Types Of Fantasy Subgenres - Writing Help

Character A fervently explaining the research rabbit hole they've stumbled into to character B.

bonus: B is trying to sleep/falling asleep and A is like trying to explain as fast as possible/keep their attention for as long as possible because they need to talk about the random thing they found.

the way my jaw dropped at this bit

Best girl

Worldbuilding: Religions

Religions have many different aspects that should at least be given thought if not careful consideration. Use these to guide your creative process when developing new religions and deities.

Key Aspects

Deity/Pantheon: Your religion does not need to necessarily have a deity, and it can even have an entire pantheon. I would venture that while a trained priest might perhaps specialize in one deity, a religion can have many.

Dogma: What are the principles and teachings of your religion? What does the deity implore of their worshippers? What is and isn’t allowed? What are the ethics of the religion? Why must we follow these principles?

Symbols: As important as the religion’s dogma are its symbols. How is your religion recognized on flags, tabards, armor, weapons, artwork, and holy symbols? Does your religion have a holy color or color scheme that they could use for their priestly robes?

Temples: Where are the religion’s places of worship? They could be secluded and secret or in/near cities. What do they look like? Are they merely household shrines or grand cathedrals? Do they have any distinguishing features?

Religious Practices

Rites and Rituals: What sorts of special ceremonies do the clerics of your religion practice? Are there any special material components that have meaning for the religion, deity, and ceremony? How long do ceremonies take and what is supposed to come from them? Rituals always serve a purpose, even if that purpose is merely affirming your faith. Rituals are useful as story elements as well as for players to perform.

Affirming Faith: telling your god you’re there and in prayer. It can be as simple as a daily prayer or weekly ceremony or more in-depth like a monthly or yearly ritual.

Proving Devotion: proving your faith to your god, usually meant for those who might be in doubt or who have wavered.

Initiation: rituals for new members to the religion.

Induction: rituals for new clergy members or clergy moving up in hierarchy.

Satiation: your deity demands sacrifice of something valuable to you or to it.

Boon/Blessing: the ritual seeks something of your deity, perhaps a bountiful harvest or victory in battle.

Magic: a ritual might be held to cast certain spells or perhaps to increase the power or scope of a spell. These can also be used in creation of magic items.

Healing: rituals for performing healing magic.

Funerals: ceremonies for the dead.

Marriage: ceremonies for binding individuals together spiritually

Holy Days: Often rituals can coincide with special days or times of the year. Holy days can be predicted and often signify important seasonal or historic events. Harvest, springtime, solstice, and equinox holy days are common, as are those commemorating the deaths of martyrs or important dates in the religion’s history.

Myths/Legends: Are there any stories or parables that your religion teaches? What stories of the gods do they tell? Do they have any specific myths relating to things like the creation of the world, the creation of elements, the invention of everyday things, or perhaps the invention of morality?

Prayers/Sayings: To help you roleplay priests of this religion, you can come up with some common greetings, farewells, and blessings that might be associated with the religion. “Pelor shines upon you” and whatnot.

People

Titles/Hierarchy: What are the ranks of the clergy and do they have any special titles? Are there any notable NPCs in the religion’s hierarchy? For instance, those that worship Mammon, the archdevil of greed are often called Covetors.

Clergy: Do the clergy perform any services for the rest of the population? Usually this involves healing or holding ceremonies, but they could have a broader scope in a theocracy or a narrower scope if secluded or unpopular. What do the clergy look like and wear? Do they favor certain classes other than clerics?

Worshippers: What sort of people are drawn to the religion? Are there certain races, classes, or kingdoms that worship them? What convinces them to follow the religion’s dogma? Is it out of fear, necessity, protection, comfort, or prosperity?

Relations: Does this religion have allies or enemies? These could either be allied or rival churches, deities, or religions. Furthermore, certain kingdoms or people could ally with or oppose the religion. Think of how each faction and religion in your world sees this religion.

Culture

Art: How does your religion express itself? Define your religion’s art, architecture, fashion, and songs and how they compare to other religions and cultures.

Relics: What sorts of holy relics belong to your religion? These can be body parts or objects belonging to important martyrs or high priests or heroes that champion the religion. These might be kept in temples or may have been lost to time. Perhaps some are magic items being used by chosen (or unscrupulous) adventurers.

She's so perfect she just goes right back to doing her thing

okay i'm locking these in early i know what's gonna happen i'm calling it now

Mongolian armour - Huyag.

Most armour was made of hardened leather and iron, laced together onto a fabric backing, sometimes silk.

I keep seeing people making fun of using growled, hissed, roared, snarled etc in writing and it’s like.

have you never heard someone speak with the gravel in their voice when they get angry? Because that’s what a growl is.

Have you never heard someone sharply whisper something through the thin space of their teeth? Or when your mother sharply told you to stop it in public as a kid when you were acting up/being too loud? Because that’s what a hiss is.

Have you never heard a man get so blackout angry that their voice BOOMS through the house? Because that’s what a roar is.

Have you never seen someone bare their teeth while talking to accentuate their frustration or anger while speaking with a vicious tone? Because that’s what snarling is.

It’s not meant to be a literal animal noise. For the love of god, not every description is literal. I get some people are genuinely confused, but also some of these people are genuinely unimaginative as fuck.

I love this interaction I clipped I few days back with the trio. Mikey and trev sound like an old married couple <3

Just the essentials!

Music credit: "Cinema Blockbuster Trailer 7" by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/en/song/329-cinema-blockbuster-trailer-7 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license (CC BY 4.0)

[Video Description: A 26 second video. Orchestral, cinematic music plays. Text reads The library is on fire! Grab the most important things!

A librarian at her computer spins around in her chair in slow motion, a look of horror on her face. Video cuts between various librarians frantically rescuing items. Each scene is labeled with the item:

The South Shore Posters: A librarian completely obscured by a framed South Shore Line poster she is carrying backs out of a room.

The hand chair: A librarian hauls away a large red plastic chair shaped like a hand.

Patron holds: A librarian shovels patron holds off the holds shelf onto a cart.

Benny the library skeleton: A librarian princess-carrying a large skeleton dressed in an oversized t-shirt frantically looks around for an exit before dashing away

The cardigan pile: A librarian almost completely obscured by the pile of cardigans in her arms runs toward the camera.

3D printer: A librarian dashes up to a large 3D printer and attempts to lift it off the table

Cecily the giraffe: A librarian pats a life size baby giraffe statue and then grabs it by the leg and begins slowwwly scooting backward to slide it across the carpet

The library tree: A librarian grips an enormous planter out of which springs an entire tree and pulls with all her might. It doesn't move.

James Patterson books? : The librarian carrying Benny sprints into frame between shelves loaded with endless Patterson books. Record scratch. The sound of a clock ticking as he considers the books for maybe two seconds.

Text changes to "Not enough hands". The dramatic music resumes as he sprints off frame with Benny.

End card with the library logo. The words 'Not actually on fire. Everything is fine.' are typed across the screen. End description]