r/worldbuilding's Official Prompts #1!

[u/Pyrsin7]

I used to do these a while ago. and unfortunately life got me pretty busy and I wasn't able to keep it up. But they were a lot of fun, and I've really been wanting to come back to them!

With these we hope to get you to consider elements and avenues of thought that you've never pursued before. We also hope to highlight some users, as we'll be selecting two responses-- One of our choice, and the comment that receives the most upvotes, to showcase next time!

This post will be put into "contest mode", meaning comment order will be randomized for all visitors, and scores will only be visible to mods.

If you've got any other questions or comments, feel free to ask in the comments!

But with that, on to the prompt! This one is a suggestion left over from last time, submitted by u/Homicidal_Harry:

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

If you have any suggestions for prompts of your own, feel free to submit them here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9ulojVGbsHswXEiQbt9zwMLdWY4tg6FpK0r4qMXePFpfTdA/viewform?usp=sf_link

[u/paoebom]

• What is the nature of Gods in your setting?

All gods are fundamentally "something that has ascended" be it a princess in a tower helplessly watching her empire crumble, a magic circle that unfortunately became sentient or a museum that seems to travel in time — All it takes is for a criteria to be met for them to be engraved as divine in the stars. There's much speculation about what it is but no true answer as the event of ascension is exceedingly rare, and honestly I don't know if it's of my interest to have a solid one.

• Are they creators of the universe that predate time itself, or just very powerful beings perceived as gods?

A basic principle I want to abide in the setting is that there's no superior being who created it all, the world came to existence and all deities that ascended are a consequence of some historical event.

• Are your deities a pantheon of immortals in the image of man like Greek gods, or vast, indescribable, otherworldly entities too great for mortal minds to comprehend?

Depends on the god, all of them have a perspective and power too different for an individual to understand but when it comes to the mind it depends on what ascended. By ascending, no matter what did, it will gain thoughts but the thoughts that a living place (The Museum) gets are very distinct if not completely alien to normal humans compared to the thoughts of an ascended human(The Princess).

Things such as going mad by gazing at a god also depends, the domains of some just come with that if you do not take care.

• How often do they interact with the mortal world? If they do, what stakes do they have in the events of your setting?

Frequently but some less than others, all of them ascended for some reason unique reason and fundamentally their existence is just about trying to achieve that. For example, The Museum randomly appears seeking to trade with specific others gaining a treasure in exchange of something it already has, The Princess seeks to see and experience all the world has to offer and so she rose a gigantic tower that attracts all kinds of people and cultures with countless promises.

[u/paoebom → u/paoebom]

• Can your gods die? If so, explain how the consequences that would follow.

Not only they can die as it is a particularly big part of the setting. To quote myself:

"It is said that a man dies twice, once when their heart last beats and again when they are last remembered, then what a distinguishes a man from a god is simple — They only ever die once."

When a god dies their corpse becomes another layer of reality and so their influence never disappears, one special aspect of this in particular is that Necromancy is the main and likely only form of magic existent in the setting being applied in a ton of ways which includes the limited manipulation of these divine corpses. So at very minimum expect new forms of magic to be born from their death.

One specific case I can tell is the death of the one associated by most to be the God of Thoughts, Dreams and Nightmares. Their corpse is a Language, if two individuals that share no tongues try to talk with each other it allows them to understand what the other intends to communicate as some kind of Universal Language.

This naturally resulted in a boom for the ability of civilizations to connect but problems and chaos followed as it was soon found that this "Universal Language" can only be used when people communicate directly, not through text.

• Do your gods even exist in your setting? Even if they don't, how would the people of your setting answer these questions?

They do and reality makes it painfully obvious what and who are true gods, therefore rather than believing in different deities it's most common the setting for different faiths to interpret the same gods in different ways. Some gods care and actively take part in the religion they want to support, others don't really and just let people believe what they want.