Star Spun Souls

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download. This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore. Find more linguistic content in my Language Directory . A lot of invented worlds feature a common tongue, sometimes referred to as a lingua franca , that unifies the various peoples of that world. A standard world language can be useful, steamlining your storytelling and allowing you to avoid pesky language barriers when working on dialogue. However, defining a standard language for your world also raises some rather tricky worldbuilding questions. Unifying languages start out as regional languages and gain prestige over time. Like all languages, they take their names from the people and places where they were first spoken. They have history, and they bring cultural baggage with them wherever they spread. ...

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download. This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore. Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory . When building your world, it's important to keep in mind that civilizations first crop up near rivers . Obviously, ready access to fresh water plays a huge role in where early settlements are established, and the most successful of these settlements grow into cradles of civilization. But the mud available to a civilization also plays a key role. Mud bricks are a crucial building material for many early settlements, allowing societies to establish their first permanent structures, well before they develop the tools necessary to build with wood or stone. Of course, the presence of magic in your world may replace certain tools, resulting in a di...

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in Part 1 of this series , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 6 - Rare Magics. Within the codex, the term magus is located at (6.3) and is defined as: magus (N) A legendary person with one of five rare forms of special magic. In my Tales of the Known World saga, the word magus refers to a person with rare magic whose cardinal powers are from the special magic branch (as in, That man is a magus , or, Some mag...

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in Part 1 of this series , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 6 - Rare Magics. Within the codex, the term sensate is located at (6.2) and is defined as: sensate (N) A legendary person with one of ten rare forms of sensory magic. In my Tales of the Known World saga, the word sensate refers to a person with rare magic whose cardinal powers are from the sensory branch (as in, That man is a sensate , or, Some s...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in Part 1 of this series , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 6 - Rare Magics. Within the codex, the term elemental is located at (6.1) and is defined as: elemental (N) A legendary person with one of twelve rare forms of elemental magic. In my Tales of the Known World saga, the word elemental refers to a person with rare magic whose cardinal powers are from the elemental branch (as in, That man is an elemen...

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in this note on the widespread use of magic , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 6 - Rare Magics. Rare magic is a heightened form of natural magic , a class comprised of magics that arise instinctively in children and are mastered by repetition. Every race has a standard pair of two purviews for each branch of natural magic, resulting in three total pairings and six total purviews for individuals of that race. Check out the Magic of the Kn...

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in Part 1 of this series , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 0 - Magic Basics. With few exceptions, everyone has some sort of magic at their disposal. As such, there is no basic word for a person with magic powers. Since every individual has some natural ability to wield magic, being a person is synonymous with being a magic user. Individuals without any magic are so rare that there is no word for them, either. In my ...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As explained in Part 1 of this series , magic is prevalent in the Known World, and generations of magic scholars have compiled their observations to create the Magic Codex , a functioning taxonomy of magic. This post series corresponds with Magic Codex Chapter 0 - Magic Basics. Within the codex, the term magery is located at (0.1.1) and is defined as: magery (N) The fields of studying magic, ranging from the history and taxonomy of magic to the practice of wielding magic. Also: realm, annalist, taxonomy, taxonomist, empiricist, arcanist In my Tales of the Known World saga, the word magery refers to the...

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. Start with Part 1 here . This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . As outlined in Part 1 of this series , the Magic Codex is a comprehensive explanation of the magic system of the Known World. Within, the myriad magics are organized and explored in logical groupings, each with its own numerical tag. These tags index each chapter and sub-section, so that external documents can cross-reference the information expressed in the codex. Check out the Magic of the Known World for more resources! Within the novels of my Tales of the Known World saga, magic is often relevant to the story. A glossary appears at the back of each book to provide a quick alphabetical referenc...

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Magic of the Known World available for free download. This and other mystic resources are gathered in my Magic Directory for you to explore. Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory . Magic is prevalent in my Tales of the Known World saga. With few exceptions, everyone has some sort of magic at their disposal. The humans of this world have their own kinds of magic, as do the elves, faeries, merfolk, and nymphs. In fact, magic is so common in the Known World that individuals without magic are rather rare and considered something of an oddity. Each person is born with access to six different magic abilities, and an individual with no discernible magic typically suffers from a weakness in numerous well-known magics coupled with an ignorance of lesser-known magics in which they have a hidden aptitude. Beyond these natural t...

This post is part of a series to augment the Book Reviews by D.N.Frost available for free download. This and other reviewed content is gathered in my Book Reviews Directory for you to explore. Find more guest-inspired content in my Guest Directory . Disclaimers: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ★★★★★ A Cloak of Blades by Isaac Sher Five stars! This great story delivered something I've never seen before. ★★★★★ Diverse, inclusive, and compelling. Fusing the far-flung feel of a space western with fantasy races, A Cloak of Blades is an all-out symphony of science fantasy. Exciting, funny, action-packed and heartfelt in turns, the story galavants through star systems and back-alley shootouts, and the graphic sex scenes feed into the plot wi...