YOUR cool worldbuilding !

[EdenInTheGardens]

As the title says ! I'd love to hear people's cool worldbuilding ideas etc, to start off I had some thoughts about vampires for a story of mine, this is for a sort of post-apocalypse low magic fantasy setting ? In my very early drafts but yeah   

"Click here for Eden's vampire thoughts"

We'll start with the very basics !

Vampires do need human blood to survive, they can substitute it for animal blood for a while, but not for long
They do have slightly longer fangs than normal humans, and overall more muscle density, they're also generally taller
They can't turn into bats, I'm sorry there's not a lot of bat anything here, same for garlic, however there may be other things that work against them (we'll see that later)
The sun doesn't harm them physically, but by God they fucking hate being in the sunlight, like psychologically it's difficult for them.
   

  Now onto the big backstory of how vampires came to be and why they're like this :
Vampirism is actually a dormant gene that is present in most (but not all) humans, the gene in itself reawakens a sort of predator-like instinct to survive and hunt, this world is a sort of fantasy-post apocalypse, as it is this apocalypse that brought the need for vampires, that gene was needed because humans needed more protection and overall needed to be more violent, but as those times passed vampires became less needed and so they became rarer and rarer.

Now, the thing is that gene isn't actually naturally occurring in humans, like at all, the people who have it right now are descendants of humans who did something a long time ago in order to survive, and yeah, actually, vampirism is genuinely supernatural because it's the result of a pact with an ancient blood deity.
 
So, in exchange for strength and a chance to protect your friends in family (back then), you had to help the deity with its own hunger : that's why the vampires need to drink human blood, because they're fundamentally connected to the deity's thirst, and need to quell it in order to keep their part of the bargain.

In ancient times this wasn't much of an issue, since there were many vampires the deity's hunger was all "distributed" among them equally, which meant that when they felt hunger it wasn't that strong, however in recent times, since vampires are way rarer, they feel the deity's hunger way more, and that's why modern vampires are more violent and less good at controlling themselves than their predecessors.

I'll also add that the reason so few people are vampires is because the only two ways to be one is either to be born with the gene, and have that gene somehow be active, which is very very very rare, or to become one the old fashioned way, which is pretty rare too because the knowledge on that topic is mostly lost to time.

Thank you for reading so far !!
Hopefully it made some sense, it's the first time I share my creative ideas with people who aren't my close friends so I'm both excited and nervous ahah

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Also I just think that it could be cool to give ideas/comment or add anything or even questions about people's worlds, I know there's already a thread for oc stories but i haven't seen any on worldbuilding specifically, if it's the case, I apologize !

[Memory]

These are mostly unorganized/halfbaked thoughts!

Spoiler

It's 2047 and global warming had caught up to us. The world is ending before people's eyes , its a manmade apocalypse. A few groups of around 40 members each around the world are trying to build underground sanctuaries. The one I focus on Is based in perennifolio [evergreen] highschool in central Panama. There is no electricity anymore so these groups no longer have contact and have to fend for themselves. The ocean is at peoples doorsteps , millions are dying.I have more I can't recall atm I'll add later. Anyways this is supposed to be a cautionary tale.

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[lilac]

Ooh, I love talking and reading about worldbuilding projects! 

@EdenInTheGardens I like the idea of a "forgotten art" or forgotten knowledge of turning into a vampire. Something that can be uncovered if searched for long enough. Also, the "distribution of hunger" to all vampires is an interesting idea. I'd be interested in the relation between humans and vampires. Is it widely known that vampires exist and why they exist, or is that something that got lost with time?

@BUTCHBONEZ I think that's a setting that lends itself well to very interesting stories. I can imagine scenarios where certain underground sanctuaries run out of resources and have to sail out in search of other sanctuaries, only to find them mysteriously empty.

I'll throw in some rough ideas for my own incomplete worldbuilding project as well. It's my take on the generic hard-magic fantasy, but I think the cultures and factions will make it more interesting and unique.

"click here for lilac's thoughts (a little bit of blood and dark themes included)"

a bit about the magic system:

Every living being that uses magic needs to be able to distribute its mana around the body. From the place where it's being produced to the place where it's currently needed. In most animals and some sapient beings, this is handled by the circulatory system, so mana is transported by blood to the organs that need it. If such a being were to be threatened or be in a dangerous situation, its adrenaline levels would rise and blood flow would increase, therefore increasing the flow of mana inside the body. I also like the idea of blood thinners like aspirin being used to increase one's magical abilities. This system can be abused, however. Some spells need a large amount of mana, and one way of getting that is by using the blood of another magical being as a sacrifice.The other system of mana distribution is via the nervous system. This has the advantage of fast mana delivery (as fast as electrical signals). The disadvantage is that it can only send mana to very specific locations instead of the circulatory system distributing it evenly across the body.

a bit about factions:

The wilderness is mostly incredibly hostile, so sapient beings have always created communities to help each other out. Over time, communities grew in size, formed cities, and started trading with other cities. At this point, a few people are experimenting with blood magic, using the blood of another magical being to execute spells that consume too much mana for one person. This is seen as unethical by most people since it requires the torturing of animals in most cases. People practicing blood magic are shunned, and a lot of early advancements in magic are kept secret in fear of being ostracized. Groups of people trying to research and advance magic form groups in secret to work together. These groups are quite cult-like and start to span between cities, assimilating multiple groups into one and starting to call themselves the "acolytes". The general public still only has a vague idea of the existence of the acolytes and they have become a very powerful ancient group with strong knowledge and control of magic, which they keep secret. A sort of magical revolution happens when a certain person discovers that you can increase your magical aptitude by meditating for a long time. This creates a new faction named the "hibiscus church" that is focused on getting better at magic through strict discipline and meditation. In contrast to the acolites, the hibiscus church is institutionally supported in many cities and pushes advanced magic use into the mainstream.

I also have ideas for a few other factions:
"Ivy Shield" is a faction that is created because, after some time, a few people see the methods of the hibiscus church as unscientific, too ritualistic, and based on superstition (even though it sometimes does produce results). The Ivy Shield tries to apply the scientific method to magic and creates schools to teach magic.
"Wisp" is a faction that is created because, over time, the Ivy Shield faction becomes more and more elitist. Wisp mostly consists of a bunch of independent groups all over the globe with wildly different political stances, but the general idea is that they think that magic cannot be taught to everyone in a systematic way. The use of magic is something very personal, and to use it effectively, you must understand yourself very well. A technique that works for one person might not work for you. The last faction is the
"Sentinel Cabinet" They're trying to create a world government, but I haven't thought about it more than that.

Thank you for reading this block of text

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[EdenInTheGardens]

@lilac I love the link between actual biology and magic, I think that's really fun and it slots itself well into making the world feel more coherent, the many factions make a lot of sense too ! I feel like maybe the Sentinel Cabinet would have similar teaching methods to the Ivy Shields, but be more authoritative about it ? I feel like if you're trying to create a world government it won't end very well, also, if the hibiscus church is well supported by the mainstream, I wonder how the factions that came after it are seen ?

EDIT : Oops forgot to reply to your question.. I feel like vampirism as a whole is somewhat known but not how vampires happen to exist or how they work exactly, I think as the knowledge faded, each culture started making their own spin on the vampire and through stories etc, the beliefs surrounding them became either mismatched with reality (apart from the blood sucking aspect) or transformed them into a totally different creature. There is definitely monster hunters in this universe, and I think vampires fit into the monster category for most people

@BUTCHBONEZ As Lilac said I feel like this setting would lend itself well to a lot of different stories :] I feel like in such a world boats and other things would take the lead for transportation, that couls be fun to explore !

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

I want to make a pen-and-paper roleplaying game set in the thirty year war, with added elements from european and international folklore (ghosts, monsters, etc). The breaking of modernity and the cruelty somehow damaged the room-time-continuum: Nobody can orient themself, and the farmers find themself to bring in the harvest directly after preparing the fields, or marry their wife after burying her - and its the same for the millers, the soldiers, the kings - and ofc - the heroes played by the players :D. I'm sure its a neat idea, but realization is complicated.

Another one I'm in the process of realizing right now is a giant city in the middle of the empire. It somehow combines every city one has ever imagined, and is fully functional - but again, it is not possible to grasp it, and nobody can explain how it works - every describtion of it is different.

[Historia-Q]

My wiki on Miraheze has some worldbuilding info I wrote down over there

Anyways, in summary, my world Timesea is a planet with both the skies and oceans being full of illusionary clocks, as well as housing a lot of Nursery Rhyme-themed characters and species. Humans are non-existent in this world, but the Rhymlun species serves as Timesea’s counterpart to humanity, and some real animals and plants exist alongside species that can only be found here. Anything that naturally live inside the oceans of Timesea is said to be suspended to time, meaning they age at a much slower rate than those on land (yes this includes semi-aquatic creatures)

The planet is home to a very tall clocktower that is protected by its Goddess Mother Goose. Its clockface, dubbed the “Clock of Fate” can only grant one wish to reverse a single world-ending calamity every thousand years.

A species of alien dragons named the Magigons are native to this planet’s moon, and are unique compared to other dragons that by eating certain berries, they can change their breaths into the one that said berry grants, but this usually results in losing the breath they originally had. However, one of them stands out for being able to change breaths without losing access to the old one.

These may not be final and therefore are subjected to change, but that’s all I’ve written down.

[EdenInTheGardens]

@ThunderPerfectWitchcraft  It is absolutely a neat idea! I don't know if it's meant to be really a cosmic horror thing, but I think it could lend itself to that, or even go the absolute opposite way, it would work really well for a more comedic vibe

@Historia-Q  Okay the wiki is so so so fun, the worldbuilding is also pretty original, honestly i think I'll have to genuinely read through it all  and magigons are just SO SO CUTE!!

[Historia-Q]

@EdenInTheGardens Aaaah tysm! It's still a mega work in progress, so that's all I could provide so far, but I'm glad you really love my worldbuilding! I hope you can look forward to more eventually.