World Building Exercise
from a Template

A huge apology for being a day late posting this week’s blog. As Mary McDee says (often), “Technology, you can’t trust it.” She says this while spending the week chasing Dorper sheep (Goat-Sheep Cross), from the neighbour’s yard back into her own. They are more stupid than actual sheep, much like she thinks computers are.

Anyway, ‘twas a computer crisis at Mrs. T’s (my mum), that sent the weekend into wobble-world. That with the default of chasing ancestors down familial rabbit holes, I have done little in the way of preparing an article to post, let alone any idea what to post on the chosen topic, World Building.

Then inspiration struck. At the proverbial last-minute. Why not do a spot of World Building from one of my developing novels? Why not, indeed!

I searched around for a worthy template—one that was interesting, not too many questions (just enough for the exercise) and one that was memorable. I didn’t have to look far on the World Wide Web, to find this little beauty: GRAPES.

“G” for Geography

“R” for Religion

“A” for Achievements

“P” for Politics

“E” for Economics

“S” for social Structure

There’s even a colourful chart with two or three questions under each heading to help with the process, courtesy of Amanda Schlindwein. Thank you, Amanda, for posting this helpful model which you can see if you click on the link to her website.

So, here goes. I will use the book that I have been posting serially on Wattpad, Diamonds in the Cave as my world building muse. (I won’t be addressing every question in the GRAPE help. The post would end up being too long, otherwise.)

Geography

How does the region’s climate and placement affect the characters in your story? The village of Luthertal on Pilgrim Planet (approximately 20 light years from earth) suffers extremes of temperature and weather conditions because of orbiting two suns. After emigrating from Eastern Europe from the 19th century, where climate was more stable, they find the change confronting, confusing, hard on their stamina and they become angry. They need to vent their anger and frustration. As a primarily farming community, the droughts, fires and floods that fail their crops, and kill their livestock, cause them to seek someone to blame. Hence a perfect storm for parties of evil intent to stir up the idea of witch hunts.

Religion

What do your characters believe in?

One God and the founder of European Protestantism, Martin Luther. But they, being Wends, are synchronistic, never having relinquished the superstitions, magic and healing practices from their “heathen” ancestors. So, there’s this conundrum; a person who fails to attend church each Sunday is called a “heathen”, but it’s okay to believe that breaking a wishbone of cooked chicken and the person getting the larger portion can make a wish. Or a character must trust in God to heal them, and the church prays for them, but it’s acceptable to treat the sick with herbal remedies as according to the long tradition of apothecary. I might digress here that my two-times great grandfather came from the region of Lusatia (which is where the Wends come from). Before he became a doctor he studied, at Herrnhut, the base of the Moravian Brethren, (so we’re talking seriously Christian here), the medicinal art of apothecary. Maybe some Lutherans would’ve had a problem with that, but we’re talking about a particular community, the Wends or Sorbs. So, writing from my own family history experience, which is partially Wend, I can see this community of Luthertal being more open to magic and the supernatural. One day I might write on these supernatural experiences that my family and relatives have experienced.

Achievements

What has this civilisation created that has withstood the test of time?

As mentioned above, being an agricultural community, the Wends are robust and healthy. They have their Wendish culture of dress and traditions. They are remembered as an industrious people, but also as a deeply religious God-fearing people. In fact, they feared God so much they escaped the persecution and oppressive norms put upon their religious practices that they planned to emigrate to South Australia. Unfortunately, an evil alien called, Boris who pretended to be God’s ambassador, led them astray and transported them to the Pilgrim Planet with plans to enslave them and breed an army from them.

Politics

Who controls the society and how do they control it?

Although in Diamonds in the Cave the Wendish community are emerging from the ruthless fascist control of Boris, having been saved from his clutches by the good guys Intergalactic Space Force (IGSF), in my previous book, The Lost World of the Wends, they are still politically and structurally fragile and finding their way. They have reverted to the ways of old where the Burgermeister runs the village and decisions are made by all villagers gathering in the church. The Wend community is by this time a theocracy. However, Boris still has his influence with a couple of his agents hiding in plain sight in the village. These agents are stirring up the Wend community to seek out witches and burn them.

Economics

What is considered valuable? And how are products bought and sold?

Apart from food and the products from farming used to be self-sustaining, as was the custom back in Eastern Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, mining minerals and ore for power and energy for space travel is taking off. Mutants who have been freed from slavery under Boris have been brought in to help develop the village building houses and mining in the local mountain range of Mount Martin. The Wend villagers begin to regard the mutants with suspicion and they become targets for witch-burnings.

The currency that the Wend community use are “pfennig” (pennies) and thalers, like what they used in Saxony in the mid-nineteenth century. Products are bought and sold at market which is open every day except Sunday. Sunday is the Lord’s day, a day of rest.

Social Structure

Who are the most important people?

The Burgermeister (Herr Biar), the pastor and the doctor (Dr. Zwar), who in Diamonds in the Cave is the pastor. Prestige is shown by the assets the high-status ones have. The doctor owns a Mercedes. Herr Biar has a beautiful, large brick house and large farm.

Least important people?

The mutants, old single women (Gertrude) and women who don’t fit in the community (the female heroine, Minna). They are the prime targets for witch-burnings.

***

That’s all for my little exercise for starters. I found it helpful to clarify my ideas for the world in which my characters live in Diamonds in the Cave.

Have a go yourself using the GRAPE template or click on the links below to try one of the other templates that looked useful.

Let us know how you go? Or if you have found a template that works for you, send us a link.

© Lee-Anne Marie Kling 2024

Feature photo: Late autumn vineyard, Wirra Wirra, Maclaren Vale © L.M. Kling 2024

World Building Templates

Worldbuilding Template: 101 Prompts to Build an Immersive World (kindlepreneur.com)

Get A Free World Building Template With 100+ Questions (richiebilling.com)