Chin Up, Knuckle Down

This is a general, but profound idea: Keep Going!

This is the second time I have posted these, but I do it as a reminder to myself and to anyone else who happens to come across them.

And don't just take Ira Glass's word for it

SFWA: We Limit Ourselves And We Need To Stop


That is all.

Set Your Compass Spinning

I would love to one day develop my world(s) to this level:
The World of Farland 4E

I don't see that happening because 1) I severely lack the needed focus 2) I don't game, I just build and 3) I don't have other people traipsing through. My creations are just a place for my imagination to roam and stretch its legs on a wander.

Is it just me, or do you other worldbuilders/writers also worry that these things you make become real - say as a parallel world - and you feel this pressing obligation to them and the people/characters? I'm not trying to say I have a god complex, far from it actually, but can you imagine being a person in these places and feeling as though the Creator got bored and turned his back. I hope that isn't the case because I'd be a shite Creator indeed. Just a thought.

All 8 Continents

Camera cable found. This is where I last left off with my first go at fantasy world building.

I give you Schiehallion:

I really need to come up with an overall name for the world/planet, but so far nothing has come to me.

That does give me reason to give you another link:

Serendipity - Fantasy Name Generator

Please excuse. As you'll see the site is in the process of a rebuild ( !@#$%^&* spammers!) but what is back is great. The feature I miss most is the ability to generate a list of names because I used that a lot to put multiples together and make minor tweaks. There was another clever one that gave very English sounding place names - I think the old description was something like "for those new housing communities that wish they were quaint towns in the English countryside". My fingers are still crossed that it will come back again.

While the Whole World Waits

I laid out all of the Schiehallion continents on the back of my drawing board and snapped a few pics. And now I can't find the cable to transfer them from camera to compie. So that will have to come later.

For now take a gander at other pretty pics in the galleries here:

Terragen Photorealistic Landscapes

And if you want to feast your ears on epic music while feasting your eyes on the stunning visuals, here you go too:

Youtube Epic Music Mix

Of course you don't have to listen to them in order - I like the later versions myself. Just search "epic music mix". They make for one hell of a world building soundtrack, but be warned, the cat may jump up and look at you like a crazy person when you disturb their slumber by shouting "Fus Ro Dah!"

Nerd in Need!

Calling all nerds, geeks, and worldbuilders!

My buddy Nils over at Enderra.com/ is in need of place naming assistance. Check it out and lend a hand or tongue.............oh shut up, it's not even dirty!

I'm doing my part with the following:

Donjon - Complete Fantasy Generator

Behindthename.com - Random Name Generator

These are a couple of regular name gennies I use all the time. Donjon is great for a number of things - I especially like the Random Weather Generator because it provides a day to day feel for any story. Just imagine the grumblings of a sodden dwarf ringing out his beard as a halfling splashes in puddles. Meanwhile the elf is bemoaning wet bowstrings and the human adventurer complains of rusting armor. The ranger/druid loves a refreshing spring rain because it's the closest they've come to a good wash in weeks.

Behind the Name is great for all sorts because it gives the history of the name, alternates/roots, famous bearers, and frequency. I love this because I'll pull bits an pieces of famous bearers and use them as parts of the character who carries the same handle.

I'll post other favs and resources in the future, but Nils admonished I not squander them all at once.

Nils, I hope this helps.

The Mad Lands

I slept on it and I think I may still include this last piece in Schiehallion. I never had a name for this island beyond The Mad Lands. I know, it sucks. It was a minor part of the story that I'm not sure if I'll use or not.
Here it is:

It's nothing spectacular, just Australia spun a bit. The idea was that there was some sort of toxic spore emitted from within the earth that would drive any living organism mad. People, animals, fish, plant life, anything alive. It was a rather weak story point known as the Time of Madness, or simply Madness. The idea behind it is that the wicked, jealous earth god sought to wreak havoc on the things living on the surface because they are all by products of the benevolent sky god. It sounds rather Biblical when I say it like that, but I'll cover that more later.

Anyway, whether I keep this as The Mad Lands or not is what has me stumped. I could see how it goes keeping with the idea that it's this cradle of blight. Or I may make it the homeland of the reptilian Thissians and bring them in from another world - Vastmorlund - the same world of the Armans, Sumaka, Mantu, and Torongo. I'll have to give it some thought. Vastmorlund was never a favorite of mine, just a happenstance that came with practice.

Knorr'd and Landen

These are basically the last of the maps for Schiehallion. There was going to be one more, but I may discard it however well it fit the planet, tectonically speaking. These two were kind of the beginning of the end for this world. I made them because I felt I didn't have enough....then decided maybe I'd done too much. Once I had totally overwhelmed myself I stepped away for a while and began fiddling with other worlds. I thought that using maps others had already created would give me less to do with worries about topography and I could focus on people, monsters, locations, etc. Then I just never really returned to Schiehallion until I started this blog to give me reason to go back.

This is Knorr'd. It's eastern coast was once butted up against NW Schiehallion and Western Galedon (the Carvetti region). It has now drifted westward in a slightly polar motion making the northernmost island nearly uninhabitable, but prime whaling and seal hunting territory. The largest landmass is much like Norway with extremely rugged coastlines and deep fjords. A mainly fishing/seafaring people the Knorr'ds (another obvious name used in Skyrim) are modeled very closely after Vikings but without the tendency to raid and pillage foreign lands. They mostly fight amongst each other over fishing rights and who builds the best boats. The hostilities aren't so brutal, but there is many a slugfest if peoples from the rival communities have a few too many.

This is Landen. It used to be one very large continent until an asteroid slammed into what is now the eastern sea area and broke the land into two. The following earthquakes and upheavals brought more ocean pouring in and swallowing over half the land Atlantis style. This is where I stopped.

Another world I developed shortly after this was Vastmorlund, but that will be my next post. I'm now considering pulling in cultures from that world to place on/in Landen. They would be the Mediterranean like Arman Empire and the rival jungle peoples of Mantu and Torongo. But if I do that then I may also have to transplant the Thissian lizardfolk and the Arabian-style Sumaka as well. We'll see, since only the Arman and Sumaka were even human.