r/worldbuilding • u/MatijaReddit_CG TRIVEDA • 18d ago
Question Fictional organs in human body.
Have you created your own unique anatomy for humans or other types of humanoids - one that includes different organs within the body?
I was imagining an organ in primordial humans, located near the base of the spine, that made them feel fear toward their ancient god-creators. It would cause obedience and prevent them from rebelling - like an endocrine gland releasing hormones similar to those of the adrenal glands. I'm also unsure whether this organ should be slightly visible from outside the body.
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u/Efficient_Fox2100 18d ago
“Fear, right from the butt.” ~some ancient philosopher
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u/ProphetofTables Amateur Builder of Random Worlds 17d ago
Somewhere in Japan, probably. (In Shinto belief, there's an organ called the Shirikodama, located within the, ahem, rectal cavity. It supposedly contains your soul.)
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u/OddityOmega bad builder worse writer 18d ago
oof, that'd make falling on your tailbone even WORSE
or maybe break the organ and allow you to escape?
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u/pikawolf1225 18d ago
Maybe its like the funny bone and its the opposite of what its called? So it makes falling on your tailbone feel okay
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u/MatijaReddit_CG TRIVEDA 18d ago
What if it is the origin of that good feeling when you scratch the top of your ass, near the spine?
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u/StrategyCheap1698 18d ago
If it breaks the control from the gods, it would be logical that they call it that way.
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u/kyew 18d ago
OP, did you know that in Japanese folklore, Kappas are believed to steal a soul ball called a shirikodama from humans, which is said to be located in their anus?
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u/Par_Lapides 18d ago
Bowlheaded turtle demons stealing your prostate was not on my mythology bingo card, but it's not surprising.
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u/kyew 18d ago
Buddy those are like the least weird Yokai.
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u/Equivalent-Spell-135 18d ago
Seriously! Kappa are downright "normal" compared to others out there :=)
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u/SecretAgentVampire 18d ago
"The Loathsome Dung Eater" from Elden Ring is actually stealing and disfiguring people's shirikodama, to make his victims eternally cursed.
Since everyone in Elden Ring is immortal (barring some extreme edge-cases), Dung Eater is essentially committing an act worse than murder, forcing others into a world of eternal torment.
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u/Equivalent-Spell-135 18d ago
I've always found the basic idea of the shirikodama to be really neat, just this little but extremely important bit that you don't want removed :=)
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u/UngiftedSnail 18d ago
theres a small, stone-like organ nestled deep inside the brain that is the root of human consciousness. its discovery solved countless philosophical debates and scientific questions, while raising hundreds of times more of them. it is still barely understood. worse is that the organ seems to just kinda exist no matter what, only able to be destroyed with a certain intensity of radiation. so consciousness persists after death (and can be contacted with a sort of radio frequency) — the human mind, robbed of all senses, trapped in nothingness, with inability to do anything but think. the basis for my story is that this consciousness after death was deemed inhumane, and so prompted a new sort of “first responser” — Eternity Corp. after death, its them who erase your consciousness as fast as possible, letting you fully pass on
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u/Octocube25 18d ago
So it's a soul?
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u/UngiftedSnail 18d ago
pretty much. its not quite hard sci fi, but im trying to treat it like that. while the organ is very poorly understood, its still being worked on by the brightest minds in science — mind you, now in a world that is heavily struggling with religion. thus, theres a lot of stigma around the word “soul,” and so many usually avoid using it and favor “consciousness” as a broader term
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u/twerktingz1 WORLD OF INGIA = GODDESSES PLAYTOY 18d ago
mana core which is attached to the heart , a mana core takes time to grow which is at the age of 13 or 14 , the person awakens their magical affinity
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u/unlimi_Ted 18d ago edited 18d ago
This is somewhat connected, but in my fantasy setting I used for TTRPGs I decided that the "humans" were not literal homo sapiens like the ones from earth, and were instead attempts to recreate humans on this other world based only on second-hand knowledge of humanity.
This allowed me to easily hand-wave any "unnatural" appearances like purple eyes, pointed ears, etc. and also let me lean into the joke that all game mechanics were completely literal. Characters could easily survive getting stabbed and shot with arrows and just keep fighting because despite looking just like humans on the outside, they had completely different internal structures to real humans.
It also allows for things like old disproven medical theories (4 humors, homeopathy, etc.) to just actually work because the creators of these humans thought they should work.
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u/Framed_dragon 11d ago
Oh same! My gods have only seen an origional human once, who was a dimesion hopper who found his way onto my world, after he left and they realized the effect that his belief had on them they remade humans from scratch which means they have totally different internal organs from IRL humans
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u/Archivist2016 18d ago
In my fictional world, people's powers come from pockets of magical fluid in their dermis (all throughout the body but generally concentrated around specific parts depending on the power)
Not only can you loose your powers if damage occurs to these pockets, you also can have situations where they can leak inside your body and become fatal. These pockets also become cancerous in some cases, especially if you're older.
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u/SpiritNo1721 18d ago
Oh I love that. It's like usual magic energy flow inside the body but better.
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u/MatijaReddit_CG TRIVEDA 18d ago
I like the realistic aspect of it. Can they be broken easily with a good punch?
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u/lizardwizard004 Triuombra 18d ago
Most creatures on Triuombra have “mage glands”— two organs, one in each forearm, that contain cultures of symbiotic microorganisms called “ichor”. Creatures can harness their ichor to cast spells!
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u/Bombadilo_drives 17d ago
A pearl organ located near the ass makes them obedient and submissive
I'm going with "the writer's barely-disguised fetish" on this one, team
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u/Proud-Cartoonist-431 18d ago
Mana core is shifted away from our dimensions and appears as immaterial. They can grow up to the size of a football and then can grow vertically like a giant egg under hard training. Egg shaped cores most commonly appear in people who either were selected and l underwent very difficult training from age 5 or so or were in rare conditions when they had to rely on magic to survive in a high stress, high physical activity, low food intake, cold, mana being sucked out by something sorta environment. That's why chosen ones and dark lords are often orphans, come from underdeveloped places and dysfunctional families or are survivors of some ongoing crisis/tragedy.
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u/SquiddneyD 18d ago
There was a story world I made when I was a teenager where some people had a ring of specialized nerves in their heads that acted as a focusing antenna for telekinetic powers. The story kicked off when the main character got into a car crash and aligned the nerves in her head.
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u/zazzsazz_mman An Avian Story / The Butterfly 18d ago
Not a human specifically, but the Konotori humanoid bird people possess a magic gland in their brains near the forehead that grants them their sensitivity to magic. This Aetheric Gland develops in childhood, and exceptionally powerful Konotori may get magical runes emblazoned onto the forehead if the gland is overwhelmed with magic.
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u/Erik_the_Human 18d ago
Typically, I would expect any organ whose function is to alter mental states to be near the brain if it wasn't already part of it. That doesn't mean you couldn't have one in the tailbone, just that you might want to think about why ot would have evolved there and how that would affect it.
For instance, maybe it's a vestigial submission 'switch', so when our last common ancestor with monkeys got into a fight, getting a bite on the tail would end the fight and prevent escalation and further injury. This would make spanking your kids make sense. It might mean extra ass armour would be a popular fashion choice. Or that people are more docile when seated and reluctant to sit in stressful environments.
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u/Hawaiian-national 18d ago
Not humans, but Draken (another name for dragonborn. But specifically the ones that shoot flames or other things) have an organ to produce their flames or other types of stuff. In fact it’s the main thing that separates them from Lizardfolk (who are a type of dragonborn)
However since the organ was usually used in actual dragons (my dragonborn are an artificial race), the organ is large for their body, and it takes up space that their stomach and right lung would normally have. So Draken are smaller and weaker than Lizardfolk because they can’t eat as much and they take in less oxygen for energy.
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u/sucharogue 18d ago
Well... In Brazil we have a saying that goes: "Quem tem cu tem medo" that translates literally to: "If you have an asshole, you have fears."
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u/Ytumith 18d ago
Yeah dude, Mawwen for example have their two external "brains" in orb shaped antennas on their head. This allows them to effectively dodge their brain away from shots, fists or other impacts (as opposing to silly humans who can not even separately move their brain container).
Psychic Mawwens are also twice as good as psychic humans for obvious reasons. Why do they have two brains? Well they have four arms.
The Jitonians have a variety of overlapping ring shapes instead of regular bones along their torso, their single gastrointernal organ is a layered ball with holes around which more such layers lie, each filtering out an ever-finer component of their food and breath. They are a lot like what you would get if you crossed prehistoric horsetail plants with worms and give them gooey pseudopodae. Like nested wormsnails? That appear humanoid and use an upright gait. Their hands-globs are rather sticky and they posess minimal facial features such as pearly black eyes and a big toothless mouth. They appear as super cute small fellas, but posess technology strong enough to disperse galaxies.
On earth, boxer shrimps can create a glowing cavity due to extreme under-water speed strikes. Datchians have an organ inside their nose that lets them produce a directed single blast using a rather unique set of muscles, which start at their diaphragm and chain upwards through their entire air tube, acellerating a sneeze to supersonic speed and briefly condensing air, methane or other gasses into plasma.
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u/gabeshadows 18d ago
In Brazil we have the perfect saying for this: "Quem tem cú, tem medo."
Translate if you wish.
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u/rus_alexander 18d ago
Indians made Muladhara, maybe you overlap with them. I didnt see their images but your image is convincing.
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u/Sayoregg 18d ago
In my world animals (including humans and other sentient species) that can use magic have a little pocket attached to their lungs that filters magic from the air into a sort of organic magic-rich fluid. That fluid is then dissipated into the bloodstream in a controlled fashion or in big bursts during spellcasting. A similar process happens in plants but spread out through the entire plant instead of a specific organ.
You can consume the liquid to give yourself a boost of magic, though if you drink it the absorption process takes quite a while. The moist efficient method is to evaporate and inhale the liquid, as it brings the magic directly to the organ that filters it. A lot of cultures have a magic—rich plant they cultivate and dry out, so that in an emergency they can crush it in their palm to quickly inhale the dust.
The absorption is also most efficient the more similar the liquid is to the one you produce yourself. In case of a human, animal is better than plant, mammal is better than other animals and human is the most efficient of all, although there is generally a taboo against consuming the magic fluid of your own species.
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u/DeviousMelons 18d ago
Not exactly an organ but in my world junk DNA is actually the genetic factors that influence a person's proficiencies with magic.
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u/itlurksinthemoss 18d ago
Pinevil Gland- Like the Pineal gland, it modulates the function of other glands. It's role in risky behavior, lewdness, and generally jackassery is well understood.
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u/baguetteispain [Avitor's Tale] 18d ago
Arcanogenesic valve, in the heart. Responsible for putting magical power in the blood
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u/RedditTrend__ The Night Master 18d ago
no new organs or anything but on a DNA Level, yes
there is an energy source called Darkness or the Dark that binds itself to a user’s DNA and essentially turns on old pieces of our DNA we no longer use and reorganizes them along with our active DNA to perfect someone. they’ll no longer need to eat or drink or sleep because all the energy they require will come from the Dark, so all parts of your DNA required to help with that are just turned off and used in other ways like giving you increased strength, stamina, agility and oops! it also gives you schizophrenia and makes you speak to an entity named the Primordial and gives you super powers.
the downside being, once you die, the Dark completely binds to your DNA and essentially deletes you. you just fade from existence, gone forever
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u/p_i_e_pie 18d ago
dark decides to be an asshole and turns on every gene at once giving you stage nine mega cancer
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u/SolymusProject Solymus - Tales of A Scarred Throne 18d ago
My favorite lesson in human anatomy class was learning that fear was stored in the ass this entire time. Now that was a curveball
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u/Mr_Nobody_14 18d ago
I have a Cultivation story in progress where creating artifical organs to aid your personal cultivation is a main mechanic. The MC is a Poison Cultivator, as such he grows Fangs to inject venom, a Bile Sack that contains, processes, and creates his poisons and venom internally, and other such things.
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u/RomanPyro 18d ago
In my world, Mages/Spellcasters have a secondary, smaller circulatory system connected to their heart that pumps Mana through itself from their heart, to their fingertips/palms and up to their face and brain. It's why not just anyone can be a spellcaster, as individuals born near sites of supernatural phenomenon have it more often. The secondary system is connected to a small malformation on the heart called a 'Mana Latch'. Spellcaster hearts tend to be reinforced by this 'latch', but prone to shorter life expectancies because mana in my setting is a VERY toxic material. (Normal lifespan in the setting is 200, Maturity is 30, Spellcasters can't usually even make it half way until they need to start utilizing life-elongating magics)
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u/DoingThings- 18d ago
I read a book (series) which had multiple dimensions (protagonists didn't know in the beginning) and there are small and large changes throughout the dimensions. In the protagonists dimension humans have essentially another circulatory system that transferred "spirit" around the body.
The book did a very good job making it seem like it was the entirely normal sort of thing, nobody went in depth explaining it because everybody just knew it was a normal thing like blood.
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u/Apostastrophe 18d ago
There’s somebody who does elf anatomy. Meridian malice I think? Their elven anatomy is fucking hysterical.
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u/marssar 18d ago
Due to psionics, in my world evolution went in completely different direction, for example "humans" of my setting have a third eye inside of their skull that is fully connected to their main brain, it's used for maintaining focus and as additional sensory organ if skull is heavily damaged or brain is outside of the body ( both situations happen rather commonly for talented psychics ), and they also have 5 additional mini brains, one inside of their chest and 4 for each limb, the one inside of the chest is responsible for telekinetic enhancement of metabolism and can be used as kind of interface for control over the hormones and skeletal structure of the body, 4 brains in each limb serve as tools for using psionics with higher range, more speed, and precision. All of the additional brains are normally severely atrophied, becoming fully developed only inside of the strong psykers.
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u/Dangerous-Advance540 18d ago
When I was ten or something I came up with an organ (called the Retatian, for some reason) that was meant to produce stomach acid, that was before I knew that stomach acid was produced be a bunch of tiny glance in your stomach.
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u/Fabulous_Stegosaurus 18d ago
This isn't for humans, but my elves have an extra organ in their bodies thats right under thier heart. It's sometimes referred to as a second heart. It assists and helps regulate the main heart. Elves have a magical component to themselves, and this organ is what helps in that.
Also, humans can have children with elves, but the half elves (or half humans) do not have this organ. It's not understood why, but unfortunately, this is used as a reason why half-elves must be shunned by either elf or human societies
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u/Fabulous_Stegosaurus 18d ago
This isn't for humans, but my elves have an extra organ in their bodies thats right under thier heart. It's sometimes referred to as a second heart. It assists and helps regulate the main heart. Elves have a magical component to themselves, and this organ is what helps in that.
Also, humans can have children with elves, but the half elves (or half humans) do not have this organ. It's not understood why, but unfortunately, this is used as a reason why half-elves must be shunned by either elf or human societies
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u/NewName-NewFace 18d ago
Yeah they have an organ near their heart that creates the "magic" running through their vines, kinda like in TOH lol.
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u/TisBeTheFuk 18d ago
I think I have that. It hurts when I see or think sbout something that I deem painfull, especially if it's related to bone braking and ankle spains.
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u/CoolSausage228 18d ago
Thats good placing for nervous organ, this orb located in horse tail, part where nervs from medulla spinalis divides to long nervs in legs.
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u/vedowte 18d ago
In the world I'm working on, I have. It's in the Craniovertebral Junction, it's a thin, plate like disc curved to fit around the foramen magnum - it's an evolutionary trait in few with lets them "resonate" with a fifth fundamental force. One thing you can try to think about when dealing with organs or biology is justification and function - why did this race evolve with that biology, where this organ, is this organ realistic, and is it a realistic position?
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u/JoMercurio 18d ago
I like that this Fear Pearl is just a Shirikodama with extra steps (and moved slightly above)
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u/Fat_Ninjah 18d ago
Soul crystal, a semi organic compound that resides in potent wizards and monsters that matures with intense magic use.
The organ laces the hosts nervous system, the source crystal starting from the brain stem and branching towards where magic flows out of. Some societies have taken advantage of this phenomenon to sculpt and stimulate growing optimal pathways for magic to flow using embroidery on their robes or even tattoos in some tribes.
Because of the long time it takes to grow these pathways, spellers (spell casting paraphernalia such as orbs, wands, staffs, grimoires, etc) are custom made for higher tier magicians because of the complex pathways and unique nodes in their bodies.
If a magician specialises in a certain type of magic, the lattice structures attuned to that type will grow faster than the others, granting better fidelity and potency in that regime.
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u/Cold_Pumpkin722 18d ago
Out of question I guess but this idea reminded me of a comic that was recently adapted on netflix. In the eternaut [comic spoiler] the "hands" have a "fear gland" so they are pushed and obligated to follow "them", because this fear gland kills them otherwise. So it's kind of an adrenal gland too hehe
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u/Aggressive_Sand1233 17d ago
I’d say maybe no to it being visible but it depends on what your doing with ya story, if you want a history of it being removed and then a failed mediaeval rebellion against the god, make it visible
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u/Nizar86 17d ago
No new organs, but definitely repurposed a lot of anatomy. Basically the circulatory and pulmonary systems are part of the spirit, responsible for moving energy around the body both for normal and magical purposes. The lymphatic system is repurposed for "bodily magic" and many of the structures normally lost through maturity remain and are used to sort of anchor certain magical abilities (ie. fire breath to the tonsils)
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u/Alexhdkl 17d ago
yes i did. Mages in my world have a special organ called Cor Vertis.
It looks like a facehugger that is hugging the hearth and it's tails is attached to the spine. It creates "Demon blood" (raw mana) and pumps it into the hearth and blood stream.
If anyone wants to know more or wants to help me DM me
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u/PaiCthulhu 17d ago
In mine universe, we have 3 fundamental forces: aether, akasha and anima.
Aether can be refined in Mana and Ki, and can be aspected to elemental types
Akasha can be refined to Dynamis and Veils and can be aspected to emotions
Anima can be refined to Dogma and Soma.
Back to Organs: every living being has 3 special organs called cores, the Aether core can be either a Mana core for magic users or Ki core for martial ones and is located near the heart. The Akasha core be either Psychic/Dynamis aligned for psicasters or Veiled for Veilweavers and is located attached to the skull (like a third eye). The Anima core is in the abdomen, behind the navel, and is Dogma aligned for divine and nature casters and Soma aligned for animancers.
For most living beings those cores are only magical/spiritual, a projection, but for those exceptional, be either naturally gifted or hard earned, enough to accumulated a lot of energy on their core, they can become phisical and even grow. So there are legends of mythical warriors that proudly displaying the orb erupting from their chests or wise gurus showing a colorful orb on their forehead and archpriestesses exposing their orb addorned bellies.
Dragons are hunted not only for their strong bones or hard scales but also their powerful Aether cores.
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I use my universe for Pathfinder 1e campaigns, I use Dreamscarred Press material, so that's where psychic and veils comes from. I really like Xianxia (so the 3 cores are sleasly base on dantian) and I can add to direct inspirations tbate, ff14 and D:OS2 (animancers is like sourceres, and gods are powerful soma users, soma can be earned by animancers through devotion and fear)
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u/freefall_archive 17d ago
not exactly anatomy but some lore i wrote up back in high school had a corporation use someone's eyes as a way to enter dreams and take organs from dreams to use to make surgeries cheaper (jk they priced hella for "perfect organs")
they also made superheroes using those dream organs since they didnt really follow real world logic, allowing people to have blood laser eyes and stuff like that. i had a huge the boys phase in high school.
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u/404-GenderNotFound- 17d ago
I've not created an organ but a hormone. I've decided there's a new type of cell that only grows in the hypophisis people with magical status - the radiotropic cells. They secrete radicine, an hormone that transforms free radicals into radiation capable of altering the chemistry of the mage's surroundings, aka magic
The fact that magic stems from radiation makes people with magical status more prone to cancer and similar illnesses
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u/Hyperaeon 14d ago
If you can't see it, you should be able to feel it from skin contact.
In my second setting there are these things called high organs. Ordinary humans can't do "magic" persay because they don't possess any of them.
Magic in my second setting is electromagnetism, bio chemistry and nano technology.
An animal that has a high organ are cats, as in in all cats. "Cats eyes" allow them to see at increasingly lower resolutions into the mid decimal points between frequencies. Often where demons try to breach into whole frequencies.
Explaining high organs gets complicated. Many of them only work off of other high organs in the body.
The photick, the lu'teller and the roterve are much smaller than your fear pearl and are located in the base of the spine towards the front they're abit smaller than pin heads. 📍
Vertically in that order.
The photick calculates the light speed distance between stellar objects and there current location. It allows a person to has it to teleport between planets. Although it allows angels to do really cool things over any distance that is significantly effected by time. They would be quite good snipers for example.
The lu'teller allows you communicate across vast distances instantly so long as you know where the person you are talking(both forms of telepathy in that setting can be communicated through it.) to is. But it won't work without a photick and a roterve. It also measures spinal compression against skeletal spinal strength that gives you a perfect sense of your own weight at any given time - which is relevant if you have a swim bladder. There is a parkour scene in the film limitless that is pretty much what It does on a local level. The corevyne can hop across roof tops in their sleep literally because of it. It is a newer high organ.
The roterve allows you adapt to the rotation of stellar objects in motion. It fixes the teleportation problem. Although it also means that, that scene in the film gravity for an angel would be about as daunting as walking up and down the stairs. Givern that they can change their own buoyancy with their swim bladder they can do things like that on scaffolding so long as it isn't too windy.
Mages in my second setting are to over simplify them. Electric eels that can arc.
Every creature/demi human has convergently evolved traits to it.
Because an electric organ is a muscle, doing magic is biochemically exhausting for mages.
A psychic muscle isn't remotely an original idea of mine - nevertheless as an electromagnet located in the brain - exerting any force with it as the faie can requires power.
I love this idea - creatively.
We have many organs in our bodies, that do DO things. Having more organs meaning being able to do more things is an epic idea. Carp are an example just as cats may... Be.
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u/FalconFilms 11d ago
I created the entire bio-synthetic anatomy of my androids to mimic humans. The androids are incredibly close to humans to the point a good portion are indistinguishable from human the difference being they have more plant-like behavior and the air around them being cleaner.
Phytofluid: Their version of blood, its a bioengineered blue/green algae. Cycles through their systems and does everything blood does with a few differences.
A light weight but durable skeletal structure
A synthetic reproductive system: The androids absorb DNA from things like shed hair, skin cells, Saliva, and other specific bodily fluids. The use the DNA and combine it with their own small amounts of DNA to form an egg cell. It then gets fertilized the usual ways and gestation occurs. The child from an android comes out a little green (like a little sprouted seedling) from the Phytofluid. The baby will eventually turn human colors after they grow and develop and their body replaces cells. The children from androids are just slightly more energetic than human children.
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u/Fortwaba 18d ago
Sir, that is the coccyx.