Motivation behind building Mutania

Mutania is a world filled with fantastical creatures and cosmological horrors. Four different sapient species thrive in diverse, richly developed cultures. Individual societies have expanded beyond their original borders, and their interactions with each other are being documented.

This project indulges our passion for human geography, ecology, biology, chemistry, linguistics, fantasy, science fiction, and classical history. We want to explore the edges of how societies function once we remove some of the worst manifestations of human psychology, such as genocide, slavery, and colonialism.

Mutania's unique selling points

• Novel and interesting cultures in a pacifistic world.
• Playful xenobiology, including mammiles, an animal group with a combination of mammal and reptilian traits. Mutation of these animal forms generates more chaotic arrangements.
• Multiple modes of magic, from the academic studies of medical magicians to the freaky transformative effects of wormstone.
• Science-adjacent geography and ecology of alien planets.

Goal of this part of the website

This is an ongoing worldbuilding project focused on realistic cultural development that will include stories about the people who live there. We want to entertain a fascinating thought experiment and create a lush world for strange creatures to live in.

Genre

This world is science fantasy with realistic fantastical cultural development. Cultures are ex-industrial and their technology level is low, roughly equivalent to the year 0 AD.

Recurring themes

• Creatures with multiple eyes and fantastical limbs. Bodies are inhuman to start with and become more unstable when exposed to magic such as wormstone.
• Cultures with unique social systems that play with gender, family, and government structure.
• Magic manifesting differently and uniquely to a given caster. Everyone is capable of magic in some capacity, but responses to it vary, and it is notoriously hard to predict.
• Evil at the individual level. Individual antagonists can be accounted for and brought to justice to effect the betterment of society as a whole.

Reader experience

This world has a grayglow tone. Protagonists and antagonists alone rarely make large or permanent changes to the world, but it's possible. The life of the average citizen varies from people to people, and the world is full of ups and downs. The general morality of the people are good. People can work together to solve problems that affect their world. Evil does exist, but the world itself works to stamp it out.

• Full
• Grotesque
• Lush
• Thoughtful
• Thrilling

Something strange this way comes...

Vopa, the Yalisi Priesthood on the Yalisi islands is gaining power. They own the city of Yalisi, and thus the island. Their Empire has reached the Zige mainland where it is starting to take hold. Other religions have different goals and methods, but the Vopa are sure that they're the ones who are right. They have the power of Pemija, the great moon on their side.

Recovering after the Dry Age

The Kingdom of Raro thrived, died, and is now starting to survive. Their Golden Age was interrupted by a terrible period where their inland sea dried up entirely, the river that fed it magically unable to add water to the basin. The Dry Age eventually came to an end: the water has returned, and now they can strive to forge a new path.

The Rise of the Lords

The Veinlords of the Veinhouses squabble amongst themselves to the detriment of those who serve under them. The Veinhouses protect the powerful art of necromancy among their noble leaders, but they can undermine each other and threaten the safety of their people.

Hello? Hello? Hello?

Psychological disease is spreading from the mountains of Kugma. Neuroses are multiplying exponentially, moods have become impossible to articulate, and there is a breakdown in the relationship between body family members.

Laws of Mutania

• Two universes overlap. Dark matter is their cross-section, and in these universes, "dark matter" is called astral matter. Magicians use astral matter to perform spells and rituals. Physically, sound waves are sufficient to move astral particles, but sometimes intent and gesture can be enough.
• Magic and mutation are common, and they manifest uniquely.
• Mutania is an Earth-like planet swollen from an extra hot sun.
• On Mutania, instead of mammals or reptiles (including birds), there is an animal group called mammiles. Imagine otters with rattlesnake tails or ostriches with kangaroo tails. Mammiles have at least 3 eyes, often 4. Some can photosynthesize.
• The world is in a state of peace. There is so much of the world left to explore.

Cosmology

Different people have different answers to this question. Many associate the birth of Mutania with the birth of its two moons.

Principal geography & features

Zige is a large continent mostly in the Northern hemisphere. It has very tall mountains in the center and a vast expanse of taiga to the North. Deserts claw at glaciers' shores and lush forests cling to the South.

In the shadow of old mountains and cold rivers live the Paban and Kaloran people. A river cuts through their taiga to the inland sea where the Kingdom of Raro has established dominance. In the middle of the continent, tucked behind fresh, tall mountains is the city of Kugmak , where the Kugma people live. On the other side, the Yalisi are conquering islands and jungles in the South.

Initial active setting