#》. worldbuilding

[verybadatwriting]

So silly :P

the people wanted more youtube worldbuilding ^^

previous post

[exobiotica]

Life on the Seafloor

Some habitats are very consistent from planet to planet across the universe. The bottoms of deep oceans generally experience similar conditions—extremely high water pressure, zero sunlight, and a constant rain of organic debris known as marine snow. Thus, organisms on the deep sea floor of Veteris developed common traits in parallel to their counterparts on Earth. The darkness eliminates the need for most pigments, so most creatures are rather drab. In order to grab bits of food from the water column, many utilize grasping appendages covered in sticky setae. For every scrap of nourishment that can be found here, there is a creature that has evolved to exploit it. Far from being a desolate wasteland, this seemingly inhospitable environment is full of bizarre, perfectly-adapted inhabitants.

[yellosnacc]

Merry joyous times and new years

They can't be joyous for all 😔 (this isn't snow, just melting invertebrates)

The common ash stain is max like 5 meters in diameter (this drawing is being very dramatic). It's created when a big bunch of 'insects' of the species swarm in a spot as their final journey. Their stinking full bodies die and let out strong acids that dissolve the top layer of the corpses into this sticky white bed.

Underneath one will find thousands of eggs and later insect babies feasting on suffocating meggs, plants and sometimes smaller animals stuck underneath.

Oh jolly

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Words Related to Camping

Bivouac - a temporary shelter or camp for sleeping in outside, that is not a tent

Bonfire - a large fire built in the open air

Canteen - a small container for carrying water or other liquids

Compass - a device having a magnetic needle that indicates direction on the earth's surface by pointing toward the north

Campcraft - the skills that are needed for camping

Campout - an occasion on which a group camps out

Grizzly bear - a very large brown bear (Ursus arctos) of northwestern North America

Groundcloth - a piece of waterproof material that you put on the ground to sleep on in a tent

Hammock - a swinging bed made of fabric or netting attached on either end to an upright object (as a tree)

Hike - a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise

Kindling - material that burns easily and is used for starting a fire

Lantern - a usually portable lamp with a protective covering

Rucksack - a bag for carrying things on the shoulders or back

S'more - a sweet food that is made by putting a melted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between two crackers

Sleeping bag - a large fabric bag that is warmly lined for sleeping outdoors or in a camp or tent

Stake - a pointed piece (as of wood) that is driven into the ground as a marker or a support for something

Sunblock - a preparation applied to the skin to prevent sunburn usually by blocking the sun's ultraviolet radiation

Tent - a portable shelter (as of canvas) stretched and supported by poles

Trail - a path marked through a forest or mountainous region

Trail mix - a mixture of seeds, nuts, and dried fruits eaten as a snack especially by hikers

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[zoloteh-volossya]

I actually made an alien species that did this, for a project I never ended up writing.

They were an intensely social species that lived in sibling groups of six to twelve members, all born together. From birth, each sibling group would develop their own incredibly complicated language that used sound and pheromones to communicate pretty much everything they were thinking and feeling to each other. This language quickly grew complicated enough that no other group would be able to fully understand it (though it typically shared characteristics with their parents’ language, which allowed for some limited mutual understanding between related sibling groups - which helped prevent inbreeding with close relatives). The result of this constant communication was that each sibling group acted as pretty much a single unit, completely in sync with each other.

However, they still needed to communicate with other sibling groups for trading and mating and negotiations and such. For this they used a language that resembled synchronized dance, basically a whole body sign language. There were different dance languages ‘spoken’ in different regions.

Unlike humans who conceptualize pretty much everything as stories, this species conceptualized everything in terms of maps (including position in time). I.e. instead of “A hit B with a rock” it would be something like “rock proximate to A, rock path vector (rapid movement) (intentionality modifier), rock coincident with B, injury on B [distress pheromone]”.

Here’s what they looked like:

For as popular as the idea of a "hivemind" is we never talk about how it doesn't exist in nature. There's no animal colony that connects and controls all its members through a psychic connection. Even bees, the eponimous hivemind, communicate by pheremones and, more importantly, interpretive dance. My point is when are we going to get a movie about an intensely organized alien race that mainly communicates via sick dance moves, why are we sleeping on this.

[translunaryanimus]

CHENESHT HOMEPLANET - ÂCHLANHTE Star: K-Class, Main Sequence 'Phetchâ' [Petkaa] - Comes from the word for white [Phe] and a contraction of Tlechâ [T'châ - Halo or Radiance. Has godly connotations] Position from Star: Second Axial Tilt: 15 degrees Gravity: .83g Vegetation: Dark Greenish Teal Supercontinent Name: Eshtmhêt [esht-meet] - People Path/People Track Planet Name Meaning: Âchlanhte [Aaklante] - Usually roughly translated as 'All Our Egg'. The name spawns from a Têphecha religious belief that the planet they live on was the first egg laid by one of their gods. Each culture has their own version of this story, but the Têphecha version is the most commonly told to other sophonts.

ETHNICITY NAMES AND MEANINGS

Llalâphe [Lalaape] - Fisher Fenhêalch [Feneelt] - Derived from an old word for Soil [Fenhach] Têphecha [Teepeka] - Stilt or Pole Lhbore [L'bore or Labore] - Large or Tall, sometimes translated as 'Giants' Ôernh [Oorn] - Derived from an old word for Water [Ôrnha] Chlâsle [Tlaasle] - Beader Nhâchchech [Naak'kek] - Weaver

More information under the cut

Âchlanhte's lower axial tilt and lesser gravity cause seasonal patterns to be far more mild than those of earths. The poles barely freeze or melt, the swamps stay wet and humid, and the haze of airborne algae stays easily suspended in the sky, turning it a foggy mint color. The predictable and mild seasons also allowed for easy, early chenesht settling across a vast majority of the Supercontinent's surface which led them to becoming the dominant species, and eventually, the only sapient one.

Some of you may remember This Earlier Post in which I touched a little on natural color variants within Chenesht, consider this the expanded version. Chenesht have 7 distinct ethnic groups which, for the most part, are also their cultural groups. I've covered the Chlâsle and the Nhâchchech briefly before in other posts and plan to eventually go more in depth on the other 5. In terms of cross referencing with the older post, the Chlâsle are the 'standard' coloration, the Nhâchchech are the 'polar' coloration, and the Têphecha are the 'central' coloration. While the colors in this post are still canon, Chlâsle are no longer considered the standard coloration as they're one of 7 ethnicities.

Âchlanhte's supercontinent Eshtmhêt has experienced very little tectonic drift since merging several million years before the dawn of civilization, allowing the various Chenesht cultures to stay socially and technologically connected and up to date with one another throughout their development. It's because of this that all Chenesht largerly speak the same language, with the only differences being slang terms and the occasional differing words between cultures. Each dialect is rougly 90% mutually intelligable with any other, with the Llalâphe and the Ôernh having the most linguistic drift. The 'correct' names for each ethnicity are sometimes debated due to variations on what they're called by themselves vs by others, ie. the Nhâchchech also being called the Eshtchchonh (pattern people) by the Chlâsle. The ones listed here are the popularly accepted proper names.

[gfbs-the-decaying]

New Val Reference Sheet (12/25) ! Chapter 2 release date is nearing soon.. January 2025 everyone! Ty for your patience!

[girlwarlock]

okay so for larger-and-stronger-than-humans in the video, he makes the point that appropriately large and strong bows would be difficult to source materials for at a large scale. setting aside the question of "would they actually need bows at all since they could probably throw javelins to accomplish most of what they need to do," the bit where it's hard to make good giant-sized bows could be an interesting avenue for social stuff

a bow could easily become a sort of... marker of status? in a feudal or non-state society, a more powerful big-strong-guy (that is, some kind of warlord-like figure who has a bigger mob of people at her direct command than anyone else does) was generally expected to maintain relationships with less powerful big-strong-guys with a few different mechanics, but one of these was gift-giving, and the more powerful guy can use this as an opportunity to show off how good of a friend she is to third parties.

so, a giant with more military power available to access more resources to directly control or trade for more resources might give bows as gifts to her less-powerful allies, both to maintain their favor and allyship and to demonstrate to others that allying with the bow-giver may be a way to access these weapons (whose construction may depend on foreign trade or forests the bow-giver uses her greater military power to control access to)

(also in a world where the are javelin-hucking giants, "javelins hucked by a giant" would be part of the threat environment that giants and non-giants alike would be protecting against, which means that people of all sizes would be working to make things that protect against the javelins, which would mean that eventually it would be beneficial, even for a giant to have bows that could penetrate giant-javelin-resistant armor)

"How might Small(tm) fantasy creatures use bows?"

Tiny bow was surprisingly fun to wield. Might use that again sometime 😁

Patreon still exists for all your art reference and bonus content needs!

And you can find more fantasy creatures doing archery here:

[dcdreamblog]

What are your opinions on the Justice League International? They were a controversial time for the League for sure, a lot of news outlets around here, red state, you understand, called them a 'joke' and 'an embarrassment on the good name of the League,' but they were heroes, if you ask me.

Any red state dipshit who wanted to say that about the JLI would have to then meet me in the parking lot after I smacked my work gloves across his face.

(The most iconic image of the JLI, the day they received their official charter from the United Nations. TIME Magazine.)

The "Justice League Detroit" (A name I put in quotes because it IS meant to be pejorative in its original context, though the surviving members of that team wear it with pride ) had disbanded after a violent clash with Anthony Ivo left several of its members dead around the same time that G Gordon Godfrey was first able to whip up a popular discontent around superheroes.

This, of course, lead to the famous "Battle of the Lincoln Memorial" where a group of heroes defeated Godfrey and stymied the plans of his ultimate master, Darkseid. Bringing together a new team with the realization the world always needed a Justice League.

The team would handle various crises until the came into the interest of billionaire philanthropist Maxwell Lord who approached them with an idea: Seek official UN sanction, granting greater resources in exchange for government oversight. This period is when the most iconic lineup joined the team more or less, including the American mandated Captain Atom, his Russian counterpart Rocket Red with personable duo Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.

The First thing that caused an international backlash was the WAY the UN sanction was secured, namely that it was a TRANSFER of the Global Guardians' sanction to the League which was WIDELY unpopular in the majority of the world, especially among the Nonaligned Nations. The Global Guardians were and are deeply respected in the areas where they are active and cutting them out in order to replace them with a line up of the Justice League was seen by many smaller nations as America muscling in on the international stage.

This international outcry was somewhat quieted by the addition of popular Brazilian and Norwegian heroines Fire and Ice to the group and the mandated acceptance of Russia's Rocket Red. Though concerns remained that its claim to an international organization was hollow due to its majority American membership in contrast to the truly global commitment of the Global Guardians, worries I sympathize and agree with to a degree.

The OTHER "problem" many had with the team was with its general bearing and membership. The League was at that time, and still often is, thought of in terms of "The Seven", its most famous and prominent members with other heroes playing a peripheral role in the eyes of the public. With Batman very swiftly bowing out once media attention glued itself to the team, the only member of that chosen few that remained was the Martian Manhunter who is often disregarded by a certain...kind of observer. This lead to a perception that the JLI wasn't the "real" Justice League despite the total confidence placed in the JLI by personages like Superman or Wonder Woman.

It also got itself involved in rather less serious matters and conducted itself in a sometimes less than proud manner, mostly due to the public debacles that Blue Beetle and Booster Gold became wrapped up in. But I've already made a post about my thoughts on both men and why I think both are deserving of respect.

My evidence is as it shall ever be.

If you are slightly older than me you probably clearly remember when an alien alliance lead by a race calling themselves THE DOMINATORS tried to conquer the Earth via military force of arms. Which team was at the forefront of the counter attack that saved all our lives? The JLI.

Who stopped the illegal Bialyan junta under "Queen Bee" from gaining a superweapon? The JLI.

Who pushed back the intergalactic despot Despero to such a degree that he STILL thinks that these are Earth's greatest champions? The JLI. I would dare ANYONE who would like to question their legacy to stand in their shoes and still see if their big mouth avails them.

[salmontheking]

Map of the Earth of Megaton Heart

In a manner typical of my melanodeficient pigmentation, I could not be stopped from redrawing other people’s borders without asking.

The timeline diverges noticeably already circa 1930s. In short - red, pink and green = centralised, state-y socialism; blue = syndicate-y/market-y socialism; uncolored = various, could even still be capitalist.

Not pictured here are the massive black-brown blots of petroleum-producing algae in the oceans, the single biggest economic asset and basis of most energy and food production.

[b1asho]

Qna 15 (prolly the last one for a sec)

trying to figure out how the hell these guys would use a wheelchair (if at all) hopefully it doesn't look too silly

[coolmaycroft]

I mean... I think we got a bit too carried away with this whole "believable sci/fi-Fantasy" thing.

There's this push recently to return fiction to its more simple and sublime side where the point is to engage the reader more than make them believe the plot could totally happen.

I've always opposed the advice "write what you know" because it makes for really lame storytelling, and researching about X or Y topic an always enrich the fiction the author creates.

But on the same vein, we shoould take Sci-fi and historical fiction in a more lighthearted way because if your story is only using the time period for backdrop then there's no need to put in more than a few hours of research into it.

The thing is this advice is going to come off as reductive and dismissive in these day and age because now more than ever it seems people are looking for self identification and knowledge in fiction stories. Which yeah, you can totally try as you might but fiction is only gonna get you so far.

If the book deals specifically as a critique of society in certain historical period, or the marginalization of X group, then yeah of course having a good historical basis is fundamental; but if the story is focused on the characters front and center I think you can let a lot of innacuracies slide.

We also have to bring up the conclusion brought up by @nondelphic: "either way someone on the internet will tell you you're wrong". Which yeah, there's always gonna be some smartass ready to "Uhm akchually you". You're writing a fiction work, not an academic paper. Academics would be too busy or have too specific a field to give a fuck about correcting you.

writing anything even remotely outside your personal expertise means you’re signing up for one of two disasters:

a) spending 300 hours researching medieval plumbing systems for a three-sentence scene in your fantasy novel that no one will even care about, OR

b) skipping the research entirely and hoping no one notices when your 17th-century pirate casually says, 'let’s circle back on that.'

either way, someone on the internet will tell you you’re wrong.

[raayllum]

The Mage Wars

How could I not know that? What really happened? History has a way of burying the ugly truths of those who write it.

So it was supremely satisfying to finally have a textual answer to something fans have been curious about since S2 aired in 2019, and definitely after S3. There was speculation at the time that the West being so different from the East was likely due to two options:

Xadian forces took magic out of the west as a preventative measure when the elves / everyone was leaving, and then sent the humans in. This would mean a more difficult path for humanity in terms of stripping away Xadia's natural abundance, but better protect all the unique creatures/beings who lived on the western half of the continent by shepherding them somewhere safer

Xadian forces left the West untouched, and sent humans into that same natural abundance. Humanity consumed and destroyed it over long term dark magic use and infighting (calling back to Viren's line in 2x05 of "After centuries of fighting amongst ourselves...") because dark magic is a personal, subjective morality free-for-all of terror and consequences

We now definitively know it's the second one... but why? Why tell us this at all?

Well there's a few potential reasons:

Now that we're fully opening up the border between the Pentarchy and the Xadia, with the caveat that the Pentarchy can defend themselves from future dragon attacks, we could see encroaching war of more powerful humans who wish to plunder magic from the remaining magical side of the continent. All the previous guardians of Xadia's land and seas (the Archdragons) have also been taken out by Aaravos.

Side note: I forget where, but I saw people speculate that the coral-horned creature could be the Empress of the Deep mentioned in Deep Below, who was a dear friend of Domina Profundis, and who was hunted by a collection of elves and humans.

The history of the Mage Wars is also likely relevant to the Staff of Ziard. We see it featured prominently in the flashback and that it seemed to denote powerful mages in particular. This makes sense as it's something Aaravos crafted and then gave to humanity, along with dark magic itself earlier on. We also know that (particularly human) mages were his preferred prey and that the Mage Wars are exactly the kind of conflict he'd be more than ready to nudge along. His imprisonment being 300 years ago (depending on when the fighting came to an end) could also line up.

Going back to the Staff, we know that the staff metal itself came from the Starscraper (alongside 8 others that remain there), the quasar diamond was stolen from the Corona of the Heavens and placed in the staff, and that it eventually became attributed to the High Mage position in Katolis, passing from generation to generation. We know that traditionally it would've passed from Kpp'Ar to Viren, and has now gone to Callum, who seems to no longer be High Mage, but retains ownership over the staff anyway. We don't know why Kpp'Ar believed that the staff should never be used again, so it seems that's an arc 3 question.

I'm also curious if the end of the mage wars, given the volcanic setting is reminiscent of the arc 1 intro with Avizandum, might be something we see some day / in further detail. If the timeline matches up where it was coming to a close around 300 years ago, that could be part of the reason why the Orphan Queen journeyed into Xadia and why she had reason to be suspicious of Aaravos.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Reference: Types of Animals

Amphibian - any of a group of cold-blooded vertebrate animals (as frogs and toads) that have gills and live in water as larvae but breathe air as adults

Bird - an animal that lays eggs and has wings and a body covered with feathers

Cephalopod - any of a class (Cephalopoda) of marine mollusks including the squids, cuttlefishes, and octopuses that move by expelling water from a tubular siphon under the head and that have a group of muscular usually sucker-bearing arms around the front of the head, highly developed eyes, and usually a sac containing ink which is ejected for defense or concealment

Crustacean - any of a large group of mostly water animals (as crabs, lobsters, and shrimps) with a body made of segments, a tough outer shell, two pairs of antennae, and limbs that are jointed

Cryptid - an animal (such as Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster) that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist

Fish - any of a large group of vertebrate animals that live in water, breathe with gills, and usually have fins and scales

Insect - any of a group of small and often winged animals that are arthropods having six jointed legs and a body formed of a head, thorax, and abdomen

Mammal - a warm-blooded animal (as a dog, mouse, bear, whale, or human being) with a backbone that feeds its young with milk produced by the mother and has skin usually more or less covered with hair

Reptile - a cold-blooded animal (as a snake, lizard, turtle, or alligator) that breathes air and usually has the skin covered with scales or bony plates

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Animals Part 1 ⚜ Part 2 ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[amethystfairy1]

I'm sure you've been showered in praise already, but I just want to say how CREEPY the director is. two amazing antagonists with very different voices and personalities, they're awesome

but she? making a genuinely creepy, unnerving character is hard. I really feel as if the director has risen above "overly robotic individual" into some genuine uncanny valley.

it is, it is, it is a fantastic chapter

Awhhh Thank you! I'm so glad you think so! I really wanted her to be extremely unnerving...there's something so unsettling about her character and motivations and I really wanted to make sure that held up at every step as we carried on through TTSBC. She's not necessarily evil, she's just intrinsically self motivated. She's also not necessarily narcissistic, she's completely detached from those kinds of concepts...they just don't make sense to her. They're illogical. She is purely and 100% motivated by her curiosity and nothing else.

And that's terrifying...at least I think so! So I'm glad you agree!