• gibmiser@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Ever since the tree bloomed in the year 0, now known as the awakening, fear of death has lost its power. The world has changed, ever since the tree started bearing its fruit - strange pods containing the repaired and revitalized bodies of the recently deceased.

    While the pain of death remains, the permanence is gone. Adventurers and thrill seekers run amok with diminished consequences. Further, aging and illness is now merely an inconvenience, with reanimation the solution.

    33 years have passed. Fear of death has become an old world superstition among the remaining “firsters”; the slur used by the reanimated to mock those who still cling fearfully to their first lives.

    Scattered groups of people have been researching the tree and the reborn citizens since year 0 with growing discomfort. Without death, the population is booming and expanding rapidly. Gradually the population of “firsters” is dwindling. You belong to one such group of firsters. Is your fear justified? Or are you a part of a dying age, afraid to let go of the old ways…

    *religion formed around the tree *massive palace at its base and deep into its roots serves as religious headquarters and barracks for defenders of the tree. *coming of age death ritual for children who have not died by age 16 *DM needs to make sure at least 1 party member is reborn during their quest

  • BlanketsWithSmallpox@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Secret of Mana started it all for me.

    I’ll accept inexplicably tall towers too. Dark Tower. Tales of Symphonia… Grandias… Mmmmm.

    • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Final Fantasy Legend II on the Game Boy was my introduction to this theme.
      The pantheon was Greek, I think, or maybe that was just in the North American localization. But the tree was obviously influenced by Yggsrasil.
      The worlds were all spread out across the branches of the world tree, and you’d physically climb up and across branches to progress to other worlds.
      A very satisfying marriage of setting and gameplay.

  • umbraroze@kbin.social
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    6 months ago

    In middle of a couple of worldbuilding projects. Haven’t really had much good ideas for the fantasy project lately.

    Ah HA! Maybe I’ll do some mild subversion of expectations.
    Maybe one of the most famous sites in this world, where people come to visit from far and wide, has a tiny old withered tree.
    …I mean, there could be a lot of legitimate logical reasons why this site could me important. Maybe the tree has a really fascinating story behind it.
    Heck, there’s probably many such places on our world too! Can think of at least one from the top of my mind.
    I should write this down.

    Last year I felt really crappy as far as my writing projects go, but in the last few months, if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that even smallest ideas can sometimes break the writer’s block. Keep writing them down!

  • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    You must really like the new Marvel multiverse (It has a big fucking tree in the middle)