The World Feels Broken… So I Built One
- JP de la Rama
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
“The worlds we create often reveal the truths we struggle to say out loud.”
Introduction — Setting the Stage
Some days, reality feels heavier than fiction.
You look around and see corruption.
Instability.
Division.
Survival is becoming harder for ordinary people.
And the strangest part?
Sometimes the real world feels darker than the stories we create.
As an artist, I used to think fantasy existed purely for escape.
But over time, I realized something else:
The best worlds don’t help us avoid reality.
They help us confront it.
That’s why I created Zamora.
Not as an escape from the world,
But as a reflection of it.
A place where monsters are born from human flaws.
Where faith is constantly tested.
Where survival is never guaranteed.
Because honestly?
Sometimes horror tells the truth better than realism does.
The Deep Dive — Why Dark Worlds Exist
People often ask why creators make dark stories.
Why cosmic horror?
Why monsters?
Why suffering?
But dark stories don’t come from nowhere.
They usually come from observation.
Fear.
Frustration.
Disillusionment.
Questions about humanity.
That’s where Zamora came from.
From looking at the world and asking:
“What happens when corruption becomes spiritual?”
“What happens when fear reshapes reality itself?”
“What happens when humanity slowly loses its soul?”
That’s the emotional core behind the world.
Because underneath every monster,
There’s usually a human truth hiding inside it.
Emotion Commits the Crime — Logic Does the Cover Up
Let’s be honest.
Most people don’t connect deeply with stories because of lore alone.
They connect emotionally first.
The lore simply gives structure to the feeling afterward.
Fear creates the connection.
Mystery deepens it.
Meaning makes it stay.
That’s why I didn’t build Zamora starting from mechanics or systems.
I started from emotion.
The feeling that the world is fractured.
The feeling that humanity is slowly losing itself.
Then I asked:
“If that feeling became a universe… what would it look like?”
“The Fractured Cosmology”
That became the foundation of Zamora’s universe.
I call it:
The Fractured Cosmology
A universe divided between creation, corruption, spirit, and oblivion.
Everything began with eternal blackness.
A primordial existence known only as:
Darkness
From Darkness emerged the Prima Materia — The First Matter.
An infinite, formless source from which chaos and eldritch gods were born.
Then came:
Light
And from Light emerged three worlds simultaneously:
Heaven
Hell
The Material World
Heaven and Hell each birthed their own divine rulers.
God the Father in Heaven.
Satan in Hell.
And when the four elements—Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire—were formed…
The Material World came into existence.
The realm of mortals.
The world where humans live, suffer, survive, and die.
The In-Between World — The Soul Bridge
Between all worlds exists another realm:
The In-Between World
A spiritual dimension where time and matter do not exist.
A collective unconscious formed from the souls and spirits of all living creatures.
It binds every world together.
It is both:
A bridge
A gateway
A spiritual bloodstream connecting existence itself
Since Darkness cannot directly penetrate the worlds born from Light—
It uses the In-Between World to influence the Material World indirectly.
That’s why spiritual corruption exists in Zamora.
Darkness doesn’t invade physically first.
It infects spiritually.
The Void — Where Everything Ends
And beyond all worlds lies:
The Void
Absolute emptiness.
No matter.
No spirit.
No rebirth.
This is where all existence eventually falls.
The final destination of death itself.
Not evil.
Not punishment.
Just… ending.
Who Lives in These Worlds?
Every realm carries different forms of existence.
Mortals — The Material World
Humans and living creatures possess:
Physical bodies
Souls
Spirits
That combination is what makes mortals unique.
And vulnerable.
Mortality exists because soul, spirit, and body are connected.
The Light Worlds — Heaven and Hell
Entities from Heaven and Hell possess only spiritual and corporeal forms.
They are endless beings.
But they cannot fully cross into the Material World without vessels or physical forms.
The same rule applies to beings from Darkness.
Zamora — The Anomaly
And then there’s Zamora himself.
He is different.
An impossibility.
A being known as:
The Husk
Zamora has no soul.
No true spiritual presence.
His body can die,
But no soul or spirit exists to pass on.
That absence makes him immortal in a way that terrifies even spiritual beings.
Because in a universe built around the cycle of soul and spirit,
Zamora should not exist.
Magic, Spirits, and Power
In Zamora, magic is never created from nothing.
Mortals merely borrow power from higher realms.
Spiritual warriors known as Spirit Exorcist Warriors channel forces from the In-Between World using ceremonial weapons.
Even science and supernatural abilities are tied to cosmic systems beyond mortal understanding.
Power always has a source.
And every source has consequences.
Why Evil Comes at Night
One concept I deeply love in Zamora is this:
Night Is a Pseudo-Darkness
Night resembles the original Darkness.
Not fully.
But enough for corruption and evil to grow stronger.
That’s why monsters emerge more easily at night.
Not because darkness itself is evil,
But because it echoes the primordial state before Light existed.
The Solution — Why Artists Should Build Worlds
Creating Zamora taught me something important as an artist.
Worldbuilding isn’t just creativity.
It’s emotional architecture.
A way to process fear, uncertainty, belief, and meaning.
If you’re an artist or creator, here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Build From Emotion First
Lore without emotional truth feels hollow.
Start with the feeling.
Then build the systems around it.
2. Your World Reflects Your Questions
The themes you obsess over usually reveal what you’re trying to understand about life.
Lean into that.
3. Horror Works Best When It Mirrors Reality
The scariest monsters are rarely random.
They represent something human.
Corruption. Greed. Isolation. Betrayal.
4. Consistency Creates Depth
Worldbuilding compounds over time.
Small ideas eventually become mythology.
5. Own Your Universe
In unstable industries, building your own IP creates something nobody can fully take from you.
That matters now more than ever.
For Artists and Everyone Else
If you’re an artist:
This is about transforming emotion into mythology.
If you simply feel exhausted by the state of the world:
This is about finding meaning through creation instead of surrendering to despair.
Different paths.
Same truth:
Sometimes we build fictional worlds because reality leaves questions unanswered.
The Shift That Created Zamora
Before:
Absorbing chaos passively
Feeling overwhelmed by reality
Consuming worlds created by others
After:
Transforming fear into storytelling
Building meaning through creation
Owning a world shaped by personal truth
Why I Built Zamora
The world feels fractured sometimes.
Spiritually. Emotionally. Socially.
Zamora came from that feeling.
Not to escape reality,
But to confront it through storytelling.
Because sometimes the best way to understand darkness…
Is to give it a form.
Ask and You Shall Receive
If you could build a world based on one truth about humanity,
What would it reveal?
Fear?
Hope?
Corruption?
Survival?
Reply and tell me.
Because sometimes the worlds we create…
Reveal more about us than reality ever could.
Next newsletter: I’ll show you how Zamora is evolving from an idea into something tangible, graphic novels, lore books, and the foundation of a larger universe.
Subscribe to our newsletter:
Product Links:
#thescribblemedia #indiebasedstudio #animation #comics #webtoon #webcomics #services #platform #illustrationservices #computer #freelance #comicsandmanga #filipino #bisaya #bisdak #clipstudiopaint #clipstudio #clip #studio #ipadpro #tutorial #beginner #tips #videotips #newsletter #inspiration #art #creativedad #struggleofacreativedad #artistdad #artisticmomentum #creativehabits #buildingsystems #atomichabits #atomichabitsbyJamesClear #zamora #fracturedcosmology
