Worldbuilding Ideas

[Plague]

This is a thread dedicated to any fictitious landmarks, mystic creatures, legendary items, or unexplained phenomena which could have served as possible plot points in stories which may or may not have existed (yet). Something like...

...entities which were first discovered some few decades ago, but may have existed for far longer than that. Incorporeal and parasitic in nature, they feed on the memories of their host, gradually turning whomever they are attached to into "themselves," making them almost impossible to detect, much less cure.
The only way to distinguish an uninfected individual from "them" is when they are subjected to situations they deem "unjust" for prolonged periods, at which point, they explode into a heap of gore, from which a disgusting pile of tentacles emerge and attempt to massacre everything in their vicinity.
The world has mostly adapted to enforce a "stress-free" environment for everyone, but sometimes, cases where an entire school was killed because of a group of spoiled kids ganging up on an ugly kid still find their way on the news.

 

[Tamerlane]

The best way to get good at world building is to understand the logistics of how everything works. Think through your ideas so that you know how everything operates on an intimate level. What happens, why does it happen, how can they make it happen, who does it involve and what is their origins/connections to the event, and by what means are they able to successfully make it occur? Its all about connecting the dots and then making those dots connect and interact with one another in a holistic manner.

 

[kenx]

Adding to what @Tamerlane said, you can also do like the author of Magi and picture every major scene and work your way from there. Or like Asano Inio and just start with a basic premise and elements and then wing it with any new idea.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

@Plague

Spoiler

Ooh I like that scenario. You can start up multiple philosophical questions to dive into with the story like "Am I me or am I the parasite?" "Is justice personal or objective?" "Should unhealthy obsessions be allowed to flourish if the consequence of withholding such a thing would be death of hundreds?" I can already imagine a lot of government protocols built into the everyday lives of citizens and the story eventually becoming a partial dystopia.

I actually need advice on my worldbuilding.

Here's the background of my society:
. -There is a religion that worships the personification of progress
. -No religious rituals since the making of progress itself is considered holy
. -The religion has no say in the afterlife
. -The religion has no say in homosexual relationships
. -No blibical texts aside from a few religious folklore (writing is still a rarity affordable only to philosophers and scientists)
. -The closest thing you can get to a priest is a scientist, philosopher, government official, soldier, basically any job that has a sort of mental or physical progress.
. -Atheists are heavily discriminated against
. -The society's military haven't expanded so far enough to encounter other religions yet
. -Technology is improved upon everyday since there is religious pressure to do so. This world is like ours but has magical crystals as well. (The technology is expanded upon in both fictional and real science.) At this point they are just beginning to understand the concept of transformation of energy and only need a couple more breakthroughs to create the first engine and exploit electrocrystalogy.

Based on these few things how old do you think the religion is? I think 5 generations would be good tho that might be too short. I don't want it to be too far cause the story is part of a series and having too big of a time jump between stories would be jarring. As far as I know, not a lot of real religion that worships progress exist so far

 

[Teddy]

Since im late and necroing I won't continue the previous idea but think about money. Don't be lazy and just go for direct conversions ie bronze coin is 100yen, silver coin is 1000yen gold coin is...etc.

Think about what would be expensive, what would be cheap in your world. Money only has value that is agreed upon by others. Through money you can find out what is important to your citizens thus their culture for instance, swords being cheap might mean that the world is swarmed with beasts so everyone has one already and manufacturing has already surpassed the demand. If spices are expensive then that means the food generally has little flavour/culinary undeveloped. (or lacking preservatives)

Why do they predominantly use paper money, or coins or gems. How did they manufacture/or develop the currency. Giving yourself limitations and thinking through your world's history is the best way to make sure it doesn't feel like you are pulling something out of yo ass whenever you introduce an item.