RFS Lesson: World Weaving - Society

Hey, Kieran here with my first RFS Blog.

I'm not particularly trusting in my abilities to write a compelling and understandable yet still useful blog, but I will try my best.

It's a bit of a block of text, sorry. I don't really know how else to space it out.

Please don't be overly harsh.

Anyway, the topic I'll be broaching is a specific branch of world weaving:

RFS Lesson: World Weaving - Society-Hey, Kieran here with my first RFS Blog.
I'm not particularly trusting in my abilities t

Society (including hierarchy and such like)

Now, at first, this may seem like a hugely daunting task, especially if you're creating a fantasy or sci-fi plot as they differ from what we ourselves know the most, but the two best tips I ever got were:

“Follow the rules of your world.”

“Don't stray from what we know”

Now, before I explain these and show examples, I just want to add that there are some steps you have to take before you get to the societal part of world building. That is: making the rules of your world and creating biome(s) and scenes.

If you have no rules to your world, in the end it will come out as a scramble mess of rules mushed together as you went along.

And if you haven't create at least one biome, or climate, then you're society won't have any trademarks and will most likely be kinda bland or straight up boring. Not to mention uber generic, and we don't want that.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way. Let's jump into the explanation of my two tips.

Tip N°1: Follow the rules of your world

If you want your world to work and be fun to either write a story or, more importantly, roleplay in, you need a set of rules and things that not only stop wannabe op, excuse my language, fucks but also make sure that the plot and lore make sense and don't clash with one another.

As an example, I'll use one of my own W.I.P.s.

In this world, magic is simply another type of energy, the same as electric or thermic energy. Magic cannot be used by a person, but rather is channelled through a esoteric* device. Scientists have been studying uses for this energy for years and the uses are quite varied.

*In world scientific term for magical.

Using these world rules, we can think of two different ways to go.

Either, we can create a more dystopian society with the powerful have a monopoly over any and esoteric devices, pricing them up to their fancy, and where the majority simply can't afford it and thus there is a huge hierarchical gap.

Or we could create or world more like ours, where there is a huge market for esoteric devices where companies continuously try to one up each other and despite the supposed peace, states are developing ways of weaponizing it outside of the public eye.

I'm kind of freestyling the societies here so if there are plot holes or things that don't add up, tell me and I'll try and fix them.

There's one thing the two have in common though, they follow the rules set.

No one suddenly appears with the ability to create esoteric force from their bare hands just as much as no one can create an electrical current by touching their fingers.

Follow the rules of your world and no matter what you come up with, no one will wonder where something came from or point out plot holes and discrepancies in your world building.

Tip N°2: Don't stray from what we know

So, in fairness, it's a little more nuanced than that.

What it means, in full, is: don't stray too far from the reality of what we know about societies and how they create themselves in our world.

This is where things like biomes, climate and wildlife come into play.

If you're biome is say a desert, then the climate and wildlife will follow, but so will the way humans as a group will react. You don't need to in depth with the psychology of human behaviour to know that in a desert, society will most likely form around an Oasis or stick to a nomad lifestyle.

If the climate is hot and dry then the buildings won't be hugely isolating. And this in power will be the people who provide water and nutritional foods.

If the wildlife around is dangerous, then the cities and even towns and villages will most likely have some kind of protection, be it permanent guards, a wall, trenches, etc…

Make sure you follow up on the expectations you've created with your biome so that the readers or roleplayers are able to relate to the trials and tribulations of the characters. If it doesn't fit, your world will seem like you just threw together a bunch of stuff you like into a big mess.

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Anyway, that's it from me. It's not much, but I hope it can help at least one person on here.

If you have any criticism, feel free to give it and help me with my stuff.

If you enjoyed this, drop a like and I'll see you next time!

Kieran, out.