While you dream softly,
They watch over your home,
Across the stars,
Gods of combat,
Gods of bullet and blade,
Frames of war,
The Tenno,
A name feared by evil,
Sent forth by a cosmic mother,
Knights of the system,
Stalwart against imperial tyranny,
And ancient horrors,
Her will be done.
Hello inmates!
And here’s the second random idea that I’ve had recently. I’m not sure what I think of these ideas right now, but who knows, I may flesh them out.
“The three legendary swords, once thought to be the saviors of the world, have been revealed to be the greatest threats to all life on this planet.
One, Cataclysm, wants to wreath the world in flame and cleave it in twain with the power of the elements.
One, Enigma, wishes to reduce the world to a crystalline void, devoid of life, where only madness survives.
One, Factory, seeks to choke all life with myriad poisons and diseases, darkening the skies with imperceptible death.
The unwitting (and indeed unwilling) wielders of these blades are going to destroy each other, our world and everything we hold dear in a grand conflict!
We cannot let them. We must stop them!”
That’s it for my second idea. Let me know what you think of both of these random ideas. I know they’re pretty bare-bones, but there you go!
Have a very crazy day inmates!
Hello inmates!
Ok, so I didn’t get this posted when I intended to at all. Here goes, finally:
“What if I told you there were three groups of beings in this world superior to us. Living and fighting in secrecy.
One to protect us.
One to subjugate us.
One to wipe us out.
We call them the Exarchs, the Autarchs and the God-Machines.”
That’s your first random idea that I mentioned. Took me quite some time to get that done, sorry about that.
Have you all have a very crazy day!
All flee in terror when it darkens the skies,
Wrought in iron and chain,
Wings built from aircraft carcasses,
Eye fabricated from red traffic lights,
Spewing petroleum-fueled flames,
Searing all of the peoples homes,
Not to mention their ambitions.
It is mankind’s greatest threat,
But man has only himself to blame,
It was built to destroy the enemies of mankind,
But they made a miscalculation,
They forgot one significant fact,
Mankind is his own worst enemy.
Dark stannic wings approach.
Here comes the man-made monster.
You best hide.
Greetings inmates!
Worldbuilding.
What exactly is worldbuilding? Why is it that some writers label themselves worldbuilders?
Well, there are two reasons really. Firstly, it is a hobby that many writers enjoy. There’s something truly quite gratifying about writing about characters in a world that you’ve poured your soul into. The worldbuilding itself can also be quite enjoyable. Designing nations, races, locations and the very metaphysical state of a world can almost make one feel like a god. A delightful prospect I’m sure you’ll agree. The second reason is that it can make writing a story easier. Allow me to elaborate on that. Writing a story from scratch, with no defined worldly rules or landscape, can become confusing and frustrating. If you have taken the time to create a vague “outline” of a world, even if its only a very basic idea. Say, you have decided on the geography and society on a specific country in your world. It makes it easier to write about a character in that country simply because you know how that place works, you vaguely know where things are and you can write your character within that. It helps avoid plot holes as well, you can dodge them if you know how your world works.
Worldbuilding is a useful skill for any writer, whether they be a sci-fi writer, a fantasy writer or even a horror writer. Game developers use it, RPG designers use it and the best writers do too. You can design how the world looks, the basic geography. You can dictate how magic is supposed to work in your world. You can design the races that inhabit the world, and how they feel about each other. I know from experience that an idea for a story can reveal itself during worldbuilding, as opposed to building a world because you have an idea for a story already.
Here’s a humble Wikipedia article that can probably explain the process a little bit more concisely than me.
Also, here is a link to a Youtube account called “Write About Dragons“. It offers splendid tips about worldbuilding and creative writing in general.
Now, i too have dabbled in worldbuilding in the past. There have been three “worlds” that i have created to an acceptable (by me) level. I’m going to tell you a tiny bit about each. Just in case anyone was interested. I intend to write more about each of these in the future.
The Damned Dozen
This was the first world i created, way back in high school. It was a strange, messy amalgamation of high fantasy and science fiction, involving a barbaric corporation who effectively ran the world with advanced machinery and weaponry. There were literally dozens of races i created for this universe, from elf-like beings to far more bizarre creatures. The centered around a disparate group of outcasts, each of which phenomenally powerful and talented in various ways. For example a man infected by a demonic virus that caused him to shift into a savage monster, an exiled prince who hides his face behind hundreds of different masks, a pair of insane twins who were once one man and deity who controls the elements. It was a when i was far less experienced at both worldbuilding and writing in general. I had too many ideas and continued to stuff them into this one world. It felt bloated, but it was enjoyable. This world was more of a hobby, in all honesty.
Daz
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one. I actually spoke about in a previous post, a few months ago. It was more of a silly, over the top universe that mostly comprised of video game and pop culture references. I’ll link the post where i spoke about it here. You even get a quaint little picture.
Daetrolos
Now, this world is currently ongoing believe it or not. Daetrolos is an unfortunate world, the citizens besieged on a daily basis by creatures created truly out of the Dust. Dust is what powers magic in this world, but it also degenerates and corrupts everything it touches. Minds will snap. Landscapes will die. Monsters will come from the aether. Dust is an enemy of the world, but also central to its existence. The world has an almost Napoleonic era level of technology, with the odd steam punk and Victorian facet thrown in here and there. I’ve created a few reasonably unique (or what i believe to be so) races to inhabit the world. From the lizard-like Julmurns to the scarecrow-like Mawkins. Nations war with one another. The map has yet to be filled in and there more and bigger wonders and horrors to discover yet I’m sure. This has been my favourite universe to work on, it’s more focused and neater than the world of The Damned Dozen. I’ve even got ideas for two stories in this world, both giving centre stage to a character i created called Michal Von Stromberg. I won’t tell you anything about that right now though, though i likely will in the future.
So there you have it. A very basic overview of the worldbuilding I’ve wrought so far. I intend to continue with my Daetrolos world and i will probably write more about this in the near future so look out for that i suppose.
Create the worlds of your dreams and nightmares, don’t limit yourselves. Turn your personalities into worlds that we would cherish and get lost in!
Farewell for now inmates!
So much for me posting this the other night eh? Sorry about that, i sort of fell asleep and forgot i was writing it up. I seem to keep doing that recently. My bad! This is simply a short monologue by a convict who was made to go through the aetherisation process that was mentioned in the previous Gravewalker post.
“Heroes they called us. What a load of bull! Then again, how could they have known any different? The government never told the populace what the operation was about. They had no idea what the State was gonna do to us. I call us human sacrifices! We aren’t all volunteers after all. It’s not like we’re human anymore. We’re Spirits now. We are the real ghosts in the machine.
Operation Gravewalker it was called. The idea was to turn us into walking tanks, the ultimate war machines. I’m guessing it’s to do with that so-called “big discovery” down in Chile. Some old ruin or something. Ya don’t hear all that much about world news in jail. We gave up our humanity to protect our friends and families. Apparently. I ain’t got any family or friends. Some of the others did it out of love, some felt some stupid divine calling and some did it out of guilt. I was forced. A real human sacrifice to the State.
I won’t forget the process itself. I got told to stand in this small white room. Then all of a sudden one of the walls opened up, behind it was this robot looking thing. Almost like out of the old transformers. It just stood there, dead. I didn’t really know what to do, so i just stood there. Suddenly i felt this massive force of cold, like being thrown into an arctic pool. It went on for a few minutes i think, hard to tell. I looked at my hands. They were dissolving! But they were still there, it was like my hands became a gas. A couple more minutes passed and my whole body got turned into this gas. They told me this was exactly what was meant to happen. The bastards took my body and turned me into a damn ghost.
Their plan succeeded. We sure did become unstoppable weapons of war. That robot body was sure no simple Japanese entertainment bot. It was one of them. Our bodies got reduced to fuel to power them: our suits of armour. No, perhaps our homes? Another prison? It’s like sitting inside of a sauna, but you can’t leave. So hot. It was so cold before, why does it have to be hot now? Our spirit bodies burn to bring them to life. Our spirits burn to drive them headlong through gunfire. Our spirits burn to give them the power to smash armies. They call them the Monoliths. And let me tell you this: they are goddamn scary! Now I’m goddamn scary! Haha! We are the ghosts in the machine.”
I’ve been toying with an idea recently, I’m not going to reveal everything here straight away but i thought I’d type up a few notes I’ve written. Just for flavor reasons, you understand. Surprisingly enough its actually a science fiction idea, as opposed to my usual endeavors. Hopefully I’m going to type up another piece of writing later on tonight. Well, that’s the plan anyway.
Operation Gravewalker: Special forces directive using undisclosed means to turn both volunteers and convicts into ‘Spirits’. These spirits act as spectral pilots and fuel for the ‘Monoliths’.
Monolith: Mechanical weapons of war. Usually bipedal, but can be modified however the pilot wishes or requires. Requires a human being to be ‘Aetherised’ to control the machine. The pilots incorporeal form acts as fuel for the ‘Furnace’. A pilot is anchored to the Monolith, but does not have to permanently reside within it.
Spirits: A spirit is a human being who has gone through the ‘Aetherisation’ process and become an incorporeal being akin to a ghost of legend. Like the traditional myths, Spirits are able to use many of the same abilities attributed to ghosts, such as possession of inanimate objects and passing through solid walls for example.
The Furnace: The “engine” of a Monolith. A mystical power source that requires spectral energy to operate. Able to produce colossal amounts of power but for obvious reasons spectral energy is hard to come by. A Spirit pilots body burns for all time within a Monolith to keep his or her Furnace active.
Aetherisation: Process of converting a humans body into a spectral being without killing them. An unknown machine owned by the state is used for this purpose. The subject loses their physical body permanently, but is able to perform many actions that are traditionally attributed to ghosts. They are then known as ‘Spirits’.
Well, i was on the train coming back from Lee’s recently and in good fashion i remembered to keep a pen and notebook handy. While staring blankly out into the night, i came up with this out of nowhere. Most peculiar.
“It’d been a long time since i saw a sky like this. I couldn’t of asked for a more beautiful re-introduction. It was one of those perfect, movie set sunsets. You know the ones; the ones with a huge gleaming sun, the very definition of orange, the very definition of fire. I’d imagine the warmth of the sun would be such a perfect caress right now. So motherly, so comfortable. If only i could feel it. If only i could feel anything.
To think, a few days ago i had almost forgotten what daylight looked like. So long i had spent below ground. So long i had suffered. So long i had served “Them”.
I don’t remember what “They” did to me. I remember a blinding light followed by equally blinding pain. I don’t know what They did to me. I don’t know whether to thank Them or not. Since then I’ve been stronger, tougher and faster. Almost unnaturally so.
With my bare hands, i can rend stone and steel. I can life boulders the size of cars. I can calculate problems at a rate surely impossible. Surely They have changed me, i couldn’t always do that, could i? I don’t bleed. What is bleeding? I don’t remember. I can see in the dark. Do humans do that? Why can’t i remember?
The sun changes from iridescent orange to foreboding red. Red? What’s that? Scarlet? I don’t know. So much red!
I can’t help peering around. The red is following my eyes! It’s on the sand. It’s at my feet. It’s… on my hands.
Blood. Is that blood? What’s blood? What are these shapes around me? Enemies? Shadows?
Bodies…”
