How to write creation stories for your fantasy universe

It seems fitting that in our first few blog articles that we talk about the beginnings of all things, the creation of the fantasy universes that we’re all building. I’m going to start by assuming that you are either an established world builder or you’ve got world building dreams that are yet to manifest. Either way, one of the first explanations is how the world came into being in the first place. Later on in these posts I’ll start to introduce a world I’ll be creating from scratch and breathing life into week by week, but for now, let’s examine four ways that a reality can come to pass. This is far from being an exhaustive list and I’d love to hear if you have any suggestions to add. By the way, if you haven't already read it, check out our article on coherent world building

1.Divine intention

Most world religions attribute the creation of the universe to divine intention (it’s important to note that in your reality, what a religious doctrine states, and the actual reality of the situation might be wildly divergent). A benign creator at the beginning of time creates order from chaos and breathes life into the world in their own image because…er…

Here’s where we encounter a logic chasm that we have to bridge. Normally, the answer that religious doctrines come up with is that the creator god is benign and likes to do nice things, like create life. Christianity tells us that God created Eden for Adam and Eve to live in and if the original sin of disobedience hadn’t occurred, everything would basically have worked out. One of the early challenges we face if we’re going down the route of divine intervention is ‘what did the creator god do all this creating for?’ This question opens up lots of possibilities for exploring an otherwise two dimensional entity and it enables us to begin to shape the world, the theology and pantheon of other deities if we wish to create them.