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65-629: The series consists of some of the earliest of Cherryh's novels, featuring world-building and a number of alien species. The Faded Sun: Kesrith was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1978 and the Hugo Award in 1979 and was shortlisted for the Locus Awards in 1979. In addition, the other two books in the trilogy were independently longlisted for the Locus Award. The Faded Sun trilogy can be considered

130-474: A Bildungsroman , since one of the major themes is the coming of age of Niun, the mri protagonist . At the same time, it is a story of acculturation, as the human protagonist, Sten Duncan, lives among the mri to the point of becoming one of them. The Faded Sun trilogy is the principal account of the Mri Wars era of Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. At the beginning of the first volume, the regul have just concluded

195-500: A history , geography, culture and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. Worldbuilding often involves the creation of geography , a backstory , flora, fauna, inhabitants, technology and often if writing speculative fiction , different peoples. This may include social customs as well as invented languages (often called conlangs ) for the world. The world could encompass different planets spanning vast distances of space or be limited in scope to

260-498: A neutron star ; Brian Aldiss 's Helliconia trilogy has a very long year (called the "great year"), equivalent to 2,500 Earth years, where generations live & die within one season. Fantasy worlds can also involve unique cosmologies. In Dungeons & Dragons , the physical world is referred to as the Prime Material Plane, but other planes of existence devoted to moral or elemental concepts are available for play, such as

325-559: A zombie apocalypse , cybernetic revolt , technological singularity , dysgenics or alien invasion . Fantasy maps can be categorized based on scope. Scope informs how, and how much, information is displayed in the map. Fantasy maps can be categorized based on intended purpose. These classifications reflect the creator's aim and inform the way the map is crafted. Conceptual maps are cartographic visualizations of ideas and concepts. These maps do not attempt to correspond to anything physically real but are instead meant to display an idea in

390-411: A cartographic medium. Matthaus Seutter's The Attack of Love is an example of a battle map used as an allegory for winning someone in love. Hypothetical maps are maps that present geography in alternate history scenarios. Melissa Gould created an alternate-history map of New York City in a hypothetical world where Nazi Germany won World War II . Fantasy maps are often used by creators to convey

455-508: A fictional world may lead to war among its people. Geography can also define ecosystems for each biome. Often, Earth-like ecology is assumed, but designers can vary drastically from this trend. For example, Isaac Asimov 's short story " The Talking Stone " features a life form based on silicon , rather than carbon. Some software programs can create random terrain using fractal algorithms. Sophisticated programs can apply geologic effects such as tectonic plate movement and erosion ;

520-470: A fictional world more accessible for an audience. Simon Provencher has stated as a 'Golden Rule' of worldbuilding that "... unless specified otherwise, everything inside your world is assumed to behave exactly as it would in the real world." Another example is Steven S. Long , a representative of the Champions role-playing game, who stated that "Everything that happened in the real world has also unfolded in

585-422: A forty-year war with humanity. As part of the peace, they are ceding the desert world of Kesrith to humanity. However, they have neglected to inform its inhabitants, the mri, who have served them as mercenaries for over two thousand years. The Mri have been nearly exterminated in these wars, and young Niun is one of the few remaining warriors. When the regul seek to double-cross his people, he and his sister Melein,

650-439: A lower level of detail, with description growing more general with increasing distance from the initial location. The designer can subsequently enhance the description of other areas in the world. For example, an author may create fictional currencies and refer to fictional books to add detail to their world. Terry Pratchett says "You had to start wondering how the fresh water got in and the sewage got out... World building from

715-417: A more "realistic" or historical narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthurian , Celtic , or Dark Ages could just as easily be placed in historical fantasy. Stories fitting this classification generally take place prior to the 20th century. Heroic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy in which events occur in a world where magic is prevalent and modern technology

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780-798: A number of his novels in the Gaean Reach , a fictional region of space. A fictional universe with works by multiple authors is known as a shared world . One notable example of such is the Star Wars Expanded Universe . The term "world-building" was first used in the Edinburgh Review in December 1820 and appeared in Arthur Eddington 's Space Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory (1920) to describe

845-405: A perspective. For this reason, they are depicted to be created by an in-world character or organisation. This is a useful tool for authors or worldbuilders as the map can act as a character within the story. They can be erroneous, time-specific or prejudiced much like a regular character or an unreliable narrator . In the same way that creatives can use maps to convey perspective, mankind has done

910-474: A real mythology . Later analysis of fantasy worlds in the 1960s contextualized them in the medium or the narrative of the works, offering an analysis of the stories in the world, but not the world itself. In the 2000s, worldbuilding in film has increased in popularity. When before, writers sought to create a character that could sustain multiple stories, now they create a world that can sustain multiple characters and stories. Worldbuilding can be designed from

975-523: A sense of otherness. Maps created in this genre reflect these concepts. Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration , time travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . It has been called the "literature of ideas", and it often explores the potential consequences of scientific, social, and technological innovations. Maps created in this genre reflect these concepts. Under

1040-454: A single small village. Worldbuilding exists in novels , tabletop role-playing games , and visual media such as films, video games and comics . Prior to 1900, most worldbuilding was conducted by novelists, who could leave imagination of the fictional setting in part to the reader. Some authors of fiction set multiple works in the same world. This is known as a fictional universe . For example, science fiction writer Jack Vance set

1105-618: A story's action. A past war, for example, functions as a key plot point in the Shannara and Belgariad series. Examples of constructed worlds include Terry Pratchett 's Discworld , the pseudo-Earth Hyborian Age in the Conan series , the planet Arrakis in the Dune series, the continent of Tamriel in the Elder Scrolls series of games, Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthsea universe and Hainish worlds,

1170-449: A survey of the 92 fantasy maps within the 67 fantasy books, the main subject matter or content of the maps were of: a primary world – 13 (14.1%); a secondary world – 72 (78.3%); an imaginary city – 5 (5.4%); one or more buildings – 2 (2.2%). The same survey showed that maps were orientated differently. 74 of 92 (80.4%) were orientated north, 9 (9.8%) were orientated northeast to northwest, 9 (9.8%) did not specify an cardinal orientation. Of

1235-484: Is J. R. R. Tolkien , whose maps of Middle-earth prefacing The Lord of the Rings have been called "the most influential example to date," one that "encouraged other writers and their publishers to include cartographic images." In his book Here Be Dragons: Exploring Fantasy Maps and Settings , Ekman says, "In modern fantasy, especially high fantasy, maps are considered common enough to be almost obligatory, mainly because of

1300-579: Is a subgenre of science fiction among others, in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change ; astronomical, such as an impact event ; destructive, such as nuclear holocaust or resource depletion ; medical, such as a pandemic, whether natural or human-caused; end time , such as the Last Judgment , Second Coming or Ragnarök ; or more imaginative, such as

1365-608: Is non-existent. The setting may be entirely fictitious in nature or based upon earth with some additions. Unlike dark fiction , it provides a setting in which "all men are strong, all women beautiful, all life adventurous, and all problems simple". This means that adventures based in heroic fantasy are unlikely to mention any wider problems that cannot be fixed by a quest. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of

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1430-405: Is not depicted in these works. Constructed worlds often have cosmologies, both in the scientific and metaphysical senses of the word. The design of science fiction worlds, especially those with spacefaring societies, usually entails creation of a star system and planets . If the designer wishes to apply real-life principles of astronomy, they may develop detailed astronomical measures for

1495-413: Is sometimes called geofiction . The physical geography of a fictional world is important in designing weather patterns and biomes such as deserts , wetlands , mountains , and forests . These physical features also affect the growth and interaction of the various societies, such as the establishment of trade routes and locations of important cities. Desire for control of natural resources in

1560-463: Is to what degree a fictional world will be based on real-world physics compared to magic . While magic is a more common element of fantasy settings, science fiction worlds can contain magic or technological equivalents of it. For example, the Biotics in the science fiction video game series Mass Effect have abilities, described scientifically in-game, which mirror those of mages in fantasy games. In

1625-457: Is written to come to their own conclusions regarding specific details that were not provided. This is especially useful for roleplaying game settings, as individual games may require certain details to be created on a case-by-case basis for the RPG's story to function. From a game-design perspective, the goal of worldbuilding is to create the context for a story. Consistency is an important element, since

1690-540: The Dungeons & Dragons' Greyhawk setting. Forgotten Realms is another such D&D setting, originally a homebrew campaign world by Ed Greenwood . Fantasy map Fantasy cartography , fictional map-making , or geofiction is a type of map design that visually presents an imaginary world or concept, or represents a real-world geography in a fantastic style. Fantasy cartography usually manifests from worldbuilding and often corresponds to narratives within

1755-455: The Spelljammer setting, which provides an entirely novel fantasy astrophysical system. Some fantasy worlds feature religions. The Elder Scrolls series, for example, contains a variety of religions practiced by its world's various races. The world of the 2000 video game Summoner has a well-developed cosmology, including a creation myth . Construction of a fictional map is often one of

1820-610: The Victorian era or the American "Wild West" , where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cybernetics , juxtaposed with societal collapse or decay. Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

1885-840: The fantasy and science fiction genres. Stefan Ekman says, "a [regular] map re -presents what is already there; a fictional map is often primary – to create the map means, largely, to create the world of the map." Whilst cartographic fantasy has been popularized by novels of these genres it has also become a standalone hobby and artistic pursuit. Cartographic fantasy has its historic origins in mythology, philosophy, literature and natural sciences. Although typically geographical, cartographic fantasy can include planetary, galactic, and cosmological maps; conceptual maps; and speculative maps. Fantasy maps are created and presented across different media such as books, television shows, movies, video games, tabletop games , and websites; and are characterized by aesthetics, themes and styles associated with

1950-448: The orbit of the world, and to define the physical characteristics of the other bodies in the same system; this establishes chronological parameters, such as the length of a day and the durations of seasons . Some systems are intentionally bizarre. For Larry Niven 's novels The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring , Niven designed a "freefall" environment, a gas torus ring of habitable pressure, temperature, and composition, around

2015-470: The 92 maps 63 (68.5%) included a compass rose as a feature. With the increased popularity of professional and recreational cartographic fantasy, the demand for computer programs to streamline the process has increased too. Two leaders in the budding industry are Wonderdraft and Inkarnate. Some software programs can create random terrain using fractal algorithms. Sophisticated programs can apply geologic effects such as tectonic plate movement and erosion;

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2080-501: The Geneva reforms. This may have contributed to the increased popularity of text-accompanying maps and stirred the public imagination towards producing maps for fiction. Fiction inspired by the Age of Discovery and the Age of Enlightenment also brought with it a romanticization of explorative cartography and surveying. Several classic stories from the era included maps as an important element of

2145-581: The Middle Ages did not see their profession as purely making accurate representations of geography. Often their maps were crafted as much as works of art as tools for navigating, incorporating imagery and symbolism from mythology, folklore and fantasy stories. An early example of cartography created without intending to present a geographical reality is Dante's Hell . By the late fifteenth century, numerous illustrations inspired by Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy had been published based on descriptions from

2210-494: The Mri fighting as mercenaries for other races, then being turned upon once their usefulness has ended, as the race(s) employing the Mri did not wish the possibility that the Mri might go and work for their enemies and be used against their former employers. When the ship lands on Kutath, the ancient homeworld of the mri, the three find other mri, the tribes who remained. They also discover that humans and Regul have followed their ship, and

2275-441: The Mri. They produce a navigation tape from the data in the holy relic that legend holds leads the way to the Mri homeworld and set Niun and Melein aboard the ship. Duncan comes with them to keep the ship running. Soon after they have left Kesrith, Melein lays down a mandate that nothing that is not mri can make the return to the ancient mri homeworld. As a result, Duncan must become Mri or die. With Niun as his teacher, Duncan learns

2340-566: The Regul have not forgotten their determination to commit genocide. After an unprovoked attack, Duncan goes back to the human ship and slays the Regul Elder. When the third volume begins, the regul are in a state of disarray as a result of the assassination. Duncan returns to the mri and joins them in seeking assistance from the Elee, the other surviving race of ancient Kutath. After a new Elder has risen among

2405-649: The Subcontinent of Hayao Miyazaki 's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , Arda , the location of J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth , in The Lord of the Rings . Constructed worlds are not always limited to one type of story. Lawrence Watt-Evans and Steven Brust created Ethshar and Dragaera , respectively, for role-playing games before using them as settings for novels. M. A. R. Barker originally designed Tékumel well before

2470-522: The advent of role-playing games, but many gamers , including Barker himself, have used it as a setting for such games. A shared universe is a fictional universe that can be used by different authors. Examples of shared universes include the Star Wars expanded universe , the Arrowverse and campaign settings developed specifically for role-playing games. One of the oldest of these is Oerth , developed for

2535-413: The art of play-writing: "Very little about trees as trees can be got into a play." Constructed worlds may sometimes shift away from storytelling, narrative, characters and figures, and may explore "trees as trees" or aspects of the world in-and-of-themselves. Tolkien sought to make his constructed world seem real by paying careful attention to framing his world with narrators and versions of stories, like

2600-440: The bottom up, to use a happy phrase, is more fruitful than world building from top-down." This approach provides for almost immediate applicability of the setting, with details pertinent to a certain story or situation. The approach can yield a world plagued with inconsistencies , however. By combining the top-down and bottom-up approaches, a designer can enjoy the benefits of both. This is very hard to accomplish, however, because

2665-627: The exact same way in the Champions Universe." This means any past wars, elections, and technological advancements in our world occurred the same way in the Champions Universe unless explained otherwise. Creating a cohesive alien culture can be a distinct challenge. Some designers have also looked to human civilizations for inspiration in doing so, such as Star Trek ' s Romulans , whose society resembles that of ancient Rome . The fictional world's history can explain past and present relationships between different societies, which can introduce

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2730-520: The fantasy 'Republic of Zendia' was created with its northern and central province 'Loreno' mapped as cartographic references used in these exercises. These fantasy maps have now been declassified and released to the public domain by the U.S. Military. Although popularized in novels, fantasy maps are now created and presented across various media such as television shows, movies, video games, and websites. In his book Here Be Dragons: Exploring Fantasy Maps and Settings (2013), Stefan Ekman published

2795-476: The first tasks of worldbuilding. Maps can lay out a world's basic terrain features and significant civilizations present. A clear, concise map that displays the locations of key points in the story can be a helpful tool for developers and audiences alike. Finished creative products, such as books, may contain published versions of development maps; many editions of The Lord of the Rings , for example, include maps of Middle-earth . Cartography of fictional worlds

2860-455: The genre umbrellas of Fantasy and Science fiction exist many subgenres. Included here are brief introductions to the subgenres that more often exhibit maps. High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes or plot. Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into

2925-405: The last of the priestly Sen caste , form an uneasy alliance with the human Sten Duncan to rescue a holy relic that may hold the key to the Mri's survival. The second volume opens with Niun and Melein captives of the human occupation force, kept alive by the human medicine they would refuse if they were not sedated. But the human command has a plan that may thwart the regul's attempted genocide of

2990-407: The majority of constructed worlds have one or more sapient species . These species can have constructed cultures and constructed languages . Designers in hard science fiction may design flora and fauna towards the end of the worldbuilding process, thus creating lifeforms with environmental adaptations to scientifically novel situations. Perhaps the most basic consideration of worldbuilding

3055-456: The map presents. Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres can overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features maps and settings that emulate Earth, but with

3120-629: The maps J. R. R. Tolkien included in The Lord of the Rings (1954–55)." Before Tolkien, another text that brought fantastic worlds into the zeitgeist was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) written by L. Frank Baum and the corresponding 1939 musical fantasy film The Wizard of Oz . The world of Oz was mapped by Baum in 1914. There are many types of maps within cartographic fantasy which can be classified by genre, scope and purpose. Fantasy maps can be categorized based on genre. These genre classifications inform what kind of aesthetic, style and scope

3185-444: The need to start from both sides creates twice as much work, which may delay the desired product. Despite requiring considerable work to develop enough detail for a setting to be useful, not every aspect of a setting can be explored, and instead an approach called inferred worldbuilding is often used. Inferred worldbuilding is when the author provides enough detail about the various parts of a setting that readers can extrapolate on what

3250-609: The reader's experience. Among the most popular of these map-accompanied fictional texts from the time are Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels (1726) and Robert Louis Stevenson 's Treasure Island (1883). John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) included both "A Mapp Shewing the Order & Causes of Salvation and Damnation" and "The Road from the City of Destruction to the Eternal City." The most influential fantasy cartographer

3315-401: The regul, they renew their attack on the Mri. This time humanity acts to halt the genocide, breaking the cycle, and forming a new partnership with the Mri. The cover of the U.S. omnibus edition (pictured at top) re-uses the original cover art by Michael Whelan from the first paperback edition of Kutath (1980). The image is reversed in the omnibus edition, however, with the figures facing to

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3380-402: The rest of the world in increasing detail. This approach might involve creation of the world's basics, followed by levels such as continents , civilizations , nations , cities , and towns . A world constructed from the top down tends to be well-integrated, with individual components fitting together appropriately. It can, however, require considerable work before enough detail is completed for

3445-464: The resulting world can be rendered in great detail, providing a degree of realism to the result. Constructed cultures, or concultures, are a typical element of worldbuilding. Worldbuilders sometimes employ past human civilizations as a model for fictional societies. The 1990 video game Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire , for example, takes place in a world full of tribes based on civilizations in early Mesoamerica and Africa. This method can make

3510-404: The results of a survey he made of two-hundred fantasy books. This survey sought to answer common questions about the prevalence, features, and characteristics of fantasy cartography within the genre. Here are some of those findings. Of the 200 surveyed books, 67 (34%) contained at least one map. Of these, 49 (73.1%) books had one map, 15 (22.4%) had two, and 3 (4.5%) had more than two maps. In

3575-522: The right instead of the left as in the original image. The Faded Sun: Kesrith was first published as a 4-part serial starting in February 1978 in Galaxy Science Fiction (Volume 39, Nos 2-5). World-building Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world or setting, sometimes associated with a fictional universe . Developing the world with coherent qualities such as

3640-456: The same in history. Sebastian Munster's Europa Regina is a good example of this – a map design that presents Europe as a majestic queen. Fantasy maps can be used as cartographic aids to teach or simulate situations. In the Cold War , a U.S Army cryptologist Lambros D. Callimahos developed a training exercise war game for code-breakers simulating the invasion of Cuba . In this program

3705-630: The science fiction novel Midnight at the Well of Souls , magic exists, but is explained scientifically. Some fictional worlds modify the real-world laws of physics ; faster-than-light travel is a common factor in much science fiction. Worldbuilding may combine physics and magic, such as in the Dark Tower series and the Star Wars franchise. One subgenre of science fiction, mundane science fiction , calls for writers to depict only scientifically plausible technology; as such, fictional faster-than-light travel

3770-456: The setting to be useful, such as in the setting of a story. With the bottom-up approach, the designer focuses on a small part of the world needed for their purposes. This location is given considerable detail, such as local geography, culture , social structure , government , politics , commerce , and history. Prominent local individuals may be described, including their relationships to each other. The surrounding areas are then described in

3835-470: The stern rules of the Mri warrior caste, the Kel. Retracing the voyages of the Mri takes years, jump after jump, giving Duncan time to become Mri. With each jump, they find evidence of previous Mri civilizations, each one destroyed, further and further back in time. Eventually, they realize that this is not the first time that the Mri have been almost exterminated; in fact, the entire Mri history has been made up of

3900-513: The text. Dante's Hell has continued to be the subject of fantasy cartographers for centuries. In 1516, Thomas More published his Utopia accompanied by a map of the island. This map inspired artistic cartographers over the sixteenth century to iterate the original. In the latter half of the 16th century the Bible began to be printed with internal maps as a product of the Protestant movement and

3965-476: The thinking out of hypothetical worlds with different physical laws. The term has been used in science fiction and fantasy criticism since appearing in R.A. Lupoff 's Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure (1965). One of the earliest examples of a fictional world is Dante's Divine Comedy , with the BBC's Dante 2021 series describing it as "the first virtual reality". The creation of literary fictional worlds

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4030-463: The top down or the bottom up , or by a combination of these approaches. The official worldbuilding guidelines for Dungeons & Dragons refer to these terms as "outside-in" and "inside-out", respectively. In the top-down approach, the designer first creates a general overview of the world, determining broad characteristics such as the world's inhabitants, technology level, major geographic features, climate , and history. From there, they develop

4095-414: The world or concept they are portraying. The increased popularity of geofiction and worldbuilding has led to and been supported by the emergence of design programs tailored to creative cartographers. The roots of the history of fantasy cartography are shared with the independent histories of both cartography and fantasy as well as the general history of the visualization of ideas. Cartographers of

4160-553: The world provides a foundation for the action of a story. However, J. R. R. Tolkien described the goal of worldbuilding as creating immersion, or "enchantment" as he put it, and descriptions of the world can be wholly disconnected from the story and narrative. Writers must also make the world building make sense for the story on hands-on matters concerning plot devices such as what equipment, nourishment, and modes of transportation characters use. An uninhabited world can be useful for certain purposes, especially in science fiction, but

4225-409: Was first examined by fantasy authors such as George MacDonald , J. R. R. Tolkien , Lord Dunsany , Dorothy L. Sayers , and C. S. Lewis . William Morris would be the first person to create the entire world of his story. Tolkien addressed the issue in his essay " On Fairy-Stories ", where he stated that the "Secondary World" or "Sub-Creation" (the constructed world) is substantially different from

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