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World Building

Started by Thunder-squall, 29, April, 2014, 11:11:01 PM

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Thunder-squall

How do you do it?  Why do you do it?

Often times worlds are said to be built by accident, but sometimes they're built for a purpose.  Truth be told, I've only ever built worlds after I've had some sort of story to tell, or a concept to flush out.  In that context, the worlds I built were mostly cradles or wombs-- They were secondary characters, rather than independent characters in and of themselves, and I know many who critique that.

So I guess this thread is to talk about the worlds we've built, and how or why we've built them.

Rolina

Start with a seed and make it grow.  You start with the protagonist's starting town and culture, then you describe what the region is like - such as geography and what the major economic sources are (mining, farming, fishing, etc), then the country and it's political details and overarching culture.  Then you make its neighbors.  You expand to the continent.  You keep at it, eventually stopping when you've made the whole world.

Then you define the rules of the world.  Is magic a thing?  What kind?  Do they use traditional magic?  Arcane and Divine like D&D?  Psionic like Golden Sun?  Then you define the rule of that magic - what it can and cannot do.  Then you NEVER BREAK THOSE RULES EVER.  Because if you do the fanbase will kill you.  Even if you don't have one, they'll hunt you down and put a pipebomb in your mailbox.  Just don't do it - it messes everything up when you break the rules.  Define the level and style of tech.  Modern Tech?  Medieval Tech?  Steampunk?  Magitech?  Pick a tech level and style and never deviate from it.  In a low magitech world, for instance, you don't want to suddenly introduce magic guns, which should be a mid- to high-tech level.

Next, go back to the characters.  What is their backstory?  Don't get too detailed yet, just the general gist of who they are and what they're like.  From that, you can name them pretty easy, as well as better define their roles in the story.  Do this for all the characters.  ALL of them, not just the heroes, but the villains you want, and any important character you have in mind.

Finally, you can work on story.  As you go through the story, any major character you come up with should have the character step done for them as well.  You'll find that stuff comes together a lot easier when you have this skeleton to work with and flesh out.

Thunder-squall

#2
In another thread, I just raised the idea that the planet over which Weyard lies may have already succumbed to dark energy, and that Weyard managed to survive the darkness by harnessing the power of the gods.

So then what of the world below?  If it was nothing but darkness, could sentient life re-emerge from that darkness?  And if it managed to remerge, might an onlooker from Weyard brave the journey down to bring them fire (a la Prometheus)?  I think that'd be an interesting story to tell, and an interesting world to explore.  And this is basically an example of what might get me down the path to world building.

I also wonder if, by fear that the darkness of the planet may have sensed the presence of alchemy in Weyard, and may have come for it, that the Ancients then had to abandon Weyard, leaving behind what we see on Weyard today.

Rolina

...Please don't take offense, but... The hell are you talking about?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#4
From what I gather, here's a quick outline of her post.

-Planet is made up of dark energy.
-Weyard is on this planet.
-Weyard survives due to the Gods.

-I think paragraph two is about if there's life under Weyard. (Underworld?)

-For fear that darkness realizes alchemy is on Weyard, the Ancients leave.
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Thunder-squall

Yep. Basically.  The planet below is engulfed in dark energy, and a few escape it by building the drifting continent of Weyard (or something like it, since this is its own world), as sort of an [Noah's] Ark.

The next suggestion was that the god-beings on Weyard try to recreate life on the dark planet, using methods which paralleled other creation myths.  Such Prometheus bringing down fire, or maybe shooting down beams of light  ('let there be light')

Rolina

#6
...Why must people insist that a clearly flat world is round?  What's with you wacky Round Weyard Atheists? :P

At least that explains it a bit, though.  I was all "wait, where'd she get this from?  Are we still talking about GS?"  Personally, I subscribe to a different view, as you can see from my opening tease.  I believe in Flip Side theory, where there's two sides to Weyard's flat world.  Two completely different sets of Elemental Stars, of heroes and antagonists, of countries and continent.  The way I like to flavor it is that it's a literal flip of the "top side" - so stuff like Katanas and Samurai would be considered "Western things", while stuff like European knights and kings would be a more "eastern" culture, so to speak.

It also explains the Psynergy Vortexes.  The top side lit their golden sun before the bottom side, so pressure started building up.  Eventually, that high pressure escapes to where the area of lower pressure is, and that's what a psynergy vortex is.  On the flip side, they have violent Psynergy Storms instead, and once they started happening, the heroes abandoned their quest, thinking that by unleashing the power of alchemy they were actually the ones causing this.  Supposedly, GS4 or 5 would fix this, and later in the future, where my stories take place, it's no longer an issue.

Thunder-squall

Summon animations feature a round planet. Round planet is round.

Rolina

TLA clearly shows a flat planet, and you can reach every edge.  Flat planet is flat.

Summon animations also pretty much destroy the planet, so your argument is also that the heroes blew it the heck up instead of saving it...

KyleRunner

#9
Quote from: Thunder-squall on 01, May, 2014, 07:08:42 AM
1) Summon animations feature a round planet. Round planet is round.

2) TLA clearly shows a flat planet, and you can reach every edge.  Flat planet is flat.

Summon animations also pretty much destroy the planet, so your argument is also that the heroes blew it the heck up instead of saving it...



...What if both are right? We can't discard an idea that easily...
How could a world be flat and the planet be round?

Rolina

Pretty sure Weyard's not a deflated balloon - that's the only explanation I can come up with.

Another argument against Round Weyard - at no point, in any game, do you experience the world looping that most RPGs do in their world maps to simulate round planets.  If you go all the way west, you will reach the literal end of the world, and will have to go all the way back west just to reach the western side of things.  In fact, I'm pretty sure Gaia Falls exists in DD, so this should be blatant even there.


Also, would like to point out.  Thunder-squall's idea?  The floating land over dark planet?  That's literally the setting of Final Fantasy 3.  Not may game worlds at all do the flat world thing - so to be honest I'd actually prefer it if we didn't just do what final fantasy did twenty years ago.  Weyard being flat makes it feel somewhat special.

Thunder-squall

#11
Quote from: Rolina on 01, May, 2014, 09:17:10 AM
TLA clearly shows a flat planet, and you can reach every edge.  Flat planet is flat.

Summon animations also pretty much destroy the planet, so your argument is also that the heroes blew it the heck up instead of saving it...

TLA shows the edges of Weyard, not the planet.  Beneath Weyard is a major gravitational force.  Beneath Weyard are clouds.

No summon animations destroy the planet, but do cause devastation over the surface of the planet, perhaps giving some insight into what happened in the past.

The following isn't evidence, but the puzzles of Dark Dawn feature metaphors for star constellations, and the movement of heavenly bodies.  Even if Weyard itself doesn't exist in a physical space, there is a physical space to which Weyard is connected.  Therefore it is not unreasonable to bring in a little science into this discussion of a magical world.

I am not so interested in whether you agree or not, but at least understand and respect why I hold the opinions I do.

KyleRunner

Hmmm... How about we start building Weyard?

I catalogued every terrain type in Weyard, so we can begin creating our own ground tiles easily, I think.

I'm doing the same with all mountain types (making sprites of each one), but that will take me more time (not much).


Lord Wolfram

When Alchemy is sealed world crumbles into nothing.
earthquake at Venus Lighthouse made
Idejima to drift away so summons can
damage weyard only when it's Alchemy power is sealed.

Luna_blade

Quote from: Thunder-squall on 30, April, 2014, 12:30:25 AM
In another thread, I just raised the idea that the planet over which Weyard lies may have already succumbed to dark energy, and that Weyard managed to survive the darkness by harnessing the power of the gods.
Well I have not seen the thread yet, but it is more likely that Weyard was created to flee something rather than just created.
Quote from: Thunder-squall on 30, April, 2014, 12:30:25 AM
So then what of the world below?  If it was nothing but darkness, could sentient life re-emerge from that darkness?  And if it managed to remerge, might an onlooker from Weyard brave the journey down to bring them fire (a la Prometheus)?  I think that'd be an interesting story to tell, and an interesting world to explore.  And this is basically an example of what might get me down the path to world building.
I'm certain life can emerge there. In my story all kinds of monsters exist down there.
Also that could be an interesting story idea. Perhaps if you link this thing to saturos' 7 worlds idea, we might get something playable for the DC revival project.
Quote from: Thunder-squall on 30, April, 2014, 12:30:25 AM
I also wonder if, by fear that the darkness of the planet may have sensed the presence of alchemy in Weyard, and may have come for it, that the Ancients then had to abandon Weyard, leaving behind what we see on Weyard today.
Hmm, I'm gonna search some fanfics again on fanfiction.net. I thought I read one about something what you're talikng about.
BTW I think summons represent the elders (like Final Fantasy 6) that left, but stayed connected to Weyard or something like that.

Quote from: RolinaStart with a seed and make it grow.  You start with the protagonist's starting town and culture, then you describe what the region is like - such as geography and what the major economic sources are (mining, farming, fishing, etc), then the country and it's political details and overarching culture.  Then you make its neighbors.  You expand to the continent.  You keep at it, eventually stopping when you've made the whole world.
Well how about we make the DC revival world this way? These steps you came up with seem logical and give us some model to work with.

Quote...Why must people insist that a clearly flat world is round?  What's with you wacky Round Weyard Atheists? :P

At least that explains it a bit, though.  I was all "wait, where'd she get this from?  Are we still talking about GS?"  Personally, I subscribe to a different view, as you can see from my opening tease.  I believe in Flip Side theory, where there's two sides to Weyard's flat world.  Two completely different sets of Elemental Stars, of heroes and antagonists, of countries and continent.  The way I like to flavor it is that it's a literal flip of the "top side" - so stuff like Katanas and Samurai would be considered "Western things", while stuff like European knights and kings would be a more "eastern" culture, so to speak.

It also explains the Psynergy Vortexes.  The top side lit their golden sun before the bottom side, so pressure started building up.  Eventually, that high pressure escapes to where the area of lower pressure is, and that's what a psynergy vortex is.  On the flip side, they have violent Psynergy Storms instead, and once they started happening, the heroes abandoned their quest, thinking that by unleashing the power of alchemy they were actually the ones causing this.  Supposedly, GS4 or 5 would fix this, and later in the future, where my stories take place, it's no longer an issue.
I've never read the Flip Side theory before. Initially I wanted something like this for my fanstory, but I abandoned the idea because of the theories posted on the "dem animal folk" topic.
It is also quite a good theory. Concerning Alchemy it would make sense.


@Weyard Round/flat:
Isn't there some kind of misunderstanding?
I guess Thunder-Squall is talking about the planet underneath Weyard. And planets are round.

Quote from: KyleRunner...What if both are right? We can't discard an idea that easily...
How could a world be flat and the planet be round?
Both can be right. Or any theory that we come up with, unless it is totally based on nothing.
And what exactly do you mean with your third sentence?
Is it about whether Weyard is slightly curved or not?

Quote from: RolinaAlso, would like to point out.  Thunder-squall's idea?  The floating land over dark planet?  That's literally the setting of Final Fantasy 3.  Not may game worlds at all do the flat world thing - so to be honest I'd actually prefer it if we didn't just do what final fantasy did twenty years ago.  Weyard being flat makes it feel somewhat special.
Yeah I get why you're conflicted, but as pointed out above I guess she's talking about the planet not Weyard being round?
Or isn't that the case anymore?
You are right though, if we want a really original game, we shouldn't use things of the past.

Quote from: SaturosWhen Alchemy is sealed world crumbles into nothing.
earthquake at Venus Lighthouse made
Idejima to drift away so summons can
damage weyard only when it's Alchemy power is sealed.
How exactly does that work? I can understand that when Alchemy is usealed it becomes a sort of cycle, that Psynergy is stored somewhere used, then stored again. But if Alchemy is unsealed how does it work?
"Hear the sounds and melodies
Of rilets flowing down
They're the verlasting songs
Whispering all the time
As a warning that behind some rocks
There's a rigid grap even
Oreads fear the tread"

Rolina

Okay, so if Weyard is flat, then what size is the planet below?  Weyard holds several continents within it, with the approximate surface area of the Planet Earth.  If Weyard sits atop a fully round planet with proper Newtonian physics, then I have two questions...

First, why is Weyard not being drawn to this supermassive planet?  How is it not crushed by such enormous gravitational forces?
Second, how big is Weyard in relation to the planet?  Weyard has a full planetary ecosystem.  Two poles and a tropical zone.  Using newtonian physics, Weyard would have to be positioned in juuuust the right way that such a thing could even be possible - but if it's just a floating mass on a much larger supermassive planet, then why doesn't it have a unified/homogenized ecosystem?  Why is it full planetary scale, when your claim is literally that it's not the size of a planet?

KyleRunner

Quote from: Luna_blade on 02, May, 2014, 02:32:30 AM


Quote from: KyleRunner...What if both are right? We can't discard an idea that easily...
How could a world be flat and the planet be round?
Both can be right. Or any theory that we come up with, unless it is totally based on nothing.
And what exactly do you mean with your third sentence?
Is it about whether Weyard is slightly curved or not?


World: Weyard
Planet: ??? ==> insert anything our minds can build, as long there's no lore contradiction.

I guess my dichotomy is a little hard to understand...? Maybe the people, whose World is Weyard, can't even imagine there are inumerous others in the same Planet.

Dichotomy "World" and "Planet". 

Thunder-squall

#17
Quote from: Rolina on 02, May, 2014, 07:35:43 PM
Okay, so if Weyard is flat, then what size is the planet below?  Weyard holds several continents within it, with the approximate surface area of the Planet Earth.  If Weyard sits atop a fully round planet with proper Newtonian physics, then I have two questions...

First, why is Weyard not being drawn to this supermassive planet?  How is it not crushed by such enormous gravitational forces?
Second, how big is Weyard in relation to the planet?  Weyard has a full planetary ecosystem.  Two poles and a tropical zone.  Using newtonian physics, Weyard would have to be positioned in juuuust the right way that such a thing could even be possible - but if it's just a floating mass on a much larger supermassive planet, then why doesn't it have a unified/homogenized ecosystem?  Why is it full planetary scale, when your claim is literally that it's not the size of a planet?

Magic and zol.  Weyard is a world of both magic and science, just as psyenergy adepts use both science and magic. I suspect the planet is a gas giant, and Weyard could be very much like a moon to it, or a satellite. The more popular opinion is that it's an elevated plateau, but I'm personally exploring the likelihood of it being a floating ark, due to the 'rule of cool' potential, and also just the evidence as I see it.

I do not think that even Rolina believed her claim in red until she was trying to come up with objections, but the gas giant hypothesis happens to survive the claim that Weyard has approximately the same surface as the Earth (but really, is it a common opinion that Weyard is that big?).  Compare the size of earth to the other, larger planets.

I believe that life on Weyard is only made possible through alchemy and inherent psyenergy, which might also be responsible for its elevated position.  I had forgotten why I took this for granted, and so I did some digging, and found the source.


  • KRADEN: Unless the lighthouse beacons are all lit, Weyard will eventually be destroyed.
  • ISAAC: Destroyed? But...how? Why?
  • PIERS: King Hydros, ruler of Lemuria, says that our world is steadily shrinking.
  • SHEBA: Elemental energy drives the growth of civilization. Without it, we and our world will wither.

There's more here to discuss, but for the time being this information is sufficient to support the idea that Weyard defies the laws of physics using Magic, and if it stops defying the laws of physics, it will cease to be.  I believe this supports my thesis that Weyard is a satellite to a planet, and I believe this is an argument against the "Weyard is just an elevated plateau" argument.

Speculation using additional information from Dark Dawn

Dark Dawn has also given more reasons for believing that both the manipulation of psyenergy and science are vital to the persistence of Weyard.  These are primarily seen through the puzzles to the Apollo Sanctum, as well as the final mechanisms found there.  Dark Dawn provides evidence and clues that did not exist in the previous games, and which allows us to come up with better and more complete theories than those which existed in the past.

(so all y'all gba purists can suck it.)

I believe that Weyard's infinite flow of water is due to an alchemy engine on a scale similar to the one seen in Dark Dawn's Tiamat Summon (image attached).  I believe the summons in Dark Dawn resemble characters that exist or once existed, and what I find striking about them is the fusion of magic and tech, as with Thor, and as with Judgement.

A lot of mythology speaks about the cusp of light and dark (typically through metaphors of sex between father sky and mother earth), and that brief union is where the human world (typically flat) is created.  I think it is neatest and most narratively powerful origin story that could apply to Weyard, and a spiritual variant of Occam's razor would compel me to assume that that's true.  If I consider that origin story, and the applicability of science in that world, then I get the following picture:  The universes contain balls of light and dark energy, and when they interact, magic happens.  And magic could happen differently each time, which means that Earth and Weyard could exist in the same universe, while following different magical rules. This being true would be a vital boon to the series, and have the same benefits that Star Wars gets from being in the same world as ours, but at a different time and a different place.

Precise Origins of Weyard

Weyard persists artificially, by harnessing magic using science, or "alchemy," as some might call it.  This opens up the possibility that Weyard was originally *built* and we really do not know, nor probably can know, much about that -- Other than planetary motion seemed to be important to whomever designed all the Ancient's stuff. Which suggests that they came from space, or wanted to go to space.

Rolina

Um, yes.  Weyard really is that big.  It's a literal analogue of our world.  The continents and cultures match up to real world places and peoples.  It's pretty much been understood to be an alternate version of Earth for the last 7+ years, ever since TLA was released and we had full world access.

Thunder-squall

Then it's a good thing I came along to set you guys straight.  That idea is plain dumb.

Unless you have any evidence or reasoning for it.  Otherwise it's plain rejected.