ladycybercat

[ladycybercat]

New Skin Deep page today! Ike and Alec are bessst friennnnddss.

[ladycybercat]

A wonderful little mood brightener created by indiarosecrawford

[ladycybercat]

Do you think you’d ever make a simple tutorial on how you color? Because god, your coloring is magnificent!

I have... something! Like that already lmao. Someone asked a bit ago and this is what I spat out xD

[ladycybercat]

Commission - Dea

[ladycybercat]

In light of some of the many things happening across the world this year, I thought this Pride Month needed a special illustration.

Happy Pride Month, may we all stay safe, look after each other, and keep painting our rainbows, no matter what. 🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

[ladycybercat]

creature made from an old instrument - commission for gremlijns in esks

[ladycybercat]

Weapon & Outfit design for lovely  lykosthebes from 2022~

You can see the artworks first, access exclusive sketches and much more on my PATREON!

[ladycybercat]

🍖 How to Build a Culture Without Just Inventing Spices and Necklaces

(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)

So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented: → Three types of ceremonial jewelry → A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed → A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn

Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.

And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.

Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.

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🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style

Ask yourself: → Who’s in charge, and why? → Who has land? Who doesn’t? → What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?

Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.

Start there. Not at the embroidery.

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2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict

Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?

→ What was destroyed and mythologized? → What do the survivors still whisper about? → What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?

No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.

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3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists

Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about: → Death? → Love? → Time? → The natural world? → Justice?

Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.

You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.

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4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)

Culture shows up in: → What people apologize for → What insults cut deepest → What people are embarrassed about → What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately

For instance: → A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?” → A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.

This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.

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5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals

Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about: → Breakfast routines? → How people greet each other on the street? → Who cooks, and who eats first? → What’s considered “clean” or “proper”? → How is parenting handled? Divorce?

Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.

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6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture

A culture isn’t a monolith.

Even in deeply traditional societies, people: → Rebel → Question → Break rules → Misinterpret laws → Mock sacred things → Act hypocritically → Weaponize or resist what’s expected

Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.

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7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap

Worldbuilding gets boring fast when: → The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure → The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric” → Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like

You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy. → Let ugly things be beloved. → Let beautiful things be corrupt. → Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.

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📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy): → Culture is not food and jewelry. → Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction. → Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter. → Let your world feel lived in, not curated.

The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list. It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.

Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)

—rin t. // writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range // thewriteadviceforwriters

Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:

🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:

[ladycybercat]

Time for another installment in my imaginary Muppet Princess Bride series! This one was yet another natural fit, Beaker's head-tuck thing felt perfect for this moment where Fezzik "Jogs" the Albino's memory.

Drawing this scene made me realise what a nightmare casting Sweetums as Fezzik and Pepe as Inigo would be to actually film. How the heck do you shoot a whole movie with these two sharing the screen together? Luckily I don't have to figure that out, and can just cheat their respective scales when I draw.

I'm not quite happy with how I drew the action of the second panel, but after waffling about this drawing for a while I think I just need to release it into the wind or risk it never seeing the light of day. I'm also pretty slow at drawing, so sometimes I take so long on these illustrations that the joke stops seeming funny and I start second guessing whether it was ever funny to begin with. So thanks to my pals on the Tough Pigs discord for reassuring me that this joke does indeed still work.

[ladycybercat]

My Avatar Korra’s cosplay

[ladycybercat]

a feel like the new generation of fanfic readers NEED to understand that clicking on a fic (interaction) does nothing. ao3 has no algorithm. your private discord discussions of fic do not reach the authors. if you do not actively engage with writers they will stop posting. this isn’t social media this is community.

[ladycybercat]

Moondance (commission from @justdreamer22 ) Alonzo and Munkustrap getting in a dance to themselves. I'm deep in my Jellicle feels and I'm gonna make that everyone's Jellicle problem. 😁

[ladycybercat]

Commission - Nehiri

[ladycybercat]

Chroma V - Yunchul Kim

Video: a metres-long serpentine robot suspended from a ceiling. It has flexing panels with a fluctuating mother-of-pearl pattern. No audio.

[ladycybercat]

Thanks to Pillowfort users, we're on our way toward our monthly funding goal for June! Support an independent platform and help keep Pillowfort's lights on: pillowfort.social/donations

[ladycybercat]

YOINK!

Source: US fish and wildlife service on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C817Hl-qrm-/)