/r/DarkWorldbuilding

Photograph via snooOG

The darker side of worldbuilding: terrible diseases, cosmic horrors, brutal cultures, creative experiments, and the banality of evil.

Most created worlds aren't all sunshine and rainbows - they can include terrible diseases, cosmic horrors, brutal cultures, creative experiments, and the banality of evil. Here is a home for worldbuilding details that might alarm, offend, trigger, or unsettle people. If it's gross, disturbing, violent, depressing, gory, horrifying, or just something that you feel weird about putting in /r/worldbuilding but isn't sexy enough for /r/NSFWworldbuilding, put it here.

Rules:

  • No advertisement or promotion.
  • No requests for program/app suggestions, mapmaking tutorials, or other basic worldbuilding help.
  • No memes, shitposting, or low-effort comment posts. Go to /r/worldjerking.
  • All posts should have worldbuilding context. Images without context will be removed. All outside links (world anvil, google docs, articles, etc) should be summarized. Instead of linking to Reddit threads, consider crossposting. All posts should be more about about the world than the craft (writing, drawing, etc) or story.
  • All posts should fit the "dark" part of the title. It's not a hard line, just use your best judgment; there should be something potentially disturbing or uncomfortable.
  • Be civil. You know where you are; don't be offended. If you don't like something, don't read it.
  • Flipside: Be considerate of the audience. Flair themes people may not want to read, such as rape and cannibalism.
  • Gore, especially visual, should be marked NSFW. No photorealistic depiction of NSFL content.
  • Sexual content is allowed, but if it's the entire point of the post (or it is blatantly pornographic), consider if r/NSFWworldbuilding would be a more suitable home for it.
  • Lore and prompt ("what is the ___ of your world?") posts are especially encouraged, and on-topic discussion and requests for help, suggestions, and inspiration are also welcome.
  • Comment as you would have others comment unto you. This doesn't mean there is a rule that you have to comment on other people's posts, but it does mean that if you don't engage with people you can't be surprised when they don't engage with you. If you don't care if people respond to your work, carry on.

for general worldbuilding: /r/worldbuilding
for sexy worldbuilding: /r/NSFWworldbuilding
for fantasy worldbuilding: /r/FantasyWorldbuilding
for military worldbuilding: /r/MilitaryWorldbuilding
for making religions: /r/conreligions for making languages: /r/conlangs
for making maps: /r/mapmaking
for characters: /r/characterbuilding and /r/characterforge

/r/DarkWorldbuilding

5,112 Subscribers

5

The Ritual of Rectification: The Stoke's Greatest Sacrifice

1 Comment
2025/01/27
16:38 UTC

11

The Stoke undertake the Ritual of Rectification, what extreme rituals are found in your cultures?

3 Comments
2025/01/26
13:37 UTC

5

Encountering the Cursed Fruits of Mung (lore in comments)

1 Comment
2025/01/20
11:58 UTC

2

Lets compare our dwarves: mine are angry stupid cannibals -> also anyone could give me some constructive criticism?

1 Comment
2025/01/19
22:19 UTC

16

Kib the Nine Fold - The Pitied

1 Comment
2025/01/19
03:28 UTC

6

Lets make a list of punk genres

Let's make a list of Punk Genres

Just as the title says. Let's make a list of punk genres some that may not even have been made or used yet. Just remember to keep to the genre of punk about what they are combat or reflecting on: steampunk is combat classism of the Victorian age. Trash punk is a reflection on a post capitalism world. It's not just an ASTECTIC it is about combating a system or an establishment or a reflection on a system or establishment. Try and give an example of ASTECTIC, the world, and what establishment or system the genre comats or reflects on. For example: a necro punk would be a ln ASTECTIC where we use undead for everything, so flying whale carcasses, zombies and skeletons to power things such as windmills and the like and it's a reflection on our worlds fear and stigmatism of death.

  1. Steampunk everything is powered by steam, so flying the ships powered by steam engines (anti classism of the Victorian age)
  2. Disealpunk
  3. Atomic punk
  4. Stone punk: using entirely stone and rocks think Flintstones (a reflection on our human stubbornness to be seek war and be blood thirsty even if our technology is limited) so for examples making tanks out of hollowed out rocks and stone wheels made out of rocks, or landships giant rocks with sails sliding across the ground
  5. Solar punk
  6. Green punk (using ONLY nature for technology not using ANY but nature (anti entirely green as technology does have a place)
  7. Pulpit punk a Theocracy world that everything is powered by faith and prayer: (anti established religion) < As an example, the world of Golden Comapss>
  8. wild west Punk: a very wild wild west setting (anti colonialism/ expansion ism)
  9. PotionPunk: very medieval esque world, but everything is powered by elixirs, tonics, and potions. (Anti controlling the flow of goods and services and hoarding resources so you can hike up the prices and only the rich can afford the best.)
  10. Pocket Punk- little people living in a BIG world and adapting big technology into small technology (anti being made to feel small and useless in a big world [i cannot think if the word]) < think the wall from solar opposites>
  11. Pillow punk everything is powered and run on a form of imagination you play as toys (ant conformity and not losing the spark of childhood) <think it takes two>
3 Comments
2025/01/13
18:58 UTC

1

The Wondering Soldier

On October, 17, 2023. A lone soldier wanders around the vast and uncaring deserts of the war-torn nation of Saudi Arabia. He has been on the battlefield since being drafted by his nation's government earlier that year to fight against Al Mahdiyah on what is know as "The Great War on Terror". Initially he was accompanied by his fellow draftees whom a few he even became good friends with but after a surprise attack by Mahdist forces, he has been lost and separated by them ever since.

Since the separation, he has been wondering the deserts for days which gradually became weeks. Eating away all the remaining food and drinking all the remaining water at night and hiding from enemy forces and killing a few when having the very rare opportunity at day.

Since losing his comrades from that attack, he has been filled with emotions that vary for many reasons; fear from the attack that caught him and his fellow men off guard, rage for his fallen who were taken by those as ruthless as the Mahdist, and sorrow and grief from the lives lost and the speration that occurred because of what happened.

But as time pass and his supplies ran out. He began to grow weak, his body loses energy as he hadn't eaten for days alongside losing it's moisture due to the sun's raging heat blazing across the harsh and cruel deserts, alongside an enemy that may be watching every move he makes while waiting for him to lose his vigilance and will. But despite all of those factors, he continued on through his indomitable will and human spirit.

He kept on going longer and each step he grows more determined than ever but just when there's hope his body just gave up on him and he fell to the ground. He resorted to crawling but after minutes his body had grown so weak and so exhausted that there's nothing he can do because he had no food, no water, no allies and stuck on an unfamiliar environment. He lies on his back and looked into the sky where life flashed before his eyes whilst he toom every last breath he had and as soon as he made his final breath, he perished on the desert all alone in pain, agony, and exhaustion.

The wondering soldier, A man who had a lot of ambition and hope to serve his country and fight for peace and liberation has become nothing more than yet another casualty of the great War of terror. And while he has been honored like the rest of the fallen in battle. His name alongside his hopes, ambitions and legacy will remain forgotten, washed away by the sands of time.

0 Comments
2025/01/13
16:03 UTC

9

On the walk back home.

1 Comment
2024/12/16
08:23 UTC

23

Do you see it too

2 Comments
2024/12/15
23:38 UTC

1

Report from the Starhold Press.

Thirteenth gruesome slaughter in a month also linked to madman fever.

In recent weeks here in the big city, a strange murder spree had alarmed local police. And who is the culprit you may ask. Well some speculate it is none other than the mysterious illness that passed through not long ago.

Madman disease, known for its peculiar deliriums and agoraphobic effects, has been linked to a third of homosides this month. With all perpetrators having suffered from the disease only days before the killings.

How is this possible? Well, considering the delirius state the host is put into, dealing with delusions of acute paranoia and hallucinations of threats just beyond the periphery, it is quite possible they are startled into violence, some experts claim. Though this theory doesn't explain some instances where the murderer seems to have been tracking their victims for a considerable duration.

We here at the Starhold Press will continue to monitor these occurances and keep the public updated. As is our civic duty.

Column by Mar O'Conavin

1932/06/14

1 Comment
2024/12/15
04:42 UTC

16

Yun-ma-jiu [ancient mice' folklore]

0 Comments
2024/11/27
16:01 UTC

15

He-Koro Goku [ancient rats' folklore]

2 Comments
2024/11/24
15:46 UTC

1

The 2015 Salvadorian Civil War

Trigger Warning: Sensitive Topics

Introduction

The 2015 Salvadorian Civil war, also known by many other names such as "The Amazon War", "The True Gender War", "The Amazon Insurrection", "The Second Salvadorian Civil war" or simply"The Salvadorian Civil" was a conflict that occured in the small nation of El Salvador. It was considered to be the most brutal conflict to occur in the small nation's soil so far on the 21st century. Though the war has finally conluded, it's damage will continue to linger on for generations to come.

Origin/Prelude

The conflict can be traced to as far as the the 1990s where the Bicameral goverment set up after the previous civil war has conluded when a far right military goverment had taken over via coup to crack down on socialism within the nation and to aid Mexico on the war against Guatemala in exchange for benefits for the nation. Though the military goverment has transitioned into a civilian one. It's authoritarian tendencies still remain.

While at the same time the government had also began collaborating with various gangs and criminal organizations in order to them to serve the government as some kind of de-facto task force to crack down on the dissident in exchange for rewards and benefits. That in turn resulted in various people punished for petty crimes and speaking against the government while those from these organizations get away with the equivalent of just a slap to the wrist at worst.

Because of this the nation had overtime became an oligarchy where the powerful elite can simply play with the citizens like they're merely toys. Disregarding them once they no longer see value within them and not giving a care of what happens to them but when the people do figh back or call them out, they treat them like they have always been a problem.

This resulted in the people growing more and more resentful by the indifferent government with the most prominent of these groups being "The Daughters of Amazon", a cult located in the wilderness where it's members believe that both men and women are created by two gods, Amazon and Mars. Where women are held as divine whilst men are nothing more than demons which explains the misogyny present in not just their society but every society that has existed in this world. They prophesized that soon there will be a war where women will finally be freed from the chains of the patriarchy to become the rightful rules of the world like what the goddess Amazon had intended.

Their numbers have slowly grown on a rapid rate to the nation's disregard from women's rights, where women have to face constant threat on a daily basis both from the Government or from Criminal Organizations alike. Members composed of angry vengeful women alongside male sympathizers (mostly composed of homosexual men and transgendered individuals) have gathered together to prepare for this battle that awaits them.

And soon that day came where a prominent female activist was found dead on her home where the crime was declared as both an armed robbery and homicide, though the perpetrators were never caught nor brought to justice and we're treaded merely as a "minor inconvenience" by the government. This news enraged women across the country showing how much women's rights have been disregarded and how they let criminals criminals get away with what they did. Soon many women alongside men who are willing to fight for the cause have rallied on the streets to protest in hopes that their voices are instead. The government meanwhile, instead of hearing those voices had decided to silence them with violence as an effort to make the people fear them but this time, people don't want to be afraid anymore, this time they want to fight back."

Duration

The war began in 2015 when the Amazon's began to stage an uprising between various rural areas within the country. At first the government thought that these new rebels are merely just simple insurgents but as the war progressed they soon realized that those Amazon's are not just small scale insurgents but are a large militia composed of resentful women whom have had enough of the abuse brought upon by the rampant misogyny of the government and the nation's men themselves.

The most shocking part was how they managed to succefully assassinate the nations president during a speech. The sudden death of the President has plunged the already unstable nation into chaos and the criminal organizations that have previously collaborated with the government have soon betrayed the country and began to carve the nation for themselves due to no longer seeing value in them. This sudden assassination and immediate collapse have put the Amazons on an even greater advantage than they can ever dream of. As months pass by, the Nation has already fell into total anarchy.

The war is divided into various fronts. The Authoritharian Government, The Democratic Forces, Various Criminal Militias, and the Most Radical of them all: The Daughters of Amazon. Each faction wanted to establish their dream nations within El Salvador. The Government wanted to maintain the status quo, the democratic forces wanted to establish a democracy, the criminals would simply want to establish a caste-like society with themselves on the top, while the Amazons wanted to establish a matriarchal amazonian theocracy where men are simply used and exist to simply be as slaves.

The first phases of the war were very chaotic from all sides as every saide committed atrocities against each other left and right, refugees began fleeing to the nearby nations of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and even as far as Mexico. The war has also degraded not just the town's and cites of the country but also nature as well where the war has mostly been fought at. Out of all of these factions it seems like the Amazons are at the advantage as their forces have the highest morale and doesn't have much infighting compared to the rest of all the other factions, they were able to obtain new recruits easier due to most recruits being women who are fed up with the governments disregard and they were even able to occupy the larges amount of territory in the country, albeit only by a slight margin to that of government forces. With all of these factors it seems like victory is guaranteed for them, atleast that's what it seemed like at first.

As the years pass by, the Amazons slowly lose their advantage due to the combination of factors that soon arise such as the election of a radical president in Honduras resulted in the nation's intervention on the civil war, the Latin American Alliance offering weapons for goverment forces out of fear that the potential spread of extremism brought upon by the Amazon faith/ideology, the rise of the leadership of Niyab Bukele whom climbed the ranks from the military to the government, the collapse of various criminal organization due to poor cooperation between every organization, many women deserting the Amazon's due to the extremism present becoming too concerning for them. Alongside various other factors have, the Amazons have now put in a more disadvantaged position experiencing loss after loss from that point on.

The final nail to the coffin occured early in 2024 when the last fortresses of the Amazons have either fallen from Government forces or surrended at the last moment after the fall of the last Amazon fortress in November has marked the conclusion of the Salvadorian Civil War. Though there are still insurgents present in the aftermath, they are now at a point where they no longer present as a genuine threat.

Aftermath

The 2015 Salvadorian Civil was considered to be the most brutal war to occur not in El Salvador but also all of Central America in the 21st Century. This war has left a mark on not just the government but to also the people of the country.

This New Goverment under Bukele was even more paranoid and repressive compared to the Old Government prior to the civil war. Putting in stricter gun laws, limiting the amount of education opportunities to women, banning the wearing of revealing clothing in public for women, the banning of Non-christian theology and literature on schools, and a large funding on the military. Though that doesn't mean that the new goverment has made any compensations as they established laws to protect women from violence and assault, ending the collaboration between criminal organizations, putting harsher punishments towards criminals and especially to treasonist, and etc.

Protections towards women are strictly enforced due to the female population of the country being decrease to about 30-40% according to national estimates which left so much concern to the country as it was a similar situation to that of Paraguay at some point of their history. Because of this the new goverment had plan to protect women at all cost, even if it means limiting their freedoms.

Though the situation now feels like a lost cause. It doesn't mean that there is no hope left, for one day, there will be a time where not just El Salvador but also many other nations with a similar problem will finally acheive true equality not for all men and women. Regardless of who they are.

3 Comments
2024/11/16
06:55 UTC

9

Death of the Hee Hakku [ancient otters' folklore]

1 Comment
2024/11/14
16:04 UTC

7

Are multi-ethnic/cultural empires more or less cohesive than empires with only one main ethnic/cultural group?

4 Comments
2024/11/10
19:03 UTC

13

Head hunter, the Great Swamp U Chagh [lore in OP]

0 Comments
2024/10/26
16:51 UTC

6

History of the Cult of Dead God [Part 2: from 12th century aTwbW to nowadays]

0 Comments
2024/10/14
15:47 UTC

20

The Dragon Skull

2 Comments
2024/10/09
07:55 UTC

9

The tragedy of Angel's gate

Angel's gate was once a prosperous small town with a population of about 400 souls. It was also known across the lands for its charitable nature, nothing more prominent than the angel's gate orphanage which took in countless wayward children whether their parents were dead, they were disowned by their families, excommunicated by the church, or simply ran away from abusive situations.

The people of angel's gate were known for their hospitality, kindness, and charitable nature with many adults and older children aiding the orphanage through donation and volunteer work and because of this much of the town grew very close with the children there and the head mistress of the orphanage, Eleanor Creet.

This love and communal good was what drew the fiends to angel's gate and as soon as they arrived they knew exactly what to do to topple this little town, the orphanage was chosen as their target. On one particularly peacful night the fiends infiltrated the town and upon sneaking into the orphanage began possessing the children both young and older.

No one was any the wiser until the morning came and with it a bloodbath. The children that the town had poured so much love, attention, and care into had turned on them attacking anyone and anything they could. It didn't take long for the citizens to realize what was wrong unfortunately being so far away from any church outpost and with so many possessed running around they only had one real option to protect themselves.

As the dreadful day went on many citizens fel to the possessed many unable to harm those that they had cared for so deeply but there were those that could, despite the guilt and trauma they still feel to this very day. At least those of them that could handle it.

Even Eleanor was forced to choose between her life and that of some of her beloved children being forced to shoot several in some vain hope of being able to save the rest. When the churches paladins finally arrived after several days the town seemed deserted only for them to discover much of the town locked away in their homes, unable to face the carnage in the streets knowing who exactly the carnage once was.

Eleanor was discovered in the orphanage, the children she had been forced to put down prepped for burial and left with toys and trinkets to be buried with and Eleanor herself was found hanging from the rafters, unable to cope with what she was forced to do to survive. The inquisitor leading the paladins is still rumored to be unfit for field assignments to this day irreversibly scarred by what they witnessed that day.

1 Comment
2024/10/08
18:29 UTC

2

how many legs do chinese guys have in your world

8 in mine

6 Comments
2024/10/08
16:17 UTC

17

world and its the same but there is no popeyes

no chicken sandich 😭

1 Comment
2024/10/08
02:34 UTC

11

Chinese legs with 8 guns for man

Chinese legs divorce their Chinese torso to survive in mecha-vietnam. He fights against the jaeger alliance with his 8 gun torso.

1 Comment
2024/10/07
22:52 UTC

16

Immortal Chinese Godzilla with 8 guns for legs

During his loyal service to the People's Liberation Army, Godzilla is grievously wounded during the Chinese Civil War. Both of his legs have been blown off and death looks imminent. However, the Chinese Communist Party realizes he is too valuable to die in battle, so they transform him into an experimental weapon to showcase the raw power of their ideology.

To prevent Godzilla from obtaining another near fatal leg injury, he is given 8 legs, all of which are guns, allowing him to run extremely fast, traverse dangerous terrain, and murder the nefarious underlings of Chang Kai-shek with immense speed. Unfortunately, these 8 guns are regular sized army issue rifles, so he looks a little silly and may get embarrassed whilst fighting.

Through cutting edge technology and medical experimentation, Godzilla also becomes immortal after eating the largest edible in history (manufactured by 20 million peasant farmers, all of which died due to overexertion and low quality baking supplies). At least that's what Godzilla thinks -- he's actually not immortal, but immensely high, and will be for the rest of his life due to the edible being a "forever weed brownie", which Godzilla doesn't know about. Despite this, his delirium increases his courage tenfold and he is more likely to do a sick back flip or two whilst gunning the enemy down with his tiny legs.

Can he solo Batgos?

3 Comments
2024/10/07
21:48 UTC

7

Immortal Chinese Godzilla with 8 gun legs

Imagine how scary it would be if Godzilla was also immortal, Chinese, and had 8 legs that are all guns

2 Comments
2024/10/07
21:33 UTC

14

Immortal Godzilla with Guns for Legs

Godzilla gets his legs blown off by a landmine while vacationing. Now he’s got AK-47s for legs and is immortal. The guns are very small compared to him and don’t support him at all.

1 Comment
2024/10/07
21:14 UTC

29

8 Legged Chinese Man

^ Title. Imagine him running through your house, the little tip taps of his 8 feet

10 Comments
2024/10/07
19:40 UTC

7

Man with guns for legs

Moroccan child soldier loses his legs in war and now his legs are AK-47s.

6 Comments
2024/10/07
17:55 UTC

9

Immortal Godzilla

Hundreds of millions of years ago, shortly after the universe appeared, the first forms of life were born, beings that did not matter if they were of death or life, they would bring chaos, death and destruction wherever they went, these beings were known like the first gods.

Hundreds of millions of years ago During the period known as the apogee, these creatures dominated the known universe, ravaging planets and transporting themselves in the form of meteorites through the void of outer space. But for some reason, many of these beings began to congregate and inhabit a young planet, a new planet, Earth.

There were several first gods inhabiting the planet, but among all those who stood out the most were two: the immortal god Godzilla and the golden king Ghidorah. These two beings constantly battled trying to gain control of that planet, until 2.4 billion years ago these two beings fought in a battle like no other, the immortal god with his war hounds against the golden king and a solar storm.

It was a battle like no other but there came a time when Godzilla's atomic beam and Ghidorah's gravity rays converged, collapsed on each other and merged, creating an element never seen before in the universe, oxygen, they caused the great oxidation.

Oxygen was not the only thing that was created in that fusion, an explosion was also created so powerful that it killed the immortal god (only a 5 meter fragment of his spine remained) and caused the golden king to retreat and enter a torpor at what we now know as Saturn's south pole. This event was what marked the end of the apogee and the vast majority of the first gods entered into a slumber of millions of years waiting to wake up one day. Those who did not become lethargic were left wandering through space aimlessly in the form of a meteorite or asteroid for eons.

A few geological periods later, life on Earth had re-emerged but 66 million years ago in what we now know as the Yucatan Peninsula something fell from the stars, something that was thought for a long time to be a simple asteroid, but it was actually a god, one whose mere presence caused natural catastrophes and apocalyptic events, the one called Rodan, the ancient of cataclysm, a flying beast that feeds on the geothermal energy of planets to survive. After its impact on Earth a few life forms survived, Rodan dominated the world and feeding with the method of absorbing geothermal energy while dormant inside volcanoes, deciding to feed inside what we now know as the Thera volcano, resting there until it changed to another in 1450 BC, ending the Minoan civilization, after which he was transported to Mount Tambora, where it rested and fed until 1815 AC, causing the volcano to erupt and that the year without summer would occur, heading to an underwater volcano in Japan that would become his new resting place where he remains today.

It was in these millennia that life developed, humans and human civilization were born, all of this occurring in a short period of time after the apogee, which would come to an end when a 5-meter spinal column fragment was discovered in Japan, emanatibg constant radiation, eventually causing the immortal's rebirth and second apogee.

0 Comments
2024/10/06
19:50 UTC

16

I want more racial slurs for my world (Racism Warning)

So, in my world, I have 3 races. I will refer to them as Space Elves, Humans and Warrior Race. They all hate each other.

However, I just noticed that all 3 of them have a very bland insult to describe everyone that is not them. Space elves refer to everyone as lesser races, humans refer to everyone as xeno scum and the warrior race refer to everyone as slave races.

I want to diversify this.

So for context, humans are incredibly xenophobic, incredibly violent and are literally the Imperium of Man except smaller and more competent at running their empire.

Space elves meanwhile have more in common with the Imperium of Man than the humans do, which is peak irony. Massive empire, inefficient af, hyper religious cult, terrible dictatorship, religious state that makes dumb af decisions, militant, constant crusades to wipe out humanity, they even have a God Empress. Space elves also use magic a LOT, that is what differentiates them.

Lastly, the warrior race, they are your typical brutal warrior race (except unlike Templin Institute's claims, mine actually work) and the galaxy HATES them. I mention only humans and space elves but there are several other irrelevant races and EVERYONE is aware of how awful the šars are and EVERYONE hates them for their love of war, constant war, poor treatment of those they enslave, their slavery and so on. They also come from the void so it is extremely difficult to destroy them.

I want all 3 of my races to have unique slurs to call each other instead of your simple "Lesser race, xeno scum, slave race." That universally applies to everyone.

4 Comments
2024/10/04
12:25 UTC

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