Worldbuilding: Quadrants (Patreon)

The yet-unnamed continent this story takes place on is split into 5 areas: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and the central volcano. Each quadrant has its own season that never changes, and its own topographical oddities and strange denizens.

I think a lot of creatures specific to each quadrant have other differently evolved versions in other places, such as slim and slender "classical" unicorns in Spring compared to Ben's stocky Winter build. But some civilizations stay solidly in their quadrant.

Winter: our main character Aika and her companion Ben come from Winter. It's heavily influenced by Antarctica, Alaska, Mongolia, Russia, and the Ainu and the Inuit. It's a hardy place that relies heavily on magic to survive. As our story opens, Winter is at war with Spring.

Fauna: Humans, dragons, saltdiggers, snow eagles, wendigo, etc

Autumn: Autumn is a place of eternal dying, just as Spring is a place of eternal growth. There's an agreement Autumn and Spring came to forever ago that's currently in jeopardy -- a cultural exchange, of sorts -- where Autumn will send denizens to Spring to help keep the growth in check while Spring folk will come to Autumn to help renew the land. The Autumn folk are reapers of a kind: guardians of the Skull Forest, which is a still and quiet place where folks of both Winter and Autumn come to lay memorials for their dead.

Fauna: Centaurs, gryphons, pixies, corvids, rabbits etc.

Summer: A desert that holds the cultural capitol of the whole continent. The Summer folk are storytellers: and as such, they have an eye for broader implications in the world. Though the other quadrants have given into petty squabbling and xenophobia, Summer has kept harmony alive. They alone are permitted to cross all borders as Summer storytellers are singers, tale-spinners, and news-bringers.

Fauna: Phoenices, camelcorns, sand wyrms, dragons, humans, etc.

Spring: Proud and vain like their Unicorn goddess, Spring folk generally feel they have the best reputation of all the quadrants. They are guardians of life and the elves especially are well-known as a folk who know more about magic than anyone else. Though one would expect Spring to be a wild and passionate place, the Spring folk are reserved and regimented, and very very angry at Winter. (Who hates them back.)

Fauna: Elves, fauns, unicorns, etc.

The Volcano: In the center of the continent/island is a huge volcano, and the inside is reachable through all quadrants. Inside is an enormous natural temple that's been expanded upon throughout the ages as a loving memorial to the Dragon Mother Otenhei for her sacrifice.

The Map (above): The map is a little outdated (Iluak the Aurora Dragon was originally Winter's god, but he seemed to be more important so he was moved up to Otenhei's consort), very rough, and definitely not finalized. It was my first attempt at a map, which will be reattempted later when I have a better grasp of the lay of the land in the story!

Hope you've enjoyed today's worldbuilding!