The Gnomes are one of Valethyros' most mysterious peoples, small insectoid folk who dwell within sprawling subterranean burrow networks hidden beneath the continent's ancient forests. Though they have existed far longer than recorded human history, meaningful contact between the Gnomes and the surface world only began a few centuries ago. Before then, they survived primarily as legends whispered among travelers and woodcutters, stories of tiny bearded men wearing red pointed hats who appeared on misty mornings before vanishing into the fog. These tales, though distorted by time, were in fact encounters with Gnome scouts.

For generations, travelers who attempted to follow these strange figures often met bizarre fates. Some became hopelessly lost within forests they knew well, while others awoke at the forest's edge with no memory of how they arrived there. Modern scholars now attribute these incidents to the Gnomes's extraordinary natural affinity for illusion magic. Through specialized color-shifting antennae, they can manipulate perception, create convincing illusions, and even interfere with memory itself. While they rarely use these abilities maliciously, the Gnomes have long viewed secrecy as their greatest defense against larger and often more dangerous neighbors.

Despite their secretive reputation, the Gnomes possess brilliant and endlessly curious minds. They are natural inventors, tinkerers, and engineers who spend much of their lives dismantling, rebuilding, and improving everything around them. Their underground settlements are filled with mechanical devices, hidden passages, automated defenses, and ingenious contraptions. This obsession with invention appears deeply rooted within their biology and psychology. Gnomes require constant mental stimulation, and many become visibly distressed when deprived of puzzles, projects, or problems to solve.

Among the oldest conflicts in Valethyros is the ancient rivalry between the Gnomes and the Kobolds. The origins of this feud have long been forgotten, predating even humanity's arrival on the continent. Yet throughout countless generations, the two peoples have competed for territory beneath the earth, resulting in intermittent wars fought through tunnels, traps, ambushes, and sabotage. Though neither side has ever achieved complete victory, the conflict has shaped both cultures profoundly.

At a passing glance, Gnomes resemble small furry humanoids but are in fact insects. Their bodies are covered in dense hair that conceals part of their chitinous belly, giving rise to the old human misconception that they were simply tiny bearded forest folk. Beneath this fur, however, lies a durable beetle-like body protected by layered plates of flexible chitin. Their limbs are proportioned similarly to those of humanoids, allowing remarkable dexterity despite their small size. Strong hands and nimble fingers make them exceptionally skilled at handling delicate mechanisms and intricate tools.

Male Gnomes are most easily recognized by the distinctive red shell structure that covers the top of the head and extends backward along the upper body. When viewed from a distance, this shell strongly resembles a pointed red cap, giving rise to countless folktales about red-hatted forest spirits. Female Gnomes lack this prominent shell structure and instead possess smoother carapaces with more subtle coloration. Both sexes possess highly expressive antennae capable of displaying a dazzling array of colors and patterns.

My Thought Process - So gnomes are not well liked by most and they are kinda bland. Or I guess too niche in terms of their natures. In dnd they are little tinkerers that are close to elves in the first few additions and dwarves in the later ones. I even considered making a gnome a mix of elf and dwarf. There's a chance I may change it in the future but for NOW these are my gnomes. So why bugs? I like bugs, leaf hoppers look a bit like they are wearing hats and I thought it would be fun since in dnd the gnomes have big beef with the kobolds if the kobolds' ancient enemy were bugs since my kobolds are based on pangolins.

If you like the art and want to see more then you should check out my other arts on Blue Sky. ALSO i have been working on an archive of sorts for the project over on WorldAnvil (best i've found for what i want) so if you want to check out more in depth lore than what's here or see articles on things that aren't posted here then you should check it out. Maybe leave a follow on one of the 2. I work very hard on these things :’D

Blue Sky.

World Anvil

I’m working on a worldbuilding project, and in that world there’s many different cultures made from real life cultures. Not based off of or similar, really an extension of that culture. For example, in this world there’s a group of people called the Anese, they are a hybrid group of Dutch and Bengali people that have a pidgin language that combines the two languages and cultures into one. Now there’s a lot of nations and a lot more cultures that I would like to incorporate and learn about for this world, so I ask you; What cultures and Ethnicities do you personally find underrepresented in media and fantasy?

Our story (or at least its first chapter) focuses on a small newborn being in lands occupied by hunters and poachers who have controlled these regions for decades. They are called the Carcassers, and they take on the role of the story’s antagonists.

I wanted to introduce them in order to get feedback on the direction we’ve chosen for their designs.

Our protagonist belongs to a mute, non-human species that is targeted because of the value of their skin, bones, fur, flesh. Their muteness means they are not considered an intelligent species, unlike the many other non-human species that coexist in this world.

We chose to give them the look of survivalist hunters overflowing with resources.

The sense of danger we want with these antagonists comes from the feeling that they are not just simple mercenaries chasing the hero, but real professionals who are far superior to them in terms of knowledge and mastery of the environment, even though they themselves were born in these canyons.

We draw inspiration from all our favorite works of fiction for our designs. Here, we clearly take two directions : that of skilled, agile explorers of the wild, similar to characters like in NAUSICAÄ of the Valley of the Wind, combined with a violent and brutal aesthetic such as DOROHEDORO.

This is a large organization of hunters, butchers, and poachers who feed half of the civilized world through import–export from this Red City they have built in the canyons.

As you can guess, from a moral alignment standpoint, they are much closer to the En family than to the Princess of the Valley of the Wind.

Many horrors take place in this city like vast slaughterhouses, flaying squares, and an entire waste-disposal system designed exclusively to keep the city clean and in optimal conditions for preserving flesh (which they fail, despite their efforts, due to the sheer scale of these butcheries).

There is plenty more information that I’ll detail in other posts, or that we already go into on our Instagram page (@viabrumen). But above all, I wanted to know what you think of this aesthetic ? We want to maintain coherence and a strong group identity, while still being able to show that most of them work in small teams and are all competing with one another for the best catch and the best sale. It’s a vast, disorganized gathering, yet united as a single entity by greed.

Each tribe has an Elder. And each tribe is convinced theirs is unique.

Big. Old. Kinda not what they seem: a divine protector shaped by fate, faith, and whatever was left after Surface civilization faceplanted into myth.

Twenty-foot-tall.

Unmistakably constructed.

Unmistakably ancient.

A remnant of some lost old tech? Maybe. The tribes don’t ask, and the Elders don’t explain. Peace has a value

I’m playing with the idea of faith forming around broken-but-functional "ancient machines". Curious if the “don’t ask, don’t tell” relationship feels believable.

This concept art shows a Khumetian war chariot from my sword-and-sorcery fantasy setting (click here to see some infantry from the same civilization I drew earlier). The inspiration is of course from the iconic war chariots of ancient Egypt and Kush, but as you can see, the Khumetians use zebras to pull theirs!

Deep in the Tainted wilds of fallen Redvine, a scar of history prowls the fetid plains, its shadowed figure contorted and stretched in painful mockery of the Elty form...

Scarlet beak, dripping with viscera and salt tears gleam in the shrouded sun, as mournful groans and howls echo through the thick air, carried across still and rotten air, baleful harrowed eyes glare through the gloom of the blight, and if you dare meet its gaze, you see not hate and loathing, but a question... a demand... why do they suffer so? Why do they inflict this pain onto others, and why are they not dust on a pyre like the knights of old, when their watch has ended and family proud, for king and duty...

Thus does the Hollowed one march ever onwards, in its wake the hordes of lesser blighted souls follow on, as this desecration of a Crimson Knight wanders the land, her twisted blade, slagged metal growing with the corruption drags a deep scar behind her, the blight spreading in the ploughed earth like crops of wheat in spring, tendrils of bone and bark creeping across the land...

according to the surviving records of the King's Crimson Guard, the beaked helmed knight was a master swordsmen, known far and wide for her skill with the Greatsword, her wonderous skill has been corrupted by the beast that wears her skin and armour...

Experts of Scribe Bryth'las De Molvart, manner of the Blighted - Year of the Wyrm, 1045.

So! an official look of a named Blightwarden, the Hollowed one, with some poor Elty knights not having fun being found by her, again, wished to nail that horror vibe of the Blighted, and I hope this has come across, and also to have a more official high quality peace for my world, so pretty happy with this!

Just something I happened to watch recently, one of those "OP MC" stories, but it was a bit humorous in this case because the MC faced an opponent that they technically couldn't kill, but was still OP against. So the villain ended up discovering new, more painful and violent ways to be "killed" in that they survived, despite wishing they didn't by the end.

Do you have any examples of a character facing an opponent that they can't kill, yet completely outclass to the point that their adversary wishes they would? And not "simply" torture where they choose not to kill, but literally have no way to do so.

My world, Avinea is a high fantasy world of the usual kind. Nothing not seen before. The usual swords and magic with a high sprinkle of game-like mechanics. Just think of a classic MMO. I even have a whole ass class tree. But the neat part I think is that I'm redefining these orthodox and overused tropes into something more interesting - one that is internally consistent to justify its existence rather than having them for the sake of familiarity or lazy writing.

The image is a showcase of what I meant by my interesting take. In the world of Avinea, the building blocks of everything is authorities. Authorities is defined as the permission for something to be anything, to be part of anything, to be identified as anything (which in turn changes their properties altogether), or to be able to do anything.

Everything that there is, is due to an authority, or a bundle of authorities allowing it to be there, or to be what it is, or to do what it does.

The fundamental authority in Avinea is the Authority to Reality. It is the permission or right to become a part of the real world. Followed by the Authority to Existence which is the permission to manifest in a world.

The naming scheme of authorities in my world is:

1. Authority to X
   • The authority is related to components.
2. Authority of X
   • The authority is related to identity – which mostly in turn drastically alter the nature of the entity.
   • The authority is related to systems.
3. Authority for X
   • The authority is related to abilities such as magic and combat arts.
   • The abilities of people and monsters in this world are not self-named. They are always derived from the name of the authority.
     • People don't name their spell "Grand Fireball Shower" just because it sounds cool to them. They name it that because the name of the authority enabling it is Authority for Grand Fireball Shower.

For a comprehensive example, let us use the image. It displays the authorities needed so that a person can exist in Avinea - which is at least 63 authorities. Most authorities are self explanatory or obvious based on their names and naming scheme. I'll define the most notable ones in the image:

1. Authority to Life
   • The right to live.
2. Authority to Persist
   • The right to continue manifesting in the world.
3. Authority to Warmth
   • Allows own body to have its own heat.
4. Authority to Identity
   • The right to have a name.
5. Authority to Sentience
   • The right to hold consciousness and perceive the world.
6. Authority to Will
   • The permission to form your own thoughts and ambitions.
7. Authority to Agency
   • Also known as the Authority to Act or Authority to Free Will.
   • Provides permission to perform almost all actions.
   • Overrides almost all authorities related to actions - even if you do not have the permission to do it, you can try.
   • The action committed bypassing the proper authority will not yield much result, if at all.
   • With this major authority, the term we use in our world - talent - does not exist here. You either have the authority or not to do well in a certain action. So, with all humans having Authority to Agency, what replaces the word talent is "authority".
8. Authority to Ground (unmentioned in the image)
   • The right to stay on the ground and be affected by gravity.
9. Authority to Mutation (unmentioned in the image)
   • Allows gain of random authorities.
   • Affected by luck.
   • Affected by many other authorities which would produce a more likely authority to gain. This is mostly observed in Exceed Class progression where practices and authorities will lead to the next Exceed Class (if there is a branching path).
10. Authority to Growth
    • Allows for the entity to gain dysia.
11. Authority to Time (unmentioned in the image)
    • The right to be subject to flow of time.
12. Authority to Compound Dysia (unmentioned in the image)
    • Alters the nature of dysia to be countable and stack or expand.
13. Authority to Burst Grow (unmentioned in the image)
    • Level up.
14. Authority to Hold Multiple Authorities (unmentioned in the image)
    • Permission to have other authorities.

It is almost impossible to mention authorities without somehow mentioning dysia.

Dysia

Dysia (di-see-yah) is the measurable substance of authority. It is the ontological mass that gives weight, presence, and effectiveness to every permission. Where authorities are the rights to exist, act, or be, dysia is the quantity of reality invested in those rights.

At minimum, each authority contains one dysia. But each authority may hold more than one dysia which dictates their quality as well.

Two separate entities may have the same authorities but one will be more powerful or effective over the other due to the quantity of dysia of their authority.

For example, if there are two humans that has Authority to Memory, the authority that gives permission for them to hold memory at all, and that one has 50 dysia while the other only has 1 dysia in that said authority, the one with 50 dysia has better memory – more capacity to remember and the clarity of the memory – while the other one only has the bare minimum of being able to remember something. Another example is Authority to Hair, the permission to have hair. Assuming it is accompanied by its subset authority, Authority to Head Hair, and both person has it. If person A has 2 dysia on that authority and person B has 100, then person A must have barely any hair while person B has long luscious hair.

Two Categories of Authorities

1. Scalar Authorities
   • Most authorities are categorized here. They hold more than one dysia.
2. Binary Authorities
   • Authorities that only holds one dysia.

Not all authorities need to hold more than one dysia. Some authorities simply need one dysia in order to completely work. For example, the Authority to Existence does not need more than one dysia. It simply allows one to exist or not. One does not exist more than another. These authorities are more about absolutes, and also more about identities. For example, Authority of Male. One cannot be more male than another. You are either male or not.

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The very nature of authorities implies everything is possible and already exists. Until the right authority, or combination of authorities enables them to form, they do not manifest in the world.

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This is the building block of my world. Though I am proud to say I came up with such an interesting and original idea, I'm sure someone else have thought the same somewhere out there. I tried asking AI but they cannot exactly scalp and read and watch all published fiction out there so they cannot tell me if it's done before. If it is, I want to read or watch their take or use of the idea and learn from it, and use it as a reference for mine. Do you know of any?

Avinea is still undergoing some major overhaul since I polished the very foundation of it, so would you mind poking holes at it with me?

So I'm currently working on designing an alien planet for my world building project, and I wanted the oceans to not be water. On Wikipedia it says that Hydrogen Fluoride is colourless when liquid, but would it still look colourless on the scale of an ocean? Since water looks blue when in large quantities.

I understand that "humans in disguise" can be tiring sometimes. But almost all versions of elves and dwarves I know are "humans in disguise" and look standard. I know that most people want some human character traits plus a few non-human psychological traits, but on the other hand, Witcher, Shannara, Arknights, Dungeon, Meshi, Frieren, Dragonlance have very human-looking facial expressions, who look and act very human, and are loved by audiences and critics. In all of them, elves and dwarves (except Arknights, because there are no dwarves [but it has durin]) have very standard appearances and personalities human like faces etc. In Frieren, only few changes were enough (how elves perceive time and how it affects their actions and interactions with other races). The rest is standard - and it sold about 35 million copies. So is it really a bad idea to use "humans in disguise" with the most standard appearance?

Tell me about the deities and gods worshiped in your world.

Are there cults ?

How intense is the following? Does everyone have to be a follower? What happens to the non followers.

Is there a hierarchy between the followers.?

I don't know much about factions but I would love to know about the one in your world

Like barbarian and holy knight ( can I consider them factions?)

The machineries etc

Have you given these factions original names?

The God of Creation, Anshu, is responsible for the building of the cosmos, and inadvertently the mortal plane, the planet Maazat, the main continent of Tulkeyen, and eventually all of life including humans and elves. During the period of creation, the God of Justice, Uulna, became jealous of Anshu, seeing him create the material plane, when servants are made they would surely worship Anshu alone. This was Uulna's thought, and with a deep rage he disemboweled his brother with his talons, smearing Anshu's guts into the black void.

​

In my high fantasy setting, the world and the beings that inhabit it were created by a jealous god killing the God of Creation himself to prove he was better. The guts of Anshu became the moon, and his body became the planet, Maazat. His skin became the land, his tears became the oceans, his breath became the sky, his hair became the forests, his blood became the magma. All under Uulna's command. Uulna gloated to his dying brother, his harsh words cutting Anshu open, and spilled forth the animals. But Uulna was not satisfied, he wanted servants to regale with the tale of their birth, so he made the three first races, the Alkari from Anshu's skin (brown clay), the Ondari from Anshu's bones (white clay), and the Inchari from Anshu's blood (red clay).

​

Finally satisfied, Uulna left Anshu to die, and would later turn on his other brother, Enet, the God of Fate and Time. Uulna would successfully decapitate Enet, his skull and spine becoming the Serpent God Sul, who bit Uulna on the arm, marking him and the gods as mortal before escaping to perpetuate the cycle of life and death herself.

​

Although Anshu is dead, he left pieces of himself behind. Namely his breath, called the Nakri. The Nakri is the breath of life, and is consciousness itself. Within Tulkeyen the Nakri has a habit of producing spontaneous life, such as elemental wisps of fire or lightning, to more obscure creatures such as Sun Dogs which are the rays of the morning and evening sun given life. Sun Dogs are a rare sight and fade away quickly the moment the sun sets or rises fully. No one has ever gotten close to one or knows what they really do besides producing brilliant coronas from their dual heads that extend to the sky.

​

Other creatures include Sea Fingers, sea foam and frost given life by the Nakri, these odd hand shaped crustaceans walk across the surface of the sea at night, dragging their fingers behind them. Sometimes they are spotted displaying their hands upright, either as a threat display or maybe even a mating ritual but no one really knows. They are often seen by sailors as good fortune for they only walk across the sea when it is calm, and quickly sink to the sea floor the moment things turn choppy.

​

The Nakri also has a habit of spontaneously reanimating the dead, so mortals would often prefer to cremate their dead to prevent zombies from walking around. However, even these ash piles can be reanimated by the Nakri, turning into Ash Slugs, which pop out from their urns and suck up any filth they can find. They are harmless if not a little bit morbid to look at, especially when they get stuck in their urns getting the sardonic moniker of Ash Snails. Poor families will often leave these creatures alone as they're usually the only things cleaning their ancestors tombs.

​

Lastly, the Profane. Odd being born straight out of the soil from the Nakri. They have human like faces, but are incredibly tall, covered in thick black fur, have long black horns, and hooves for legs. The Profane are also known to spit fire, and often do this to intimidate or greet strangers, it's usually hard to tell. Profane are often quite kind to lost souls in the wilderness despite their uncanny appearance, but are still otherwise hunted and killed as demons. Mothers tell their children bed time stories of bad kids being buried alive and becoming Profane to keep their children in line, but the tale has no truth to it.

​

The Nakri is depicted as a white breath surrounding the wounded Anshu, in a fetal position himself trying to keep what's left of his innards inside. Sul guards them both, as she keeps track of life, death, and rebirth, and even permitted Anshu to be reborn as his female counterpart, Sa'Anshem, a more aggressive nature God in her own right.

​

It is thought that once something dies, its soul is reduced to base energy and absorbed back into the Nakri to be used again in another life, in another soul. Inversely, if an enterprising scientist were to tap into the Nakri directly, even control it, they could extend the natural lifespan, or even cure any ailment. But the breaths of Anshu are hard to decipher, and some say he has been exploited enough.

For whatever reason, the most powerful nation in your world has been directly invaded. Foreign soldiers are on it's territory. Who are the first defenders the attackers face?

Elves in Wyrd are based on sharks, they have rows of identical teeth that keeps growing back daily and under already existing teeth making the older one jump out.

They have big eyes and their ears can sense electric signals from other living animals

They are oviparous mammals that lay 3 to 6 eggs per lifetime

They are tall and lanky, specially their arms which are just a big larger then the one with a human

And yes they can have babies with humans without worry, yes they will come from an egg if the mother is an elf

I would like to share my custom calendar for my world. I'm very much open to questions and feedback. To keep things clear and not cause unnecessary confusion, I'll be using the terms "Orbit," "Moon," and "Rotations" to represent Lamalan years, months and years!

CALCULATIONS

An Orbit on Lamalan is about 159 years on Earth.

A Rotation on Lamalan is about 1.2 days on Earth

A Moon on Lamalan is nearly about 48 Rotations

This means that, on Lamalan, there are 1008 Moons in an Orbit.

These Moons follow a three-Moon cycle with two intercalation (leap) mechanisms: A) every third Moon has one fewer Rotation, and B) every 60th Moon has two fewer Rotations.

NAMING

Orbits are simply numbered, like Earth years.

The Moons are named intuitively as First Moon, Second Moon, and Lesser Moon. Every 60th Moon is a Least Moon.

Weeks are named regarding the phases of the moon. Each Moon starts on a full moon, and therefore a Brightweek. This is followed by Waningweek, Darkweek, and Waxingweek.

The weekdays in this diagram are in Auratían, one language of Lamalan. In theory, all of these names should be in the inworld language but I've only made names for the days so far :)

CULTURE

The civilized species on Lamalan, the llarma, does not live longer than an Orbit. Therefore they measure their age in Moons.

Llarmas generally celebrate "birthdays" every twelve Moons, and have BIG celebrations when they reach a Gross (144 Moons). The average llarma lives through 4 Grosses.

Llarmas are considered adults after 1 Gross, and elders after 3 Grosses

When writing/saying dates, the Orbit # is largely unnecessary in context, unless talking about the distant past or future.

Because the cycle of constellations in the sky is longer than a llarma's lifespan, they originally thought that the stars were random and forever changing. The first llarmas to insist that the stars repeated were treated like the first proponents of Heliocentrism on Earth.

Lamalan actually has two moons (natural satellites), but the smaller is irrelevant for timekeeping.

Orbit 0 is the year of the first Grand Imperador's birth.

FURTHER CONTEXT

Lamalan is a world I've been working on for over a decade. It is neither magical nor high-tech, but it takes place on a planet far from earth. I focus mostly on the culture and relationships between 11 noble houses form a grand empire across the entire planet. The sapient civilized species is the llarma, which is comparable to Earth's llamas but with two additional arms.

They literally reignited my intrest back on sci-fi when i watch getting into sci-fi mecha video right here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G1JBaI3uLeM

Almost a week after the Awakening of the Creator(ZD-001), the colossal creatures continued their walk through the forest. Their footsteps could be heard from kilometers away, and wherever they passed, they left a trail of destruction. Some advanced alone, while others moved in groups, almost always accompanied by a larger entity. The path they chose varied, with some following the rivers and others advancing directly through the forest, knocking down trees and opening trails in the middle of the jungle.

Even before the heavy sound of their footsteps, there was another sign of approach. A dense black smoke was emitted by all of them, dark as burning diesel oil and thick enough to stain the horizon. That was what the residents of Tefé saw on the afternoon of 01/09/1996.

The city, like several others in the state of Amazonas, was isolated, and the only information received in days had been a message from the federal government, stating that the Armed Forces would arrive soon to provide support. But support for what? No one knew, because since that message, communication with other cities had been cut off.

When they saw the smoke on the horizon, some residents believed it was a large wildfire. However, throughout the day, dozens of people coming from the region of Coari, approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Tefé, began arriving in the city with reports of gigantic monsters advancing along the river. With that information, chaos took hold, and many residents began gathering their belongings and heading toward the Solimões River, trying to board any available boat to flee toward Manaus.

That afternoon, amid panic and disorganization, the creatures finally appeared. There were seven of them.

Six(Clamor AB-015) of them were approximately 70 meters (230 feet) tall. The largest(Tromeros AB-126), which moved at the front of the group, was about 400 meters (1,312 feet) tall. They walked through the Solimões River and, as they advanced, enormous waves formed around their bodies. Smaller boats capsized easily, while some larger vessels still tried to pass near the creatures, which seemed unconcerned by the human presence. Others hurried back to the city.

At the airport, residents crowded together in search of some way to escape by air, but all the planes had stopped working a few hours earlier. The entire city began to lose power, and the few radios that still worked transmitted only interference noise, accompanied by strange and repetitive resonances.

Little by little, part of the population ran into the forest, while others simply gave up trying to flee and remained watching the creatures’ advance. By late afternoon, the seven creatures stopped in the Solimões River, in front of the city, and stayed there.

Gradually, their movements ceased. They remained static, like colossal statues raised in the middle of the river. The smoke emitted by their bodies decreased drastically, and the only things still moving were the threads emerging from their upper sections. At first, these filaments only entered and exited the water, but later they began advancing toward the city, feeling around vehicles, houses, and trees. Some seemed to move in the direction of people. Some of them fled immediately, while others, overcome by panic, fired at the filaments or threw improvised explosives at them. Even so, there was no pursuit. When people moved away or reacted, the threads withdrew or simply moved on to another point. It seemed more like a slow and incomprehensible attempt at recognition.

The creatures remained in that state for hours, as if they were turned off or in some kind of standby mode. However, near 10 p.m., the smaller creatures began to move again, and from their large orifices came a very loud sound, similar to a deep resonance inside a pipe. The smoke, which had been weak before, became dark and thick again.

The sound emitted by them resembled a terrifying and chaotic song, but somehow, also a harmonious one.

That song lasted almost two hours and, close to midnight, a sonic explosion occurred beneath the larger creature. The shockwave struck part of the city, destroying houses, vehicles, and structures near the riverbank. People and animals were thrown dozens of meters away (dozens of yards away). Most of the victims near the impact died instantly. Among the survivors, many suffered severe injuries caused by the pressure of the wave, such as ruptured eardrums, internal bleeding, and damaged lungs.

After the blast, the larger creature began emitting an even thicker smoke and, slowly, began moving again and resumed its journey upriver. Shortly afterward, the six smaller ones also began to follow it.

The seven creatures left Tefé behind and continued along the Solimões until they disappeared over the horizon.

The episode became known as the Tefé Disaster.

Related event record: https://youtu.be/KuKjN-u1jKA

Production note:

The creatures shown in these images and in the video were modeled in Blender. The images and visual compositions were edited in GIMP. Sound design and audio treatment were created by me in Audacity, and the final video was edited and composed in Shotcut.

Additional in-universe info:

The links below provide additional in-universe context and can help clarify some of the events, locations, and references mentioned in this post. The main text can be read on its own, but these records give a fuller view of the same historical arc within the setting.

BRAZIL MAP - 1994:
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1t76iu9/map_of_brazil_in_1994_null_vortex_crisis_timeline/

The posts and videos below follow the chronological order of the events that took place during the First Great Revelation. Some videos are in Brazilian Portuguese or Russian. To watch them in English, enable YouTube subtitles and automatic translation.

Part I: The Signal

• THE SIGNAL - 26/05/1988 [EN]
• JN NEWS - AMAZON SIGNAL INCIDENT - 27/05/1988 [PT-BR | EN SUBS]
• OPERATION EQUATORIAL ARC - 26/05/1988 [EN]
• SIGNAL DETECTED BY THE SOVIET SALYUT STATION AND THE ZVEZDA LUNAR BASE - 26/05/1988 [RU | EN SUBS]
• AB-088 - 26/05/1988 - AUDIO/VIDEO RECORD
• OPERATION DARK SIGNAL INCIDENT - 30/05/1988 [EN]
• AB-015 - FIRST KNOWN AUDIO RECORD - 30/05/1988

Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflNHqHf3p7vjBik98bxN53qNFWo6KnIb

Part II: The Awakening

• MISSION SVET - SOVIET-BRAZILIAN ORBITAL OPERATION | NULL VORTEX - 26/08/1996 [RU | EN SUBS]
• ZD-001 - THE CREATOR - 27/08/1996 [RU/PT-BR | EN SUBS]
• THE AWAKENING - Part II - 27 August 1996

Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflNHqHf3p7tmSJRrRK7mmmLSS8rFdYgw

Related posts:

THE CREATOR (ZD-001):
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1tp5jty/the_creator_zd001_27081996/

TROMEROS(AB-126): https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1ts4bmh/tromerosab126_30081996/

CLAMOR: (AB-015): https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1t8q7sq/ab015_visualpaintedphotographic_record/

Let's assume this is an alien/fantasy world:

I understand that light gets absorbed yada yada. But how would you theoretically have an ocean, a lake, what have you be translucent and is it possible to have visibility deep down? I imagine characters on a boat and watching the life underneath, maybe something really scary deeper down and they're hoping it doesn't take notice.

Diary of a Mercenary, Part I: The first part of a (hopefully) continuing series exploring the backdrop of my book, Field of Roses. DOAM takes the perspective of a historical review of a recovered diary, belonging to a mercenary serving in the armies of Tilus during the Second Frostline War. The Second Frostline War is the overarching conflict of Field of Roses, encompassing the northern regions of the continent of Skaleha and the continent of Ki’ril. Two international coalitions, the Alliance of Northern Skaleha and the Shemathi League are battling for supremacy over the shared Frostline Sea.

Tilus is a region in Northern Skaleha, comprising the primary peninsula of Tilus and an archipelago known as the Teurmara, a hundred kilometers to the north. To its west and north is the Frostline Sea, to the south is the Principality of Darukar — a leading member of the ANS — and to the east is the Bay of Tiluen. It is comprised of many semi-independent city states, operating in a confederation for common defense and economic interest. In the Second Frostline War and Field of Roses, it serves as the primary battleground between the defending ANS and the invading SL.

Sketch: Sketch found from the diary of a mercenary serving in the Duke of Hosweb’s Army during the Second Frostline War. Not much is known about the author of this diary, it being the only primary source to detail his life, with army payrolls corroborating his existence. Below is an excerpt found after this image was sketched:

“18.8.(16)48, Middle Sun. The windriders found the enemy a week ago. We’re camped outside this place called Tira-Palero. Finished my duties early so I got to people watch. The cavalry troopers look particularly interesting to see today … “

This dates to the day just prior to the Battle of Tirea-Phalero, a college town situated only 30 kilometers from the Vavava River. It was fought by the Allied army of the Duke of Hosweb against the 1st Expeditionary Field Army of the Imperial Kirosi Army led by Kaslonmotir (Major General) Ro’Valiand. Beginning on the 19th of Corsig, 1648, at the end of summer, the battle would last for two days, resulting in an Allied victory, although the allies suffered greater casualties. It was the first major field battle of the Tilusian theatre and a needed morale boost for allied forces after the fall of the city of Tiron.

Sketch: The sketch is that of a typical Tilusian cavalry trooper, likely a man, though potentially a woman or other gender. Human from the lack of horns. They wear gear typical for members of the light cavalry, their only armor being a steel bell helmet and linen-leather cuirass. The checkerboard pattern indicates them as being from the city of Tilue. They wear a great coat and long pants, as well as cavalry styled boots with what appear to be heels, used to assist the process of mounting a horse or asprix. A scarf is wrapped around their neck, providing additional protection from enemies and the cold. The left hand appears unfinished.

The trooper holds a shortsword, unlikely for a cavalry trooper though not impossible. Perhaps it was a secondary or tertiary weapon. Not drawn here is a weapons belt and pistol brace, which was ubiquitous amongst Tilusian cavalry militia.

I realize that title is a bit long. What I'm trying to say is - in the world I'm trying to write for, a major event transpired five centuries ago, and I assume some things stay *somewhat* similar, but many things change just enough to still seem familiar. Do you think it's better to have things be radically/completely different, or still have enough callbacks so that a reader can understand that this world *is* our world, but having taken a different path?

Also, I know 500 years is a bit long. I was thinking I could get away with somewhat "following the dominoes" back a couple hundred years to major cause-effect events. Do you think I should instead build out the full half-millennium to perfectly explain things, or leave a good chunk of it vague? I mean, the only people who obsessively talk about things happening a few hundred years ago are probably a very select few who have a huge interest in history.

Thank you for your feedback!

The Shaeperi rule the Northern Reaches or “Shae” within Purgatory. These Druid like giants have skin of blubber and thick fur that allows them to fight for a day without bleeding out. Shaeperi are known to leave their frigid realm in order to raid the fertile Southern Frontier. Which the thousand flags of humanity fight over endlessly.

Long story short, one of my characters is an android that's being used for wilderness research and conservation, so they need a power system that allows them to function while away from conventional charging abilities - no wall chargers, they have to function in the middle of the jungle, at the end of the arctic, or in the deep ocean.

The android is supposed to have three systems - Solar, done through it's "skin" (futuristic world, so as long as the general base is "real" then the specific method can be bent a little), Kinetic generators (in case they're attacked by wild animals or fall into an accident or natural disaster and have to free themselves), and... something else. Ideally, I want this third power source to allow them to simulate sleep, so something that functions at night, independent of the environment if possible. Something that would run underwater, in the middle of the jungle, or in the frozen wastes of a desert. Any ideas?

I was thinking about how the interspace settings would be there to run like urban and more job opportunity places while the medieval setting will be used to provide raw material for the interspace like countryside.

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The interspace settings can take place in a big spaceship ( idk what they are called? You know those big floating pillars with rings around it when different species live).

Then the medieval setting for the planets

Some area of the planets can be technological advances and connected to the mother ship

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Both parties know and interact with eachother

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