donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2018-04-04 12:50 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2018-04-04 12:50 pm
Entry tags:
Folklore, Mythology, Paranormal, World Building, Naming and Language Creation Links
For those times your fanfic canvas needs something in the background or you're writing original fic and you need to build your own universe from scratch.
Folklore/Mythology/Theology/Supernatural/Paranormal info:
God Checker - lots of different pantheons to search through
Folklinks, a Folk and Fairy-Tale Site
University of Pittsburgh's Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
Yokai "the online database of Japanese folklore"
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (originally published 1911, archive.org link)
The darker superstitions of Scotland, illustrated from history and practice (originally published 1834, archive.org link)
Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, Collected entirely from Oral Sources (originally published 1900, archive.org link)
Irish National Folklore Collection - only a portion of the half million digitized pages have been transcribed but a huge resource of folklore and myth
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1880) (article and scanned book)
Welsh myths and folklore (from nationaltrust.org)
Welsh Folk Tales collection at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
The Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and gods in classical literature and art
UMass Amherst's Folklore Web Resources
Folklore and Mythology LibGuide at the University of Washington Libraries
The Secret Commonwealth: Of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies (written 1691, published 1815, official pdf scan and annotated version)
Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics (originally published 1892, archive.org link)
Nunnehi US Southeast fair folk
Pantheon of nonhuman Cherokee creatures (wayback machine link)
Native American Folklore by Tribe (site is run by a non-profit organization dedicated to the survival of Native American languages)
Encyclopedia of Myths
Encyclopedia of Mythicia
Monstropedia "The Monstrous Encyclopedia" (wayback machine link, the newer wikia version doesn't appear to be as thorough)
Internet Sacred Text Archive (an archive of free books on religion, spirituality, mythology, folklore, alchemy, parapsychology, etc)
The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Collection of Victorian articles on folklore from the "Girls' Own Paper" published 1880-1891 (wayback machine link)
Collection of Open Access Monographs in Classics, Ancient History, Art History, and Archaeology - links to digital repositories, ancient art history, classics and ancient history, and classical archaeology
The Biodiversity Heritage Library has many helpful collections like Curious and Bizarre Creatures, Extinct Species and Monsters are Real available online as well as numerous other scientific, botany, zoological, etc collections
A Book of Creatures compilation of various creatures from myth and legend from different points in history around the world (currently on hiatus but with a huge archive of creatures)
Under the Cotton Tree: The Tales of Trinidad and Tobago
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bestiarium "A bestiary of lesser known mythological creatures from around the world"
Multilingual Folk Tale Database "Welcome to the Multilingual Folk Tale Database. On this site, you can read popular folk tales from all over this world, in their original or a translation." This site also contains the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales
The Haunted Palace - a "History, Folklore and the Supernatural" blog with hundreds of articles on all sorts of subjects
Language Creation:
The Language Creation Society
The Language Construction Kit
Wikihow's 'How to Create a Language'
Designing Alien Alphabets (wayback machine link)
various conlang word generators: one, two, three (and another that is currently down for maintenance)
How to create a language in one day (wayback machine link)
How To Create Your Own Language
Omniglot has tons of information on existing languages as well as constructed scripts for constructed languages, fictional and magical alphabets as well as just a ton of general information on languages and alphabets from around the world.
Vulgar: a Language generator- free version will provide 200 words, paid version provides 2000 along with other features
The International Phonetic Alphabet (with audio illustrations)
Conlanging for cheaters some quick tips
If you want to crib your language off an ancient one Lexicity is a great resource with over two dozen, ranging from Akkadian to Ugaritic. (wayback machine link)
You can also check out this list of Open Access Ancient Language Textbooks, OERs, and Primers relating to the ancient world.
World Creation:
First, an interesting article on actual maps vs typically drawn fantasy maps to consider
Design Your Planet website will design a planet after you determine the amount of your world is covered in land, its rate of volcanism and position within the habitable zone
Tectonics.js "Tectonics.js is a 3d plate tectonics simulator written in javascript. It allows you to create realistic fantasy worlds from your web browser."
Mapgen4 "Pick a starting seed, then paint mountains, valleys, and oceans on the map! It will simulate evaporation, wind, and rainfall to determine biomes and rivers."
Fantasy Map Generator - quite a lot you can customize with this one
Fractal World Generator
Dave's Mapper (cities, dungeons, caverns, scifi ships, structures)
Tutorial to draw your own map- the macaroni method (wayback machine link)
Tutorial to draw your own map and decide its topography - the dice method
Medieval Fantasy City Generator
SciFi World Generator (there are numerous world and name generators on this site)
Create a Galaxy (more of an art adventure than actual galaxy building, but still neat)
World Anvil (designed for both rpg players and authors World Anvil "offers a host of worldbuilding features – timelines, interactive maps and way more – to help you build up your homebrew world as your PCs explore further afield.")
r/mapmaking's mapmaking wiki and r/worldbuilding's worldbuilding wiki
Fantasy Calendar Generator - helps you create a calendar for your world
Legal Worldbuilding Guide "You’re worldbuilding, and you need a legal system." (a guide on how to do that, AO3 work)
How to Write a Believable World: A Guide to Worldbuilding (some good general How To thoughts)
City Creation:
City structure models to consider in your world
Lonely Cities (I and II): "A look at the human terrain – that is, the landscape created by human activity – formed by agriculture outside of large pre-modern cities." (what fiction often forgets when worldbuilding cities)
City & Town Name Generator "The city and town name generator uses a database of over five million names across more than 150 countries."
Guide to Naming a Town or City considering ideas including genre, theme, tone, time, size, geography and more
How to Design a Town Map
Procgen Village Generator
Home Creation:
Procgen Mansion Generator create 3d mansions, complete with floor plans
Room Sketcher - Create Floor Plans and Home Design Online (for modern homes)
Eplans.com is a website that sells blueprints for house. Choose the # of beds, baths, floors and type of garage and get numerous detailed plans and house types to choose from.
Floorplanner Design and furnish a home or office (requires a free account to use)
Name Creation:
Other things that might help when considering names (and coming up OCs' names in general):
A Guide to Names and Naming Practices published in 2006 by the UK/Interpol to show that "names are a valuable source of information. They can indicate gender, marital status, birthplace, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and position within a family or even within a society." Perusing it might give ideas along those lines for your society/culture.
Huge tumblr post of name resources
So You Want to Name a Sino "A Guide to Not Making a Fucking Fool of Yourself" (wayback machine link)
Chinese Names + Naming Resources (linghxr's tumblr has numerous posts on creating and pronouncing Chinese names)
Kate Monk's Onomastikon, the original (1997) internet name resource
Mandarin Chinese Character Name Generator (names plus their translation)
(there are also numerous name generators as well as lists of names from various eras in the generators resources post)
Research and Resource Collected Links Masterpost
Folklore/Mythology/Theology/Supernatural/Paranormal info:
God Checker - lots of different pantheons to search through
Folklinks, a Folk and Fairy-Tale Site
University of Pittsburgh's Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
Yokai "the online database of Japanese folklore"
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (originally published 1911, archive.org link)
The darker superstitions of Scotland, illustrated from history and practice (originally published 1834, archive.org link)
Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, Collected entirely from Oral Sources (originally published 1900, archive.org link)
Irish National Folklore Collection - only a portion of the half million digitized pages have been transcribed but a huge resource of folklore and myth
British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1880) (article and scanned book)
Welsh myths and folklore (from nationaltrust.org)
Welsh Folk Tales collection at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
The Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and gods in classical literature and art
UMass Amherst's Folklore Web Resources
Folklore and Mythology LibGuide at the University of Washington Libraries
The Secret Commonwealth: Of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies (written 1691, published 1815, official pdf scan and annotated version)
Plant Lore, Legends and Lyrics (originally published 1892, archive.org link)
Nunnehi US Southeast fair folk
Pantheon of nonhuman Cherokee creatures (wayback machine link)
Native American Folklore by Tribe (site is run by a non-profit organization dedicated to the survival of Native American languages)
Encyclopedia of Myths
Encyclopedia of Mythicia
Monstropedia "The Monstrous Encyclopedia" (wayback machine link, the newer wikia version doesn't appear to be as thorough)
Internet Sacred Text Archive (an archive of free books on religion, spirituality, mythology, folklore, alchemy, parapsychology, etc)
The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Collection of Victorian articles on folklore from the "Girls' Own Paper" published 1880-1891 (wayback machine link)
Collection of Open Access Monographs in Classics, Ancient History, Art History, and Archaeology - links to digital repositories, ancient art history, classics and ancient history, and classical archaeology
The Biodiversity Heritage Library has many helpful collections like Curious and Bizarre Creatures, Extinct Species and Monsters are Real available online as well as numerous other scientific, botany, zoological, etc collections
A Book of Creatures compilation of various creatures from myth and legend from different points in history around the world (currently on hiatus but with a huge archive of creatures)
Under the Cotton Tree: The Tales of Trinidad and Tobago
Multilingual Folk Tale Database "Welcome to the Multilingual Folk Tale Database. On this site, you can read popular folk tales from all over this world, in their original or a translation." This site also contains the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Classification of Folk Tales
The Haunted Palace - a "History, Folklore and the Supernatural" blog with hundreds of articles on all sorts of subjects
Language Creation:
The Language Creation Society
The Language Construction Kit
Wikihow's 'How to Create a Language'
Designing Alien Alphabets (wayback machine link)
various conlang word generators: one, two, three (and another that is currently down for maintenance)
How to create a language in one day (wayback machine link)
How To Create Your Own Language
Omniglot has tons of information on existing languages as well as constructed scripts for constructed languages, fictional and magical alphabets as well as just a ton of general information on languages and alphabets from around the world.
Vulgar: a Language generator- free version will provide 200 words, paid version provides 2000 along with other features
The International Phonetic Alphabet (with audio illustrations)
Conlanging for cheaters some quick tips
If you want to crib your language off an ancient one Lexicity is a great resource with over two dozen, ranging from Akkadian to Ugaritic. (wayback machine link)
You can also check out this list of Open Access Ancient Language Textbooks, OERs, and Primers relating to the ancient world.
World Creation:
First, an interesting article on actual maps vs typically drawn fantasy maps to consider
Design Your Planet website will design a planet after you determine the amount of your world is covered in land, its rate of volcanism and position within the habitable zone
Tectonics.js "Tectonics.js is a 3d plate tectonics simulator written in javascript. It allows you to create realistic fantasy worlds from your web browser."
Mapgen4 "Pick a starting seed, then paint mountains, valleys, and oceans on the map! It will simulate evaporation, wind, and rainfall to determine biomes and rivers."
Fantasy Map Generator - quite a lot you can customize with this one
Fractal World Generator
Dave's Mapper (cities, dungeons, caverns, scifi ships, structures)
Tutorial to draw your own map- the macaroni method (wayback machine link)
Tutorial to draw your own map and decide its topography - the dice method
Medieval Fantasy City Generator
SciFi World Generator (there are numerous world and name generators on this site)
Create a Galaxy (more of an art adventure than actual galaxy building, but still neat)
World Anvil (designed for both rpg players and authors World Anvil "offers a host of worldbuilding features – timelines, interactive maps and way more – to help you build up your homebrew world as your PCs explore further afield.")
r/mapmaking's mapmaking wiki and r/worldbuilding's worldbuilding wiki
Fantasy Calendar Generator - helps you create a calendar for your world
Legal Worldbuilding Guide "You’re worldbuilding, and you need a legal system." (a guide on how to do that, AO3 work)
How to Write a Believable World: A Guide to Worldbuilding (some good general How To thoughts)
City Creation:
City structure models to consider in your world
Lonely Cities (I and II): "A look at the human terrain – that is, the landscape created by human activity – formed by agriculture outside of large pre-modern cities." (what fiction often forgets when worldbuilding cities)
City & Town Name Generator "The city and town name generator uses a database of over five million names across more than 150 countries."
Guide to Naming a Town or City considering ideas including genre, theme, tone, time, size, geography and more
How to Design a Town Map
Procgen Village Generator
Home Creation:
Procgen Mansion Generator create 3d mansions, complete with floor plans
Room Sketcher - Create Floor Plans and Home Design Online (for modern homes)
Eplans.com is a website that sells blueprints for house. Choose the # of beds, baths, floors and type of garage and get numerous detailed plans and house types to choose from.
Floorplanner Design and furnish a home or office (requires a free account to use)
Name Creation:
Other things that might help when considering names (and coming up OCs' names in general):
A Guide to Names and Naming Practices published in 2006 by the UK/Interpol to show that "names are a valuable source of information. They can indicate gender, marital status, birthplace, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and position within a family or even within a society." Perusing it might give ideas along those lines for your society/culture.
Huge tumblr post of name resources
So You Want to Name a Sino "A Guide to Not Making a Fucking Fool of Yourself" (wayback machine link)
Chinese Names + Naming Resources (linghxr's tumblr has numerous posts on creating and pronouncing Chinese names)
Kate Monk's Onomastikon, the original (1997) internet name resource
Mandarin Chinese Character Name Generator (names plus their translation)
(there are also numerous name generators as well as lists of names from various eras in the generators resources post)
Research and Resource Collected Links Masterpost