This week, I started creating a world setting for JRPG-themed TTRPG games, such as Fabula Ultima. Several of my inspirational touchstones that I am using as my "vibe guide" are isekai anime, The Faraway Paladin, AFK Journey, and the artwork in Fabula Ultima. I started using What's My Foundation? as a guide, and created my world's origin mythos and divine pantheon.
The Origin (in brief)
The world was created by the Dreamer as they slumbered. As they slept, they created other beings like them, who would be the First host of the gods. Together, they created the world and mortals, and when the Dreamer awakened, they found all that they created to be real. The dreamer then went on a journey to experience what they created, but awake.
I really liked this idea because it really ties in that romantic idea of wanderlust and adventure. One of my inspirations was Ryuutama, a TTRPG in which it is often seen as a thing you just do to go on an extended journey. Sometimes it's a rite of passage, but not always. But people are generally expected to go on a journey at some point in their life and I liked that idea.
The Pantheon (in brief)
There are three categories of divine beings. The First host are those that were created by the Dreamer, who dreamed of ending their solitude. The Second host are those created by the First. The Third host are divine beings brought forth by a combination of mortal belief, magic, and time. These include deities such as mountain gods, a regional harvest god, or an ascended saint.
I don't yet have a who's-who of the pantheon, but the idea is that the First reign over the elements for their domains while the Second reign over broad emotional concepts. Examples would be love, knowledge, and wealth, and these domains would likely reside within one of the elemental domains. The Third are overseers of individual features, peoples, or objects, such as an animal that absorbed magic and local belief, and now lives on indefinitely to protect its forest home.
Most of my inspirational touchstones feature numerous gods that impact or influence mortals in various ways. With this kind of quantity, there is great potential for heavenly political drama, divinity interfering for good or ill in the lives of mortals, and characters that have sworn themselves to a deity in return for a divine blessing.
The Arcane (in brief)
Nearly every mortal is born with a capacity for magic, but this capacity varies in size from person to person. A person also needs to have the ability to access that magical energy; the innate talent for this skill also varies, but can be trained to a degree.
The specifics for actually casting magic will be intentionally left vague. Is it cast via spoken spells that do nothing when simply written? Are runes required? Casting components? These details will not be decided on since the purpose of this world is to make it agnostic enough that you can drop a TTRPG system into, which usually have their own magic mechanics.
For example, both Legends of Akeroth and Drakonym require spellcasters to have one free hand and the ability to speak, besides the action currencies. Drakonym also includes an optional magic rune circle mechanic. These would be annoying to shoehorn in if this world relies on Fullmetal Alchemist-style magic casting.
Just the Beginning
The info above, as stated in their headers, are brief description of everything that I've come up with so far. If you'd like to keep tabs on the world's development, you can follow me on Twitch or join our Discord server. Once this world is deemed playable, I'll be giving the notes on it to server members in the form of a PDF. Twitch subscribers will be able to download the Obsidian vault that houses all of the notes, so they'd be able to start filling in their own lore or start playing a game.
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