GitP Worldbuilding Project

[Je dit Viola]

So I'm trying to get it straight - the gnomes fell, and split to Mountain Gnomes and Floating Island Gnomes?
Or just Floating Island Gnomes?

Either way, it looks good to me.

And so does that firebreathing Toucan. I love it!

[Maximum Zersk]

So I'm trying to get it straight - the gnomes fell, and split to Mountain Gnomes and Floating Island Gnomes?
Or just Floating Island Gnomes?

Either way, it looks good to me.

And so does that firebreathing Toucan. I love it!

Both, sorta. Even still, there's a split between Mountain and Floating Island Gnomes.

[Soterion]

I'm starting to wonder if maybe these floating islands aren't a natural feature. That somehow the fact that they float is tied in with Mystery Catastrophe X. Maybe both mountains and islands floated in the past, and some kind of accident with the flotation systems caused half the islands to capsize and crash into the ground. That would be pretty cataclysmic for any civilization, especially since the gnomes on the floatlands would have been hard-pressed to keep their homes aloft.

Or maybe it's the reverse. Mystery Catastrophe X caused the islands to start floating. Maybe the skygnomes did it on purpose to isolate themselves from the mountaingnomes. Anyway, just ideas.

[Maximum Zersk]

Well, my idea is that they already existed. Earlier on, I explained an idea.

Anyhoo, the idea for the Minovsky Particles was to explain things like the flying mountains. I was thinking that the particle would negate gravitons to an extent, causing chunks of rock to float. Said rocks might be covered on the underside with some kind of material that has an abundance in this.

[Tulio d Bard]

@Salbazier & @SinisterPenguin: Nice to know there are new people around, even if you don't post often (recently, I'm posting just rarely either). And it's never pointless to know that there's someone liking our work. The more points of view we have, the best we can create things. Brainstorming always helps.

One thing I've noticed (and I apologize if this has come up before, I've read the thread but I might have missed it) is that gnomes seem awfully similar to humans. Maybe give them some little features to distinguish them a little, so they're not just short humans? Maybe they have slimy skin, or catlike eyes, or maybe they communicate partly through pheromones. I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas.

As far as I remember, when talking about gnomes, we've focused more on culture/history than on their physical features so far. I believe that if we have one of them done, it will help us get to the other.

@Soterion: You made my tuke dreams come true. <3

@Current Subject: Gnomes/dwaves are now divided in Mountain and Floating Islands. We could say the mountain ones are dwarves (even if they don't live underground) and the island ones are gnomes, as we were calling them by both names. Or mountaingnomes and skygnomes as Soterion called them. But I can't think of anything now that makes them different.

And what if gnomes in general were all very similar to each other? All bald, same skin color, same mouth and nose, etc. We could make only a couple things that vary from one being to another (eyes color, maybe? It would be impossible that any two gnomes had the exact same color, and they could say who each of them is based on this).

[Maximum Zersk]

@Current Subject: Gnomes/dwaves are now divided in Mountain and Floating Islands. We could say the mountain ones are dwarves (even if they don't live underground) and the island ones are gnomes, as we were calling them by both names. Or mountaingnomes and skygnomes as Soterion called them. But I can't think of anything now that makes them different.

And what if gnomes in general were all very similar to each other? All bald, same skin color, same mouth and nose, etc. We could make only a couple things that vary from one being to another (eyes color, maybe? It would be impossible that any two gnomes had the exact same color, and they could say who each of them is based on this).

Hm. Well, considering that they used to be one big empire, there would be some hemogeny, I'd imagine. I'm not sure about too much, though.

And do they have to be bald?

[Lord Raziere]

ummm....

I find that making a race look all the same is never a good idea. It doesn't
give you depth or contributes to their culture or anything, and while it does make unique people of that race stand out more, it still makes the rest of them look flat and boring, which just sends you down the "planet of hats" road.

Instead try to come up with as many different variations upon their culture as possible, give them a single event that shook them forever- then have them forever divided over that event, an event that splintered them into multiple different peoples and cultures each with their own interpretation, their own philosophy that came out as a result of that one event, and have them argue hotly and deeply to their kin about it, thus creating both deep rich cultures and conflicts about said culture.

for example, maybe the gnomes discovered some sort of magic that allowed them to make the islands float.
Now what if, other gnomes saw that the magic was bad thing and protested against it, and the first gnomes kept on using it, tensions between the two factions of gnomes eventually break out into war, ending with the gnomes who discovered the magic or force or whatever retreat in defeat into the sky, to rely on their magic or whatever while the gnomes on the ground kept their empire, and since that the gnomish empire on the ground was won by the gnomes who distrusted whatever magic or force that made the islands float, all the races who have relations with the land gnomes empire would distrust the sky gnomes and see them as these scavengers or flying bandits.

this thus sets up a good conflict, backstory and all that, plus allows you to design ruins from that war, and plus....PLUS you can have a SECOND war where the sky gnomes used the stuff they discovered to attack the land gnomes in revenge, and winning thus breaking up the land gnomes empire,
which explains why the empire is gone see? plus it doesn't make either one "right" or "superior" since both gnomes were aggressors and did it for not-so-good reasons.

hope ya liked the idea I threw out.

[minored108]

I actually think the idea of the floating islands arising from the gnomic catacalysm. Maybe there was a group that discovered the way to make the islands float and rebelled from the larger empire. The leader of the rebels is considered a legendary hero, almost a deity to the skygnomes, while the mountain gnomes tell their own story: that he was a power of evil and was banished to the floating islands created by the king at that time. That king is their major hero.

[Maximum Zersk]

Hmm...

Let's see here. Maybe we can mix two ideas at once.

As I mentioned before, floating islands already existed. But during some sort of cataclysm, it split many of the floating islands apart, and even caused some to crash.

I don't know. Would a war be enough to destroy an empire? What if there was a whole multitude of things?

• Government Corruption
• Humans entering the area
• Cataclysmic Event
• Machinery stopped working
• Government infighting
• And so on

How does it look now?

[Lord Raziere]

perhaps, I was thinking the sky gnomes who discovered the magic would have used their research to make really powerful weapons to destroy the empire, but the sky gnomes who developed them were kinda extremists, who were gotten rid of by more moderate sky gnomes rebelling against them who then hid the weapons away or tried to destroy them after said empire was destroyed.

but that multiple causes thing could work as well.

[Maximum Zersk]

Problem is, while all the races would have some affinity to magic, humans are the only ones with a noticeable affinity.

It's kind of to make up for the usual "humans are the boring species" that's so common in fantasy.

[Lord Raziere]

Problem is, while all the races would have some affinity to magic, humans are the only ones with a noticeable affinity.

It's kind of to make up for the usual "humans are the boring species" that's so common in fantasy.

eh, I just cut em out entirely in my settings, saves me a lot of trouble.

Not that you have to do that, its just what I myself do really, you could basically replace the role humans fill with almost any race and get something more interesting and original in return- replace em with dwarves and you get a more steampunk world, replace them with elves, it becomes more mystical and mythical, replace them with orcs and the world becomes more savage and warlike....you get the picture, I don't bother to use humans because honestly they just seem like a space-filler or just a token diversity thing.

[Maximum Zersk]

Well, we already have gnomes, so no dwarves, we already said "NO ELVES, DAMMIT", so there goes them, and then the Sharlaq keep the green race.

And anyway, giving humans the magic balances out the races a bit, I think. And that way, we don't have them as space-fillers.

[CWater]

Hmm...What if the skygnomes would have made some kind of invention (maybe a weapon, but not necessarily) that as a side effect caused somesort of radiation that changed these 'Minovsky Particles', which resulted in some of the islands to collapse. It could have taken time, years, maybe decades to happen, but still.

Problem is, while all the races would have some affinity to magic, humans are the only ones with a noticeable affinity.

It's kind of to make up for the usual "humans are the boring species" that's so common in fantasy.

I actually like this idea. Humans can be an interesting species, if expressed correctly.

p.s Sorry for bad English, it's getting late

[Je dit Viola]

I also like the humans, especially with the magic, and the mystical sense.


Going with Raziere's line of thought...
Maybe, instead of discovering magic or something, the Sky Gnomes just built flying machines? And they took further and further into the skies.
However, going into the skies was taboo, and went against superstitious beliefs, possibly because of a massive death of a village or a big group of people died (because a single engineering problem in the skies causes crashing and lots of death).

So the SkyGnomes went against that taboo, and took to the skies. Afterward, they were ostricised from Landgnome society.

How does that sound?

[Maximum Zersk]

Interesting, but how would that explain the old empire being destroyed?

[Je dit Viola]

...
I don't know.

Well...

Oh! I've got it!

What if that Flying Disaster That Happened Too Long Ago For Us To Remember Except In Taboos And Superstitions was another cause in the fall of the empire? A truly massive flying disaster (especially if it happens near important buildings) would cause financial ruin, especially if the majority of the government died in that crash.

With the majority of the higher ups dead, then there's suddenly a struggle for the crown, or something. Plus a revolution could happen, because, with the country in financial ruin, the poorer might blame and rise up against the richer people.

Or...whatever. We don't have to go with this idea, if you don't like it.

[Echowinds]

It's not overly difficult to destroy an empire. You can easily find examples in our own reality. Plenty of seemingly invincible empires at its heights were brought down dismally, or at least became a non-power in a really short time frame that were usually shorter than their rise to power. The more famous ones include the Roman Empire and the Mongols, but the ancient Persian Empire, the Islamic Caliphate, some of the Chinese dynasties, the British Empire, Spanish Empire - all fit the bill at some point in history. A common theme tend to be internal struggle though that weakens an empire's foundations, and not necessary strictly through outside invasions. The latter tend to speed up an empire's demise though, or bascially the last straw on the camel's back. Frankly, however, I am of the opinion that an empire with its internal functions all working well would handily destroy foreign invasions, or even receive them in the first place due to the aura that such an empire radiates.

Really, the actual event that destroyed the empire might not be very glorious, but you don't need to be so dry about the whole fact. Something akin to economic breakdown of Gnomish society which weakened central control to local gentry wouldn't be exciting, but that happened a lot in real life human empires. Remember, as history usually don't maintain itself very well, the people of the present time in this world would have highly romantic visions about the fall of the Gnomish empire. So legends and stories about this event would potentially include saints, gods, massive apocalyptic war, heroes, and other awesome stuff. For all we know Attila the Hun could have been a 5-feet tall hunchback politician-warrior, but the "Scourge of God" sounded a lot more menacing.

[ufo]

I find the "flying disaster" idea rather compelling, with regards to the ruination of the Empire. Especially because this could lead to some deep-rooted philosophy in gnome culture that a society must not be too centralised, as to prevent a single mishap from ruining everything (again).

Oh, by the way, I love this project and worldbuilding in general, and I'd like to help <.<

EDIT: Also, I'm completely in love with the idea of a part of gnome society enigmatically taking to the skies and disappearing. This is a good base for epic storytelling and cosmology in the world.

[Maximum Zersk]

Okay, going back to the animals. How about an entry for the fire toucans and the Pandora Squirrels.

As a heads-up, I'm going to write it in the Point of View of someone from our world, as if a group of scientists from here were observing this world.

Ramphastidae Thermata (Official Name Pending)

The Thermata (Well-known as the Dragon Toucan or the Mini Phoenix) is a genus in the Ramphastidae family that lives mainly in the northern floating islands in the Soregnijlaqlekh Etsat region of Playgroundia. They are well known for Their peculiar ability to breath fire. They mainly consists on a diet of nuts and berries, though the eastern species is known to eat small insects.

The species are as follows:

• Northern Dragon-toucans, Thermata Septentrio
• Black-billed Dragon-toucans, Thermata nigrirostris
• Eastern Dragon-toucans, Thermata oriens
• There is rumours of a southern species, Thermata auster, that is quite far removed from it's northern cousins

If anyone knows the proper latin for "Fire-breather", please tell me (used in the binomial context. I have no idea if that's in it's infinitive form or whatever).

[Maximum Zersk]

Okay, individual species.

Northern Dragon-Toucan

The Northern Dragon-Toucan (Thermata Septentrio) is the northern species of the Dragon-Toucan genus.

Description

Including it's beak, the Northern Dragon-Toucan ranges from about 15 to 21 inches (37–54 cm). Their large and colourful bills average around 4-7 inches (11–18 cm), near one-third its length.

The sexual diversion is fairly noticable. The males are generally larger, with bright, red feathers down it's sides and yellow feathers down its back and stomach. Their beaks are a mixture of colours, ranging from deep red to bright green. The females, are generally smaller, with yellow feathers all over, and a dull grey beak.

Distribution and Ecology

The Northern Dragon-Toucan can be found mainly in the northern parts of the floating island chain, hence their name.

Northern Dragon-Toucans are social creatures, flying around in groups of around ten. They have heirarchies within the groups. Northern Dragon-Toucans will sleep under ledges or in sheltered areas made by rock or trees.

Food

The Northern Dragon-Toucan eats mainly fruit, but will also eat small bugs, and lizards.

Breeding and Mating

The Northern Dragon-Toucan has a peculiar mating behavior. During mating season, the males will havefire-displays, trying to gain notice of a female. During this time, the male's feathers will puff out. The females will go for the ones with the largest flames and most extravagant feather colours.

The Northern Dragon-Toucan will lay an average of six eggs. The eggs will hatch after 15–20 days. After hatching, the male and female take turns looking after the babies and searching for food. When the chicks hatch, they have no feathers and don't open their eyes for 4 weeks. By the first week, the chicks are usually covered in a furry coat of hair-like feathers. The birds leave their nests after two months and fully mature in a year.

Captivity

Recently, the Gnoman Empire has studied the Nothern Dragon-Toucan greatly, keeping small flocks in captivity. They aren't popular pets, though, for obvious reasons.

[Tulio d Bard]

So many ideas!
MZ, I'll let you finish the Toucans and then try to make something with this gnomish brainstorm (it seems that we haven’t come to an agreement yet).

[Maximum Zersk]

You know, I'm going to start up a wiki, so we can have a place to organize all the info.

I've been thinking a bit (who would've guessed), and I think I have a good idea for the humans. See, originally, they were foreign tribes that were only heard of in this part of the world we're working on. After the ancient empire fell, I'm thinking that the humans would migrate into the area. What do you think?

EDIT: Okay, made it. Over here.

[Maximum Zersk]

Too lazy to update the wiki right now. Let's see what I can make here.

Okay, I'll focus on one floating island, then move onto the next one, and so on for biomes like that. I'll start with a large one.

Island of the Wheel

The Island of the Wheel (also know as I-16) is a floating island approximately 110 miles north-east of the Gnoman Capital. Interestingly, while it is near the center of the empire, it has remained largely uncolonized, save for the Gnoman Base-Tower and dock built on the northern precipice and the dig site at the southern end of the island. Because of this, most of the island remains wild. The reason for this is that the biology and archeology sector has gotten the island to be under scientific jurisdiction: that is, the science sector that the jurisdiction is granted to controls all action and changes by sapients to the island and can approve or disapprove any decision thereof, save for decisions made by the highest position in the the empire. The island is approximately three miles long from it's farthest points, and two hundred feet high from the lowest point to it's highest point. It is shaped roughly like an oval. It is of regular composition and density for a floating island.

Geography

The island has a long, bowl-like shape to it, that is, the center is a lower altitude than the edges. A large mountain rises up out of the south-western end, with the dig site built at the foot of it. A small stream flows down to the center of the island, then through a ravine off the island.

Flora and Fauna

The flora and fauna on the Island of the Wheel is quite interesting. The flora, while including many regular plants, also includes a multitude of plant-like organisms known as Magic-feeders. These magic feeders feed partly on the magic in the air for energy, emitting a form of magic that humans can harness. Similar to the CO₂-O₂ exchange found on Earth. Another magic-feeder is a large, tree-like organism that are found in groves on the western side of the island. Besides those, a large coniferous forest covers the centre of the island.

The fauna is equally varied. One of the more well-known organisms on the island is the unofficially named Pandora Squirrel, a squirrel-like hexapod with patagiums on its limbs. Other organisms include a type of paragliding beetle, a carnivore with very large ears, and so on. The Thermata oriens is known to roost on this island, as is the Lizdragon. There are quite a few herbivorous species, including a few marsupial-like species.

Archeology Site

The Island of the Wheel is well-known for it's archeology site at its southern end. Recently, odd, wheel-shaped gears have been found buried underground. Great care has been taken not to affect the local wildlife in any way. After the dig started, ruins were found under the earth. It seems to be the remains of an ancient civilization, possibly the Ancient Gnoman Empire. The wheel-gears and the ruins are both made out of a form of rare metal commonly found on the numerous ancient ruins on the floating island and the mountainsides, and the ruins fit the later architecture of the empire.

Gnoman History on Island

The Gnoman Empire has a bit of history on this island. Besides the already mentioned ruins, the northern base was an important base during the second and third expansions of the empire. It was also an important part in multiple wars.

Recently, the biology and archeology sector have taken control of the island, using it for research.

Huh, I ended up working more on the island as a whole than just the ecology.

[Tulio d Bard]

These detailed posts you're doing are very good, Zersk!
I'm sorry for my absence here, but every time I look at the forums it's too late to write elaborated stuff (I wake up at 6:00 a.m. and it's already 1:00 ). I'll try to post something soon, and maybe update the wiki.

[Maximum Zersk]

Thanks Tulio!

Oh don't worry about it.

[Tulio d Bard]

Look, I thought we should add all the info we have here to the Wikia page (put a link in the first post), so I made this Sharlaq Discussion Records Page (I chose Sharlaq because they're my personal favorite, though Gnomes would be much more useful now ). It may be used to find data easily on a specific topic, so I guess I'll be making "Discussion Records" pages for some time.

They're more idea deposits than wiki pages, so we still have to make a Sharlaq one.

And I'm a crappy Wiki editor.

EDIT: I also stopped at post #210.

[Maximum Zersk]

Good idea. I'll start from where you stopped then.

[Tulio d Bard]

I was gonna do it myself, but I don't think I left it clear. Maybe you could do Gnomes Records while I finish this one. Or just keep working on the Islands and I do the archiving.

[Maximum Zersk]

I'll do the Gnome one, how about.