Okay guys, who wants to have their own world? *counts the raised hands* Yep, that’s what I thought. It looks like just about all of you. So, the impossible and unattainable has become possible and more attainable.
Many of you have probably passed over or through the Realms Beyond Forum. However, an equal amount of you have also taken one look at the system and run away in the opposite direction. All those points and prerequisites…
The system was originally designed to help authors create a fuller, more complete world. While the system was designed to be helpful, the tender of the Realms Beyond (Seer) began to notice that the forum had become stagnant. It was an underused resource. After gathering a small team to discuss the situation, it was unanimously concluded that though the system was a useful tool, it needed to be marketed at a simpler, more user friendly level. So the system began to undergo a renovation in an effort to utilize this valuable tool, making it more accessible to the Holy Worlders it was designed for.
So, what are the benefits to having your own realm, you may ask inquisitively. Other than the obvious bonus of being able to brag about it to all your friends. Well let me ask you this. How many of you are virtually computer illiterate, like myself (and don’t plan on educating themselves like Philli)? You don’t speak Java Scripts, and HTML is better left to the professionals? However, you envy the other Holy Worlders who have a blog specifically dedicated to their worlds and stories? Well, if you lack the knowledge, then I assume it is safe to say the likelihood of you creating your own blog for your world is pretty much non existent, right? Now Holy Worlds gives you the ability to gather all of the information on your world into one neat and orderly space. A space that allows others to view and comment on it. Welcome to the World Building Manager
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Another benefit to the Realms Beyond is the structure it provides. The system will give you the ability to compile all of your world’s information into one place, but it will also challenge you to further develop it. It illuminates aspects of your world that lack development, and helps bring everything together with cohesion. If you don’t have all of the criteria for your own Realm, don’t fret. Develop your world more until you can take your place among the other HWers. View it as a personal challenge. Maybe make it a new year’s resolution. You want to join the rulers of the realms by 2012.
Seer has pulled together a checklist of sorts in order for you to evaluate how developed your world is. These are the basic requirements for achieving a subforum of your own. A place to display your world(s). Keep in mind that each world is unique, each world will have its own combination of these elements. This is an outline of what is required, but this is by no means meant to be limiting. Let your imaginations soar.
1. Geographical Understanding - You need to have and be able to show a pretty good grasp on the basic layout of your whole world. A world map of some quality would be great, but multiple maps of different sections of your world would work as well. The goal here isn't to force you into making a map, but just to let us see that you know what's where in your world and you've thought about it's layout as a world.
2. Races and Cultures - This category basically looks at how developed the peoples that live in your world are. Having a comprehensive list of the races in your world and where they live in it is a good way to help yourself see how your world is coming along. I'll give a personal opinion here: If, you have a world with three continents, but all your races live on the same continent, your world probably needs some work . This category also encompasses the various cultural aspects that you've come up with for your world, like the languages, technologies, government and so on and so forth. This isn't a "this, this, and this" requirement as much as it is asking to see how much you've worked out about the people in your world and how they live. You also need to show a pretty decent understanding of the history of your races and of their interactions with one another. Their own internal histories like legends and myths would fall into this category.
3. Overall Premise - This looks at some of the more general aspects of your world that make it what it is. Things like world history (nothing mind-blowingly complicated, just a healthy understanding of the history of your world), theological history and workings, the unique cobha of your world if it has one (this includes but is not limited to things like magic, special abilities among your races, etc...), and any unique plants or creatures that live in your world. You know, the things that make the reader say "we're not in Kansas anymore". Some of these things overlap with the other categories. For instance, if the cobha of your world means that certain races have certain abilities that you've developed fairly well, then it would also factor into the People's aspect, as would the history of your world, which generally involves people.
Remember that all of these categories are pretty flexible especially in regards to one another. The basic idea is that we're looking to see if your world is developed enough to have its own subforum.
If you think your world is ready for a subforum, or you would like some help finding out, pm Seer (the ML in charge of worlds subforums) with:
1. The name of your world
2. Whether or not you've posted about it in the forum. If you have, be sure to mention where the posts are and roughly how many there are.
3. A brief summary of how you feel about the development-level of your world and in what areas you think it could use strengthening.
4. A paragraph or so for each category, discussing briefly what you have developed in it and any areas in that category that you would like to see better developed. This may seem a bit redundant after giving the overall summary, but this helps us get a better picture of just how well your world is doing at meeting the requirements.
5. Whether you want your world's subforum to be open for anyone to see and read or if you want it to be private so that only signed-in members can access it.
Now how hard was that?
The desire of the team members who helped craft these thoughts was that the system would be more accessible to you all. We hope that has been accomplished. We also hope this new system will help motivate others to join the lonely Eruheran in ruling over their designated Realm. Pull out your files from one of your fantasy worlds and judge it against the requirements. Are you ready for a subforum? If so, bring it out for the world to see! If not, work towards it! These requirements provide a perfect goal to help you develop your world – with a nice reward at the end!
If you have any questions, feel free to post them on this thread or PM Seer. Let’s world-build and share our fantasy homes with each other!
