#well not really it's more like worldbuilding

[greenleaf4stuff]

Hi and thank you for the tag @gauntletgirlie! <3 The tag game is a wonderful idea, but I want to spread the posivity both ways. So um - I will do it my own way. Aka, I will give the person who tagged me compliments and also compliment the people I am tagging. That way everyone in this post gets the positivity they deserve I feel like. <3

@gauntletgirlie: You already write so well for someone who has just shared their own writing for the first time; I love the way you wrote Adar's and Celebrimbor's dynamic in your silverscars fic, the way Adar tried to keep his distance and Celebrimbor gently but insistently got closer to him and coaxed him into giving into his desires; you had me sitting there like "ohhh I wish this continued" and "I hope she writes more!" after I finished reading <3

Now for the people I am tagging (absolutely zero pressure to respond btw! I mean it! I am doing this because I want to, not because I expect anything in return!):

@plotdesigner Your lore and world building for the uruk is absolutely stunning and wonderful an I love every little detail I learn about them in your fic(s); I love the way you alternate POVs between characters and manage to give them distinct, individual voices and rich inner lives, even going the extra mile to write Adar in the 2nd person POV; you have a lovely way of weaving in little bits of humor that feels very adequate for the circumstances and also humanizes the characters a lot!

@themalhambird Your Adar/Finrod fic had some very well-developed OCs that were very distinct and interesting to read about, each had their own individual voice; the pairing wasn't something I thought I would be interested in but I finished the little fic before I knew what had happened; the way you wrote the interaction between the main pair was sweet and heart-wrenching to the point it made me emotional (I mean that as a compliment!)

@thephoenixandthecrocodile I love the dynamic between Adar, Celebrimbor and Narvi, they all have their strengths and weaknesses and complement each other very well, I love how you give each character weaknesses and humanizing elements that make them so very relatable; I think it is so cool that your first fanfic is a multi-chapter one and already goes on for so long - that is quite the feat! (and that your 2nd is also multi chapter and finished! Congrats!); I'd love to see more of the way your throuple develops Mordor together, the concept of a dwarven/elvish/uruk construction sounds so cool! and also what their relationship will be like in the future!

@gingeragenda The one fic of yours I read (Adar/Balrog) took a concept that should have been difficult to pull off and made it seem effortless; the interaction (cough) between the two was very sexy; despite the fact that the Balrog got sent out for rather sinister purposes, there was a tenderness that I did not expect between the two characters that I quite enjoyed while reading!

@wowstrawberrycow I love how you want to give Adar good, soft and cute things always, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside; I loved the dynamic between him and Gil-Galad in your AU fic, how Gil is taking care of him as best as he can and is a rock for Adar; love the worldbuilding so far, despite the dire circumstances, there is hope shining through and the two are fighting so hard to carve out their happiness. It's really fascinating!

I think I as a writer I am somewhere between "good most of the time" and "every so often I have a good line" tbh; my lovely readers, mutuals and friends on here make me feel like I am a very good writer (TYSM!) while I myself would tend to believe I am...okay? Maybe? If I have a good day. ^_^'

Writing compliment for myself...I manage to write and share my works despite a lot of self-doubt, anxiety and perfectionism? Does that count?

I want to do a compliment exercise. I got the idea from a poll I saw.

First, vote on this poll:

Now, reblog and tag 5 writers that you would want to see do this (no pressure, of course)... and in your CAPTION (not tags), give 3 compliments to the person you reblogged this from's writing. In your TAGS (not caption), put what your answer was.

Give yourself at least one writing compliment too, while you're at it.

If you reblog it from me, don't worry about doing the compliments since almost none of you have actually read my writing (if any of you have 😅).

If you really want to do the compliments for me, you can compliment something else but it isn't necessary when reblogging from the original source.

Let's get a compliment/positivity/love thread going. ❤️

[shiny-jr]

Riddle's domain is so huge! Is the small top part of Heartsyabul like a semi barren land that's dangerous and full of monsters and wild beasts? (like Grim); I can just imagine that's where the dark forest where MC would first drop in

Then if the lore is right, we'll follow downwards to Heartsyabul, then Savanaclaw, then we'll make a run for the ocean towards Octavinelle (bad choice honestly) from which we'll probably end up running away and getting washed ashore into Scarabia... From there; idk how in the Great Seven we'll get to Pomfiere - Magic carpet?? 😳 And then we'll go down down further into the land of souls (Ignihyde) and finally into hell (Diasomnia)... But I do wonder where would our way home be in the map hmmm... A hole? A well? A mirror? Would we have to run all the way back to where we first dropped into; Having to weave and avoid everyone that had surely begun to look for us..? Just a few theories and ideas :3

I really enjoy the world building you're doing, do take your time and thank you for diligently writing!!

-Old fan anon

It makes me happy to see y'all curious about the lore. I actually literally just writing some Savanaclaw lore, but that one is gonna remain hidden in the drafts for a while until I can worldbuild on Savanaclaw more. I still have to work on their map and the other parts that come with worldbuilding such as agriculture, culture, politics, history, etc.

I won't reveal too much, but just because you seem genuinely eager and I just saw how many hearts the image of the map alone got, I'll drop this for y'all. Again, none of this is definite, but here's this.

[hybbart]

Just gotta say I found your ranchers apocalypse the other day au and totally fell in love with it! I don’t normally like zombie apocalypse stories but I love your worldbuilding and art and just the focus on the hope and forward progress of the setting and characters.

Also, I poked through a lot of your worldbuilding asks the other day and I think I saw one where you mentioned Jimmy seeing sounds? Did I read that correctly? If so, I am very interested in learning more.

Yeah, it hasnt come up directly in a bit but as a canary avian he has incredible hearing and sees sounds. Its why the avian call machine hels used to attract zombies inadvertently hypnotized him and not other avians. They're all affected but most can resist it, but for poor jimmy it was an accidental trap hels took advantage of. Usually, though, it manifests as Jimmy having an easier time spotting things that make noise and that being where his eyes are drawn, and getting easily overstimulated and have a hard time seeing in loud environments without his headphones.

He does still see normally, btw, it just has an extra aspect/depth where he can see the sounds being made as well. I imagine he gets asked what colour sounds are a lot but that's not really how it works. To him a dynamic part of how Tango looks is how he sounds, so Tango noises are part of his appearance the same way how someone smiles or how his hair flickers is.

I try also... Jimmy tends to have his eyes forward at all times, he turns his head rather than moving his eyes. It can make his a bit unnerving, especially when hes tracking somethings motion. The one time I (try to) have him actually look in a direction rather than turn that direction is when he is listening to something far away. He's drawn to use his eyes to look at sounds but he also needs to direct his ears and he doesnt have as much range of motion as say a cat does with his ears.

Actually, the down in his ears create a bit a bit of a dampening barrier when his ears are pointed down and open up more when theyre up, sorta a soft natural version of headphones, so when he's listening in a particular direction he'll put one ear down and the other high up, and when overstimulated they go down.

And I represented this by giving him sonar like eyes.

[littjara-mirrorlake]

Hey I’m thinking of making a Bllomburrow dnd campaign. I was wondering if you had any tips or suggestions!

Back from the MagicCon crunch so it's finally time to start answering old asks! Yay!

First, it's really awesome that you're doing this! I've been wanting to play in a Bloomburrow game, the setting is so incredibly cool and I am JEALOUS of your players, lol.

Have fun homebrewing materials for your game (if that's the route you decide to go down)! I like referencing iconic setting mechanics when I homebrew for a given MtG world. For example, this is my Mox Opal with affinity (not metalcraft, but close enough).

Think about Bloomburrow's most standout mechanical features, particularly as they pertain to each "faction" of critters, and how you can translate those to D&D. Rabbits that give their allies advantage? Bats that use HP payment and healing as core mechanics? Squirrel bards that raise the dead? It's all up to you! Giving each faction a unique mechanical identity is a nice way to elevate worldbuilding to the next level.

Especially if your players also play MtG, it can be fun to incorporate the cards themselves into your gameplay in small ways. For example, drawing cards from the set for random encounters, or getting each player to represent their character with a card and drawing those when you need to pick a PC for something. I'm sure MtG-loving players will particularly appreciate homebrewed references to iconic characters and artifacts from the set.

Regarding combat, there's this post I reblogged that talks about handling CR and making nonviolent solutions to combat more available. I call it "Undertale-ing" your way out of situations, and I think that for Bloomburrow in particular it would be very meaningful to offer alternate forms of conflict resolution that could lead into new connections, plot threads, or friendships. By all means include epic combats and high-stakes action (the Calamity Beasts sound like incredible D&D boss fights), but remember that ultimately, community-building in Bloomburrow is the way to win! It's not that combat is unimportant, but roleplay and exploration should be especially emphasized.

Bloomburrow, in general, lends itself extremely well to high fantasy RPG and D&D tropes, and it's a perfect choice for a campaign setting. I have no doubt that you will have a lot of fun with it. Embrace it, lean in hard, and show off your love for everything the setting has to offer.

I love talking about converting Magic to D&D, and this makes me want to write a dedicated article to it sometime!

[anticidic]

thanks for tagging me @frankenjoly @marichild and @saoirseyun <3 (I meant to do this eventually but three time's the charm)

20 questions for fic writers!

How many works do you have on AO3?

24 (but really 25, but one of them is written by a friend and I am merely a spectator and not really a cowriter)

what's your total ao3 word count?

406,373 words

what fandoms do you write for?

Only Bungo Stray Dogs, though I keep toying with the idea of writing for others (and then never do).

what are your top five fics by kudos?

from a to o, i love you so — omegaverse A/A -> A/O Soukoku piece

foiled fables — Kitsune!Dazai and human!Chuuya AU

with me, disaster finds a playfield — omegaverse Beast AU

letters to my chosen one — Angel!Dazai and Demon!Chuuya AU

bad days, good nights — Dazai birthday fic

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Yes 💖 I do my best to respond to all of them because I appreciate others taking the time out to read and comment their thoughts, even if it's a simple emoji

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

still the snowflakes fall — A what-if had Dazai been a part of the Decay of Angels instead. It doesn't end well for anyone involved.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think probably from a to o, i love you so. Because it's about Dazai waking up one morning and losing a critical part of his identity and suddenly everything he knows is a lie. But despite fumbling, he comes to accept a new reality because, as Chuuya puts it, he's still Dazai. That core part of him hasn't changed.

do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I've gotten dumb trollish comments and people demanding for requests but I've shut them down

do you write smut?

wildly gestures to almost my entire catalog of fics And I'll do it again

do you write crossovers?

No, but I've wanted to write fusions. Like dropping bsd characters into Genshin or Honkai Star Rail or Psycho-Pass or something. Some of my fics have been loosely inspired by games or things I've watched but I definitely wouldn't call them crossovers.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but I hope not jkdkjskj

have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had a few requests for one of my recent fics to be translated 👀 I'm over the moon every time someone asks

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I SUPPOSE Darling, Some Things Are Meant to Be counts in a very roundabout way. @ohhcinnybuns gets full credits for the actual fic on there, but we go back and forth on here writing Snow White!Dazai and Prince!Chuuya ficlets (hey, go check out our fairytale playlist for them, I'm obsessed)

what's your all time favourite ship?

Probably IwaOi and ShuAke

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I started a zombie apocalypse-flavored omegaverse in anticipation of finishing it for omegaverse week and that never happened. I'm feeling ambitious but I also have a lot of events I'm participating in at the moment and ongoing fics that need prioritizing.

what are your writing strengths?

Painting scenes and going into depth about character motives and inner thoughts! Also, tying subplots into the overarching plot. I love worldbuilding and creating seemingly insignificant backstories for characters that end up playing major roles down the road.

what are your writing weaknesses?

The last time I did this tag game, I said dialogue, and that was a couple of months ago now but I feel like I've made major improvements in that area with my recent stuff. I'm becoming a lot more comfortable with fleshing out the plot through characters interacting with one another than in exposition and narrative. Now, I'd say editing. I tend to second guess myself and will scrap several thousands-worth of words if something's not working and then rewrite it all over again because I can't pick out what exactly is wrong with something.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I write Japanese honorifics simply because I feel like it reads a little better, but that's about it since most of what I write takes place in Japan.

first fandom you wrote for?

K-Pop help it was so long ago...we don't talk about those days...

favourite fic you've ever written?

hunter's season my beloved. It's a Dark Era omegaverse fic revolving around Dazai/Chuuya, with Dazai who thought he was an alpha but turns out he was really living a lie his whole life and finds out the hard way after taking some tampered medications.

no pressure tags: @altruistic-meme @monkey-banana41 @chuuyaspinkmotorcycle @calmlb @bloodsherry

[themolluscasometimes]

this becomes also worldbuilding lore explaining the origin of vampire type demons

IT EXPLAINS WHY DEMONS ARE SO BITEY AND VIOLENT WHEN FLIRTING OMG

demon courting rituals derived from this once upon a time being a well known consequence of heavenly demon blood mite consumption bc what could be more romantic than having a literal biological need for your partners flesh or youll die

(more worldbuilding + moshang idiot courtship under the cut)

they beating them up thing serves several roles and is the most expedient method of expressing sincerity because not only is it a several generations removed distortion of consumption of the lover but it also serves to establish roles in the relationship. not only is it 'let me eat you' but also a method of determining who is the stronger and more vital of the two health and strength wise, so you can figure out who is going to be the provider. like hey are you strong enough for me to depend on you if i turn out to be the weaker of the two of us but also hey are you in need of the nourishment of my flesh lovebug?? 🤗

this could also be a rite of passage upon which one receives the demonic equivalent of meaningful gender roles and pronouns and titles are adjusted accordingly

in the case of someone who is polyamorous they may receive multiple forms of address which also provide in conversation context for how you are referring to them in the moment and if their relationship to certain partner/s is more or less relevant to the speaker (yay linguistics!!)

obviously this is a pretty significant life event for the young adult demon who until now has been assigned gender pronouns and titles of Young, vaguely genderless, which means you would only do this when seriously pursuing a future with someone (young demons in positions of power, wealth or repute may be assigned these regardless of this coming of age rite but there are prefix/suffix modifiers to signify this difference and they are subject to change depending on multiple factors)

for some couples this specific form od consumption may not be biologically feasible like it is for bingqiu due to the biology of the individuals so theyll find other ways around it depending on their soecific traits but it isnt uncommon for demons to be literally gnawing on their loved ones or taking parts of their bodies to use as ingredients in the others' food

yes this may be technically a vore au (?) but its in my hands and therefore cant be sexy cannibalism bc ive thought of smth way funnier

enter moshang

now by the time mobei starts beating sqh in a romantic sense sqh and he have already crossed several milestones in the relationship including sqhs VERY forward gesture of once actually biting mobei jun

not really enough bc they havent clearly communicated their intentions, most demons by this point would also have had more explicitly romantic interactions like idk confessing and kissing and bumping nasties like YES based on sqhs actions one would determine that they are mutually interested in one another as committed life partners but theyve skipped so much of the actual acts of partnership that even for most demons it hasnt been acted upon explicitly enough for the beating up stage so to the outside observer sqh may be forward but mbj is even more forward and moving VERY FAST and its actually kind of obscene and embarrassing to witness like holy shit dude have some chill (ahah)

however no matter how many times mbj beats sqh, sqh has yet to bite him again or request nourishment in any form nor has he properly submitted to mbjs provision of his needs (probably weird gifts idk)

the result of which is a terrible evening where mbj walks in to see sqh, clearly stressed and tired, chewing on his OWN hair and his OWN nails which us EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE bc why would he rather starve and deprive himself by feeding on his own flesh when mobei jun is RIGHT THERE and mobei jun throws a little tantrum but he knows by now that sqh mustve got the message and is craving flesh like anyone in his position having been wooed so thoroughly for so long would so its not like he needs to beat sqh rn bc theres more important thing to be doing - despite how offensive sqhs behaviour is right now its still a sign that mbjs efforts have been paying off and so naturally now is the perfect time for the next step in the relationship so after he calms down a little (not at all he looks like someone just killed his mother and also his dog but he doesnt know that) he slices off his own nails and offers them in a little bowl to sqh for him to chew on and then offers him strands of his own hair

and sqh is like my king what the FUCK

and mbj is like you little asshole eat my fucking flesh ill not have you depriving yourself and starving yourself of the proper nourishment when i, the proper source of your health and wellbeing, am right here (he does not say this but believes it has been communicated) and glares at him some more so now sqh, fearing for his life, has to chew on the ends of mbjs hair and his nails

anyway things are weird between them bc mbj has hurt feelings and sqh still hasnt acknowledged his wrong doing and doesnt seem to be enjoying his very well cared for hair ends (maybe he would prefer some crispy skin??? or some blood?) so hes being kind of standoffish and weird and pathetic little meowmeow about it meanwhile sqh is spiralling bc not only is his king pissed at him for some reason and seems like,, maybe actually upset about something???, but also keeps randomly insisting that sqh chew on his hair and nails and hes fucking terrified bc what is going on

mbj is still pretty hurt by sqhs decision to feed on an inadequate source instead of him but at least now hes eating what he needs to be, and sqh is like really really confused, disgusted, afraid, and beginning to sense that something is happening which he has severely misunderstood about mbj (what is wrong with him, is he insane, is he a freak, is this some kind of bizarre nd creepy kink (not far off tbh lol), has he been drugged etc.)

Life update my blood mite top up from earlier this week (iron infusion) is beginning to take effect and maybe today i will spend more than 30 minutes not in bed watching cdramas

be afraid

also who is gonna tell binghe that the heavenly demon blood mites are the colour of tannin rich bog water

like this looks like swamp water right

probably he couldve tricked sqq into drinking blood mites like theyre tea instead of assaulting him actually LOL

[nessacousland]

Well, I finally finished Dragon Age: Friendship is Magic and that is *my* biggest regret.

[baksuz-art]

this piece took much longer to finish than i imagined... this is the first time i have ever made a "robot", or anything even similar to it really, so it took me a while to polish out the idea and the sketch. this is a sized down version, but the original canvas is huge, so there was a lot of space to cover lol. but i had so much fun while working on this, so i can't complain 😸

there were a lot of jokes involved, as well as some fan-worldbuilding, some theorising, and then some more jokes lol. i didn't know that much about necrons before, so i did some research and mixed the newfound knowledge with some of my own ideas: the metal husk is based on necron designs i've seen around, so i gave him a tall collar with wide shoulderplates and i've put emphasis on his ribcage. it wouldn't be my kitty if it wasn't fat, so instead of the typical necron hollowed out look, i gave him this cute round, glass tummy full of soup! 😸 of what was once soup, i guess... the shoulderplates come with tiny solar planes - because cats like sun 🌞 (and he uses them to power his high tech toys and heated sleeping bed, not depicted here!) thankfully i've seen some necron units with tails, because i wasn't willing to make a cat without a tail, so i had some references to look at, lol. the weapon is a fusion between a few necron weapons and a good old water gun, because i thought it was fitting and funny 😹 as for the runes: i couldn't find an official guide for necron writing system, but i've found a really nice fanmade glyph list that i decided to use. it's easy to follow and fits the theme perfectly! here are some details (in their original size) that are my favourite 😸 click on them to see them properly!

reblogs are greatly appreciated!🛸

meet Bastek, a necron kitty! 😼 he doesn't bite, but he might splash you with his space water gun, so beware! 🔫💦

reblogs are greatly appreciated!🛸

[ashilean]

LHIKAN, toa Mangai of fire (1/11)

Astride his lava board, Lhikan patrols the towers of Ta-Metru as the last of the city's toa heroes. While matoran from every corner of the city stare reverently as he passes overhead, he casts a long shadow, and one hero can only be so many places at once...

When setting out to make the Mangai, I wanted them to stand out and use some of the less-common elemental colour schemes--taking heavy inspiration from the matoran in the Legend of Mata Nui and MNOG. In Lhikan's case, a toa of fire that is all smoke and golden sparks is both unique and a good fit for the pre-existing elements of his character I am keen to retain.

More to come soon!

[chocodile]

Apologies if you've answered this somewhere: for your Amaranthine 'verse, are there any "hybrid" animal folk? On one hand, kwillow's Theo has a rat and a stoat as parents, but Theo himself is a rat (with his mother's coloring, but still a rat). On the other, Ambroys very clearly looks like a cross between a horse (father) and Something Else (Celestial mother). In the middle is Hayden's one night stand with the cat barmaid, which resulted in a child with a bunny's snout/tail, a flatter catlike face, and bunny ears a biiiit too wide and pointed to be 100% "bunny."

I'm super curious about the genetics of it as well as the social aspect (i.e. is son considered a bunny/cat/both by his peers?). It's one of my favorite bits about anthro worldbuilding!

Hybrids exist, but are pretty rare!

Typically, children will just inherit their species from one parent or the other. Hybridization is very unusual and typically is limited to one or two very minor traits--like the child of a rabbit having slightly longer ears, the child of a weasel having a noodlier build, the child of a carnivore having fangs, etc. In almost all cases, the dominant species of the child is very clear, and the hybrid traits tend to be very recessive--rarely preserved beyond one generation.

Particularly in the Western Kingdom, though, hybrid children do have a reputation for being unlucky, an ill omen, or even outright cursed (depending how superstitious the person you're asking is). There are a few reasons for this… the simplest is that hybrid traits are sort of a "birth defect" that can sometimes present along with other health issues. Though not all hybrids are frail and sickly, any concern about a child's susceptibility to illness was a huge deal in rural peasant villages that already tended to have high childhood mortality rates.

Over time, the perception of hybrid children = ill omen became warped and exaggerated. Western Kingdom folktales sometimes cast hybrids as vaguely supernatural trickster characters, such as tales of mysterious changeling babies whose hybrid traits eventually revealed them to be half Infernal.

For this reason, the actual frequency of hybrid traits is probably greatly under reported… anyone who can hide or ignore or lie about their hybrid traits probably will. Though most Western Kingdom superstitions fell away after the collapse of the old kingdoms, some degree of stigma in Post-Fall society remains. No one seriously thinks a sheep with fangs is half Infernal anymore (most don't believe that Infernals and Celestials even exist), but it will still probably be passively assumed that a hybrid is less fit for difficult labor, among other things.

Half Celestial and Half Infernal offspring work a bit different… they're always technically "hybrids", but specifically hybridize in such a way that they take the form of mythological creatures (unicorn, dragon, cockatrice, etc). I'll let Kwillow talk more about this when she discusses Ambroys' mother since she's been the one working on this section of the lore, but Half Celestials are most certainly seen as a blessing. Half Infernals… well, fear of them is part of the reason hybrids are stigmatized in the first place, so suffice to say they have it rather rough. How severe the stigma is varies across cultures and tends to be worse in the rural West, better in cities, and pretty much completely absent in much of the Eastern Kingdom.

In the Post-Fall present day, nobody believes Celestials, Infernals, or their offspring exist anymore... aside from those who know about The Kingdom of the Sun.

Also, once in a while, a hybrid is born whose traits are so blended that their parent species are difficult to determine. These very unlucky individuals are referred to as "chimeras" and tend to have shorter life expectancies, among other things. We may be seeing a character who fits this description eventually. :P

[chiropteracupola]

A May morning.

[riacte]

so hey guys i finished dungeon meshi yesterday and i'm still thinking about it

[verflares]

nothing more frustrating than playing New Video Game and/or digesting new media in general and you're like "mmmm this is kinda bad/boring. honestly." so out of curiosity you look up to see if anybody else feels this way but you are instead greeted with if you think anything about this is bad or boring you need to be put in front of a firing squad

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

I’m watching one piece, and now I’m wondering do you have any hcs on the world building in the fairy tail universe ? Do you think theirs some crazy kingdom’s , advanced technology in some lands ? Love to hear your thoughts 💗

hmmmmmmmmmmm kinda a bit of a deep question tbh.

Structurally FT has good bones for its world. And that's kinda it lol

There's a fleshed out map of all the countries within the continent that fiore is found on (Ishgar, which has 16 named countries apart from fiore itself) and expanding wider than that we know that there are about 3 named continents (Ishgar to the east being a peninsula connected to the mainland that we know nothing of, Alakitasia to the west where Alavarez is and Guiltina to the north) and a fourth unnamed continent further east that exists within earthland.

But while we have all this info, nothing in particular comes into play as the series had progressed, the majority of the series' arcs all more or less take place within the same country, which for a series that has it's characters constantly travelling for missions looks particularly bad, especially when even the known locations all visually seem indistinct from each other in terms of stuff like architecture. It's a reason why I appreciate edolas in particular because it at least offered something that visually stood out and an insight into how that culture functioned. (and in Phoenix Priestess for the small montage the squad in the city of Rose Garden and showing a bit of the country Veronica)

Like it is frustrating to me whenever I think on it because the solution would be just to change the locations of where they travel to just to expand the background of the places travelled, wouldn't even have to change arc structures or anything to give some life to the named countries like:

Joya despite its small size as a country is the main manufacturers of trains and exports the majority of the transportation other countries use as well as weapons. Wizards are less found here, with treasure hunting being a more popular job choice.

Sin, despite the ironic name, is a deeply religious and faith driven country. Magics that have connection to nature and celestial bodies are particularly revered here.

Desierto mostly deals with trade, having constantly active shipping ports. Enchanted items such as brooms and carpets are popular and easy transport choices within cities and are more widely used than vehicles.

Iceberg's largely uninhabited due to the weather with most of the population sticking closer to the country's borders.

Like this is all just purely flavour text examples to just try and bring some life to these otherwise lifeless locations but you get the general gist of it.

There was clearly this effort to establish these locations by giving then names (and drawing a full on map) so it always boggled me that they were never properly used as a backdrop for the arcs within the story. (Tower of Heaven? Move that arc to Sin, Lucy's arc with Loke? Takes place in Stella, That arc with the giant village? Put it in Minstrel).

Like shifting around major arc locations would easily open up avenues to naturally expand the world as the story moves. And not even just big arcs, but smaller less grand filler arcs (which jesus christ did ft rlly need because it defs need breathing room between all the big events. It's why the story moves at such a breakneck speed without things really feeling as though they've changed in any meaningful ways) would do wonders to make earthland feel like a genuine lived in world (like how it is within the world of one piece that you cited as an inspo for this ask.)

[danieyells]

Revisiting more non-ghoul anomalous persons on campus(although I do think there'd be something to Moby being the only one. . . .)

I remember posting about a Gorgon and I think maybe she would do well as like. A Darkwick General nurse. Because DG is an inpatient facility, they don't do outpatient work. So if she, as somebody who is able to curse people(or, well, it really depends on how much of one's body has turned to stone if it's an illness or a curse,) were to take an interest in long term curse care, I think that would make sense right?

And then I thought of another OC. . .a minotaur who teaches(or is currently substituting for the person who normally teaches) Enigmatology. . .obviously she specializes in anomalous mazes and escape rooms that use anomalies and the like.

I just. Want to explore the idea of anomalous peoples being integrated into society or into the Institute and its staff. Because while I'm sure Moby is a rare case, I'd like to think there are at least a handful of others. The Anomalous Investigation Institute is everywhere in the world after all.

I imagine none of them are particularly well regarded, especially by the general students. Understandably this makes them keep to themselves more to avoid abuse(and avoid causing a scene or inconveniencing others or risking things being turned around on them) which tends to reflect poorly on them because people don't see or understand what they're going through or think that if there was a problem they'd get help from Darkwick or the Institute(of course this is discouraged--don't wanna ruin the lives of students who have so much ahead of them or who will contribute to the world and Institute at large! Unlike them who, as anomalies, simply aren't allowed to be in public at all which makes them less valuable. . .even among the Institute in many places around the world the prejudice against anomalies being 'people' is strong)

But they're passionate about what they do! And about a future where maybe anomalous societies/peoples can at least be somewhat apart of the world--even if they have to be hidden away they could at least be part of the Institute and make things better for anomalies and people and maybe someday there could be a world where they all live in harmony, as one. Maybe they don't all believe that but doing something for everybody's lives is good right?

I also like to think there's a school-like facility for young anomalous persons taken in by the Institute to be raised/trained/taught to be contributing members of human society [in the background because they obviously can't just be out there]. And maybe one of them could be a Darkwick student. And this is the first time they're among humans meant to be their 'peers' and kind of among human society and it's all very nerve-wracking especially when they aren't treated well. . .but they still try and fit in and contribute and such.

I just think there's a potential for exploration there. Of person-like anomalies and how they exist within the microsociety of the Institute's network.

(also all of them are scared of Towa--because anomalies are often afraid of Towa--and Taiga--because he just looks at them and gets hungry lol.)

[july-19th-club]

forced myself to finish this book even though by the last hundred pages or so all i was doing was picking apart the post-catholicism of it all. bc i feel like it's important to read shit you don't gel with . just because. even though the whole way through i was like they HAVE to prove it's not real. they HAVE to. so not the point of any of it but i was desperate for them to Find The Body etc. and of course instead they have mystical time travel experiences and all that because that is the kind of book the actual star is but i was desperate for them to realize that the star you see is the actual star. and then it wasn't