#(i am not a tolkien scholar but only an enthusiast of history and of his work)

[bridonebrere]

for all the shit lewis sometimes gets for his heavy-handed christian allegories, tolkien's work feels more deeply saturated in it tbh... christological themes of course echo throughout but on a more fundamental level, his cosmology (more than lewis's) hinges on racial and spiritual hierarchy. the racial elements are fairly obvious, but even individual races are subject to rigorous ordering: the seemingly arbitrary inequality between valar and maiar; the mightier and fairer high elves who saw the light of aman and the moriquendi who did not; men of darkness, men of the twilight, men of the west of diminished glory who are, or were, higher than the others, stronger and wiser, longer lived, and naturally owed allegiance. better, higher bloodlines: far from social constructs, confirmed by prophecy and magic. all over the place, detailed classifications that prompt questions like "why is it like this? why does it have to be this way?" and for all their equally detailed in-universe justifications, behind it all is the fact that hierarchy is divinely ordained and the unquestionable condition of the world. kind of a bummer honestly

[wnnbdarklord]

Dear Worldbuilding Exchange 2018 creator!

Hi! This is my first year participating and I am excite!

AO3 username: wnnbdarklord

Worldbuilding Exchange 2018 Letter:

General Likes

Art Likes

Do Not Wants

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Request #1 - worldbuilding Asgard and/or Jotunheim

Request #2 - worldbuilding Sokovia Accords, Wakanda, Stark Industries

Middle Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Star Trek the Next Generation

General Likes:

Polyamory, gen, het, slash, femslash, families of choice, competence, BAMF female characters, angst, hurt/comfort, teamfic, pretty much all the tropes especially if there is a twist, worldbuilding, humor, redemption, for want of a nail AUs, time travel, werewolves, dragons, crossovers, non fantasy/SF canons encountering the supernatural/aliens, fix it fics

For worldbuilding specific stuff: I think I'd be happy with pretty much any deeper exploration of canon or implications of canon. Building on throwaway references is also great as is considering logical endpoints that might not even have been intended by the creators. Or exploring something the creators never even mentioned but that has to exist for that world to be at all functional (like agriculture and trade in fantasy worlds as something rarely mentioned or explored in depth). Or unintended applications of technology and/or magic that exist in canon. Or exploring how history would change with the presence of certain canonical elements.

Feel free to combine or mix up the prompts! The character choices are mostly there just as preferences or ones I think would fit with the worldbuilding prompts. Since the focus of this exchange is on the worldbuilding, I'd be perfectly happy to get something that doesn't focus on any of the characters or even original characters.

All of my requests are open for either fic, art or in universe meta. I love fics that blur the lines with meta.

Art Likes:

I’m pretty sure I’d love any art! I love sketchy styles with maybe just a splash of color to draw the eye. Black and white images with only one color to highlight Important Things is A+. That said, any art in any style would be amazing! As for subject matter, I’d love to see any scenes from the prompts or stuff from my likes.

Do Not Wants:

The ones bolded are the most important to leave out, but here is an expanded list:

permanent character death, incest, rape, dubcon, torture porn, underage stuff, infidelity, humiliation, character bashing, ship bashing, no powers AUs, love triangles, fake married/dating, power imbalances in relationships, hate sex, scat/watersports, necrophilia, PWP, abuse, fusions, zombies, 1st person POV, issue fic, themes of cynicism and futility, nihilism that isn't of the optimistic kind, animal abuse, unrequested ships, slavery, genderswap of the always an x kind, unrequested AUs , jealousy

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Request #1 - worldbuilding Asgard and/or Jotunheim

Loki (MCU) || Thor (MCU) || Hela (MCU) || Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (MCU) || Original Character(s) (MCU) || Any or No Characters (MCU)

WB: Jotunheim (MCU)

Ever since the first Thor movie, I've wanted more about Jotunheim. Anything! What is their culture like? Society? Geography? Politics? Flora and fauna? Gender? Medicine? Education? Trade? It'd be really cool if there was something dealing with the differences pre and post war with Asgard.

Why did they try to colonize Midgard? Given the revelations about Asgard in Ragnarok, were the Jotnar even trying to turn the Earth into Jotunheim's image, or was that just propaganda by Odin and the possibly innocuous presence of Jotnar on Midgard a convenient excuse for more war? Was their attempt one of desperation?

How are their relations with the other Realms? Do they still have any trade with them after the war? What does Jotunheim think about the events of the Thor movie? Are they even aware who it was that tried to destroy them? What were the consequences of the Bifrost attack? Severe planetwide or just local?

For art: I'd love to see a map of Jotunheim or plant or animal studies. Or maybe something detailing Jotnar clothing. Or architecture. Or what their language and alphabet looks like.

For in universe meta/fic: Excerpts from books or videos from various scholars on all the Realms. This could be really interesting, especially as a way to see how the Jotnar view themselves vs others, especially with Asgardian propaganda (and racism in their tendency to refer to any species but their own in derogatory terms). Or maybe something detailing what Thor and Loki would have learned through their education, skewed as it likely was. There had to be some reason they were both so convinced Jotnar were monsters.

WB: Aesir and/or Jotnar biology (MCU)

I love me some alien biology worldbuilding! They're clearly more hardy than humans, stronger and longer lived, but what are the other differences? Why does Odin disintegrate into sparkles upon death, but not other Aesir? Are there developmental differences between Aesir and Jotnar? Is one more long lived than the other? Hardier? What about nutritional requirements? Are they allergic to any foods the other is not? Do Jotnar have hair? Horns?

Any reproductive differences? Aesir seem to align to human norms fairly well (and what if they don't?), but do Jotnar have more complicated arrangements? What is their sense of smell, taste and vision like? In the myths, Jotnar were shapeshifters and so is Loki in the MCU. Is this a species wide thing or just more common on Jotunheim? How do their instincts differ

How do Aesir and Jotnar powers work? Why do Odin, Hela, Heimdall and Thor have powers, but the rest of the population doesn't seem to? How does the freezing touch of Jotnar work? Is it constant or just a defense mechanism? How cold can they get to shatter leather and metal made by Asgardians? Can all of them produce ice?

For fic: I'd love something where Loki is forced to confront his Jotun form long term. Perhaps Odin's spell on him fails when Asgard is destroyed and he'll have to deal with whatever differences there are.

For art: Anatomical studies and/or comparisons would be amazing! I'd be especially delighted with anything highlighting the differences.

WB: Asgard and its history (MCU) || WB: Relations Between Asgard and the Other Realms (MCU) || WB: Politics of Asgard (MCU)

All of these seem thematically related, so I'm lumping them together. Feel free to focus on whichever you want or combine as you please!

Ragnarok really made me hanker for more info about Asgard's past and its relationship with the other Realms. How did Odin and Hela go about their conquests? The murals depict Asgard being built by slaves. Where did the slaves come from? What happened to them?

Neither Thor or Loki are aware of Asgard's true history. What were they taught instead? Was that just Odin being Odin and keeping secrets, or was there some magic or technology behind Asgard's collective amnesia? Or just fear of the king?

How were Asgard's relations to the other Realms affected by its bloody history? Do the other Realms remember it? How were they affected by it? Have they recovered? Has Asgard purposefully and actively kept them lower, despite all its words of peace later? What was the relationship like after Loki-as-Odin pulled Asgard away from actively policing the other Realms?

How has Asgard itself been affected by these revelations? Its destruction? Do the people start a revolution on the ship? Is there a reason they're so passive throughout Hela's reappearance? They didn't seem shocked or particularly resentful of Loki usurping Odin's place either.

For fic: I'd love something where the Asgardian refugees have to contend with going from the top of the pile to the bottom. How would the other Realms treat them?

For art: I'd love to see more of the murals! What other secrets has Odin been keeping? How prevalent are they? I'd love a before and after like in the movie, but for other events.

WB: Relationship between magic and science (MCU)

Thor says they're one and the same on Asgard. Is that true elsewhere? I mean, there seem to be quite a few differences functionally. How does magic work and how is it different from science? Is everything on Asgard just technology so advanced it basically works like magic? If not and magic is actually a thing, how does it work? Can anyone do it with enough study? Does there have to be a natural aptitude for it beforehand? Or are there degrees of separation where anyone can do magic with certain artifacts and rituals, but only naturally born magic users can use it without those interfaces? Is shapeshifting magic, a natural ability or technology?

For fic: I'd love something dealing with Loki learning magic, or even Thor trying to learn it! They both seem fairly comfortable with advanced technology, but Asgard itself doesn't seem to have any visible tech. How does that work on Asgard?

Request #2 - worldbuilding Sokovia Accords, Wakanda, Stark Industries

Tony Stark (MCU) || Pepper Potts (MCU) || James "Rhodey" Rhodes (MCU) || T'Challa (MCU) || Original Character(s) (MCU)

These requests might not be as detailed as the Asgardian stuff above, but don't take it to mean I'm less enthusiastic for them! I just found it easier to come up with prompts there. I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever you come up with!

WB: Stark Industries (MCU)

Stark Industries sounds like it should be a huge corporation! With all the advanced tech in the MCU in general, what wonders does SI create that make the MCU just that bit different from our Earth? How did the company restructure after Tony returned from Afghanistan? With SI's focus on clean energy, is climate change less of a big deal in the MCU?

What's the legal differentiation between SI and Iron Man and the Avengers? Especially after the Sokovia Accords? What about Tony's work for SHIELD before it went under? What's the public's perception of SI after everything? What does the day to day running of SI look like? Perhaps a perspective from the average worker that has to deal with the fallout of their boss being a superhero/involved with a superhero?

How did the internal shakeup of SI go after Obadiah Stane and his double dealing? After SHIELD fell, how many of its agents sought refuge with SI? Is Hill still there after the Civil War? What did SI get up to after the events of the Avengers? Did they get access from the government to the Chitauri tech?

For art: I'd love something schematic-y for one of their products or maybe pamphlets or something from their public relations department. Or magazine and newspaper articles on SI or Tony, Pepper or Rhodey.

WB: Sokovia Accords (MCU) || WB: Public Relations and superheroes/related agencies (MCU)

I'm Team Tony, so I don't really want anything dealing directly with Steve and his team, but I also don't want any character bashing. I just really don't understand Steve's perspective. Ross is definitely an asshole who used the Sokovia Accords as an opportunity to push his agenda, but the concept itself did not originate from him. And he isn't capable of single handedly forcing 117 countries to agree to them. I don't think the UN works like that.

I also don't think the script writers know what the UN works like either? So, give me the Sokovia Accords with more of a focus on the legal and diplomatic realities rather than the dramatic tension necessary in a movie! They had to have been in the works for years at the very least, how did none of the Avengers know about them? Or did they and it just wasn't mentioned in the movie? How many times were they amended? How will they be amended? How do they work in practice? They certainly weren't ratified during the bombing because of the bombing, so why did the movie proceed as though they were in full force?

What does superhero PR look like in the MCU? Before the Accords? After?

WB: Wakanda increasing its international openness (MCU)

I don't have anything in particular in mind for this, I just saw the tag and my brain went !!! How and why does Wakanda decide to stop its isolationist policies? How does it affect them? How does it affect the rest of the world?

Middle Earth - J.R.R. Tolkien

Boromir (Middle Earth - Tolkien) || Faramir (Middle Earth - Tolkien) || Original Character(s) (Middle Earth - Tolkien) || Original Gondorian Scholar (Middle Earth - Tolkien) || Gandalf | Mithrandir (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: Libraries & Archives (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: Southern Middle Earth (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: cultural differences between races (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: trade in Gondor (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: education in Middle Earth (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

WB: afterlife for non elven races (Middle Earth - Tolkien) /

WB: Mythology and Religion (Middle Earth - Tolkien)

I've been a Tolkien fan since I was 11, but haven't recently reread the books. I tend to float in and out of the fandom, but it is always near and dear to my heart. I don't really have detailed prompts for these, because it feels like they're pretty descriptive on their own.

I'd be most interested seeing something dealing with Gondor or Men in general throughout Middle-earth. In universe texts, stories, and songs dealing with aspects of the prompts would be great! Especially considering a lot of the mythology is presented to us as fact (despite the layers of 'it's just a translation' conceit) rather than from the perspective of the people themselves. The readers know what happens to Men when they die, but do the Men themselves know? Sure, there's accounts from the Elves and what the Valar and Maiar told them, but I doubt all of them are aware of it. Or if they had been at one point, how did that change after lack of contact?

Middle-earth is a big place, but we only really know a lot about one small part of it. What do the people we're familiar with think about the places we've never seen? Is there any contact at all? Are those places filled with familiar Races or is there more variety? Did they ever visit? What did they bring, if so? What did they leave with?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Ken (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || Farah Black (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || Bart Curlish (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || Original Character(s) (Dirk Gently TV 2016)

WB: how the Blackwing subjects' powers work (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || WB: Cosmology (Dirk Gently TV 2016) || WB: Blackwing (Dirk Gently TV 2016)

Gosh, I just love this series so much! I want to know more about everything in it, but managed to limit myself to these :D

How does the universe work in DGHDA? In the second season it's implied that it's broken and that the Blackwing subjects are effectively the debugging programs of the universe. How does that work? How did Blackwing find them? Did they ever make a mistake? Are there more out there? What are they doing? How does the universe decide which people to chose? We also get to see the universe's backstage. Why do people's eyes go different in that place? Why were Amanda's and Todd's fairly normal, but Friedkin's were red? What does the glowy stuff mean?

There are a number of holistic identities and the way they work seems to be very varied. Francis Cardenas' power was very overt and amazingly powerful. Bart is basically unstoppable and Mona can turn into literally anything. Dirk's power, by contrast, is fairly low-key and unobtrusive. Has he fully realized his potential?

How did Blackwing come into existence? How long have they been operational? How were they so unsuccessful in determining their subjects' powers enough to lose almost all of their funding? Was it the recapturing of the subjects that made the universe broken? Anything dealing with Blackwing and their subjects during their captivity there would be great! Like, how did the logistics of keeping Ken in a taxi for 70 days even work? Things like that :D

Star Trek the Next Generation

Data (ST:TNG) || Jean-Luc Picard (ST:TNG) || Deanna Troi (ST:TNG) || Original Character(s) (ST:TNG) || Any or No Characters (ST:TNG) || Geordi La Forge (ST:TNG)

In most fandoms, I'm fine with a grimer, darker take, but for Star Trek I like it to encapsulate the ideals it was created with - namely, that we might not be perfect, but we can achieve so much if we're willing to try and strive to be better. Which isn't to say that life has to be perfect, but I'd like it to be hopeful. Cynicism need not apply.

WB: Warp Engines (ST: TNG)

There was a recent article about warp drive possibly not being such an impossibility anymore! The technical details would probably be beyond me, but I would love an explanation of Star Trek's warp engines combined with the real life science one! Give me all the pseudo technobabble!

WB: interspecies relationships (ST:TNG)

How common are they? How common is offspring? Genetic manipulation is forbidden in the Federation, but do people use it anyway to have children they otherwise might not be able to, legally or otherwise?

There's loads of culture clash between people from different countries from the same planet, how much more is there between two different species? Or does that make it easier in some ways?

WB: fashion and clothing (ST:TNG)

Honestly, this prompt was entirely and completely inspired by this tumblr post: http://cookiesforthedarkside.tumblr.com/post/169324738115/mosellegreen-justanothercarbonunit in which Gene Roddenberry has a problem with zippers. And buttons. By the time TNG rolled around, there were clothes with visible seams and such, but it was left ambiguous whether they were actually zippers. So, what does clothing without buttons or fasteners of any kind look like? How does it work? What material is it made out of? Is the lack of zippers and buttons the reason for some of the more...let's say eclectic looks?

WB: media reporting (ST:TNG)

Starfleet gets up to so many shenanigans, it's ridiculous. And we know reporters and journalists still exist! So, what do they report on? Is there a 24 hour news channel somewhere? Is there a gossip rag Picard secretly reads that absolutely butchers the Enterprise's mission reports? Are there dramatic readings of them in Ten Forward?

Are there a billion different channels of subspace radio that broadcasts all the local minutia of whatever system the Enterprise is currently in? Do they play it on the bridge?

I just feel like it'd be an interesting perspective on the little details of the Star Trek verse that have to be there, but we never really see. Go wild!

WB: AI rights and personhood (ST:TNG)

We know Data paved the way for AI rights in the ST verse. What ripples have his efforts caused? We know it's not just limited to him or other androids and robots - it seems like everytime we turn around, another hologram gains sentience. With the amount of holograms in use by the Federation, it could become a problem very quickly.

Do more androids eventually get built? Do the star ships themselves gain sentience? How would the Federation navigate these issues?

WB: Utopian Earth (ST:TNG)

It probably isn't a true Utopia, because those seem impossible and designed to fail, but I'd like to think it's pretty close. How does life for the average citizen of Earth look like? What do they do in a post-scarcity society? What do people not in Starfleet do? How do they live?