Trouble you for some world-building tips?

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

I'm currently planning a fanfic that's partly inspired by Fallout: Equestria and an anime called Wolf's Rain.  It started out as a Fallout: Equestria fanfic, but then I developed a desire to create a world of "my own" and it quickly deviated from the Fallout setting.  It's still a post-apocolyptic world (this story taking place about a century after said apocalyptic event), but instead of it being the work of magical nukes, it was caused by weather experiments gone wrong.  

 

To give you an idea of what kind of damage it would've done, just imagine Rarity attempting to control the weather in Magical Mystery Cure, but taken to a worldwide scale and bringing a violent end to a golden age of world peace and strides in science and magic.

 

Aside from one character running a library in a relatively high-tech city state and another coming from a hunter-gatherer village by the sea, I'm kind of at a loss for what else to add and how to justify even two civilizations living in such opposite ends of the spectrum, as well as the rather racially-diverse main cast of characters I'd like to add (which, so far, consists of a pegasus, an earth pony, a kirin, a unicorn, a zebra, and hopefully a yak).  In short, I'm looking for world-building tips.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Akari of Duskshire

[Goodleg00p 30]

There could be a mountain range or something monumental that separates the two civilizations, (like with the Yaks), or an un-crossable frozen wasteland or desert, with the only way to get to the far-away place would be by boat, if that. 

[Lucky Shot 232]

When world-building, you have generally two options: outside-in or inside-out.

 

Outside-in means you design the whole planet or continents first, then gradually zoom in on the one you want to detail right now.

 

Inside-out means you start with a specific character's home, town, etc., and work out from there as the story expands.

 

 

 

You can justify technological dissonance by saying that one group or nation has a mob-like possessive dominance on technology, viewing it as dangerous if given to "enemy" nations. Chances are that higher tech coincides with higher wealth and better military.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

 

 

Aside from one character running a library in a relatively high-tech city state and another coming from a hunter-gatherer village by the sea, I'm kind of at a loss for what else to add and how to justify even two civilizations living in such opposite ends of the spectrum, as well as the rather racially-diverse main cast of characters I'd like to add (which, so far, consists of a pegasus, an earth pony, a kirin, a unicorn, a zebra, and hopefully a yak).  In short, I'm looking for world-building tips.

 

Oh wait, you still want this to be an MLP fanfic? 

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

@@Steel Accord,

 

Yup.  And aside from popping up in history books and records and having monuments, holidays, even cults and other groups dedicated to them, I don't plan on having any canon character make an appearance.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

@@Akari of Duskshire,

 

Okay well first of all, a weather machine apocalypse is a good enough idea for a completely original story.

 

Second of all though.

 

 

 

Aside from one character running a library in a relatively high-tech city state and another coming from a hunter-gatherer village by the sea, I'm kind of at a loss for what else to add

 

What? You need more than that? That's a good enough setup to put a conflict on and start writing.

 

 

 

how to justify even two civilizations living in such opposite ends of the spectrum,

 

You don't need "justification" it's a post-apocalypse. Some people are just better off than others. That's just part of the genre.

 

 

 

as well as the rather racially-diverse main cast of characters I'd like to add (which, so far, consists of a pegasus, an earth pony, a kirin, a unicorn, a zebra, and hopefully a yak).

 

First of all, a kirin? A race we have not seen on the show nor any supplemental materials? Second of all, this would need a kind of justification. The races in Fallout Equestria are either factionally split or almost extinct, having some in one group would need a background as to how that race survived and why one of them would join the hero.

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

 

 

this would need a kind of justification

 

This golden age I mentioned was sort of like our 21st century world.  Peaceful relations and technological advances allowed various races to settle comfortably in different places with others that differ from themselves.  When the apocalypse occurred, all of that was lost, but those races and their descendants are now stuck in whatever place they were in when it happened.  If you were a zebra touring in Equestria and all that mayhem broke out, sucks to be you, you're stuck there now.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

This golden age I mentioned was sort of like our 21st century world.  Peaceful relations and technological advances allowed various races to settle comfortably in different places with others that differ from themselves.  When the apocalypse occurred, all of that was lost, but those races and their descendants are now stuck in whatever place they were in when it happened.  If you were a zebra touring in Equestria and all that mayhem broke out, sucks to be you, you're stuck there now.

 

But Equestria is already kind of like that. You can't really sell a "golden age" happening in a world that's already portrayed as near utopian as Equestria and then destroy it all. That's part of what makes Fallout: Equestria such a gut punch, the world of the source material was a corrupt and tyrannical Hell hole and nuclear Armageddon was what arguably wiped the slate clean. In Fo:E though, the world that was destroyed was one that knew no war before it's final, agonizing days.

 

And it's not like the races that already exist in Equestria are somehow forbidden from venturing into each other's lands. Gilda and Zecora were met with little resistance (emphasis on "little" in Zecora's case) and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie went to Griffonstone with no trouble.

 

Lastly, co-existing or not, this an apocalypse we are talking about. People are going to die, en masse, so how many are left and how the ones that are survived need some elaboration.

 

Lastly, lastly, I bring up back my other point.

 

 

 

What? You need more than that? That's a good enough setup to put a conflict on and start writing.

 

[Akari of Duskshire 581]

@@Steel Accord,

 

I suppose I'm just overthinking everything.   

[Steel Accord 6,660]

@@Steel Accord,

 

I suppose I'm just overthinking everything.   

 

Overthinking is a good word for it, not that it's bad mistake to make. Better to put too much thought into something rather than too little. Again really, a loss of control over the weather leading to environmental disaster that destroys the civilized order of Equestria with only two cities left is really enough to set a story in.

Edited November 14, 2015 by Steel Accord