#worldbuilding take 2

[silverwhittlingknife]

in love with batman 138. this comic was made for me personally <333

bruce and jason angst!!! dick and tim team up against bruce - a return to their traditional dynamic!! callback to dick's origin story!!! dick and bruce fight!! dick and tim tag-team - tim distracts bruce so dick can keep breaking in!! bruce and tim fight!! callback to tim's origin story!! dick and bruce fight again!! dick loses it and tim holds him back - a return to their other traditional dynamic!! bruce is losing it completely!! except!! for a moment he hesitates - will he be able to come back from this?? dick and tim "hug" (okay not really. they got squashed in a net. let me have this). bruce and damian angst!! tim and damian hug!! (sort of. tim hugs damian, and damian allows this and doesn't taze him. look my point is this is very affectionate by damian standards!!) and then dick being the guy in charge!! and more jason angst!!

everything perfect. no notes.

[icewindandboringhorror]

................ he 

[bookwyrminspiration]

so we know unicrons and alicorns exist in the kotlc universe but like. are there pegasi??? i feel like logically there should be since an alicorn is a mix of a unicorn and pegasus but we never get any mention of them???? are there just no pegasi???? im losing my mind why are there no pegasi. this feels unbalanced.

victor I need you to stop being wrong it's hurting me </3

anyway there canonically are pegasi! mentioned at the very beginning of Exile in comparison to Silveny:

It wasn't a pegasus--she knew from the books she'd studied at Havenfield that those were smaller and huskier, with deep blue spots and midnight blue manes. (Exile 13)

We just haven't revisted them like ever, which is a shame. We've got Stina as the unicorn girl, Sophie as the alicorn girl. Now we need another girl whose name starts with S to complete the horse girl trifecta.

[lacependragon]

You know, the longer I think about it, the more I realize that it actually makes perfect sense that an online company so incredibly pro-military and pro-veteran (RoosterTeeth) would write the worst black-and-white, unbelievable, morally bland, and utterly boring and worldbuilding breaking anti-military story I've ever seen.

It's like they thought if they even slightly tried to make it realistic, even slightly tried to make it believable, we'd all realize how similar it was to the US military and go "you hate veterans!"

But instead we got a military that makes no sense. A story that relies on you not paying any attention to the worldbuilding. And a bunch of dead people who didn't mean anything because by the end they were just fucking caricatures. James is the evil general. Clover is the too-loyal right hand. Vine is the self-sacrificial meditative type. And they aren't anything else.

All of Atlas is flat and cardboard and cartoon-y and bad. And I genuinely think so much of it is the inability of these fuckers to stop sucking off the US military long enough to understand something called nuance. Because they fired so completely in the opposite direction to their on-camera shit (we love veterans! we love soldiers! fight the bad guys!) as opposed to RWBY (all military evil there is no nuance no middle ground nope just evil! James is as bad as SALEM!) that they lost every discussion and every interesting detail in the sprint between the two podiums.

This isn't the real world! We can have discussions about stuff we wouldn't approve of in real life but make interesting stories! We can have discussions about redemption and revenge and making choices!

But nah let's just have them all be evil evil people and then save Winter (maiden, sure), and Elm, Harriet, and Marrow (and I'm not going to lie here. I genuinely think the reason Harriet lives instead of Vine is because RT was TERRIFIED of another Sienna Khan backlash.)

Atlas was bad.

It was rushed. It was sloppy. It broke characters. It broke worldbuilding. It broke the internal logic of the universe.

And we still learned fucking nothing about its people, its culture, or its history. Just like in Mistral.

Setpieces. Empty destructible setpieces. Only this time there was nothing else to prop up the building facades.

Truly, the only good thing Atlas gave us was Penny.

And look how that turned out.

[hidey-writes]

wip wednesday

In the drifting silence of his empty apartment, Shen Wei presses the door shut, turns the lock. And then, like his body was waiting until he was alone, his legs give out. Shen Wei tips/topples against/into the wall, sinks down to sitting on the front mat/in the entryway. He sits there for a long time, curled into himself with his arms around his knees. The whole time, his body braced for the sound of Zhao Yunlan’s door opening, the sound of footsteps crossing the hall. Waiting, again, for Kunlun to return to him.  But no sound comes from outside his door. At last, Shen Wei tips his head back against the wall, lets out a soft, streaming sigh. The sound trembles in the still air. It’s the closest he’s come to crying in years, that he can remember.

from the up draft of the answer fic. im cutting it veryyyyyy close to the deadline this time ahahaha (nervous!) but the writing is going relatively smoothly (knocks on wood) and i think it'll turn out pretty delicious!!

[lunarharp]

we're back..scrappy times..elf/rpg doodles based on halloween art shirahama did

[dragonnarrative-writes]

hi dragon!! hope you’re having a good tuesday ☺️ wanted to stop by to talk shop for a little

I absolutely adore Autumn Embers, genuinely one of the au’s that feels the most “real” to me. I’m really curious to learn more about how you fleshed out the world politics for this AU?

It’s one of my absolute favorite parts of the AU truly from the relevance of the 4B movement, to tampered beta suppressants, and even the courting cakes?? Adore it so much!!

-Kiko

Hi Kiko!

I'm going to offer a content warning for general discussion of reproductive health, complications, and freedoms below the cut.

The omegaverse is really interesting as a concept, but I really wanted to answer the question: What about Omegas that can't have children? And then that spawned the question, what kind of genetic conditions would make an omega not be able to have kids? There are so many real world reasons why pregnancy and childbirth are complicated and dangerous, what would estrus/heat and rut contribute to that? And, unfortunately, how would capitalism impact those complications?

It's kind of tricky to come up with the exact reasons why I asked those questions. I'm a Black US American, so the US Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade and subsequent war on reproductive freedom is part of it. The climate crisis and capitalist contributions to environmental destruction, and the health impacts thereof, are also a part of it. Honestly, my own queer identity and the experiences of intersex loved ones also contributed.

Whatever the case, the answer I came up with was: Omicron conditions. A classification of congenital developmental issues impacting but not limited to issues of presentation and reproduction.

All of Autumn Embers is based on this concept! We haven't explored it in depth yet in the fic, but Wildfire has an omicron condition. It's why her scent is so fucked up unique.

From there, I just wanted to make a world that feels complete. Of course someone surrounded by a world of "Heat and Rut!" and "Scents! Mean! Everything!" would be sensitive to their own reproductive experiences. And omegaverse fiction is (almost) never far enough from our reality, in my opinion, so of course there's going to be some conflict about reproductive health and rights, impacted by the Ever Present Evil (capitalism). And of course it's going to be global, this whole fandom surrounds an international task force.

This is way longer than I intended, so I'll just admit that I came up with the sex cake because omegaverse is inherently horny and I also want to do weird horny stuff in the middle of my examination of gender, sexuality and reproduction.

I want to give a shout out to Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction, a Captain America fanfic that rewired my brain when it comes to omegaverse fiction. And another shoutout to I Shall Not Live In Vain, a series from The Witcher fandom that actually got me thinking about scent compatibility.

Thanks for the ask @mikichko!

[omegaverse-anthropologist]

i have a quastion: reading about omegaverse, i've seen the term "drop" used when talking about alphas and omegas, what does it mean for an individual to go through a drop? is it an emotional, physical, or mental state? all three? super curious

my understanding of ‘drop’ as it’s used is:

drop is an altered psychological state induced by scruffing or overwhelming an omega with (usually a compatible alpha’s) pheromones. in this state, an omega experiences a state of deep relaxation and suggestibility similar to hypnosis. in some cases, this state can be induced to soothe an omega experiencing psychological shock, one near ferality, or one in extreme pain.

i’ve added drop to my list of concepts to explore in greater detail on this blog, because it’s very interesting

[turtlespancake]

me when i write a character who is prone to dooming themself and then they run off and doom themself. core traits are stubbornness and a willingness to disregard their own humanity gET BACK HERE IM NOT DONE WITH YOU

[powdermelonkeg]

Transformers: Matrix of Leadership

Worldbuilding: Nexuses

The nature of intimate relationships between Cybertronians, and the roles they play in Cybertron's social structure.

A Nexus is a pledge, often lifelong, between two bots. Nexuses are taken very, very seriously, both in terms of the responsibilities the bots have towards one another, and in terms of outsiders knowing that if they mess with one bot, they're messing with everyone that bot's linked to.

There are six types of Nexus recognized by the people of Cybertron:

Nexus of Apprenticeship

My apprentice, my mentor

The relationship between mentor and apprentice, this is one of family. The mentor is responsible for the apprentice's wellbeing, social integration, knowledge, and skill, and the apprentice strives to emulate everything they've been taught.

This is only ever one-to-one (as in, one mentor to one apprentice) in times of extreme rarity or tragedy, as with cityspekers, when there's only one mentor available to teach. Otherwise, you've got everyone in your section of the industry mentoring the new bot.

Nexus of Adversity

My ally

The relationship between two bots that swear to look out for each other in combat, this one was covert during the dying days of Cybertron, then became a much more standard thing during the war. It's a vow to protect each other equally, to be their weapon and their armor whenever they need it. Two bots that make this connection forge matching weapons and strive to keep them in pristine condition.

Nexus of Confidence

My confidant

The relationship between two bots who trust each other above all else and consider each other partners in life. The nature of the bond (romantic or platonic) does not matter, it's the fact that THIS bot is the one you would trust with your very spark.

Side note: This kind of bond would encompass both Amica and Conjunx Endura in IDW.

Nexus of Concord

My concordant, (slang) my other part

The relationship between bots within an established combiner team. The group makes decisions together and in each other's interests, acting as if they're one unit rather than a collection of separate ones. It's a different kind of family to the mentor-apprenticeship bond, but still family.

Nexus of Protection

My guard, my ward

A vow made to protect someone; a one-sided in obligation, but still very dear. The Cybertronian that pledges this does so with a lot of weight, as they're telling the one they're pledging to that they value their safety above their own in every situation. It's common for people to pledge these towards bots with a lot of importance—the cityspeakers before the war, or bots like Omega Supreme, for example.

Bots believe anyone born from a Metrotitan's well is the ward of said Metrotitan, and that the obligation is fulfilled by the titan sheltering them.

Nexus of Stability

My contrast

The relationship between two bots with wildly different outlooks that still value each other's input. This one is saying that the other makes up for places where you fail, that you give each other advice when you alone fall short, and that you're better off alongside the other person no matter what disagreements you have, oftentimes BECAUSE of those disagreements.

Hi! This is part of my worldbuilding series for my own continuity that I dreamed up while I was bored at work. I'm probably going to make a dozen or so posts like this. Thanks for reading!

[lovesickeros]

Darling: you hate me, it's written all over your face

Reader's resting b*tch face: what?

darling says it just to annoy you lbr. bc no matter how bad your resting bitch face is, the tsaritsa's is worse. darling has had years to learn how to discern the tsaritsa's mood when shes as reactive as a statue.

[isocrime]

Isozyme, your hrpf is so tight and snippy, you pace it all so well. Yoy have the plot so well tied to each scene. My question for you is, how do you do it,? Is it a matter of planning the end to end story before starting to writing? Thank you for your ficts!

Thank you!! This is a good question and very gratifying because one of the things I aim for with my fics is to always be compulsively readable no matter where in the story you’re at.

I don’t actually know the story from end-to-end at a high level of detail when I start out. Usually I know about how long the story will take to tell, the setup, and then the next couple things after that. As I write I sort of build the track ahead of me, so I’ll often have a detailed outline for the next scene, a couple bullet points for a handful of scenes after that, and then a sort of general vibe for anything farther away. (With a few exceptions, like I knew Matthew was going to get a supportive phone call from Sid in LMLAY for ages and ages before I finally got to write it.)

Basically my pacing philosophy is that every scene should have a job to do, and ideally also have some side hustles, and I sort of build it up layer by layer as I come up with each upcoming scene.

Let’s spitball a scene as an example. Hypothetically let’s give me a mcmattdrai wip where they’re all training with Scary Gary and in the scene in question Matthew is trying to figure out if Leon is sleeping with Connor. Maybe they’re waiting for the elevator together after a workout, that’s a good setting for two people who sort of know each other to have a stilted conversation. Matthew can joke that his legs are too tired to take the stairs and Leon can complain that he doesn’t know where the stairs are yet (this establishes their different levels of comfort in the setting in addition to giving some character notes). Leon probably also looks hot and sweaty, Matthew can notice that several times during the scene to amp up the sexual tension while he asks Leon awkward questions. A nice thing about elevators is that they have a timer, so I get to control when the elevator arrives and cuts off their conversation; probably right around when Leon reveals that he’s not sleeping with Connor (one mystery tied up, that’s the big job done by the scene) but now Matthew wants to know why Leon’s not sleeping with Connor (another mystery opened). They could keep talking about that inside the elevator but I don’t like that because I think that mystery should stretch out into the next couple of scenes, so to fix that (and add comedy) just as the elevator door is starting to close Connor can obliviously run up and join them. Now Matthew can’t ask Leon any more questions about Connor but he can observe the two of them together and start making some theories. However now that I have Connor in the scene, I should give him something to do from his plotline as well. Maybe I can make him talk about his struggles with a fundraiser for sick kids he’s trying to organize. Naturally Matthew volunteers Leon to help, which leads to Leon volunteering Matthew to also help as revenge, and that leads me neatly into the next scene (3 idiots struggling at event planning together in between their workouts).

I don’t know anything else about this fake story or where it’s going, but the scene is still dense and feels connected to a plot because all the elements are doing some kind of work on behalf of the story. And that’s pretty much how I do it when I’m actually writing something with a lot of plot — come up with what the main goal of a scene is, and then while achieving that goal try to have the stuff happening in the background work to move along side plots and set up the next thing.

Pacing is like a tricky little puzzle and it’s hard but I think it’s worth it when the work pays off; very glad you’re enjoying my hockey fics!

[icewindandboringhorror]

Lineup of all of the characters that appear long enough to need a visual representation of them in the game lol

[risingsunresistance]

i think more worldbuilding should include more numbering systems. like obviously when creating a fake world or language our first thought is to take the basic 0-9 and make a representation of those, but does it actually make sense for your people here to be using base 10? what about base 2, base 16, other systems we use and systems we dont commonly use? what would make the most sense in the context?

[redpenship]

okay NOW im done plotting buzzsaw 2. chapter by chapter and everything!!

[mbat]

i fr need some sort of (probably queer) friend into world of warcraft so that the person i directly talk to about it isnt my brother. cause on my life his opinions suck and his gameplay kills me a little inside