#world build friday

[daughter-of-inklings]

word count: 735 excerpt: general lore

She remembers it was cold. And dark. The deafening silence of eternity loomed around her, over her, threatening to swallow her whole- an extension of herself in this emptiness she was brought into. She was slow to wake and slower to rise from beneath the shroud of night, turning to face this way and that, straining to see an end to herself. This was, after all, the whole of her form…right? Infinite, dark, cold, and… Alone, no matter where she looked.

She wandered aimlessly for a time, unsure of where to go. In the same directions she’d started in, she supposed, until she grew bored and turned another. Hoping to find any semblance of something unlike herself. She drew her arms around her form- not infinite, then- more to feel and remember where she ended, and the void began than for any warmth. There were no others here; no other creatures, or strange beings, or emotions, or anything beyond the never-ending emptiness she’d been born into.

Time didn’t pass, as it yet to have means to, and so she continued to wander about in all directions until her feet ached. She didn’t know parts of her could ache, nor anything else about herself other than she was the only one of herself here. She sat herself on the ground, looking at the golden flecks formed like flower petals along her arms, thinking that it’d be nice to have another there with her. She found that though her mouth could move to wish it so, no sounds came out. Or perhaps they did, and the darkness had simply swallowed them as it had all else that came before.

The feathered tips of the petals’ edges grazed the tips of her fingers, drawing her attention. They shimmered and shone a bright color reminiscent of a lover’s sunset against the unruly night of her hands, which tried to devour them whole. She plucked one, brow furrowed at the small sting it caused, letting the iridescent golden blood flow as it pleased. Where it stained all that it touched, small buds began to grow, maturing into more flower-scales that spread further and further along her sides.

The petal gave, yielding to her fingertips as she smoothed, curved, carved, and pushed into it, plucking more and more petal-scales from herself until gold flowed freely down her sides and back. Another being, one made in her likeness, held her gaze as she withdrew, hands smeared honey grazing the statue’s waist. Two arms and two legs, a high cheeked and set skeletal face covered by a mask of the same golden scale, with four pointed ends adorned by chains, and two sets of eyes with which to see through to the end of all that there had been, was, and would ever be.

She stepped back and admired her company’s likeness, finding a certain lightheadedness in it, as if the air had been taken from her lungs. A sensation, not all together unpleasant, began to settle at the pit of her stomach, of someone finding what they hadn’t yet known they lost. Her fingertips lightly grazed the sculpture’s lips, trembling, afraid that she’d ruin them with a harsher touch. Where her fingers touched the statue’s lips yielded, fitting to the small nearly invisible grooves along them, giving them a textured look and feel. With her free hand she mirrored the motion on her own lips, feeling the same softness along them. She marbled at the sensation, gaze lingering over the beauty of the figure’s form.

Without thinking she closed the distance between them, kissing the figure fully on the leaps; longing for company and wishing her companion would move and be as she was. She pulled back and blinked, surprised, as the figure began to tremble and quiver under her touch, moving all its own to reciprocate the kiss it’d been dealt. Its fingers cupped her cheek, the gold film peeling from them and replacing the cold of their touch with- … warmth?

The film began to fall from the rest of the sculpture, swept away into the darkness as a fine powder that dusted the inky black far away with stars. The being that emerged was bright and warm, and the most beautiful creature she had or would see. They fell into her arms laughing, unused to their legs, bringing with them sound to the world and color to her cheeks.

[eywaseclipse]

Happy birthday to the man that made it all possible! I highly recommend enjoying his other films if you haven’t already. He’s a trailblazer and pioneer to the industry and changed filmmaking as a whole. Happy birthday James 💙💙💙

[that-disabled-princess]

The Black Alters

Disclaimer: I have not had the chance to see Workin' Boys yet, so this post will not account for that, even though it takes place at a black alter (the Starlight theater).

From Nerdy Prudes Must Die, we learn that there are five black alters--places the Waylons built.

The Waylon House

The Starlight Theater

Hatchetfield High School

Lakeside Mall, formerly the old mill

The Gazette, currently CCRP Technical

Each black alter is featured in at least one Hatchetfield production, and many Hatchetfield productions take place at or feature a black alter.

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals features the Starlight theater, Hatchetfield high school, and CCRP Technical.

Black Friday takes place at Lakeside Mall.

Forever and Always features CCRP Technical, formerly the Gazette.

Time Bastard features CCRP Technical, formerly the Gazette (as shown in that episode).

Honey Queen takes place at the Starlight theater.

Daddy features Lakeside Mall.

Yellow Jacket features Lakeside Mall.

Nerdy Prudes Must Die takes place at the Waylon house, the Starlight theater, and Hatchetfield high school.

8/15 Hatchetfield productions either take place at or feature a black alter. If we're counting how many mention one of those five places as well, that number would be a lot higher.

Just a fun detail I noticed.

[edmunderson]

a reaper and their grimtern for @gloomiegalaxie's femboy friday :)

[rachelillustrates]

Spill (Gnomevember 2024/TGnIF/WBW)

Day eight! 🍄💕

And Thank Gnome it's Friday!! (Though this whole month is technically TGnIF.)

AND, delayed by the atmosphere this week, time for another "Tock the Gnome" world building post, dear readers!

Originally from Wednesday's prompt "Turnover," but now also for today's, we are looking at more details on the Gnomish god of airships, technology, communication - and finance - specifically where his temples tend to be located, at present.

Full notes here 💰

~

✨ Important Earth-life note ✨ If you have wealth, be wise with it! Here are some great places to donate to in the face of current terrifying events:

Planned Parenthood

Human Rights Campaign

National LGBTQ Task Force

Amnesty International

Islamic Relief USA

~

Prompt list from Kristi Leigh G. DiSalle.

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Bonus art and stories ~ Prints, comics and more!

[sanchoyo]

haven’t been on much bc my dog has been sick :( between seizures and an infected tooth we’ve been having a Time trying to get everything fixed (this started around the holidays so our vet has been very booked up…we have been like 3-4 times in the past 4-5 weeks OTL does not help it’s like an hour drive there, so that’s been exhausting) now his new seizure meds are making him sick (was hoping it was like, just an adjustment period thing but he’s been sick for a week and having concerning symptoms…) if I’m not on a ton or slow to replying to messages it’s bc I’m working as much overtime as my job will give me bc Vet Expensive and mentally drained obvi 😞

[tundra-teeth]

Deep in the Windswept Plateau lies a magical place. A place immune to the chartings of mapmakers, whom the well-oriented will never find. Believed by many to be but rumor, Wind dragons muse about the place where all winds eventually blow: the Crosswinds.

The Crosswinds, however, are very, very real. And in the center of this mysterious land of mist, meandering brooks, and reeds, sits an inn. A humble inn, yet one that seems to attract all manner of lost dragons. For this inn sits at the center of the Crosswinds, where all lost things eventually find themselves blown.

Whether it been wayward dragons or misplaced treasures, the inn at the crosswinds houses it all. All lost things end up here, eventually. Where the lost things go after that is when things get interesting.

[knifesxedge]

imagine if my medication worked to stabilize my bipolar disorder.

[catholicide]

whatever happened to hellraiser post-clive barker is the funniest thing to happen to a movie series ever. hellraiser really does not lend itself to franchise horror or mascot horror or slasher, it just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. clive barker signed away rights to the material before the first film was even released and we are up to installment 11 at this point. once it starts the infinite money hack of franchise horror cannot be reversed no matter what. THE BOX. YOU OPENED IT. WE MADE 11 FILMS.

[lightgriffinsect]

idk how to explain this but psychic gives me toxic chill male bsf vibes

[eywaseclipse]

If I got FOP you best believe I’d be using my own oc for every fic and changing up her style a little bit and calling it a day😭

Editing has become such a chore. But I have everything ready for my metkayina series that I’ll eventually put out this summer. And I just need the motivation to finish my So’lek series!!

[allylikethecat]

I am rereading On a Friday from the beginning just because I’ve got a few minutes and I love it so very much, and I just got to the Reddit thread bit in chapter 1 and I can’t get over it because it’s literally exactly what the fandom would be like in the omegaverse

It’s such a good read of both the original material and the rules of the AU, hats off

Yay! Thank you so much! It honestly makes me so happy and absolutely blows my mind to hear that you liked On a Friday enough to read it a SECOND time, absolutely incredible. Thank you so much!

The Reddit Thread thing made me giggle, when I was originally outlining the fic I was like "how would the relationship with the fans be different in the omegaverse" and I was like... the fans would 100% be trying to track his heat cycle and wondering what kind of suppressants he was on because parasocial behavior 😂

Anyway, thank you so much for your kind words! I'm really glad that you're enjoying my interpretation of the omegaverse - I've probably been having way too much fun creating it. I hope you continue to enjoy the updates as they come! Thank you for this ask and for reading!

❤️Ally

[themerlinlibrary]

Favourites Friday (Sept 2023) – Self-Rec Round: World Building

TML Favourites Friday round-up! September 2023 round 5 (SRR)

What is Favourites Friday? – The Basics

a different theme is announced on Friday each week; FF recs must match the theme of the week

only one FF rec per person per week/theme

FF recs must be unique within that week/theme; no double-posting the same fic for one theme!

no self-recs during regular rounds

only self-recs during self-rec rounds (last Friday of each month)

Theme for this self-rec round: World Building!

The Night is Long by thetreeofwillow G, 7.9k, Merlin/Arthur Canon Era; Winter Fest

The Court of Avalon by Imagined T, 57k, Merlin/Arthur Canon Era, Post-Canon

The Great Dragon by s0mmerspr0ssen T, 71k, Gen Canon Era AU; War, Dragons

Worshipping You From The Darkest Of Corners (Like I'm Practicing My Own Private Religion) by lavender_spice E, 11k, Merlin/Arthur Dystopian AU, Cyberpunk AU, Priest AU

Blackout, Beaming, Gold by Zaharya, with art by Sunfall M, 18k, Merlin/Arthur Steampunk AU

Bought and Sold by PeaceHeather T, 103k, Gen Canon Era AU, Canon Divergence; Slavery

Shadow of the Stone by MerlinLikeTheBird T, 102k (WIP), Merlin/Arthur Canon Era AU; Role Reversal

You're My One & Only by TrebleMaker07 T, 9.5k, Merlin/Arthur Soulmate AU, Canon Era without Magic

If I Had My Druthers by TheManTheMythTheLazy T, 5.6k, Merlin/Arthur Reincarnation, Modern Era

you should've said by ravenwilds E, 18k, Merlin/Arthur Modern with Magic; Magical Realism

Knights of the Faceoff Circle by kirani T, 8k, Merlin/Arthur Modern AU; Hockey

The Once and Future Kings by tjmcharg M, 352k WIP, Merlin/Arthur Canon Divergence

By The Stars by ashamedbliss E, 21k, Merlin/Arthur Space/Sci-Fi AU

The Kingcraft of Arthur Pendragon by SauraUnderscore E, 79k, Merlin/Arthur Canon Era, Canon Divergence

A masterlist of all round-ups can be found here.

If you want to make sure you never miss a FF rec, or would like to participate and share your own favourites; join us on the Discord TheMerlinLibrary! Happy reading!

About the FF round-up lists:

Recs are listed in the order they were posted on the Discord; the order does not imply any sort of ranking.

The pairing given in this list is the main pairing of each respective fic – please read the tags for any possible minor or side-pairings, as well as any potential warnings or triggers.

Pairings and Eras are given as tagged in each respective fic. (?) signifies that the tags were unclear and I do not know enough about the fic to fill the gaps.

Round-ups are compiled on the weekend of the week after the respective theme of the post (when the new theme has already been anounced), to avoid omitting potentially belated FF recs.

The weekly round-up is not a guarantee! I'm running this alone, so it can only be posted for weeks when I have enough time on my hands to compile a list. If you'd like to help out, feel free to contact me on Tumblr ( @zaharya ) or Discord.

[cozeydaily]

The World's Shape

The World's Shape #secondlife #secondlifehomes #virtualworld #virtualphotography

Chemistry we had for sure, gradually we wanted more.. (more…) “”

[rachelillustrates]

Due to a very busy, burnt out week for me, we have a big old combo post today!!

a) Thank Gnome its Friday!! (as per my weekly devotional) Visiting the Faerie aether with Anosmia, Gnome goddess of destruction and protection, and a friend 🤫

b) Bard Bonus art time!! As always with such a title, this is the Bard level bonus piece for the month of February. Anyone who pledges at that level by March 10th, considering the late date, will receive a physical print of this piece in the mail* and access to the large, unwatermarked scan. Details here.

(*US and Canada only. Any pledges further out will still receive the digital file, for self-printing.)

c) Time for another world building post, dear readers!!

This week, we are taking a closer look at Tock’s behavior at the bridge from the most recent page, and what that means about certain Gnome-to-Troll attitudes across the past few generations. 

Full notes here 🙏✨

~

Bonus art and stories ~ Prints, comics and more!

[hoeakawasupreme]

Alice in Borderland s2 finale……. I’m so sorry but what on god’s forsaken fucking green planet earth was that 🧍🏻‍♀️