In The Study

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is to create a brand new one! Do you ever find yourself bored with your day, thinking that your life is extremely uneventful or dull? I would be lying if I said I did not relate to that statement on a frequent basis. Not much excitement happens out in the great plains of Nebraska, but we as humans are blessed with a wonderful gift that allows us to escape the mundane: creativity. As a creative mind I can look out at the bleak horizon and instead, envision in my mind a great battle between an army of men and a flock of dragons, or a spacecraft nearly escaping the pull of an eldritch creature hidden in the dark abyss of space. It is this mind that allows us to push passed the barriers of normalcy and escape to the land of whimsy and excitement. But where do we go exactly? After all, as it stands, the world inside my head is just a dark void. There is no land, no characters, no conflict. Or at least, not yet…

In this post I’m going to walk you through my personal method of creating a world from scratch and populating it with all my ideas. I am not claiming this method as any professional or standard of how a world should be built, nor am I claiming it as my own brainchild. I am sure other world crafters before me have used a very similar if not exact method to create their worlds, but I have just found that this particular order works best for me. So, without further ado, let’s make a world to play in.

Step One: Setting the Stage

Let’s start where most people would; a blank map. I like to view all of my worlds through the lens of a hand drawn world map, as opposed to a three-dimensional globe. After all, most of the worlds I create end up being flat by the end. For me, when the logic and mathematics of ensuring the map can accurately shape to form a round planet starts, and the ease of just designing an island ends, so does the fun. My brain is not wired for the mathematic technicalities of real-world logic, and in a universe where a human can fire an orb of water out of the palm of his hand to disable some mythological creature, real world logic does not necessarily have to fully be followed. The concept of a flat world also lends itself to more intriguing plot points and areas of interest. Why do the characters have to brave a certain path through dangerous waters? Because there is literally no other way around. Or what happens when a band of adventurers sails a little too close to the worlds edge and finds themselves staring down at the vast expanse of the astral sea?

These are the types of interesting plot points I enjoy expanding on. In a recent Dungeons and Dragons campaign I wrote, I created a world map unlike anything most people would expect. The campaign is a pirate one, so naturally the world is predominantly water. I wanted it however to have 5 distinct areas that had only specific ways to get between them. I therefore designed the world to be 5 discs floating in the astral sea, with thin canals running between each one. If the party is not careful, it could be very possible for them to sail off the edge of the world. And the only way for them to make it to one sea, is for them to have to sail through another one first, leading to plenty of opportunities for me as the DM to throw side quests or random encounters at them.

Many people will not like this method. The blatant disregard for certain sides of logic can be frustrating to people who like everything to make sense, and that is not a bad thing either. Having a structure in your world is necessary to not lose your grasp on this fantastical reality. So, in lieu of adhering to the real world’s logic, you have to fill in the blanks with your own laws of nature. For instance, in my pirate world, if the sea drops into space where does the ocean water come from? The question stumped me for a while until I finally thought up a way to fix this gap in logic without sacrificing the whimsy. I designed the atmosphere to act like a water cycle. When the water falls off the edge of the world, it starts to evaporate and circle the underside of the landmass, eventually being pulled through the bottom of the center of the world, recondensing and erupting back to the surface in a massive geyser like explosion. This answers the question of where the ocean water comes from without sacrificing the design.

So now that our ground rules are established let’s start asking the important questions:

Do we want a predominantly land ruled or water ruled world?

For this exercise I am thinking of a singular large Pangea like landmass with two or three smaller thin landmasses surrounding it, settled in a singular massive ocean. This concept lends itself to a more unique and tense world. It makes it feel much smaller and tighter than a massive sprawling map with several continents.

Now that I have a basic idea of how I want the world to be shaped, I draw out a simple design on a piece of paper. It does not have to be fancy or in depth at all. My first designs usually take upwards of two minutes and sometimes as quick as thirty seconds to draw. This step may go by fast but it also is one of the most crucial as it serves as the basis of the final design of the world. Every shape you draw in this step will be translated into a peninsula, bay or island that ends up having a complex story and history in the world. Because of this, I try not to think too hard about what I am drawing and just kind of let the pen guide my hand. If I spend too much time deliberately shaping the land, I start to find the shape becoming too mechanical and boring. To me, it is much more fun to shape a world almost at random and then go back and figure out a story for the land my subconscious shaped.

Once I have the basic outline completed, I will either move on to the next step or have a little more fun with the design by throwing it into a digital map maker such as Inkarnate. I am in no way sponsored by Inkarnate and I will be the first to mention any flaws it has as a system, however it is one of my favorite tools to utilize when world building because it allows you to make your design look quite detailed and thought out without too much skill or extra time. As you can see in the images, I spent about 30 more seconds in Inkarnate and managed to upscale the design of this new world by quite the margin.

Now that we have a working map to reference, we can move on to step two.

Step 2: But Why?

If you have ever been around a child in the younger formative years, you will often here one question resounding from them on a merely hourly basis: “But Why?” Children are naturally curious about the world around them and how everything works. When you try to explain it to them, it only opens a new can of worms they are seeking to understand. The same can be said for a large portion if not most of the fantasy genre readers. We are curious about these worlds and want to know more. How did the world come to be, where did it all start, why are there more creatures than just humans, and so on and so forth.

As a writer you are not bound by some divine law to answer all these questions. Sometimes the mystery and unknown is much more interesting to the reader than explaining everything out to them. As a worldbuilder however, it is your job to fully understand the world you have created and have that system in place. While it all may not be fully divulged to the reader, it still sets a good structure for you to build your story cohesively and with extreme depth. Take Tolkien for example. Tolkien is one of the most infamously meticulous world builders in fantasy literature history. When creating Middle Earth, he did not just develop the places the protagonists went in their stories, but rather fully painted out the entire landscape of the whole world. He created entire functioning languages for his races for goodness’ sake!

While Tolkien might be a bit of an extreme example of this method, I do think it is still important to have enough structure in the world that the reasoning behind certain things or events feels logical and accurate. For instance; where did the world come from? This question is one of the most sought after and controversial questions in human history. Whether you are religious or not, you cannot deny the fact that the mythologies and deities of history have played a massive role in the shaping of civilization and culture as we know it. This means that naturally, the world you create should have at the very least, a mythology around the formation of the world.

Let’s start with the some of the base options for world origin. A pantheon or no. Was your world divinely designed, reshaped from chaos into order, or was it the result of a cosmic accident? All three options are strong contenders for a good foundation for your world, however I usually tend to lean towards the first two. To me, having a pantheon of deities or dark deities gives much more material to work with later on than just cosmic soup forming into the world.

Now on the topic of deities, we do need to establish some ground rules. For myself I tend to lean towards the creators of my world being extremely powerful immortal beings that were created in turn by some means or another or are visitors from another realm that set up residence in this new land. Being a Christian myself, my personal convictions usually have me lean away from incorporating an omnipotent, omniscient all creating God into my worlds, unless I am doing a piece that is meant to reflect the God of the Bible. The biggest reason being I do not feel I have the ability to even grasp the true nature of such a divine figure and I would not do it justice. Let your conscious guide you on whatever you decide to put in your worlds, but for me, I usually tend to lean towards the easier to comprehend pantheons such as the Greek gods or the Viking deities.

So, with that all covered, for this particular world I am going to lean into the stories of conflict between the gods of old and maybe through a little Yin and Yang, light versus dark flare into it. Go ahead, call me cliché. There are worst things to be called when writing a story. So lets set the stage…

The world was created not by gods, but rather two brothers who found themselves in the wrong place at the right time. For whatever reason, two beings from a higher civilization across time and space found themselves in possession of technology that can reshape and reform matter itself. Whether due to fleeing the powers at be or by accident, they found themselves falling through a schism in reality and ending up in the void of this realm. They quickly utilized the technology to create a small livable habitat for themselves in this new void and after coming to grips with the fact that there is no way for them to return, they cut their losses and began to build a new world for themselves. After all, exile is not so bad when exile can look and feel however you want it to.

After centuries of careful planning and meticulous design, the world as we know it came into shape. Throughout the creation of this land, the brothers discovered the formula to create not just stagnate matter, but life itself through this technology. After creating a slew of animals, they decided to finally create a sentient life form. This however takes more than the base instincts of a regular animal to create and as they soon discovered, they have to pour some of their own essence into the creation, weakening them but in turn, making this new life come into existence.

At first the brothers were careful in what they created, ensuring this new race is capable of self-sustainment and has everything it needs to flourish as having to create too many of them could weaken the brothers beyond help. But one of the brothers one day had an epiphany. The one thing missing from this new existence was the girl he loved from their old home. He now had the power to recreate her at his fingertips and an entire new world that they could have dominion over together.

The other brother warned him against this path, as it was too risky to recreate one of their own species instead of a brand new one, but the first brother did not listen. One night he stole the technology and began the process of recreating his old love. It took some effort but before long she stood before him once more. She however was incomplete, mortal and worst of all, she had no memory of who he was or who she was. He had only succeeded in creating a husk or shell of his former love, now, only another one of these new creatures he had created to rule. But he did not give up. He continued to use the powers of the technology to pour more of his own lifeforce into her to make her truly real. As he pushed further and further, he soon found not just parts of his personality but also his memories being siphoned out of him and put into this creation.

As the process finally concluded and the smoke cleared, what emerged was a near complete replica of the girl he once loved. She had most of the memories of her past life, but only the ones from his perspective. It was as if she had a manual of who she was supposed to be, but she lacked the base essence of her identity. The brother meanwhile had gone through a much worse transformation. The process had left his body deformed and scarred, pulling much of his essence out of him in this unholy creation. But what was worse is what was left of his psyche. His mind had been horrible mutilated and malformed by the process leaving him with only fragments of his past life, shadows of his old personality and worst of all, the total incapability to love or feel true emotions except for anger and obsession.

Enraged by this revelation and the fragility of his mental state, the brother set off into the world to wreak havoc. After a night of destruction and terror the world was left in the current state it is now. The mainland is a wasteland, inhabited by creatures of darkness that were brought into being as a result of the brother’s rampage. All stable life that called that place home was extinguished or forced to flee to one of the smaller four surrounding islands.

When the first brother discovered the destruction his brother had caused, he confronted him about it which led to a fight and the dark brother being cast out into his own dark creation. That is when the first brother discovered the woman and tried to help her. Their relationship grew and she eventually fell in love with him and he with her. When the dark brother discovered this his final semblance of any humanity was lost and he enacted an all-out attack on the first brother. The battle raged on for hours and eventually culminated in the dark brother being permanently cast to the underside of the world where he lies in imprisonment.

The first brother however was greatly weakened by the fight, having to give up the remainder of his essence to defeat the dark brother. His body failed and he faded, but as he did, the residual life force from his body dispersed and flowed down to the world, taking root and growing into various flora in the dark lands. This new resource is said to hold divine properties when refined that is the only thing that will keep the darkness at bay.

Meanwhile, the woman, after mourning the loss of her love, took up the position as sole caretaker of this broken world, doing all she can in her already fragile mind to help the beings of the world.

And that is where the majority of things now stand in this world. The plot I am thinking up revolves around an organization that sends groups into the dark lands to harvest the resource and bring it back so it can be refined into materials, weapons, tools, etc. all with the intent to eventually forge a path through the darkness and reclaim the land.

Now, this is obviously a fairly rough start. The story needs refinement, characters need names and more depth, and the whole thing just needs some overall polishing to flow cohesively and make total sense. Disclaimer: If it was not obvious, I am just making all this up as I go. This is normally how I go about my writing. I start a basic draft with the start of an idea, and the lore starts to evolve in real time as I write. I did not even think about adding the recreation of the past love while I was writing the part about the brothers ending up in the current realm, but as I went, the idea popped into my brain.

Now, this is a very reckless and risky writing strategy, but I want to be clear that this most likely will not be its final form. I plan on revising and refining it until it is right where I want it to be. But the core of the background lore for this world has now been established and I have also now gotten the base setting for the story I want to write in this world.

This article has gone on quite a bit now and I am only through step 2, so I will be splitting this thought into at least one more part. Be sure to tune in if this method intrigues you and you’d like to see the full extent of my writing strategy. Either way, I’ll see you all again sometime, but until then, you can find me in the study.