#Worldbuilding exercises

[redd956]

Worldbuilding Exercise #9

What are three factions/organizations that all have the same goal, but are completely different still via goals, aesthetics, behavior, or other?

How do these factions differ from each other? What makes them so alike? Do they know each other, and if so how does that typically go?

How do these groups recruit newer people? What would life be like in them?

[waywardstation]

Ingo and Akari are surprised when they’re approached by a Hisuian Zoroark parent and their kits — these aggressive pokemon are notorious for secluding themselves away from most Pokémon towns, and keeping others away from them. The group even seems standoffish while they approach them! For a moment, Ingo is concerned they accidentally encroached on Zoroark territory, and they’re about to be attacked.

But when Zoroark hands a request over to the exploration team, begging the pair to go find their third missing kit, it makes a little more sense.

Without hesitation, Akari reassures the group they’ll find the missing Zorua as soon as possible.

—————

More of my Hisui PMD AU! I don’t know how long this artwork has been sitting around, but I threw some tones on it and decided to post it ^^

[bedupolker]

Wait I knew that about hamsters but a friend of mine who owns rats says they also eat their babies so now I have Questions about that comic (it's awesome btw, love ur art)

Many mammals will eat their offspring for stress related reasons, but hamsters would probably feel the least guilt over it

[recurring-polynya]

Sorry to be insane about Soul Society once again, but does anyone actually know anything about those boards they are always banging on whenever there's an emergency or a wartime exemption or whatnot?

This thing:

Does it have a name? A historical precedent?

I wasted a portion of my morning trying to figure this out, and the closest thing I could find was the hanshō (半鐘), which is a bell that was struck with a hammer and were used for fire alarms. (You can read more at this interesting article about fires and firefighting in Edo-era Tokyo; there's a section about halfway down specifically about the bells).

That's a bell though. The thing above is definitely wood; I left it as a video so you can listen to the banging. If you want to listen to what an actual hanshō sounds like, here's a news piece about the one at the U.S. National Arboretum. There is a lot of bell ringing in that video but they ring the actual hanshō about about 1:25, and it's got kind of a muted reverberation, but it definitely goes "bong", rather than the distinctly wooden "clack clack clack" from the video above.

At some point while I was down deep in this rabbit hole, I learned that most hanshō were melted down for their metal during WWII. Does the Seireitei have a metal shortage? I feel like there is not a lot of metal/mining in Soul Society generally and while this might be fun enrichment for my terrible brain, someone chose to draw these bang-y boards all the time and I am absolutely sure it was not for the purposes of alluding to Soul Society's otherwise-uncommented upon metal shortage.

There was also the weird slide-y board, cursive alert tiles that B3 posted about once. We saw it exactly once during that early period where Kubo was absolutely wilding on Soul Society worldbuilding. Weirdly enough, if you look up that part in the anime (the opening moments of episode 21), you can hear a bell being struck in the background. Maybe they just liked the wooden sound better??

In fact, the sound effects they used in the manga were "BONG BONG BONG" and "KLANG KLANG KLANG."

I don't even know anymore.

[rogue-rook]

I have SOME THOUGHTS about equal rites ushering in early era discworld by giving us eskarina, a girl who becomes a wizard with granny weatherwax's help, and now shepherd's crown is ushering out late era discworld by giving us geoffrey swivel, a boy who wants to become a witch with tiffany aching's help, neatly closing the narrative loop

[novlr]

[yyprompts]

🌙💙🤍

Worldbuilding Checklist (in general)

What is the predominant religion or lack thereof, and why? What other religions are practiced here?

What is the government? Is it a monarchy, dictatorship, etc., and why is it that way?

What are the public holidays? What holidays aren't public but are still widely celebrated?

How is the climate? What unique forms of nature can be found here?

What species of animal are native to here? Do invasive species exist here, and if so, which species?

Which laws are heavily enforced here, if any, and which are less enforced (if not at all)?

What is considered a socially acceptable form of dress here? What do the subjects usually wear?

What traits tend to be valued over others by people here?

What is the dating culture like? How does this impact the people here, and society overall?

What currency is used, and how did it come to be this way?

What is considered socially unacceptable or taboo, and why?

What is the biggest threat to this place? Could this threat ever be taken care of?

What hobbies are very popular amongst people in this world?

Are there any unique proverbs / idioms / sayings used in the language(s) here?

What kind of music is generally enjoyed by the people here?

What is the education like in general? Is it free, accessible, and good for the children? What types of schools/institutes exist here?

[alexanderwales]

I'm going to do a simple grid-based worldbuilding exercise:

There are five attributes: Power, Speed, Precision, Sense, and Vitality.

There are five elements: Leaf, Rust, Syrup, Teeth, Chalk. (These categories are loose an symbolic, not literal. Leaf means anything particulate, Rust is anything with a chaotic process, Syrup is viscous fluids, Teeth are hard and sharp things, and Chalk is anything that writes or marks by leaving something behind.)

There are twenty-five magic systems, predicated on combinations of attribute and element, with relatively high levels of "interpretation" of their base. Rules for myself are no more than a minute per entry, so expect typos, and a few stinkers.

Power-Leaf allows the manifestation of a single giant leaf, as though pulled from some gigaflora, from a regular leaf. This can be wielded as a weapon, and manipulated by the user, creating strong winds, or fanned to help launch the user into the air. Since "Leaf" covers all particulates, less standard versions of this include a giant boulder from a grain of sand or a caber from a wood chip.

Power-Rust allows the indiscriminate spread of chaotic, destructive forces, anything that's a process, including rust, fire, mold, rot, etc. The spread is indiscriminate, but the nature can be tuned, and skilled practitioners learn to pay close attention to their surroundings.

Power-Syrup is a sloshing mess. Anything viscous works, waves of mud, torrents of honey, huge sweeping waves of the stuff in combat, manifested from nothing. Very useful for making any food that's a thick liquid when not in combat.

Power-Teeth is largely bite-based, but also represents a suite of personal combat powers, particularly those that use bone (elbows, knees, headbutts). If teeth is symbolically hardness, then Power-Teeth is using something hard and inflexible as a tool.

Power-Chalk is a marking power, slashing sticks of chalk against the enemy, using those marks to throw them around. The same can be done with objects, a kind of high-power low-precision telekinesis.

Speed-Leaf is speed around obstacles. The naïve case is running very fast across grasslands, but this is the power of falling leaves, which are sometimes carried by the practitioner for use in a fight, letting them move with swift strikes as a handful of grass flutters down around them. The more obstacles and barriers to move around or weave through, the faster they go.

Speed-Rust is largely used as a healing power, accelerating the mending of wounds, but it can speed decay too, or the flourishing of plants, or any other messy biological power. Its use with fire is limited, making it flash brightly and then burn out, but it can be used with rust as well oxidizing touched metals, sometimes so much that it sucks the air from a room.

Speed-Syrup is a movement power, slow to start, slow to stop, mimicking the viscosity of a thick liquid, taking that aspect into their body. Slow to move doesn't just mean that they take a while to get to their top speed, it also means that they can plant their feet in a fight.

Speed-Teeth is hard, sharp, cracking speed, not quite teleportation but the speed of something inflexible. It works better with a rigid subject, like someone in full plate armor, though practitioners without that kind of money sometimes just strap bits of metal to themselves.

Speed-Chalk is a "follow-the-line" speed, better on marked paths, better in a fight with set moves. Restriction breeds speed, and of all the speed class, they're the ones that can move the fastest, assuming that they have a properly lined roaded to run along.

Precision-Leaf is a striking power, best able to hit one thing of many, a knife thrown precisely through a crowd to hit its target, a jab to a weak spot. Metaphorically, it's plucking the single correct leaf from a tree without even trying that hard. In theory, it's taking a chaotic, varied system and isolating an element. In practice, it's best at target selection.

Precision-Rust is bending chaotic systems toward a goal. It's manipulation of that chaos with an aim. Done perfectly, you can walk through flame without getting hurt. It's almost luck-bending, but only when the process in question is sufficiently random or organic.

Precision-Syrup is a matter of flow, moving from one thing to the next without breaks, uninterrupted motion, smooth maneuvers. It comes with the power to alter things around you, bending them to the flow, making wood and stone curve beneath your touch as you move through them like a hand dipping through placid water.

Precision-Teeth is a molding power, shaping things, the harder and stronger, the easier. In combat, you can get a hold of someone, grapple them to the ground, and bend their bones. Out of combat, you can shape marble sculptures by hand.

Precision-Chalk is a matter of lines drawn on the ground or etched into staves, its own subsystem of manipulations.

Sense-Leaf is a branching power, tendrils of sensation that push out and retract. More sensory power is had when you have some time to sit in one place, pushing tendrils and tendrils of tendrils. It's functionally useless if you're moving swiftly, like on a boat, unless you gain something from trailing tendrils behind.

Sense-Rust is future sight, seeing the ways that things will fail and crumble. Because rust covers fire and other reactions too, Sense-Rust can be used by firefighters, letting them know where to go before the fire has gotten too bad. In a fight, Sense-Rust lets you know the best way to break the opponent.

Sense-Syrup is a sense of the slow-moving, things that are stationary, the longer the better, or in a pinch, something that's been moving on the same course for a long time. Virtually useless in a fight, but if anything in a building has been sitting there long enough, they can essentially see through walls. (Professional criminals make sure to move their files around at least once a day.)

Sense-Teeth allows a person to sense through physical totems of personal importance. The ur-example is teeth, a powerful totem with a close personal link, but a blood-soaked rag will do in a pinch.

Sense-Chalk allows inscriptions on paper to create portal views of distant places, but particularly those places which have already been inscribed with marks. A pair of papers must be physically separated for best results, but a blurry, distorted vision can be had from afar with no prep time, at least in a pinch.

Vitality-Leaf allows the drawing of energy from surroundings, with different textures depending on what the source is. Since one of Leaf's aspects is particulates, this works best with leaves, sand, cobbles, dirt, and anything else that's both loose and that there's a lot of.

Vitality-Rust allows the inner cultivation of some chaotic process, usually chosen early in a career. This can be internal fire, internal mold, internal rust, something that must be fed and kept (by e.g. swallowing fuel or metal). This confers strength, and also the ability to spew, leading to fire-breathers and mold-projectors.

Vitality-Syrup are squishy to the touch, like a Stretch Armstrong toy, very difficult to damage because they'll simply tank the hit. The best way to hurt them is to do it slowly or lock them in a position they can't get out of.

Vitality-Teeth is a sharp indestructibility, all-or-nothing hard-but-brittle. They fight like a heavy ceramic teapot, sturdy enough to smash someone over the head with, but if it hits the wrong angle, they'll shatter.

Vitality-Chalk is a variant of phylacteries using chalk markings for conditional restoration. While the most famous of these allows a person to return to life, other objects can be marked with their own conditionals, and a negative application exists where a marked person can be reduced to their lowest point, so long as it was captured by the practitioner at the time.

After-Action

Alright, I found that fun. How are the results? Eh. First pass, there's stuff to like in there. This was pantsing worldbuilding, just spitballing some stuff because I thought I would enjoy it, so I think there's some things to be learned about this system I'm creating.

If Leaf is more like "particulates" then perhaps "Sand" is a better choice, except that Power-Leaf then also needs a change, and maybe need a change anyway. The categories are more like: particulates, reactions, viscous fluids, hard sharp objects, and things that wear away. I was inconsistent about this.

Some of these I like, others are stinkers, which is about what I would expect naturally from variance. Possibly some of the stinkers could be replaced by something better with more time to think and noddle them over. Going for a walk often helps, but I did these basically all in a row over a single sitting without mapping out much ahead of time.

Sense and Vitality have a problem, which is that they're limited and reactive. This is technically fine, but the nature of Sense is probably such that it's never going to be all that useful in a fight, with little agency. It would be good for a spymaster character if I were writing that kind of book, but how many of those do you need? Vitality is more okay, because most lend themselves to tank/bruiser types. The remedy for Sense is probably to make is something with more push/pull, and for sensory stuff, that usually means illusion or mind control.

I would need to sand down and refine these, and if I were writing a novel, think about some of the worldbuilding consequences, and some of the plots, and some of the obvious characters. One of my approaches to storytelling is that I want to find out where the seams are located, all the sites of conflict, all the natural tensions. Some of this is just cool worldbuilding for its own sake, but I think you need to marry that with strong, compelling characters whose layers you can unfold. (It would be a fun writing exercise to create a character for each of these, but that will have to be for another day.)

"What's it for" is not really a question for an exercise like this, but it is one that's vitally important. Obviously this suite is pretty inappropriate if I'm not interested in exploring some fight scenes.

[redd956]

Worldbuilding Exercise 8

Take a work district from a village, city, or town, and show the kinds of jobs and employees someone would see running around.

List a few common jobs What do they do?

How important to the district are they?

How do they travel into work and where from?

[novella-november]

This isn't going to be another "you hate fanfiction!!" because very obviously you do not, but it is prompted by the discussion of branching out into original work, since it's something I often struggle with when trying to make that jump. Do you or any of your followers have any good resources on beginner worldbuilding? I really struggle with it.

Thank you!

If you check out my post where I made a "Prep Calendar" for Outline October (Which is a November-prep alternative/ supplement to Ominous October, the spooky short story event), I actually made a rather rough calendar outline of how to go about world building in advance for November;

The basic first steps for me are usually just three things:

Who are your characters

What kind of world do they live in (aka setting)

Whats your main plot/conflict?

To start worldbuilding at its lowest level, start with number one and work your way up; figure out what kind of character you'd like to write, where they live, and go from there!

Here is the prep calendar I threw together in MS paint, I definitely reccomend downloading it on desktop to actually zoom in to see what all it says lol.

And as a bonus, I will even make a fun, silly little exercise for anyone who'd like to get some practice in!

If you want to join in, grab a pen and pencil, or open up your favorite note-taking app :D

Here we go....!

Let's start out by saying that my basic concept for a character is *spins mental wheel of random ideas*....... a talking deer! 1) So now that I have decided that I want a talking deer character, now I have to decide: A) do *all*deer talk? B) Do *all* animals? C) Or is it just this one singular deer who is special? 2) If it *is* just this one singular deer who can talk, are they: D) otherwise a perfectly normal deer who just happens to be able to talk? E) Can they talk because they used to be human? F) Can they talk because they used to be an Alien or encountered Alien Tech (scifi) ? G) Can they talk because they used to be a Magical Creature or ran into a Magical Spell (fantasy) ? 3) Now you get to decide, mostly if you chose A or B from #1 but also useful for C : H) Is your story a more personal nature documentary, with realistic interactions between predators and prey? I) Is your story going to be a unique world where deer have built a society with technology and know how to defend themselves from predators? J) Is your story a unique world where all animals can talk and are equally sentient, therefore predators are revered as gods or keepers of the dead, who bring all back to the circle of life and prevent the spread of illness and disease, with older animals proudly going "to the wolves" to give their life to their brethren who consecrate the bones of the dead and keep resources plentiful? K) Or are predators the monsters in the dark, the teeth that bite, the slavering jaws that kill to live and *cannot live any other way*, so has learned not to regret? L) Or even, predators who feed from the already-dead when they can, and eat their fill of berries, nuts and fruits when they cannot, because they do not wish to take the lives of others for their own sake?

*clears throat* ahem. Drama done (can you see why I love worldbuilding) ,

go ahead and pick a letter from each of the above options, and jot them down on your paper or note-taking app.

You now have: A basic character, their backstory, and a basic setting!

From three-ish questions from a basic idea, you can spawn multiple possibilities, each of which can branch off into their own unique iterations!

Here's a few more, if you'd like to continue the exercise as further practice:

What is your deer's name?

What do they look like / what kind of deer are they? (deer of various species are found over almost the entire world, so there is tons of variety! :D )

What kind of world do they live in?

How do they interact with humans?

*are* there humans in your story?

What kind of zany or terrifying adventures would your talking deer and a human go on?

What kind of adventures would your talking deer go on with other deer or other animals?

How does your deer get along with other species?

Do they have friends from other species?

Do they have rivals from other species?

Do they have *sworn enemies* from other species?

Do they have a *love interest* from another species?

etc!

I am hoping this game/exercise is helpful, my brain being both autistic and ADHD means I am, at the drop of a hat, ready to start spouting more and more ideas sparked from a single concept at any given moment!

And yes, if you did this exercise, please feel free to use your deer character in a story, draw art of your deer character, etc!

If this exercise was helpful to you or fun, please feel free to tag any deer creations with "NovellaDeer" , I'd love to see them!

You can easily adapt this exercise to any story concept you need to worldbuild; pick what basic idea you have for a main character, and start asking yourself questions about them and their circumstances, and let yourself come up with multiple, contradicting answers for each question; the more the merrier!

After you've decided which starting answers you like the most, you can work your way down the list, asking follow-up questions, and before you know it you will have your very own original character :D

And do not feel like you need to keep your character exactly the way they start out as; characters evolve over time, and you may find yourself changing their "base" character to suit your story or to suit your tastes as you get more experienced with writing and world building!

[eschaton-official]

A note,

Please feel free to voice your questions about Prospero itself! This account is admittedly part of a PR move by Eschaton, but it's also a way for us, as a planet, to get more in touch with the wider galaxy. We have, unfortunately, been very isolated for a very long time.

-\/olk-

[moonsglare]

ARCHIVE ENTRY #4: AMATORY

"An Aeon that presides over the Path of Adoration. Known by THEIR devotees as the Pandemos, or 'one who is common to all people', they are the personification of 'love', having ascended an unfathomable amount of time ago after realizing the 'truth' of life." - Loading Screen: Amatory

◆ Name: Amatory ◆ Title: Aeon of Adoration, The Lover ◆ Path: The Adoration

Amatory is a fanmade Aeon in Honkai: Star Rail, representing the Path of Adoration. THEY are known to be among the kinder Aeons, and by virtue of the broadness of THEIR path, often has a hand in the dealings of mortals. It is rumored that THEY even walk amongst mortals at times, and was once a key figure on the Astral Express until Akivili's untimely disappearance.

◆ Appearance Amatory often appears in the form of a feminine human, with iridescent skin and long, pink hair. THEY are dressed in a loose, white robes resembling an ancient Greek chiton, the hem lined blue with doves embroidered in gold thread. THEY wear a crown of gold laurels as well as various pieces of golden jewellery, including earrings and a necklace. THEY sit upon a seashell throne, and in THEIR lap is THEIR familiar, Peristera, the drake-dove.

◆ History -> Ascension An unknowable amount of time ago, a (suspected) human on the planet of Agora ascended to Aeonhood and became the Aeon of Adoration, after realizing the 'truth' of life.

-> Swarm Disaster The range of Amatory's influence is unknown during the Swarm Disaster, though it is noted that Peristera the drake-dove fiercely and successfully defended Agora from attacks from the Swarm. It is assumed THEY watched, alongside Xipe and Aha, as Qlipoth stripped Tayzzyronth's power and sealed the other Aeon.

-> Present Amatory is noted to be active in the current time, hiding their divine form to walk amongst mortals. This information has been confirmed by the Aspects of Adoration, as the Sanctuary of Kitheryia remains empty.

◆ Followers & Factions -> Agora, Planet of Doves Agora is the birth planet of Amatory, and the foremost seat of THEIR following. The planet is known for its romantic, dreamy atmosphere, with permanently pink-hued skies thanks to a specific concentration of minerals in the atmosphere and the angle of Agora to its sun. Agora is also known for it's stunning beaches, which are also popular pilgrim destinations due to the belief that Amatory gained THEIR enlightenment whilst standing on the shore of one of Agora's beaches, part of THEIR body submerged in the sea-foam. Agora is blessed with mild weather across the planet, thanks to the direct influence of its Aeon.

Temples to Amatory are scattered across the planet, tended to by Devotees. The largest temple complex, the Amatopolis, is also the name of the planet's capital city. Amatopolis is the residence of the Aspects, and the location of other universally famous sites, such as the Museum of Peristera, The Sanctuary of Kitheryia and the Akropoils to Akivili.

-> Devotees of Adoration The Devotees of Adoration are the primary followers of Amatory, and are found in the largest numbers on Agora, although they are also well distributed across the universe. The Devotees can choose to be active participants upon the Path, tending to Amatory's shrines and temples, or they can choose to be passive participants simply by loving and being loved. To Amatory, loving is quite the same as worshiping.

-> Aspects of Adoration The Aspects of Adoration are Amatory's six chosen Emanators. They are chosen by the Aeon as role models, in a sense, to each specific branch of 'love'. Hence, the six Aspects are Agape, Eros, Philia, Storge, Philautia, and Xenia. Each Aspect has their own hall within the Amatopolis, branching off from the temple's main hall which leads to the Sanctuary of Kitheryia. The Aspects are functionally Amatory's high priests and priestesses, and offer advice on behalf of the Aeon to pilgrims and devotees who visit the temple.

-> The Dove Poets Society Contrary to its name, the Dove Poets Society does not solely consist of poets. Instead, the Society is open to all manner of creatives, including artists, writers, sculptors and many others. Joining the Society is not too dissimilar to joining the Genius Society; to do so, one must draw the gaze of Amatory THEMSELF. Creatives who use love or themes of love as their muse are blessed with a dove-feather pin, and are later cordially invited to Agora by administrative devotees. They are then given free lifelong board and housing, subsidized by the Devotees, and are allowed to pursue their art without worry.

As a result of this, many famous and popular works have been produced by the Society. They can all be found within the Museum of Peristera, making the museum a must-visit for those interested in the arts.

-> Peristera, the Drake-Dove Said to be the beloved companion of Amatory, Peristera is a legendary, almost divine beast blessed by the Aeon THEMSELF, and tasked with eternally protecting Agora. The drake-dove resides within the Sanctuary of Kytheryia, ever-slumbering until danger rouses it, or its master returns from THEIR journeys. Several proposals were made by the Intelligentsia Guild to access the Sanctuary and collect biological samples from Peristera; all these proposals were promptly rejected by the Aspects, citing the sanctity of the Sanctuary as Amatory's home, not to be entered by mortal bodies unless invited by the Aeon THEMSELF.

Although Peristera's awakenings usually herald danger, it is often followed by a frenzied scramble by Devotees eager to get their hands on some of the drake-dove's fallen feathers. Much like Qlipoth's Divine Amber, Peristera's feathers are sacred items to the Devotees and followers of Amatory. However, these feathers fade over time, and as a result are often cast in gold and made into jewellery such as bracelets, anklets, armbands, crowns or earrings to preserve them. They are said to bring love to the life of the wearer, hence their popularity.

Developer Notes:

I'm worldbuilding out here like I'm a part of the HSR Writing Team LMAO this OC isn't even playable but I feel like I've fleshed them out the most out of all my OCs lsdfhjsdlfjsdjlf. But frankly I'm surprised and Aeon of something like love doesn't exist, given how (not to get too into philosophy) central it is to humanity or arguably consciousness in general.

Obviously, Amatory is heavily inspired by Aphrodite, as referenced by both their sacred animals being the dove, and their ascension occurring while they were submerged in sea-foam, similar to how Aphrodite is said to have been born from sea-foam, in certain mythological accounts. And the whole love thing. -> You could argue that the Paths of Harmony and Adoration could collide, and honestly, I too can see it happening. Though I would counter and say 'love' is less clear-cut lawful than Harmony; if we're sticking by the Ancient Greek themes, we look no further than the story of Troy, or the response of Demeter to Persephone's abduction. This could turn into a whole back and forth, but truthfully, I'm just here to fuck around and play with HSR's worldbuilding so I'm not going to get into too much discourse about it LMAO. These are MY delusions and I call the shots 😌😌😌

Agora as a planet and culture is heavily based on Ancient Greece. I felt inspired after running around in AC: Odyssey's discovery mode. Say what you will about the game, but as an open-world exploration enjoyer it is SUCH a treat.

Peristera is named after the eponymous nymph who was transformed into a dove by Aphrodite and made her sacred animal. Although Amatory's Peristera is also a dragon, because I'm a sucker for dragons. Appearance wise, it looks a lot like Cinderella from Burn the Witch [image below].

Making a neka for Amatory was hard as fuck, mainly because they end up looking too human and normal and not as godly as I'd like, but I guess they can get a pass because Nanook looks pretty normal too.

Neka of Amatory, as close as to what I can envision in my brain:

neka link: https://www.neka.cc/composer/11939

[thestarrymanuk]

we are learning. ecology

[msshadowqueen]

about the dawn court people being east Asia inspired - feyre says something when she sees Nuan at the high lord meeting about how Amren must have chosen a fae form similar to Nuan's bloodline. If Amren is east-asian coded, so is Nuan and thesan too, having at least one parent hailing from xian (am i reading too far into xian sounding so stereotypical, maybe, do i care rn, no). they also say that a majority of the dawn court hails from xian. thesan is supposed to have brown skin (again, please give a better descriptor) so he's mixed.

no one's clothes or architecture reflects anything concrete regarding their inspiration and its such a hodge podge it's so painful to try to discern where the differentiation between courts are. Spring court - because of the name tamlin correlates to a myth about a guy named tam lin who is kind of being held captive by the queen of faeries who needs to be rescued by his mortal lover that he met like suuuper recently, I'm placing the spring court in a place that reflects a medieval scotland. clothes are fairly accurate not in detail but in the sense of material and idk just general existence (women wear dress, man wear breeches, idk) I love that! so simple! Everything makes sense! So then why in dawn are we having technological advances in a steampunk sort of way and similar "old fashioned" clothes to spring, but then in the night court (velaris, the other's i think are fairly period accurate), there are all these advancements in fashion like leggings and pullover sweaters and whatever else she's wearing in the last two books, yet they have the same tech as everyone else barring dawn. (Doing a small pass on the bodysuit armor things because I'm just assuming that's people's artistic interpretations of her visions)

ALSO, how are they self sufficient if they're a closed off city? They aren't harboring secret technology that helps their city run, they are one city and also A CITY so like, no resources, no agriculture. who tf are they getting their things from if they are an invisible city that no one knows about? same thing with how they're getting trades that they wouldn't have been able to make themselves. Also, at this point I would like to propose the idea of wing armor. you have siphons which can idk make shields. HAVE YOU TRIED SHIELDING YOU'RE VERY SENSITIVE AND MASSIVELY TARGETED WINGS FROM DANGER?? in conclusion I'm tired and also a fashion/history nerd, okay bye

Ahhhh yes I see what you mean about Dawn now! Yeah, I always imagine Spring to be like medieval Scotland, and I'm guessing Autumn is medieval England? Rhysand is a Welsh name I believe, so Night is supposed to be Wales??? But the Illyrians are also supposedly POC and there's some evidence of Indian influence there too (barf, night is NOT indian at all), so I'm stuck on that one. Dawn is East Asian while Day is...Middle Eastern? Winter maybe Norway or some Scandinavian country? And Summer I'm assuming is supposed to be from some place in Africa, but it's all very vague. Also more points about Velaris: how is their fashion sense so...modern? Since everything is so closed off...shouldn't their fashion be stuck in the 1600s or whenever they closed their borders? Why don't they open their borders to Dawn since they're sooooo close to the Solar courts supposedly??? Has it not occurred to them that Nuan, who made Lucien's metal eye, could also construct new wings for the Illyrian ladies who got theirs cut off? Or do they just not care? They don't but SJM is trying to convince us they do.

Yeah how in the flying fuck is Night surviving on no industry whatsoever? No trade? No agriculture, nada? Because we have no evidence of the Illyrians producing anything either, besides "warriors." My explanation for this is kind of inspired by @kateprincessofbluewhales 's headcanon, but what if the Illyrians are like mercenaries? They're hired to fight for other courts and in exchange they receive all of their necessities and more which the Illyrians then send back home to their wives and children. This still doesn't explain how Velaris operates, but I'm sure Rhysand crutches on the Illyrians' profits to keep shit going and that's part of why they resent him. I'VE BEEN SAYING IT FOR AGES. WINGS ARE SUCH A VULNERABILITY. THEY MAKE YOU SUCH AN EASY TARGET. WHY IS THERE NO WING ARMOR??? THAT WOULD BE SO COOL TOO. BUT NO, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO JUST ACCEPT THERE'S NOTHING COOL ABOUT THE WINGS AT ALL AND MOVE ON.

[honourablejester]

I’m watching Pathfinder lore videos, because I just enjoy looking at other people’s worldbuilding, and a tiny little nugget stuck with me. I was watching this video on the demon lords of the Abyss, and it came to Angazhan, the great ape demon of jungles, apes and tyranny. And it just mentions that his realm, Ahvoth-Kor, is formed in a great ravine in the Abyss, with jungles on either wall, but gravity pulls towards the walls, so as you stand on the ‘ground’ in one jungle on one wall, you can see the other above you. Trees and rope bridges cross the gap, which must be fascinating as you cross the halfway point and gravity abruptly reverses itself. And I just. I mean, Angazhan doesn’t do much for me as himself, but his realm caught my attention the most in the entire video, just for that one detail. Because it’s so cool. He lives in a folded realm. You can climb a pillar to the sky and then fall up the top half of it to the ground on the far side.

And it just made me realise that I love the Abyss, or rather the potential of the Abyss, in both its D&D and Pathfinder incarnations. Because chaos gets all the cool world states. Because chaos feels free to break the rules and get weird, and therefore give you fantastic landscapes like Ahvoth-Kor. Which is actually quite normal, aside from the fact that it’s folded double on itself. You could go so much weirder.

But, at the same time, I also hate the Abyss, just slightly. Because you can’t get weird, apparently, without also getting evil. Because, while I have seen the chaotic good and chaotic neutral planes mentioned, they don’t get anywhere near as much attention. How many people even know the names of the good-aligned chaotic planes? And, yes, Limbo and the Maelstrom are more of a thing, and the Maelstrom at least is fantastically cool, but they’re not focused on really either. Because they don’t have cool themed villains hanging out in them. Which is, granted, another excellent selling point of the Abyss. Demon lords are a lot more idiosyncratic than archdevils, more, again, weird and wonderful. On the D&D side, which I’m more familiar with, I do adore Juiblex, Zuggtmoy and Fraz-Urb’luu. When you are shaping your realm out of raw chaos to match your personality, it gives you a degree of wild customisation that more lawful, rigid planes just don’t allow. The demon lords are exciting, in a way archdevils just aren’t for me.

But. It means that if you want really cool fantastic landscapes and batshit world states, you have to go to an evil plane where everything is trying to kill slash torture you. The good aligned chaotic planes of the respective ttrpgs, Elysium and Arborea and the Beastlands, are to a large extent just ‘unchecked nature’, the extremely pastoral idea of untouched wilderness. If you want to see truly cool and alien and fantastic things, you have to get tortured for it.

Or, granted, try the Maelstrom in Pathfinder. The Maelstrom is really cool.

Like. If they’re both formed from raw chaos, why can’t good be equally as batshit? Why can’t you have, I don’t know, a chaotic good sea god whose ship sails upside down on the surface of a vast ocean of air, and whose sea sprite petitioners venture down in diving bells to marvel at the stars? (Sidenote: there could also be more good-aligned sea gods, just as a general note). Why isn’t there a heaven for the souls of subterranean travellers and explorers where they get to spend eternity spelunking absolutely mind-boggling and impossible caves that open out into the raw foam of chaos? Why couldn’t the chaotic good plane also be a nested stew of personalised bubble worlds shaped from raw fundament by strong-willed but mildly-to-majorly batshit themed entities, that are just in this case also friendly and unlikely to torture you out of hand?

Why is good so tame? Even at its wildest, it’s so tame compared to how batshit and weird evil gets to be. Like, yes, good means safety, but safe doesn’t have to mean ‘bounded’. It could mean ‘I will touch my grace upon you so we can witness wonders together’. It could mean ‘let me make a place where fire does not burn so I can turn a sun inside out and let you experience the strange geometries of its interior’.

I just. The Abyss is really, really cool, this strange bubble realm of nested psychoses written onto reality by larger than life beings. I do love it. But. You could have that, and not have it built on suffering. Not instead of, but as well. With equal weight.

Let good be weird too. Let chaos in general just be the place where both horrors and wonders beyond imagining are explored.

As another, related complaint, I know it's to do with game balance and player capabilities, but it's also a bummer that the outer planes in general are something most PCs will never experience first hand, owing to being in general fantastically lethal and/or hard to get to. I just wanna wander Zuggtmoy's fungal fields, and climb rope bridges across the gravity line in Ahvoth-Kor!

Anyway. Carry on.