#the creative in me needs to worldbuild !!!

[deadofdreadness]

Would anyone be interested in learning about my personal project?

I've been working on this for several years. It's a world building project where most of my OC's or drawings in general are based from. And it's also the main inspiration of my short stories.

As much as I would love to publish something, I feel like Tumblr would be a good start for me to post some of my content, and get some of it critiqued and inspired by random users.

Thoughts?

[winfleure]

been obsessed w/ different types of worldbuilding so if you’re a certified™ yapper who likes to worldbuild, headcanon, make boards & playlists & gush abt ur chars & ships like me, hmu !!! under the cut is more info abt me & my style !! also many options can be combined too !!

general plots:

medieval / modern/slice of life fantasy (ex. frieren, the hobbit, etc.)

supernatural (can be integrated w/ human society or just their own)

mythology (reincarnated?)

bands/musicians/actors/influencers/celebs universe

crime/mafia/assassins/corruption universe

(slice of life) utopian/dystopian/cyberpunk/sci-fi/horror-esque apocalypse

murder mystery-inspired universe!!! (ex. only murders in the building, clue)

traveling circus troupe! (modern or historical/supernatural) (ex. cirque du soleil)

fandom settings:

pokemon setting

hp/hogwarts-golden trio setting (anti j.k.r)

one piece setting

genshin impact setting

boku no hero / my hero academia academia setting

manhwa webcomics setting (esp. isekai, superpowers, climbing the tower subgenre)

iyashikei/slice of life genre (ex. aria the animation, yokohama shopping log)

hiya! i’m VI! 25+, s/her, pst! i’m looking for 21+ (prefer 23+) long-term discord rpers who are interested in writing queer & possibly mature rps! if interested, pls do like this message, reply to me and/or dm me (either here or discord - eboyzoro / i'm more active on discord). open to ongoing partners & new partners raHHH ^3^

rating: 3/3/3

some genres i enjoy are: action, adventure, alternative universe, apocalypse, bands/celebrities, comedy, crime, detective, fairytales, fandom, fantasy, horror, magical, mystery, romance, cyberpunk/science fiction, slice of life, soulmates, superpowers, supernatural, thriller & more

some dynamics i enjoy: familial, platonic, romantic, sexual, antagonistic // friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, roommates/coworkers to lovers, enemies/rivals to lovers // angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, slow burn & nsfw (w/ plot ofc!) i have some ❌ no banned faces except for the regular criteria (ask if unsure!) also not into, noncon, incest, physical abuse, pregnancy but i am 👌 with: cnc/cdc, toxic relationships, power imbalances, and (short-medium) age gaps

faces: have premade ocs on rotation but open to creating more! most the fcs i use are musician/kidol fcs but i also use actor fcs as well!

shipping: m/m & f/f only! prefer to double up but not necessary

open to: ocs, canons and crossovers! also open to animanga faces as long as they have a real face counterpart! additionally i'm open to animanga oc x oc queer romantic/sexual and/or platonic/familial/antagonistic (any pairing) plots!

i enjoy: * talking & yapping & being friends ooc !! headcanons, char/ship dev, worldbuilding, pinterest/spotify, fun tingz

activity: relaxed/low/sporadic, energy/time dependent, hours to weeks but i'll let you know if i'm not feeling a thread/plot anymore

plotting style: * mutual !! plotting/brainstorming

writing style: 50-300+ wc, 3rd person, past/present tense

discord style: i use private servers & tupperbox, i use bold+italics for text formatting, i dont use gifs but idm if u do

* i want us BOTH to be engaged / interested ooc & ic otherwise i lose muse / interest in our rps, sawry yall but this is absolute for me!

[rita-rae-siller]

She is complete…. The Timeline is finally done. Nothing like outlining 35+ years worth of backstory lore only to have to start writing the actual story outline 🙃

[ominous-faechild]

Would it surprise you guys for me to mention that the Existential god of Chaos, who's essentially chaos personified, is canonically autistic?

And 100% struggles with the fact that he's repressed the traits for his whole life, being as he's WAY older than humanity/psychology and the other Existentials are uh,,,, not understanding with him.

[masonscig]

not really back but i started playing infamous... [muffled circus music in the distance]

[icewindandboringhorror]

Daily Log 2

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Much less than yesterday, felt sick and sleepy so barely got anything done. It was also warmer inside today.. Very much dreading summer. I still feel like the people who ~~ love warm weather sooo much~~ must also have central heating and air and are able to escape the warmth, or at least have cool airy houses where they can get cross breezes or something.. I just fail to see how ANYONE could enjoy sweating all day because it's like 75F indoors, etc. grrbb,,, the headaches, sleepless sweaty nights, constant physical discomfort, etc. The next few days look cloudy and rainy though so.. yEs.. haha HA

Got a new charger for my old 2004 nokia phone so it actually turns on now, and recorded myself going through the ringtones and games. I might add the footage to a currently not fully edited video of me also looking through other electronics (old phones, turbo twist math, etc.). I love old ringtones actually and if I were rich, I would love to collect old phones specifically just to have a catalogue of what they're like and all of the sounds they contain.

Managed to have a tiny burst of energy and take photos of 3 outfits before my arms and shoulder started hurting and I got too warm.

Sent email to one doctor.

Translated like 3 words for the Avirrekava poem thing I mentioned yesterday. My language document is not organized very well at all so I've kind of lost my flow of working on it. I've heard about people making searchable dictionary type things for their conlangs, so I'd like to look more into that maybe. As well as making a custom font, though I don't know if that's more difficult for syllabaries (so wouldn't be directly linkable to a plain english alphabet keyboard?? eh?). Anyway, I need to finish the tapestry/painting thing/etc. soon though since I have no good place to put it. The canvas is warping a little just laying haphazardly on my closet floor lol.

Made one quick mspaint background image for the next batch of song snippet things for my jokey music youtube.

Edited like 10 minutes of the Giant Worldbuilding Slideshow Project.. couldn't focus on that either since being at the computer today irritated my shoulders and arms.

Notable sights: Saw 6 baby ducks and their parents swimming in a nearby pond!! It's interesting how their colors seem to change so much, and the young ones have the little spots on their back. Not much else, I was not very active lol..

Goals moving forward: Still working on consistent sleep schedule. Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Plant nasturtiums. Finish and upload videos, edit pictures, post the poll adventure thing that has been sitting in a draft for weeks (I thought I would get it done today, but alas.. I don't even have to do much, just proofread and post it, I just keep having no energy/being preoccupied with other things/hurts to be on computer.. grrr.. I want to continue the story lol >:T).

Notable foods: HAD ASPARAGUS YEaaaaaghhhHHHH!!!!!!!!! Asparagus SQUAD!!!!!!!!!! ... Also a few pieces of smoked gouda with lunch, one of my favorite cheeses.

[dewgongs]

its not worth it i have to keep telling myself in my head that it does nothing fur me

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been too tired to draw much today but then I got some midnight motivation so here’s some concept doodles for hypothetical stalien Jackie and Olivia (with some creative liberties taken)(also rambles under the cut)

Now as I’ve already mentioned the closest to their canon jobs I can give them is in the conveyor facilities, but in particular they’d likely be working at the one that’s mostly supplied by the rejects hatched at the nursing facilities owned by a different corporation that works closely with the one that runs the conveyor facilities, as that is where we find a lot more “research” as opposed to product production and engineering. Given that this would likely leave Olivia in the surgeons branch and Jackie in the data filter branch, this means that the two would have likely been trained together since they were lil kids, and likely would have been from the same hatching period. Also they might honestly be in a similar age group to Wonderful, although I’d probably more so place them as a couple years younger, meaning they’d likely not have interacted with her much until she became their new boss.

As for my notes, staliens are quite large so I of course had to scale up their heights in my mind to fit, with Olivia being very much short by stalien standards, basically just edging the point of concerningly short (basically anything under 6 foot), and Jackie being notably tall without being like stupid tall (9 foot or taller), giving them a pretty large height gap lol. The two also just have general body types that would likely give them an almost sickly look to most ppl, albeit not strongly enough that it’d draw concern. In Olivia’s case, her constantly active energy would both add to and take away from the sickly vibes due to how stalien bodies tend to react to being malnourished, with small size and overly active energy both being potential effects from two very different types of starvation reactions. In Olivia’s case, she’s just short and stressed. Stress tends to cause blood to pool at the face as a preparation for energy usage in survival scenarios, and when no energy is actually used the blood tends to just sorta leak out of energy glands. This isn’t too big of an issue for single instances of stress, but with constant stress it can become an issue if one’s body doesn’t get the hint. Due to this, Olivia keeps her energy active more often than not, both because of risk of excessive blood loss, and because she ideally doesn’t want to be bleeding all over her work.

Jackie’s energy is a pale variant, which basically means that her body has less energy in it than a typical stalien. This doesn’t effect her too much, but it does mean that she can’t rly utilize her energy in any significant manner, albeit even if she had the option I doubt she’d utilize it much due to how much risk there is for a reward that ultimately wouldn’t benefit her much on its own. She also has four antennae, which does actually affect her a bit more due to the typical stimulation issues that come with them. Thankfully Jackie isn’t the one of the two that has to work in busy stimulation packed parts of the facility most of the time, and she largely would spend her time in a more office like space, occasionally popping into the manufacturing branch to request supplies and make test build requests. Most interactions with Olivia and other surgeons would be within her own chambers, so she’s rarely having to even see the worst of things.

And lastly some light elaboration on the pronouns, blah blah blah stalien pronouns aren’t gendered since staliens don’t have gender and are instead based on a mix of status and relationships, meaning that while most have a primary pronoun, pronouns are highly situational and different staliens use different pronouns depending on who they’re talking to. Jackie and Olivia would likely use less formal pronouns when talking to eachother for example. Basically just imagine it as two scales of “formal to informal” and “negative to positive”, but with a bit more social nuance for how they’re actually used + some of them also double as like actual words so things get kinda muddy a lot of the time. Anyways, both of them most commonly use very formal pronouns as they basically live at their jobs and are interacting mostly with coworkers and higher ups. Olivia uses a slightly negative leaning one mostly to come across as more polite, while Jackie uses a very neutral formal pronoun to come across as more strictly professional, basically giving off more of a “we are here for business only” sort of vibe. They probably do or at least used to use more causal pronouns for each other in private tho, likely either going very casual positive or neutral very positive, with the former being what you’d use for very close friends, and the latter being for someone you consider a pure equal, which is funnily enough most often seen as incredibly rude to use if you aren’t extremely close to the person. Either way, I imagine in more professional settings Jackie tends to refer to herself with more formal positive terms and to Olivia with formal neutral terms, and Olivia refers to them both as mostly formal but not super duper formal neutral terms. Oh they’d also 100% have different names but yknow that’s a given with stalien language

[frenchphobic]

embarrassing as hell to admit i find writing fanfiction kind of fun even though i hate ap3 and fanfiction culture

[sanktpolypenbourg]

I still cannot grasp how Bionicle never made anything else like the Bohrok. Fans will tell you about the deep worldbuilding and whatnot but personally I can guarantee that nothing else in that entire franchise ever even drew my attention. The bohrok were on a whole other level.

In fact, I feel only the bohrok truly realized the potential of the basic idea - the mysterious and alien concept of "lego lifeforms", the ambiguity of organic and mechanical looking shapes, the potent blend of pop culture references, and the play mechanics. Anything else approaching that quality are fan creations.

Sorry, but from what I have seen the rest of the bionicle concepts mostly do not register to me as anything more than cool lego action men and some dragons and spiders I guess.

And I get it, you need relatable humanoid protagonists as the baseline for your toy universe, that's cool. But only something like the bohrok shows how far you can really push that project.

If they ever make a reboot, imagine they get some out-of-the-blue creative punch in the gut like the bohrok again

[bonefall]

Clan Culture Illustrations

So I've been mentioning this in passing, and I think now is a good time to start collecting info from people who are interested!

I'm seeking artists who want to draw stuff for my Clan Culture series.

I often write very large guides for things like tools, ecology, medicine and treatments, etc, which then get held up by the fact that they're big blocks of text without any fun pictures. I usually collaborate with friends and family, but I could put out more quicker if I had some artists on standby.

If you're an artist who would be interested in illustrating, here's the details;

Everything I make on this blog is tailored towards WC fans, but free for anyone to use and reference for their xenofiction worldbuilding projects. You do not have to be intimately familiar with the Warrior Cats books. This offer's open to anyone above 18.

Fans of Better Bones are preferred, because Clan Culture and BB often intersect. I might ask for help with some BB stuff at some point, too. (for example i have a guide on types of StarClan spirits that needs illustration)

To re-iterate, please only inquire if you're 18+

Price range is 20 - 50 USD and turnaround time can be up to 6 months if you just keep me updated. (I am sorry that I can't offer a higher price for these, but this is coming from my own pocket. In return, this is meant to be low pressure)

Half payment upfront, the rest after completion.

I will never "assign" you a surprise mystery topic (unless you ask for that I guess?), I'll either present you with a list of posts that need illustration (yes this means you get to read stuff early), OR float some ideas that play to your strengths and interests. (for example: if I'm approached by Spider-Enjoyer-9000 who's willing to draw a ridiculous number of spiders, I will draft, write, and research a Clanmew Expansion in the style of Deer and Co or Moths and Butterflies.)

Either way, there's usually a lot of creative freedom here unless I need a specific technical drawing, which I will discuss with you and provide references for. (As an example, if we were talking about a post on declawing, I might ask for you to illustrate the muscles within the paw.)

The nature of Clan Culture means you will probably be asked to draw plants, food, objects, and/or scenery

Still interested?

I'm hoping to make a personal "list" of people I can call on, so send me your commissions info or details in a DM, an ask, a reply to this post, or anything else you'd like. Tell me about stuff you like drawing, topics you're interested in, if you can draw backgrounds, etc

Also, please tell include in that message if you're comfortable with illustrating these particular sensitive topics. These are opt-in only;

Medical Gore (Woundcare, stitching, blood, vomit, urine, parasites and bug bites, etc.)

Reproductive Care (Abortion, birth, pyometria, inducing lactation, possible revamp of the HRT guide including simple surgeries, etc)

Hunting and Butchery (Humane killing of prey, skinning, disembowelment, cutting meat, making sausage and blood pudding, etc)

Funerals and Animal Death (Sad kitties, dead battle cats, scavengers and grave desecration, tombs and burial rituals, concealing decay, etc.)

The end art will always stay tasteful, but I might need to give you references in the form of real images or tutorials that might be upsetting if you're sensitive to these topics-- so it's important to me that I consider those four things "opt-in."

I have plenty of other posts that need illustration, it's just a huge plus if you're able to do these too.

(You should also mention any other specific triggers or phobias you have, so I don't unwittingly come at you with something else upsetting)

"I still have questions!"

Putting a big list of answers beneath the cut;

"Would everything have to be colored?"

Nope, as long as there's pictures to break up the text, you can do sketches, black and white, flat colors, only put color in the header, etc. We'll discuss expectations with the post in front of us, and then agree on price.

I have ONE requirement; it's gotta look good on Tumblr darkmode. Because I use Dark Reader.

"Do you have a Discord?"

I do, I just try to be exclusive with who I give it to! When we're discussing details, we'll probably move over there if you'd like. This is a reason why I only want to work with 18+ artists, I'm not always SFW on main.

"Can we do an entry together about (specific topic)?"

Probably yes, so feel free to ask! The worst that will happen is that I say no, or maybe later. For example, I've got a post on Sweetness Tolerance reserved for my partner (they like to draw sweets), so I would say no if you asked.

Just keep in mind that researching, outlining, and writing is unpaid labor I'm doing completely for free. I have posts mostly done that just need art, and topics I've done some research on. Please only ask for special collaborations from scratch if you're serious 🙏

"Does it have to be digital?"

You'd have to have a WILD idea for me to say yes to anything non-digital, but I am a queer of whimsy. If you can whimsify me with an idea, hell yeah.

"Will I be compensated if you need any changes?"

Yes. If I spring anything on you after the details we agree on, I will first ask you, then ask how much that change would cost, and then compensate you for it.

As fair warning though, I am trying to stay within a budget and writing the posts themselves is unpaid work I do (plus occasional helping hands during research stages, I consulted a friend who is an irl wetlands expert for ShadowClan's environment). I can't pay more than what we agree on.

"Can I link my info in the post?"

Yes. "Guest Artist" is going to be named in the opening paragraphs, along with any fundraiser, shop info, carrd, etc, you want there.

"Boosty?"

Yea I got Boosty. Paypal, too.

"I have some other question about pricing"

Feel free to ask, but my hard budget is 20$ - 50$ US. Please only inquire if you're willing to charge within that range.

"What if I'd do it free or I want to do this anonymously?"

I'll donate to a charity of your choice and link to it in the post. If you have no charity preference, I will link to RAINN, Anera, or The Trevor Project.

(Naturally this comes with an anti-ghoul caveat or two. If you try to get me to donate to something like Autism Speaks I will rotate every bone in your body by 45 degrees.)

"I like checklists, can you give me a checklist of info you want in a DM?"

Sure!

Your info; socials, carrd, shop, etc

General interests and strengths. Stuff you'd love to work on, or have insight to. If you like fishing or drawing bugs, I want to know that. If you particularly want to practice flowers, tell me. Be as detailed as you want so I can pair you with a relevant subject!

Your examples

General asking price (or charity)

Which, if any, of the four Opt-In Subjects you're opting in for.

Anything else I should know (triggers, phobias, things you dislike drawing, if schooling or disability means you need a particularly long turnaround time, etc)

[physalian]

Trust Your Own Creativity

This was going to be a “stuck on how to design a character’s personality? Throw them in a fanfic!” post but the meat of what I was trying to say evolved (much like the point of this post).

I have three side characters from book one of a series (ENNS, out 8/25, yeeeee!) that have much larger roles in book two. The problem I’ve been having is that I have no idea what their personalities are beyond the barest that they got in the first book because they just weren’t that important. So I’ve been trying to force something to come together. Along the lines of “well I need a character like this” and “I guess I can make this work” which does not, in fact, work.

Just tossed two of them into a “fanfic” to get to know them, a story completely isolated from the rest of the canon like their own little sandbox to play in, and I’ll experiment and see what castles they build.

So when I say trust your own creativity, I mean that writing and worldbuilding and character creation is far less “active design” and much more “active discovery”. One of my all time favorite things to write is backstory monologues. I. Love. Monologues. While I usually have a rough idea before the big speech, when it comes time to write it, it’s usually written as if I’d improvised it on stage and aside from trimming where needed and clarifying what’s muddy, it’s not only usually good to go, but it’s probably not exactly what I’d planned or envisioned to begin with.

I just let my characters talk, I give them the floor, and I wait to hear what they say. A lot of the time, they’ll say something absolutely brilliant (or stupid) that was not at all planned for them, but works so well it has altered the trajectory of their whole arc. Which wouldn’t have happened if I’d stuck religiously to The Plan.

Which is why it’s really hard for me to outline. Yes, all my books have goals and a skeleton of a plot, i.e. “must hit points A-G in this order” but the story is usually freeform. Whenever I need to make rewrites, the plot never changes, but the story might. I might swap out an argument for something softer or change the tone of a scene where needed, molding my little clay words into the sculpture it will become eventually.

You are a creative. Let your creativity speak, and then listen to it.

[blueskittlesart]

without dropping anything super specific what do you think of EoW's story? in particular i'm kinda worried over if they made Zelda basically replaceable with any other silent protag and i'm holding back on getting the game if that's the case...

I think they handled a playable zelda incredibly well actually! In particular I was impressed that although she is a silent protagonist, she is NOT link, and the game takes care to remind you of that in everything from dialog to physical gameplay. Though she does technically have the ability to wield link's sword, in practice it's almost always more practical to use echoes, her own unique form of gameplay, to get through combat instead, which is a good reminder to the player that this isn't link's story, and we're not going to be able to beat it link's way. You're required to be ZELDA and think like zelda, utilizing mechanics unique to her, in order to progress through the story, and those mechanics emphasize creative problem-solving in a way that clearly envokes her core trait of wisdom. so in that regard i'd say she's definitely a unique protagonist and I never felt like she could have been replaced with someone else! (mild spoilery note: in the final battle you do actually have link fighting alongside you, and because of that, your sword ability is removed entirely, meaning you HAVE to end the game on zelda's terms, with zelda's abilities, which I thought was a nice touch.)

In terms of actual story, it's honestly a fairly classic zelda formula, but the twists and turns were well-written and kept me VERY engaged throughout. The act of searching for link felt different not because chasing after a captured friend is uncommon in a loz game, but because HE was different. The things you learn about link and how he ended up in this story compel you to keep searching for him in a way that you almost... don't need when you're link chasing zelda, because OF COURSE the hero is going to go after the princess. but this game had to engineer a situation in which the PRINCESS wanted to go after the HERO, and a hero she'd never met before at that. and that to me is what made the story interesting.

I will say, don't go into this game expecting it to have the same amount of story as a 3d installment like botw or totk. this is a topdown classic-style game, and it treats itself like one. the story is good, but it's not pushing the boundaries of the genre or anything. eow is a game that knows what it is and what it wants to do, and it does it exceptionally well. I think where the game really shines is in the implied narrative of the worldbuilding--pieces of personal memorabilia in characters' houses, little hints of the past and references to previous games in map design and details that allow you as the player to theorize and put together the less overt pieces of the story on your own. this has always been one of the things that I personally really enjoy about zelda games, so I absolutely LOVE how much detail is left for the player to find in eow if they're paying attention.

[deergravity]

Seeing as my internal rewards system has moved on to 'trans fiction' from 'queer horror audio drama podcast' I thought I should do a little roundup of everything I listened to the past few months.

A rough ranking:

Malevolent. Just squeaking into the top spot here based on 1) technical prowess (iykyk) 2) compelling characters and story and 3) they are my blorbos your honor!!! Mind boggling that Harlan Guthrie has so much chemistry with himself.

The Silt Verses. Only topped by Malevolent bc season 1 is not as polished, but it really doesn't matter. Top tier characters, amazing worldbuilding, intricate plotting and it had something to SAY about the casual violence of systems, the nature of hope, the complexity of being human in a world that tries to make us inhuman. Also, it doesn't rely on some thin recording contrivance (a framing device that has its place) and instead truly takes the mantle of audio drama without apology.

The White Vault. On the topic of framing devices, TWV has a very cool take on found footage recordings. A group of [researchers/archeologists] are sent to investigate a remote site in [Svalbard/Patagonia] and the podcast is structured as a documentarian presenting the notes, recordings and diary entries in a reconstructed timeline. My favorite element is that many of the characters don't make their notes in English, so the segments will often open with the VA speaking German, Spanish, Mandarin, Icelandic, Russian, etc etc before fading into the translation. There are miniseries between the seasons available on their patreon and they were so worth the $10 I paid to access them for a month. Reveals are slow, but worthwhile, and the mythology built for the show is highly original and intriguing.

Deviser. A one season contained story from Harlan Guthrie of Malevolent. Scifi, psychological, lots of wet awful body horror. If you're a fan of Harlan wimpering into a mic, you'll love this one.

WOE.BEGONE. Long, ongoing, and so so so far from the original premise it's hilarious, I'm ranking this higher than it maybe deserves for two factors 1) the creator and the VAs are clearly having a blast and 2) it's riding the line of taking itself serious despite a premise that invites irony poisoning without becoming too wrapped up in itself. It's fun, I think, that keeps w.bg strong.

The Magnus Archives. Should this be one up? Probably. But everyone bloody well knows tma by this point, it's good, great even! Beyoncé of horror podcasts.

I Am In Eskew. Only knocked down due to the actually godawful sound quality. Truly unsettling stories though (the one with the building architect haunts me) and a surprisingly realistic conclusion. You can see the bones of The Silt Verses here, from the same creative team.

The Magnus Protocol. Everything above this is there due to originality. As a sequel series, TMAGP will always suffer in that measure. However, I like our new cast and I do love an alternate reality. Curious to see where season 2 takes us. I'd like to kill Mr Bonzo in a fire.

The Inexplicables. Another one season story, this time from Rusty Quill, with really fun, flawed characters and no recording framing device!

Wolf 359. Storywise, great! Characters, excellent! Kicking it way to the bottom bc they just would NOT STOP referencing H***y P****r. Yes, Doug's characterization hangs on excessive reference humor, but that was one well I wish they'd left alone.

Red Valley. Knocked for HP references too (come ON british podcasters, do better) but more importantly for veering WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too close to real life in season 3 onward. I was here for a horror sci fi story about cryogenics, not to listen to my worst climate disaster fears brought to life via hearing rich old sods try to buy their way out of consequences while the world burns and eco terrorism escalates. Too real. Not bad storytelling, just very much not fulfilling my escapism needs.

It's kinda crazy to me that anytime I mention this genre to normies in my life they say, "oh, like true crime podcasts?" And then I die inside. No dude, like radio drama. Like War of the Worlds.

Anyway, I'm off to get even less relatable by reading a zillion niche trans novels (hello Welcome to Dorley Hall, aka, what if there really was a 'trans cult' force femming dudes to undermine their masculinity? It's amazing how much yarn we can make by subverting the cis gaze.)

[humdinky]

i just finished watching scavenger's reign yesterday, and let me tell y'all this is genuinely the best piece of sci-fi media i have seen in a long while, and it's insane how little i've seen this show being discussed online! it is probably the most unique and viscerally stunning series i’ve ever seen. the world that they have created is equal parts fascinating and terrifying, and every part of it feels fully realized. sci-fi is at its best when it lets go of nostalgia and explores the unknown, and SR gives me hope that real sci-fi can take root again, and be something beyond what came before it.

i will refrain from giving too much away in my discussion because this show works best the less you know going into it. the premise for this show is simple: crewmembers of a crashed freighter ship are left scattered across an alien planet. a good chunk of time has already passed by the time the show begins, and a few of the survivors have already established camps. however, things quickly spiral out of control as disaster wipes away their progress and forces each of them to move on. it's a harsh and unforgiving world that tests them each and every step of the way on their journey.

worldbuilding is where this show truly shines. it is no easy thing to design an entire ecosystem from scratch. it takes an insane amount of creativity and attention to detail to pull off what this show has. and my god did they fucking pull it off. living balloons floating through the air, large sea creatures that suck up their eggs when faced with danger, tendrilled plants that spawn clones of their prey to track them down - it is a frightening, surreal, and violent world, but harmonious in its own way. some creatures poison you, others clean off the poison. there are your typical type of predators that come at you with sharp fangs and giant pincers, but then there are predators that hunt via more insidious means: manipulating the memories of their prey to have them do their bidding, or hijacking their bodies from the inside. ultimately, the characters who fare best in this world are those who learn to adapt to it, and even sync with it.

SR also boasts a surprisingly well-crafted narrative. we are shown just enough of the world to keep us hooked, but it still feels like there is a lot left to be discovered. i also really enjoy the way the story is delivered to us. we follow the journeys of a few isolated groups whose paths gradually intersect. the characters are all fleshed out and three-dimensional - they were different enough to be unique and quirky, but never too different that it felt overboard. the way they react is exactly how humans in those circumstances would and should, the dialogue and voice acting were just superb. it felt so insanely real at times.

i really do hope that this show gets greenlit for a second season. this type of pure creative freedom is what we need right now. all in all, scavenger's reign is a gorgeous nightmare that you need to experience for yourself.

[in-case-of-grace]

TTRPG Devlog: Qet and Inaccessible Names

I've been boiling a thought in the back of my mind lately, in regards to Naming Things in Fiction.

Newer folk may not know this, but my longest running creative endeavour has been Qet; a dark fantasy eldritch horror setting with inspiration from various Mesoamerican cultures and histories. It's a worldbuilding project, narrative setting, and TTRPG-- relegated to the backburner for over a year now. I needed a break.

Herein lies my problem: Qet's "common" equivalent language is a conlang inspired by Nahuatl.

English-first speakers, particularly fellow Americans, struggle a LOT with Nahuatl and anything similar to it. I'm American so my audience would...include a lot of Americans. Naturally a lot of the friends I'd want to run the game for are also American.

People struggle to read a lot of the proper nouns in Qet. An early first draft campaign took place in the deep caverns of Tchaoxlik, and the players were given Zykeutuezyl-- little light-emitting lizards-- as their primary source of light, to care for.

The bottomless lake Chluetichlon is significant in the lore, the Coulqepluex are a major ethnicity, and Qeplueoytz are shape-shifting monsters entire campaigns could center around. I've more examples, but you get the idea by now, I'm sure.

Part of Qet's inception was me noticing that US/UK fantasy overwhelmingly takes inspiration from European cultures, and That Sucks! There's so much more in the world, for one-- and this is fantasy! I want to see UNIQUE worlds that aren't just England But With Magic. Qet was my first worldbuilding project, and at the time I began, I had yet to develop the ability to just...make new stuff off the dome.

So I needed a solid inspiration from the real world as a starting point, and I chose something I thought was severely underrepresented: Mesoamerica. There is no 1:1 "this is the Maya but they're blue" or "here's the Olmec but they're birds" type stuff in Qet, rather, there's bits and bobs spread amongst original cultures and the world they live in. Corn is a staple food. The climate is hot and humid with a lot of shared flora from the real world Mesoamerican region-- but more differentiated fauna. One culture wears Aztec-inspired capes but live in Pueblo-inspired adobe homes. Polished obsidian mirrors play into eldritch magic. Some cultures sit and sleep on reed mats. One regional religion is a blend of the Aztec faith and Catholicism. Alongside these and many other bits of inspiration, the trade language of the world is Qetlec, which is inspired by Nahuatl.

I quite like a lot of the Qetlec names and words I've come up with over the years. I find several to be particularly satisfying to say! But I do have to admit that I, myself, had to train and practice to pronounce my own conlang. It may be second nature after years of working with it, but I often run into the dreaded "sbah...sbshs...uh...however you say it" or blatant word-butchering from new readers. It's an accessibility problem, after a certain point.

When I think of naming in fictional settings I return time and time again to what I believe to be a shining example of strong, accessible naming: Destiny.

Everything players need to know has a simple name that's typically just straight up English, no matter how alien. The Eliksni? Well that's a difficult name for some, so to players they're just...called "The Fallen." Other alien groups are simply titled: The Cabal, The Vex (who are actually made of radiolarian fluid-- another difficult name), and The Hive.

When they do concoct unique names for things, they do so in a way that should be easy to pronounce for their primarily English speaking audience. Fikrul. Mithrax. Oryx. Savathun is probably the most difficult one and that still seems fairly easy for players to pick up on.

Sometimes Destiny takes proper nouns from existing languages on Earth, but does so in the same manner-- sticking either to words English spakers already know or could feasibly pronounce with ease. Rasputin. Osiris. Ahamkara.

Destiny's player-facing setting is one that is crafted to be accessible. They're careful with their names. It's in the weird background lore that things may get complicated from time to time-- where it's not essential for players to be able to pronounce everything.

Qetlec isn't the only conlang in Qet, there are several others, but I'm less worried about them. It's reasonable to expect that English readers can pronounce Lhehd names like Hanviehl, Ahndel Veha, and Linnh; Tolech names like Mochog, Romtol, and Kupuch; or Auroullott names like Beuttep, Tteunor, and Auroboll.

Eldritch names are fine to be a bit difficult, I think, but I ride the line with those too-- Ul'jvot, Gaegoed, Kub-glorrha. Yaesheuhnahl is right at the edge but, it is a god made of 3 separate entities (Yaesh, Euhn, and Ahl) so I think it's not totally unreasonable.

It's Qetlec in specific that I think causes problems, which is a really big shame because I think it adds a lot to the world's flavor. But it includes a lot of sounds that aren't readily apparent, with things like "x" actually being pronounced "sh" or tight consonant/vowel pairings unfamiliar to the English reader like "ytz" "zyk" and "qeu." Hell, even beyond pairings-- the letters q, y, and z aren't super common in English! (Y is common at the *ends* of words but not at the start.)

I've tried some halfway measures here and there. I include pronunciation tooltips on every word I think folk may have difficulty with-- but that's only really doable on a webpage. In recent years, anything I added that I thought might be difficult to pronounce included an English alternative name. Gaiwej: Whispering Mouth. Asdeom: Adaptive Flesh. Zeloutihue: Lunatic of Lliaq. P'qur: The Labyrinth of Gods.

You get the idea.

I think it did work in making things more accessible, but it did bother me a little that this made the titles of each article much, much longer. It did make for names that were easier to remember, and, crucially-- look up. It was a bit of a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too solution.

However, while this might work for a setting presented in a wiki format-- it doesn't work for a book or TTRPG. If you find yourself in a canyon and spot something in the distance you wish to warn your comrades of-- are you really going to shout "everyone look out for the Asdeom: Adaptive Flesh?" No. You're going to pick one or the other-- "Asdeom" or "Adaptive Flesh."

If your comrades have internalized only one of the two names, especially the one opposite what you called out-- they might be confused. We solved one problem only to create a new one! The easier solution is to simply have one, memorable-- and pronounceable-- name.

And that's where I'm stuck, I suppose. I'm attached to the many unpronouncible names of Qet and I know I must do away with them. I need to make new rules that limit how many syllables they may have, and cut out sounds that are difficult for English speakers.

Part of me thinks I need to start entirely from scratch on Qetlec instead of just reworking what's there. That I'm going to be too blinded by familiarity to spot all the problem areas, or too attached to change key nouns. Is "Zeloutihue" totally fine and pronounceable for the average English speaker? I can't tell! I'm lost in the sauce here!

If words like zykeutuezyl and olxlikliz are totally easy for me by now, how can I judge everything else fairly?

This is all to say, hey, think about this from the start. Don't make my mistakes and end up in this pit with me-- if you want your project to be accessible to your intended audience, consider the language(s) they might speak. What sounds are they familiar with? Could they feasibly pronounce all the important terminology in your work?

I'd love to hear folks' thoughts on this, what do you think? What would you do in my situation? What good or bad examples of accessible conlang have you come across? How have your own projects approached conlangs and names?