Cultures and Beyond (The Art of World Building, #3) (eBook)
Cultures and Beyond (The Art of World Building, #3) (eBook)
4.6 Stars, 145 Amazon Ratings (as of 1/2024)
Creating a unique, immersive setting one culture at a time
A guide for authors, gamers, and hobbyists
CULTURES AND BEYOND (THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, #3) is a how-to guide for filling an imaginary world with fascinating societies. It includes chapters on creating culture, organizations, armed forces, religions, the supernatural, magic systems, technological and supernatural items, languages, names, and various systems our world will have, from health, educational, legal, and commerce, to information systems. You’ll learn how to leverage real world cultures while making them seem original. Even those who’ve never invented a world will soon be masters as the author’s decades of experience walk readers through using pre-made templates that make world building faster, better, and easier to complete.
Invent interesting laws, crimes, and punishments that involve imaginary creatures or technologies, and learn how to leverage trial by ordeal and other judicial acts from Earth’s past. Determine how much education is available and what form it takes. Create currencies for different places while keeping them easy for your audience to fathom, plus learn how to determine the value to assign labor, materials, products, time, and more. Master the art of creating naming styles for different societies. Fashion new military groups in gritty detail. Dream up sensible rules for magic, its practitioners, the supernatural and what happens when things go wrong. Learn what kind of files you’ll need to create, how to organize them, and get jump started with a dozen free templates you’ll use again and again.
CULTURES AND BEYOND is the third volume in THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, the most in-depth, multi-volume series of its kind.
Build better, faster.
Endorsement from Ed Greenwood, inventor of The Forgotten Realms and dozens of imaginary worlds
In Cultures and Beyond, Randy Ellefson continues his masterful overview of worldbuilding, carefully and coherently dealing with every last detail of creating and tending imaginary settings that his previous worldbuilding books, Creating Life and Creating Places, haven’t covered. All three are essential reference works for storytellers working in all fields; more than any other approach to these topics, Cultures and Beyond and its prequels ensure that nothing is overlooked or missed. Ellefson is a master of this craft, and it shows. Highly recommended!
Endorsement from Piers Anthony, NY Times Bestselling Author
I read Cultures and Beyond, The Art of World Building 3, by Randy Ellefson. I reviewed the prior two volumes, Creating Life and Creating Places, when they were published. Each volume is a comprehensive discussion of its subject, useful for new writers and surely for established ones too. I have been writing and selling novels for more than half a century, and I have been learning things here. I recommend all three for background reading for those who are serious about the worlds they create. The present volume is amazingly informative about the several aspects of culture, covering armed forces, religions, supernatural aspects, languages, and everything in between. It even lists all the American military ranks. Take a supposedly minor aspect, creating names. I have a small collection of books of names, which I use for my characters, trying not to duplicate myself too often, but I see I am an amateur in this respect. Naming names can be a science! Every section of this volume is similarly detailed. I am not sure whether reading it would cure the dread Writer's Block for those who suffer it, but if a writer runs out of inspiration, reading this book well might restore it. Certainly it should be on the shelf, as it were, ready to check when uncertainty threatens.
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Chapter 6 - Magic Systems
Ellefson’s Seven Laws
World builders can choose to enforce any, all, or none of my laws for creating magic systems for themselves. These laws are not about how to use a magic system once created, but how to create those systems. Most are self-explanatory with a single sentence, but a few words follow each. Some include examples, which are not meant to build upon each, but rather offer possibilities and world building prompts. Use these ideas as guidance for what we should do to craft a magic system.
First Law
World builders shall decide what the laws of magic are.
The universe (or another authority such as gods) has determined what works and what doesn’t, and under what conditions. This should be defined for all magic types.
Examples:
- Spells are required.
- Magic can be performed at-will like a god.
- There is a finite amount of magic energy and once consumed, it is gone.
- Naturally occurring places exist where magic doesn’t work.
- With rare exceptions, a wizard can only perform one type of magic and they do not get to choose.
- Elves cannot perform elemental magic.
Second Law
World builders shall define what makes someone capable of performing each magic type, and how common practitioners are.
Examples:
- Anyone born with the talent can perform magic. These people are rare.
- The gods decide who can do magic and can grant or revoke ability at will.
- Anyone who consumes a specific item with a specific frequency acquires the ability as long as said item continues to be consumed.
- Witchcraft requires a deal with Satan. Witches are common.
- A near-death experience is required to become a shaman. Shamans are rare.
- Consumption of alcohol eliminates the ability to perform magic for several days.
Third Law
If multiple types of magic exist, world builders shall define what is possible in each, the differences between them, and whether practitioners can perform more than one type (and under what circumstances).
Short examples (yours should be much more in depth):
- There are two types of magic, with most practitioners relegated to one type:
a. Low magic: only simple spells to assist daily living (like cantrips)
b. High magic: all higher level, more powerful spells - There are several magic types:
a. Alchemists: can only work with materials to affect personal change
b. High wizardry: can draw on magic energy in the environment
c. : must work with spirits or demons for power
Fourth Law
World builders shall determine what happens when an at-tempt to use magic fails.
Examples:
- A spell either works within its parameters or fails. There are no accidental results.
- A failed spell will visibly/invisibly release gathered energy chaotically/safely.
- A failed spell traps gathered energy within the caster’s body until released
- A failed spell produces an unexpected result of a different nature but not extremely so.
- Magic (done without spells) energy is safely re-leased back to its source when the casting fails.
Fifth Law
World builders shall decide what local laws exist in each lo-cation where a story takes place.
Examples:
- Alchemists must register with the local guild.
- Wizards must surrender their staves upon entering the city limits.
- Only valend wizards may create magic items.
- Only those with a valid permit may use magic items within city limits.
- Wizards will be killed on sight.
- Necromancy is forbidden except within 48 hours of the deceased’s burial.
- Wizards are not allowed on the city council.
- Those accused of witchcraft must identify another witch to avoid execution.
- Unlicensed mindreading, without written permission from the subject, is illegal.
- Public sources (such as the water well, torches, etc.) are not to be used for elemental magic.
- Elemental wizards who do not participate in re-solving a public crises (like a flood or fire) are to be sentenced to one year’s hard labor.
Sixth Law
World builders shall follow the rules they set forth.
This rule applies to all world building, not just magic systems. Fantasy and SF audiences are adept at noticing our mistakes, so keep a list of all rules and abide by them. It can be best to narrate a rule with some flexibility. For ex-ample, “most wizards cannot do so-and-so.” One trick is to narrate the law this way: “people said wizards couldn’t do so-and-so.” That makes it popular opinion, not a statement of fact. Another trick is to have a character, not the narrator, state a law. Characters don’t always get things right, so when our story proves them wrong, it’s not the author breaking our rule. However, do this on purpose. Why would we want to? Because we might want to suggest something to the reader, and then surprise them later, but it must be a good surprise. It is effective when a character finding out the truth protests that another character told them so; this also channels the audience’s potential upset into acceptance.
Seventh Law
For each location, world builders shall decide if magical training is available, what form it takes, what is involved, limitations imposed before graduation, testing criteria, and what restrictions if any exist on those who graduate.
This one is more of a suggestion; not doing so is unlikely to cause problems, while doing it will almost certainly benefit us. Examples:
- Training is only available via an apprenticeship where sanctioned by the sovereign power
- Wizards must pass the Kierdyn Test by the third attempt or have magic ability suppressed for life
- Prior to graduation, only low magic spells can be performed outside the guild
- Wizards are tested for the ability to release magic energy safely
Table of Contents
Introduction
- Introduction
- Where to Start
- About Me
- Free Book
- Disclaimers
- The Chapters
- Templates and Newsletter
Cultures
- What is Culture?
- Culture Depictions
- Creating Culture
- Where to Start
Organizations
- Group Types
- Common Traits
- History
- In and Out
- Where to Start
Armed Forces
- Locations
- Their Weapons
- Their Defenses
- The Road to Becoming One
- Identifiers
- Those Who Serve
- History
- World View
- Where to Start
Religions
- Overview
- History
- Beliefs
- Names
- Followers
- Worship
- Locations
- Identifies
- Clergy
- World View
- Combat
- Afterlife
- Where to Start
The Supernatural
- Supernatural Energy
- Magic Paths
- Alternate Realities
- Supernatural Beings
- Prevalence
- The Impact
- Where to Start
Systems of Magic
- Principle of Good Magic Systems
- Do We Need a Magic System?
- Types of Magic
- Magic Prevalence
- Where Does Magic Come From?
- Social Aspects
- What's in a Name?
- Are Spells Needed?
- The Life of Wizards
- Creating Limits
- How to Invent Spells
- Where to Start
Items
- All Items
- Regular Items
- Magic Items
- Technological Items
- Where to Start
Languages
- Should We Create One?
- The Medium
- Our Options
- How to Hire Someone
- Where to Start
Names
- People Names
- Place Names
- Uniqueness
- Leveraging Existing Names
- General Tips
- Techniques for Inventing Names
- Name Generators
- Where to Start
Other Systems
- Education Systems
- Health Systems
- Legal Systems
- Commerce
- Information Systems
Conclusion
- Goals
- Abide By Rules
- Tying It All Together
- Approaches
- Top Down
- Bottom Up
- Random
- What to Do?
- File Storage
- Get Organized
- World Building Coalitions
- Last Words
Templates
- Culture
- Organizations
- Armed Forces
- Religions
- Supernatural Energy
- Supernatural
- Magic Systems
- Spells
- Legal
- Monetary
- Education
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I have various other books on this subject, but volumes 1-3 of this are still the best worldbuilding books around. They're more thorough and detailed. It's obvious Ellefson has actually done everything in these books and really knows what he's talking about.
I'm very happy I purchased this, well worth it as I concentrate more on worldbuilding