I’ve felt low motivation to write lately, but I am consumed, as usual, by world building and creating an entirely fictional culture. I was able to repurpose some old story notes into something brand new to play with. I put together some infographics (mostly for my own purposes, as I was working out details) and have decided it’d be a fun idea to post them.
The Gods
First things first for this world. The cosmic structure. I started with Mara-Ne as the centerpoint for the entire pantheon and developed lore around her, but at some point I decided to name some planets, and toss in a few extras to round out the cast. I am not an astronomer so I am not interested in accuracy, but I wanted to create something familiar… but different. So a solar system that is generally similar to ours with shared naming theme.
From there, I fleshed out the rest based on need. Mara-Ne’s myth is based around her fall to earth and being held there by the Lonely King. Others, like Ilova and Norrin, existed as creator gods to match other myths around a husband and wife earth and sky motif. The Annu were just for fun. I love a good representation of the seasons and tossed in some names to make them interesting. My experience is with Greek and Roman myth, and there’s an idea of the household gods, so I’d like to do something like this here as well. A small set of gods to take care of daily tasks and general good fortune.
The Calendar
I love a fictional calendar. After playing games like Stardew Valley and Fire Emblem, I wanted to try my hand at one as well. I wanted the world to feel a little video game-y, but I ended up sticking with a 12 month system (less work for me).
I wanted a mix of new years and spring time holidays and celebrations. Romance surrounded by freshly bloomed flowers is a favorite image of mine, alongside wishes and prophecies being burned to be delivered to the gods. I started playing around with the roles of the gods here too. What seasons were offered to which role and what it meant. The story of Mara-Ne and the Lonely King play heavily into the seasons as well, where the winter is her absence, and the spring her return. It’s less of a cycle here than say the Persephone myth, mostly because some of the gods might actually be dead.
The Stars
And thus, the constellations. I wanted stars and constellations to play heavily into the general culture of this world, but I’m making a fakey fantasy which means I had to make some fakey consellations. I did a little bit of reading on how constellations, astrology, and other cosmic significances are determined… and then I decided it didn’t matter and threw in what I had. It helped significantly in developing the mythology of this world. There are ones that are tied heavily to the primary myths and are very important, and others that are just fun stories people tell.
I decided my characters’ birthdays randomly so no idea if anything I wrote here will actually play into their personalities, but it may give me a jumping off point to work with them. Next thing is learning how to write horoscopes, just to get the realism down.
Black Cat Fiction 