Creative Writing: World Building

I wanted to flex my storytelling muscles a bit, and had an idea for a… thing? Not a story, not a setting, just a fun element of a bigger idea. But in order for that to make any sense outside of my own head, I felt I needed to set up the world, even just in very broad strokes. So this post is a World Building exercise for a fantasty setting. I hope it’s even vaguely interesting.  

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Massive creatures roam the land and seas, magic is wielded by those who can and those who can’t seek to survive through cooperation or corruption. 

But that is now. This is After. 

In the Before, the world was order.  Mother Earth slept and the planet was calm. The Wardens could not access magics and creatures were hunted for mundane resources. The largest animals on land were of the likes of elk or elephant, while the seas were rich with whales and massive schools of fish. Few people ever travelled further than the horizon around where they were born.

Then there was the Between. Over a millennia ago, the stories tell of a time when the stars fell from the skies day and night. The land was reformed and reshaped, and parts of the ocean bubbled and boiled. New monstrous creatures arrived in the wilds, and over a short few generations, the Wardens were awoken by Mother Earth to protect the people from the new, magical threats. The planet cooled for a time, and weather grew more erratic. But as the stars came back to the night skies and the day skies returned to blue, the planet calmed and settled into it’s new normal. 

That was generations ago. Since the Between, truth has mixed with tale, becoming legend, myth and religion. Mother Earth has worked to bring balance to all once again, but while it is no longer the chaos of the Between, neither is it the order of the Before. 

The After is a time of agriculture and adventure. Humanity has settled across the globe, guided by the knowledge and gifts of the Wardens. They thrive and have adapted to living in any climate or territory. A few regions are controlled by some of the larger wild creatures, such as certain species of pyrvians or the swarming and burrowing cicabras. Those are generally respected as off limits by anyone nearby, but brave or foolhardy adventurers sometimes quest for resources unique to these creatures.  

But creatures migrate and expand and seek out new homes for any number of reasons. The Wardens help to influence them away from large settlements when possible, and when not, assist in relocating the population affected. 

Occasionally, this results in ghost towns. Even more occasionally, it can result in a ghost city. Our heroes live in one such city. The once great city of Grand Port Cove is now more pirate than politician, brigand than baker, mercenary than merchant. Those who live there live in relative peace through mutual understanding that everyone else doesn’t want to be here too. 

That, and the issue with the krakataur. But that’s for another day.