Hi Sascha. I'm a new subscriber and just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying your videos. They're insightful and full of great examples. Definitely helping me along the road of world building for a novel I'm writing. Best of luck in the future and keep up the great work!
Anything that I missed? Let me know in the comments - there is always more to add or different angles to look at. Every video is an opportunity for our amazing community to help one another create magical words and captivating stories :)
You hit the nail on the head with this one. I don't actually have much to add. Lulz. I'd only say that this applies to minerals and precious metals of your world. They can also be revered symbols or possess interesting magical properties. What he said about flora and fauna, do that with magical gemstones or a particularly durable metal. Maybe you can channel the spirits of ancient creatures through the fossils they've left behind. Those little details absolutely give life to your setting, so apply Sascha's advise to whatever resides within your world.
Yes, minerals and metals are something were a lot of this can be considered too. Somehow, I actually want to get into resources etc. in general at some point :)
So true. Jumanji, the 1995 one, did a wonderful job utilizing both plants and animals to add to the action of the film. Another factor is how the extinction of a plant or animal has impacted a region or environment. Or how introducing a diffrent species affects a new environment. Two concepts we have seen in modern day. Both with positive or devastating results.
Just a few weeks ago I saw a tucan (I was visiting Rio) and thought to myself "wow, this exagerated beak! Almost 1/3 of the animal's body. That looks so fantasy-esque." After this video, I caught myself wondering "what if some other animal or plant also had an oversized feature like that?" Thanks for the spark :)
This has me thinking of finding animals with recognizable features, then exaggerating those features. Or giving features of one animal to another animal. Imagine something like capybara with a giant rhino horn. Or tiny frogs with bat-like wings.
@@JoriamRamos There is a species of frog that can glid too. It's not too farfetched that their little feet could become full wings. I feel like they would take on a very similar role to bats too.
I do have floating plants and plants that absorb mana instead of sunlight. However, the floating plants use sunlight since they drift through the sky. The mana absorbing plants grow in places without sun like cave systems and mines. Currently, flora and fauna isn't part of my worldbuilding I've focused much on. I want my gods to have flowers and "beasts" that are their symbols. The flowers would decorate their altars and temples while the beasts are used as sacrificial offerings- maybe, it sounds strange, but from what I can find, the ancient Greeks would sacrifice sacred animals to the gods; the word sacrifice does come from sacred. However, all I have so far is a few ideas I pulled from mythology and most of which are monsters (some of which can be eaten). I don't have any crops yet or domesticated animals. I'm still deciding if I want some normal stuff or if I want everything to be some type of magical beast.
I like using Mushrooms and Fungi. Fungi are extremely diverse, and serve multiple roles in an ecosystem. Once upon a time here on earth, there were giant mushrooms the size of trees. Can you imagine how alien our own world looked? Did you know that the largest living land based organism right now is a type of fungi, a honey mushroom that lives in Oregon? Or rather under it, one single organism that stretches for miles and miles. It forms a symbiotic relationship with all the trees and other plants that grow there, trading water and minerals for carbohydrates from the plants. Once every few hundred years, it kills all the trees and eats them... Then everything starts all over. There are mushrooms that glow, some bright some not and in pretty much in every color, though green and blue do predominate. Fungi break things down and decompose them. Most "wood" mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms as an example, can break down plastics and other petroleum products, literally eating them. They also tend to concentrate certain metals, such as heavy metals in the Fruiting Body or above ground "mushroom" part and have been proposed both to help clean up contaminated sites, and for mining rare minerals. Others can break down sewage. There is a type of fungus that lives on the walls inside nuclear reactor buildings. It eats Gamma Radiation in the same way plants use light to photosynthesize... Some mushrooms are edible, and have always been an important food source for humans. Some are medicinal, with a long history of use for everything from healing infections, to boosting immune function to regrowing damaged neural tissue. Some are poisonous like the Death Cap or the Poison Fire Coral Fungus. Some attack living animals like the Cordyceps fungus of "The Last of Us" fame. You should see the lengths an ant colony with go to when they discover that one of them has been exposed to it. There are people trying to make a mushroom based alternative to wood for constructing buildings. Take any one of those and just extrapolate it. Does your world have magic or alchemy? Why are those mushrooms glowing? Why is everything built out of stone? Because if people try to build out of wood, then all they end up with is a crop of mushrooms just like how the Japanese grow Shiitake. Have a fantasy metal? Better grow a crop of mushrooms to harvest it, then just pick the mushrooms and throw them in the smelter. Need a place that looks alien? Giant Mushroom Forest... Food source? Grab an axe and cut down that edible mushroom tree. Need necromancers and zombies? Yep, Mushrooms! Assassins using deadly poisons? Yep. For a fantasy setting, they can be just about anything you need.
First of all, apart from my human protagonist, my cast of characters consist of multiple sentient races: mainly a kitsune, a dragon, a robot, a slime, a minotaur, a dryad and an axolotl. Secondly, in terms of inspiration, I think it was a kind of evolution for me, shifting from dinosaurs, to monsters, to aliens, etc. I love that kind of nostalgia that is normally restricted to small children who love dinosaurs, and often watch movies or shows about dinosaurs like The Land Before Time for example. Does that make sense?
I like the sound of the diversity in your cast but that certainly is one hell of a mix that you put together there. I'd say that really depends on the world and the narrative whether or not that bunch makes sense :)
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"Flora and Fauna can influence almost everything..."
And Merryweather. Don't forget her!
Ha, I had to google it to be sure about it but seems we got a Disney fan here :)
@@TheTaleTinkererI honestly thought more people would get the joke. It may also be because I'm really old.
@@michaelburke4048 Always a matter of perception. My 40 years aren't young anymore for many either I'm sure :)
Hi Sascha. I'm a new subscriber and just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying your videos. They're insightful and full of great examples. Definitely helping me along the road of world building for a novel I'm writing. Best of luck in the future and keep up the great work!
Anything that I missed? Let me know in the comments - there is always more to add or different angles to look at. Every video is an opportunity for our amazing community to help one another create magical words and captivating stories :)
You hit the nail on the head with this one. I don't actually have much to add. Lulz. I'd only say that this applies to minerals and precious metals of your world. They can also be revered symbols or possess interesting magical properties. What he said about flora and fauna, do that with magical gemstones or a particularly durable metal. Maybe you can channel the spirits of ancient creatures through the fossils they've left behind. Those little details absolutely give life to your setting, so apply Sascha's advise to whatever resides within your world.
Yes, minerals and metals are something were a lot of this can be considered too. Somehow, I actually want to get into resources etc. in general at some point :)
So true. Jumanji, the 1995 one, did a wonderful job utilizing both plants and animals to add to the action of the film.
Another factor is how the extinction of a plant or animal has impacted a region or environment. Or how introducing a diffrent species affects a new environment. Two concepts we have seen in modern day. Both with positive or devastating results.
Jumanji with Robin Williams was amazing, yes :)
Just a few weeks ago I saw a tucan (I was visiting Rio) and thought to myself "wow, this exagerated beak! Almost 1/3 of the animal's body. That looks so fantasy-esque."
After this video, I caught myself wondering "what if some other animal or plant also had an oversized feature like that?"
Thanks for the spark :)
Glad that my video could spark some creative ideas, and yes, Tucans are a great source for inspiration if you ask me :)
This has me thinking of finding animals with recognizable features, then exaggerating those features. Or giving features of one animal to another animal. Imagine something like capybara with a giant rhino horn. Or tiny frogs with bat-like wings.
@@Andrewtr6 I like this idea very much! And, you know, sugar gliders and pangolins are a thing - you're not too far off from reality
@@JoriamRamos There is a species of frog that can glid too. It's not too farfetched that their little feet could become full wings. I feel like they would take on a very similar role to bats too.
I do have floating plants and plants that absorb mana instead of sunlight. However, the floating plants use sunlight since they drift through the sky. The mana absorbing plants grow in places without sun like cave systems and mines.
Currently, flora and fauna isn't part of my worldbuilding I've focused much on. I want my gods to have flowers and "beasts" that are their symbols. The flowers would decorate their altars and temples while the beasts are used as sacrificial offerings- maybe, it sounds strange, but from what I can find, the ancient Greeks would sacrifice sacred animals to the gods; the word sacrifice does come from sacred.
However, all I have so far is a few ideas I pulled from mythology and most of which are monsters (some of which can be eaten). I don't have any crops yet or domesticated animals. I'm still deciding if I want some normal stuff or if I want everything to be some type of magical beast.
Would have been quite the coincedence if I'd your plant setup in terms of floating/mana absorbing exactly right in my examples :)
Nicee, lezzgoo
Hope it provides some value or at least entertainment :)
I like using Mushrooms and Fungi. Fungi are extremely diverse, and serve multiple roles in an ecosystem.
Once upon a time here on earth, there were giant mushrooms the size of trees. Can you imagine how alien our own world looked? Did you know that the largest living land based organism right now is a type of fungi, a honey mushroom that lives in Oregon? Or rather under it, one single organism that stretches for miles and miles. It forms a symbiotic relationship with all the trees and other plants that grow there, trading water and minerals for carbohydrates from the plants. Once every few hundred years, it kills all the trees and eats them... Then everything starts all over.
There are mushrooms that glow, some bright some not and in pretty much in every color, though green and blue do predominate.
Fungi break things down and decompose them. Most "wood" mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms as an example, can break down plastics and other petroleum products, literally eating them. They also tend to concentrate certain metals, such as heavy metals in the Fruiting Body or above ground "mushroom" part and have been proposed both to help clean up contaminated sites, and for mining rare minerals. Others can break down sewage. There is a type of fungus that lives on the walls inside nuclear reactor buildings. It eats Gamma Radiation in the same way plants use light to photosynthesize...
Some mushrooms are edible, and have always been an important food source for humans. Some are medicinal, with a long history of use for everything from healing infections, to boosting immune function to regrowing damaged neural tissue. Some are poisonous like the Death Cap or the Poison Fire Coral Fungus. Some attack living animals like the Cordyceps fungus of "The Last of Us" fame. You should see the lengths an ant colony with go to when they discover that one of them has been exposed to it.
There are people trying to make a mushroom based alternative to wood for constructing buildings.
Take any one of those and just extrapolate it. Does your world have magic or alchemy? Why are those mushrooms glowing? Why is everything built out of stone? Because if people try to build out of wood, then all they end up with is a crop of mushrooms just like how the Japanese grow Shiitake. Have a fantasy metal? Better grow a crop of mushrooms to harvest it, then just pick the mushrooms and throw them in the smelter. Need a place that looks alien? Giant Mushroom Forest... Food source? Grab an axe and cut down that edible mushroom tree. Need necromancers and zombies? Yep, Mushrooms! Assassins using deadly poisons? Yep. For a fantasy setting, they can be just about anything you need.
First of all, apart from my human protagonist, my cast of characters consist of multiple sentient races: mainly a kitsune, a dragon, a robot, a slime, a minotaur, a dryad and an axolotl.
Secondly, in terms of inspiration, I think it was a kind of evolution for me, shifting from dinosaurs, to monsters, to aliens, etc. I love that kind of nostalgia that is normally restricted to small children who love dinosaurs, and often watch movies or shows about dinosaurs like The Land Before Time for example.
Does that make sense?
I like the sound of the diversity in your cast but that certainly is one hell of a mix that you put together there.
I'd say that really depends on the world and the narrative whether or not that bunch makes sense :)