How my world is coming along

So inspired by /r/worldbuilding I began to build my very own fantasy world.

Having never tried cartography before, I decided to begin by coming up with a system of gods. I created 'The Six', plus two outcast gods who are shunned by the world.

I have taken an unusual route of making elves the most hated (and feared) race of the realm. Also, inspired by ancient Greek and Roman literature, I have created the gods to be truly anthropomorphic immortals. They lived human-like lives, they created cities and they lived in palaces. This went on for about 11,000 years. Then something happened (I haven't determined what, but I'm probably going to attribute it to weariness and boredom of the gods making them leave - the atheist in me is going to have a field day) and people haven't seem them for about 400 years at the time of my story taking place.

I have included saints as well. These work like the Christian saints, and each one has performed miracles. There are over 4000 saints in total and each of them has achieved fame and nobility through their works and they are followed by groups of people. There is only one living saint alive now and he is the king of the realm. His struggles are going to form the background for my story and my protagonist will end up meeting him somehow.

I then took up the task of drawing the map for my world. Well, I use the term 'draw' lightly. I used notepad and ASCII characters to draw it. Here's a sneak peek:


 

?^^^~?~####?
^^^~~~~~####
^^^~~~~~~###
^^^~~~~~~~##              
^^__________#
^^^;;____/-@-\
@^^;____/;@\:_
^^;;:______/--\_
^^^^:__::______
^^^;:@_____^^^    
^^^;;________^^
  ^@^^;;_____::^#
^^^^^;;;;;;@####


Obviously from an outside point of view this looks like a load of random nonsense, but the important thing is it makes sense to me. I don't need a fancy drawing to guide my around my own fantasy realm, just seeing the spike (^) of a mountain let's my imagination run wild and conjure up an amazing scene, characters, history and events surrounding it.

The point is, use whatever techniques work for you.


Try out http://www.rainymood.com to get yourself in the mood to start writing!

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