Worldbuilding Practice Sample

Worldbuilding Practice Sample

So, a while ago I wrote some sample dialog for Injustice 2 interactions that will never happen, and I happen to have a great affection for DC characters in general. Unsatisfied as I am with the current state of affairs in DC, I got in the habit of writing little plots and ideas on the side, and after several years basically wound up composing my own version of the DC cosmos, an Earth-J, if you will.

This is a sample of the work I've done so far.

The Living Kingdoms

The Red -- Fauna Parliament: Limbs Representatives: Animal Masters, who can use either the physical or metaphysical aspects of animals as super powers. Much to the Red's chagrin, however, they can't manage to keep a champion like the Green's Swamp-Thing; their main choice, Bernhard Baker, doesn't really care.

Bernhard "Buddy, Animal Man" Baker Supposed Champion of the Red, much to his chagrin. Also much to the Red's chagrin, since he keeps not observing his duties. His power is to trade metaphysical qualities with animals via homologous and analogous structures. (i.e. he can give his arms the power of flight, because that's what birds do with those parts). Notes:  He occasionally has jam sessions with Garfield. Quotes: "You are a Champion of the Red! You bring fruition to thousands of years of prophecies!" "I AM A FAMILY MAN, FIRST!" -P.o.L. & Buddy Maxine Baker Even more powerful than Buddy, even less interested. She just likes her pretty animals. She thinks Tefé is awesome. Garfield “(Various)” Logan The Orphan, and Evolution-Master. Unloved by the Red and the Parliament of Limbs (individual members notwithstanding), Gar nonetheless wields impressive power and serves with the Doom Patrol (formerly with the Titans). Ironically, he gets along the best with the Green and its masters; there is some speculation that he may not even be totally wedded to the Red, given he has instantiated microscopic life, a distinctly Blue power. What significance this has remains currently unexplored. Mari "Vixen" McCabe The trickster. An Animal Master who received the Tantu Totem originally created by the malicious trickster god Ogo, and won it from him in a contest of wits.

Barbara Ann "Cheetah" Minerva Slave of Mafdet and enemy of Wonder Woman. Barbara lived a charmed life, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, charismatic, beautiful, enterprising, astonishingly lucky, but in her dissatisfaction grew to covet more. Inspired by Wonder Woman's godly power, she tried to steal Mafdet's Claw from an ancient pyramid to experiment on it and see if it had any divine power, which infuriated the goddess Mafdet, who punished her -- upon hearing the punishments for thievery was mutilation, flogging, or death by staking, Barbara chose the fourth option, penal servitude, and became Mafdet's executioner, the Cheetah, by having a portion of the Red injected into her. Now Barbara spends her time alternating between punishing the guilty for her goddess and conspiring to free herself. Notes: She has tried previously to rewrite her own body to shed her cheetah form, but analysis of her cells indicated she was still physiologically human, all evidence to the contrary.

Michael Payson "B'wana Beast" Maxwell

Dominic "Freedom Beast" Mndawe

Robert "Man-Bat" Langstrom

Ogo, Mafdet, and all other animal and animal-aspect gods like have connections to the Red.

The Green -- Flora Parliament: Trees Representatives: Plant Masters, who have authority over the growth and behavior of vegetation. The usage of their power is often accompanied by the bodily manifestation of plant life.

Dr. Alec Holland, the Swamp Thing Appointed champion of The Green. Due to his appointment by the Green, he is also possessed of some authority over the earth.

Tefe Holland, the Sprout. Beyond her powers as the second instance of the Swamp Thing, she also has magic due to her mother and celestial powers due to inheriting Constantine's blood. Despite terrible family issues, she eventually warms up to Maxine as a surrogate big sister. Notes: Has been considered for the Doom Patrol, though her current relationship with them is unknown.

Solomon Grundy The death of a gangster in Slaughter Swamp created an "incomplete" Swamp Thing, with limited, wild power over the wood and earth. Poison Ivy & The Floronic Man, Shadows of the Champion. Drs. Pamela Isley and Jason Woodrue, who gained access to The Green and its powers through mad science, which transformed them both into plant-humanoids. Woodrue, descended from dryads, taught Isley and the Hollands as their Professor ("Professor Plant-Master"), and sought to escape "the meat". Woodrue seeks to make the world less-frail by experimenting on them (as he constantly augments himself for their qualities and powers). Isley, who runs "Lily n' Rose" flower shop, was at one point his partner in crime, covets beautiful things and despises "the meat" for its ugliness, a "toxic" ugliness that ruins the beauty around it; in a perverse sense she considers herself a "defender of the innocent", much like her historic enemy Batman.

Yggdrasil, the first Wood elemental.

The Blue - Microbes (bacteria, protozoa, fungi, etc.) Parliament: Germs Representatives: Microbe Masters, who can both control all such life remotely and transform into huge masses of microbial life at will.

Samuel "Zookeeper" Register Obtained his access to the powers of the Kingdom by stealing from Garfield Logan's charged DNA, but while he initially dealt in animals like Garfield Logan, Register has been increasingly fascinated with transforming into infectious and disease-carrying life forms, which he uses to various purposes, including taking control of animal life. He's also been looking with increasing fascination to the Grey.

The Grey -- Viruses Parliament: None. While the Grey is no one's friend, it is generally closest to the Blue. Lacking any Parliament to manage it, responsibility is generally shared by the other three. Representatives: Plague Masters, who seed and control all viruses remotely. Anton Arcane A German field doctor from the Great War who did mad science on his patients. Helped convince Adolf Hitler to go to war so he'd have more dead to work with. He uses black magic for purposes of necromancy.

Note on All Kingdoms: The Kingdoms all traffic with each other in various ways, but generally maintain a balance of some kind. However, there are periods of violent imbalance in their history, where one color will consume too much of the others (typically but not always the Grey, due to poor management) and the whole system collapses in on itself, creating the Black.