༉˚*ೃ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃-𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆.

world-building is a tough beast, but it's also my favourite aspect of creating any story. this is the general process of how i go about creating fleshed-out worlds, a skeletal outline on all the things that should be considered and established when creating your own country, world or universe.

.     &     ━     flora and fauna   →   nature or lack of. what kinds of plants and creatures live in your world? in what climates, situations and countries do they thrive? how have they adapted to different aspects of your world ?

.     &     ━     mountable animals   →   the equivalent of horses, camels, elephants, etc. what animals or creatures can characters or races in your world ride? bison, dinosaurs, wildcats, manticores, mythical horses or deer, etc. consider the storm crow, where they ride roc-sized birds; ASOIAF, where the yi-tish ride zebra, the golden company ride elephants, and the valyrians ride dragons. how are these associated with particular cultures ?

.     &     ━     weather and climate   →   what weather occurs in what places (think of ASOIAF, the north and the wall vs king's landing in the south, desert-like essos in the east and jungle-filled sothoryos)? how severe is the weather? are natural disasters common? how do the tides rise? everything to do with weather and climate !

.     &     ━     season   →   goes hand-in-hand with weather and climate. how do seasons in this world work? a great example is g.r.r.m.'s a song of ice and fire, where the two primary seasons are summer and winter, where summers last for years and deadly winters even longer .

.     &     ━     natural landscapes   →   all the landscapes naturally formed (or perhaps by the gods, if that's what your characters believe) that are significant or awestriking. think giant mountains that are a place of worship; caverns that are the home to a certain race; long valleyways and deep rivers. the different aspects that make up a map .

.     &     ━     maps   →   creating maps or the idea of a map is a good way to tie the world together. which races or cultures live where? how have cultures or cities that are close influenced each other, through art, language, peace or war? what are significant natural, manmade or creature-made landscapes or architecture? are there cities or buildings that have been abandoned ?

.     &     ━     environment   →   a overview of all of the rest of the above with added elements. how does the environment differ from place-to-place, how do different races / cultures adapt to their environment (using stilts in mad max: fury road in the swamp-lands, etc) like desert, ocean, rocky land, islands, jungle, etc ?

.     &     ━     places of importance   →   natural or manmade. religious, cultural or personal places: may be monuments, historical architecture, or significant landscape. perhaps your character journeys here, rests here, or perhaps it's a place where travellers pilgrimage to .

.     &     ━     architecture   →   think of how different cultures have established architecture of their own: what were the differences between the sumerians, the mayans, the greeks, the egyptians, the pacific-islanders, the vikings? think about how different aspects of the culture, climate, landscape and environmental aspects would affect the architecture and buildings of this civilisation .

.     &     ━     history   →   if you want to create a world as vast and deep as that of j.r.r. tolkien or george r.r. martin, this is incredibly important. this is one i'll need to go into with more depth in a later chapter, but here is a brief description. how did the world come to be? who were the first dwellers of this continent, were they overthrown by settlers (most likely, yes), and who came afterwards? how have their kingdoms been established, which countries, houses or great families rose to power and fell (the targaryens, reins of castamere, etc.)? were those who were overthrown enslaved or slaughtered? who are heroes of legends, will they reappear in this story and are they really what it seems? so on, and so on .

.     &     ━     folklore, mythologies and legends   →   the backbone of culture, primarily in fantasy societies. leads in with history, whether people believe it or not is another question. does each race have their own beliefs, myths and pantheon? what are the legends of heroes or creation that shapes their world view, their culture ? 

.     &     ━     religion   →   ties in closely with folklore, myths and legend. will likely differ from race to race, or at least would have in the beginning. do they pray to gods, do they perform in worship, sacrifice (human or passive sacrifice, like fruits, seeds, etc.), are there religious places of importance? do they worship a single god, or a pantheon, or thousands like the ancient egyptians? is every tree, rock and river a god of its own ?

.     &     ━     creation story   →   a large aspect of religion and myth, every religion or mythology has their own creation story (though many of them are similar). are these true, or simply beliefs? each race and culture may have a different creation story .

.     &     ━     songs, poems, hymns   →   a large aspect of every culture. may be sung religiously, for fun, or for historical purposes. different cultures and races will have different songs. think of ballads, laments, bawdy songs, tragedies, love songs, etc .

  .     &     ━     culture   →   what are the different aspects that make up this country's or race's culture? a combination of all the things in this list .

  .     &     ━     agriculture   →   fishing, farming, livestock: all the ways to produce food. what plants and animals are edible? how would a cliffside-living race grow and harvest crops and hunt compared to one living by an oceanside ?

  .     &     ━     medicine   →   what types of medicines are there? what are the more common medicines, what are the rarer or more expensive? are there diseases or sicknesses that have no cure? who treats the sick: doctors, pharmacists, healers, priests or witches? are any medicines or cures outlawed? from what plants or substances are medicines made ?

.     &     ━     customs   →   what is considered polite, what are the culture's social rules that are expected to be known ?

  .     &     ━     entertainment   →   theatre, arena battles, tv, concerts, dance, etc .

  .     &     ━     fashion   →   what do different races wear on a day-to-day basis, on special occasions? does it differ based on class and wealth? consider the time period in which this is set. is armour a customary addition, even beneath dresses? what colours are considered lucky or good omens, what are considered bad? what do people wear to funerals? consider all the way fashion impacts societies .

.     &     ━     the arts   →   art, writing, dance, music, theatre, acrobatics, etc. how do these arts impact culture and society (the arts have always had a large impact on how people view the world; how society functions). are those who perform the arts considered special — placed high in the social hierarchy — or looked down upon?

.     &     ━     novels   →   as a part of the arts, books also greatly impact how cultures view the world. consider books of the histories of this world, fiction genres, collections of poems and lyrics, political books, etc .

.     &     ━     music   →   what kinds and forms of music are prevalent in your world? instrumental, singing or contemporary? do bards or musicians play for the public? are they praised or looked down upon? do different cultures and races have different music (how do the elves' compare to the dwarves'?) .

.     &     ━     crafts   →   what are common crafts that cultures make? do they have a purpose, for example religious, good omens, etc? think of in ASOIAF, how catelyn stark and the mothers of westeros make weavings of the seven gods as a sign of protection for their children .

.     &     ━     food   →   what do different races and cultures eat? are societies vegetarian, vegan or carnivorous? how do they rely on agriculture for these foods? what dishes do they make, and how do these differ between the rich and the poor, the upper class and the lower class? does everyone have enough food ?

.     &     ━     technology   →   what level of technology does your world have? goes hand-in-hand with genre: consider steampunk, urban fantasy, fantasy, science fiction, etc. perhaps a fantasy world could contain advanced, futuristic technology (think of the culture in black panther, how technology fits into their society seamlessly, without removing their culture); then again, a fantasy world may not even contain guns. the video game horizons: zero dawn is a brilliant example of a fantasy-like world comprised of tribes, imbedded with futuristic technology .

.     &     ━     power sources   →   what powers the cities in your world? do they rely on horsepower and natural sources, chemical powerplants, electricity, gas, coal, or solar / renewable energy ? 

.     &     ━     time period   →   is the novel set in the future with sci-fi guns and spaceships, or in a medieval-like fantasy era with swords and horses ?

.     &     ━     language and slang   →   most likely different cultures and races will have different languages or dialects, and likely also different slang. this could vary even from city to city. think about how this is in the real world: american slang varies wildly from that of british, and again from australian. not only will cultures have different slang and dialects, but races and societies within those races as well .

.     &     ━     a common language   →   "the common tongue". which is the primary language of your world ?

.     &     ━     politics of the world   →   which countries get along, which are at war? do different races have peace with one another? do they view each other as monsters? do they even know that other societies exist? how do governments functions in each of these cultures? what are the different relations between cities, countries, continents or planets ?

.     &     ━     class systems   →   how do class systems and social hierarchies in these cultures work? who are the upper class, who are the middle, and who are the lower? are the priests, generals or monarchs at the head of society? do the artists rule the world? who are seen as lower than the rest? how does this affect them ?

.     &     ━     gender   →   how does gender operate in this world? most likely, it'll differ from culture to culture. are men in charge (patriarchy), women (matriarchy), or are they equal (egalitarian)? remember that throughout history, up until recent societies, all of these have existed particularly through the ancient world (think of ancient mesopotamia, the vikings). are nonbinary or genderfluid people accepted and common in society (like they were in many ancient societies, before the modern era) ?

.     &     ━     sexuality   →   are different sexualities accepted and common in this world? will most likely differ from culture to culture as well. for example, bisexuality and homosexuality was common and even encouraged in ancient greece. to use ASOIAF as an example again: in most of westeros, heterosexuality is seen as the only appropriate orientation, but in dorne, it is acceptable and common to be bisexual or homosexual. more societies are more open to the idea, particularly those not colonised .

.     &     ━    philosophy .

.     &     ━     places for people to live   →   are houses the norm, apartments, tents, caves, etc.? how does this differ between the different social classes and races? between socieites and cultures? different types of shelter .

.     &     ━     celebrities and pop culture   →   do these exist? may even be in the form of famous knights, scientists, who the women and men woo over, etc (thinking sansa stark with loras tyrell) . 

.     &     ━     currency   →   coin, digital, bartering? harry potter is a good example of a coin system with new, creative names and a different worth for each coin .

.     &     ━     educational institutions   →   where do children and adults learn? schools, universities, churches, etc.? who can learn, can girls / women? is there segregation between genders, races, ages? what are they taught? is propaganda present in their teachings? (probably, yes) .

.     &     ━     police and emergency services   →   who enforces the law, the legal system? do healers run emergency services, or someone else? are mountable animals involved? mercenaries or bounty hunters ?

.     &     ━     prejudice   →   what races and societies are each cultures prejudice against? do they show prejudice in homophobia, racism, xenophobia, classism, etc.? are those in a lower class looked down upon and separated ?

.     &     ━     rules and limitations   →   what is against the law in this society and what is culturally unacceptable? are these used to discriminate against certain groups ?

.     &     ━     crime   →   is crime a prevalent problem in this society? are the criminals a sign of a rebellion, admired; or are they evil-hearted and in the wrong? do the central characters have connections with the criminals? what are considered crimes in these societies and are they punished justly? how are crimes raised in cities of less wealth and higher poverty rates, etc. how do the privileged get away with crime ?

.     &     ━     legal systems   →   who resides over the legal systems? gods, the royals, the generals of armies, judges, priests, the people? how do trials and punishments work? is excecution a legal punishment? what vigilante groups might spring from injustice in the legal system? how is the law used against those of lower privilege ?

.     &     ━     government   →   what is the government comprised of? it is a stand-alone government or are they overlooked by a ruler of some kind (king / queen, emperor / empress, god / goddess, etc.)? is the government corrupt? (probably). how does this corruption surface, are their rebellions or criminals trying to bring it down? who works for the government, how do the systems work ?

.     &     ━     rulers   →   who rule over these races, cities or countries? gods, priests, generals, governments, kings, emperors, democratic leaders, tyrants or dictators, etc. do the rulers have a family who will follow in their line of succession? are they corrupt or magical ?

.     &     ━     means of travel   →   walking, riding bikes or motorbikes, cars, carriages, animal-back, spaceship, flying, etc .

.     &     ━     places characters can assemble   →   places of worship, community lots, gardens, town hall, etc. are these places accessible to everyone, or only a few? are they elite? how do people commune in these places ?

.     &     ━     trade and commerce   →   which countries, cities or societies are famous for a kind of trade? (silk, ore and minerals like gold or gemstones, jewellery, ships, weapons, etc). which countries are open to trade and commerce, which are self-sufficient or closed to outsiders? which countries have bad blood with each other and refuse to open trade? how is trade affected during wars, etc .

.     &     ━     races and species   →   what are the different races and species that inhabit this world? are they all verbal? do they view each other as equal? do they get along? how are each of their cultures different based on their race? is love between different races viewed as wrong? what might mixed children be like? how do different societies in the particular races work (eg. the high elves vs the dark elves) ?

.     &     ━     power dynamic   →   what are the overall power dynamics of this world? which races, societies, leaders, gods, etc. overpower the other? which ultimately have control ?

.     &     ━     propaganda   →   how does propaganda affect these different cultures? do they create nationalism, prejudice or hatred? are children indoctrinated to believe this? are they taught in schools? in media and the arts? what are the subtle ways propaganda is present in their lives ?

.     &     ━     weapons and armour   →   what are the common types of weapons and armour? swords, lances, bows, daggers, axes, etc. these will probably differ from culture to culture. does everyone have them? men and women? children too? are they taught to use them at a young age ?

.     &     ━     ways of war   →   how do different societies operate in ways of war? do they opt for a peaceful, defensive approach, through words and wisdom? do they fight bloody and opt for brutal war? are they a ship-bound society where their primary instrument of war is boats and naval battles? are they sky-bound in the sense that they use aeroplanes and flying mechanism? do the war-loving societies pray on the peaceful? consider the differences between athens and sparta in the peloponnesian wars. do they rely on magic or their gods for strength and assistance? do their gods listen ?

studying civilisations around the world in the kind of time period you wish to set your story is also a good idea. in fantasy stories, it's always good to examine the cultures of the medieval era, the ancient greeks, the vikings, the ancient egyptians, their myths and architecture, their weapons, the intricacies of their culture, etc. if you're a history / mythology buff like me, then this should be good fun! if you're writing a science fiction story, take a look at how we in the world view each other today — apply that to how we may view other planets and cultures in the same way, etc. creating worlds is all about looking at the now, looking at the past: at what we accomplished and what we didn't — and seeing beyond into the impossible.

each of these concepts i've listed i will delve into in further detail in later chapters, but these are the frameworks you should be working with when developing a dynamic, living world of your own! enjoy it, world-building is by far my favourite part of creating my stories.