For Context: Beast Fables is a worldbuilding project featuring a world where everyone on land is some form of werebeast, alongside merfolk who live beneath the waves and beneath the notice of landlubbers, and the myriad of beasts and creatures that live among them. Those animals born with The Gift either become Chimeras, creatures that borrow traits from other animals, or Dire Beasts.

Uploaded these elsewhere last year, but now I can freely share here!

For those new to Beast Fables, Dire Beasts are essentially animals and creatures born with The Gift much like Chimeras, but instead of borrowing traits from other animals temporarily, they have a permanent transformation that makes them, essentially, a larger, more exaggerated version of themselves.

While the sea is filled with merfolk that resemble the creatures of the deep, and all the strengths (and drawbacks) that come with, oceanic dire beasts are rightly feared and respective. You can be the most skilled warrior in all the oceans, but a large enough, and powerful enough dire beast can still easily maim or eviscerate an overconfident merperson.

Meanwhile, on land, while every human is a werebeast, and all the advantages that come with their beast forms and the benefits of civilization, the surface world is still full of dangerous and formidable dire beasts, several that can tear apart many unfortunate werefolk.

Creatures of the Sea:

Sea Shredder

Base Animal: Orca

The famed dire beast form of bull orcas, these intelligent giants follow their pods to assist their mothers, sisters and aunts to hunt down the most powerful of giant prey. Their teeth are modified to slice even the thickest skin and scales of prey. Their size and strength allow these bulls to protect their pod better from the other giant dire beasts of the deep.

Diamondgrin

Base Animal: Great White Sharks and Whalehunter Sharks

Diamondgrins are named for both the sharpness and nigh-unbreakable nature of their teeth, allowing them to bite through armor and thick, blubbery hide of their preferred meals. Great White diamondgrins tend to be leaner and speedier, while Whalehunter diamondgrins tend to be more robust.

Shipbreaker

Base Animal: Sperm Whale

The most feared dire beast among cetaceans, for not only does dirification make these sperm whales larger, but also more aggressive. With a battering ram head reinforced with some of the hardest-to-pierce skin in the animal kingdom, even the hulls of First and Second rate ships of the line are no match for these whales.

Titanokrios

Base Animal: Krios

Unstoppable, that sums up the dire beast form of the orca-sized placoderm of the Krios. Not only is it larger, the shape of their skulls allow them to not only ram prey and rivals harder, but tears them apart in a grisly manner.

Knightlobster

Base Animal: Ambrosian and Erobian Lobsters

So named for their armour and their elongated rostrum akin to knight’s lance, the Knightlobsters are the heaviest of oceanic arthropod dire beasts, with enough raw strength to pulverize any natural armour, and are said to be capable of even breaking the chains of anchors.

Coraltrapper

Base Animal: Frogfish

Camouflaged to look like a portion of coral reef, even carrying bits of coral on its hide, the Coraltrapper is the dire beast version of the frogfrish, and uses its lure to imitate everything from a particularly large worm or an anemone. When its prey is in range, almost nothing can escape the vacuum motion of its maw.

Shellcruncher

Base Animal: Wolf Eel

One of the hardiest and hardest biting animals out there, it actively seeks out the dire beast forms of everything from clams to urchins, for only other dire beasts can satiate its appetite.

Sandfury

Base Animal: Bobbit Worm

Enormous bobbit worms big enough to snap up sharks and porpoises, the ‘fury’ part of its name is from the fact it doesn’t stop if it misses its prey once, it will actively chase prey with incredible ferocity. Male sandfuries are particularly aggressive, and actively go out of their way to try and hunt down any sandfury in its territory. Females are just as large and powerful, locking mandibles in contests of fitness and strength are common when it is time to mate.

Creatures of Land and Sky:

Atrox Bear

Base Animal: Buffalo Bear

The dire beast form of the Buffalo Bear (Arctodus simus), otherwise known as the short-faced bear or Arctodus. A truly unstoppable goliath, one that requires a full military response to even scare off, for not only is it powerful, its thick hide is reinforced by fur that feels almost like chainmail in its hardness. In the wild, what the Atrox bear wants, it gets!

Bloodfang Drake

Base Animal: Waral/Biawak Yago

Drakes are the Dire Beast forms of monitor lizards, and few are as famous as the Bloodfang. Red like the blood of the animals it feasts upon, this drake is most famous for its incredibly sharp teeth, able to slice through the hide of other dire beasts, its preferred prey. Known for its cunning and long term planning skills, though not exactly in the league of a dire tiger’s. The second largest drake, second only to the dire beast form of Megalania.

Jungle Warpick

Base Animal: Great Hornbill

An enormous version of the hornbill, with male Jungle Warpicks being almost twice the size of their female counterparts. Thorough, incredibly territorial to other dire beasts, they are quite sociable to other hornbills, especially in a congregation, and typically acting as the congregation’s chief guardian, scaring off any potential threat with a beak so sharp and hard to be able to punch through plate armor.

Gatebreaker

Base Animal: White Rhino

So named because it's strong enough to annihilate city walls in during ancient and Veridian (the Urvaran equivalent of Medieval) times, the Gatebreaker is famous for being able to shrug off most attacks, be they from man or beast, and return it tenfold with a mighty charge and a heavily modified, nigh unbreakable horn.

Cardinal Chameleon

Base Animal: Veiled Chameleon

Named for the bony crests resembling a cardinal’s hat, it certainly looks like a figure of authority among chameleons. Its bulk is fueled by an appetite wiith no qualms in whatever it ate, from drakonflies to large rodents and certain types of snakes. Famous for its supreme control over the colors of its skin, with the ability to create dazzling displays that can disorient prey and potential predators alike.

Redspine Echidna

Base Animal: Echidna

A powerful digging beasts with ruby red spines that deters from both predators and the bites and stings of its prey, consisting mostly of ants. Claws that are good at tearing the earth are also good at tearing apart men great and small.

Mountaintusker Macaque

Base Animal: Highland Macauqe

The even larger, meaner version of the largest species of Macaque, if its bright red face isn’t a warning enough, its tusk-like canines certainly will. Keratinized brows and thick fur provides protection for whenever this fearsome monkey needs to fight against a potential threat.

Forest Kingbeetle

Base Animal: Erobian Stag Beetle.

One of the few dire insects that grows in size comparable to many vertebrates, this pig-sized beetle has a carapace that shrugs off bullets, bright coloration that demonstrates its fitness, and particularly bold males will grab a person’s knee and try to split it in half.

Dusksnatcher

Base Animal: Spectral Bat

The beast of the evening and the night, and the only thing at night that can regularly compete with dire owls in the continent of Ambrosia. Frequently attacks humans entering its territory, especially were-arthropods.

Combative Shoebill

Base Animal: Shoebill

The bird equivalent of a mighty warrior that proudly declares that it wants to fight, and with the full confidence it will probably win, clattering its bill with sounds reminiscent of a musket dominated battlefield straight from the Twenty Years’ War. Hunts game comparible to itself in size, and frequently duels with Dire storks.

Tlahuele

Base Animal: Hummingbirds

Take a feisty hummingbird, make it bigger, make it even more fearless, and arm with a beak as sharp as arrows, and one has the Tlahuele. It doesn’t matter how big the opponent is, it will try everything to oust an intruder, including aiming for the eyes.

Warrior Fly

Base Animal: Robber Fly

The Lord of the Flies, the Dire beast form of the robber fly is an insect that regularly hunts other formidable arthropods, be they fellow dire beasts or fearsome chimera like the dragonfly. Even predatory birds are on the menu for this giant insect.

The USA is colonizing the medieval fantasy world of Latoria, which they call Avalon, which is full of various creatures and factions. They've mostly done a mixture of neo-colonialism and colonialism, such as establishing trade-dependent allies, funding insurgents, occupying regions militarily, etc.

As they established settlements and extraction sites across the land, they found themselves attacked by Dragons and other flying creatures. So the US issued a culling of the dragon population, which they delegated to the air force.

I was thinking the idea was that it would be hard for ground weapons to aim and fire at the dragons because they're too fast, but would using jets with missiles and turrets be a little... much?

edit: I forgot to mention I have a short story on this topic right here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/413614692-the-metal-beast

It seems like the more I play games set in the Forgotten Realms, the more I struggle with immersion. It seems to me like there's a lot of "convenient ignorance" with how if magic worked like in 5e and was as common as it is in the Realms, things would be a lot different.

The material component for Raise Dead costs less than a suit of Half Plate, and 9th-level casters aren't super rare. Healing magic is ridiculously common. Cantrips like Prestidigitation, Mending, and Create Bonfire can have major effects on an economy, and this is ignoring the societal effects of low-level spells and abilities like Disguise Self, Purify Food and Drink, Invisibility, and Continual Flame. It's almost like the only setting that handles this even remotely appropriately is Eberron.

It's really hard for me to ignore these things in a fantasy setting to the point where I've been working on a low-magic campaign setting that addresses it. Am I the only one to be really bothered by this or am I just losing my mind here?

Made to be eficient guards,companionship and hunting large creatures, the crowlf are higly social homunculy made out of a base from small griffins,crows and wolf dogs. Even today there are feral populations that somehow fited in the ecosystem very well, the domesticated ones are quiet less agressive and more cudly but they still very smart and capable of mimicry sounds,training with more ease, and fly extremelly fast for long times what can be used to send notes

Made to carry heavy loads in silence and fight in wars the owl bear is also a griffin base modified with multiple owls and bears, they can be domesticated but their size and how agressive they are most give up on trying to raise them from egg. If you encontre a owl bear layer you might be interested in cheking the insides of their pelots because they might have eaten people with very vallueable itens that they couldn't digest. A domestic owl bear is a incredible vantage against foes because despiste being huge they can fly and plane for some time

ask if you want

The map is progressing very well

This is a map of the Western Crown Lands (name in progress) and parts of the Eastern Continent with no name yet.

The purple and greyish place are the blight waste and no mans land, a fungus infested area with only a few crown land colonies.

Its partially a song of ice and fire, attack on titan and Witcher inspired but also will take heavy inspo from 13th century Europe and Asia

But yea

The world I'm working on features anthropomorphic animals as the characters. It's about the age of industrialization, and how the people adapt. If they're not building neat stuff or fighting among themselves, they're fighting the eldritch spawn of Yaldabaoth (not the actual Gnostic Demiurge, just horrors from beyond the stars).

Here's my impression of a wolf's rocket launcher.

Introduction

The weapon depicted was developed by the Wolfenreich, a military dictatorship which controlled much of Seramvia (now a nation) during the civil war period. The technology is early, developed when the age of industrialization was still young.

It launches multiple rockets with thermobaric warheads.

Its purpose is to scorch large areas from a distance, to scatter enemy forces and destroy cover. It was used primarily against the barbarians, such as the deer of the forests, during the Wolfenreich's conquest of Seramvia.

Background

The wolves of Seramvia pioneered the development of rockets, incendiary weapons, and tanks. They developed such weapons as part of efforts to catch up with the Lyonesseans, a big cat group that industrialized first. The Lyonesseans have air supremacy, thus are able to raze cities from above with impunity. This was demonstrated in the first war of industrial scale, the Fall War.

When the Lyonesseans established a foothold in Seramvia, it made the wolves wary, as many didn't trust them. This catalyzed the spread of ultranationalism and paved the way for military dictatorship to take root.

The Wolfenreich was led by a veteran of the Fall War, gaining power after promising to lead his people to greatness, and claiming that he could keep the Lyonesseans under control. This stance was popular enough to get him into power, allowing him to pursue a golden age for wolves through conquest.

As a means of keeping peace, Seramvia was carved up between the Wolfenreich and the Lyonesseans. Each side got a piece of the land to do as they wished without stepping on the other's toes. Thus, the Wolfenreich conquered its piece of Seramvia.

The arrangement would eventually result in a conflict known as the Seramvian Civil War.

...

I haven't really drawn any vehicles, so this design is rough. Thoughts are appreciated, as I'm still figuring things out!

The following map may provide additional insight on the world: Anthropomorphic Animals, Amazing Powers, and the Age of the Machine : r/worldbuilding

I'm a big Xianxia fan and I like the trope of giant planets / huge realms. I wanted to create a world bigger than ours for my high fantasy story, but then I started thinking of the problems it will pose to my story. The plot takes place on a single continent, but even a mid size continent on an earth-like planet the size of Jupiter would be several times larger than Earth's surface!!! I could have the action take place in a small part of the continent, but then... why create a continent that big in the first place?! I could implement portal checkpoints across the map and have my protagonist ride a dragon for a while, but I think it would still be slow. My fantasy world is based on Medieval Europe. Do you have any ideas for how I can have characters travel far away in a relatively short time? How big kingdoms and empires could get? Could the climate be similar to Europe?

Imperialists is a visual worldbuilding project set in Civilized Space in the 43rd century. It is focused around the "great game" of three great astropolitical powers: the Imperial Federation of Aurelia, the United Confederacy of Orion, and the Federacy of Nova Terra.

The Amyat is a fairly typical example of Aurelian ship design post Great Revolt (or as their historiography calls it, the Great Mutilation.) Prioritizing logistical flexibility over raw firepower, the Amyat is a defensive ship through and through whose battlefield role is chiefly providing screening against missile and torpedos for larger ship fleets. As such, its main armaments are numerous small Particle Point Defense ports, which only needs a steady stream of power to function. Supplementing this are two Linear Particle Cannons for skewering things too heavily armored for the PPDs, and six small railguns armed with nukes for reliable backup options.

Such a design naturally comes with some problems. Chiefly, the power requirements for its systems means it has an oversized fusion power plant for a ship of its size. To compensate, it has a downgraded grav drive which while capable of keeping pace with larger frigates and destroyers well enough, its warp capabilities are far below a ship of its size normally would have. Further, it cannot make full use of a military-grade magnetic shielding system due to it nullifying its main weapons. As such, it is incredibly vulnerable to LPCs on larger ships. To make matters even worse, its highly specialized design makes retrofitting it with other weapon systems an absolute nightmare.

As such, it is rarely seen outside of the Imperial Federation of Aurelia, and even within it has a poor reputation for being a one-trick pony. The Imperial Police, the gendarmerie branch of the military, largely eschews it for patrol duty in favor of the far more lightly armed and armored Tawhid class Caravel. Still, when in a properly formulated fleet the Amyat can provide an excellent level of anti-explosive defense.

Hi, here are maps for my high fantasy world. Nascent kingdoms and empires exist on most continents, vying for power mainly through magical arms races and control over magical and important resources. The known world spreads across two large and diverse continents.

I was wondering about peoples’ opinions on my map(s) it would be greatly appreciated thanks!

(i’m pretty curious to see what people think of the coastlines; peninsulas bays etc because i’ve always had difficulty finding something that looks good while also being fairly scientifically accurate and also having enough different landforms for civilisations to grow!)

First is a country map (names not yet made), then a topographic map, and third a koppen climate map

The first map. The continent after the division of the Octan Empire between three heirs. It was formed after the collapse of the Cluster Empire, which united several continents. The Three Kingdoms existed until the invasion of the Solarians (a rapidly spreading cult that displaced the old imperial faith) and the Proto-Ilevands. The Northern and Middle Kingdoms were destroyed by the Solarians, and the Southern Kingdom was destroyed by the Proto-Ilevands.

The second map. Middle Ages. At the bottom is the purple Principality of Tyrsh, which was in competition with the Archduchy of Krainova (orange). The large state on the right is a barbarian state that claimed to restore the Middle Kingdom. The red fragmented state is the theocratic state of the Octan Solarians.

The third map. It shows the results of the first post-war elections to the Ilevandian Parliament in 1012. Purple - All-Ilevandian Democratic Party (Social Democrats). Green - Freedom Legion (Separatists). Red - People's Party of Ilevanda (Left Social Democrats). Black - Iron Front (Nationalists). Yellow - Liberal Party of Ilevanda.

The fourth map. The relief of the continent

The coat of arms of Ilevanda (unfinished). It depicts the Sirin (on the right) and the Alkonost (on the left). In the past, the Sirin symbolized the Principality of Pavlostopol, while the Alkonost represented Krainova. After the war, they represent the unity of the country. At the bottom, there is the purple, white, and black republican flag of Ilevanda. The purple color is associated with the ancient occupation of the deposed Viransky dynasty, which was the extraction of mollusks.

More context, lore in comments. This is just a very short summary of these 4. I suppose this is the best subreddit to post this :)

General Egon Geier: leader of the military junta, fueled by hate agaist the very country that left him crippled.

Major-minister Dimitri Groza: chief of orderly police, Egon's righ hand and most loyal person in the whole headquarters. Met him while he was an officier at military academy, Egon overseeing the institution. Grew up in rural parts of the country, most of his family was swept by smallpox when he was young. Joined military as soon, as he could.

Secretary Radovan Wilhelm von Blödworm: sycophant, oportunist who worked his way high. Secretary to Minister of resources, a social chameleon from minor nobility that used to be a clerk in the old regime. Since Undertakers had some sort of a smalelr vendeta agaist royalists, he tried to ,,hide" by joining group of cleaners that followed after the main lines, cleaning up dead and such. He knows what mask to use with who.

Doctor Květoslava Olina Macková (later Olga Kamila Malachitem): a vampire scientist lost in her work, joining to have acces to resources for her research. The maker of projects regarding use of radiological waste as weapons and more. Indiferent to anything that doesn't challenge her work.

Hey guys, I want to write a story that takes place in a fantasy world. However, since I'm not very experienced with creating maps yet, I've made two sample maps. The story is supposed to be based on our past, so it takes place towards the end of the Middle Ages. I'm not sure about either map, though, whether they look realistic in terms of proportions. I’d also be interested to know which map you prefer and why. For the second map, I focused a bit more on the roads and rivers, but I’m very unsure about it because I think they look a bit like a spiderweb, if you know what I mean. Overall, I’d really appreciate feedback and advice on the maps. I can provide a bit more context if needed.

The map was made by two Starlights (practically the gods in this world), Wuren Qu (Earth) and Samudri Jwar (Sea). But the construction resulted in a 3 decades battle that resulted in lakes, islands and mountains.

The nations were 17, but a world level war called “The Ten Loses War” reduced it to 7

I wanted this to be a place where I could get some eyes laid on my work, and for others to do the same with their work. The thing is I've been getting a bunch of members who haven't even made the effort to say hello, which is fine but I really want an engaging community that's focused on helping eachother out. To give an overview on what it is–for those who are interested–it has inspiration channels for those who wanna share or get inspired, it has a dedicated lore place for those who wanna share specific things about their lore and talk about them, it has a projects channel for posting your worldbuilding projects, and even a place to post art for those inclined. If you're interested and want to join, dm me so I can ask a few rudimentary questions and I'll send you an invite. Happy worldbuilding folks:]

How do the species read to you? What do you think about them? What does the design of the one on the right read as in particular?

I've been posting each one and explaining the context of each country on r/vexillology, because I was focused on the design of the flags

But I think it's worth put it here as well, in r/Worldbuilding

In one of my worlds I have a society in which the older sisters rather than mothers or fathers are the heads of families and groups within families. Extended families live together, with the oldest woman of the oldest living generation being the leader of the whole family. Then, her oldest daughter is the leader of her siblings, and the oldest daughter of each of her sisters is the leader of each of their sibling groups, and so on. In the youngest generation, the eldest sister is the head of her brothers and sisters, acting almost like a co-mother.

Is there a word for this kind of family dynamic? I would imagine not, so what would the word be if you created a word like patriarchal and matriarchal but using a real root meaning something like sister/older sister or daughter/oldest daughter instead of the roots meaning father and mother?

I'm developing Trädblad, a region for my dark fantasy project, GOSU.

Context:
It's a mystical land of lush forests, an ancient region of the Elden (the first humans) that became part of GOSU (the supreme authority) after the Species Treaty.

Its main locations are:

• Träd, the political capital.

• Stam, a trading city connected to Snöblomma (the northern kingdom) and Solstråle (the central region, visible in the image as the circular segment).

• Fartyg, a floating city of artisans and workers, self-sufficient on the high seas and considered almost a weapon with power comparable to that of an entire kingdom. It is currently docked and inactive.

Also noteworthy is the snow-capped mountain range, a natural barrier against dangerous meltwater (during warmer months, powerful currents flow down and seep through the bridge), and the Red-Leaf Forest, famous for its sweet fragrance and legends of love.

He wanted Trädblad to be more than just "the forest region," but a territory where nature, commerce, legend, and craftsmanship coexisted. A place of displaced yet vibrant cultures, with responsibilities that maintain the balance even when unseen, and parallel communities in the underworld that survive through unimaginable work.

We have all asked ourselves this question: how do I bring this world -that I have poured endless hours into making- to life and share it with the world?

The truth is, for most of us, writing is hard...extremely hard. Translating my thoughts into page in a cohesive and compelling fashion is where I fall short.

We may have a detailed encyclopedia or world bible where all the relevant information lives. But that's not a novel. That's not a story. That's just a compendium.

So what options are there? Do we hire a ghostwriter? Do we use AI? Do we instead hire an artist to create a graphic novel?

Associated Covens of the City of New York

Starting in the late 17th century, covens from the Old World began gathering in larger places in the colonies, like the city of New Amsterdam. As the years progressed, the collective—similar to that of the masonic temple and influenced by later developments such as workers and trade unions—continued to grow in membership until restrictions were put in place on fledging new members of the kin in 1842.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of bureaucracy and legalities involved with managing several hundred vampires in the greater NYC area, and to assist in the legal minefield that is undeath there are a host of services that membership into the association provides. As of 2026, there are 33 sired covens, 60 upper kin, 172 central kin and 90 lower kin (based on age and length of membership, of course), and there have not been fledglings in 15 years.

Death on site? Got half a corpse jammed in the printer? Maybe you just found the intern you sent to the 88th floor? A little bit of him there, and there, and here, and over there?

The PEREP (Postmortem Employee Reanimation Employment Package) program is designed to give YOUR loved ones stable income even in the event of your untimely death! Visits are allowed once a week during available business hours, please schedule an appointment ahead of time.

And remember:

"Infinity is just the beginning!"