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Fantasy Dictionar
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Fantasy Dictionar
Fantasy Dictionary
Writing a fantasy story often involves world-building: creating the setting in which your story takes place. Physical location is an important part of this phase—the house, cavern, mountain, forest, town, ship, island, or any other space your characters inhabit. But it is more than just a place. Building a world may mean thinking about the history, art, music, language, clothing, and customs of the story’s people—how they earn a living, what they do on holidays, and what everyday objects they use.
Of course a writer can’t design every aspect of a culture. If you did that, you’d never get around to writing the story! But here is the key: you want to think carefully enough about these things so that the reader believes your fantasy world goes on beyond the edges of your story. You want this imaginary world to feel real. And you do that with some well-placed, clear, creative details.
So let’s do some world-building! Please come up with objects, places, words ... any ideas for a fantasy story’s world. Tools, animals, types of clothing, dwellings—any of these and more may become necessary elements in our story! You may suggest as many as you like, or even post a strange word and let others suggest meanings. If you want, you can also write a sentence using the word or describing the fantasy place. Here are two examples:
haloris – a lantern that gives off both light and a pleasant scent. It is used by people who live near the swamps to counter the odors of mud and decay.
“Quill’s boots sank into the moss, deeper at each step, and ahead she could see a swamp, moonbeams glittering on pools that lapped around the tree roots. Catching the stench of stagnant water, she pulled the haloris lamp from her pack and set it alight.”
gnawk – a large, black bird with a raucous cry and uneven feathers that always look ruffled and untidy. Gnawks have a fondness for pecking and chewing on rope, and they are notorious for setting free dogs and farm animals tied with ropes. They unmoor boats tied to docks, and have been known to free certain fortunate prisoners.
Can you see how story ideas practically ooze from your Fantasy Dictionary, once you get your imagination going?
submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
(April 23, 2014 - 10:11 am)
Wanderer: Someone who spends their entire life roaming around and never stays in one spot for very long. Sort of like a gypsy.
Redphire: The type of magic that a very high-level sorcerer can produce. It is very dangerous, and typically good wizards refrain from using it even if they can. However, some Dark Magic users will use Redphire. It makes the victim feel the worst sorrow and distraught they have ever felt. It brings back old memories of pain, and Redphire is the most dangerous kind of magic there is.
Swa: A marketplace in the city of Privelet. The Swa is known for its many street performers. If you go the Swa you will see dancers, snake charmers, story tellers, fire-eaters, and many more incredibe people. The streets are filled with music and the smell of roasted meat from the many vendors.
(July 5, 2014 - 10:12 am)
These are the names of the moons:
Gerehcia-A small yellow moon. Circling fast, it usually rises about 1 pm and sets 7 pm, then rises again 9 pm and sets 9 am. Not always seen, as it is too small. It is considered good luck to see Gerehcia.
" Intill about a hundred years ago, Gerehcia wasn't known to exist, because it was so small."
Rekye- A large, slightly red moon. Unlike Gerhicia, it has phases: Waxing half, waning half, and full moon. It is never a full moon. It rises at nightfall and sets at dawn.
" It was very pleasent to watch the dawn as Rekye slowly set over the over the lake."
These are some constelations and stars :
Yunen-A lady from a myth. A very popular constellation.
Ceraz- A small star caught in the Big Sun's gravity, so it moves exactly as fast as the earth. It can be seen from Dusk Mountains.
Little Heart- A constellation that looks like a heart
Big Heart- Another, bigger, heart constellation
Once Flower- A constellation that looks like a mess intill Ceraz ( breifly ) takes it's place, creating a beautifull flower.
(July 5, 2014 - 7:09 pm)
Pyromancer- a mage that controls fire.
Geomancer- a mage that controls electricity.
Aeromancer- a mage that controls wind.
Aquomancer- a mage that controls water.
Terramancer- a mage that controls earth.
Solamancer- a mage that controls light.
Noxomancer- a mage that controls shadows. (not to be confused with Necromancer which controls the dead)
Cryomancer- a mage that controls ice.
Ecomancer- a mage that controls plants.
Runea- the glyphs of magic.
Draegona- what dragons call themselves
Aelfa- what elves call themselves.
Dvarkvem- what dwarves call themselves.
(July 6, 2014 - 9:40 am)
That's awesome! Nice work redbandit!
(July 16, 2014 - 11:06 am)
Remond- A fabled kind of diamond that forms when moonlight touches water.
Fevex- Fox-like creatures. Have huge ears, and thin tails with big puffs at the ends. They have flipper-like paws. They live in The Great Wood.
Reket- A kind of very tall tree. Great Wood is made up of them
Great Wood- Great Wood has three levels- Skyvi, Nevik, and Underu, known commonly as Under. Underu is a dark place among the roots. Ezen houses are built with only the tops up above the ground, for Nev Under is the cave-like home of wolves, Dalks, and Tuz. The Ezen have a whole world nestled among the roots, complete with shops, streets, homes and gardens.
Nevik's floor is made up because of the branche-weave dease. Before it became dagerous, the trees recovered. Nevik is home Dekess, small horselike deer animals with tiny wings that slow their falls. There are rain puddles, mixed with sap, and sap waterfall. Rumonds, a ruby fromed by Reyke light on sap, is everywhere. Fevex love it. Flowers and plants grow there. There is even a few regular-sized trees! It is a beautiful place. There are even some caves! Tree Lions roam, eating Dekess.
Skyvi's floor is the canopy. Bird people live there, in huge nest colonys that hang down almost to Nevik. Huge squirrels live there. Agile monkey-like ocelets roam. Birds of all kinds nest in Skyvi.
Ezen-Dwarf-like creatures, living underground.
Dalks- furry tusked pigs. Large and agressive.
Tuz- Large smoke-breathing snakes, using toxic smoke to kill.
Aruo- A pack leader Dalk.
(July 6, 2014 - 1:04 pm)
Lots of people are submitting ideas that aren't really compatible with each other. Is Fred going to pick or are we going to vote?
If you're talking about words from the Fantasy Dictionary, Arianne, Fred will select the ones that best fit in with the story he writes. He's going to read them all and consider each one! Has anyone done a count to see how many words there are now? My answer would be: Too many to count!
Admin
(July 6, 2014 - 1:37 pm)
Okay, thanks!
(July 6, 2014 - 5:15 pm)
Quillitiner- a quill that never runs out of ink
"We all have a quillitier."
Scrolloptimly- a scroll that never runs out of paper. Only 2 are alive and 3 have been destroyed.
"You could cover the earth with a Scrolloptimly."
(July 6, 2014 - 4:46 pm)
Hersholock- Irritating forest imps that will work for a certain amount of money. Although they have a habit of playing magical pranks, they seem to get the job done better then humans do. Nobody knows what they're saving up for, though. More pranks? A big part in the story? You decide!
(July 6, 2014 - 6:14 pm)
yarinoc- A book with seemingly endless pages but limited places to find and buy it
torapp- A bird which is tiny in size but big in voice. Like a parrot or mocking jay, this bird repeats whatever it hears. But, unlike those birds, the torrap repeats antonym for whatever it hears. This bird is known for causing rumors, riots, and chaos across it's homeland.
(July 6, 2014 - 6:39 pm)
Gubaju- A type of gooey, thick and sticky purple substance that you eat.
(July 7, 2014 - 1:27 pm)
Kyri (noun): a bird which can communicate instantly with any other kyri in the world.
The kyri fell out of its nest in the middle of the night, awake with a sudden revelation. It felt a surge of fear. "My brother is in trouble!" it realized.
Prial (noun/verb): a night vigil to honor something or just to think and reflect/ to do such a vigil.
What to do, what to do! Galen sat all night in his workshop, having a prial, wishing he knew how to react to this news.
Kantan (noun): a special meeting.
The student sat anxiously in front of her teacher. He'd asked her to speak with him privately, in a kantan. What news could he have to tell her? What was so important?
Kynn (noun): what all the magical creatures, collectively, call themselves.
The mermaids, the elves, the dwarves, the faeries, the phoenixes, the kyries, the pegasi, the unicorns: all of the Kynn had come to hear the king's proclamation.
(July 7, 2014 - 11:14 pm)
Pitae-A type of water spirit, that is known for keeping wonderful treasures and writing prophecys.
(July 9, 2014 - 8:43 am)
Nilsusque: The followers of an ancient cult.
Mosh-Posh: High society, or the term used for it in bad parts of town.
(July 9, 2014 - 12:00 pm)
parzahurl- a beetle with a hard shell on its back, which erupts poison gas once in a while
bryll- the creature of the moss, made of moss and covered in moss including its two stubby legs and straight tail
sputzerflam- a spherical "thing," usually born from the ash in fireplaces, giving out an occasional flame, so remember everyone, make sure you put "clean out fireplace" on your daily agenda
sevlir- a cross between a hornet and a cheetah, or in other words, a rapid, spotted bee that when it stings you, instead of crying in pain, you simply fall asleep for a day, but if your lucky, for an hour or even a minute
cripplepot- a pot made of bronze that can turn anything you put into it into a deadly slow poison
sligger- a brown and white slug that can dig through any known material
kneaver- a plant with razor sharp leaves used to make swords, knives, and arrows
qualo- a sloth that can move at 100 miles per hour, faster than any organism
yrnen- a tiny bird with wings up to 35 feet, usually red with stunning gold wings and a gold beak, the "y" is pronounced "er"
fizzyplumed- confused
(July 10, 2014 - 9:52 pm)