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/EmperorMatthew]

1: Gods are beings sometimes former mortals thought to be rulers over a certain aspect of the world like war, nature, ect.

2: The only one of the gods to have created the universe is The Child of the Stars who used endless amounts of beads to create the stars, comets, meteors, planets, moons, everything else which he did so on a whim hoping to entertain themself.

3: They are normally altogether in a pantheon but may be the main god of small settlements who heavily focus on what domain that God holds. Like a village focusing on healing would worship Elias the Goddess of Healing and Health. They also take on a humanoid appearance with some abnormal features like The Child of the Stars being made of the cosmos itself from their eyes being literal stars to having a black hole in their chest and a white hole on their back or Aran-Igis the goddess of all things related to crafting and forging.

4: It's believed that they do frequently interact with mortals especially The Child of the Stars who loves to play amongst them. Most other gods mainly interact with mortals who believe and worship them leaving mortals who worship other gods alone out of respect for one another.

5: Not normally no but as The Child of the Stars is the strongest and oldest of all gods its thought that he could very easily kill them should they wish using his universe ending powers hence why all other gods fear and respect them listening to whatever they say for them to do.

6: I don't believe they really exist in my setting as just like in real life you can believe they are real or not real it's up to the person. Etanians native to Etanus who believe in the gods which is most of them would answer by explaining things they believe to be true about the gods.