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Wait, in this universe is Rattigan a human or an actual rat???

you know, that's a really good question.

the implication, in my mind, is that the animals all seem to be human adjacent in this world. we have canon examples of rattigan and shere khan owning businesses on the isle, so they surely can't still just be animals, right?

but we also get told in the first book that some of the animals (hyenas, iago, lucifer, flotsam and jetsam etc) are still animals, they give birth to babies which are given to the vks at evie's party as party favours.

so clearly there is a line somewhere. rattigan was already slightly anthropormorphic so i'll let that slide. but the others?

also interesting to note is that the animals seem to have human lifespans and lives as in the first book pongo and perdita (still dogs) complain about having to send 99 puppies to college??

so really, i have NO IDEA. and i don't think disney do either.

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There’s a character in the Descendants world named Shelley White. The wikia says she’s an unseen character. Do you think it’s true?

hi anon, i'll admit i just did a couple of quick google searches but i can find no record of this character outside of the wikia so i'm definitely leaning towards her being made up.

in my experience there is usually some other mention of them if they did exist, if there was concept art or a mention in a book or in a series or even in the app game that doesn't work anymore it would probably come up.

the lack of sources makes me dubious. feel free to run with it, but truthfully if you see mention of a snow white child here it will likely be my own oc.

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Just a quick question im looking to make my own descendants lore and characters but may I ask how do you make ocs? I seen one of your Yzma son ocs and you had a face claim with an outfit may I ask how you did that? Thank you!

hi! yeah, that wasn't an oc that was just an unused character they'd done concept art for for the films or wicked world or something. they're not mine, sorry!

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addressing the elephant in the room:

if the queen of hearts was always in wonderland and was never on the isle then why were there businesses on the isle using her name?

well, simply: because someone faked it. a minor villain or henchman arrived on the isle and realised the only way to gain respect was to be a somebody and having realised none of the other villains had seen the queen of hearts in over a decade- they took their chance and began posing as the queen of hearts.

everyone was convinced and until the barrier dropped no-one had any idea that the person who had been posing as the queen of hearts- one of the major players of the isle turf wars and gang violence- wasn't actually the queen. by which point she had already fled and vanished into auradon.

at least, that's going to be my opinion on the subject because disney don't know their own lore.

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What programs do you use for the map making?

Hi!

I literally just use photoshop for the details. The auradon map was made by just tracing over the map that already existed.

the isle map was generated on rollforfantasy's map generator ( link here ) and then i made all the details, mountains, roads, buildings etc in photoshop!

hope this helps!!

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I'm honestly surprised that Frollo never started a cult in the Isle.

I also wanted to say that I adore your worldbuilding. It's so creative and manages to make sense given what little Descendants tells us.

Hi! Thank you for your kind words! I try very hard to make it work!

As for Frollo starting a cult, he doesn't need a cult when he has the power of Christianity on his side. Which is to say, he definitely still preached and held mass and church sermons and things for Isle residents and he also openly hated on any magical beings or those he saw as lesser. You might call that a cult. He for sure had a following, probably a pretty dedicated one. and he probably tried to burn a witch or two in his time. but the witches outnumber him so he learned to shut up.

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I’m working on a fic rn and it takes place right after the barrier being taken down, in my mind because thousands of student enroll at aurodon prep in a matter of months they’re forced to do co ed dorms and have as many as 4 people in one dorm. What do you think abt this.

Hi, so I thought I'd made a post about this but apparently I can't see it so here goes:

After the barrier comes down, Ben commissions a whole new school just for kids from the Isle. They put up temporary housing over the summer and then term starts the next year. He repurposes an old college building into a new school just for VKs after learning about their lack of formal schooling and need for extra support.

Students are sorted not by grade or age but tested and taught based on their ability level, as some of the older Isle kids cannot even read. There are extra support lessons for those who are very far behind where they should be.

There is also a food programme put into place, designed to bring all of the VKs up to a healthy weight and also to adjust their stomachs to the richer Auradonian food.

Living conditions can be quite cramped, with dorms of as many as 8 of the younger kids and then up to four for the older ones, though they aim for four/two as the goal. but the rooms are large enough to accommodate that, they are furnished to a high standard and they're clean, warm and dry. Each dorm has its own bathroom and the older kids aren't co-ed but I couldn't say for the younger ones. Siblings are usually placed together if they're of similar ages, or at least close by if they are not.

the curriculum is designed for Isle kids and though attendance isn't mandatory, completion does give points for getting into colleges. Ben would also probably ask some of the older VKs who have technically 'aged out' of the system (the core four/uma/anyone in that year and above) to attend as well, to try and influence the younger VKs who look up to them to attend the school.

so that's where i sit with that, that's my own personal sort of storyline as i believe they wouldn't want to clog up auradon prep (famously a school for royals and others of note) with all the kids from the Isle as there will, as you noted, be thousands of them.

(my unofficial, official count from my population post being: at the time the barrier comes down there are approximately 2,700 children under the age of five, 2,850 children of elementary school level (5-10), 1,350 children of middle school level (11-13), 1,600 children of high school age (14-18) and 1,300 adults who are over the age of 18 but still fall into the ‘villain kid’ category because they were born on the isle of the lost.)

also noting this does not take into account anything we currently know about rise of red.

thanks for the question, i hope this helps!

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1: Do you think there is any health system on the Island? 2: What types of food and drinks are there on the island?3: Is there alcohol on the island?4: What would be the mottos that pirates use?

You asked this in November, I have a bad track record of answering things in a timely fashion. I apologize. Thanks for the question, though. One day I will finish writing sections on things like food and drink.

The healthcare system is non-existent. At least before the barrier comes down, medicines are usually hoarded and healers are in short supply. There will be some; several villains happen to be doctors, but it's your choice whether you'd be comfortable putting your faith in them. They charge extortionate rates for out of date medicines. The medicine on the Isle boils down to anything people in Auradon throw away and anything that can be grown as a herbal remedy. A lot of the kids pick up basic first aid and triage as they get older, get into scrapes and have to heal themselves. It's very dangerous.

Food and drink on the Isle is, originally, mainly leftovers. There is also a supply of fish, which is about the only food that can be caught fresh, but even that is in limited supply. Overfishing can lead to a lower population of fish and screw over everyone. There is no proper direct sunlight on the Isle prior to the barrier removal, so no plants can be grown for them to feed themselves. They rely on getting old food from Auradon. So foods are either past their best, or borderline inedible. The food they do have has to be picked from the trash they've been sent. We're talking brown apples, mouldy cheese and stale bread. The other option, of course, is eating things like rats and seagulls, of which there are plenty around the Isle. There really isn't much of a culture on the Isle of asking what's in food before you eat it, only making sure it isn't poisoned. Drinks are also limited, coffee can be made using old filters and beans, teabags can be reused, but this relies on there being fresh water. In my canon there is one fresh water source on the Isle and there was an attempt to take control of it by the horned king, but he was beaten back, so they have fresh water at least and can squash old fruits to flavour it. There's also things like seaweed shakes, where plants are blended into facsimiles of smoothies. And then, of course, there's your third question.

Alcohol is the other option for drinks, using fermenting fruits people are known to make their own alcohol, none of it is particularly good but what it lacks in taste it makes up for in strength, people on the Isle brew particularly potent alcohol just to deal with the situation they are in. So yes, the Isle has alcohol, but it's not exactly good.

The mottos that pirates use? It depends on which pirate, each captain will have their own motto and their own set of pirate rules. The pirate code really doesn't apply here. They'd probably focus heavily on the idea of 'take what you can, give nothing back' because that's the Isle. Every man for himself. Even most pirate crews will struggle with loyalty on the Isle, unless the crew in question can be given a compelling reason to stay.

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Hi I just found you blog and it's a godsend!!!!! Thank you so much for all your hard work <3 I have a descendants fic in the work, is it okay if I reference some of your world building timelines etc if I credit you? (Idk if you've answered this kind of thing before, I just found your blog and didn't see an faq)

I don't even remember if I answered this on my FAQ but everything I make is for use, if you put it in a fic that's amazing, and feel free to show me! All I want to do with this world building is to help flesh out a world that was really underexplained! So yeah, it's all there to be used!

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Would the Nightmare Before Christmas exist in Auradon?

Short answer: yes it does!

long answer found here!

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Don't know if you've seen the movie yet, but how would Encanto fit into Auradon. Is it know or is it still hidden behind the mountains thanks to the miracle?

I have seen it! I really enjoyed it!

I hadn’t much thought about fitting it in but now you’ve asked...

I would assume the miracle is keeping them hidden in a mountain range somewhere, out of the way of the Auradonian expansion. It’s likely that Auradon have no knowledge of the Encanto, nor that they are aware of the world outside. 

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Do you have any HCs about the VKs other parents?

Hm, interesting question.

I have put quite a lot of thought into it, but it's hard to find good options.

I don't hate the idea that Evie might belong to Hans? Since EQ is unlikely to want to sleep with anyone lower than a prince? So Hans or Prince John (unathropomorphized)?

I can tell you I don't like the idea of Carlos belonging to either Horace or Jasper, that feels a little too easy. But I don't have another good option at the moment. It's likely to be someone of, again, a higher social class. A Lord or Prince if possible.

Jay is probably the easiest, because I don't think Jafar has much in the way of 'standards' outside of generic beauty standards. So it's likely that Jay's mother really was just some random unnamed villain.

I don't know if this helps.

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How do you think the Gods work in Auradon? Like, for example, are in Greek Mythos, Gaea is the creator of Life on the planet while in "Moana" it was Te Fiti. How do you think it would work in Auradon?

Rather like how it works in the real world.

There are plenty of known religions and belief systems in the descendants universe, and much like the real world they are all going to claim their own creation story as the true one.

Ultimately, no-one actually knows the truth, except for maybe those beings themselves. There are bound to be arguments about it.

However, it's hard to deny the existence of a God you can literally see. But it's likely those who worship a deity that can't be seen insist that the Gods that can be seen aren't really Gods and are just powerful superbeings instead.

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Have you watched Hercules the animated series? If you have, do you think Adonis now rules over Greek part of Auradon?

I actually haven't seen the animated series for Hercules, that's on me.

Having checked my notes, I have the ruler of the Olympia region of Auradon as technically Zeus, but there is also a mortal ruler for the mortal people but Zeus gets final say in everything.

Having just googled it I realise Adonis is a mortal prince and therefore, that would make sense that he would be the mortal ruler. I might need to do some research on this.

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What do you think of this interpretation of the lesser known AKs (except Lonnie) in this pic?

From top to bottom: Anxelin, Aziz, Lil Shang, Ruby(Anxelin's sister), Tyrone(alleged son of Tiana and Naveen),Lonnie, Herkie, Aziz's sister, Jamilah and Tyrone's twin sister, Nina

oh, i kind of love them! I'm always here for accurate representation for these characters (not that I don't love Dianne but y'know) and this seems to tick the boxes.

Ruby looks like the splitting image of her mom, which is cute.

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hi! so, do you think it is viable to make "the guardians" from rise of the guardians exist in the descendants world? i know it is from another company, but i think it is a completely viable idea given that myths and mother nature are real. i have some headcannons about it, but i would love to hear your opinion/ideas!

hi! thanks for the question!

as always this is entirely up to personal preference, i've seen a lot of crossovers with other animations or franchises when it comes to creating descendants characters, or expanding on the lore.

personally my worldbuilding comes from the stance of animated disney films only (with their spin off shows if they have them) and then maybe sometimes live action films, but rarely.

still, it would be entirely possible. you could mesh it with the nightmare before christmas lore, given the presence of holiday doors and animals already existing?

my advice, as always, is go with what you want to do and ignore canon that doesn't match it, because if you're writing the story, it's your world now and disney can't do anything about it (probably. unless you're making money.)

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hello! so, i'm starting my own descendants worldbuilding and i really don't know where to start, especially because i don't know what to start putting on words, like the lore? the places? the characters? what do you recommend?

sorry this took so long to answer, that's on me!

really, it's up to you where you start. I'd start with the thin you enjoy the most, you're most passionate about and that you have the most ideas about.

I started with maps, because I like maps. And analysis of the canon information and lore that we had, because that's something I enjoy.

I haven't delved that far into characters mostly because i want to see what other people can come up with.

I have an entire section of my onenote that is just lists of things i need to write.

It ended up looking a bit like this. Tabs with subcategories.

I hope this helps, I'm sorry for my messy document and not being able to give a definitive answer. At the end of the day, it's all about what you are going to enjoy doing, because that's what this is all about.