I've been fiddling with a world that was originally a custom DnD setting on and off for years now. I've been meaning to do something with it, but I haven't quite figured out what - so all that happens is more details are added to the races and such as ideas and concepts hit me.
The initial "history" of the world is not unlike Polynesian creation myths. In the beginning, there is nothing but a vaguely sentient chaotic infinitude (a nod to Po) - things are randomly created and just as randomly absorbed back into the primordial soup-god. After countless eons of this, a god-being who can control the chaos is born from it (Ao).
So, this new god of Order takes the chaotic soup and shapes it - creating the lands and seas and skies. As he works, the chaos keeps trying to cause problems - floods, earthquakes, storms. He creates life, chaos warps them into monsters. An eon-long battle of attrition between a freshly born god and an eternal chaotic being.
Of course, the former - even with all his might - grows tired. He finally takes a bit of himself and - along with more of the chaotic matter, makes a "perfect" race to safeguard his creations while he rests. Then, with them set to their task, he wraps the world about himself like a blanket and falls into slumber.
Things obviously don't go as planned - while they're not as instantly mutable as the previous creations due to the bit of God in them, there's still enough to tamper with. And Chaos does, slowly seeding anarchy and entropy amongst them. Issues arise and the words of his creations reach into the God's dreams and, in his slumber, he creates demigods to handle them. It's too dark - a sun deity is born. Now it's too hot - moon deity follows.
Things continue like this, Chaos' machinations seeping into the People and - through them - into the slumbering God, tainting his dreams. Chaotic events that had once ceased rise again - natural disasters and monsters, this time being caused by the dark dreams of the slumbering God. Even his People are no longer what they used to be - having splintered off into a variety of sentient beings that all believe they're closest to the original People and more or less blame the rest for their "fall from grace."
I had a lot of fun with the races - I wanted some familiarity with the "normal" fantasy races, but I wanted some exotic twist to them to. Each one, rather than just being humanoid mammals and the like, are a bit more oddball. The "elves" are actually more like dryads mixed with mandragoras mixed with ents - bulbs that grow into roving plant people who ultimately settle down to become mostly stationary tree-beings. "Dwarves" are an ant-like insect people who actually consume the metals and gems they find in their tunneling. My favorite is probably the Tungis (the term is both singular and plural) - a "cannibalistic" fungus race that has blooms like jellyfish or locusts, and believe that eating something will pass along a bit of their power to them (and, if they consume enough of the other races, will "reascend" back into their original forms).
All of this is floating around in my head and in various notes on my phone and home computer. World details such as the names and defined layouts of continents and the various oceans and such are still a bit more sketchy, but every once in a while I get more ideas which get added to the "pile." Most recently was the idea that the Man-analogues (a rodent folk rather than just "humans in a fantasy setting") aren't actually considered adults until the fur on their tails is shed. Which led to the idea of the children often being referred to as "fuzzlings." Just like how "Tungis" is also used as an insult to someone who eats a lot.
It's all quite fun to think about and muse on, but I'm forever critical about my own work... and thus can never really get quite motivated to do something more with it. Eventually I might drum up the courage and start writing the tale of a fuzzling who, inspired by a roving troupe of entertainers, goes out into the world in search of adventure. Likely cobbled together from several story ideas I've thought up in the past and never really followed through on. Most of which were in a more default fantasy-style setting with generic fantasy races.
Will just have to see.
The initial "history" of the world is not unlike Polynesian creation myths. In the beginning, there is nothing but a vaguely sentient chaotic infinitude (a nod to Po) - things are randomly created and just as randomly absorbed back into the primordial soup-god. After countless eons of this, a god-being who can control the chaos is born from it (Ao).
So, this new god of Order takes the chaotic soup and shapes it - creating the lands and seas and skies. As he works, the chaos keeps trying to cause problems - floods, earthquakes, storms. He creates life, chaos warps them into monsters. An eon-long battle of attrition between a freshly born god and an eternal chaotic being.
Of course, the former - even with all his might - grows tired. He finally takes a bit of himself and - along with more of the chaotic matter, makes a "perfect" race to safeguard his creations while he rests. Then, with them set to their task, he wraps the world about himself like a blanket and falls into slumber.
Things obviously don't go as planned - while they're not as instantly mutable as the previous creations due to the bit of God in them, there's still enough to tamper with. And Chaos does, slowly seeding anarchy and entropy amongst them. Issues arise and the words of his creations reach into the God's dreams and, in his slumber, he creates demigods to handle them. It's too dark - a sun deity is born. Now it's too hot - moon deity follows.
Things continue like this, Chaos' machinations seeping into the People and - through them - into the slumbering God, tainting his dreams. Chaotic events that had once ceased rise again - natural disasters and monsters, this time being caused by the dark dreams of the slumbering God. Even his People are no longer what they used to be - having splintered off into a variety of sentient beings that all believe they're closest to the original People and more or less blame the rest for their "fall from grace."
I had a lot of fun with the races - I wanted some familiarity with the "normal" fantasy races, but I wanted some exotic twist to them to. Each one, rather than just being humanoid mammals and the like, are a bit more oddball. The "elves" are actually more like dryads mixed with mandragoras mixed with ents - bulbs that grow into roving plant people who ultimately settle down to become mostly stationary tree-beings. "Dwarves" are an ant-like insect people who actually consume the metals and gems they find in their tunneling. My favorite is probably the Tungis (the term is both singular and plural) - a "cannibalistic" fungus race that has blooms like jellyfish or locusts, and believe that eating something will pass along a bit of their power to them (and, if they consume enough of the other races, will "reascend" back into their original forms).
All of this is floating around in my head and in various notes on my phone and home computer. World details such as the names and defined layouts of continents and the various oceans and such are still a bit more sketchy, but every once in a while I get more ideas which get added to the "pile." Most recently was the idea that the Man-analogues (a rodent folk rather than just "humans in a fantasy setting") aren't actually considered adults until the fur on their tails is shed. Which led to the idea of the children often being referred to as "fuzzlings." Just like how "Tungis" is also used as an insult to someone who eats a lot.
It's all quite fun to think about and muse on, but I'm forever critical about my own work... and thus can never really get quite motivated to do something more with it. Eventually I might drum up the courage and start writing the tale of a fuzzling who, inspired by a roving troupe of entertainers, goes out into the world in search of adventure. Likely cobbled together from several story ideas I've thought up in the past and never really followed through on. Most of which were in a more default fantasy-style setting with generic fantasy races.
Will just have to see.