The Complete Art of World Building (eBook)

Chapter 5 - Defining Monster
We all know what a monster is, but since we might be creating species and animals, too, let’s be clear. The term im-plies something harmful, unnatural, and morally objection-able, whether there’s a physical deformity or psychological one. Monsters aren’t real, of course, and are created by storytellers, usually to depict or highlight some of the above, sometimes as a warning. They are often a freak of nature and can result from birth defects, in which case it was something else, like a human, before being regarded as a monster by horrified onlookers. Their existence has often been thought to foreshadow something evil happening, which is one reason they are cast out.

In science fiction and fantasy, the word “sentient” is used to describe creatures that are human-like in their mental capabilities, even though that’s not what the word really means. Due to this convention, this usage will be retained herein anyway. The real definition of sentient only includes the ability to sense, feel, and experience, which means an animal is technically sentient.

As a side note, with space traveling characters visiting new planets, what they might term a monster at first might turn out to be an indigenous animal. Either that, or it’s a member of a species that might’ve been stranded, for ex-ample, and terrifies those near through no fault of its own except appearance, and it’s assumed to be a monster.

Monsters vs. Species

The difference between a monster and an intelligent species is arguably their minds. A humanoid species is typi-cally sophisticated in having what humans have: society, culture, philosophy, and other aspects that distinguish us from animals. This is a generalization, but monsters don’t typically have these things, or at least, not in a way beyond that of animals. We can argue, rightly, that animals like dolphins and apes have a certain social structure, but these are communicated as much with body language as verbal-ly. Any language is fairly limited compared to mankind. They don’t read and write or pass down long histories. A generation today likely has no idea what was happening one hundred years ago, though this is admittedly conjec-ture.

None of this means we can’t have an intelligent mon-ster, but once we start giving a monster these things, it starts moving in the direction of humanity. We may find ourselves deciding that our monster is very cool and could be more useful, so we turn it into a species. No harm in that. Dracula is a good example of a smarter monster, but while he is a vampire now, he was once human. This is also true of zombies, who are typically portrayed as relatively stupid. We can use a similar approach (the monster was once human) to explain our monster’s sophistication.

Does monster automatically mean unsophisticated like an animal? In fantasy, SF, and gaming, yes. They’re typical-ly portrayed as things that can’t be reasoned with when one corners us for dinner or we wander into its territory. In this sense, they’re just like animals. We likely can’t communicate verbally with it, either, but that’s not a rule either. We can teach pets to understand what words mean, but that involves frequent time together, a reality that would make someone no longer think of the monster as such, most likely. This raises the idea of most people think-ing it’s a monster but one person having befriended it, which has been done with children’s stories.

Monsters vs. Animals
A major difference between monsters and animals is numbers. Just about every monster we’ve heard of was a “one off,” meaning only one existed. The reason is the aforementioned purpose in a story—to teach a specific lesson that didn’t require more of them—and because they are abnormal, which by definition means uncommon.

Creating Life TOC

Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Where to Start
3. About Me
4. Free Book
5. Disclaimers
6. The Chapters
7. Templates and Newsletter

Chapter 1 - Why Build a World?

1. Why Build a World?
2. Using Analogues
3. How Many Worlds?
4. A Caveat
5. A Question of Depth
6. The Problem of Exposition
7. The Value of Influences

Chapter 2 - Creating Gods

1. Creating Gods
2. In Science Fiction
3. In Fantasy
4. Pantheons
5. Mythology
6. Characteristics
7. Behavior
8. Where to Start

Chapter 3 - Creating a Species

1. Creating a Species
2. Species or Race?
3. Should You Create Your Own Species?
4. Habitat
5. Disposition
6. Appearance
7. Gods
8. Characteristics
9. Worldview
10. Relationships
11. Supernatural
12. Technology
13. Combat
14. The Value of Influences
15. Where to Start

Chapter 4 - Creating World Figures

1. Types
2. Fame
3. Dead or Alive
4. Possessions
5. Steeds and Ships
6. Relationships
7. History
8. Where to Start

Chapter 5 - Creating Monsters

1. Creating Monsters
2. Defining Monster
3. Origins
4. Habitat
5. Motivation
6. Characteristics
7. Where to Start

Chapter 6 - Creating Plants and Animals

1. Should You Create Plants and Animals?
2. Plants
3. Animals
4. Purpose
5. Where to Start

Chapter 7 - Creating Undead

1. Creating Undead
2. Should You Create Undead?
3. The Mind
4. Classification
5. Numbers
6. Prerequisites and Prevention
7. Time Dead
8. Origins
9. Goals
10. Appearance
11. Traits
12. Death
13. Where to Start

Appendices - The Templates

1. God
2. Species
3. World Figures
4. Monster
5. Plants
6. Animals
7. Undead

Creating Places TOC

Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Where to Start
3. About Me
4. The Chapters

Chapter 1 - Case Studies

1. Two Straits and a Sea of Enemies
2. Stopping an Empire
3. Mountains and Murder

Chapter 2 - Creating a Planet

1. Creating a Planet
2. The Sun
3. Moon(s)
4. Other Planets
5. Stars
6. Asteroids and Comets
7. A Planet

Chapter 3 - Creating a Continent

1. Creating a Continent
2. Multiple Continents
3. Which Hemisphere
4. Plate Tectonics
5. Seas vs. Oceans
6. Bays and More
7. Islands
8. Where to Start

Chapter 4 - Creating Land Features

1. Creating Land Features
2. Mountain Ranges
3. Water
4. Forests
5. Prairies/Grasslands
6. Wetlands
7. Deserts
8. Settlements
9. Where to Start

Chapter 5 - Creating a Sovereign Power

1. Sovereignty
2. Roles
3. Branches of Government
4. Parliamentary Systems
5. Government Types
6. How Many Powers to Invent
7. Invent for Today
8. Population Count and Type
9. World View
10.  Location
11.  Relationships
12. Ways to Identify a Power
13. Reputation
14. Where to Start

Chapter 6 - Creating a Settlement

1. Creating a Settlement
2. Location
3. The Population
4. Zonings
5. Settlements Types
6. Defenses
7. History
8. How It Is Known
9. How Many Places to Create
10. Where to Start

Chapter 7 - Travel over Land

1. Travel over Land
2. Mode of Travel
3. Obstacles
4. Calculation Preparation
5. Calculations
6. The Template

Chapter 8 - Travel by Water

1. Travel By Sea
2. Some Terms
3. Ship Rates
4. Ship Types
5. Privateer
6. Ship Speeds
7. Weapons
8. Personnel
9. Where to Start

Chapter 9 - Travel in Space

1. Travel in Space
2. The Realities of Space
3. Propulsion
4. Distance
5. Ship Structure
6. Where to Start

Chapter 10 - Creating Time and History

1. Creating Time and History
2. Sample Entries
3. Creation Myths
4. Time
5. Uses for History
6. Event Categories
7. Where to Start

Chapter 11 - Creating Places of Interest

1. Creating Places of Interest
2. Ordinary Ones
3. Extraordinary Places
4. Phenomena
5. Ruins
6. Shipwrecks
7. Event Sites
8. Meteors
9. Where to Start

Chapter 12 - Drawing Maps

1. Drawing Maps
2. Continental Maps
3. Drawing the World
4. Settlement Maps
5. Dungeon/Ship Maps
6. Map Generation Software

Appendices - Templates

1. Sovereign Powers Template
2. Settlement Template

Cultures and Beyond TOC

Introduction

1. Introduction
2. Where to Start
3. About Me
4. Free Book
5. Disclaimers
6. The Chapters
7. Templates and Newsletter

Cultures

1. What is Culture?
2. Culture Depictions
3. Creating Culture
4. Where to Start

Organizations

1. Group Types
2. Common Traits
3. History
4. In and Out
5. Where to Start

Armed Forces

1. Locations
2. Their Weapons
3. Their Defenses
4. The Road to Becoming One
5. Identifiers
6. Those Who Serve
7. History
8. World View
9. Where to Start

Religions

1. Overview
2. History
3. Beliefs
4. Names
5. Followers
6. Worship
7. Locations
8. Identifies
9. Clergy
10. World View
11. Combat
12. Afterlife
13. Where to Start

The Supernatural

1. Supernatural Energy
2. Magic Paths
3. Alternate Realities
4. Supernatural Beings
5. Prevalence
6. The Impact
7. Where to Start

Systems of Magic

1. Principle of Good Magic Systems
2. Do We Need a Magic System?
3. Types of Magic
4. Magic Prevalence
5. Where Does Magic Come From?
6. Social Aspects
7. What's in a Name?
8. Are Spells Needed?
9. The Life of Wizards
10. Creating Limits
11. How to Invent Spells
12. Where to Start

Items

1. All Items
2. Regular Items
3. Magic Items
4. Technological Items
5. Where to Start

Languages

1. Should We Create One?
2. The Medium
3. Our Options
4. How to Hire Someone
5. Where to Start

Names

1. People Names
2. Place Names
3. Uniqueness
4. Leveraging Existing Names
5. General Tips
6. Techniques for Inventing Names
7. Name Generators
8. Where to Start

Other Systems

1. Education Systems
2. Health Systems
3. Legal Systems
4. Commerce
5. Information Systems

Conclusion

1. Goals
2. Abide By Rules
3. Tying It All Together
4. Approaches
5. Top Down
6. Bottom Up
7. Random
8. What to Do?
9. File Storage
10. Get Organized
11. World Building Coalitions
12. Last Words

Templates

1. Culture
2. Organizations
3. Armed Forces
4. Religions
5. Supernatural Energy
6. Supernatural
7. Magic Systems
8. Spells
9. Legal
10. Monetary
11. Education

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