Welcome to today's #WorldbuildingWednesday post! For those of you new to this series, I'm @oblivioncubed. In this series of posts, I break down what Worldbuilding means to me, how I build a setting, why I choose to build what I do, and hopefully provide you some inspiration to use in your Worldbuilding.
My world - Trothguard - is a setting I've created as a catch-all location for any tabletop RPG games I run, so everything I build is filtered through a lens of 'how will this improve the game for myself and my players?'.
Today we're kicking off a multi-part look at creation, history, and myths/legends of Trothguard, starting with today's World Creation Facts and Myths.
Sitting down to create this world, I asked myself a few questions to get the ball rolling:
- Was this created by a god/gods, or was this a 'big bang' situation?
- How old is the world?
- If created by god(s), how involved is that creator?
- What type of beings exist on this world?
- What challenges are present?
I knew I wanted a god to have created the planetary system the world is in, but I also knew I didn't want a being that can literally wink planets and systems into existence actively interested in the thing he created... but I did want lesser-powered gods available (since this is for D&D and I don't want to buck the expected trends too much!)
I knew I wanted the world to be old, and to have had many eras where various types of life had risen and fallen. I wanted the aesthetic of having ruins of ancient and unknown civilizations, including relics and magic that they may have left behind.
I also knew I wanted all the classic creatures to be present. From dragons to humans, I wanted a world where everything could fit in.... but I wanted some of them to be rare, even mythical and forgotten - their only memory tied to ancient and mysterious ruins.
And lastly, I knew I wanted to focus my work on a single continent for now, but I wanted there to be multiple continents available for eventually expanding to. Therefore, I decided to make the seas incredibly dangerous, and air-travel basically unheard of for much of their history.
All this together led me to a complete set of...
Creation Facts:
- Mazenus (The planet, of which Trothguard is the main continent) is the fourth planet, in a system of 8 planets. It has 4 moons orbiting it.
- Created by the All-Father in his wanderings through the multiverse, but left in an unfinished state as the All-Father was drawn away from his new creation for one reason or another.
- This unfinished system was then discovered by a handful of younger gods (still very ancient, compared to most of the current Pantheon), who ended up claiming the galaxy and finished shaping the planets themselves.
- They then proceeded to create the Elder Races (along with many other creatures)
- Created by the All-Father in his wanderings through the multiverse, but left in an unfinished state as the All-Father was drawn away from his new creation for one reason or another.
- Giants came first for sentient races, and for 250,000 years they reigned over Mazenus. Their empire spread through the land, air, and seas. A strict caste system maintained order within the expanding empire and allowed them a eutopia.
- Shortly after this 250,000 year period, the first dragon egg was discovered, and many more were found in the 10,000 years following it. The eggs hatched under the watchful eyes of the giants, who were shocked to find that the dragons had an intellect equal to theirs. Sentient though they were, the empire of the giants viewed them as servants and sought to control this young race.
- This tenuous position was maintained for nearly 50,000 years, but eventually, the dragons were fed up with their enforced station. They rejected the enforced caste system and rose up in a bloody conflict that would engulf the world and plunge the races into war.
- The conflict was bloody and spanned the globe for the next 80,000 years. New magics were created, demons and angels were summoned, and monsters, aberrations, and other nameless creatures were built for war. These aberrations, demons, angels, and monsters were created and used with little thought given to any kind of management or care. Some of these were intelligent, while others were pure killing machines. For much of the war, they spread throughout Mazenus - ignored by the warring races of dragons and giants so long as they supported one of the two races.
- Neither side was able to solidify a concrete victory, and they appeared to be at a stalemate. With dwindling populations and a world ravaged by war, the two sides eventually established peace after generations of war; agreeing to leave each other to their own affairs, they began the long process of revitalizing their destroyed populations.
- Intent on rebuilding their respective races, dragons and giants both turned inward - distancing themselves from much of the world they retreated to hidden cities and secret lairs to repopulate and rest. In their absence, the horrors they’d unleashed flourished, some of which carved out nations of their own upon Mazenus.
- This age lasted for nearly 100,000 years with the absence of the elder races. Eventually, however, these horrors made the mistake of intruding upon and striking at the elder races which prompted them to come together and create a plan to deal with the problems they’d created.
- Together, the Giants and Dragons (assisted by their gods), create the ‘Lesser Races’ (which are in fact the current races of 5e), and along-side these newly created beings, they kill off many of the horrors they’d unleashed. Some manage to escape, retreating deep into the planet until they eventually find a safe-haven for their evil within the Underdark; away from the watchful eyes of the Elder Races and their fledgling creations.
- Having put down the threat they’d created, the Elder races again retreat from the world, and the new races they’d created are entrusted with the care of Mazenus. For 300,000 years they slowly grew, creating great nations within the confines of the continents they’d settled on. The seas (and air) are turbulent and dangerous, and so the various races believe the world to be little more than the continents and islands they inhabit.
Now, of course... This kind of factual history is for me, as the DM, and is meant purely to give me a base with which to build off of. It sets in stone some events and some facts for me. Namely, that any current Gods are the third iteration of diety on the planet, and the original Creator is long gone. So while they are gods, there is a scope to the power they wield.
Second, it gives me reasons for some creatures (Dragons, Giants, Abominations, etc) to be rare and mythical. Their empires crumbled so long ago that they're whispered of in tales like bogeymen, which makes their return a complete surprise. Nobody is alive who remembers how to deal with these creatures.
It lets me thread a narrative through each race/species by tying them to certain Elder-Race creators (Dragons, Giants, etc), which can have interesting cultural implications as well as just fun story opportunities.
Which brings us on to how I'm handling...
Creation Myths:
Once I have my 'Facts' about the creation of the world down, I need to filter that information down into each race/species Creation Myth. To this end, I ask myself a few questions:
- How much of the creation Fact (if any) is known to these people?
- What fact(s) have been distorted and warped?
- How would knowing the facts change these people?
Admittedly, I haven't put a ton of thought or focus into this yet on a race-by-race basis, beyond the fact that absolutely all of the races firmly believe they were created by Gods. The idea that they were created by elder races as tools of war is the furthest thing from their minds, however, it does mean that many races share subtle similarities to their mythical creation stories.
At a basic "broad strokes" level, each race believes that they were created by their particular gods or pantheon of gods. Humans and Elves and Dwarves all have different Pantheons, for example, while things like Tieflings or Dragonborn believe themselves to be tied to specific deities within a Human/Elven/Dwarven pantheon. Other races believe that rather than being created by gods, they were created by the primal forces of wind, or nature (As is the case with various bird-folk races, and cat-folk races).
In most cases however the reverse is true. The things they deify were created by the focused belief of those races. The Elven Pantheon exists because Elves thought they existed. And since the gods are the manifestations of their people, they too believe they created the races. It's a cycle that feeds into itself and should be very interesting when they find out it isn't the case.
By having even this brief bit of knowledge, I have a foundation with which I can very easily spit out a new creation myth for a race that my players choose. If I know I'm going to be at the table with a Goliath, Tabaxi, Human, and Tiefling for example... I can focus in on just those four and by the time it comes up in play (if it ever does) I can provide the players their individually coloured interpretation of how the world / system / universe came to be.
Thank you for reading today's #WorldbuildingWednesday! I hope this has provided you with some inspiration!
Next #WorldbuildingWednesday we will be continuing this multi-part post with a look at the History of Trothguard, where we look at the birth of the Empire, and some notable events of the last ~5000 years, as well as some more 'Recent Events'.
In two week's time, we'll be ending this multi-part mini-series with a look at Myths and Legends, after which another choice of topic options will be presented to vote upon... so be sure to check back for both of these!!
If there's something else you'd like to ask me about, please do so! I will make every effort to answer it next Wednesday.
For previous #WorldbuildingWednesday post you can read them here:
0: Introduction to WorldbuildingWednesday
1: Starting the World
2: Kingdoms, Factions, and Notable People
Thank you for reading, and happy Worldbuilding!!