Breathing Life into the Fantastical Landscapes

Worldbuilding to me is a journey of discovery where every detail adds depth and richness to the world I'm creating. I love telling stories, exploring lands, joining adventures, meeting new characters and creatures. What would you do if you would get a second chance to shape destinies and rewrite histories?

You are basically playing a God here, what is not to love? And this is not in some kind of a narcissistic way. It is just simply how it is. YOU get to create the world from scratch , YOU get to choose how economy, politics, religion, society and other factors work and it is ultimately YOUR decision when and how it ends.

That’s the beauty and a burden at the same time.

Crafting the Environment

Recently I was reading a lot of stuff on Reddit’s r/Worldbuilding and what surprised me a lot is how many people feel irritated on post-apocalyptic worlds, at least in general how they are crafted (namely in this post). And I have to say, a lot of them made a good point. I always love to read these since you can really find some like diamond-treasure advises and it lets you think a lot about your own world.

My world is based in the far future, on planet Earth after a huge magical bomb kinda like apocalypse ate the world and the world how we know it today vanished (or at least how we guess it could work or look within few hundreds of years).

Taking into account that Necromancers are the main inhabitants of this world, it cannot be all unicorns and flowers and rainbows. The setting needs to be dark and mysterious, somewhere on the line between dead and undead. If you think about Necromancer you will hardly imagine dandelions and happy bees flying around. I guess more likely you will see wasteland, half dead plants and trees or basically no life at all.

Even though I do not follow the standard necromancy way how we know from movies or games like talking with the dead, controlling zombies etc., they are still somewhat of dark mages in my world. And therefore it still has to have some impact on the environment itself.

The main structure

So I came with some key points, questions and notes before creating the map to give it some logical flow and make sure that overall it makes sense:

Necromantic Apocalypse

What are the consequences of widespread necromancy on the environment?

• Blackish sand landscapes and undead flora/fauna
• Magical storms, undead fog, or other supernatural weather phenomena
• Limited visibility due to the sun not reaching the surface (based on above)
• Atmosphere of decay and eerie silence
• Undead trees, plants, and animals
• What role do Necromancers play in maintaining or disrupting the ecosystems?

Oases of Life

• Vibrant oases where normal life persists
• Contrast between life-filled oases and the desolated mainland
• Magical factors preserving these oases? Can characters harness or manipulate this magic, if any?
• How do undead and living species interact in the oases? Are there any symbiotic relationships between the two?

Continental Diversity

• Explore the unchanged continents and how they differ from the transformed mainland
• Consider the impact of necromantic forces on the untouched regions

Magic and Nature Balance

• Explore how magic affects the growth and survival of flora and fauna
• Think about the delicate balance between necromancy and the natural world

The New World

Taking into consideration all above aspects I have created this map (which some of you have already seen) and I would like to expand on this a little bit further.

I took a world map and made some changes to the continents, since we all know they are always moving and with the help of some apocalypse or other events they could potentially move and connect again. I suppose when you look at the map you can still see the overall general shape of continents on Earth was preserved.

The mainland is basically dark eerie wasteland filled with dead/undead flora and fauna- whatever you want to call it right now. Apart from the north and far south where normal snow and icy climate still exists.

Necromancers are magical beings, they are powerful but still limited in the technological way - they don’t do technology, they despise it. And that’s something that’s blocking them to widespread to the other continents. Since they can’t fast travel, they walk or run, they don’t have ships or any other machines, they are stuck and cannot reach the other parts of the world. Basically the way how they live could be easily compared to the medieval ages.

Occasionally you can spot some greenish places on the mainland. They are called Oases - such as the ones we know from deserts - but these are filled with life, plants and animals - similar or same to those we know from our real world.

There is a reason why they exist and how they can even “function” in the middle of totally dead places but about this maybe some other time. The main thing is that the Necromancers’ wasteland and Oases are almost like separated places - such as you would draw a line and nothing passes over there or back. So from what you currently know, there is no symbiosis and therefore these places are pure and untouched.

As for the storms and dust being spread by huge gusts of winds, Oases are also not affected by these like the rest of the mainland.

Continuing down south from the mainland you can notice that the environment drastically changes and reminds more or less our present biomes. As I mentioned earlier Necromancers cannot travel far, especially not overseas so there is no direct impact on the habitats.

You can assume that there is some life (again about that some other time). But if you remember from my previous posts Introducing Project Geon and Navigating the Worldbuilding Maze there were some small hints about other cultures and races being brought together with the release of magic and then vanished.

But did they? Maybe there is still life after all?

The pre-apocalyptic environment

Now you might be asking what about all the pre-apocalyptic structures, buildings - all the tracks left after humanity period? They are there. Hidden and covered by sand and dead roots, undead moss, occasionally peaking out. There are still a lot of remains from human times scalded around all over the continents. Decaying and falling into oblivion.

Necromancers don’t care about the strange things, buildings and places. They don’t need them. Unless it has some added value for them and even then, they are very careful. Eventually the rule number one is do not touch or interact with anything that comes from past times (before Dark Wars) and only the High Necromancers are allowed to have some knowledge and possible access to these “artifacts”.

If we take a look at the “alive” parts down south of Geon, there are also ruins and remains from past. This time only covered under greenish mosses, wide jungles and from hot pale cream to golden or caramel sands. It seems that nature acquired freedom and just went totally wild - berserk.

But then again. Is there any life form apart from animals, trees, plants and insects?

Not everything seems as it is. You just need to take a closer look.

Geon is a realm waiting to unfold its secrets. So, buckle up, because the real adventure is about to begin! Get ready to explore the diverse terrains, uncover hidden wonders, and immerse yourself in the magic that lies within the geography of Geon. Stay tuned for a thrilling ride into a world where every hill, river, and valley has a story to tell.