At the risk of turning this into a world-building blog, I thought I would continued down the road of creating something from scratch. If you missed my last post, I started creating a...place called Ponosivka, a Russia-inspired theocracy where ancestors are worshiped and everyone is cold all the time. Using only the information I created last time, I will add more depth to the world and see whether I can stop the place from seeming like a carbon copy of Russia.
But first, let's talk about implications and world-building. There are a few accepted methods of creating a new place, but in my opinion the two biggest are top-down and bottom-up. They are exactly what they sound like: build the big stuff first, then the details, and the opposite. An example of top-down design would be formulating the universe, then the world, then the peoples that populate it. Bottom-up would be like starting with a person or group and building bits of the world when you need to. This post highlights something like a middle ground, though it bares more resemblance to the top-down method.
First: Technology. The year is 1900, and the Great War is just around the corner. There is widespread military technology, from rifles to large artillery batteries and assault vehicles. In the normal world the lead-up to these was very complicated, and the logistics would require a ton of research. For the sake of keeping this quick and dirty, let's say that these Ponosivkai people have discovered an alternate fuel source that essentially gives clean energy. Let's call it Wax, due to the fact that it causes machinery to increase in speed, activity, etc.
Second: Religion. Alright, so we have ancestor worship. In a society where they worship those who came before, what's some way that could effect the civilization? Let's dip into the government section we created last time, where the head of spiritual matters was called the High Genealogist and take inspiration from the Mormon Church (no matter your opinion on their beliefs) and say that the study of genealogy is a major part of their religion. Let's also say that this means it's spurred science onward, because if you can link your ancestry to a cultural hero, all the better your standing.
Third: Government. Absolute Theocratic Diarchy. The Czar and the High Genealogist, two titles I really just grabbed from thin air. This means the religion is so important that their laws are probably governed by some form of religious code, maybe from their holy book. Considering they worship those who came before, maybe there's some law concerning contraception, or legal punishment is dealt by sterilization; no one to remember you and honor you after you die. Kinda dark, in all honesty, but it fits with the established tone from the last post.
Fourth: Culture. A lot of this can be figured out by the last three categories, but let's expand on it a little more. The weather forces the Ponosivkai to wear thick wool greatcoats, so there might be some sort of honorary view of craftsmen if they are the only thing keeping you from freezing to death. If it's cold most of the time the winter days must get pretty short, so light and heat is probably another thing they view as important in a cultural manner, as well as booze, because if every society in the history of the world has something in common, it's the invention of alcohol.
And there we have it, we've just added a significant amount of information about our world without really having to brainstorm anything beyond the implications. It's not perfect, and it relies on your ability to interpret what's already there, but if you want to deepen your pool instead of widen it, it's a good exercise.
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