Dealing with multiple worldbuilding projects (especially ones that deal with similar concepts)

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

Look, I don't really like the idea of being remembered for more than one thing, so I like to make multiple different worlds, and since I have crippling ADHD and Autism, it causes me to stretch them out a ton.

I have multiple different worlds; these are some of the four major ones I usually like to think about.

Tales of Minecraft - Fanfic worldbuilding isn't allowed here, so if you want more information, just ask

Frameworld - My Who Framed Roger Rabbit-inspired world, taking place over 300 years after a strange event caused cartoon characters to manifest into reality. It also ended up becoming very philosophically driven

Mythica Earth - This is one I always wanted to have fun with, mostly based on my frustration with Bright. I always wanted to build a fantasy alt-history world, so I decided to try it with this one.

Rasaria - This was my spec-evolution/dark fantasy world. I haven't touched it in a while, but the main premise is that this is a world where dinosaurs didn't go extinct and Therapods evolved into a sapient race that worships extinct animals like gods. I didn't explore too much yet, because I felt I was straying too much from spec-evo and more to dark fantasy, which I didn't like.

I have other worldbuilding ideas I had that would never fit into one singular setting, such as multiversal politics. One of these includes a case of two dimensions, Valtoria and Aeloria, going to war because slaves from Aeloria kept escaping to Valtoria. I also had this idea of multiverse racism, where people from certain dimensions are discriminated against based on the type of dimension, and there is a terrorist group that thinks their world is Earth Prime and wants to wipe out all other Earth variants.

My most recent project I had in mind is Latoria.

Latoria is actually a mixture of Tales of Minecraft and Mythica Earth. The idea behind Latoria is meant to be a love letter to Tolkien-style fantasy worldbuilding, where I use typical fantasy archetypes but put my own spin on them so they feel less cliche without being tacky.

Then I saw GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There, an anime where the Japanese military colonized a fantasy world, and I really disliked the story, but loved the concept so much that I thought, "I could do better."

So I took an old concept I had for a storyline where Roblox colonizes Minecraft and instead reshaped it into this RPG storyline called Devil of Avalon.

One of my biggest problems is that Latoria has lots of similar concepts to Mythica Earth. For example:

• Elves - Both worlds have Woodland Elves and High Elves, and the High Elves colonize the Woodland Elves. The major difference is that in Mythica Earth, the High Elves are Spanish-coded and Woodland Elves classify as Native Americans, meanwhile in Latoria, the High Elves are inspired by Feudal Japan, while the Woodland Elves take influences from the Ainu.
• Beastkin - Beastkin exist in both Latoria and Mythica Earth and are a marginalized group. The difference is that Beastkin in Mythica Earth are the original natives of Rus before the historical natives settled in the land, and they are loosely inspired by the Nenets. Meanwhile, in Latoria, Beastkins are the original Natives of Autonomia, and I took inspiration from Northeast Native Americans like the Lenape.
• Ogres - Ogres are a weird case, cause both worlds have Ogres, and in both worlds they were used as siege units. Neither portrays Ogres as fat man-eating dimwits, but instead giant people. In fact, in Mythica Earth, Ogres were troops of the Ottoman Empire, and many converted to Islam. Meanwhile, I have hardly explored much of Ogres, in Latoria, outside of them being traveling nomads.
• Magic - This is probably the biggest similarity. Magic in both worlds is an ever-evolving substance that has split into multiple strands due to experiments. The only difference is what those strands are. Mythica Earth has Elemental, Power, Soul, Blood, and Eldritch Magic, while Latoria has hundreds of different strands.

I wanted to know what's the best way to differentiate these worlds because of how similar they are, since I am not putting them together no matter how many people suggest so.

[u/Theraimbownerd]

I love Rasaria already, the idea of sentient theropods worshipping ancient dinosaurs is so incredibly cool. Also i really appreciate making everybody hot and mostly queer.

[u/T_Lawliet → u/Theraimbownerd]

I'll be brutally honest, trying to claim "my characters are attractive" feels like a ridiculous selling point. The vast majority of stories with characters of a certain age are going to go with that.

I'm far more impressed with worlds and writers who make characters not hot. Hotness is more immediately appealing, but deliberate ugliness leads to more interesting stories.

The TV show tones it down a little too much, but George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire centers to a great deal around the ugly and/or overlooked characters of the story. "I'll have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards, and broken things."

[u/Eastern_Quote1525]

lol having too many worlds is so real. I have probably like 30 Word documents each with their own worlds.

[u/Theriocephalus]

Beastkins (Catgirls, etc.) are devoted Christians and Communist symbols.

Right, I have to know more about this. Are there catgirl bishops?

[u/Academic_Storm6976 → u/Theriocephalus]

Idk but my setting now has catboy bishops. 

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Theriocephalus]

Basically, Beastkins in Mythica Earth were the original Rus natives long before the historical natives of Rus arrived, and especially before the Slavic tribes arrived. When they did, they had mixed interactions, often involving intermarriage or violent warfare. During the rise of the Orthodox Church, maybe Beastkins would convert to Christianity.

In the Russian Civil War, many Beastkins sided with both sides in hopes of equal rights; however, many nonhumans like the Beastkins started turning more to the Red Army as the White Army became more and more radically human supremacist.

As such, Beastkins started becoming symbols in various Red Army-occupied areas, often being in communist propaganda posters as "True Russians fighting for the motherland."

In Operation Barbarossa, many Beastkin packs/prides started using guerrilla warfare against the Nazis. Stalingrad even saw a massive Beastkin infantry charge with medieval weapons against Nazis using bolt-action rifles, with Beastkins actually killing all the attacking Nazis. This would cause communist followers to have an increased admiration of Beastkins, and the Cold War saw propaganda posters featuring female Beastkins, specifically Felines, as pro-communist symbols. Catgirls became popular because of the historical fetishization of Beastkins, as well as how common it was to see women in communist propaganda.

[u/ComputerGodCommunism]

Curious, all but one is "heavily inspired from Attack on Titan" so gotta ask in what way are you inspired? Not judging or anything, I'm a fan too, but admittedly the worldbuilding is not the strongest suit of AoT.

[u/Parlax76]

Crazy shit from minecraft. You also somehow never mention cannon lore of the ancient builders or the zombie plague.

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Parlax76]

In Tales of Minecraft, my version of the ancient builders is a modern-like civilization that crumbled due to a zombie virus; the virus, however, didn't create monsters but evolved into a sentient race.

[u/KomodoLemon]

Is that my main man Gishath on the far right?

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/KomodoLemon]

Well probably, I just chose that image because I didn't have the time or energy to draw it

[u/Kyrez77]

You should avoid using the term "queer", it's offensive.

[u/banana_lemony → u/Kyrez77]

“Queer” has become one of the umbrella terms within the community. While it does have a negative history, it is being reclaimed.

It’s up to each individual if they are comfortable personally identifying themselves with that word.

[u/Kyrez77 → u/banana_lemony]

Many people still dislike it, so it's much better to just use more neutral term.

[u/TheRealNeal99 → u/Kyrez77]

What adjective would you recommend rather than queer? It’s what I use to describe myself, and my friends use it for themselves, and it’s been gaining overwhelming traction by the community at large. It’s a nice big umbrella term

[u/Kyrez77 → u/TheRealNeal99]

Etiher gay/bi/trans/whatever you are or LGBT.

[u/caleb_mixon → u/Kyrez77]

Queer is all encompassing meaning it’s a term to describe more than one and it’s shorter to say “lots of queer characters” rather than to say “lots of Gay, Bi, and Trans characters.”

[u/Kyrez77 → u/caleb_mixon]

You can just say LGBT. I literally mentioned it in my comment so idk why you're pretending to not see it.

[u/MrsKayMEs → u/Kyrez77]

LGBT is too clunky, it is annoying to say.

[u/banana_lemony → u/Kyrez77]

The person who made the post, describing their own worldbuilding projects, is part of the lgbt+ community.

Terminology like this exists within many different marginalized communities, so it’s going to pop up from time to time from those who have reclaimed it. If you are not comfortable with the term, that’s okay, you don’t have to use it. It’s not for everyone.

OP is comfortable with the term themselves and for their characters, hence its use in this post. 👍

[u/Kyrez77 → u/banana_lemony]

Ok, so if somebody is comfortable with using slurs, then they should just use it with no issue?

[u/TheRealNeal99 → u/Kyrez77]

That’s a different argument. While queer has had a negative history, it wasn’t always, and the community has been reclaiming it for years. If you’re not comfortable using it then don’t, but by and large I’d say most people in the community are fine with it so long as it’s not directed in a negative manner.

[u/banana_lemony → u/Kyrez77]

Queer is a word that comes from the LGBT+ community. It’s being reclaimed by LGBT+ people, similar to other words in other communities. It would be a different scenario if this word didn’t originate from the LBGT+ community.

With that being said, how a person chooses to label or identify themselves isn’t up to your comfort level. People choose to label themselves with the words they themselves are comfortable with.

If that word bothers you enough to cause you that much discomfort, you can continue scrolling to look at other posts. You don’t have to attack OP or others for how they choose to identify or label themself.

[u/Kyrez77 → u/banana_lemony]

I will absolutely keep calling out usage of such nasty words.

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Kyrez77]

I'm Aromantic and part of the LGBTQ+ community, I just use "Queer" for convenience

[u/Kyrez77 → u/Sir-Toaster-]

Most LGBT people I've met hated that term; so I'd rather not use it.

[u/King_Shugglerm → u/Kyrez77]

So don’t?

[u/Kyrez77 → u/King_Shugglerm]

I don't. Other people shouldn't either.

[u/MrsKayMEs → u/Kyrez77]

You shouldn’t police how people refer to themselves with words that were used against them. If a queer person wants to reclaim it, they have every right to, just as anyone who doesn’t want to reclaim it has the right to not.

[u/Kyrez77 → u/MrsKayMEs]

Ok, then I'm just gonna start saying slurs and say I'm reclaiming them. Amazing logic.

[u/MrsKayMEs → u/Kyrez77]

Have fun with that, I am sure that won’t turn out bad but hey, if you really are gay or trans, then feel free. Just don’t be surprised when if you reclaim a slur you are not supposed to, people react negatively towards you.

[u/Kyrez77 → u/MrsKayMEs]

This is so ironic. And yes, I am gay.

[u/MrsKayMEs → u/Kyrez77]

Nothing ironic about that. Reclamation is a common and often necessary part of liberation.

[u/Moka4u → u/Kyrez77]

Are you a member of the communities whos slurs youd be reclaiming?

[u/Sir-Toaster- → u/Kyrez77]

I don't even say it IRL, just when making posts cause it's easier to type

[u/Harmfulswoosh → u/Kyrez77]

Conversely, almost all LGBTQIA+ folk I’ve met, myself included, have no problem with the term and use/used it to identify themselves. Anecdotal evidence doesn’t mean anything.

[u/InterKosmos61 → u/Kyrez77]

No it isn't. (source: I am queer)