Nick McNeely artifexian got me into worldbuilding, and then David j Peterson got me into conlanging and this channel came down from the heavens as a gift from god
The worldbuilding subreddit (reddit.com/r/worldbuilding ) is a good place to start, and the author of this channel occasionally posts there as well as numerous other worldbuilders. The sister subreddits r/militaryworldbuilding (for fictional militaries), r/fantasyworldbuilding (like the main subreddit but with looser moderation and more character-oriented stuff), and r/nsfwworldbuilding (for anything too sexual or gory for the main subreddit) are useful as well.
I’ve never heard an accent like your’s anywhere else and I really love it. It’s so soothing. Also you’re really creative with your ideas, and I aspire to write as well as you. Keep it up! :D
I literally crave these videos. I can’t wait until the channel has a lot more content on it so I can have nights where I binge this stuff. Excellent work!
Impressive attention to detail. I especially like the distinction between the ways men and women dress because men dress alone. Very interesting! I was going to ask you, where do you keep the notes on your world? Do you put pen to paper, or keep it all drawn out on a PC? I'd like to start doing something like this, but I don't know where to store my ideas! And if it interests you, I'm interested in the insect species you mentioned in your animals video and I'd like to see what they are, what they do, how they live, and how the people interact with them. Do any spread disease like mosquitoes? Do any create hives or hills and live in huge groups? Are any super big? Are there insecticides or fly strips made from sweet but sticky tree saps or something? Lots you could do with insects, but if not, I will just let my imagination run wild. Anyway, love the videos. Very inspiring and creative.
I keep most of my notes in my head! Which is a really bad habit, but now that I'm putting things into videos, I at least have some sort of record, and things won't be lost forever if I forget them. As for the insects: I never created more than I showed! I intended to make more, but my creativity was starting to run thin, so I skipped over them and moved on to other things. It's a shame, I know, there indeed are a lot of interesting things one could do with insects.
The way you present your videos is extremely dignified and endearing. It sounds super professional whilst also being earnest: You're not trying to dress anything up by pretending it's in some way real, for example. You're just showing off your cool ideas as just that, which I think is why so many people are attracting to your content. I hope this inspires other channels to be like yours, as it could provide a good avenue for artists and writers who aren't so good at presentation a good reference to use when presenting their own work to others. Love your stuff. Do you think you can make anything involving hard mountains?
The North American Rockies are my favourite set of mountains, do you think you could do something like a settlement living in or around a setting like that? Also, are things like rivers that go through mountains a possible formation?
My river basin is surrounded by mountains, but beyond that, I want to carry on focusing on this particular world for a few more years before I move on to anything else. As for rivers going through mountains, I think one could come up with a justification for that, but it depends on a lot of things, and if there's magic around, then it immediately makes the whole thing much easier.
You mentioned that the tree potatoes (forgot the name) become sweet when they are truly "ripe" but to do that hair would be unusable. Maybe the fully ripe version could be a highly luxuious item, and one day someone will get the idea to "breed" the tree specifically for the sweet fruit rather than the old weaving, which after more thousands of years could evolve again into a slightly different plant as you mentioned here. I'm no expert, but maybe the new variety of fruit would be bigger or sweeter, and the hair would be less prominent. That also might be an interesting topic in one of your worlds; what are the luxury items, and how are they produced?
If I'm following the "thread" of the culture correctly, the people of Itlu see themselves as little parts of a similar whole. I wonder, in the future, as they come to learn more about the planet on which they live, how they will view the hair-fruit that has been so integral to their culture for so long. If each person is like a thread, then the whole of the people are like a ream of cloth. But then what does that make the fruit? Or the tree? I wonder if the hairfruit tree will come to be an allegory for the planet itself. Or the bird within. I'm getting so wrapped up in the strands of this culture that reveres self-similarity.
I like the idea of the differences iin clothing style arising from whether or not you have help when getting dressed. I imagine a scene that would tell you a lot about, e.g. a male aristocrat depending on his clothing. i.e. Maybe he cares a great deal about his image and thus wears elaborate foldings or similar. Also, love the language explanation!
Very well done! Makes me want to work on my own world, and getting the videos for the world put up on my channel as well. So many things to do, so little time. Adore your voice as well, very articulate and soothing.
Wow... This is amazing! Why have I never found your videos? The detail you put into making the item, its use and the origin of the raw material but even more impressive the origin and meaning of the names are fantastic. All this minor details that would feel like extra information one wouldn't use actually breathe life into the world and it's inhabitants, making them credible and useful to the bigger economic picture. As someone who enjoys to come up with concepts and explanations on fantasy world building I often hesitate to add too much to a single object or on other cases focus more on the object than on its use and place on society. This was just beautiful and I really hope to see more in the future, keep up the good work!
I'm starting a race of people who live primarily through the use of fungi. The mycelium is compressed and either strung and used as a thread, baked into a type of leather. The fabric is used in the fashioning of thin, white-brown clothing, worn as skirts and chest coverings by women and simple shorts for men. (Note that measurements aren't taken for the clothing because it's more efficient to patch or rip them, as the fabric is mended without an easily noticable trace) Leather is used for vests when venturing into cooler regions for trade and other items like say saddles and bags.
This is interesting...your hairy potato trees have some of the characteristics of a coconut, and some of the characteristics of breadfruit. I imagine that the fruit could also be used to make something like vodka, and that the most skilled weavers might be able to produce embroidery or patterned fabric (though that is not shown in your video) and a few other interesting ways to decorate their clothing like bead work or weaving feathers into it. My world building is much simpler, because I base much of my stuff on traditional Saami and Northern European ideas...pretty much everyone wears wool or reindeer leather and goes a little bit gaga over silk or bright colours.
I simply love this! Makes me feel like an alien (or a human) on a foreign planet!! Imagine roleplaying in such a fancy, well thought world! Would be amazing lol
Hi. I discovered your channel yesterday. I don't usually comment youtube videos but I wanted to thank you for yours. It's really inspiring and original. I wish I had your talent.
Eee, that was so cool! I love the hairy fruit. I can imagine that the over ripened fruits can be turned into alcoholic beverages, so that may be why some are left on the trees?
I was thinking more in terms of people just wanting to have some sweet fruit to eat, but now that you mention it, they could be used to make alcohol as well!
That reminds me of a time my dad got gifted a bottle of South African alcohol made from the Marula fruit that animals get drunk off of. All the animals gather round to gorge themselves on the ripened fruits which ferment in their stomachs getting them totally smashed.
Something like potato bread? Maybe, but the people in this river basin don't really tend to have ovens or bake things, so they'd go with pancakes instead.
It's not about wealth, more about baking not being part of the culture. But now I'm tempted to make it a regional thing. I already have the people living in the north-west portions of the basin speaking a completely different language, so maybe their culture could be at least somewhat different.
just went through your videos, theyre all SO COOL AND DETAILED but also overwhelming, in the best way possible!! Your explanation of process and designs are so easy to read and understand for me, its super helpful and really inspiring❤️
WOW! Oh my gosh! This is... Wow... I can tell you've really pug a lot of effort in... So much thought... My mind was blown when you talked about the formation of that word... Just wow... Makes me feel kinda overwhelmed. I came here expecting writing advice, however I was quite surprised to find this instead.
I am absolutely blown away by the amount of thought put into this, and the previous videos. I have yet only seen three, but my jaw was dropped the entire time. I love your voice and this world. I wish to know more, so I will now watch the rest in this playlist and be disappointed when I run out of unwatched videos.
this is amazing, the thought you put into every aspect of worldbuilding inspires me to do the same, the bit that wowed me the most was the diagrams of how to wear the first piece of clothing, amazing :D
Well looks like my RU-vid recommendations did something right, this was a very detailed and intriguing video and I'm already interested to learn more about this fictional world. Well done!
I'm guessing (sorry if i'm wrong, i have only watched two episodes) that the climate in this basin is pretty warm, with either calm winters or no winters at all. As the clothes reminds you of southern europe and asia rather than say the inuits. Great job with this world!
I would like to know more about your conlang’s grammar and vocabulary. Could you make more videos on that? It’s very interesting! Also I love all of the thought you put into your own world!
I have no idea what this is for (since this is the first video of yours I've seen), but you've piqued my interest! I would definitely read a book which featured this culture. :D
I've been thinking about this! In my fantasy universe, there are many different races, and humans are the rarest, because their the first ones to be created. But humans were very sinful, so they were smitten, and scattered, and few remain. The few villages that still exist are much more primitive than the great human cities of old, so they are quite primitive, wearing simple wool based clothes, and leather, and hides. Depending on the environment
Essentially, you're describing Europe during the Dark Ages, with humans as the remnants of the Roman Empire. That's a good start...the other races would be something like the Germanic and Asian people who swept in from the North and East, so perhaps you should create one race that were vaguely like the Norse (who started out as raiders and became merchants and mercenaries) and another vaguely like the Han people (same thing only on horseback). It would also be interesting to have a character discovering ancient human technology that the other races consider "magic", which might have been the root of their downfall.
Sarah Gray, only dworvs have technology in my book's universe, but the human's were very magical, and the most famed weapons and monsters were created by humans, but your rite, the alkamy that humans use is more similar to dworvish science, than the elvish psalms.
Sarah Gray, if you like my idea, you should check out my channel! it's mostly videos about my writing. (but there are a few political videos, that's not my mane thing)
Wait, wouldn't make sense for the people of the river basin to have two varieties of hairy fruit? Using the same tree, people could have cultivated them into two types of trees: the ones that give really hairy fruit you describe here, but they could also cultivate ones with a less hairy, more sweet fruit; that way they could use both the flavor and the hair. After all, something similar is what happened in our world with broccoli, coliflower, cabbages, and Brussels sprouts; people choose which part of the plant they like better and cultivated them to maximize that part.
What do you mean "Just as raw bananas they can either be fried or boiled"? I thought people did that with Plantains, not bananas. Also, the way you say "potatoes do" is weirdly satisfying.
If we're including the temperate rainforest island that's in the first five videos on this channel, then it'll be since early 2017. The river basin is something I came up with this year, in January or February, so it's 6-7 months old.
@@WorldbuildingNotes Colour me impressed! That is a lot of depth you appear to have reached in such a short time! Especially with the language as well! Can't wait to see more of your ideas! Very inspiring and entertaining! 😀
It's not something I invented from scratch! When I started thinking about this, I already knew about the standard manner in which the Indian dhoti is wrapped around one's waist, I knew of a few ways the sari gets wrapped, and I knew how women in Ancient Greece wrapped and pinned their clothes. So all I needed to do was to come up with my own spin on it all.
That was very interesting. The part with the monkey made me think, "Hey why not hit that monkey with a stick." Then you'd have sweet fruits and monkey meat. Maybe grill the monkey and baste it in fruit jelly. Like how you do turkey or whatever.
If this civilization described managed to stay functional to the Industrial Age, then an interesting consequence is that the bank notes are going to be longer if their value is higher.
I've been thinking, are there other people in your world? Do the people in the river basin have good ocean boats? Are there more than one kingdom? Is there any need for war or weapons? So much you've yet to cover!
I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in her video titled "The Queens and Their King" that there aren't any other states outside of the kingdom in question.
This is very interesting - is there a trade ? What language do they use to communicate? Are there any borrowings between their respective languages? Does the trade influence the culture (like china influenced Europe at some point with the Oriental style &c)? I love those videos so much!
I like the idea that there may or may not be other states or communities outside the river basin kingdom which they just don't know about due to their isolation. It could either give room for worldbuilding further to new peoples of the world or keeping them restricted if she so chooses.
jan Kansi As much as I like this idea myself, it was stated in her aforementioned video that the reason why there are no countries outside is because the outside world is a barren wasteland. Oh well. :(
Yeah, but my point was that the barren wasteland could just be an inhibitor to the peoples' knowledge of potential outside life/people, as they could assume, since no-one could survive to cross the wasteland, that it must cover the entire world. Ewa could use this as if it were fact until she ever wishes to design more life outside the island and river basin. Alternatively, life/people could find ways to settle new places in the future...
How did you come up with your plants? Did you base them off of real world plants? I would really like to know, because it's hard for me to imagine different plants and animals.
For plants, I tend work off of general ideas rather than specific inspirations, but if you're having trouble, then I recommend using these Random Flora Tables created by Sebastian Romu: drive.google.com/file/d/1k8DFRrjQsNsLHoc0aIWqr5bZPm4mhDs5/view
Interesting. Would the peasants wear pieces of this cloth as an outfit, wear one small piece as part of an outfit / to accentuate the outfit, or cut it up/ use small pieces as fringe/ decorative edging?
The pieces of fabric aren't often cut up or sown, so they would either wear one piece of cloth as the entire outfit (which makes sense on a hot day) or combine several pieces of cloth into a single outfit (dress+cloak is pretty standard, but one can also add more layers).
What were the ancestors of the Itlu like before they got influenced by the underground creature? If the creature somehow vanished, and it's weird effects along with it, could Itlu society go through cultural shifts and possibly even expand to new land and/or industrialize?
You may have known this an intentionally omitted it, but jewelry, and most forms of fashion in the ancient world were the domain of men. Men wore jewelry, bright and ornate clothes and in general were more concerned with their appearance than that of the women. There are many reasons for this, however, you can look at Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia and so forth to get an idea of this. There's a lot more on the reasons for this in the History of Civilization Book 1 Our Oriental Heritage, which while not totally accurate or up to date contains a wealth of interesting tidbits. Maybe given the role women play in your society they have more reason to dress for prestige, but historically, only recently has it been appropriate for women to need five people to get dressed and to do so lavishly, whereas historically it's only recently that this was considered unmanly in men.
Do you have any tips for coming up for clothing styles? I get that they're supposed to reflect and complement the surroundings and climate in which the culture is inserted, but I get pretty lost from there...
Metto Kun Okay so you have to break it down. 1st) temeperature. This effects how people dress. The colder, the more clothes. The warmer, less clothes. 2nd) what are they able to use for clothes. Colder places can't usally farm so they tend to use animal hide. Warmer plaves allow more plants and allows farming. 3) think about the struture of the people. Any kings and queens? If so, they have to stand out. Warriors have to be ready to fight and certain fighting styles welcome certain clothings. How is a family constructed? Do they care for one adult more, any elders and so on. 4) How much does wealth play a roll? A big one? If so, riches will stand out. If not, there is more of a blend, yes people will stand out but not as much. I hope this helps...
It wasn't really inspired by anything, I just picked sounds I liked, and then came up with grammar rules that felt plausible and that made sense to me.
