Creativity exists within us all
I've been a big fan of Table Top RPGs for most of my life. Critical Role was a huge part of that from their very first episode back in 2015, I watched campaign after campaign and was inspired to build worlds of my own to run my own games in.
Unsurprisingly, I fell in love with it. With the freedom and creativity to make whole civilisations rise and fall in my mind and found joy in inviting others to join me in stories we wrote together. They've been a huge part of my life and have helped me conquer things I've been going through and gave me an escape when it all became too much. Yet in all of it I've come to realise that so many people want to build worlds but find the task too daunting to do alone.
A lot of people even consider themselves not creative enough to achieve this task. But I think that's just doubt talking and all people sometimes need is a little nudge.
So welcome to Colabria, an international project centered around building fantasy worlds together from a blank map to culturally diverse and unique civilisations and stories. Everything we make together in the Streams (hosted on Twitch) will find its way here.
People and places, history and lore, gods and religions. Let's get something interesting going, something no one has ever tackled before. I hope you will all join me on the journey and help make this world an inspiring one.
- Iona Hazlehurst
Writing made me who I am today. Throughout my upbringing, it was often easy to fall into the typical experiences of youth. Social rejection, bullying, anxiety and fear of failure following your steps.
I've always been a rather emotional and shy child. "The quiet kid" is the easiest way to label it, but the creative world of fiction that lurked my mind has always been a comfort space. Creating character concepts, worlds, cultures, languages, then putting them all together into works of fiction. As a non-native speaker of English, from an early age I've developed my skill in the language and with it my writing improved and I finally felt my confidence and identity bloom. Being an author became a passion and creativity of expression was part of my goal.
Gaming has encouraged me to explore various avenues of storytelling beyond books. As another escape, it continues to allow me to find platforms to learn and improve from regularly. Dungeons and Dragons introduced me to theatre, voice acting, invocation of emotion through mere speech and the art of Roleplay did the same through text. As I grew older, music became a large part of my creative journey too, enriching the tales I told and infinite worlds I'd build within my mind.
It was the variety of topics I'd explore in a safe manner which have made me into the person I am, teaching me real life skills and maturing me with an open mind and an ever-growing bag of ideas to draw from. Over time I'd start to put that energy on paper and eventually, the passions I shared were found by others like me. Iona, who's given me the space to co-produce this wonderful project into something great, has been a big part of my inspiration and motivation to give my stories life.
- Faruk Mešanović
Make a donation
At the moment all of the programs used, this website and domain and all editing is funded by me and my job beyond Colabria. Although I will happily fund this venture for as long as I can, any and all support would be graciously accepted. I won’t let you give something for nothing however, so if you donate £5 you will get a special role on the discord and your name on the Contributors Page will be made bold and highlighted. Donate £10 and your names will go in to a draw, ready for as soon as the world is made as I will be creating one shots to run and you could get selected to play in them. Donate £15 and you’ll gain access to some exclusive content here on the website, hidden to others, of more in-depth character and world information as the world is expanded over time. I love all of you guys and if you want to give something, I will of course give something back.
Thank You
There have already been so many amazing people contributing to the Colabria Project since it began in 2022. To make sure that everyone is mentioned and given credit, we have a special Thank You page just for them. Please to take time to check them out! Artists, Voice Actors, Writers and Editors are all there listed and many will have their socials tagged in case you wanted to get any work done by them too! We are incredibly lucky to have had so many talented people wanting to get involved, and we are so, so grateful.
That said, the names of every single person who’s contributed on streams will also be credited there! So if you’ve been involved you can head over to find your name there too.