Wylan Van Eck At The Merchant Council Meetings

Season five is prime

Jon: I CAN murder people, but I really shouldn't.

Martin: Well...

Jon:

Martin: Maybe a little murder? :3

Jon:

Distortion!Helen: Yasss Martin. Slayyy.

just some sillies

woah

18.06.2022

I haven't been very active recently, but today I wanted to make another post related to (fantasy) world building. You can check my post about making a character encyclopedia here, or my other post about making an imaginary country.

Now, onto today's theme:

World building: making a religion

That's right! Religion is an important part of human history and - whether you are or are not religious yourself - you might want to give the people in your country or fantasy world some sort of beliefs or religion.

Today I created my very first imaginary religion and I wanted to share my creative process.

As I did with my country building guide, I will shorten the explanation to four simple steps in order to get started and set the basic traits of your religion. Here we go.

1. Type of religion (general traits)

Before anything else, you must think about what kind of religion you want it to be. These are questions you can ask yourself to get started:

Will it be a monotheistic or polytheistic religion?

If polytheistic, how many gods/goddesses are there? Are they arranged in some sort of hierarchy? If so, make a small diagram to organise it.

If monotheistic, is the god/goddess omnipotent? Are they limited by anything? Did they create humankind and the rest of the species?

Is there any kind of sacred texts, similar to the Bible or so? Or is it a religion transmitted orally?

Is the religion centered on any particular aspect of life (e.g. death, chastity, knowledge...)?

Are there pastors or any kind of religious guides or leaders? Or do the people speak directly to the god(s)/goddess(es)?

Does it give any explanation to what happens after death? Is there some sort of Heaven? Do they believe in Hell?

(I recommend thinking of a name, too, but this is not mandatory.)

2. Develop the ideas written before

This might seem obvious.

For polytheistic religions, try to describe as much as possible about every god/goddess. You can take inspiration from actual religions (always being respectful, of course) or ancient mythology. For instance, I decided to base the religion I created on spirits and natural elements (water, earth & forest, light, night and wind). Give the gods and goddesses some recognisable symbols.

Establish some basic rules, too. Here are some prompt questions.

How strict are the leaders of the religion (if there are any leaders at all)? Are the believers required to do anything in particular in their daily lives? Will there be any punishment if they don't do it?

Are there any forbidden foods or drinks?

Do they have any specific celebrations? Write those down and briefly explain them.

What are some of the legends, myths or stories that are part of the religion?

3. Branches

Of course, this is optional, but it is very likely that a religion will eventually split into different branches or groups.

I would recommend establishing which branch is the most important one. Then you can invent as many smaller groups as you want. Explain why they differ from the main branch of the religion and if they are considered to be a cult by the rest of the community.

Again, here are some more questions you can get inspiration from:

Are they a pacifist group or do they attack other believers/apostates/atheists?

Do all branches live peacefully or are they constantly at war?

What names do these branches receive?

4. Integrate the religion in your world/country

Now you have a solid idea of what your religion is like. It's time to integrate it in your fantasy world.

How powerful are the different branches of the religion?

Have they caused any wars or revolutions? Have they succeed in defeating their enemies?

Did the religion expand across other countries? To which ones? Did they make any changes to it?

This is basically everything I can suggest in order to invent a religion from scratch to use in your stories. I hope somebody finds this small guide useful in some way. Thanks for reading :)

OMG IS THAT THE JARCHIVIST :O

yeah so finally mapped out my jon design though the seasons :) gave him a bit of a design change from my old drawings cause i dont like the old one anymore hbeghrtht

a true working cat

📷 from akerrigan777

Comprehensive list of Traffic Life Series curses*:

The Solidarity Gaming Death Curse: Afflicted individual will die first no matter the circumstances.

The Solidarity Gaming Canary Curse: Once the harbinger dies, the server will descend into chaos. Expect much bloodshed in the coming days.

The GoodTimesWithScar Session 5 Curse: Afflicted individual will, without fail, lose all but one life by session 5. If the individual hasn’t yet lost their lives by this point, the universe will course correct.

The GoodTimesWithScar Enchantment Curse: The cursed individual gains an obsession for the sole enchantment table, hailing it as their most important possession to the point of insanity.

The GoodTimesWithScar Pet Curse: Any and all animals befriended by the unfortunate cursebearer will meet a horrific fate at the hands of another.

The GoodTimesWithScar and Grian Life Curse: The first afflicted individual will always lose their first life as a result of the second afflicted individual, whether directly or indirectly.

The Grian Bonds Curse: The unfortunate sufferer of this curse will always end up being responsible for the death of their loved ones.

The TangoTek Isolation Curse: The afflicted individual will suffer an unfortunate final death alone, often dying by no fault of their own or in a meaningless way.

The Smallishbeans Insanity Curse: The afflicted individual, upon reaching their final life, will inevitably go on an insane killing spree in a desperate attempt to win, often burning another’s base down in the process.

The Rendog Last-Stand Curse: The cursed player will die within the walls of their home, in an attempt to defend it one last time.

The Rendog Loyalty Curse: The affected player will get attached to one person or a group of people, and will be loyal to the point of dying for said people.

The Rendog and InTheLittleWood Partnership Curse: The cursed individuals will undoubtedly form a partnership regardless of circumstance, but will be ultimately unable to protect each other.

The BdoubleO100 Tragedy Curse: The cursed individual will disregard all other players and focus on protecting one person they hold dear, inevitably failing as that person dies.

The Smajor1995 Widow Curse: The cursebearer’s chosen partner will always die before them, with the cursebearer being unable to save them.

The Zombiecleo Widow Maker Curse: The cursebearer will always die before their chosen partner, no matter the circumstances.

The Zombiecleo Betrayal Curse: The afflicted individual will be betrayed by someone close to them, and will hold a grudge until their revenge is total.

The Victor Curse: Although victory is the prize all seek, no one will come out with their lives. Alone in an abandoned world, where they are the last remaining being, all who succeed are doomed to fall at the hands of themselves or the universe itself.

The Red King Curse (self-inflicted): The reds will need a leader, but this one comes with a curse. The king and his servants will fall one by one, doomed to perish at the hands of another.

The Trap Curse (self-inflicted): A preset trap will never work as intended. Certain exceptions may apply as a result of other curses leading a target to their doom.

The Full Moon Curse (self-inflicted): if an individual points out at any point that there’s a full moon, the rest of the session is doomed to be full of bloodshed and death.

The Base Curse (self-inflicted)*: No matter how secure a base is, it will fall in the end. Nothing survives the red life swarm.

*A variation on this curse is the Flammability Curse: Everything that can be burned will be burned.

*Please leave anymore curses in the notes and the list will be updated to include them

The smallificator should make them into bugs I think

The Codfather assembles his allies 

Am I going overboard with these? Yes oops

"Despite their somewhat fearsome appearance, Gruppers (also known as 'Puppeels' for obvious reasons) are overtly friendly creatures capable of surviving both on land and in water. They come in a huge variety of colours and breeds, making them very popular pets on Torr."

(Eel puppies! That is all, thank you for coming :) )