GriswaldTerrastone

...Just then the female red panda came out carrying a tray with cups of tea she had made, "here you are- a nice cup of tea will make us all feel better." They each took a cup appropriate for each, the big half-orc smiling at how her own- the size of a small bowl- had given the little red panda some difficulty carrying the load (how lucky the water was calm!), and while she would have preferred something stronger she nodded appreciatively. Half-orcs feel as though they are not a part of any world and true friendship to good-aligned ones is more valuable than gold to them. As she was female a separate private room had been made for her in the ship's hold, and the sympathetic female red panda shared it with her, clearly to keep her company; since there wasn't room for another hammock, even a small one, the red panda slept on a storage box but never complained, insisting it was quite comfy- and the big half-orc enjoyed talking to her about life in the human tribe that had taken her in and

All right, you have your world put together. Economy, magic/technology, races, species, physics, societies...the works. Why not add the seasonings to it now? Maybe some ketchup even? It can be the little things that really complete a subcreation, so why not consider them? Seemingly little things can actually have a big impact! For example, take stealing. What is stealing? Well, you would likely say taking something that doesn't belong to you. True, true, common sense, right? But can you see where this is going? If you have a society or a tribe where nobody owns anything, then can the crime of stealing even exist? If you have a society, how would the whole concept of items and people work? Someone is using a hammer, puts it down, comes back a few minutes later...it's gone. Now what? Can such a society exist by our standards? It cannot possibly be anything like ours. Suppose you have a more normal society, but no police. How would that work? Local militias of volunteers? Can it be

I've touched on this before, but currency is such a part of life as we live it, well, it deserves its very own section.:) There have been fantasy and science fiction stories about societies without any form of money, and even in real life right here on Earth there have been examples- but those are usually primitive tribes, and even they often had other forms of wealth (e.g. cattle). But in most cases of more advanced civilizations money is a factor. When I was in school decades ago we were usually taught about the need for money arising from a problem with bartering: how many fish or bushels of corn would be enough to pay for, say, a sword or a house? This is valid of course but could not the same thing be said for anything, including money? Of course it is always uneven- go to one store for something then another, and if they are priced differently then there you are. Boom towns were infamous for charging much more for mundane items than elsewhere simply because of the wealth

This new Deviantart style is simply dreadful... Story tip! HOW TO BUILD A WORLD: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE! O.k., you have an idea for a story. You want to write a story for a picture you've done. But, you'd like it to have some substance, some feeling of reality. What do you do? First, you start with a core idea. For example, maybe you decide that in a sci-fi world, ships travelling at near-light speed is the limit. No warp drive, no star gates- nothing. First of all, this would make casual travel between star systems all but impossible- it would take years, even decades or centuries to travel back and forth, or even one way. So for humans, with a lifespan of (let's say) 100 years, forget it. As far as I know, the nearest star to us is 5 1/2 lightyears away- so 11 years just getting there and back? Even if one ages slowly on such a trip, what about everything else back home, and where you are going? Would the ship, to be practical, have to have suspended animation or at least be

So far, you've outlined the basics. You know what kind of world it'll be, you've figured out the society(ies) in it, even have some pretty darned detailed maps, for consistency. Once you've done this, you can go into details. For example, previously I mentioned magic working or not working- but you don't have to limit yourself to yes or no! Could magic work based on "mana" levels, or the absence of, say, iron in the area- so it constantly varies? Now not only does a magic-user have to worry about whether or not magic works, but how well? In one area a fire spell Level 3 might shoot out a Bic lighter-sized flame from one's finger (good for lighting a campfire or candle), but in another that same spell might shoot out a fireball that would blast whatever it hit! Old Mage Dragonoid: "Now, where's that spell book- kinda dark to see..." Innocently Naive Visiting Magic Dabbler Vixen-Like Creature : "Oh, here, let me light this lamp for you, sir..." WHOOOOOOOOOOSH! Part of

Part 3: Reality? Even if one comes up with the most incredible fantasy world, with floating castles and huge flying creatures, there is always room for real physics in it. This has the advantage of making a world more believable. It's related to "subcreations," the idea of a world having consistent internal rules and logic. The 1970's Saturday morning show "Land of the Lost" was a fine example of this. For example, take the rule that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed. Seems limiting, yet, it opens the door for better magic! We've all heard of magic conjuring things, right? A magic creature that can conjure a beer, or water, or food, or a blanket, etc. Oooooh, but the possibilities! Maybe it cannot just conjure so much as teleport? If conjuring water, it is simply teleporting it from one place to wherever you are? On our world, this would not be a big deal, maybe, but something like beer- or a cut diamond- might have to come from- where? These are not

A Tale From Ayundell: Elsben. Journey with me to the world of Ayundell, a Dungeons and Dragons world...but one where magic does not exist and the physical laws are such that monsters such as centaurs, undead, phase spiders, and many others simply cannot exist. Still, some truly weird monsters and phenomena do exist: for example rare "ghosts" are energy shells left behind by living creatures that died or suffered something terrible under certain conditions, and certain specific individuals ("auramancers") can create such things as a form of trap or even as an attack form (it can also be used to diagnose illness or injury). This is based on what was revealed long ago by Kirlian photography, so it merely expands on something that really does exist. A form of hypnosis, using fast-flickering lights that can affect the brain, also exists- a crude example is how flickering light can trigger an epileptic seizure. There are killer trees, based on actual plant life in reality. Call it weird