Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Solbrekt »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
I've had quite a number of them. Only one of them ever seems to stay put, though.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
I'm not very good at connecting my experiences to particular ages. Best I can come up with is a 10-year ballpark. Do know that it hasn't stopped yet, so there's something atleast.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
I'm not sure that there's really a difference here. They were "always sort of" there, but then there were always sort of triggering events.
But the that I often 'play in' as an adult, named Hjasveinyr, had a pretty benign prompting, I'd hesitate to even call its start a trigger. This one started around my mid-teens(maybe about 4-6 years ago) shortly after I'd quit playing World of Warcraft. That game took up the most of my time since I was 9 years old, so not too surprised that some imaginary world came to take its place after leaving it. So far this one is the longest-lasting consistent world I've had, and over these few years it's crowded out nearly all of the temporary, less pleasant ones from showing up at all.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
Very early on it was just something I'd think about whenever I wasn't at the computer. Trains of thought from whatever I was playing that I'd just get carried away with, like I'd never actually shut the "entertainment" off. I always spent more of my life sitting at a computer than anything else, really.
As a teen it moved from just continuing a game to something else entirely. They were generally very unpleasant scenarios, and for every cringeworthy trait it started off with, I'd influence it to go even further, making it as hopeless as possible. The same one might pick up for a few nights at most before I'd make up another one, but even when the setting changed so much they always revolved around this sense of worthlessness and inhumanity. Often there was something horrendously wrong with the characters, but no one would see the real impact it had on them, or if they did they'd construe the odd behavior as some form of conceit or arrogance on the characters' parts, and they would eventually confine themselves entirely to rot away, if they didn't just start hurting themselves or other people.

These days that sort of morbid non-setting story has become pretty rare, somewhat crowded out by the more consistent world I have. As a whole I call it Hjasveinyr. It's the sole remaining continent of a fragmented archaic themed fantasy world. It's the typical myth-mashup world, granted despite the wide range of different cultural myth monsters in it, it all has a sort of overlaying nordic influence to it. One of the leading conflicts in the world is the growing presence of the ruthless undead, which is accidentally pushed further by the rise of the archaic world's first conquest-worthy army. Things sort of hit the fan from there. Despite the multiple wars going on, this world is a lot less cynical than the temporary ones were, and there's a lot of different stuff going on at once and I have the attentionspan of a gnat so beyond that I have a hard time figuring out how to really describe it in a linear manner. Maybe a quarter of the time I'm trying to figure out how all the monsters or conflicts fit together, the rest of it I'm just distracted overthinking all the weird puns possible in the setting. Some of them are really painfully lame and yet I spend hours obsessing over them. It's a.. thing.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
I am never an active player and avoid thinking up characters at all similar to myself. I'm the kind of person that would rather see a completely different character with traits I like, than imagine a version of myself having them. If I relate too much with a character I start to despise them.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
Well, I use a public forum art program to draw pieces of it sometimes, but never do much describing to give any context to them. As for actually telling others what it's about, this is about as far as I've ever gotten.
I've never felt guilty about it. It's just something that I do and I can't really picture what life would be like if I didn't. It didn't even occur to me that it was unusual until after schooling age, and then I just figured it was an 'overactive imagination' kind of thing.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
Never talk to anyone about it.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
Pretty much all of those things, but these days mostly the second. Often aspects of it are all I think about. It actually impedes a lot of my social life, although I suppose not as much as my anxiety itself does. Whenever I get the slightest bit nervous I just get up and start pacing, thinking about what it's like somewhere else. It often takes several minutes before I even notice I'm doing it again, and even after noticing, I might not get myself to stop for another hour or more. Often when I do finally stop I'll try to go back to what I was doing before, only for it to start all over again.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
Not so much. I've always been able to tell it from the real world.
I don't really feel like a sentient force in any of the stories, let alone a god.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
It is my creative life. I think about all sorts of things in that setting, and rarely when playing in game settings that come with their own worlds, but outside provided worlds I have very little imagination at all. If I'm not thinking about things in specific worlds, then chances are I'm either asleep, at work or re-reading the same dozen comics for the hundredth time.
That aside, it's excellent training for ignoring the media.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
Like most people here, I only just learned that it's anything beyond imagination in general.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
I would guess my mom does. She has a few stories of her own that she's talked about on occasion, and she's always been really great at getting into character, though I'm not sure it's really my place to describe her stories for her. We've never actually talked specifically about 'paracosm' as a thing, however.

This concept really makes me wonder just how many tales and supersticions over the centuries have been the result of paracosms. I suppose it'd be impossible to tell by now since most of the people that started such tales were illiterate and are definitely too dead for a verbal interview.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Revaencore »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
Yes and Yes ^-^

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
I still have mine ^-^

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
Maybe about 5 or 6 is when it started

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
It's probably been there forever because I don't remember when it started exactly

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
For me it consists of different 'realms', like my home realm is a huge garden with talking flowers and pixies and friendly animals such as wolves, squirells, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. There was never really a story line but it mostly just always consisted of me being kind of the 'queen' fairy that was much larger then the others, blue hair, green leaf dress, long elf ears and purple and blue wings. I always tended to the flowers and talked to them and whispered things along with occassionally imagining friends being there with me but they were all tall elves with leather clothing and they had medieval types of weapons like bows and swords. There were other realms that I would visit sometimes such as the graveyard realm that consisted of the living dead, vampires, werewolves, and the like and they usually fought over territory. The human realm, forest realm, plains realm, with all the animals to match including unicorns, dragons, and more.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
I am always very passive, I would always watch and talk to the other beings in the different realms but I never engaged in any of the fights or issues that they had, I always the sort of being that they would come to to escape their issues and talk to, that sort of thing. I'm always very kind and patient and friendly, but also protective of those that I feel close to.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
I've only ever told one person but I don't talk to him anymore. I was open about sharing about it (mainly because I know I'm a bit of a nut anyways :woo: but no one ever asked so I never told anyone.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
It was all by myself ^-^

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
Always day dreaming and I've had a few dreams about it to which those are the best dreams.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
When I was a kid I did but the older I got the more I learned to separate it from reality.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
It's a sort of destresser for me, specially since I have anxiety it's just like my own personal get away that only I can go to which is fun for me ^-^

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
I figured it was always just a kind of imaginary world that I never grew out of and that it was kind of weird so I didn't know this was an actual thing, kinda cool to know ^-^

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
I haven't met anyone that has but it would be cool to ^-^
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by pepper333 »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
Yep and yep

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?


3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

Around 12 years old

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

I always made up stories in my head, but this one persisted longer than the others

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

Mine is almost a series of books, I have a bunch of main caracters I use to shape and show the past present and future events of this world. I was in a world that consisted of 3 counties on a continent. One is run mostly like mideval England, with lots of forrests and logging villages (the main characters world) then the one next to it was a peaceful farming land, mostly grassy fields, allies to the first country, and the third was high in the mountains and didn't have much farmland, thus creating a motive to trade or steal from the other countries, depending on the leader. There isn't any guns or electricity there, so the main weapons are swords, Spears and bows.


6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

I was always the main character and the narrator at the same time. It got complicated when the character knew less than the narrator, but in my mind it made sense


7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

I wrote a tiny part of it down for a school writting project, other than that I kept it a secret. I though I was crazy and that this wasn't normal.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

Completely alone.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

It kind of was like my bedtime story after I got "too old" for them, then it became a daydream on long car rides and boring waits.


10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

No, it was like a book to me, you travel there in your mind, not phisically.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

I think it's helped my storytelling a bit. Before the daydreams my stories all sounded the same.


12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

No, this is the first I've heard of them and I'm glad I'm not alone!

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?

I haven't meet anyone with a paracosm yet
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Gilbunny »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?

Yes, I do.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?

I stopped because my tastes changed and I realized that the world I had built didn't make sense on any level. I have recently made more paracosms but I have trouble finishing things. So, I have numerous worlds that have been left unfinished.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

I started worldplay at the age of 8 and I haven't stopped. Instead, I use my worlds and attempt to channel those into my writing.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

I've always done it and I never thought it was weird.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

My first paracosm was just a mish mash of ideas. I had creatures that were made of gold and protected an island of precious metals and gems. Cities that had buildings placed on top of trees in order to avoid the massive snakes down below. Princes that longed for adventures, and kings who lost their children. Scientists who did everything in their power to discover all of the secrets this world had to offer.

Of course, my characters weren't well developed and this world had so many ideas that conflicted instead of working together. Every storyline focused on too much of one thing but not enough of another thing or was covered in plot holes. So, I scrapped it.


6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

I was an observer, I never influenced anything my characters did. However, I did influence the challenges they would be facing or the monsters they would fight like some evil dungeon master. I never communicated with my characters either, so they would express their dissatisfaction with their situation to each other, but not to me directly.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

I was nervous at first since I could ramble on for hours about my world and I didn't know how people would react, they would think I was crazy right? But eventually I told one of my closest friends about it and they were fine with it. Our paracosms have become our main topic of conversation.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

I create all of my paracosms alone for the most part. But recently I have been trying to work with someone to create a joint paracosm?

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

All of the above actually.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

No. I knew it was fake, even though I wished it were real. I thought that it would be so cool to travel to my world and meet my characters.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

Yes, it has played a massive role. I use them to put an idea into practice by seeing how the said idea would work in a world. I use them to spitball ideas with other writers and artists, or even to set up cool roleplay scenarios for something like a DnD session.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

I actually just learned about them today, as I am typing this post. I didn't even know that they had a name!

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?

Yes. We met on a Minecraft server a long time ago, neither of us knew what paracosms were and at the time, we barely even knew each other. Once I expressed that my passion was of the artistic variety(didn't know it was writing yet)he said the same and our paracosms just slipped out.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by FlamboyantFox »

  • I'm silently freaking out in my house right now because (a) OMG I'M NOT ALONE! and (b) THERE'S A NAME FOR IT???
1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
  • I currently have a paracosm.
2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
  • I'm currently maintaining it, but sometimes I've "turned it off" if I start to feel rather silly about it or 'not normal'.
3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
  • Actually, I just started a few years ago and it takes up almost every thought I have. However, I have anxiety and depression as well. Around the same time that I became depressed and my anxiety went from low to high, my paracosm formed. I think it was either 2014 or 2015 that it began but honestly, it has helped me out with anxiety in certain ways, especially when it comes down to getting put under for operations of any kind.
4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
  • I'm sure it could have started a long time ago with a different setting, but perhaps I was not aware of it because I've been writing since I was ten and a specific topic at that. If the paracosm then was the same as what I'd been writing, it's very possible that it was there and then shut off without me even noticing, which would explain why I have this current paracosm that I'm consciously aware of. However, perhaps the current one was triggered due to my depression, which was triggered from an online friend passing away and then all the stress that I was dealing with at work and at home. However, growing up I've always had an imaginative mind to the point that I would act out in real life as if I was in that world.
5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
  • The only name that it really has is the planned book series that I plan to turn it into (eventually) titled the Breathless series. The setting is post apocalyptic, with a sort of Zombie/notZombie feel. At first, it started with a few characters (five mains and then their family) and what I called "back drops". Then, as it continued and went on, I ended up with even MORE back drops and ... (let me write them all down real quick) ... well, about 20 or so. They mostly run in twos when they pop up. :/ There is a story line, however I would rather not share it because there are a TON of sensitive topics when it comes down to it. Mostly, I only feel comfortable sharing it on writing sites and even then, there is only one site with one chapter and nothing else. xDD The story line just keeps going though, and I mean IT NEVER ENDS. Once, I restarted the story line with events being shorter or lining up properly because I was getting ready to write down the main portion of it that came about originally. AND THEN it went haywire and is now about three times as long. If I were to restart it again, it probably wouldn't end for about ... three or four months. :/
6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
  • No, I'm not active there. However - and this is where I start to feel a little crazy - the characters were actually able to come out and exist outside of the paracosm. Every hear of Sybil? That's what I'm pretty much referring to. Not to the point of me thinking that I was them, but to where I needed to step back from a situation and their personalities would "handle it for me" instead. This happens typically when the paracosm has been happening for quite some time and then I become extremely stressed out and dead inside that the two original main characters from this paracosm come out and handle things while my actual personality or whatever steps out for a breather. Kinda like having three brains that I can switch between but with all the same knowledge and the same sense of identity that I'm myself and not them.
7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
  • No. No one. Not even my husband, not my friends, not my best friend. No one. Because - again - I feel like there is something seriously wrong with me, which is why I try to feed it through into writing on a site where no one actually knows who I am. Now, my best friend does have bits of the story version, and she is extremely supportive of me and it. She thinks that it is so far interesting, but again it is just the first chapter and an intro of two of these characters and a few backdrops, not the whole story. I ... feel guilty about it in a sense. Because at times, when people need my attention, I'm not giving it to them because of the paracosm. My mind is in it instead and not focusing on them.
8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
  • So it can be done with others? Then I'm pretty sure this did happen in Middle School. We were obsessed with a series and turned real life locations into those imaginary locations. Kinda like LARPing but not entirely because we didn't dress up.
9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
  • I don't count writing because I try to write what has already happened, as if trying to set it into stone or something. However, I often did it/still do visit it by daydreaming, anytime before falling asleep, waking up in the morning when nothing else really has to be done, taking a shower, ect, ect. At a point in time, it helped me get through work everyday until my depression and anxiety took that away from me because of all the stress I was starting to experience. I'm afraid of driving because I don't want to slip into the paracosm while driving and then crash (I've done this while learning to drive, but without the crashing but mostly the characters were driving as well in the paracosm, which made things easier). When doing quizzes or tests, it happens and actually helps because of the mind switching (a smarter and more confident character will help to take over as if he is taking the quiz in a flashback point of the paracosm). But really though, at anytime the paracosm is often visited, even when reading books which can be annoying because I have to reread on several occasions.
10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
  • Never thank god. That would have freaked me out even more because it would mean exposing the paracosm to someone outside of it. It's literally a get away place, and I don't want those who see me often to ever know about it. At one point, it stopped for about two months and most likely because I was frightened that people were starting to notice it.
11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
  • Ehhh ... most likely in writing terms (book-wise). I actually have drawings of the characters so that I can remember their faces and such and it makes me want to switch from book to manga because I have a drawing talent. So it helps with drawing creativity, writing creativity ... I think that's pretty much it. Oh, and when I hear specific music, I think about like ... an opening sequence or something for the paracosm. Add that and the two others and yeah.
12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
  • Please refer to the top of this post. xD But for real, I had no idea that other people were going through this or that it was even a real thing I thought I was going crazy and the moment I saw this, I bout broke my mouse running over to the main thread and then the quick reply box. It is also comforting to know that there were authors who I am familiar with that went through this sort of thing.
13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
  • I don't know anyone who has or had a paracosm. Except you guys I suppose and well, here we've met and here we have shared our information. xDD

    Ugh, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this and now I want to look up more information about it!! I'm also eager to read all of your comments as well aaaahhhh!!!
Last edited by FlamboyantFox on September 22nd, 2017, 11:21:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by eppy »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?

I believe so (currently). Is it possible to have more than one, because I feel like my paracosm is a very liquid place that changes as needed.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?

N/A

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?

I was very young, I don't remember what age. I have not stopped.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?

I simply always did it. I am a very independent person. I had a few friends but when I was alone (most of the time) I played in my own world. That world has basically become my near constant daydream. When I am bored and doing nothing, I go in it.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.

My Paracosm was basically an extension of any movie, tv show, or interest I had. For example when I was into the warrior cats books my paracosm was basically the warrior's world. I didn't have other people to play with so I had a huge imaginary group in which I had in my own mind. Nowadays the paracosm has changed, and is usually just a group of my online friends who have their own appearances based on how I see them (in my mind).

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?

Both. I was an active player when I actively involved in it. Other times I observed what was going on, usually if I was multitasking and couldn't quite put the effort in it. I was basically whatever the world was about. In the warrior cats version I was a cat. Other times I will be a dragon. Maybe a person, if I'm currently thinking of a doctor's show.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?

No. I'd feel very uncomfortable telling anyone in my personal life about it. They'd probably think I am weird that, at 22, I run around outside in my own imaginary world as a form of 'creative play'.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?

All alone... with the help of media. :)

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)

By daydreaming. At night before I fell asleep. And occasionally in writing, usually in forms of fanfiction because my worlds are almost always based on these things.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)

No. I knew it was imaginary. I knew it was my own version of play.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?

Yes, I can only imagine how boring my life would have been if I'd never been able to imagine things.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?

No, prior to this thread I just thought I was a weirdo. xD

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?


I have never asked anyone because I'd be uncomfortable about them knowing.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Draconiusultamius »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
Yes, definitely.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
Not applicable, I still maintain it daily.

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
Not a hundred percent sure... I think I started when I was around five or six.

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
I think I read 'the princess and the pea' and I really liked it. After reading it a few times, I started re-enacting it in bed. Eventually, I think it was after reading many books from 'the secrets of droon series in grade school, that I began thinking of new adventures for me. However, I believe that it really started in grade two, after I watched 'jirachi wish maker'.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
It's based on my personal dark desires in reality, as well magic and fantasy worlds. A lot of it is descriptive, especially in violence and gruesome deaths. I don't think I ever named it. The setting is mostly medieval, but since my character can travel between multiple realities, timelines, and locations. These are either created by me or based off of locations in literature that I enjoy. Main locations include my personal character's location, a parallel area on earth only accessible to those with magic, populated by normal people who have no knowledge of the outside world and never really age or die. A world full of dragons, which is parallel to my character's world, yet the dragons can age and die. There are the locations and characters taken from my favourite animes, mangas, and books. There isn't a real storyline, but rather multiple stories that happen one after another.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
Active, definitely. In it, I'm seemingly the perfect being. I'm overpowered, magical, passionate, beautiful, popular, confident, etc. but I'm also unable to make decisions, sadistic, manipulative, ruthless, weak, emotionally driven, pathetic, etc. Which is why I consider her my mirror: she's everything I want to be, but can't really control who she actually is. She's not even sure of who she is.

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
No. I feel very guilty of having one, especially since I use it to unleash my darkest desires. If someone close to me knew, I'd probably be placed in a mental hospital, or be feared forever by everyone.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
Alone.

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
In the bed at night, mostly. I also do some playing while I'm in lucid dreams, and once, I managed to imagine an entire scene while in sleep paralysis (which I stopped after I lost control over the hallucinations and realized I was experiencing that phenomenon).

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
Yes. It happens when I seem to flip between my real self and paracosm self in dreams. I have even had dreams as myself and relived it using my paracosm self to change the outcomes.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
No.

12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
No. I just learned about them after clicking on this thread.

13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
No.
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by FlamboyantFox »

Draconiusultamius wrote:7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
No. I feel very guilty of having one, especially since I use it to unleash my darkest desires. If someone close to me knew, I'd probably be placed in a mental hospital, or be feared forever by everyone.
  • I can relate on SO MANY levels. A lot of really screwed up things happen in my paracosm, so much so that I don't feel comfortable saying them even here. I told my husband about the whole paracosm thing in general and he made me feel crazy even. xDD It even makes me wonder if I'm all right in the head from time to time or if it would be a great story that people might eat at. Honestly though depending on how dark your paracosm is - and it probably isn't worse - I could probably open up to you about my own. xD


    In terms of the general list though, I think trauma did cause my childhood paracosm to surface. When I was five, my parents were going through a divorce. No big deal, right? Several of us go through it ... but then the following Christmas when I was six, my house burned down. I remember walking through the burnt down remains, but not many memories of what happened before that. I remember waking up and being told by my Uncle what had happened, seeing it on the news, seeing the wire crate that my dog had slept in. We were lucky that no one got hurt, but it caused a lot of events to happen after that, including my belongings being replaced, my father getting a new house, remodeling said house, and then loosing us in a custody battle. My childhood had very little happy memories, I wouldn't doubt that it started with that house fire.
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Paracosms

Post by Goldenwolfmidna »

Discussion Questions

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
yep.

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
WHY WOULD YOU STOP

3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
I WILL NEVER STOP LORD SHADOW! And I've done this for only a few...years...

4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
I always have just...done it.

5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
This could take a bit. . .
So, it's called the Kingdom of Torchill. It's on an island and has a giant castle. Bridges and walkways connect the Sentry towers and the village to the castle. The princess has a pet dragon and the king and queen have Gryffins. The peasantry have stuff like Hydras etc... And that's bout it.

6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
I was the princess. I had my dragon named Arari

7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
I was somewhat scared, I'm bullied a bit in school so a made-up world is just another thing.

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
ME ONLY!

9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
At night, but I also thought about it in the day.

10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
...

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
YES! My super weird creative names all come from Torchill!
Pronouns | He/him or They/them
Emotions | Tired 24/7
Looking for a FEMALE ELDRICH DRAGON - Pm me if you have one for sale!
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Re: Imaginary worlds in your mind? (Paracosms)

Post by Thunderwolf5 »

1. Do you now/ did you ever have a paracosm?
I still do now... its my fancy way of escaping reality

2. If you no longer maintain your paracosm, why did you stop?
--
3. About what age were you when you began worldplay? About what age were you when you stopped, if you have?
Um I would say around 8-9.
4. Was there a triggering event that caused you to start a paracosm, or was it just something you always sort of did?
Im someone who cant express emontions very well. Often I am told "why are you so robotic and cold" "why dont you smile more?" etc. So the characters in my paracosm took my emotions and made charactwrs
5. What is/was your paracosm like? Did it have a name? What was the setting like, and who were the characters? Was there a storyline? Please share whatever you feel comfortable sharing.
The setting changes randomly, some days its a school and others its a warzone. All the characters represent an symbol or emotion.
Kyrian L. Malachai: Violent and powerful. One emotion that seems to sprout at the worst of times. (Anger and sarcasm) No wonder why hes most of the time the main character.
Nekoda C. Valentine: Small quite woman who is kind towards others. My goal in life is to be like her... I feel like I am closer to end up like her until the chains pull me back. (Love and kindness)
"The Twins": Two twins but opposite personality. One is unemotional and harsh towards others while twin 2 is happy and helpful. Much like Kyrian and Nekoda, dont appear as much as them.
Tempest: Winged man with dark blue eyes, I see him as a representation of my desire of freedom from school and problems. I have no life besides school, my lizard, and work. Currently the internet is my escape but hopefully in the future it can be something else...
Sometimes a storyline will appear for a few months until more stress appears (such as last month I was having hair fallout from stress... the storyline went from a calm beach storyline about seashells to drowning in the ocean)
6. Were you an active player in your paracosm, or were you a passive observer on what the characters there did? If you were active, what were you like there?
Most of the time passive, since all of them are a basic symbol of me.
7. Did you ever tell anyone about your paracosm? How do you feel about having one? i.e., was it a big secret that you were guilty about, or were you open about sharing it with others?
Never told anyone. Mostly because I dont let people really get close anymore.. I only have one true friend who lives on a different contient now..

8. Did you create your paracosm alone, or with siblings/ close friends?
Alone
9. How did you play in your world, (by writing, by daydreaming, at night before you fell asleep, etc.)
All above besides writing. As I try to draw their faces. They are always left blank
10. Were you ever deluded as to the reality of your paracosm, (believed it was a real place you traveled, delusions of godhood, etc.)
I see it sometimes as a foreshadow of good or awful people I will meet. Such as one time, Nekoda had a face of a woman I have never met. Following that dream, I met that woman in a store. She was the cashier.

11. Has your paracosm played an important role in your creative life? How?
Sorta. Mostly just causes frustration
12. Did you know about paracosms before now? How did you learn about them?
Nope and not until this fourm
13. Did you/do you know anyone else who has/had a paracosm? How did you meet? How did you end up sharing information about your paracosms?
I have never met someone personally with paracosm.
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