20-12-2022 - Reflection on KC: The Farmhouse's First Draft
22-12-2022 - Aegis #1 Characters
Aegis Worldbuilding & Dawn of Revolution reread
21-12-2022 - 1 year ago - 4m 31s
Yesterday, I've been doing some word-building on one of my fantasy story ideas. This is not building on the prologue of Swords of Amity, but it is set in the same world. A quickie introduction to that … universe. If you don't want any huge ass spoilers, stop reading here.
This is a universe I started building for a homebrew roleplaying game using the Cypher system in 2020. This is actually more of a science fiction setting, as humanity has conquered their solar system and 2 systems beyond. The spin on this is that they have advanced science first and only later discovered magic. This goes hand in hand for thousand of years, as humans learn this magic too, but, of course, comes to a clash resolving in the annihilation of a planet and the extinction of a few races.
The humans who came from the solar system are known as the Enlightened, the oldest race of humans. In the conflict, they are one race that grows extinct. They built the mega-structures and travel the universe, terraforming planets and testing new ecosystems. Their tech is extremely high-end and is built on simple AI to keep going even while they are gone. Humanity didn't end with them as each planet has their own race of humanity which has grown very different from how they once were.
Inspiration
Of course, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere is a huge inspiration, also the multiple planets aspect, but mostly the magic systems. They are logical and always follow a set of rules. I hate deus ex machina effects. The "just because" doesn't work well with me.
I got most of my inspiration from the short story The Emperor's Soul, which follows a magic user who has to rebuild someone's soul from experiences. The first time I read this was in 2016, and this really stuck with me. Both the soul part and the stamps I found really inspiring.
Mistborn with its well-defined metal burning system was also awesome. Your ancestry limits your powers, and powers themselves are fueled by ingesting metals.
With reading more on the Cosmere, I noticed a lot of similarities to the system I was developing. I don't think that's a bad thing, seeing how much fun that system is, but I don't want to rip that off either. I believe I am doing a lot of things differently, but on some levels, this will match. I don't know the full underlying principles of that system yet. Only Mr. Sanderson himself knows that.
Magic rules
I'll actually have a few magic systems building on these basic blocks.
I limited all magic to the user's soul, which acts as a conduit for any power used. Every living force carries this soul or essence. They can influence, consume, be bound,… to one another. The birth or death are special transitions for these essences, causing irreversible effects. Most of these influences happen without knowledge.
A minor example: A human being. Their essence or soul is something unique, born from a combination of their mother and father. It is influenced and shaped by a lot of outside essences, which leave their mark, invisible. The human essence is very complex, as it binds a multitude of other essences into its physical body. This combination of both the inner essence (spiritual) and the forces (physical) is what makes up an entire being. This is an insanely complex system, but still very fragile. If the physical diminishes/ the body dies, the bonds get broken and loose grip. The other way around, if the spiritual diminishes, "loses their soul", it also starts breaking the bonds, causing the physical to die as well. Upon death, these bonds break and the spiritual comes free, unbound, and drifts off.
Limitations
I have a multitude of shorter and longer stories I want to create in this setting. Having the option of using both science fiction and fantasy (and even horror) in the same setting gives me a lot of freedom, but there also needs to be some limitations. I can't constantly have a space ship fly into a fantasy scene. This is where the Enlightened tech comes in, but I won't spoil that just yet.
To spoil or not to spoil..
I think I will turn down the spoiler hose in some parts. Possibly I'll add that in later, but now it's not helping a fresh mind to get into the story. I'll try to focus more on the writing aspects themselves.
Where to begin?
That's a hard one. I already spoiled a lot with this overview, but I want to keep most of it hidden in the first stories, so I can do pure stories. The location where I want to start is clear for me, the planet Aegis, where myths became real. This is a terraformed planet in the second system, believed to have gone wrong as 6 giant crystals pierced through the planet's surface. After this event, the planet actually became very stable and inhabitable. That was thousands of years ago, and now it's filled with humanoids and creatures of myth. This is a hard fantasy planet as the Enlightened tech wards off any technological advancement beyond the medieval ages. It has no notice of how magic works, so that's grown very strong ever since magic was discovered further in the system. Travel to Aegis from other planets is allowed, but each traveler gets an invisible drone following their every moving, insuring they don't talk about anything off planet. These systems are automated.
The inspiration from this planet came from tabletop roleplaying as a whole. The typical quests, with all kinds of creatures. The crystal protrusions remain a mystery, but most have just accepted them for what they are and live their lives with these scattered over the planet.
The first story I want to write on Aegis will focus heavily on the myth part. Why are there living myths on the planet? How are they related to the crystal pillars? It will follow a band of mostly born and raised Aegians who are oblivious to anything outside their planet. This will be more like a classic dungeons and dragons party, including different cultures, fighting styles and magic used. They will be pulled together and sent on a quest. On their way, they'll face multiple mythological creatures and learn truths about them.
For now, I'm dubbing this project: Aegis #1. You can find all further information in the separate story section.
I will try rereading the 35K words I did 2 years ago on this. Possibly I'll pick up work on this again since it's already about halfway and I still want to finish it. It will depend how I feel about it, also getting pretty hyped for the pure fantasy tale too.
More on that tomorrow!
The Enlightened Universe
This is a universe I started building for a homebrew roleplaying game using the Cypher system in 2020. This is actually more of a science fiction setting, as humanity has conquered their solar system and 2 systems beyond. The spin on this is that they have advanced science first and only later discovered magic. This goes hand in hand for thousand of years, as humans learn this magic too, but, of course, comes to a clash resolving in the annihilation of a planet and the extinction of a few races.
The humans who came from the solar system are known as the Enlightened, the oldest race of humans. In the conflict, they are one race that grows extinct. They built the mega-structures and travel the universe, terraforming planets and testing new ecosystems. Their tech is extremely high-end and is built on simple AI to keep going even while they are gone. Humanity didn't end with them as each planet has their own race of humanity which has grown very different from how they once were.
Inspiration
Of course, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere is a huge inspiration, also the multiple planets aspect, but mostly the magic systems. They are logical and always follow a set of rules. I hate deus ex machina effects. The "just because" doesn't work well with me.
I got most of my inspiration from the short story The Emperor's Soul, which follows a magic user who has to rebuild someone's soul from experiences. The first time I read this was in 2016, and this really stuck with me. Both the soul part and the stamps I found really inspiring.
Mistborn with its well-defined metal burning system was also awesome. Your ancestry limits your powers, and powers themselves are fueled by ingesting metals.
With reading more on the Cosmere, I noticed a lot of similarities to the system I was developing. I don't think that's a bad thing, seeing how much fun that system is, but I don't want to rip that off either. I believe I am doing a lot of things differently, but on some levels, this will match. I don't know the full underlying principles of that system yet. Only Mr. Sanderson himself knows that.
Magic rules
I'll actually have a few magic systems building on these basic blocks.
I limited all magic to the user's soul, which acts as a conduit for any power used. Every living force carries this soul or essence. They can influence, consume, be bound,… to one another. The birth or death are special transitions for these essences, causing irreversible effects. Most of these influences happen without knowledge.
A minor example: A human being. Their essence or soul is something unique, born from a combination of their mother and father. It is influenced and shaped by a lot of outside essences, which leave their mark, invisible. The human essence is very complex, as it binds a multitude of other essences into its physical body. This combination of both the inner essence (spiritual) and the forces (physical) is what makes up an entire being. This is an insanely complex system, but still very fragile. If the physical diminishes/ the body dies, the bonds get broken and loose grip. The other way around, if the spiritual diminishes, "loses their soul", it also starts breaking the bonds, causing the physical to die as well. Upon death, these bonds break and the spiritual comes free, unbound, and drifts off.
Limitations
I have a multitude of shorter and longer stories I want to create in this setting. Having the option of using both science fiction and fantasy (and even horror) in the same setting gives me a lot of freedom, but there also needs to be some limitations. I can't constantly have a space ship fly into a fantasy scene. This is where the Enlightened tech comes in, but I won't spoil that just yet.
To spoil or not to spoil..
I think I will turn down the spoiler hose in some parts. Possibly I'll add that in later, but now it's not helping a fresh mind to get into the story. I'll try to focus more on the writing aspects themselves.
Where to begin?
That's a hard one. I already spoiled a lot with this overview, but I want to keep most of it hidden in the first stories, so I can do pure stories. The location where I want to start is clear for me, the planet Aegis, where myths became real. This is a terraformed planet in the second system, believed to have gone wrong as 6 giant crystals pierced through the planet's surface. After this event, the planet actually became very stable and inhabitable. That was thousands of years ago, and now it's filled with humanoids and creatures of myth. This is a hard fantasy planet as the Enlightened tech wards off any technological advancement beyond the medieval ages. It has no notice of how magic works, so that's grown very strong ever since magic was discovered further in the system. Travel to Aegis from other planets is allowed, but each traveler gets an invisible drone following their every moving, insuring they don't talk about anything off planet. These systems are automated.
The inspiration from this planet came from tabletop roleplaying as a whole. The typical quests, with all kinds of creatures. The crystal protrusions remain a mystery, but most have just accepted them for what they are and live their lives with these scattered over the planet.
The first story I want to write on Aegis will focus heavily on the myth part. Why are there living myths on the planet? How are they related to the crystal pillars? It will follow a band of mostly born and raised Aegians who are oblivious to anything outside their planet. This will be more like a classic dungeons and dragons party, including different cultures, fighting styles and magic used. They will be pulled together and sent on a quest. On their way, they'll face multiple mythological creatures and learn truths about them.
For now, I'm dubbing this project: Aegis #1. You can find all further information in the separate story section.
Dawn of Revolution
I will try rereading the 35K words I did 2 years ago on this. Possibly I'll pick up work on this again since it's already about halfway and I still want to finish it. It will depend how I feel about it, also getting pretty hyped for the pure fantasy tale too.
More on that tomorrow!
Linked in this post
Story
Aegis #1
Chapter
Worldbuilding