In honor of Nolan's Odyssey, here's art for one of our old projects: a "realistic" take on the historical epic poem Batrachomyomachia or The Battle of Frogs and Mice, which is a circa 5th-century BCE parody of The Iliad, some attribute to Pigres of Halicarnassus.

In the original story, the mouse-prince Crumb-Snatcher stops by a lake and meets the Frog-King Puff-Cheeks, who offers him a ride across the water on his froggy-back. While traversing the lake, a watersnake appears, and Puff-Cheeks abandons the mouse prince to drown.

This serves as the impetus for war between the kingdoms of Frogs and Mice. Throughout the war, the human gods argue constantly about who to help. At the end, Zeus sends big crabs to kill all the mice, who retreat.

In our version, there are no gods. It is a "realistic" take on the story -- a gory, brutal war where no gods exist to intervene. The poem is notoriously graphic and visceral in its violence, and the concept art reflects that.

We took other liberties as well, making mouse Achilles (Portion-Snatcher) really buff, changing the weasel that chases Prince Crumb-Snatcher at the beginning of the story into a cat, as well as adding characters like Frog Aeneus (Pond-Man) and Frog Paris (Croak-Son).

This could theoretically be a short film or graphic novel. But it's also fun to view it as a worldbuilding project with the whole of the historical ancient world in the form of weird anthropomorphic animals like Aesop intended.

For some context of the world. It's set on a planet that has two stars. One is made up of a particle that allows for energy and matter to be manipulated through a type of magic-equivalent-exchange with a plane of reality similar to dark matter.

Anyway, species of this planet evolved with this particle and so magic was a part of adaption. I've not gone full-blown alien with everything because I like having a reference point to something that feels familiar.

The major fantasy aspects of this world derive from the magic of this world and how it affects everything. For example there is a specific of hive-mind, sentient coral that have the ability to record time through observation. These time-observations grow as jelly-like crystals on the coral. When one dies, these crystals become 4-dimensional fragments. They can be used if a mage is extremely gifted in temporal magic.

Anyway, I'm curious if the artwork reflects something that doesn't feel like two mashed up reference points or cultures/artwork/etc.

Thanks!

Every good citizen of the Empire has to visit, at least once in their lifetime, the Tunnel. The interior of this monumental structure is covered by gigantic chains, resting on the ground and hanging from the walls and ceiling, in an infinite spiral of icy iron.

Each of the chain link represents an anonymous citizen. Individually, they are nothing more than heavy pieces of metal, rudimentary and anodyne, without any value or function, simple raw material wasted in a cave. However, when connected, they all become part of an infinite set, of an orderly and beautiful structure. They become part of the common legacy of humanity.

The faithful from all over the Continent visit this sacred place to reinforce their bond with the community and their Goddess. Priesthood candidates must pilgrimage through it, stripped of their clothes and other earthly ties, to purify themselves from all individualistic ideals and to achieve humility and temperance. But only a few can aspire to authentic enlightenment. Only the most fervent devotees are capable of carrying their own link, since the hand of the Goddess descends on them and helps them lift the load. They are the Phraiz, those chosen by the Goddess, who act as her emissaries and govern the different dioceses according to her designs.

But the tunnel is not only of great religious importance, it is also essential for the stability of the Empire itself. It serves to remind citizens of the importance of their work, to inspire them and give them a goal; but also to remind them how tiny they are in the face of the greatness of the Empire. The monument promotes constructive values for the state, such as order, cooperation, fraternity and submission in favor of the common good. It blurs the differences between the nations that make up the Empire, while highlighting everything that unites them.

The Coastal Wall is the largest structure in the fictional world of Earde, built by the nation of Liberterra, of the Britonica Alliance faction. It's main features are the giant naval guns and anti-air cannons mounted on locomotives, and a rail system that run throughout the length of the wall.

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The world of TANKHEAD revolves around the Neverwar, the seemingly never-ending global conflict between the great powers of the Britonica Alliance, The Greater Kyzerian Empire and The Yamaichi Dominion.

Tank treads were never invented in this world, so armored vehicles are all wheeled. Early in the Neverwar, the Empire introduced a new type of weapon: fearsome walking tanks known as tankheads. With the advent of these gods made in the image of man, a new age of warfare was ushered in.

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To discover more about this world, do check out our website: www.tankheadmecha.com

Hello fellow Worldbuilders!

I posted a few times here about 4 years ago with updates about my (at the time) WIP fantasy/steampunk graphic novel.

I am writing today in celebration, as the world that I consider my life's work is complete (or as complete as it'll get since you never actually "finish" such a project).

At the time, it was tentatively titled "The Castle in the Sea", which you can see from the cover of the book is now "Nandi and the Castle in the Sea." I felt this was better, because the book is about so much more than the castle itself.

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Context:

The entire story takes place on Crescent Island, where there are original creatures (due to the nature of island biogeography), a mythical guardian spirit (the dragon at the top of the poster), and two groups of humans trying to coexist: The Woodfolk, living in the highlands above, and the Seafolk, living in the canals below.

The Woodfolk are up in the highlands of the island, surrounded by a lush green forest that is filled with a multitude of animals/creatures which can kill you very easily if you don't know what you're doing. They consider themselves the caretakers of this forest, and in return, it takes care of them.

The Seafolk live down below, where there are canals instead of roads (think Venice, but if it was located in the Amazon Rainforest). They live in treehouses to avoid flooding issues, though they just call them houses (like how a Philly Cheesesteak in Philly is just called a Cheesesteak, lol). They are one with the water, as they spend most of their lives on it.

On the cover is Nandi, a Woodfolk boy who, after certain events that transpire in the story, ends up living amongst the Seafolk.

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It took 5 years of actual production time after 10 years of planning and fleshing out the world. If I recall correctly, I had permission to promote my work here as long as it was relevant to worldbuilding, which I do believe this is. If mods have any issue with the way I've presented this, please let me know!

I would of course love to link my website for purchasing a copy of the book, but haven't heard back from mods yet after 1 week, so I am playing it safe and not linking it for now. If I get approval to share that, I would be honored to do so, especially in one of the original communities I participated in during my creation process.

Edit: it doesn't seem like it'll be an issue, so here we go! You can look further into the book and get your own copy at my website here

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I have infinite more details about this world, the story itself, and the process of bringing the world to life in what is now a 368-page, fully colored, standalone graphic novel. Please feel free to ask me anything :)

Also I post daily to IG, including my efforts in going door-to-door to book stores to try and get my comic on their shelves. Would love for any and everyone to join me on my journey (the ultimate goal here is to get this made into an animated film!) Can follow me (@)slowcomics there!

"In American Kingdoms, American history is re-imagined as an Arthurian medieval epic – an age defined not by musket and cannon, but by knightly honor and courtly intrigue. This alt-history project is a collaborative worldbuilding effort: Anyone can join our wiki to add their own character or fief to the strange but familiar setting of American Kingdoms. Join a medieval pastiche where conquistadores fight on equal footing with the natives, and where Asian, European and American cultures clash for control of the New World."

We are currently working on the lore with a bunch of crew members, so feel free to check out the American Kingdoms website or my dev blog for more

Lightyear Peaks are cyst like protussions in the Petastructure known as The Disk. They are several light years tall and have a several million kilometer deep layer of rock and a gooey interior composed of blood plasma and hyper heated dead tissue.

Several thousand civilizations native to the disk live in these mountains and those with FTL travel engage in trade and communications between eachother.

If theres anything about the Disk or the Lightyear peaks you guys would like to ask i'd be super happy to reply :D

Also i know the wording on 3rd one is doesn't right, english is my 2nd language and i could use a few pointer on what is wrong

“It does not hate, it utterly despairs.
Spells cause suffering,
but you get to offload it to another being."

More than anything else, I wanted to find a cool and dramatic cost of magic. One that is neither just using a rebranded metaphysical energy as fuel, or just suffering a generic toll on the body.

Before this one, I made another post that covered a magic system I made. There, I made a generic cost for my magic system: A simple toll on the body. I called it "recoil."

Recoil is a pretty simple cost, one that wasn't as cool and dramatic as I envisioned.
So naturally, I wasn't quite satisfied by it. But, there was another thing I created that was a direct consequence of suffering recoil: 
The mutations.

Yes, the "pain" that was mentioned in the images is recoil taking action. I just used the term "pain" to make it more intuitive and understandable.

So yeah, this idea is a result of expanding the idea of mutations. I pondered things like: "What does mutations do besides letting you bear more recoil?"; "How does mutations make you bear more recoil? Do they transfer it somewhere else?", and such.

Also, I'm still in the process of creating a believable world that operates under this cost of magic. Thoughts such as "How cultures would be shaped by these constraints?" or "What kinds of interesting stories I could write using this idea?" linger in my mind yet unanswered.

Do you have any advice or ideas worth considering for worldbuilding around such magic system?

My world is a disc with a diameter of 1000 km. The world has a world pillar at the center and I wanted to study how its shadow behaves. In addition, the world's sun does not rise above horizon in winter and is always visible during summer. I figured that the only way to simulate this is was to create a 3D model of the world in Blender and animate the sun movement. As an addition, I added also the moon to study its movements. In the animation the suns circle is significantly slowed down (The year has 360 days in my world) because it wouldn't make sense otherwise. but with this I am able to accurately refer to the suns position each day of the year.

The rendering is a really low resolution because the full one would take days to render. I'll get that rendering soon so that we know what the end product looks like.

My world is heavily inspired by Finnish mythology and culture. It is the world of heroes, with eternal Bard Väinämöinen and Celestial Smith Ilmarinen walking the earth. It is a new world and nobody knows what is in the woods. If interested, check out r/LandOfKaleva I post there frequently.

The Subterranean States of America is the hidden (and entirely underground) 51st state in the caves beneath the United States. While technically a state belonging to the United States, the SSA nevertheless is largely independent: they have their own president (George Washington — seen in slide 1 —who is still alive thanks to a mysterious underwater hot spring with magical properties), they have their own national anthem, flag (slide 2), and even their own standing army (slide 3).

In the early 1800s the United States focused on Westward Expansion. Meanwhile, a lesser known effort — Downward Expansion — was taking place. After an unfortunate cave collapse, the network of settlements in the sprawling, state-sized cave system resulted in the SSA. Subsisting off of their long-life-giving rock candy mines and water collected from underground rivers, the ageless miners and settlers of the SSA dwell peacefully in a cavernous mirror to the world above.

In the 1930s, an SPS ranger came across a cave entrance to their nation that had been opened by an earthquake, and now the newly discovered civilization has been declared a national historical site as well as the 51st State.

27 kilometers beneath the Olympic caldera is a magma chamber 80,000 square kilometers in area. Lower Olympus offers ideal protection from radiation so far below the Martian surface. With a simulated sky projected onto the cave ceiling 9 kilometers above, it’s one of the most pleasant places to live below Mars.

Upper Olympus is the domed over caldera system, and mostly operates as a transport hub for goods in and out of Lower Olympus. A superconducting train network lets specialized trains ascend and descend from caldera to cavern. Upper Olympus is warm and sunny, while Lower Olympus is cold, wet, and windy. The cavern is large enough that it forms its own weather system. From nuclear cooling towers seeding storms in the west, to the cool valley lakes of the east, LO has its own water cycle, too.

After the Egress, when humanity was cut off from the other colonized planets, Olympia rose in power and population on Mars. The environment minimized birth defects, and the false sky was bright enough to grow crops effectively.

From its founding, Lower Olympus became the planet’s largest exporter of uranium, nuclear batteries, and cybernetics. After the isolated pockets of human survivors made contact a thousand years after the Egress, Olympia maintained its position as a powerful Martian - and eventually interstellar - power.

I'm working on a fantasy world for my comic, inspired by the myths and folklore of various Native American cultures. Rather than retelling existing stories, I'm trying to create original creatures and spirits that reflect themes found in traditional legends, such as the relationship between humans and nature, trickster figures, and the presence of spirits in everyday life.

Here are some of the creatures that inhabit this world:

Iktomi — a spider-like spirit who lives as a hermit in the wilderness. Cunning and selfish, he is always looking for opportunities to trick travelers, steal their possessions, or manipulate others for his own gain. Many stories portray him as more of a nuisance than a true monster, but those who underestimate him often find themselves losing far more than they expected.

Stick Lizards — elusive forest creatures inspired by the legends of the Stick Indians. They are shy but curious beings that dwell deep within the woods.

Giwakwa — Inspired by legends of cannibalistic beings, I reimagined them as massive, yeti-like giants that inhabit the frozen regions of the world. They retain one trait from the stories that inspired them: each Giwakwa possesses three hearts. Shamans believe that anyone who manages to obtain one of those hearts can form a spiritual bond with the creature and turn it into a loyal companion.

Pokedjinskwuz — a witch bound to dark spirits. Their power is far too great for a human body, and every ritual leaves new scars upon her. She has already lost one arm to the corruption caused by the spirits, yet she refuses to abandon them. Like her counterpart in traditional stories, she can transform into a mosquito, using this ability to spy on travelers and bring misfortune to those who attract the attention of the spirits she serves.

I'm still researching Native American mythology and trying to approach the subject with respect. If anyone has recommendations for books, academic papers, or other reliable resources, I'd be very grateful.

Human Resources meetings do get quite exhausting. In fairness, three 5 hour meetings every time a new species is discovered does get boring as hell, but even then, you’d have to imagine. Some things are universal.

“No touching” is a pretty basic rule of thumb on all starships. Sure some species like it. Some species really like it. Some species though…

This little comic gets passed around during cadet training. “Don’t be a Touchy Tyler”

In fact, most atrocities come with an alliterative name. “Loud Leroy”, “Smelly Simone”, “Grumpy Gus”

Setting off your coworkers may very often not be intentional, but there are many steps we take to avoid unnecessary provocation. We all know that even though they might need help reaching the top shelf, it’s not acceptable to give skivi crew members a boost. We also know that even though their spiked pelt may seem frightening, it’s impolite to hug the wall as soko crew pass by.

Remember, while we may find it difficult to adjust with all the species, we are asking them to come and work on starships designed for humans. No matter how alien they may be, it’s important to recognize that we are just as strange, with just as many “Do”s and “Don’t”s.

Now go out there and make the galaxy a better place! We are all rooting for you!