Worldbuilding Wednesday – And now for something completely different.

If you don’t know what the title refers to, you need to watch more Monty Python.

Anyway, today we are indeed doing something completely different. I wanted to show you my ocean currents but they aren’t totally done and the idea of putting up a map with things missing irks me so I’ll hold off till next week. Instead, I’m going to talk about a totally different world! Exciting, no? Hehe.

Lately, I’ve been doing some basic worldbuilding for the story I’ll be drafting for NaNoWriMo. This story is a fantasy story, the first in a series, and the setting is a no holds barred kitchen sink fantasy setting. Unlike with Erziyye, I am not being at all meticulous with my worldbuilding, I’m just having fun with it. I really enjoy building Erziyye and I enjoy reading and writing books on the more realistic end of the fantasy spectrum but I also love settings that are just full of whimsy and weirdness. That’s what I’m going for with this one. And plausability is guaranteed to be nowhere to be seen!

This as-of-yet unnamed world is actually a collection of several worlds. There are two polar worlds, Earth (the physical world) and the ethereal world. Existing in-between these are seven magical but still mostly phsyical worlds full of all sorts of creatures! Why seven? Because it’s one of my favorite numbers, and a classic magical number to boot. Yay septagrams!

The seven worlds (which also, sadly, have not yet been named), are each based on a type of elemental magic and each has a landmark or series of landmarks that functions as a hub for the magic that exists naturally in the world. I’m not going the traditional four elements (after all, I have seven worlds), and I’ve used a mix of mythology, pop culture and long talks with my boyfriend to pick out which ones to use. My seven worlds and their landmarks are:

• Fire (Volcano)
• Water (Oceans)
• Electricity (Perpetual Storms)
• Air (Winds over Valleys)
• Flora (Forests)
• Stone (Mountains)
• Light/Shadow (Caves)

My NaNo project will take place in the stone world, so I’m putting most of my effort into that right now. Still, I wanted to pick the elements for the other worlds, too. That way, I don’t risk making allusions to things, and then deciding on something else later and having to back-track or retcon stuff. Currently, I’m working on picking out what magical creatures live in the stone world. So far, I’ve decided on trolls and gargoyles, but I’d like another three or so creatures of the type that actually have societies and cultures. Of course, I’m also going to have lots of “non-intelligent” species. I’ll definitely have some kind of dragon, and probably basilisks or cockatrices, but I haven’t decided fully yet. There’s a lot of lists of mythological or magical creatures out there. Have seen this one on Wikipedia? I think I know what I’m doing this weekend…

Got any tips of “fantasy races”, mythological creatures or other things that would be suitable to adapt to my stone world? Let me know in the comment section below!