FAQ
Questions about Elegor
Elegor is an open high-fantasy world you can read, cite, and build upon under CC BY 4.0. These answers cover what the world is, how to use it for your own creative work, how the license applies, and how the seal system and community fit together.
Getting started
What is Elegor?
Elegor is a high-fantasy worldbuilding project created by Davide and Riccardo Ravasi, released under CC BY 4.0. It gives you a complete world (its own cosmology, history, sapient species, geography, and magic system) that anyone can read, cite, and build upon. The official corpus lives in the Elegor Compendium, the wiki at lore.elegor.world.
Is Elegor a game?
Elegor is a world first, and it adapts to any game system you bring to it. You can run a tabletop campaign in it, write fiction set in it, or use it as the backdrop for any other creative work. The lore stays independent from rules, so your favourite system fits on top of it.
Where should I start?
The Elegor Compendium at lore.elegor.world is the canonical record of everything an inhabitant of Elegor can know, observe, and discuss. If you want the broad strokes before diving in, the setting page on this site gives a shorter overview of the world, its species, and its history.
Do I need to read everything before I can use Elegor?
You can start with the corner of the world your project touches and expand outward from there. The Compendium is heavily cross-linked, so following the references that matter to your story is enough to get going. The rest of the canon stays available whenever you want to go deeper.
Creating with Elegor
I've always wanted to write a fantasy novel, but worldbuilding stopped me. Can I use Elegor for my book?
Yes, and this is exactly why Elegor exists. The world gives you a coherent setting with its own legends, history, and structural rules, so you can put your energy into the story while the foundations are already in place. You keep full rights to your novel and license it however you prefer, including all-rights-reserved.
Can I set my tabletop campaign in Elegor?
Absolutely, and the world is designed to host exactly that kind of play. Four thousand years of recorded history, many regions, and a defined magic system give you plenty of material to drop your players into. You bring the rules system you like, and Elegor supplies the setting.
I'm an illustrator or a musician, not a writer. Is Elegor for me too?
The world is built to be interpreted across every medium, and visual and musical work sits at the heart of that. Illustrators, musicians, game designers, and software makers all draw on the same canon, each reading it through their own craft. Your interpretation becomes part of what makes the world feel alive.
Can I make money from what I create in Elegor?
Yes, CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, so you can sell your novel, game, album, or artwork. The only requirement is attributing the original Elegor corpus, which you can do in your credits, acknowledgements, or metadata. Your earnings and your rights over your own work stay entirely yours.
What if I want to invent something new in the world?
Two routes lead there. The first is contributing directly to the lore, joining the community of Contributors who carry Elegor forward and grow it as a setting. The second runs through the things you make (a story, a game, an illustration, a piece of music), which you can submit to the Elegor Society for review; when your work holds elements interesting enough to expand the lore, it earns the Elegor Pioneering seal and those elements enter the canon.
License and attribution
What does CC BY 4.0 mean for me?
It means the official Elegor corpus is free to read, cite, and build upon for any purpose, including commercial use. The single requirement is attribution to the original creators. Everything else about how you use the world is open to you.
How do I attribute Elegor?
Use the attribution template and adapt its phrasing to your medium, whether that is a game credits screen, a book acknowledgements page, a website footer, or a metadata field. The canonical wording is: "Based on Elegor (https://elegor.world), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Original creators: Davide Ravasi and Riccardo Ravasi. Canon and seals curated by the Elegor Society." The license page on this site covers the edge cases in full.
Do I have to release my own work under CC BY 4.0?
Your derivative work carries any license you choose, including full all-rights-reserved copyright. Only the official Elegor canon stays under CC BY 4.0. You keep complete control over the stories, art, games, or software you create in the world.
Can I use Elegor for a commercial project?
Yes, commercial use is allowed under the license, from a self-published novel to a funded game or a paid soundtrack. You attribute the original corpus as described above, and the rest is yours to sell. There is no fee and no separate permission to request.
Seals and community
What are the Elegor seals?
Four seals recognise different kinds of creative engagement with the world. Elegor Inspired marks works set in Elegor, Elegor Hallmarked recognises craft and lore-faithfulness, Elegor Pioneering is for works that add new canon, and Elegor Official marks works produced by the Elegor Society itself. Each seal has public criteria and a review process managed by the Society.
How do I get a seal for my work?
From Phase 2 of the public rollout, any creator can submit a work for seal review through the Elegor Compendium. Submissions are routed to the relevant thematic group of the Editorial Council based on what the work touches, such as species, history, geography, or spellcraft. Reviewers assess it against the published criteria for the seal level you request.
What is a Voice of Elegor?
Every contributor creates at least one in-world avatar, a Voice of Elegor, and their material is presented as if authored by that character. Voices come from diverse backgrounds, including scholars, adventurers, bards, and painters. The avatar gives your contributions a consistent in-world identity within the canon.
How do I join?
The join page on this site is where you register as an Elegor Contributor and create your first Voice of Elegor. From there you can explore the Compendium, build your work, and submit it for seal recognition when you are ready. Participation is open, and the community grows as new creators arrive.
Still have a question?
The Compendium holds the full canon, and the license page covers the rules of use in detail. For anything else, the Elegor Society is the point of contact for lore, seals, and license questions.