Furry Writers' Guild Forum

In Search of some Worldbuilding Advice.

General Writing Discussion
#1

Right now, I’m working on a Sci-Fi/Fantasy type piece. Hopefully, the first use of the universe I’ll be writing in will be in process this week in line with the latest Thursday prompt. But first, I wanted to get some advice on what kind of civilization would develop on this world I’m using. Note: I already kind of have an idea of what cultures I want to play on, but I wanted to see what kind of aspects I’d want to emphasize as bases of communities.

I have an image as well as some geographical data I’ve fabricated. I can post that stuff here, but I want to make sure anyone would be interested in helping me out first. Anyone feeling wise in the ways of worldbuilding right now?

#2

I might not be much help but I’d love to see what you’ve got so far!

#3

Alright, here’s the world map.

First up, some general bits on the description of the landscape. As you can see, it’s got a pretty nippy climate (with 33% of the world under ice), but at the same time, much of the world is covered with a pretty expansive ocean system, as well as inland seas and complex river systems. Think of the darker green as dense forests, and the yellow-green as grassland. The brownish and gray-white areas constitute the only major mountain range on the planet.

I’ll spare you the painful specifics of all the zany astronomical facts, but I’ll give you some other generalized world facts and whatnot. Yeah, you can tell I put way too much random thoughts into this stuff. XD

The atmosphere is oxygen-rich (being around 80%) and the pressure is similar to that of the Himalayas (at around 50kPa, which is roughly half the pressure at sea level).

Average temperatures throughout much of the world are in the range of the 50s to 70s (F) regularly, but can exceed 100 degrees near the equator on a particularly hot summer day. All in all, I’d imagine much of the climate would remain more towards the cooler end of the spectrum. The one thing I haven’t figured is what would be regarded as a typical weather pattern in this place. Any input on that would be fantastic.

Really, my biggest questions in regard to all this is what kind of cultures do you think would arise given the geographical conditions? What kind of resources would be the most coveted? Where in the world would wealth be concentrated and why?

I don’t know if I’m just asking for too much, but this is definitely not an easy process. XD

Like I said, any help would be wonderful. If you guys think of even the slightest idea, let me know. It all helps!

#4
The atmosphere is oxygen-rich (being around 80%)
Holy wow, don't ever light a match or you'll never be able to put it out. Not that you'd ever put this figure in the story (unless you have some brilliant conversation in mind where this would come up), but you might consider revising that. Oxygen is highly reactive (it gets trapped in rocks, metals, molecular gas, and of course burns easily), so it has a hard time sticking around; even with a surface full of plants constantly belching the stuff out, Earth's atmosphere only maintains ~20% oxygen, so if the O2 content was really that high on this world you'd have to come up with a source for it and be prepared to deal with the consequences when writing the narrative. People who look at extrasolar planet atmospheres are always keeping their eyes open for any sign of oxygen, because it's one of the primary signatures of a biosphere--without something there to replenish it, it all goes away almost immediately.

Keep in mind also pressure deviations due to elevation. If it’s mostly like the Himilayas, there would presumably be high mountains where at the peak it’s so rarified it’s unbreathable. Which could be cool… there might be places on this world that have atmospheres as thin as Mars’, and in such places you can find incredibly rare lichens or fungi or something that might be turned into a valuable commodity somehow (only the hardiest adventurers can make it to such places). You could play with that a lot.

Average temperatures throughout much of the world are in the range of the 50s to 70s (F) regularly
I'm assuming you mean 'during a typical spring day' or something of that nature (because 'average global temperature' means something very particular... I think 50 F is what the average temperature was during the last global Ice Age on Earth, for example, whereas 70 would be, like, dinosaur era or something). But if you mean year round the temperatures only range between 50 and 70, that's pretty dang temperate and stable, so I imagine most of the societies would be slow to evolve. You might also mean that when averaging over the lows of winter and the highs of summer you get something like 50-70, in which case I guess it would be mostly Earthlike? You might specify exactly what you mean by that before anyone can say anything about what types of cultures might evolve in such a place. You know... stable climates lead to complacency (regular agricultural cycles, no major events like droughts or extended winters, etc., so there's no need to develop complex technologies to provide for what nature doesn't), lack of resources lead to conflict, etc.
#5

My response will be in two parts. First, allow me to answer your questions.

But if you mean year round the temperatures only range between 50 and 70, that's pretty dang temperate and stable, so I imagine most of the societies would be slow to evolve. You might also mean that when averaging over the lows of winter and the highs of summer you get something like 50-70, in which case I guess it would be mostly Earthlike? You might specify exactly what you mean by that before anyone can say anything about what types of cultures might evolve in such a place.

The highs and lows vary through much of the planet, but I’ve kind of created a few zones that we can work off of.

  1. The Northern Zone (The Northern Coast and Northernmost Islands in the larger archipelagos)
    This area is typified by a cold-to-mild climate. Think of the Caucasus region and Northern Turkey when this area comes to mind. Summertimes are often drier than winter months, but do not necessarily exceed the low 70s on a regular basis. Winters can often be harsh and wet, with higher snowfalls than much of the rest of the world. Temperatures in this time of year can range from around -15 to 30F.
  2. The Maritime Zone (The Areas Immediately Surrounding the ocean towards the middle and lower portions of the world)
    This region is by far the most hospitable of climates. Summer temperatures stick around the 70s and 80s, but sometimes venture into the lower 90s. Rains are heavy on a regular basis in most places, but can be predictable. Dry spells are uncommon, but do happen from time to time. Winters are similar in regards to snowfall, and have temperatures ranging from 0 to 40 F.
  3. The Mountain Zone (The Area around the major mountain chain towards the south of the Continent)
    Whereas the Hills Zone is like the Great Plains, these are like the Rockies. Temperatures rarely exceed the mid-40s, and often keep in a state of perpetual, dry winter. High winds are very common.
  4. The Central Hills Zone (The Greener Areas between the Maritime and Mountain Zones)
    These areas are mild, but are subject to more infrequent and random rain patterns than the coastal regions are used to. Temperatures can vary from season to season. Winters can go near 0F, and summers can go into the 80s. Comparable to the Great Plains of the US and Canada.
  5. The Islands Zone (Islands dotting the Main Ocean and the Southern portions of the larger archipelagos)
    These areas are the more humid and warm areas of the world. These climates can be comparable to that of the Maritime zone, but contain higher rainfall averages and longer summer seasons with milder, but still cold winters.
  6. The Subarctic Zones (Self-Explanatory, But excludes much of the Northern Coast)
    These areas are remarkably similar to the climactic regions of Northern Scandinavia. Winters are long and quite frigid, but are drier than Northern Zone winters. The short summers rarely enter temperatures beyond 60 degrees F.

Globally, the extremes of weather can come often. Winters to the north can often herald harsh blizzards and high winds. The southern reaches of habitable land can achieve similar conditions, while snowfall is a fair bit less often there. While true heat waves are seldom seen, “cold waves” are relatively more frequent, usually with one every six to ten years worldwide, though it is more common in the Northern and Hills zones. Heavy rains and cyclones are commonplace during the spring and summer months surrounding the central ocean, especially on the central coastal regions.

Let me know if there are gaps in my ideas, or if things seem impossible, unlikely, and/or inconsistent. Thanks for your input!

#6

Well… geography and climate is a complicated business, so if you really want to get it all right you’ll just have to sit down and research this stuff. Since you’ve got a lot of variety here, I’ll say that in some ways it makes sense to treat societies like individual people… you know, come up with a few stereotypes and work with that. Like, let’s say you’ve got people for some reason living in the Mountain Zone. So it’s always cold, frequently windy, and high elevation, so the plantlife and animal life will be sparse and tough, few large animals (lack of breathable air limits body size, lack of food limits growth). First off, you’d have to consider why people might choose to live in such a place; it’s terribly harsh, there’s probably lots of death, everything is a struggle. One reason might be exile, another might be pride (look at how awesome and tough we are, living in such a hellhole), another might be tradition (it didn’t always used to be this bad, but dammit our ancestors lived here for generations), and so on. So that will dictate a bit what their values are and how they generally act as a society.

You see where I’m going with this? Things like annual rainfall and temperatures are a physics question mostly (rain shadows, tornado alley, monsoons, etc.), but how people are affected by these things is obviously a social question and can be treated a little more loosely. As long as people act like people it should be believable enough, right? And it helps to do research in this regard as well. You know… read about how nomadic Tibetans live in the semi-arid, high altitude Tibetan Plateau, read about ancient European peoples like the Picts, and how those societies either evolved or were wiped out, and so on. Then you can use those concepts as a base and start branching out and inventing your own stuff. That’s my advice. Maybe someone else has different advice.

#7

Oh, everything helps, man! I appreciate the motivation to attempt to diversify things a bit. Thanks!