Purpose
The primary purpose of Rebellion of the Heir is creating a world similar to our own and stemming from our own history that allows for building off of it collaboratively. The goal is a world that is as rich and complex as it can be that has changed drastically from what we know, allowing for the storytelling for individual characters through specific time periods, showcases of speculative species, and writing the intricacies of speculative societies.
Ultimately, Rebellion of the Heir is for fun. It's not meant to be taken as a hard serious look at a predicted future of the world: There's dragons, magic, and goofy immortals running amok. It started because of the idea "what would change if there were dragons, gods, and immortals" in a modern world, greatly expanding to cover how societies, cultures, and the planet itself could be changed by such. A lot of the speculation are exercises in "what would happen if X"
Design Philosophy
"Yes and..."
It's the main way I and all others working on Rebellion of the Heir operate. Prior world building is very rarely thrown out entirely, instead being added onto. I might write about a particular plant species and it's environment, someone else might design a meal using it, another person writes about the culture that eats it, and so on.
"Not wrong, just different"
It's the primary drive and thought behind making almost every new cultural group and society in Rebellion of the Heir. This is mainly in place to prevent needless demonization of groups and societies just because they are different from the real life status quo. The entire point of different groups in Rebellion of the Heir is they are not the same as we have today- cultural ideas, religion, language, and customs are shaped by the world and environment, which has seen drastic changes. This does not make them bad people or evil, just different.
Well, aside from the few times we do decide to write explicit villains, but that's a different case.
Needed information over Objective information
Another large factor in the design philosophy of the world is that the vast majority of articles, aside from prose or stories, are written primarily from an in-universe perspective. Not all information is known or even needs to be known, and information can change over time- be it a change of plans or a new idea, this is not a bad thing. An in-universe perspective allows for a lot more leeway with how things work and allows for things to be wrong, misconceptions to be played for storytelling, and a perspective into how people in the world itself think things work without being bogged down in facts that may or may not actually add anything. The goal for many articles is to read similarly to as if the page were an in-universe wiki, letting the reader get a large portion of objective fact but with in-universe biases and speculation at play.
There's also a need to prevent what we jokingly call 'worldbuilder's disease'- Focusing on every single possible detail of something to the point it becomes useless. A reader isn't going to need every single object fact about something, and focusing too heavily on the little details can make something become boring and a hassle to both read and write. A reader likely isn't going to care about the exact weight and amount of an ingredient in a fictional dish and that information doesn't particularly add something of substance, but a detail such as 'extra salt is added for good luck' tells something about the food, the people that eat it, and why even if not objectively said.
Sometimes realism is necessary
Nothing is static- Cultures shift, species evolve and go extinct, continents move and mountains rise and fall. Keeping things about the world the same for the sake of comfort and familiarity is, in my opinion, boring and full on unrealistic. Change will happen and is inevitable, but some realism about it helps to keep things grounded and easier to follow. Any change to the world, literally or figuratively, needs some reason behind it even if it's as simple as 'magic did it'. Everything has a reason in the real world, so things should have a reason to exist in ROTH too, even if that reason is weird.
This also means that real world systems don't just go away either. We can add all the magic and fantastical elements we want, but evolution, plate tectonics, gravity, etc isn't just going to stop being a thing.
Especially when it comes to writing different cultures and societies, we want them to be somewhat realistic in their depictions- The social problems of today don't just vanish because humans aren't around anymore. People are people no matter what, even if they happen to be shaped like a giant fire-breathing lizard. Prejudices, biases, and social structures will continue to exist in the world even if they are harmful, but may come in different forms and flavors. I think a good example is we know, objectively, that eugenics is not a real science and heavily based in racism and ableism- that has not stopped it from continuing, the same of sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.
A world that addresses these issues, but also how they have changed as their cultural and societal ideals have changed, is more interesting than one that merely handwaves them away.
FAQ
Who is behind Rebellion of the Heir?
Credits outlines who is working on the project, both past and current. I, Raleigh-Ross / Chiiri am the original creator of Rebellion of the Heir, but the project would have died out a long time ago without the help and enthusiasm from friends and collaborators listed there.
How old is ROTH?
I started ROTH when I was in high school, likely around 2008 or 2009. Originally, it was going to be a comic, then a webcomic, then a visual novel and now it's... Whatever this is.
Is this a comic / novel / etc?
Yes and no- Rebellion of the Heir is a collection of world building articles here with smaller short stories, comics, and artwork made by myself and members of the group, but it's not one objective thing. There's zero plans at this time to officially publish the work into something more concrete, because I believe the strength of it is that ROTH can be any form a person wants to work on it and it's collaborative nature. If I were to publish it as a comic or novel, that would complicate proper credit, openly workshopping the project, and allowing people to come in, work on something, and then go back to observing how it develops.
A frequent joke in our discord is "If ROTH were a game, then X" and jokingly coming up with concepts for it and how that would work, but there's no serious plans for it to become one. Game development is a massive hurdle both in the money and knowledge sense, and this is just for fun- Doing something like that would require having people on payroll, trademarking the project, legal paperwork, etc.
Can I join the project?
If you want to join the project for building on the lore, world, and it's story, sure! We are full on our author slots on World Anvil, however, and I'd also prefer that all members of the project we a part of our discord as well, in order to make sure proper credit is given and for ease of communication with the rest of the members.
Can I make an OC?
Absolutely. You don't even need to be a member of the project if you want to make an OC, just go for it. We'd all love to see them though, so feel free to pop by the discord and show them off!
Why does this exist?
Why not?
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