When it comes to worldbuilding, one thing I don’t see that often is articles talking about the people or sapient beings who live in/on the world.
Now this doesn’t mean just humans, even though they are likely to be present. It can include, depending on the setting and genre, elves, cyborgs, mutants, goblins and more.
So, will be doing a few world-building “10 Questions” articles on people, which will be defined for my purposes as “Sapient lifeforms regardless of their physical form/shape or composition”.
- How many people live in the world?
- Are they all one species? If not what is the population breakdown between the various groups?
- Are there any “new” groups of people?
- Does one group have dominion/control over all the others?
- What, for each group, are the defining characteristics? (height, facial features etc)
- What is the typical maximum age for each group?
- For each group of people, what is something they naturally excel at and struggle with?
- Do all groups share the same diet?
- What is the relationship like between each group with each other?
- Are there any lost/missing/died out groups of people and if so what happened to them?
Bonus question – What does each group of people call themselves and how are they named by the others?
List of world-building prompts & questions
List of prompts and questions for characters
World Anvil gives you a series of tools, templates and prompts to help manage and build your world – (Affiliate Link)
What world-building topic would you like to see next time? Let me know in the comments below or on social media.
