Day 3: Mood and Setting

It's a little later than I planned to do this exercise, but it's still Day 3, right?

Here's what today's task is for 30 Days of Worldbuilding:

Read over your list from Day 1 and then turn to a blank piece of paper. Close your eyes and think about what kind of feeling you like to have when you write or read. Write down four words that fit into that feeling: two adjectives, a verb, and a noun. Now return to the page with your list of climates and emotions. Do any of them match up? If they do, you have your climate. If not, try to find closest-match words. 

If you spend 10 solid minutes thinking about this and still can't decide, pick two climates that express moods you like. You can make up your mind later, and you can even build your world with both climates containing equally probable sites for your story.

This isn't going to be an easy one for me, mostly because I'm not setting this on any one specific world; I've got an entire star cluster in mind as the setting for this endeavor. Plus I'm working on this from the aspect of a Campaign Setting, not a novel.

Still, I should be able to make this work. If anything, maybe I'll get a few planets lined up, or a primary planet that most of the campaign centers around.

After a few minutes of contemplation, here's the feeling I want for this game...

Adjective 1: Oppressive
Adjective 2: Monolithic
Noun: Energy
Verb: Defy

Some pretty imposing words there. Looks like I've got a few matches...

Oppressive: Tundra, Bayou, Badlands; some pretty nasty environments here. These may have to be the predominant climate for some of the big scenes, or the major races.
Monolithic: Rocky Mountains/Alps, Ocean; I'm getting sort of an Alderaan vibe here; a planet of vast seas and Alaska/Canada-like climates on the land masses.
Energy: Urban, Savannah; hmmmm perhaps an arcology in the middle of a savannah?
Defy: Nothing really fit here, directly anyway. The Defy theme might fit better as one race (or nation's) defiance of a harsh climate. Sort of "we live here because they say we can't" sort of thing. Defy is also a conflict of sorts, so Urban works here. Outback and Volcanic come across as defying climates, as does Marianas Trench. That one might be a little too extreme for this, but I might be able to make that work.

I like this; I've sort of got 4 worlds bubbling here; The Oppressive climates make me think of the worlds of the Drachons, a clan-like society of reptilian warriors (basically dragonborn).  Five worlds; each with a specific clan of Drachon. The Monolithic world could be the seat of The Union, the human-centric alliance of worlds in the Star Cluster.  Energy; I really like the Arcology in the middle of an African-like savannah, but what do I use that for? I'm going to need to think how that would fit into the story.  Defy; that might come into play as a space station at the edge of some cosmic hazard, or as the homeworld of The Bathal Host, the "Obvious Bad Guy" empire in this setting.

 

Tomorrow looks like it will be a fascinating exercise, as well as one that has the potential to give away some of the plot points of the setting.  I'll have to be careful when talking about Cataclysms...