the kane

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

What you'll need :

Google / YouTube (for research)

Somewhere to take notes (google docs, notebook, notes app, etc.)

Pinterest (for visuals)

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

Getting Started :

The big question, why are you making this country? Do you plan on being from this country or is it just somewhere you visit? Are you going to be ethnically from this country? If so how does that interact with your cr ethnicity(s)?

Think about how your family and history might change with being from this country. Also, think about what drs this country is for. Is it a dr specifically for living in this country or do you plan on making it a common backstory amongst most of your realities?

After answering that, I recommend creating a Pinterest board. If you already have an idea for what your country's name is, that's great! If not, a simple placeholder name will work for now. Think about certain cultures, places, or environments you like and add pins of these to your board.

Fill this pinterest board with anything that gives the vibes of what you want your country to look or feel like. Feel free to go wild during this stage as you can always refine it later. I recommend adding pins that focus on landscape, cities/buildings, food, the people, and the traditional clothing of your country.

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

Climate and Location :

What climate do you want this country to have? I recommend choosing something that aligns with weather you personally like. Do you want rain and/or snow? Is it common year-round or just during certain parts of the year? Or would you rather have hot summers and mild winters? This will also affect the location of you country.

Next, search up a map of the world and decide where you want this country to be located. Keep in mind that the typical four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) only really exist toward the poles. If your country is along the equator or in the subtropics, your country will have a hot and a cold season along with a dry and a wet season (keep in mind hot/cold seasons typically overlap with dry/wet seasons). Research the weather patterns of countries near yours to get a better idea of what your climate may be like. Also, remember that seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere are flipped! (Summer is in December for the southern hemisphere.)

Most commonly, shifters like to put their countries in the ocean as separate island nations. I myself did this personally, but it is totally up to you to script your country is on an already existing landmass or even add a peninsula to a mainland country. Keep in mind the closer the proximity to other countries and cultures, the more likely your country's culture will be influenced by them. Also, keep in mind how history may change if you script land belonging to one country in this reality is apart of your dr country there.

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

Geography :

Now that you have a location, what does the landscape look like? Is your country mountainous, requiring specialized transportation to get across? Is it full of wide plains and steppes? Or maybe it's an archipelago where boats are the most important form of transportation?

Think about any major sights or natural tourist attractions there might be. Do you have volcanoes? Huge forests? Giant canyons? What locations could've played a significant role in the early settlements and throughout your country's history or mythology?

The size of your country will also impact how much you can travel within it. I recommend choosing a country or state that you think would be about the size of your country and using it as a reference for locations within yours. Think about how much land they have for farming or housing.

How old is your country? Is it thousands of years old or only a couple of centuries? When was it first inhabited by humans vs when was the country founded as a sovereign state? Feel free to generalize, you don't need exact years just yet.

Search up animals that live within the countries near yours or in environments similar to your country. You do not need to think about the specifics of each species, just write down animals your people would see and interact with. Do they have horses, donkeys, or oxen that can help with intensive labor or is it all done by hand? Are there any dog breeds that were bred for a specific job in your country? What animals would be the most feared or respected?

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

Language and Food :

Every culture has their own things that they value, what does yours value? Do they care more about appearances and appearing polite or telling the truth and being direct? Would their language be like Japanese and have many variations of the same word depending on politeness and respect level? Or is it much more casual with little to no honorifcs?

I also recommend making a list of languages that you like the sound of. Write down words, syllables, or even sound clusters from these languages and save them as inspiration for when we get into languages later. Feel free to start making names or words for right now, though they may change slightly later on as you develop the language.

What are the cultural dishes like? Coastal countries are likely to include lots of seafood. Countries with space for cattle will probably have more red meat in their diet. Places with harsh winters will have many fermented dishes to preserve them through the season. Is there anything that your country's people are prevented from eating for cultural reasons? Why? Are there any foods meant for special occasions?

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

Religion and Mythology :

The most common distinction in religions are if they're monotheistic or polytheistic. Monotheistic religions have one central deity that is all powerful, as is such with Christianity or Islam. Polytheistic religions have a pantheon, or collection, of different deities. Which one does the religion of your country follow? Is the religion organized with leaders and rules or is it more personal, differing from practioner to practioner? Is it still widely believed in in the modern day?

Each deity within a pantheon will have multiple concepts within their domains. The grouping of concepts within one deity can reflect how the culture views those topics and their relation to one another. Powerful and important deities will be associated with things that are highly revered or feared by the people of the culture.

It is also likely that your people will follow a non-theistic belief system or philosophy instead. These generally don't focus on or may not even believe in gods or spirits. These are usually about following a set of principles to live a moral and long life. Some examples include Buddhism or Confucianism, though I'm heavily simplifying here. What principles or teaching might your people believe in? Note that these belief systems typically come after theistic religions and can also coexist with them in some cases.

⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᓚᘏᗢ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔

If you answered all the questions posed thus far, congratulations! You can technically shift to this country already! Everything after this will be if you care about fleshing out details and specifics. If you just wanna script that the universe finishes the rest, it is perfectly fine to end it here!

I hope this was a generally understandable and easy introduction to worldbuilding dr countries! I wasn't expecting it to be so much like a questionnaire but you live and you learn. If you guys have any questions or tips for the next post please lmk!