Creating the sci-fi world of the book Red Twin

The book Red Twin is set in a rich science-fiction world called the Colony. I created this setting so I could tell many stories here, just like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or Narnia.

Cultures in the Colony

A science-fiction world of cyberpunk, space opera, and alien invasion

The first thing I did was build the cultures: Rovians, Silvians, and Dalians. The idea was for them to be unique, have their own history, and feel believable.

It’s easy to think everything is solved once you choose an analogy, e.g. Vikings for the rovians. But it takes more than that for a culture to feel alive. What are their technology, religion, government, and food habits? Not to mention their biology.

I had to rely on templates, roleplaying tools, and similar resources. Today I could have used generative AI for all of this and saved a lot of time.

The cultures’ languages are even defined with alphabets and simple glossaries. This was especially important to help me come up with names for characters and places in the Colony.

The sci-fi world “The Colony”

When I set the story on another planet instead of a future Earth or a parallel universe (as I first planned), some problems popped up. How have we not discovered this planet? How could Tuya even travel there? I applied a bit of sci-fi logic to make it work 🖖.

I imagined the Colony as an Earth-like planet like Proxima B—believable, but too far away for us to travel to with today’s technology. But their technology can handle it.

The three cultures—Rovians, Dalians, and Silvians—would have built their societies there over a long time, establishing both capitals and smaller settlements.

As you can see in this early concept, I hadn’t really thought about scale yet. When I started revising and switched from steampunk to cyberpunk, New Rov and everything else took a clearer shape.

So how big is the world in the Colony? Is it Earth-sized, larger, or smaller? Where are the capitals located geographically, and what terrain surrounds them? To figure that out, I turned to well-known RPG tools like Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator to create a map of the world. The map I made really brings the Colony to life!

Superhero in the Colony

When Tuya arrives in the Colony, she finds herself in New Rov, capital of the Rovian Kingdom. The city is surrounded by steppe and resembles Tuya’s homeland, Mongolia. I’ve been there several times and tried to use those experiences to describe the landscape.

So far on the journey we’ve visited a mine in the mountains, an island off the northern coast, and the Silvian capital Mava Salte, where the Empress rules.

The Rovians – warrior culture with the pulse of the steppe

• Homeworld: Rovus – a volcanic landscape with wide steppes
• Biology — pale skin with scales around the crown, neck, and arms.
• Politics & Society: Newly modernized monarchy; capital New Rov
• Technology: From ancient “light runes” to electronics powered by the mysterious X-element.
• Religion: “Heroes of Light” – mythological ancestors who tamed the predators and united the continents.
• Food & Everyday Life: Fire-roasted meat stew seasoned with ash from sacred volcanoes; traditional evening dances around plasma-burning wells.

The Silvians – a people of cat-like artists

• Homeworld: Silvis – dense tropical forests, two moons that light up the night sky.
• Biology: Sleek feline bodies; fur colors vary by continent of origin (emerald green, fire-speckled, moon-white).
• Culture & Rule: Formerly five queens, now an empress in the capital city of Mava Salte.
• Core Competencies: Music, theater, and advanced biomechanics – Silvian stringed instruments are both weapons and works of art.
• Religion: New god “Savi”.
• X-Element: Discovered by a northern mining nation, it started the “Great Silvian War” that nearly devastated the planet.
• Present: The Silvians lead the Colony’s most prestigious gladiatorial tournaments, broadcast live across the continental grid.

Dalians – mysterious guardinas

• Homeworld: Dalai – desert-dominated but rich in underground crystal chambers.
• Biology: secret
• Society: meritocratic clans focused on knowledge, philosophy, and quantum physics.
• Technology: anti-gravity and subspace portals.
• Religion: neo-gods.
• Capital: Shin-Dal, a coastal city of the theocracy.
• Modern role: the Dalians are tolerated but feared as spiritual scientists; rumor has it that they can still activate crashed starships.

Follow along on the rest of the journey, and I’ll send you the latest intelligence reports from the Colony!