Eniri: World Bible
I wrote a fifty eight page world bible detailing the ins and outs of Eniri—a world that I designed with the intent of exploring themes of personal development through three distinct cultures. Working on this project gave me a much deeper understanding and appreciation of all of the thought that goes into making a setting rich and memorable. As a designer, I have always been one to prioritize the big picture behind my work, but this project taught me how to ensure that the smaller, more mechanical details in my projects are strong too.
My Process
Exploring Themes Through Culture
As I developed Eniri, I focused on three different cultures and how their immediate environments shaped their varying perspectives. As such, I constructed them from an allegorical perspective—tying elements of the world to their beliefs in order to explore personal development.
I created the primary culture: the Crelva, to explore the impact of a highly sheltered yet communal environment. They inhabit an enormous tree in the center of the woods, placing absolute faith in a forest deity who provides them with food and housing. I arranged their tree to be expansive enough to not require the group to leave, using the Crelva's resulting inability to see beyond the tree's walls as a metaphor for their sheltered perspective. I then explored the positives of their safe and caring environment, such as the way it provides the time, security, and stability to nurture the development of arts and humanities.
I then designed the Terraitha culture to mirror to the Crelva—using them to establish the impact of a more vulnerable and isolated environment. The Terraitha are strong hunters who lead private and family-oriented lives, while not following any spiritual beliefs. I placed them in underground caves near the Crelvan Great Tree, providing them with a dark and unwelcoming environment that they only venture out of to patrol or hunt for food. While they are physically much stronger than the Crelva, they lack the creativity and emotional development of the other culture—as they are less community-oriented and more disconnected from nature. I took this approach to ensure that the two would be able to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and also to provide a source of conflict through opposing values.
For the third culture: the Krinavi, I took a different approach entirely. As opposed to living in the forest, they are a highly advanced society that inhabit an archipelago of floating islands far above the woods. I placed them at the highest point of elevation on the map as an allegory for the fact that they look down on the other cultures, and then used their geography technological advancements to create meaningful interactions between the groups. For example, a detail I highlighted is that the Crelva often come across mystical Krinavi artifacts that have fallen off the islands, but choose to attribute such items to magic due to not believing that people can be born outside the sheltered forest world they live in. These choices allowed me to create a meaningful exploration of personal development and how environments can drive beliefs.
Impact of Geography
I extended my focus on perspective to the Biomes I created, where I focused on how cultures might perceive and react to their environment. The first Biome I created was the Enchanted Forest, which got its name due to the Crelva and Terraitha being awed by the colorful mist that flows throughout it—made even more mystical due to frequent morning condensation. I then designed my landmarks around how the areas might be viewed or utilized, as many key locations are used to designate territory. All in all, my goal in focusing on the people and their views was to create the feeling of a "lived in" world.
I then began to explore how the cultures would interact with the various resources and fauna in their Biomes, as the beliefs and attitudes of each would push them to take different approaches. For example, the Crelva, who value animals and nature, are against domesticating animals as well as acquiring resources in ways that would kill plants—a mindset not shared by other cultures. I also considered the attitudes that characters would have toward various resources through means such as creating legends surrounding the value of them, as that would increase the impact of them in the context of a story or as collectible items in a game.
I Learned About:
1
Allegory and Cohesion
I learned how to create a cohesive world that makes meaningful use of allegory. Tying my work to the greater themes of perspective and development allowed me to put careful thought into the overall world structure, as I could create each piece of the world with both a literal and metaphorical purpose. For example, I located a culture with more sheltered views in a large tree where they rarely see beyond their walls.
2
Mechanical Details
While I typically approach design in a more metaphorical, holistic, and big picture way, this project allowed me to practice filling out little details and mechanical information. I included detailed profiles about biomes, climate, flora, fauna, history, culture, and more, pushing me to do a great deal of ecology and geographical research in the process.
3
Conducting Research
For each section of the world bible I wrote, I conducted a heavy amount of research. In particular, I spent a great deal of time on botanical research as well as climatology research. Completing the project pushed me to dive into a number of topics I had not spent much time in before, which was invaluable in my learning how to approach new topics and seek quality information.