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The First Seeds of Creation are Sought.

The First Seeds of Creation

by Owen Davies (Vibrant Worlds)

This is a strange but definitely important part of this website. The first post, which also defines how we run in the long term. Therefore, instead of using this first article just an outline of what to expect from this blog, I'm going to use this time to talk about the creation of a world, something that is within the scope of this website, but also within the core idea of beginnings and creation which is often overwhelming during the beginning of a worldbuilding project. This post will focus on the beginning of a new project within world buidling

Image by Petr Brož

The Point of Beginning

When starting a world, there are several questions that come to mind, each as unique and individual as is possible. However, the most important question asked is:

How do I get started?

I'm going to sound cliché here, but the best method to get started is by simply beginning. The question should not be how to get started, but should focus on where. There are many jumping off points that can be taken at the start of the worldbuilding process. The exact method taken is highly dependent on the individual.

One great example of the vast areas of starting to worldbuild originates with J.R.R Tolkien and his creation of Middle-Earth. In 1914 Tolkien started development on his creation of the elvish languages. As has been shown in not only anecdotes but also media that has been released, Tolkien focuses on the linguistics of his world. He was even quoted as saying:

‘[My work is] fundamentally linguistic in inspiration… The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse.’

While to some it may seem ludicrous that The Lord of the Rings was an after thought, Tolkien is making it clear that the stories and the lands of Middle-Earth were purely to give context and life to the languages that he had developed.

This leads to what I consider the most important part of starting a worldbuilding project, the passion, the meta, the basis, whatever name you wish to call it, the point of (as I will continue to call it) the basis of your world is the elements and ideas that are so core to its creation that you are able to constantly draw on it for inspiration, especially in a creative slump. The basis of the world isn't limited just to a single set of sentences that define the truths of the world but also encompasses: the inspirations (both positive and negative) on your world; the genres that are represented within the world, no matter how small; and the vast ideas that are ripe for experimentation throughout the course of building further into the world.

Owen Davies (Me!)
It is at this point I should refer to myself and particularly the basis for this blog and Vibrant Worlds in general. My name is Owen Davies, I have been a worldbuilder for several years particularly in the Fantasy genre, though I have dipped my toes into a large variety of other genres to experiment with genre splicing and giving myself a challenge. My projects have had several aims with a number being prepared for stories, ranging from short stories up to work in progress novels. My worlds have also been prepared for TTRPG projects, again ranging in scale from full settings to creatures, adventures, and NPCs published as a freelancer. I have also spent a significant amount of time developing languages for my worldbuilding projects after gaining a keen sense for linguistics during my time at university. Outside of worldbuilding, TTRPGs, conlanging, and writing, I spent years training as a Computing Science and Theatre Studies student in academia and recently started practicing as a teacher for pupils in their high school experience.

The combination of all this experience has led to an interesting understanding of how to form worlds with a variety of different scopes and also a vast spectrum of knowledge that is expanding as I learn more from my peers and those around me. The point of this blog and is to share some of my learning from all over the spectrum of the hobby, but also to actually write down the musings that flow into my head about the topics.

HOWEVER! This does not mean that I won't be releasing some content for TTRPG players and also for worldbuilders and readers, heck there's even a chance for some stories being released for members of my newsletter and patreon (links at the end). The goal of this blog is to broaden my own horizons but also put it to good use. Vibrant Worlds is meant to be a place that inspires and allows people of all walks of life to make new content and beautiful and vibrant worlds.

Where Next?

So, you now have an idea of the basis of the blog and what I'm all about. Hopefully laying that out helps to show that you can develop a basis for your world by looking inwards as well as outwards.

Anyway, now I get to talk about the fun stuff! During the course of these posts and my own experimentation, I am going to be working on a world known currently as The Scattered Lands. 

I will discuss the basis of the world in the next paragraph but its important to note that the world is being developed and built with World Anvil (not sponsored, but check it out for all your worldbuilding needs, I personally recommend it!) and will have a range of content ranging from lore of towns and cities to TTRPG stats for creatures and NPCs. However, there is a small ask from me, the Scattered Lands has tiers of content access, while the basis of the world will be free to everyone on the whole internet, those who are members of my newsletter and Patreon will get content inaccessible any other way! By joining either of these services you will get access to not only early content as you will see any article at least a week before its published, but you will get access to custom statblocks, lore, maps, articles and other content that I will be producing for those who support me!

Now to tell you why you should be supporting me for the Scattered Lands! The basis of the lands is steeped in some of my questions surrounding time and its fluid nature in some physics but yet its rigidity with others. While being initially influenced by the fantasy genre, particularly epic fantasy, I wanted to splice in other genres without feeling tonally disparate. From this came the idea of the Scattered Lands, a worlds of (currently) 2 continent sized archipelagos which are the result of a large war of an ancient culture who left behind many different elements of technology and culture that have been picked up by the surviving members of the varied ancestries that roam the islands.

The islands are now comprised of several islands states that hold drastically different beliefs and levels of technology. While one state is forming airships and other mechanical methods of traversing the planet, another has been using the arcane elements to traverse it for the past few centuries after discovering notes of an arcanist of the ancients. While not a world at war, there are conflicting ideologies and diverse ancestries with ancient histories that diverge drastically. That's not even talking about the collapsing moon, lack of a natural sun, and the planets orbit around a celestial phenomenon caused by the collapse of two black holes at the center of the solar system.

As I think you can tell, there is a lot going on in the world and that's only based off what has arisen thus far. There is a lot of exciting content coming for The Scattered Lands, and that's not even taking into account the other worlds that may come up at some point in this blog that I've worked on for a number of years now. Vibrant Worlds has exciting things to come!

Thanks and Further Links

Thanks for reading the first post of Vibrant Worlds, surprisingly longer than I thought, but it highlights a lot of the content I want to produce and shows some of my process.

If you wish to further support me, here are a few links to further information about me and the content I'm producing, including my Patreon and Newsletter which each will given you access to new and exclusive content. Also below is a link to my discord which has a community of people in the worldbuilding community and a whole bunch of channels to talk about everything from conlangs to TTRPGs!

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