Universe Factory
Salvage — Part two of Landed Before this story starts I would like to thank everyone on Worldbuilding SE for helping this story come alive. This is part two of a series with a currently undetermined amount of parts. The first part is here. Any similarities to existing pieces, people or real life events are entirely coincidental (except in scientific cases; for example, Newton’s laws are still c…
I was attempting to save three kids from a fire in my school. One of those kids was my best friend, Drake. So I swooped in with my wings and grabbed one of the kids, Jackson, in my arms. He, for some reason, didn’t like that. He cursed and said, “Stupid supers. What makes you think we need your help?” “I could drop you,” I replied. He shut up then. Jackson was one of those who hated superheroes…
Want to save time when building a star? Just look it up. On Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, I’m known as something of an astronomy specialist. Astronomy is, after all, my career, and it naturally seeps through into the worlds I build. Iridescent nebulae, majestic galaxies, exotic planets — I enjoy conceptualizing, building, and exploring them all. It takes a little work to map out the precise det…
You are a flat-earther (Or how I learned to stop worrying and model less) So. You’re building a world, and it’s glorious. You’ve got it all sorted. From climate maps to the ever shifting webs of political intrigue in the palace. From the tiniest vole to the highest star in the heavens. You’ve got it all. But what about explaining the tidal bores that rush up the river of the Shining City every …
Arrival — Part One of Landed image credit to www.flickr.com/photos/alexeya/8475569087Before this story starts I would like to thank everyone on Worldbuilding SE for helping this story come alive. This is part one of a series with a currently undetermined amount of parts. Any similarities to existing pieces, people or real life events are entirely coincidental (except in scientific cases; for e…
The Juggernaut — Chapter 10 Alien Conference Centre Cheap fusion power, atomic batteries and nanites had made surface transport obsolete. The conference attendees travelled from the city to the conference centre which was in the mountains several hundred kilometres away in underground maglev transport capsules that ran through sealed cylindrical airless tunnels tunnelled through the bedrock by…
“Come on already! We’ll be late!” “Alright, alright! I’m ready now.” My wife was unusually eager to get down to see the executions today. Gods know why! The way I see it, once you’ve seen one odious sod dance upon the airs to his foregone conclusion, you’ve seen them all. But I guess it’s as she says: tis educational, and we must do this for the sake of the children. And there is some sense in…
“Akamas” by Sergey KochkarevSlowly crossing the big room in the cave where she had been living for far too long already Hebi took a careful look around again. She knew exactly what little possessions were scattered through the small room carved from stone inside the mountain where they had to hide at first. Two chairs, barely recognizable anymore after not being used for so long, the wood left…
Where does the novelty of magic come from? (Photo by JR Korpa on Unsplash)In worlds of wonder and awe, how is magic really viewed? Where does the novelty of magic come from? Introduction To any reader of fantasy, magic is a very familiar term. It is usually used to refer to divine, occult, dark, righteous or morally neutral “powers” that a character, usually the protagonist, possesses. This “p…
Credit: NASA / Gurra943 on DeviantArtThe Juggernaut — Chapter 9 Deep Space To an outside observer, had one existed, the warpship’s passing was visible as a distortion of space totally unlike anything depicted in human science-fiction movies that featured ‘warp drive’. To a close observer, at first, as the ship and its pocket of space-time approached, space seemed to pinch in to a point, then a…
The Taurus Molecular Cloud, seen here by the APEX telescope, provides a nice birthplace for our young star. Image credit: ESO/APEX (MPIfR/ESO/OSO)/A. Hacar et al./Digitized Sky Survey 2, CC BY 3.0.I like thinking about astronomical objects in universes like our own, but with a twist. For instance, in a universe with a lot of dark matter, how soon after the Big Bang can stars form? Or consider …
Positano Coast by Benson KuaAfter a few incidents that involved a test subject with cat ears and another one with a wolf’s nose we can this time follow our heroine on her quest to find a new assistant while she is taking a little vacation from the strenuous experimenting. “How dare they forbid me to experiment for a whole month! I am not even allowed any preparations! What am I supposed to do …
St Michael, The Archangel Chapel — Rookwood Necropolis by Luke PetersonIt’s been a while since she last had to think about her parents. And about how she lost her home, family and trust in others at the same time. It was a cold spring day with a light drizzle when they came to pick her up. Her parents had talked to her about it. They said that a mage had talked to her father and offered a scho…
SETTING: A drab office cubicle. Two casually dressed coders (Piphael and Nerephil) sit at their desks, staring at multiple computer monitors covered with diagnostics, code and help pages. Piphael leans forward. Piphael: Hey, Nerephil Nerephil: Yeah? Piphael: Come have a look at these simulations Nerephil locks her computer and wheels her swivel chair over to her colleague’s desk. Piphael: So. …
Most fantasy writing today has at least some “made-up” language associated with it as part of extensive worldbuilding, due in part to J.R.R. Tolkien’s monumental epic The Lord of the Rings — but why, exactly, did Tolkien consider language so important in the telling of his tale? In particular, it is notable that he referred to creating languages as his “secret vice” — so why did he create the …
What does the recent discovery of Kepler-1625b I tell us about the habitability of exomoons? Star Wars fans might remember that the final battle to defeat the Empire took place on and above the forest moon of Endor, a natural satellite populated by the tough but lovable Ewoks. After speeder chases and tight combat between the trees, the Rebels destroyed the Imperial shield generator, eventually…
The Entropy Note “Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, Z!orbs, Aman-Bitõe. As you all well know, this day marks the one-year anniversary of the mysterious explosion of the ship Midas, and the strange shutdown of its black box due to an override command by its now dormant Artificially Realistic Intelligence, or ARI. We’ve gathered here to report all we have been able to find and are working on finding ab…
Fantastical Evolution: A Perfect, Unreasonable New standard & Alternatives World building is crucial for the science fiction and fantasy genre, where the world of earth may be anywhere from barely sufficient to extremely important ( in genres such as steam punk, dieselpunk or cyberpunk ). As such, world builders take great pains to ensure the uniqueness, appeal, scientific realism and wonde…
This is part of a set of posts exploring the world of Quenaunor. The first story of the series is here, and the most recent piece of fiction is here. Narork ra zorda is a dwarven board game so popular as to be ubiquitous in dwarven culture. It is a strategy game with elements of chance that allow for millions of possible starting configurations. The name literally means “stones and sticks”. The…
The Reaping Note This is the first of a three-part series exploring one of the worlds I’ve built. The second installment will be found here when published.In the beginning, there were humans. There was utopia. We were immortal, med-tech keeping us well past normal years. Our AI were like benevolent dictators, gently guiding us, helping us, keeping us from harming each other. Our hive minds conn…
This is the fourth part of a five-part series. The first part is here, the second part is here, the third part is here, and the fifth part is coming soon. This is part of a set of stories exploring the world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here. Stanor staggered to his feet, bleeding badly from multiple cuts caused by flying chunks of the deck and pieces that ha…
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/727/32691151630_5893d4c606_b.jpg“HEL “HELP!” “I’m coming,” I ducked around the corner, into the alleyway — there she was. She was surrounded by a pack of three-headed dogs. They were large, snarling beasts, foaming at the mouth. I looked around for something to distract them with, anything. Nothing “Here, doggy, come and get me! I’m nice and tasty!” That came out …
“Boss, I think we’re a mite overdue.” “Mmm?” “Articulate as ever.” “What?” I could tell how engaged the captain was by how many syllables I was getting out of him. Jumps affected him oddly; he needed some time to reboot. Whole words meant I could proceed with actual information. “Even if we are way off beam, and it looks like we are, final fixes are coming up now. Oh crap… Anyway something fair…
When you’re writing a story and building your world, sometimes you fall short on how to build it. Maybe your story is lacking a little something, your descriptions are vivid yet your characters experiences seem two-dimensional. Here’s a small list of questions to ask yourself when you’re feeling stuck, arranged by (mostly) relevant categories. Source: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rock…
New York In the entombed subway car, the hours passed relatively uneventfully considering what had led up to that point. Morgan visited each of the trapped straphangers and wrote down their name, address, injuries, location in the carriage, and whatever food, drink and potential light sources they might have. She also wrote down the details of unconscious and deceased passengers as Dave Anselm…
“The Dark Tower” by Mike Smith“Sigh… They are far worse than I had expected.” Sebiar was staring down from the window of her tower into the courtyard where her undead minions were supposed to repair the old wall that surrounded the tower. The tower was an old ruin, mostly collapsed, but the ground-floor and the cellar were still usable and the walls surrounding the tower were mostly crumbled d…
New York As soon as Jormungandr had completed its fire-plan for the US ICBM squadrons, it immediately shifted target to other land-based nuclear ICBM facilities and mobile launchers, first in Russia (since its committee of nanites estimated that that nation had the next greatest nuclear capability, as well as the greater likelihood of coming to the US’ aid), then targeting those in China. The …
http://www.textures4photoshop.com/tex/fire-and-smoke/fire-flames-frame-free-background.aspxThis story is actually the intertwining of a series of stories. It will eventually come along with an analysis piece, as have the others. While it’s readable without the other stories it might not make a lot of sense, so here are the earlier pieces. The Lost Builder, The Itinerant Storyteller, The Fracta…
World builders often have startling capacities for imagination. Yes, you need to think hard to, say, design realistic geography for a planet, or create a new language, but even so, we have biases arising from our own experiences. In some ways — small ones, perhaps — we remained bound by what we observe around us on Earth. Coming up with new life-forms, whether carbon-based or not, requires a bi…
This is the third part of a four-part story. The first part is here, the second part is here, and the fourth part is coming soon! This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here. Stanor ran to the side of the ship, the way he had been far too often over the past few days. He retched over the side, silently hatin…
“Dead trees in the Dark Forest” by Joan SorollaI have been running in these fields for a few hours at this point already. I cannot do this much longer. My legs will not last for long. It is night already and this means the real danger awakes while I am running around, following a damn bird. I am doomed if I do not find my way out of here. And I have to do it fast. My mind is still fuzzy. I am …
This is the second part of a four-part story. The first part is here, and the third part is coming soon! This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here. Stanor slid smoothly to his knees before the ancient dwarf, who smiled, as if amused. The guards followed him, looking respectfully downwards. Stanor looked up…
“Cold Spring Harbor, New York” by Doug Kerr“These cretins! They wouldn’t realize what true talent is even if it bit them in their lazy asses!” Our heroine was not in the best mood, for her peers didn’t acknowledge the importance of her last experiment involving a man, cat ears, a little encounter with a train or two, but most importantly: lots of information about how the gift affects plain hu…
This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here. This is the first part of a four-part story. The next part is coming soon! Stanor, a priest of Aghrad and Chief Merchant of Kaegharm, sniffed the salty wind coming through the large window above his desk and grimaced in distaste. The window overlooked Kaegharm’s h…
“Kirkstall Abbey Chapter House” by Michael D Beckwith“Ah, finally, my dear friends! We are at the destination of our little quest.” With a small smile on his face Prudus slowly stepped into the stone-walled room that hadn’t been cleaned for at least a few centuries, judging by the amount of cobwebs and dust covering every surface. “You are calling that a little quest? I stopped counting how ma…
This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here. Shalis, a ta‘salafislis’dor¹, a priestess of Sila, and a full mage, wearing the three shining orbs around her neck, sat in the center of the small, bare hut. It was bare of ornament, save for the chair she sat in, and the table in front of her. Both were made of r…
“Llum de tarda” by Joan SorollaSilence. For a few moments there is nothing. Nothing to see. Nothing to smell. Nothing to hear. Not even the arrow flying through the air, straight towards me. No sound from the archer who must have drawn the bow. There is not enough time to get away. Reflexively I start to take a step back. Due to the magic I used to enhance my senses time seems to stretch, and …
Marine One, New Jersey & Pennsylvania As the group of Marine One helicopters continued on their way to Camp David, Captain Louise “Barbie” Roberts of the USAF and Julie Winchester, leader of the lower house and future First Lady, renewed their friendship, catching up on years of gossip. “They hung the call-sign ‘Barbie’ on me, Ju,” Louise was telling her old friend. “They considered callin…
Introduction Before we start I will quickly define some terminology I will be using in this tutorial just to avoid confusion: Object — This is any stand-alone part of the model so I have an arm object, a head object etc.Model — The entire body that I have made so far, it is made up of many separate objects.Just a quick look at what we are aiming for before we start today. Below is the generic m…
“Waiting for Line U2” by Georgie Pauwels“Popcorn — ready. Comfy couch — ready. Television — ready. Oooh, this will be interesting!” That was Luna, the Heroine of our little story. And Luna was excited. Very excited. Finally, it was time for her to review the material that the company collected for her about her little experiment. “Now, where is that remote?” As she was arranging herself in fro…
image sourceRecently on Worldbuilding Stack Exchange, somebody asked: what would be the least traumatic way to introduce resurrected historical humans to 21st-century life? The question postulates that, somehow, it has become possible to resurrect everybody who ever lived, and we somehow have places to put all 100 billion or so of them. Some religions have end-times beliefs about this, but her…
“Cattedrale di Palermo” by Vater_fotografo“Look at this sword! This craftsmanship is remarkable! You won’t find anything quite like this anywhere else in the world!” “No, look here! Take a look at the gravure! Style like this is unparalleled!” The blacksmiths around Prudus were shouting to get the attention of the parties knight, who was walking right behind him. They would have to find other …
Look at you, flying over a marine desert. What might your children become?Evolution. It’s one of those incredibly simple concepts that has such all-encompassing, mind-bending potential. That makes it a very useful tool for a world builder to add to their arsenal, and also an incredibly deep pitfall down which you can fall. Firstly: Let’s have a quick chat about what evolution can do. An often …
This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here. I’m bored. Even volcanoes aren’t interesting anymore. I used to love watching eruptions, watching creatures flee the flames, usually futilely. But after watching a few thousand, they are boring, the same as everything else. There isn’t anything that I haven’t already experienced at least a fe…
“deep dark forest” by craig Clotier“Far too many critters in this creepy forest if you ask me…” That was Pulchra to my right, smiling as she swats a mosquito. She doesn’t really like this sort of mission where we have to crawl through the woods towards our targets. If a fight occurred she would prefer we had a lot of open terrain between us and our enemies so that she could immolate them all a…
Riluk merely glanced at his troops. They all bore rifles, designed for reloading rapidly, and the springs in the rear of each cartridge glimmered in the sun. He knew they were ready for the battle that would come soon. He would allow the challenger to make the first move. The sun climbed higher, and still the challenger waited, just outside of range. He considered trying to sneak a few snipers …
In this article, I will cover 17 different software for making maps. Some of them are general image manipulation software; others are more specific and have a more limited application. I chose those because they are the most widely used, they have more content, more resources, more tutorials and you’re more likely to get help if you ask a question. There are a lot of softwares for making differ…
Welcome to the second part of my series on character modelling. In my last post I talked about getting your software and making your reference. Hopefully this means you now have the foundations to start making your character and it is time to start modelling. Depending on what software you are using you will have to use different tools and model in different ways but the general principles and …
Image source: http://verob.centerblog.net/rub-fonds--2.htmlTick. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then a tumble. A wave of air. Moisture. A warm surface. I burrow. Tastes… rich. Follow the air in the blood. Children growing. They need food. Follow the air. Find somewhere tasty. Bite. Hang on. Wait. Give birth. Tick. So many children. We’re talking. Or is it just that we are? It’s hard to tell. I can…