In Tramuran theology, angels are enigmatic figures, though it is known that, unlike humans, angels lack the ability to think or do evil.

The holy book is notably scant on physical description. It is even written that when Saint Adliah attempted to look upon the Archangel Ikardo, her eyes instantly opacified. Angels are creatures of heaven and thus beyond human imagining. Even the strangest of visions conjured up by a mind lost to sleep can not come close.

The image of ethereal figures with gilded wings is only a widely accepted and crude mortal imagining. While some sects scorn even those depictions, rejecting such anthropomorphizing entirely, most only consider it blasphemy to attempt to depict the faces of angels.

One must remember that to reject the mortal form, represented most of all by the face, is a core attribute of Tramura. Faces are human, and to attach something so human to an angel would be nothing short of heresy.

In most churches, artworks of angels will leave an empty space where the face would go, just as it is for saint icons.

- Athos Mannino: On Angels and Other Divine Creatures

Hello everyone! i'm happy to show you the improved design thanks to all the good critique i've had in my previous post there.

The design of the armor has remained almost the same, I've used old helmet designs i've had cuz i did not like the previous one. I also added little "Antennas" on th shoulders to stop sword blows to ger into the neck. I've seen few historican examples and they are not common but cool enough to be taken as rule of cool. the same with the V plates at the front of the helmet, it suposses an aditional defense.

I well know the front antenna was the main iusse before, But this design i think it may be more practical and have more sense. I'll like to use similar helmet designs for less elite warriors and i'l use without the decorations on regular soldiers.

The colours of the armour are for lore reasons since they have access to some strange ores and minerals capables of changing the metal propieties. so i'm looking for "fantasy metal aleation" but without going too far.

Besides the armour the weapons changed as well, The halberd looks nor way more like a halberd, the point is cyrcle shaped so it causes fatal injuries, and the spikes now are more practical and maybe unnecesary? still rule of cool i guess. I'll still like to make a big blowing weapon like a nodachi or a bardiche at some point.

The sword is supposed to act like a katana+machete i think it works fine, the pointy top helps penetrate armour easier.

So this is all! thanks everyone for your critique, so please tell me your opinions on it!

PD: if you like my art search me on IG, artstation and stuff, my nickname is always KraniDude!

A few weeks ago, I asked you guys a question: "How do you think modern history would be different if the moon had its own moon?" and since then, I've been working on the worldbuilding and story for the world!

This radio broadcast is meant to introduce the sub-moon in a way that sounds realistic and in-universe, while still setting the scene for the inciting action that begins the main plot.

Let me know what you think!

(The subtitles are baked into the video itself)

A continuation of my post years ago where I ask what you actively avoid or reduce while worldbuilding. Now I'm asking what do you subvert. You're still using the trope/cliche/gimmick but you're adding your own twist to it.

For instance:
The MC or the protagonist is revealed to the missing royal heir, chosen one or whatever. They have an identity crisis especially if they believed birth, status or fate doesn't matter. It's one's ability.

A ragtag bunch of misfits deals with local threats. No fighting God or the demon lord. They're still active in the plot but aren't the main characters

The sketchy advisor is an ally. Not a good person. Your goals or morals might not align but they're on your side and will do the dirty deeds.

Femme Fatale is a BAD person. No good girl in a bad situation but an overall selfish person

A love triangle where both are toxic and the MC chooses neither. The childhood friend(the Betty) is codependent believing that the MC is theirs because they knew them longer. The new addition aka the Veronica is entitled and just assumes the MC will keep them while making decisions for them without their consent or knowledge

Giving actual differences to Human stand-ins or aliens/fantasy races that's practically identical to humans but have better stats or can use powers. A bit of uncanny valley here. Some biological and physiology weirdness there.

I have been told I have serial killer handwriting.
No, the entire book doesn’t look like this. Some of It is even legible! These are just some of the more egregious examples.

The 'Super Pelicans' or also known officially by Mahanakornian People's Army (MPA) as 'Superheavy Strategic Cargo Aircraft' (SSCA) were cargo planes of massive size built by the Fairhaven Republic, a subsidiary division of TRIAGE Megacorporation and utilized by Mahanakornian People's Air Force as a mean of delivering extremely heavy payload at short notice in A.D. 2234 - To be used in the circumstance where using vessels with Faster-Than-Light capability for logistic is not possible due to enemy spacetime countermeasure devices disabling the spacetime distortion capability of the engines. As such, Super Pelicans are essentially built to fill the gap of what FTL crafts normally do - To reach the destination as soon as possible.

While MPA owning large amounts of superheavy carrier UAVs capable of carrying land dreadnoughts with ease, many of them are propeller-driven for fuel efficiency and short takeoff capability, which means that they all lacked required speed to deliver cargos in contested battlefield without risk - Or at moment's notice. As such, the idea of 'strategic cargo planes' came into their mind.

Many attempts were made to design a superheavy lifter with extremely high speed to penetrate across the defense line, but most of the projects simply ended up being regarded as 'unnecessarily expensive' for what it's worth - Mainly due to huge engines being required to propel the extremely heavy cargo plane fast enough yet also being required to be able to build in quantities and fielded en mass. The proposed propeller-driven designs were dead on arrival due to being unable to reach the required speed. Meanwhile, extremely long runway required by traditional jet designs is also a concern as well, with the planes of such dimension and carrying capacity would require a specialized airfield - None of which was deemed applicable in a long, drawn-out war scenario.

At least, until an engineer suggested why didn't they just strap rockets to the plane so that it would go faster.

..... And, that was pretty much the conclusion of the design. And new possibilities emerged at that very night.

Instead of extremely powerful turbojets to keep the aircraft at designated velocity, the massive planes were to be powered by Scramjet / Turbojet hybrid system. The turbojet would just simply be barely powerful enough for emergency takeoff and near-stall loitering at maximum payload, instead the primary takeoff method was to be made by igniting two massive-sized boosters strapped by its side, sending the aircraft straight into the air and reaching the required velocity to ignite its Scramjet engine where it would stays on supercruise of Mach 3.5. The boosters were designed to be ejectable to reduce weight, and the liquid fuel highly replaceable like those used in gas turbine engines to reduce the launch cost even further. Super Pelicans were also capable of 'hypercruise' at Mach 5 with its Scramjet engines as well, although only for a few minutes, just enough to escape contested airspace and outrun outdated fighters of developing countries before returning to supercruise. Super Pelicans were designed with fuel capacity in mind to have enough fuel for Scramjet to operate at least until they reach halfway of the return trip, after which the crews would rely on the low-speed turbojet for landing and cruising at 750 km/h

Four magnetoaerodynamics modules were installed under the belly of the cargo plane to generate artificial vertical lift with onboard power to lessen the aircraft's stress and increase the stall speed during low-speed cruising, meanwhile two laser APS were installed at both underside and topside to eliminate hypersonic interceptor missiles that could catch up with the planes.

While the primary delivery method was to be made with proper landing, Super Pelicans can open rear ramps mid-air and drop the payload if the situation requires. Pilots were regularly trained to not fumble the lives of about two or three tank companies in the hold. The rear cargo doors also allowed Super Pelicans to act as a floating missile carrier as well, with its massive size and carrying capacity allowing it to carry and launch multiple ERNASMs (Extremely Long-ranged Nuclear Airburst Standoff Missiles) from the rear doors and annihilate hostile air fleets before their missiles would even be in launch range. That, in a way, makes two Super Pelicans a viable 'bait and switch' squadron.

Unfortunately, due to the 'Blackout Theory' of enemy nations utilizing ECMs to disable Mahanakornian Army's spacetime distortion capability is still relatively new and only world superpowers like Mahanakorn themselves are capable of engineering such advanced devices rendered the possibility of such warfare engagement relatively thin, and only a handful of Super Pelicans were built with more favor over the existing and proven FTL cargo vessels -- 10 of them, barely enough to cover strategic locations in Thailand at once, and only one per destination, with the air vehicles themselves remained at best as demonstrators or test batches rather than actual combat-proven design.

For what it's worth, Super Pelicans can carry enough supplies for an entire base to last for an entire year.

These giant birds, though, are somewhat popular in the annual Kid's Day airshow in Mahanakorn. To see a plane of massive size with two rockets blasting itself into the sky, it was something unforgettable.

Context:

Elmethys is an Earth-Like world 38 light years away from earth. It orbits a M0V red dwarf named Videra IV.

It has a 9845 Km diameter (77% of earth's diameter) and its days are 17 hours long with strong monsoons and ocean currents.

The planet was settled a few centuries ago by three distinct group of Japanese, French and English descend.

They came to harvest the Elmethelenys Scorpiosis, a dark velvet like plant, native to the planet.

From this plant is extracted a crucial component used to stabilize the FTL jump drive combustible, making this world a cornerstone of the galactic economy and their settlers very rich.

The early settlers had to adapt to the planet's conditions, its low gravity, the shorter days and the harsh hostile environnement.

They did that in two ways. First through genetic therapy on their offspring to ensure long term adaptability and then through natural selection.

Nowadays, the people of Elmethys are merly humans anymore, they have become fully endemic to their world and could no longer live on earth.

The planet is also a weird linguistical sanctuary. The last place in the galaxy where French and English are natively spoken.

The rest of the galaxy has long moved on to a sort of generic galactic esperanto. On Elmethys, you'll find communities of Japanophones around Tago handling coastal biomass harvesting, Englishmen in Steenland running heavy refining complexes, and Frenchmens up in the north managing the trade and orbital traffic.

I created this world with my web application: The World Crucible

It is a Worldbuilding application that allows me to create my world from scratch, by either directly drawing it on the globe, or by using procedural generation or Simulating plate tectonics.

The app then allows me to simulate all the climatic model and the countries and cities.

I can then visualise my worlds in a nice realistic satellite view, and export all my maps and layers to 4K.

Now feel free to ask me any question about my world or my app, it will be a pleasure for me to answer them.

In my world it’s like blessings from the gods but I want to here how it works in you’re peoples world

When you're reading science fiction or fantasy, do you prefer understanding how everything works, or discovering the rules alongside the characters?

I've been thinking about this while developing a world where something impossible suddenly appears in an otherwise ordinary city.

Part of me wants to explain every detail, but another part thinks that uncertainty makes the world feel larger and more believable.

I'm especially interested in mysteries where characters develop competing theories, and some of those theories turn out to be completely wrong.

Where do you draw the line between intriguing mystery and frustrating lack of explanation?

Are there any fictional worlds that got this balance particularly right?

Multiocular O (ꙮ) is a rare glyph variant of the Cyrillic letter O. This glyph variant can be found in a single 15th century manuscript, in the Old Church Slavonic phrase "серафими многоꙮчитїй" (abbreviated "мн҇оꙮчитїй") (serafimi mnogoočitii, "many-eyed seraphim"). It was documented by Yefim Karsky[1] in 1928 in a copy of the Book of Psalms[2] (back of page 244) from around 1429, now found in the collection[3] of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

Made in Blender

Name: SRAS-80355284 Lenjyra
Planetary mass: 3.22 Earths
Surface gravity: 2.17 Gs
Atmospheric pressure at sea level: 8.39 Bar
Average temperature at equator: 22.53 Celsius

The environment of this planet is mostly arid, though has lush areas full of complex life near the equator where moisture is present. The plantlife generally is pale blue to reflect a lot of the dangerous high energy light, though the atmosphere is saturated with an algae-like organism which gives the skies a green hue. The world, despite being so close to its parent star, is not actually tidally locked, but rather kept in a 2:3 resonance via the influence of another, similarly sized body.

Similar to Mercury, this planet's orbit could get disrupted in the future, with it either being ejected from the system, thrown past its parent star's Roche limit, or colliding with the second body in the system. This could happen as soon as 150 million years

The planet also experiences massive impacts at a frequency far greater than Earth, with an impact of an asteroid the size of that which killed the dinosaurs happening on average each four million years. As a result of this combined with tidal forces leading to similarly frequent flood basalt eruptions, life on the planet has been subject to a series of over a hundred large extinction events, which if on Earth would qualify as a mass extinction.

Despite everything, this planet still could give rise to intelligent life under the right circumstances, and the mind can wander as to what a civilization on such an exotic world might look like. In the meantime though, the world remains devoid of sapient life asides from a temporarily inhabited mobile airborne research station.

Asides from temporary research visits, the planet remains untouched due to its distance from the Ring Stars, as the system actually lies in a small irregular galaxy relatively nearby as opposed to being in the Ring Stars themselves.

Hello, I've been working on this fantasy world map called Iaþer for a story I want to make, and I've been stuck trying to create the climates and whatnot to be able to begin contructing cultures around them.

Right now, I'm currently on the ocean currents, and I have little to no knowledge on how they are supposed to function. My planet is exactly earthlike besides the continents. I've looked at some images of earths currents and watched a few Artifexian videos to help me, but I'm not entirely certain of the accuracy.

It is a rough sketch that I cooked up in about 30 mins. Some of the currents that cross the 180 longitude line do not match up perfectly, but I hope it is intuitive enough.

Am I missing anything? Do some currents not make sense? All help will be greatly appreciated!

Finally finished creating the map for a fantasy novel i'm working on, wanted to show it off! I'm thinking of having a pirate style kingdom for the orange one because of their scattered islands, the purple one will be an imperial style superpower and they will be challenged by a coalition of the three kingdoms on the other continent.

Both are Class-A mechs from a sci-fi setting me and a few friends are writing up. They are the lowest (and oldest) tier of mech, standing around 4 meters tall, lacking a neural interface, and rely entirely on manual controls. Both examples here have a turret cupola for a second crewmember, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Class-A mechs can only carry one large, handheld gun, and whatever the second crewmember (if there is one) can operate. They are very lightly armored and meant for infantry support instead of mech-on-mech combat that later variants became specialized for.

Hey, question; I’m looking into starting to port in all of my world building over the last 4 to 5 years and I hope to only do this one time lol I always see world anvil, not a fan of an annual subscription services, but I would do it for they if it is the best tool

I tried Obsidian and somehow lost my files and hundreds of hours of work so I want to restart and I’m hoping to look for something that is: easy to use, can be player facing, and easy to look at

I don’t mind paying for world anvil if it is the consensus that it is the best tool out there for the job, but I figured before I get that far, I would see what Reddit had to say lol

I want to see different ideas for structuring my own elemental magic system.

I'm thinking of making a game inspired by Undertale and Deltarune, and I created these two characters to be the protagonists; they're siblings. I'm not sure what the story will be like.But it will probably be a journey of taking their father's ashes to the place he desires.This ash possesses unimaginable power; anyone who comes into contact with it gains a certain power (a power similar to a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stand), and anyone who already has a power and absorbs it will gain an extremely powerful buff. Before reaching the end of their journey, they will encounter many different enemies; each fight will be completely different. I want to introduce various mechanics for the boss fight, like a fight inspired on the game punch out, a fight that will be like a gambling slot, etc.

In my setting, it is definitely the divine society of gods and angels. The divine society claims holiness and superiority over anyone, yet when consequences of their own actions and system eventually hits them back, they couldn't do shit, lose miserably, hide away all evidence in their history out of pride, hide away themselves because they are too scared to step into mortal world, and to this day still ruining people's lifes and relying on human ambassadors despite claiming superiority over humanity. They are a bunch of bums who can do really nothing, but punch down.

I've finally finished the design of the Royal Star Navy's service uniforms of flag officers. Hopefully, you enjoy this lorebite into the distinguished admiralty of the Casarian Star Kingdom at the centre of the Astral Lion Saga. My stories are set in the far future, long past when Mankind were cut off from the Milky Way Galaxy in the Andromeda Galaxy. Now, the lost embers of Mankind and many other civilisations converge towards a precarious international order of a nascent galactic age.

For this entry, I've drawn the uniform of the legendary High Admiral Zhikov as of 1630 PA (1 ABT). He has played a pivotal role in the Velutarian War, Ralkathi Campaign and Vengaeran Incursion, mastering the art of Trochilic Warfare. Known as the Sword of the Steel Crown, he is a devout servant whose accolades may have made him the most decorated officer in Human history.

Flag officers within His Majesty's Astral Service are highly entrusted, with Admirals and above all wielding significant authority. This is reflected in their command patches on the left sleeve which hold the same (Anglese) inscription engraved into their service vibrosword earned with the command of their first vessel. Thus, this personal motto represents each flag officer individually as their own living institution. In addition, their tunics mimic ancient maritime tradition by having two rows of buttons representing the Seven Pillars of Mankind.

What stands out in High Admiral Zhikov's uniform compared to the rest of the RSN's admiralty is his naval cap's visor. Beneath the white command, these rare laurels designate him as a recipient of the prestigious Monarch's Laurel. Only those bestowed with this honour by the Astral High King of the Casarians may host them on their visors. Thus, the purple arm stripes and the laurels embed the exceptional service of soldiers like High Admiral Zhikov.

Decorations

Above the nameplate is the designated area for personal Orders of Honour and Merit. The former are comparable to chivalric orders, and Zhikov has three of them in order of prestige (left to right): The Order of the Casarian Star, the Order of Terra's Light, and the Order of the Astral Lion. Accompanying these are the Orders of Merit, these are similar to the Orders of Honour in that they act as orders of distinction with personalised titles of address (the Distinguished), but do not grant aristocratic rank and style (Sir/Dame).

Moreover, Zhikov is part of the exclusive Order of the Casarian Star, which may comprise of at most 77 living members at any given time. Consequently, this is the most prestigious decoration in the Casarian Star Kingdom, hence Zhikov's full style of address is 'the Venerable Sir Pavel Andreyevich Zhikov'. Nevertheless, the Casarian military, in an effort to prevent aristocratic pompousness, does not mandate nor allows the enforcement of these styles of address, relying merely on 'Sir/Ma'am'. Rather the presence of these awards serve as the acknowledgement of personal distinction within a larger meritocratic institution while remaining detached from the aristocratic functions of Casarian society.

Beneath the nameplate are the distinctions of the unit. Throughout his long service, Zhikov has earned his commands much renown, manifesting in the accumulation of all standing Casarian naval unit citations for thrv39th Star Corps of the Void: the Naval Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Astron, and the Recognition Ribbon.

Personal decorations are placed on the left chest beneath the stat bar that denotes departmental branches. For flag officers, this is simply a gold bar. Moreover, the Royal Star Navy maintains a policy of streamlined standards, preventing excessive decorations on service uniforms. Thus, naval personnel are limited to a total of 25 decorations, leaving enough space for potential relevant qualification badges beneath the rack. In the case a serviceman has more than 25 decorations, such as High Admiral Zhikov, the rack follows the order of precedence from the viewer's top-left corner to the bottom-right corner. Zhikov's rack boasts highly prestigious decorations such as the Royal Grand Astron (2x), the Monarch's Laurel (3x), and the Gratitude of the Steel Crown (3x) alongside the Navy Interstellar Service Ribbon and Good Conduct Medal.

A few of these decorations are also placed on the right sleeve beneath the RSN insignia patch. These signify exceptional services to the Steel Crown as well as personal injuries suffered. This is in stark contrast with the left sleeve which is typically filled with service stripes and patches on the uniforms of enlisted personnel.

Note on Military Naming Conventions

The Casarian Star Kingdom is subdivided into seven Oversectors. However, the military uses slightly altered names for standing naval formations within each Oversector. An overview formations larger than Fleet Constellation can be found below with concrete examples:

• Core Oversector → 1st Armada of the Core
• Redoubt Oversector → 9th Star Contingent of the Redoubt
• Coreward Oversector → 7,872nd Star Contingent of the Helean (named for the Heleus Arms)
• Rimward Oversector → 67th Star Corps of the Rim
• Trailing Oversector → 39th Star Corps of the Void (named because the Oversectors is expanding towards an astrographic gap)
• Perses Oversector → 3rd Armada of the Persean
• Outreach Oversector → 212th Star Contingent of the Outreach

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the continent of Connessea, the home of my current Dnd campaign. While the map isn't 100% complete (looking at you rivers) I'm pretty happy with where its ended up.

Onto the worldbuilding, This is a high fantasy world. I've got a few places at least fleshed out, Ysteral is a kingdom that fought for its independence from the Venallan Empire some 2 centuries back. Iosia is a loose collection of city states ruled by former Nobles that grew disgruntled under Venallans iron rule. And Venallan itself the big bad empire. Once a continent spanning empire, now it is a shadow of its former self. War both within and without and natural disaster wrought by their own depseration, and poor governance has left it struggling.

The Scourlands are an unnatural place, where the very essence of reality was torn away during a divine war in far back in time. It left the land scarred, empty and stilled. The land, fauna, flora and buildings are all white and chalk like statues. Even being in the lands causes a drain on your life as the world tries to take anything to heal its wounds. This is one of the "races" within the world. The Scoured are people who were stripped of their essence but somehow did not die. Everything is taken from them, their memories and skills, even their appearance becomes featureless like animated mannequins. The Scoured hunger for magic as a way to slowly piece themselve back togerther.

The Green Wastes are the result of desperate people trying to fight off an undead horde. Some ~1000 years back Venallan fought against an undead horde coming form the east. In an act of crazed desperation their mages shattered the land itself in an attempt to give them respite from the hordes. It worked, but the consequences have been grave. Once a fertile strip of land now it is insidious swamplands infused with necrotic energies mutating the plants and animals of the land. It is one of the most dangerous areas on the continent.

Now I would ask for some help with my world building. Please ask me any questions about the area or countries in the map, can be anywhere even if nothing is currently named. Making things up on the spot I find is a great way to be creative with my world.

*Map was made with Wonderdraft*

In my setting, being a child is the safest possible state of being.

Forest gnomes are an uncommon playable race. As such are beasts or Children of the Wood, "disney animals"

About Forest Gnomes and Children of the Woods

 How far did civilization spread? During the two centuries following the Great Troll Menace the territory of civilization as a whole more-or-less tripled. Now it oversees as much as one tenth of the mainland, and a good portion of the surrounding waters. These last few decades have spelled the end of the expansion, giving nature a well deserved resting period (Which will be short-lived, given the current speed and scope of technological advancement.).

What are the most recent spoils of the last great expansion? The possibility of communication and coexistence with elven clans, given their aggressive, utterly xenophobic past a great achievement. The domestication of the hefty yet elusive land seals, providing cheap meat and sturdy leather to the populace. The near-complete integration of gnomes into civilization, quickly quadrupling the rate of literacy across the globe thanks to their adaptable, attentive and prolific nature. The tolerance of lesser cults into regions dominated by Earth or other major sects, giving rise to both economy, pilgrimages and wider supernatural defense capacity to cities. The wider spread of fire starter cases, giving wider recognition to the Glassblowers' Guild. Numerous spices, palatable plants, heavier road security and a 250% rise in populace, among many others.

Forest gnomes and urban gnomes, what's the difference? Almost every village or larger settlement has a gnome community. They are sociable, keen eyed and studious, with only a few of them turning to knavery, even then to the likes of tax fraud and other intellectual kinds. Their almost-suspiciously quick integration and mixing lead to customs such as secondary doors installed into public buildings and stores, quarter-yearly night festivals honoring the great spirits of the wilds and a greater control of stray animals, to avoid unfortunate accidents.

Forest gnomes are those of their kind, that abstained from intermingling with civilization, retaining their exceedingly short stature, lack of one or more senses and the disability to be perceived by the same one/ones and a well accepted place among the bottom third of the food chain.

Examples: If they're about 60 centimeters to a meter in height, has a healthy blush of life and waves at you from across the street with a crescent roll in hand, they are urban gnomes, or gnomes for short.

If you've accidentally stumbled into their village of oversized fly agarics, penny buns and parasol mushrooms, half of the 30 to 50 centimeter tall disheveled pale humanoids wrapped in tiny furs and you can only hear roughly half of them as they run away in utter panic,  they are forest gnomes.

What happens to orphans and unfortunate little souls left to their own? There is a rule older than humanoid intellect that every living thing tries its best to keep:

"NEVER HARM A CHILD."

Be it a fertilized egg at the bottom of a pond, a nest of squirrel pups left alone for a couple of hours, or a six year old living on the last shillings left by their good for nothing father or a handful of kids playing in the barn cheerfully, there is little to go wrong. Small crabs will dutifully keep the eggs free of muck, should they crawl nearby. A nearby bobcat will nurture the pups for sometime, even if its their very partner that pursues the mother squirrel through the woods in the meantime. Every few nights, the kid will hear the call of the woods, deep down knowing they promise a new life among their ranks. Even those wolves that plan to prey on the working mare inside the barn will postpone it a few hours, not to scare the kids inside. Its natural to nurture and protect a child, everyone knows that.

Should you hover your fingers above an egg, you will feel instinctive unease as you reach for a fertilized one, which you better place in a bush or under the nearest hen. Should a stray arrow during a siege against all odds struck a boy inside the castle's walls, the archer's hamstrings burst alongside a lively spray of blood and sinewy confetti as the very earth under their soles tears it open, faster than a blink. Should you in drunken folly hit a calf a few days too young dead with a mallet, by morning your family finds a withered husk infested by three-eyed rats and beakless crows. Its the worst of omens to harm a child, the world will take it's revenge.

Natural disasters can still hurt the young, but they have a higher chance to notice it beforehand. Diseases tend to struck kids, but their symptoms and duration diminish exponentially. Should humanoids be mindlessly incestuous, after a critical number of generation, not even divine protection can prevent birth defects and non-viable fetuses from turning up. Birth is by default quite harmless to the mother, and during pregnancy they share a much weaker protection than that of children's.

What happens to those children, that follow the call?

Should a miserable little soul follow the call of the wild, it will shortly reach the most beautiful sanctums of nature, nigh-invisible to civilized humanoids. Creeks trickling with crystal clean water, bushes with handful fruits unknown to science, deer, owl, giant moles and such giving lectures about spirituality, the woods and many more subjects. It will be a great shock, when after many months the kid realizes that before the call they didn't understand animal's language. Should their willpower prove weak, over the years they unknowingly warp into a creature of the land, filling holes in the stock of wildlife. The newly transmogrified kid will retain the ability to speak their former civilized language, and in a truly unsettling to obscure way the use of opposable thumbs even in their animal body. Should their willpower prove strong enough, their teachers will move them to the glades of druids to join their ever dwindling ranks, learning mystic arts and obscure skills forgotten by the civilized folks. The former slightly anthropomorphic animals are what we call the Children of the Woods.

Why I go that far with this cosmological absurdness?

I hate the sheer amount of backstories, novels and murderhoboing that deals with orphans being beaten up, fed to tyrannical soul sucking machines, used and abused in all the horrible way a moderately creative mind could come up with. I would like a world, were children can grow up safely. Sure, they can turn out to be rotten to the core, but in my views it surfaces only around puberty, when the personality solidifies more or less. I want the children to be safe, and to punish most harshly anyone who makes sport of roughing up their sort of the weak.

These ideas lead to the creation of the Children of the Woods, and to the universal rule of the setting that many angels keep up. Isn't it by biology' logic every creature's innermost wish that their children may live to maturity?

There logically comes the question: Why not use children as living childs? Go adventuring with kids on leashes or pregnant and so? It's quite an easy answer. Sooner or later, anyone who abuses the miraculous power of young animals will be maimed, tortured or killed rather messily by the least expected source. This effect can chain back at least twenty-six links in cause and effect, as studied by a now disbanded faction of mystics. discouraging the use of proxies.

I'm working on a cassette futurism world where mecha are used in bloodsport to settle disagreements between the powerful. The mecha warriors fight for money and for political favor and as a result are seen as very important to society.

On to cassette magic

Magic, and magic sigils as a result, is affected by magnetic fields. If iron that is properly magnetized snd assembled into a sigil, the sigil becomes magic. This really doesn't do much on its own, but when two sigils face each other, they either attract or repel. And in either case magical force comes out of the sigils and mix together to form an incredibly rudimentary spell.

However, fast forward to the age of cassette. Sigils are drawn onto cassette tape using magnetized powders. A directing rod is placed at the center of the reel. This directing rod pulls in the magical energy from the multiple sigils it is directed towards. Then this magic is stored in a spool waiting til the end of the cassette to release the spell.

Because of how this works, cassette spells become increasingly complex. However, after every playback, there is damage to the tape. Meaning you only get a few uses before you need to rerecord it.

How do mecha use this?

Simply put, mecha are powered by magical energy. A much more complex device sits at the center of their being. But its principles are the same. The cassettes that the pilots use are more or less, ammunition to launch, strike, and even move the mech.

In a way, you only have a certain number of steps before the cassettes run out and need to be replaced in quick succession. Lest the mech stop moving in time and get damaged or destroyed.

Also, each cassette acts as a charge for the weapons on the mecha. So mecha warriors typically place a dozen or so in a player that switches between them after the first one finishes.

This isn't to say that mecha combat is slow. Quite the opposite. The key is to have fast players that switch around the cassettes.

Learning about sigils

Humans aren't the only ones capable of creating sigils. Certain insects in my world use metals to reinforce their burrows. At some point in time, they evolved a method to sense the magnetic fields and even interact with magic.

As an example, a type of volcanic ant will make sigils in the walls of their nest to create traps they evade through this sense. These traps typically create a disturbance in the magnetic fields when crossed, thus alerting the ants to an unwanted presence

Sigils were learned from insects like these. Though it was originally believed that sigils needed to be made from volcanic ash, the answer was actually the high concentrations of iron.

Long story short. I'm working on a 2D side scroller survival game, and I need opinions on where to start, the plot itself does take place in semi futuristic world (our modern day tech + 50-70 years and the non optional addition of mechs)

It's a fantasy magic system loosely inspired by the class/aspect system from the Homestuck comic.
The basic concept is that a group of supernatural beings invade the Earth and implement this RPG-system. It's a fairly boiler-plate LitRPG premise, similar to Homestuck, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Dungeon Crawler Carl, etc.
The villains go planet-to-planet introducing this system. Natives are ostensibly given a fair chance to develop their powers to defend their world. But the power system is unnecessarily complicated and (by design) difficult to understand.
Each "player" is given their title, but not what it means. The fact that "bile" doesn't literally mean "gallbladder secretions" is not explained to anyone. So, part of the story involves humans figuring this out and (to the invaders' surprise) freely sharing it with their fellow "competitors."

This power depends on:

• Which TWO elements of reality they were born connected to. Such as "time" and "void."
  • And the overlap between those elements, which is a domain. Such as "night."
• What their "title" is. Like being a "bailiff," which means "protector of."
  • Then a specific "role" that expands upon their title. Like being a "guard" (who protects their element) or a "knight" (who protects others WITH their element).

Elements:

• Time: the flow of time.
• Space: the physical dimensions of space.
• Void: absence, shadows, etc.
• Luck: Probability.
• Lymph: life, healing, plants, growth, etc.
• Bile: destruction, doom, harm.
• Soul: the spirit, ghosts, etc.
• Mind: people's inner mind, how they perceive the world, etc.
• Bloom: fire, light, energy, and heat.
• Breath: wind, air, and freedom.
• Blood: water, flow, and change.
• Bone: earth, solids, and a subject's "form" in general.
• Bonds: the connection between individuals, emotions.
• Faith: belief, hope, and "positive" emotions.
• Fear: fear, rage, and "negative" emotions.
• Truth: destiny, knowledge, and how things are "supposed" to go.

Domains:
These are based on the overlap of a person's elements. Each combination has a different name with a different part of reality to draw from. For example, the element of "mind" and "bonds" creates the domain of "love." There are 256 combinations to draw your power from.
It is possible to have two "copies" of one element. In that case, you have the "true" version of something. Which is much more potent. For example, having two connections to "bile" would basically give you an unfettered "destruction" power. But these are (by design) rare.

Title:
These are how you use your domain. Do you have the power to "create" love? To destroy it? To weaponize it? Like elements, they can be divided into 16 categories:

• Yeoman: the power to create [domain].
• Reaper: to destroy.
• Despoiler: to steal.
• Patron: to give [your domain] to others.
• Bailiff: to protect [your domain].
• Foster: to be protected BY [your domain].
• Wretched: to persecute/oppress [your domain].
• Witness: those who are persecuted BY [your domain].
• Firebrand: to unify or heal [your domain].
• Gadfly: to disrupt or separate apart [your domain].
• Scion: to inherit/have large amounts of [your domain].
• Vagrant: to be destitute of [your domain].
• Master: to manipulate/command [your domain].
• Myrmidon: to be manipulated by/in the service of [your domain].
• Pilot: to guide [your domain].
• Scholar: to receive knowledge of/about/from [your domain].

Some of these can be terrible or extremely potent, depending on your domain. For example, if your domain was "true bile" and you had the "vagrant" title. Your power would mean "that who is without any doom." But if you were a "scion," it would be "that who inherits (or is rich in) doom."

Role:
Each title has six sub-divisions which further specify how you use that power. Is the power is meant to support yourself or your allies? Is it is long-range or short-range? Etcetera.
For example, let's say a character is a "Bailiff of Souls." But that could be further divided into different types of protector.

• A "guard" has a power that lets them protect someone's soul.
• A "host" has a similar power, but one that protects their own soul.
• A "knight" protects others with the power of their soul. But a "squire" protects themself with this power.

This is roughly based on the active/passive system in Homestuck.

Examples:
Let's say a random human gets sucked into the [RPG nightmare scenario]. They open their HUD, and see that they have been assigned the power of a "Guest of Chance."

• Their elements are "faith" and "luck." Making their domain (the overlap between them) "chance."
• Their role is "guest," which comes from the "foster" title.

That means they will be given a power that means "that who is protected by chance." They would probably be really lucky. With their "luck" being influenced by their perception (faith) of the current situation.

But their twin sibling is the "Seer of Chance." Their role comes from the "Scholar" (or "receiver") title. So, instead of being involuntarily protected by good luck, they receive visions of what they should do to get a specific outcome.