real difference between their upper and lower arms since they don’t do a lot of manual labor. Finally, they tend to have some of the most extravagant patterns for again probably obvious reasons, as you’ll notice this one actually have her family crest on her wings.

Culture

When it comes to funerary practices, they cannibalize anyone who dies, like I said they’re much more blasé about cannibalism as long as the person is already dead, particularly in modern day some may sell their corpse, but generally, the traditional and preferred way is to have your family eat it, if it’s too rotten and moldy for whatever reason to be eaten then they’ll usually just leave it where it is (assuming it’s far enough away that they don’t have to look at it) and just let the forest claim it but generally the latter option is the preferred way to go.

How they interact with other species, their main range is what used to be Europe (now fairaland), but they also inhabit the Arctic Circle, the Middle East, and the Sahara desert, the main species they encounter are humans mostly because they’re native to almost everywhere, despite their size, they are very dangerous to humans, so it’s harder for humans to establish permanent settlements, because of that most humans in nymph dominated territories are nomadic. Most cultural exchange between nymph villages, are due humans, and like I said a couple paragraphs ago, most nymph nations are reliant on humans for any amount of trade or communication, so humans are incredibly important to nymph cultures, in spite of this they often times aren’t treated very well and are considered untrustworthy and a lower class than nymphs, after a long time, they went on a massive continental strike getting more rights.

I wanna eventually make posts about each of their individual cultures, but that’s gonna be a while from now, if you are from any of the cultures that exist in the areas I mentioned, maybe tell me some stuff you think would be important when making a fictional descendent of your culture, thanks.

Thank you for getting through the whole post. I hope you found this interesting, give me your critiques and maybe anything else you think would be useful when world building them, I’m still actively working on them even if I have a lot of stuff set in stone, thank you and goodbye.

I bounce between three main projects that are sci-fi, fantasy, and like a dystopian/alt-history/speculative fiction. I wonder though what the genre most people have for their main worlds? I see mostly fantasy in the subreddit and was curious.