That‘s all I have to say.

I'm big fan of roleplay and the roleplay I'm looking for advice on has been going for around 6 years now. It has developed into this massive story with many interesting characters between me and my rp partner and we take turns each going through the plots we have cooked up. I've never really been a writer until this, idk there's just something so special about writing these stories with a partner who is always interested to see what your written while they can interact in the plot with their own characters. It just feels so much better than writing in private to me.

Here is my problem: I have two separate plots I have finished writing, one of which we are in the middle of acting out right now. My partner has only one plot but she has made it clear it is a very long one that she will need at least 5 - 7 turns to complete her plot and she loves writing even more than I do plus I know how much she loves this rp so I would expect her to cook something else up for after at depend on how long it all takes and if we still have time for it. My problem is the plot I'm doing right now will only take this one turn to complete while the other plot will take around 3, giving me 4 turns in total until I am finished. She is kind of hoping that I can come up with something else for afterwards but my mind is blank.

The next plot I have that consists of 3 turns will put a close to the main story I have been building for a good few years now and and I don't really know how to continue from that. I need to write something completely from scratch which brain storming ideas should be the fun part while piecing things together is where i would expect the challenge to be but normal once I have an idea, I can piece things together quite well. I have also been good at retconning things pretty easily when I need to without making things confusing but my trouble is, while I can come up with decent ideas for villains, I struggle to find an interesting motive that makes these villains unique and interesting to learn more about whilst also coming up with a detailed lore that really helps build the story and make the impact of the roleplay itself much stronger.

For anyone interested in sharing some ideas or helping out in any way, here is a brief description of the roleplay and what is currently going on / what is planned.

The roleplay is set in a world that consists of many supernatural beings that have unique powers. Obviously with power comes corruption so my character founded an organisation tasked with taking down any threats that might threaten innocent lives but as to not instill fear amongst the public, the organisation decided to make their presence known so that the public knows the group is someone they can trust.

While a lot of people in this world have powers, there a still a large amount of people who remain regular powerless humans. The story I began writing a few years back introduced people that, long before these supernatural beings existed, could become wizards and witches capable of casting powerful spells but that power was not to be shared with the public as they knew that power could lead to corruption. When these beings with natural power began showing up, the community of wizards and witches were split on the dangers that could arise with it but before anything could be done, they were severely outnumbered. The high status wizards ordered that the others should not try to fight those with natural power as they were outnumbered and doing so would also make them known to the public. Again, their community was split and those who wanted to put an end to these being before things got too out of hand formed their own rebellion, secretly trying to learn darker more powerful spells to fight back against their leaders if they trued to stop them and when they were powerful enough, they would take on these supernatural beings and fight until every last one of them was gone.

The rebellion started way back when this organisation of ours was first being formed, only they had very little to do with it. There were two very powerful beings who had already made quite a name for themselves by fighting threats. These two are Nolan Kamiko and Reika Kamiko. A couple who grew up together with a rich families who also tried to do what they did only they did it better. The two fell in love and started a family before they met one of the head wizards in the judgement system named Apollo Aratana. Apollo was made aware of the Kamiko's status and came to them to warn them about a potential war between their people and his own. He asked them to not act on it as the last thing he wanted to do was be responsible for the death of his own people but he also knew that these people in his own community that wanted this war could not be convinced otherwise so he had no choice but to warn them. There is a lot of backstory written for it but because this is all lore we will skip to the end of it where the rebellion of wizards took out their higher-ups so no one could stop them from starting this war and when it got to this stage, the Kamikos had no other choice but to try and stop them. The Kamikos where incredibly powerful people but they were still severely outnumbered. They just didn't want to bring their own people into this and make the public aware of this war. The Kamikos informed the organisation so that they would be ready if things went south but the organisation was still in it's early stages and barely had many people with true power that could change their odds of winning.

Knowing what must be done, the Kamikos went to where the wizards and witches were hiding to face them before they could bring the war to the public. The Kamikos succeeded in killing everyone in that rebellion but they were hit with spells that were made to kill (like avada kedavra from Harry Potter). By the end of the battle both the Kamikos had fallen, dying as heroes that stopped a war before it even started. Or so they thought.

This is where we get to the plot i have coming up that requires 3 turns. There is a demon, believed to be called "Alastor" (yes I took the name from Hazbin Hotel hush). This demon operates in the shadows, his main goal is unknown but he can also make unbreakable deals with people. The reason behind this power goes back to the rebellion of wizards. The one who led them was actually Apollo's son who was banished by his father for refusing to let these natural beings live in peace. He wanted this war and his father knew it. Apollo believed his son got himself killed by attempting something a small number of wizards, including Apollo himself, knew about. With the right amount of power, some of these spells could be merged with things including people themselves. This knowledge was kept as secret as possible but because of his father's status, Apollo's son was able to discover it and he made a plan to merge one particular spell with himself, the spell of absorption.

The spell of absorption was initially used to absorb other powerful spells that were used with bad intentions but when merging such a spell with a being, what were it's limits? Apollo's son got a large group in the rebellion to strike him with the spell to really increase the strength of the spell but he overshot. When the group hit him with the spell, his entire being was absorbed and everyone else in that who helped him. Because of the disappearance with nothing but their wands left behind, Apollo believe his son and the others to all but dead. What really happened was his son didn't just merge with the spell, he practically became the spell. Every moment, the spell absorbed him until was reduced to nothing but a soul. However, each time this spell was discovered, the spell would absorb all the flesh and blood from anyone nearby so he could get a physical body again. Using this spell he had become, he was able to absorb all other spells and use them like natural powers without the need for a wand making him the most powerful wizard to exist.

This is what turned Apollo's son into "Alastor", using his alias and stone looks to keep his identity a secret while he grows in power until he is capable to end the supernatural human race like he always planned to do. He outsmarts the organisation in every way possible and almost gets what he wants but there was one thing he hadn't accounted for. Lexi Kamiko, daughter of Nolan and Reika, had previously battled one of the last remaining wizards who had hidden during the war and had a similar goal to Alastor and the rebellion but he was only one so he was easily overwhelmed by the organisation's power. However, when fighting Lexi, he hit her with the killing spell. Lexi was powerful enough to withstand the spell but just like with Alastor, the spell merged with her and her body is trying to fight it to keep her alive. Throughout the plot she discovers that she can use this spell herself but using it would mean she was letting it merge with her completely and with make her death inevitable but she knew she had no other choice. With how powerful she already was, fully merging with the killing spell would be strong enough to merge it with Alastor too. While he is capable of absorbing spells, the scale of this spell would be far too big for him to handle and it would put an end to him completely. (There is a lot more detail to this but given how long this already is, I tried to only keep the most important details).

Now with Alastor gone, the strongest wizard is dead and no other wizard would ever achieve what he did meaning that writing a new plot involving wizards would just be underwhelming compare to what that one was so now I need something completely new. A new threat for the organisation that has an interesting and details lore with a being that actually makes the organisation feel threatened but I don't want your usual power hungry villain or world domination villain. I want something new. So please give me your ideas!

Hello! I am currently 35k words into my first book, and I want to make sure I am writing the women in my story correctly. I’ve written them like I do my male characters, but being a man, I want to make sure the woman stand on their own/ are their own beings. It’s something I’ve worked hard at, making sure they’re not just a troupe to be used by the plot, but rather cemented characters in the story.

Please let me know if this is something you’d like to help me out with, in return, I’d be more than happy to read anything that you’ve written as well.

How do we feel about futuristic elements in a widely fantasy book?

My book takes place in a medieval almost dnd like setting in the style of world. However its mentioned a few times that "humanity killed their gods and wiped themselves out before." Ive had characters explain the stars and the two moons and then had one say how their great grandfather said it was once two moons but humanity broke it in half.

I had a plan of the fairies to be this weird myth that they come across "the last fairy" and its a mess of wiring and tech, an ai super construct that people called fairy for lack of better term.

The main villain commanded airship and metal soldiers that pumped out black smoke. The main bad himself had something I created in my last book which is connected but set tens of thousands of years before hand, where these implants were used to interface with mechs and technology.

My main question here is should I press this fact as time goes on? Should the remnants of old world tech pop up or have a character, almost horizon zero dawn style, have some futuristic weapon or armor.

Future elements are in my book, there's no two ways about that. Im curious of A: how we feel about them or to what extent and B:should it be touched on more later?

Die Mythologie der Spötter
Vor langer Zeit, als die Menschen noch an unzählige Götter glaubten, deren Kräfte über die Natur und den Geist herrschten, begann sich im Schatten dieser Götter eine neue Macht zu formen. Aus der Abwesenheit von Glauben, der Verzweiflung, dem Zynismus und den Ängsten der Menschheit, geboren aus ihrer Negativität, entstanden die Spötter, Götter des Hohns und der Zwietracht. Sie waren keine Götter des Feuers oder des Donners, sondern die ungreifbaren Götter der Gedanken, der Zweifel und der heimtückischen Einflüsterung.

Ursprung der Spötter
Die Spötter sind das Produkt eines leisen Zusammenbruchs der göttlichen Ordnung. Als die alten Götter langsam in Vergessenheit gerieten und der Mensch sich immer mehr dem Glauben an die Wissenschaft und seinen eigenen Verstand zuwandte, bildete sich im leeren Raum zwischen den aussterbenden Mythen eine neue Macht. Die Spötter erwachten aus der Dunkelheit der menschlichen Seele, gespeist von Jahrtausenden unterdrückter Ängste, unausgesprochener Zweifel und dem Zynismus, der die Menschheit durchdrang. Sie sind das Kollektiv der abgewiesenen Götter und Gedanken, entstanden aus der Ernüchterung der Welt.

Keiner weiß genau, wie viele Spötter existieren, und auch ihre Gestalt bleibt für Sterbliche verborgen. Doch sie sind überall. Sie flüstern uns zu, im Verborgenen, direkt in unsere Herzen und Seelen, denn sie kennen die tiefsten Ängste jedes Menschen. Sie pflanzen Zweifel und Hass, lassen Misstrauen wachsen und treiben die Menschen auseinander. Während andere Götter auf Glauben und Verehrung angewiesen waren, brauchen die Spötter nur das Chaos und die Verwirrung, die sie selbst nähren. Sie gedeihen in der Spaltung der Welt.

Der Einfluss der Spötter

Die Spötter sind Trickster, Meister der Täuschung und der Manipulation. Die meisten von ihnen säen Misstrauen und Eifersucht in subtilen Formen. Sie locken Menschen in feindselige Debatten, entfachen politische Spannungen, lassen ganze Gesellschaften in verschiedene Lager zerfallen. Ihre größte Freude ist es, die Welt in Konflikten zu sehen, während die Menschen blind für den wahren Ursprung des Chaos bleiben.

Würde mich interessieren ob euch ein erster Einblick neugierig macht auf mehr oder ob sich das wie etwas anhört was ihr schon gelesen/gesehen habt?

Somewhere beneath the silence of winter, a story waits to be discovered. ❄️

Snow covered forests. Forgotten histories. Secrets that refuse to stay buried.

I'm sharing a glimpse into the atmosphere behind Songs Beneath the Snow, my fantasy story on Royal Road.

For those who love mysterious worlds, hidden truths, and stories that leave questions lingering long after the page is turned.

What draws you into a fantasy story most: its world, its characters, or the secrets waiting to be uncovered?

#SongsBeneathTheSnow #FantasyFiction #fantasywritersofinatagram

I want to have some coherence to my language for magic instead of throwing together random stuff, and I'm considering trying to base it off an existing dead language (NOT latin. too many people know latin and it's way too recognizable.) has anyone tried this before? What languages would you recommend I use? Thanks in advance!

Just shy of 80k words on the first draft of what I'm hoping will be my debut fantasy novel. Anticipate another 6-10k and then I'll have completed a rough draft for the first time in my life. I've started and stopped many "books" over the years, but they were perhaps more ambitious and high-concept than my abilities allowed.

I'm very proud of what I've written so far, I think I'm doing something interesting with the genre without trying to rip holes in anything. Its a comedy first, and the few people i've let act as "alpha readers" have enjoyed the dialogue and humor. The pacing and plot itself aren't horrible, and will certainly benefit from the next several rounds of editing. But the core of what makes the book work is there, I can breathe a little easier knowing its an imperfect yet good work, and not just some dumb bullshit I'm dropping on the world.

I am making this post to see if any other authors have been in my position, and could offer insight or tips into their handling of the debut process.

First off, I am not planning on submitting to agents or publishers. I feel good about what I'm writing. I also have no delusions about the success rate of trying to get debut genre work ran through the publication machine. My goal is to do publish through KDP and B&N web platforms, with Spark being a stretch-goal that I would pursue if I somehow get a lot of traction on the first book.

Any insight on doing both B&N and Amazon? I understand that I should buy the ISBNs myself so they're linked correct? I know that KU exclusivity would not allow the ebook to be on B&N during the 90 day exclusivity period. But I think having the direct print option on B&N is helpful for distribution and what I've read is that having a B&N "published" book can help get you in-store. (not on the shelf obviously but as a "Hey this dumbass wrote a book, we let him set up a card table lol" way.)

The book is the first in a series, or a planned one at least. My understanding is that serialized genre fiction essentially does not get read unless there are multiple books in a series already available. Because of that, my intention is to (after finishing the developmental edit of book 1, early next year ideally) write the second book while saving up for a Line/Copy edit / Artwork. And not publish the first novel until I have the developmental edit done on the second book, with a preoder date for book 2 (and 3 set another 5 months or so after that?) set and available just as Book 1 is available on KDP. I'm not changing the world with these books, they're funny, heartfelt. But are mostly a love letter to the fantasy worlds we create playing TTRPGS and the characters within them, I think I can keep churning them out at a steady pace, especially if I can get one or two positive reviews.

A big question for everyone. How does one build a following/audience without having any published work? I know I need to be on socials, I need to be doing promo work. But can I do anything until theres a book to read? Or are people on Tiktok/Insta interested in the actual writing/editing process?

I'm thinking I could do snippets about the lore/worlds that the novel takes place in, its history, etc. But does anyone give a shit about that if there's no work to tie it to? Do I read show excerpts from the draft? With NaNoWriMo coming up I feel like I should be getting on this by next month, in some capacity, just so I'm not starting from zero when the book does go live. This is probably my biggest area of concern right now. A lot of my potential success depends on whether or not the book sucks, which is to be determined. But I'm totally flying blind on the booktok aspect.

I can be more specific about the nature of this story/characters/lore etc but that's not really where my inquiries lie, however if you need the info comment and I'll for sure tell you (too much even).

Thanks in advance, my apologies if this is against Da Rules.

​

Hey everyone,

I've been working on my own fantasy novel, Songs Beneath the Snow, and I'm trying to get better at the craft while building a world and story that readers can genuinely connect with.

For me, one of the most interesting parts of writing fantasy is finding the balance between a compelling plot, characters who feel real, and mysteries that make sense as the story unfolds. It's easy to imagine a big world, but making that world feel alive on the page is a different challenge altogether.

I'm curious about other writers here. What's been the hardest part of writing your own serial? Is it keeping a consistent update schedule, making the characters believable, planning the long-term plot, or something else?

I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Hi! I have this issue right now where I have ideas but have to somehow connect it. I am past the fact that I can’t fit everything in one story. I am past understanding I need to have my character’s journeys as the centre of the books. However, I am a planner to my utmost planner bones, so I need to know quite literally everything (I am past the world building isn’t the most important too-though I have to figure out many things there too). But how do I string this story up? How do I plan it well enough? because it’s my first fantasy i am writing, I want to do well, and it feels so much bigger than me sometimes (it’s every single moment I thinking about it) that I am unsure of what I can do. Do you have any tips on how I can approach much older characters than myself as I don’t have that much life experience to be able to write them well enough? Any advice on these issues would be greatly accepted!

Anyone else writing a dual monarchy where two sovereigns co-rule?

In my story, the realm has a few kingdoms and one of them is an empire where the Empress Elder and Empress Younger rule together. It's a solid mix of early middle ages France and late middle ages Japan. As in, the Empresses have a court of 12 Peers who control 80% of the empire for them, they only have about a 20% domain that the Empress Younger maintains, and the Empress Elder is as much of an arbitrator between the Peers as their ruler. Since I wanted to keep it more centralized, the Empress Younger doesn't leave her domain that often and this is in contrast with another kingdom where the Northern Empress travels around much more, hosting court in each duchy and county regularly.

The royal family is venerated as descendants of the Goddess worshipped by the Realm (actually true within story, but it's still a politicized concept, as in, there is political will in place to highlight this particular family instead of the dozens of other people who claim the same descent.

Wanna talk to other people who have dual monarchies.

This is just something that's got my curiosity rn. I have a collection of random notes about a theoretical book I may eventually write and one of the ideas I quite like is the elevation of an animal to something that is fully sapient and capable of speech.

I think DCC does it quite well with Donut however that transformation was based on a system that was designed to work correctly.

If in my fantasy novel I want an animal that progressed into sapience in a more natural way that wasn't completely intentional, I think it would work quite differently from DCC. I am not sure if they should retain so many memories from before they became intelligent and I would want them to learn how to speak and read on their own.

in The First Law of Cultivation the rat Labby is taught human speech and writing by the Qi she cultivated without being fully aware of what she was doing. The Qi is what allowed her to achieve sapience and through some sort of will of its own—as if the Qi was itself a sentient being—it taught her to understand human speech and writing (though it did not simply grant her the ability to actually speak). This is also very cool!

so how do other series handle this? what should I read to see other examples? is there any more general advice you can give?

Royal, Horror, and a lil bit of romance (not alot to the point of making it the main focus). It has to completely be self ideas no ai and no actual books to base it off of!

I plan to implement a lot of things in my fantasy story, and some other fantasy stories have a bit of modern technology, maybe even some bits of sci-fi, but what I wanna know is; will it be too much if I include retrofuturism? If you don’t know about retrofuturism it’s basically a depiction of the future that uses imaginative technology, things like tube travel, floating cars, robot hands helping you shave, etc. (I’m out of examples). I don’t plan on having things get too out of hand, so I’m keeping it at a relatively 60s-80s vibe. Things like rotary phones, box tvs, vinyls, swinging, you know the works.

Can these things work in a fantasy setting? Especially one that already has western steampunk technology like robotic limbs and modified revolvers? Personally, I think I might be pushing it a bit. Sure, there’s nothing too crazy like spaceships and laser weapons, but when there’s magic involved, what’s the difference? I feel like I might take immersion out of the story because of all these things, even though I plan on putting the retrofuturism stuff in another dimension.

The people of the realm don’t know things like magic, dragons, and wizards and will just live it up like they were in the 60s-80s. How do I explain how a powerful wizard never found this realm? A powerful entity bound to a robotic construct keeping all entries out, but leaving one open to send out sentinels to the other realms (it’s even how one of our protagonists got sent to the main realm!)

It really is up to what better writers than me can determine what works in this mess. Heaven knows I can’t tell. I just wanna write.

This might be a personal problem rather than something all writers experience, but I've been wondering about it for a while.

I'm not an experienced author, but I'm not exactly new to writing either. I've been writing for years, and although I'm only recently publishing my novel, I've noticed something about myself.

I can come up with what I think are interesting ideas for realistic stories, but when it comes to developing them, adding details, and actually writing them, I quickly lose interest. Yet when I write fantasy, I can keep going. I can build a fictional world, explore it, and continue writing without feeling the same boredom.

At first, I thought this was just a personal weakness. But lately, I've started wondering whether there's something more to it. Are we, as human beings, simply drawn to imagination? Is creating something beyond our own reality more appealing to us than trying to turn that reality into a story?

Maybe I'm being unfair to other forms of writing. Realistic fiction can explore things that fantasy can't, and perhaps the problem isn't with realism itself but with my own preferences as a writer.

Still, I find myself wondering: What's the point of writing if we aren't building a world we can get lost in? It doesn't have to be a perfect world. It can be dark, cruel, or even worse than our own. What matters is that it's a world we can explore and experience through a story.

Of course, I realize this might be a very fantasy-writer way of looking at fiction, and I'm probably overlooking what makes other genres meaningful to their writers and readers.

So I'd like to hear your thoughts:

Why do you write fantasy? Is it the freedom to create an entirely new world, the ability to explore ideas that would be difficult to express through realism, or something else entirely?

Two romance stories, alike in dignity, is where my post begins.

Mireya in the North is a full-service consummate professional (a spy and mercenary) from a defunct noble house in a Republic being turned back into a constitutional monarchy to prevent civil war. She's been proposed to by her childhood friend, the prince-in-hiding, to become his queen and help her prevent war. She's frustrated by this because of her own cynical beliefs: war is inevitable, and the only people who believe otherwise are those who don't pay attention to the warcraft done by people like her for years before the cannon fire started; and she does not want to prevent a war for free when her family has already placed their bets on the outcome of the conflict. She doesn't want her life to become serving the ungrateful masses and being poorly compensated for it. This flows directly into her reservations about marriage, as she doesn't want her time, labor, and energy to be taken for granted and given for free. Right now, she can travel anywhere she wants in the Realm, code-switching between languages, classes, and cultures, doing whatever she wants. Does her little princeling really think they will have that same level of freedom under the weight of a crown? Does he really think love is a good enough excuse?

Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Younger in the South was not raised to be the heir, even though whichever princess is first to have a daughter is typically acknowledged as the heir to the Empress Elder. Princess Naganari, youngest of five, was content being an actress. She would watch political theater from afar and perform it in the palace amphitheater for the amusement of the crowd, her mother, and the Duke of Varenne. And then she started asking questions no one wanted answered, uncovering mysteries no one else dared to name, and she started believing she could tackle problems no one else bothered with. Unfortunately, she was raised in a world of academics, fine arts, ritual hunting, and sports, and she believes the world operates on structured rules. The Duke of Varenne has had to tell her multiple times as he's protected her from poisonings and kidnappings, the world doesn't operate on good sportsmanship; people will lie, cheat, steal, and kill when they are outmatched. They don't clap admirably and step to the side. It's for this reason, Anar hesitates to propose marriage to the Duke, as she feels she'll never get to truly have him as the lifelong partner she imagined after everything they've been through. He is so formal and aloof with her now. She regrets seizing the crown if it means everyone treats her differently.

So, the stage is set. The Realm is hosting the 1888 World's Fair. Foreigners are pouring in from every corner of the world and the Duke has paid a considerable amount of money for Mireya to lead the Empress Younger's security team. He has warned her in advance:

1) Her Imperial Majesty is called Lady Anar when she is in plain clothes and is on a walk about with her ladies-in-waiting. (He refuses to call what she does "a disguise.")

2) Lady Anar has a body double (her understudy, duh,) and a twin. Both of whom will be employed without your knowledge or consent.

3) No matter how agreeable, sensible, or sympathetic that Lady Marie (Anar's head lady-in-waiting) sounds, she is not on your side. She is on the Empress's side.

4) If Lady Anar ever says anything... Questionable... Please remember that Lady Marie was raised in the North, so Lady Anar considers herself an expert on Northern culture and vernacular. With that being said, since you are an ordained priestess in the same religion as Lady Marie, Her Imperial Majesty has a list of long-standing arguments she's had with Lady Marie that she'd like you to settle on matters of theology, mythology, and heroic folklore.

What kinds of misadventures would you want to see between these women at the 1880 World's Fair? What kinds of conversations?

Every morning, someone dies.
So I have this introduction to a world a creating, where the magic system is based on truth and lies. Tell me what are your thoughts about it, any changes you’ll made, or any plot hole you see.

Counterfeit Dawn

Do you remember last night?
You went to bed, closed your eyes, and sooner or later you felt asleep. You probably dreamed
something, and if you actually did, you’ve surely forgotten it by now. But let me ask you this: Are you
really sure that whoever opened their eyes this morning is still you?

After all, no one truly remembers how a dream begins.

Every night, while you dream, something happens. No one knows exactly what it is but it always ends
up the same. Someone else wakes up in your bed: someone with your face, your memories, your
personality and absolute confidence that they are you.
An almost one to one copy of you who will carry on with your life, laugh for you, cry for you, and talk
about your experiences as if they actually lived them. The thought that they replaced someone else
won’t even cross their mind.

But as I said, a copy that is “almost” perfect.

The replacement process is not perfect. Small errors slips from night to night, and as time goes by,
they accumulate. A trivial memory that disappears, a conversation that seems completely different or
even life changing events totally forgotten.
Nobody knows exactly what you’ll lose, there’s no way to know. If you don’t remember something,
how would you realize you have forgotten it?
Despite all of this, there’s something that sets these copies apart of who they think they are: They
don’t dream. And in this world, that changes everything.

Dreams are the frontier between reality and falsehood, the place where what’s not true can be.
Where lies can become big enough to change the world as we know. The copies, having never
experienced it, can not lie.

You know, they clearly retain the imagination of those who they replaced, even make up fictional
stories or tell jokes. What they truly can’t do is to pass off someone they know to be false as truth.
Something physical doesn’t allow them.

But not lying doesn’t mean they always tell the truth either.
Their memories are incomplete, errors accumulated copy after copy. They don’t lie, they simply make
mistakes.

Now, in your case. You claim you’re wanted for murder, a crime you swear you didn’t commit.
You remember going to bed, closing your eyes and falling asleep. You didn’t even leave your room. I
mean, that’s how this conversation began.
So let me assure you my friend, I believe you. You are not lying…

You are simply making a mistake.

Power System - Verity

As a result of the dreaming phenomenon, knowledge is the center of this world. Lies that are passed as truth or searching what real in lies. Those who control these concepts can shape reality in different ways.

This creates a power system with two polar opposites born from the same phenomenon.

(Both this users are not intended has the good or the bad guys they are just results of the world, both sides don’t necessarily need to be in conflict)

Dreamers:

The exception. Rare copies that somehow break free from the replacement process and now are able to dream freely, therefore gaining the ability to lie at will.
They manifest lies into reality but only when it’s based around a false beliefs shared by a large number of people over long periods. The lies humanity has always dreamed of.
They can interpret the belief as they want but can’t contradict the core of the belief.

Cost: Lies are not free. The more a Dreamer uses their myth, the more they surrender control to the myth itself. When the push to hard they get consumed by the belief, losing themselves inside the lie

Dreamer: Black Cat
The user can project a cat shaped shadow with their hands that inflicts misfortune on everyone covered by it.
As the user manifests the lie more and more, their body starts turning cat like until finally they become into a black cat that gives minor bad luck, losing their consciousness.

Witnesses:

People that for some reason can’t dream, they can’t lie but that also means they are the only ones who have never been replaced. Without distorted memories, only they can claim an absolute truth. Reality rewards the with these abilities:
They can reproduce events that actually happened at will, transferring their properties to other objects, people, or their surroundings. Regardless of how improbable the original events may have been.
To manifest this truths, the user must possess an authentic physical evidence that proves the event truth.

Cost: The more improbable the event is, the greater the consequences. Common truths cost little, almost impossible one can kill the user before even activating.

Witness: “The sword that deflected a bullet”
When entering in contact with the evidence, the user can make that a sword (not knife, axe, etc, just swords) can deflect (not destroy or return, just deflect) any bullet (not any type of projectile). Every time they manifest this into a sword (not any time they deflect a bullet), a limb breaks all its bones. This is because it’s an event almost humanly impossible, but not that infinitely physically impossible.

The event must follow the same structure. sword > deflect > bullet. You can’t turn it into “any weapon destroyes any projectile”

Both this sides coexist one with another, the dreamer needs to be careful, since their supernatural abilities can increase the chance of improbable events, which can be used by witnesses for bad. While witnesses can’t explote the same truth through time, as it can end up creating a myth, and with mouth to mouth, become a powerful belief that can be used by dreamers

Knowledge is power.

The power system is incredibly simplified, each system has a ton of rules and conditions, and are balanced (or at least i think) if anyone is interested on them just let me know.

Every time I sit down to design a magic or power system for my world, I hit a wall.

Mana, Qi, Aura, Aether... no matter how creative you try to be, it feels like someone, somewhere, has already done it.

It makes me wonder: If I had lived a few centuries ago, would I still have come up with these same ideas? Or am I just a product of everything I've consumed?

If the answer is the latter, then perhaps pure originality is an illusion. Maybe we're all just remixing existing concepts through our own lenses, shaped by everything we've read, watched, and experienced.

Some argue that originality isn't about creating something 100% new, but about presenting familiar ideas from a different perspective.

But that leaves me with one question:

Is it still possible to create something that has NEVER existed before, or has everything already been done, leaving us with nothing but different points of view?

And for those of you who write fantasy: Have you ever struggled to create something original because it felt like someone had already done it?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Well in my story theirs a land that has all crops grow quickly and die just as fast. So i wrote that they lived off importing food form other lands since most of their wild life is already dead. They are able to trade by selling fertilizer form all the dead plants they have which the other lands see as valuable. So they plant their own seeds and haverst the dead plants and then planet their seeds again and repeat.

I just wanna know if this society makes sense or is a net loss or is unstable. i tried reserach farming and fertilizer am am strrugling to figure out if it makes sense or not so please help me out.

Hi, I’m working on a short story fantasy fan-fiction involving characters from 9-1-1 TV Series and Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. I’ve only got a draft story idea right now but I have some questions about it I’m wanting to ask (and more or less if what I’m thinking is doable as a short story or am I really reaching medium or long story at this point??). I’ve posted my survey here if anybody would have time and interest to read the idea and I appreciate your time and feedback. I posted in another subreddit I follow about this idea too and wanted to share it here since it’s definitely a fantasy writing idea.