The rules

The rules of this little challenge are pretty basic.

1. Each fantasy world must be original. I'm willing to crib notes from other worlds, but each setting has to have its own germ of originality and must be created for this challenge. You won't see Vian or a Planescape variant in this list.

2. Names aren't important, but themes are. When I'm writing, creating a consistent sound is one of the major obstacles. It's time-consuming to create grammatical and phonological rules, and they're really more about creating polish and immersion than anything else. Each of these worlds will have a central theme and some related sub-themes, but don't expect to see many setting-specific names or titles.

3. Brevity is the soul of ... a setting. These will be briefs. If I have to take more than a type-written page -- about 500 words -- to explain a setting, it's too complicated.

4. Timeliness is in the eye of the beholder. Don't expect this page to be updated at the same time every day. I work evenings, which already complicates things; if I post a setting at 1:43 a.m. on Day X and 7:49 p.m. on Day X, I'm going to count that as two posts in two days. I've transcended the a.m./p.m. cycle. (That's a pompous way of saying that I've lost any semblance of a normal day/night routine.)

And for the readers --
You're expected to comment. Feel free to be harsh or fawning, as you feel that evening. Feel free to mercilessly compare any setting to published material. Feel free to complain of hopelessly generic worlds or ridiculously trite, derivative ideas. Feel free to opine that, while Day X's material felt fresh and innovative, Day X+Y's material is stale and silly. Just please leave feedback.