For ten months, I've ruminated over worldbuilding. I've realized the significant flaw when trying to learn about worldbuilding.
A lot of people think of Character, Plot, Setting, as distinct elements. And they are. But for a good narrative, and especially for a great one, these all merge and interweave.
Most people create their worlds like they're trying to make an RPG, like Dungeons and Dragons. They sit down. They pen the magic system. Maybe spend a ten hour binge read on famous Roman battles and tactics.
And people would rant about the worlds they built. I believed there was a lack of focus on culture. On how people interacted. Their festivities, art, sculptures, natural disasters, regional differences, political groups, architecture.
Most people focus on the war aspect of worldbuilding and on the weaponry. Those who don't focus on that, focus on the cool spells. Then, they focus on religion. And I believed that was highly simplistic (even if writing a war is pretty fun ngl).
“Otaku? The people I hate most are those gun otaku. Speaking honestly, I think they’re really low level, and out of firearm fans, the pistol nuts are the worst. They’re the ones that have the most immature character traits left over. Ha ha, don’t you agree?” - Hayao Miyazaki
The significant flaw I found was as follows: Their world and characters had nothing to do with each other. No one explains how to make the world matter to the plot.
Worldbuilding articles talk about logistics and geopolitics, but rarely about why this world is.
Setting is the most underdeveloped part in many stories.
If your drama is set among the gated estates of West L.A., we won’t see homeowners protesting social injustice by rioting in their tree-lined streets, although they might throw a thousand-dollar-a-plate fund-raiser. If your setting is the housing projects of East L.A.’s ghetto, these citizens won’t dine at thousand-dollar-a-plate galas, but they might hit the streets to demand change. - Robert Mckee
Your world is a character, a plot, a theme. An integral part of a greater story. Whether that be through antagonism in form of the cruel fashion industry in Devil Wears Prada, or through heroism in form of inspiring tales of Guardians in Guardians of Ga'Hoole, the world services as a part of the piece.
Therefore, the world should be part of the main conflict. Such as in Honkai Star Rail's Jarilo-VI storyline.
You've made a choice go fight against your fate
Pain will come with the blade
Pain will wake up the despondent crowd in this dormant world somehow. -Wildfire.
Honkai Star Rail's first mission is beautiful. You enter a planet smothered by frost due to the effects of a Stellaron. The Stellaron sends out monsters that attack anybody on the surface and also wants to ultimately end all life.
There is only one city on the surface, named Belobog, where there are people on top . . . and the people underground. A pretty straightforward way of talking about class divisions. The people underground are known as living in the Underworld.
The Underworld was cut off from the Overworld, with the people in the Overworld unaware of the struggles down below. The Overworld believes the Underworld is living fine meanwhile they have to fight the monsters of the stellaron. The Underworlders, meanwhile, are struggling against isolation and limited resources.
The Overworld is ruled by Cocolia Rand the Supreme Guardian.
The Underworld is led by Wildfire who wants to break their way back to the top of the world.
Meanwhile, Svarog the robot who lives in the Underworld, wants to protect the Underworlders because he believes everyone will survive better underground with geothermal heating.
At the final battle against the Stellaron, the player talks to computer god, and he gives out the Fire Lance. The symbolic flames of rebellion against a world Preserved by Ice.
Come to think, the Underworld is an odd name. That sounds more like a place of death. Well, in myths and legends of Jarilo-VI, the land of death is described as a lush jungle where birds migrate to for winter. So if the land of death in mythology is a lush jungle, then the place literally named after "the land of death" in real life (underworld) is where we get our best chances at truly saving all life.
(Even more interesting is the story ties to Slavic Mythology and Folklore, such as how Jarilo-VI is even named after a Slavic God of the Sun and Spring.)
The worldbuilding in this game isn't just about factions or war, but also about the theme. The dystopian aspect works a lot better here than in other stories,
because instead of just being about class tensions, the dystopia is more
a metaphor about Action against Inaction. Everyone prays to Computer God of Preservation. The Supreme Guardians keep the world as is.
The world actively influences the characters but also reflects them. Bronya Rand goes from being a relatively cold character in the Overworld, to being brought into the underworld where she truly realizes how awful everything is. She is reborn. Supposedly in Slavic Religion, the Underworld was lush (just like in Jarilo-VI's mythos), and Jarilo the God of Spring brought the lushness back to the overworld with him, bringing the season.
In Rivet Town, Bronya finds where she grew up: An orphanage run by Natasha, the leader of the Wildfire movement. She finds out that Seele (a major player in the Underworld) and her came from the same place, but Bronya was adopted and sheltered in the overworld. Rivet Town is barely held together by thumbtacks and glue, just like how Bronya's worldview is. The Overworld city of Belobog even has walls as shelter from monsters like how Bronya was sheltered.
Or consider a tiny mountain lake. Thickly wooded slopes sweep down to the water's edge along half its shore line. Sheer cliffs rise gray and forbidding on the far side. Two camping trailers and a tent stand in a patch of clear ground down close to the narrow south beach, where a rutted dirt road terminates. There are children at play . . . women cooking ... a man who bait-casts a hundred yards or so off to one side. The road, in turn, leads away from the lake, around a spur of brash, them off along the edge of a meadow thick with wild-flowers—columbine, trillium, bellwort, violets. Now a pickup truck approaches, bouncing noisily along the road. Far away across the meadow, behind a hillock and almost in the shadow of another spur of brash, a pair of bear cubs frolic under their blackfurred mother's watchful eye . . .
What will your focal character notice about this scene? To what specific fragment will he react? Is his lens fixed on the trout? The bears? (And if so, which one?) . . .The bellwort? The big, raw-boned woman in Levis who hunkers by the fire, poking sullenly at her frying bacon with a stick? - Dwight Swain
You might ask if your magic system fits your world, but also ask if the system fits your theme and characters.
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pharaoh's magic is primarily saved for punishing the wicked after they lose games. The theme is that "villains lose because they cheat", and those who cheat are subject to penalty games by the rules of a shadow game. In The Masque of the Red Death, the rooms of color symbolize the stages of life from birth . . . to the black chamber with a clock symbolizing death's inevitability.
Meanwhile, I'd argue with Pokemon, types rarely play a part. If Giovanni was a Normal-Type gym leader, would they be a difference? Does Pokemon ever focus on the importance of types?
Then, how does the culture and world affect the characters? In Island of the Blue Dolphins, the culture forbids women from being hunters, and the religion says if they make spears, they will be swallowed by the seas.
And how's the atmosphere affect the plot?
In Guild Wars 2, Maguuma Jungle is important in the Heart of Thorns expansion, as a horrific jungle full of monsters, where there are dozens of levels of vegetation, all who are hostile because they're part of the Jungle Dragon Mordremoth.
In a great story, everything works together.
So, maybe all this inspires you to take another look at your world. You can still take time to think about where every river is, but what does every river mean? Is the setting a backdrop? Can you honestly say a garden stands for a character's life long work and about perseverance and daily upkeep?
Maybe now your worldbuilding will be next level.
Or maybe you still suck, like you're kinda a mess bro, not gonna lie. That's all. LAter.
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