I was just playing around – doodling with Inkscape, so to speak – and came up with a system of elements that I think will fit Arnâron quite well:

Elements

I had already decided on the number eight having special significance to the people of Arnâron. There aren’t really any good “in-setting” reasons for this (I’ll come up with something), the primary reasons are more related to visuals and imagery:

• I want the people to use a lot of octagonal features in their designs and architecture
• 8 is a lucky number for the Chinese
• In Hinduism, the number is associated with wealth
• In numerology, eight is the number of “building” but also of “destruction” (according to Wikipedia…)
• There are eight planets, both in our solar system as well as that of Arnâron

In general, eight seems to be a pleasant or lucky number, you can check out Wikipedia to learn about its various meanings. Anywyay, I had to settle on something, and eight seemed like a good pick.

Now, as for the elements, I know that the system is “flawed”: For instance, combining fire and air does not automatically produce smoke, instead air is required for combustion and the resultingg flame can be entirely smoke-less. Heating up Earth doesn’t produce sand, it’ll produce warm earth (and eventually magma). But naturally, none of these elements are really elements anyway. The system is based on the classical elements.

The system will and can be used in Arnâron’s religion, mythology, buildings, and so on. At worst it’s just a little bit of background fluff that I can work in as needed.

Since the Earth’s continents drift over its surface, the planet is slowly changing its familiar view. Everybody thinks the dinosaur lived on “our” Earth, when in fact the Earth looked completely unrecognizable millions of years ago.

Some geologists and palaeontologists have attempted to reconstruct Earth’s map at various points in the past. Two efforts have reproduced beautiful and useful maps. The first, the Paleomap Project of Christioher R. Scotese offers maps that are functional but somewhat plain. Dr. Ron Blakey, on the other hand, has created beautiful “satellite views” of ancient Earth. An example is this map, from the Middle Devonian:

In a world building context, these maps are highly useful if you create a setting that is set in the past or in a parallel universe that is based on historical Earth. But there are other uses: For example, these maps could be used as alien planets (except for the very recent maps, in which Earth’s continental outlines become quite recognizable).

I have actually used the Middle Devonian map to create the map of an Earth-like fantasy world, which I call Arth (in honor of Starflight):

Pretty, no? And nobody who saw the “Arth” map by itself would suspect that it is merely our own planet Earth, just 385 million years ago.

Alien Planet is another example of “professional” world building, similar to The Future is Wild. However, unlike that show, Alien Planet is set on a world in another star system. It depicts a robotic mission of exploration to this planet.

Someone actually uploaded the thing to Google Video. Enjoy:

Personally, I feel that a lot of the creatures showing here seem a little far-fetched… however, I am still not a zoologist or botanist and thus can’t really say. Anyway, it makes for an entertaining 90 minutes.

Additional links:

• Alien Planets official homepage.

Here’s an example of professional world-building:

The Future is Wild was a joint production of Discovery Channel, ORF and ZDF television corporations. It depicts three scenarios for the future evolution of life on Earth, set at 5, 100 and 200 million years in the future.

While there has apparently been some criticism of the scientific validity of the show, it’s still a pretty well-thought out design for the possible future evolution of life on Earth. And even if not everything is accurate – I am not in a position to have an opinion on this – it certainly sounds plausible and fairly consistent. Overall, The Future is Wild can serve as a pretty good source of inspiration for the aspiring world builder; especially since they explain why they designed the creatures in the way they did. Highly recommended.