Life: An Introduction to the World
General info
Species and Inhabitants
- Demons - Not the evil denizens of Hell, but a much more human version of them
- Beast people - Creatures merged with humans who now have similar intelligence
- Dragons - A type of beast person known to be tall, fierce, and passionate
- Humans - Much smaller in numbers, humans were nearly wiped out in an event that started the creation of other species
- Island elves - Technically a rare race of humans and not a species, they're found only on certain islands
- Angels - Although native to the world's afterlife, angels can rarely be found on Life itself as well
Life's rules
General
- On Life, one of the biggest rules is that everything, from creatures to events to geography to magic, must have a solid reason to be the way it is. That reason isn't always known to the ones involved with the situation, but behind it there is a solid reason, a pattern that would always yield the same results were the thing to be replicated under the exact same circumstances.
- Nearly all laws of nature apply to Life, but there is one thing that is different: mana energy exists. This is a raw energy that can change into other types of energy, for example kinetic energy to move an object, and as a result has a ton of applications that explain the 'supernatural' that exists on Life.
- Keeping in mind the previous rule, everything that happens on Life should be able to happen on earth if magic existed on earth.
Creatures and Species
- Life exhibits three types of creatures: naturally evolved creatures, magically created creatures, and a mix of the two. Naturally evolved creatures can be influenced by magic to become magically created creatures, and magically created creatures can evolve over time if they are capable of reproduction. The mix involves naturally evolved creatures who were merged with magical creatures.
- Naturally evolved creatures will always follow the colour schemes found in earth creatures, meaning that they mostly rely on brown pigments, or they are colourful but in turn sacrifice their survival chances.
- Magically created creatures always have something or someone that created them. Because of their nature, they can have any shape and any colours but there are a few things that need to be kept in mind:
- Creation does not ensure survival. Even if they were created brightly coloured, they still wouldn't necessarily survive in their habitat. Could they have as many generations as they do without being predated to extinction due to bad camouflage or a faulty survival mechanism?
- Even if on paper they work, if their physiology and anatomy don't work, they don't work. Floating creatures would need a source of energy to float or they'd fall even if their design implies they'd float. Creatures who are pure energy would need a way to keep their energy together or they would just disperse and be lost. Creation is a tool to construct things that can't occur naturally, but they need to be constructed so carefully that they can live in the natural world.
- Under all circumstances, sapient creatures can't be reduced to just one trait like they are in some fantasy. Demons can be good people, bad people, or the most common a mixed bag of good and bad actions just like angels, dragons, humans, and any other race can be.
Magic
- Magic, too, relies on laws. Under the exact same conditions, two different experiments should yield the exact same results with little to no variation. It can't just be random.
- That being said, quantum magic exists to a degree as physics and magic rely on each other and dip into one another. This is the only case where the outcome may be random on a microscopic level.
- Magic is not sentient nor sapient; just like heat energy and matter it follows certain rules. The reason that mages exist is because they have the right tools to manipulate magic the way they see fit, in the same way flint and steel can create a fire where one would need it but the fire has no idea that it was used to cook meat or sparked by flint and steel.
Universes and Time Travel
- The multiverse is a canon fact; our Life is one of the many possible versions of the world out there. These worlds are weakly linked together and only accessible to each other through usually divine means and a good knowledge on how these worlds work.
- Universes are complex. Of each version of the world, there's simultaneously one single universe and infinite identical universes. It's impossible to define where, when, and how these exist because of humanity's current lack of understanding of even our own universe, but keep in mind these exist in the story.
- All non-identical universes are independent from each other and are unlinked. Identical universes can't be changed unless something or someone from a different non-identical universe were to go to that dimension. Universe travel is where the one versus infinite comes into play; when universe travelling, the changed universe splits from the original and takes one of the infinite slots, so the identical universe gets split into two non-identical compartments. The only way to detect a unique universe would be by how it is different in total energy levels from the other universes, but since the differences are so small they never really get detected.
- Time travel is nearly the only way to universe travel, since it's very hard to go to an exact moment without being off by a few years, months if the one carrying out the travel is experienced in calculating the time they land in. As stated before, time travel doesn't change the original universe, only a copy. The ability to change every single identical universe belongs to Deimos, which is why he is such a coveted god.
- There's a possibility for people to travel to an unlinked universe, usually by chance but sometimes coordinated and with a specific world in mind. Magic can make temporary links between universes, or it can establish a permanent link that won't be broken and results in more travel happening between the two universes.
Realms
- Realms are a previously unmentioned type of universe. It's a term used to signify two or more universes being directly linked and transportation between them being possible. Because of their nature, usually different types of universes tend to be linked, for example a planet-based universe vs an infinitely flat universe. An example would be Life and its afterlife.
- The previously mentioned infinite copies of the same universe all have the exact same realm too. A cluster of two or more realms will always be considered to be one big universe when it comes to the 'copy' rule. If only one realm of the cluster is changed, that entire cluster is considered to be a unique universe.
- Most versions of Life have three main realms: Life itself, the afterlife's infinite patchwork, and Hell. There are more but they are unimportant to the story.
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I liked the introductory paragraph, it's easily the best part of the entire article! But for a general overview, this at times seems to diverge to much into details here and there. You've lost me when you've explained the whole parallel universe business. Also, I got confused with the races. Are they all considered to be 'human' or 'humanoid', because there is a race called 'humans' and you've also talked about 'humans' concerning other races. Also, what is this world for? RPG? Novels? Games? Incorporating the rule that 'everything should make sense' is weird for an in world law, imho. Why isn't this on you're world's main page? Don't let me discourage you, Life sounds like a cool world (Renaissance steam punkt DRAGON people, YEAH!) Go over your writing once more, divid it into more articles if necessary. I.e. iterate my friend, iterate! :)
Thank you very much for the feedback on my article! It's very encouraging to keep me going :D The parallel universes aren't as important to the world as the rest of the categories are, I might have to consider moving them to their own part for clarification. The whole idea is that they are just something that happens, that no one really understands and most people who try to universe travel are grasping in the dark most of the time. A little like our world magnetism and the study of dark matter, but extended to a much more confusing level. I had issues describing them properly, as I felt my adept descriptions always felt like "Well this is too complex for you to understand " while really I meant to imply "I don't understand them either, mate", prompting me to leave most of the description out ^^; As for the races, I'll add a clarification to the article as well! Currently, there is a divide between "human" and "humanoid" as well as between "species" and "race". Human is a species, humanoid is a category that entails creatures who walk upright and who possess sapience to a degree. The confusion comes up because my island elves aren't a species on their own, but a race of humans that have earned to be mentioned as separate because their culture is so different from other human races. All other species don't fall under the human term, but rather the humanoid one. Does that clear it up? My endgame is to make something with it that's solo content, possibly a non-tabletop RP as well. I'm not very well acquainted with the in- and out of charactericity (... nailed the terminology!) of articles and all. Is it assumed all articles are in-character? Because I tend to write mine a little more as an outsider looking in, knowing this is a fictional world they're reading about l'D If it's more habitual that these things are kept to the world's description, I can definitely see what I'll move there and what I keep here <: Thanks again for the in-depth feedback on my writing! I'm very new to this, so every bit helps. And I am glad that you enjoy what I've got so far, you're definitely not discouraging me in any way. Looks like it's going the opposite way ;)
That's good to hear! :3 So elves are humands, that are completely different from humans. Hmmm, still a tricky concept, though. If they look like elves, behave like elves and in general are like elves, than maybe consider making them a seperate species. If they're are more human, maybe consider calling them something else...
I'd like to keep them a human race because they can reproduce with humans, something that might get a little trickier if I make them a separate species ^^; In their core they still are elves, but in technicality they are a type of human.