World-Building Website by Daniel-André Sørensen

The Personal Website of Daniel A. Sørensen

  • PROJECT THIRD ERA
    A fictional fantasy world project
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The world we refer to as the Waking World, the Material Plane, the Physical Realm, the Realm of Mortals, the Core of the Eye, is simply called Nym by its inhabitants. It is the largest known world, and it sits at the very center of Nym's Eye; the heart where the Worldsoul resides, and the most important jewel in all of Nym's Eye. Nym is the joining of all energies that exist in Nym's Eye, which feeds and nurtures the Worldsoul to create and maintains the vast, majestic lands of this world, as well as its inhabitants. In many respects Nym is the anchor that keeps the entirety of Nym's Eye together and in place to its center.

The planet Nym was once a Worldshard from the Shard of Origin, which travelled through the Dark Beyond until it reached Nym's Sphere, where Sol set in motion its transformation into a living world. It is on Nym where mortals reside, and where the many events that shape them have occurred or will still occur here. 


Nym has been the battlefield of titans and gods, the cradle of life, and the safe-haven of its many, many inhabitants. There is no other known world that supports as many variations of climates, creatures and races as Nym does, or at least not in the local Worldsphere. Here a large variety of different cultures, religions and general communities exist together, although not always in peace and harmony.

Nym has seen its fair share of conflicts, wars and world-altering cataclysms. Each time Nym has faced annihilation, it has been saved by Creators or Wildgods, spirits or outsiders. The world has survived and been reborn plenty of times, although now it is said, come the Third Era, that Nym is near its end yet again, and this time it will be the last end of all.


An ancient legend tells of how the world's continents were once a gigantic Primordial named Korr, who grew so large that he could no longer support his weight, and fell into the Worldsea; creating the continents. Exactly what the world looked like then is shrouded in mystery, as the world was changed first by the Elemental Titans, who drained much of its land and made it barren.

After the War of Titans, the Worldshaper Dragons reshaped the world and made it a paradise, which was then ruined by the later War of Eternity. Dragons would rule a mostly barren and broken world until the cataclysmic Worldblight, when they fled to the Underground Realms, Kyndar, the Crown of the World, or into Malendii's Dream. Using her Wyldtrees and the aid of the Wyld Spirits, Malendii healed the world, and Tiral had before then cleansed most of the unstable magical energies during the Time of Stars.

The world we know today is the results of all those world-changing events.
There are in total seven continents. Aesudarh and Northcrown are the northern continents who share the icy pole known as the Crown of the World, Ashanor is the western continent, Korash the eastern continent, Ryumar the southern continent, and Norrhan and Avanor are the central continents, also known as the Twin-Continents. The southern, hot pole is the Cradle of the World, sometimes referred to as Kyndar.

Attempts at mapping the entire world only truly began in the Age of Seas, when explorers and settlers from the largest nations of the central continents began to expand their influences to other continents. A Thalonian-based guild, the United Cartographers League, possess the most detailed maps of the world, and they are said to be the most accurate in their cartographic efforts; although admittedly there are few who can reliably discredit their claims, since they are the largest and most influential of the map-making guilds.

Explorer guilds like the Silverstar Compass made efforts during the Age of Seas to prove to skeptic explorers that the world was indeed round, and the Silverstar Compass funded and sent out several expeditions across the Worldsea. A human from Thalon, Ayden Trepp, and his crew were the first to succeed a full trip around the world; starting in the Thalonian harbour city of Dyrspyth heading west, then after roughly five years on the journey they returned to Dyrspyth from the east.

Many claim Trepp never truly did the full journey, and others point out that there was never a real doubt in the explorer community that the world is round, since it is often referenced in religious texts, and several astronomers had previously studied then written detailed books on the matter. But regardless, most explorers agree that Trepp most likely managed the full journey, and his achievement proves the world to definitely be round. Following centuries long after Trepp's death also show evidence of his visits to certain parts of the distant world; where he placed minor monuments and landmarks along the way.

Subsequent exeditions by several other explorer guilds after the Age of Seas have seen most of the world's lands and seas mapped and chartered. Details might differ variably between gathered sources in regards to continents or regional maps, but the general shape of the world is more readily defined in educated circles. There are, however, some discrepancies in parts of the world, and certain maps might lean towards having been mapped through guessing rather than actual, detailed exploration and measuring. This is then the main goal of most explorer guilds (and especially for the United Cartographers League); to revisit uncertain areas and regions, and make more accurate cartographic renditions.

The only last true frontiers that are unmappable remain in the northern pole's Crown of the World (where the shifting ice and frozen mountains often readjust and move themselves), and in the far south's Cradle Archipelago (which is the world's largest gathering of islands; many of which sink beneath the waves, while others are newly formed by volcanic activity, thus making attempts at accurately mapping them difficult). Warm mists obscure many parts of the Cradle Archipelago, and new islands are discovered regularly.