#worldbuilding glossary

[thecourtofindigo]

Melaco Town Pt. I - Natural + Main Areas

MELACO TOWN - MAIN AREA A small, semi-rural town nestled between several large, dense forests and shielded by misty black mountains to its far north. Train tracks run through it, and a freight train runs daily, sometimes at strange late hours.

Melaco Town is an eerie, odd place that becomes darker the deeper one looks at it. It feels quaint, old-fashioned and often abandoned by daylight, but lit up in fluorescent colours, seedy and sinister by night. Many of its citizens are nocturnal and very eccentric, and seem to be hiding dark, unthinkable secrets that they will likely take to their graves.

The weather in Melaco is inconsistent, but always windy and the air bears a chill even in summer. The local soil is of note, being extremely rich, oily and black and sprouting rare flowers that appear nowhere else in the world. Despite its unsettling qualities, the vast stretches of trees and nature around Melaco Town can be quite breathtaking to find oneself in. This quietness and magical aura was part of what drew Alexia and her brother to settle there.

WOODWARD FIELD A huge, grassy, hilly meadow that stretches across eastern Melaco Town to the foothills of the dark mountains surrounding its north side. There are sparse houses, but little else in the field - save for two unusual landmarks.

One is an archway that seems to have once been the gate to something, inscribed with the text "To the land of tomorrow for two - if one again breaks my heart to pieces". Its origin is unknown, but it seems old, is carved of stone and marble, and seems to have once been painted in garish shades of pink, violet, gold and blue.

The second landmark is a marsh spring with deep green water, surrounded by drooping willow trees. Several decayed, moss-laden stone totems jut up from the water. The spring is the haunting ground of two sister nature gods - Tar-Rokka of the Swamp and Tir-Ranna of the Storm.

THE FOREST OF VEILS A mysterious patch of deep woods located a short walk behind St. Martin Street, beyond the train tracks. The trees here have black bark and silver-white leaves and blossoms. The forest floor is also covered with silvery grass and flowers, and no other colour of flora will bloom there.

The forest gets its name from the pearlescent veils and strings of jewels strung up like spiderwebs between the trees - this is a naturally occurring phenomenon. Its treetops are extremely dense, allowing little sunlight in, yet it remains fairly well-lit due to the shimmering plantlife. The forest's sole inhabitant is an ageless, ancient child-eating witch named Wysteria, but there are hints that there was once a native group of beings there - whom Wysteria likely ran off, killed, or ate the last of long ago.

THE DAWNLIGHT BLUSTERS An extremely windy, forested patch of hills on the eastern edge of the town that seem to be perpetually stuck in autumn, painted year-round in bright greens, gold and red. It is a wondrous, beautiful place with an aura of childhood adventure, yet can become quite lonely and wistful, with few houses or people around.

The deepest groves of the Blusters also harbor a sinister place - Jane's Hours Estate - a supposedly cursed Edwardian-era manor that belonged most recently to the Rondo family, all of whom but the youngest member, Robin, met a tragic end there.

Robin Rondo still resides in the Blusters, in a fort of his own design, in the woods on the farthest edge of the Estate. Robin's fort is constructed of wood, scrap metal, bright colourful quilts and miscellaneous "junk", and is surrounded by pinwheels and childlike novelty objects of all kinds.

ABANDONED PARK The abandoned park lies concealed by tall tangles of grass and densely-woven, overgrown trees in a field between Julian's backyard on St. Martin Street and the small barrier of forest behind Goodnight Plaza.

All that remains of the actual "park" are rusted, unusable skeletons of playground equipment and a canopy laced with tiny baby roses. Outwardly, there is nothing special about this area, but upon entering, one can sense a "living force" there, like a massive heart slowly beating just beneath the soil.

Hidden deeply in a thick grove within the park is a disturbing monument of soft, oily scarlet stone that feels like candle wax to the touch. It is made up of a square door in the ground guarded by a statue of a man screaming in great agony, thick blood streaming from his eyes and mouth. Beneath it is the pathway to the Court of Indigo (the Depthless Stair). The monument itself, while worn by time, still serves as a seal to keep the Indigo under their curse - a curse set by a warlock which entails they will die in their natural forms if they touch either sun or moonlight.

One From the Clocks uses this path to stalk the above world for victims to use in his and Kanabiel's experiments (or for cruel pleasure), since he is still part-human and the curse does not affect him.

[zal-cryptid]

Toyfolk Glossary Masterpost

Collected in this masterpost is a glossary of terms concerning the worldbuilding of my series Misfits in Toyland.

Toyland - A phantom island of games and toys inhabited by the toyfolk. Also known as the Land of Toys, Island of Misfit Toys, the Doll Kingdom, and Merryland. Although autonomously ruled and governed by a monarch, it belongs to its creator, Krampus. It exists in a parallel plane of existence that dances in tandem with the mortal realm known as the Otherworld.

Toyfolk - People who’ve been transformed into living toys and sent to Toyland as punishment for their misdeeds by Krampus. This punishment is reserved only for adults. They don't possess any vital functions and thus have no need to eat, drink, or breathe.

Rule of Play - the magic that allows toyfolk to interact with toys as if they were real simply by playing pretend with them. For example, toyfolk can move their bodies simply by pretending that they can, despite not having muscles, a nervous system, or any of the necessary organs. Same goes to their ability to speak and sense the world around them. Externally, they can make any toy real for them by interacting with it as if it were real - such as pretending to eat toy food in order to mimic the sensation of eating. There are, of course, limitations to the Rule of Play. For example, it cannot be used to create life (playing with a normal doll or a toy animal won’t cause it to come to life) or cause death (playing dead won’t cause suicide). Toyfolk roleplaying with each other can even temporarily alter their perception.

Phantom Nervous System - named after Phantom Limb Pain, the Phantom Nervous System is what allows the toyfolk to move without muscles, see without eyes, hear without ears, taste without tongues, think without brains, and even feel (temperature, texture, pain, erogenous stimulation, etc.,), all without possessing any organs or nerves. Toyfolk are essentially undead - the mind and soul bound to a lifeless object and animated by magic.

Toy Fugue - Named after Dissociative Fugue (although the two should not be conflated), Toy Fugue is an altered mental state where Toyfolk lose their memories and sense of identity. Their minds are subsumed by their Toy Brain and form a new identity based around the type of toy they are. Toy Fugue is a mental escape triggered by traumatic events and emotionally distressing experiences. It’s often the end result of those who fail to find a way to cope with an existential crisis. Unlike dissociative fugue, Toy Fugue isn’t temporary, nor does it cause one to wander. While some have been able to snap out of it, others may be doomed to remain that way for the rest of their lives.

Toy Brain - also known as Play Brain, refers to the “programming” that all toyfolk have that gives them a collection of instinctive urges to play the part of whatever type of toy they are. Many struggle to find a balance between these urges and their own personalities, and it's a great source of discomfort for many of the toyfolk. Much like a Chinese Finger Trap, attempts to resist these urges will only cause them to intensify and worsen. If toyfolk fail to control their urges, their urges will ultimately end up controlling them and descend into Toy Fugue. These urges can range from specific (such as tea parties) to more broad (such as animal behaviours).

Magic - Magic works differently in the Mundane World than it does in the Otherworld. One can be forgiven in thinking magic doesnt exist in our world, but the truth is exists in its most fundamental and purest form - imagination. In its passive form, it manifests as thoughts, ideas, creativity, emotions, and problem-solving. In its most active form, it can manifest as psionics (also known as psychic powers and ESP). Long-term exposure to another plane will cause an entity to slowly acclimatize to the laws of that reality.

Wind-Up Keys - Wind-up keys have the ability to temporarily influence a wind-up toyfolk's personality and behaviour. Each key contains toy brain traits of the wind-up toy it came from. For example, a toy soldier wound up with a music box key would suddenly start to act more feminine and want to dance like a ballerina.

Voice Boxes - While most toyfolk are able to speak through the Rule of Play, those with voice boxes are bound to the rules of the voice box. Those with pull-strings, for example, cannot speak unless their pull-string is pulled. The voice box isn't just an analog for the larynx, but also functions as the speech center of the brain (particularily the Broca's Area). It contains their voice, vocabulary, speech patterns, accent, language, everything. Damage to this aparatus may cause something akin to aphasia, dysphasia, or dysarthria.

Playing Dress-Up - For dress-up dolls, costumes and outfits can influence their behaviour and personality. For example, a business suit could make them feel and act confident, a girly dress could make them feel and act girly, a maid uniform could make them feel and act like a maid, a collar could make them feel like a pet, so on and so forth. The affects are temporary, only lasting as long as they're wearing the outfit, but their original outfit they ever wore as a toyfolk gets imprinted into their toy brain, making it their default trait.

Currency - The official currency of Toyland is the Standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards. Playing cards were chosen over play money on account of the fact they couldn't decide on which nation's or board game's play money to use. They ended up turning to Quebecois history for inspiration. Playing-card money was a type of paper money used periodically in New France from 1685 to the British Conquest in 1763.

[empyrean-thrones]

The worldbuilding in this god forsaken series makes me so fucking mad. I'm actually fuming. Whenever I think about the potential cultural values/beliefs and distinctions between the different provinces, I want to tear this book to shreds.

You have Violet go to a festival celebrating the unification of Navarre and not describe the cultural dresses or various cuisine there. She goes to Poromiel and barely explores the country. The gryphon fliers are the exact same as the dragon riders except they don't have signets and actually mourn the loss of their loved ones.

THERE ARE NO CONLANGS DESPITE IRON FLAME MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF LOST FANTASY LANGUAGES.

[shehili]

SHURIMAN GLOSSARY

Phrases I intend to use in RP, sorted by origin.

SHURIMAN • source is @voidsought on Tumblr & the official companion book which I own.

MISCELLANEOUS water and shade to you – universal greeting; binsikhi – little explorer, daughter (possibly); bibi – grandmother; Maza – respected elderly woman (possibly); echnebi – foreigners, a group of people (possibly); (the) Great Sai – a grand desert separating north from south; Sai Faraj – desert region in southern Shurima, located west of the Sun Disc; Sai Kahleek – desert region in southern Shurima, located east of the Sun Disc, called "the Bone Sea" in northern dialects; shayatin – the Beasts of the Last Infinity i.e. the Voidborn. Also referred to as "outerbeasts" by Shurimans.

TITLES Hagyett Sadja of Nashramae; Hagya Ta'Fik of Tereshni; Hagyos Valif & Hazir Ima'Sai of Bel'zhun. NOTE: I don't have the lorebook on me right now, but IIRC Valif & Ima'Sai were co-rulers. Distinction is unclear.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN • in-verse, these all originate from Ancient Shuriman and occur in all dialects. Take it and everything else down below with a grain of salt.

COMMON WORDS nek – swearword in the spirit of "shit" or "fuck"; neket iadet – piece of shit; sen – brother (affectionate nickname for one's companion); seni – my brother (possibly); senet – sister; ??? – my sister. likely "seneti"; khered – child; mes-en – born of; hereret – flower; felucca – small boat; stela – stone slab bearing inscriptions or paintings; where? – tjen?

COMMANDS shem – go; ab – stop; mesneh – turn backwards, reverse; kheti – retreat; wesef – be idle; hi-i or hi'i – strike, beat; seseh – smash, destroy; seki – perish, destroy; aha – stand, arise; sheni – surround; mes – bring (imperative).

TITLES sefetjew, seftew – butcher; tepey (m, n), tepet (f) – chief, head; seshem – lead, guide; neb – sir, also used when the addressee's gender is unknown; nebet – lady; Nebetah – lady of the palace/house; Henuttaneb – mistress of all lands. Used for the empress, nowadays attached to Mariam mostly by highborn sycophants. Va-Nox terms are used to denote military rank in so far as northern dialects are concerned.

MISC • in-verse, these belong to the tribes that have populated Shurima's northern banks since before the empire's fall. Phrases marked with * are shared between all northern tribes. Unmarked entries are specific to the Tereshan dialect.

Teresh, -an*; Bel'zhun, -ite*; Urzeris, -rite*; Void take you – Mariam's invention and her favorite curseword; sheeplover – swearword, substitute the animal as needed; aslema – hello; bislema – goodbye; marhaba* – welcome; shokran* – thank you; yaishek – a tenderer way of expressing thanks ("life to you"); azizty – dear one; hbibty – my love (can be platonic; alternatively: habibi* or habibti*); hobi – my love (romantic; alternatively: hubbi* or hubbee*); sokar* – sugar, used for children.

ARABIC HEART-MELTERS • pure self-indulgence.

NOTE: placing "habib" in front results in love of my… albi* – my heart; hayati* – my life; rouhi* – my soul; wahashtini* – I miss you.

[thecurioustale]

Assession: Tales from the Curious Tale Glossary

Assession: The adversarial process of joining the Guard of Galavar. The successful candidate must venture into the Depths of Sourros and there pass three distinct tests. The word assession etymologically means "sitting towards" and refers to the successful candidate's opportunity at the end of their trials to be seated before Sourros, the God of Logic and Wisdom, to freely ask questions of him with the high likelihood of being answered. Along with a suit of the Black Armor, these interrogatives are regarded as gifts bestowed upon the successful candidate to legitimize their (ahem) accession.

Assession is an existing word in English, meaning "a sitting beside or near." (Wiktionary)

When I published the Prelude to After The Hero, I got some feedback from a couple of people who wanted to alert me to the possibility that I had misspelled the far more common word accession, which is identical in spelling except that it has two Cs to assession's two Ss. And since the Prelude didn't have a glossary, and since the word accession could functionally and grammatically work if it were swapped in for assession, and since assession is an extremely obscure word, that's an understandable reaction.

Out of curiosity in writing this post, I went back and looked at all instances of assession in the Prelude, and I only found one (out of twelve total) that wouldn't be flawlessly swappable with accession. It's a line from Silence:

The experiences of our assessions are private, and difficult.

You could still exchange the two words here and pass a grammar test, but accessions does not read as naturally in the plural here, since we rarely construct it that way and tend to only ever refer to a single accession at a time. Uncoincidentally, this is the only time in the Prelude that assession appears in the plural.

A Curious Origin Story & Textual Function

I originally came up with this word not through careful study but because I was convinced that there was another word, physically similar to accession, with a similar meaning. I was wrong; there isn't; but in my research I found this one and decided to go with it on the Curious Tale mantra of touch-grass vocabulary.

Accession is a word that most of us already know well, and so when it appears in text our minds glide right over it without really thinking about its significance. And this can actually be an enemy of rich worldbuilding if not regulated carefully, because it feeds into people's prior knowledge and causes them to substitute that prior knowledge for a more active parsing of the text.

For example, an "accession' simply and quickly describes to us the process of joining some body or some higher tier of something. It's the sort of word that directs our attention elsewhere in the sentence—usually to the thing being acceded to or to the person who is doing the acceding.

After discovering it in the dictionary, I chose to keep the word assession to refer to the process of joining the Guard in order to counteract this and make the actual process itself something that the reader has to think about a little more on account of not having convenient prepackaged conceptual knowledge.

This isn't something that I expect many readers would stop in their tracks and carry out explicitly. Rather, it adds texture to the world by weakening the presence of categorical classes of things and people and instead putting more focus on individual instances of things without regard to their category. An accession is just an accession, and a "Galan accession" is just the Galan version of an accession. But an assession, with the two Ss, is something that doesn't have a ready-made category. It's this special, unique thing that candidates for the Guard of Galavar go through. This subtly but powerfully makes Galan culture more interesting and genuine. You can still eventually make a category for it, but if you do you'll be synthesizing your own and thus instilling yourself with Relancii worldbuilding.

This is something I do quite often in The Curious Tale (and to a lesser extent in Galaxy Federal), and it is something I actively think about and am proud of as a part of my distinctive style.

For example, this is one of the reasons why the word magic is not used in The Curious Tale to refer to the manipulation of numen. Instead, various cultures around the world have various conventions for referring to it, ranging from the more rationalist "this is another domain of engineering" to the more mystical "these are the passions of the Gods animated in the sparks of the Kindred," and much that is in between. The word magic itself does exist, but it is used the way we use it today in the real world, i.e. metaphorically.

For another example, this is why the word king is not used anywhere in the Middemesne to refer to top political leaders; instead we see terms like edet, loin, and sheriff. The Middemesne is a more backward part of the world and, stripped of the royal vocabulary narratively, its leaders don't have ready-made access to the grandeur of royalty the way the King of Tanzibay or the King of Davoranj (two of Relance's greatest nations) do. I try to utilize these cultural discrepancies to good effect!

For a third example, it's why many Relancii militaries have rank names and unit / formation names that we don't conventionally use in the modern world, such as "yeomate ensign" and "deck lieutenant" as ranks in the Galan Sand Fleet and "maniple" as a unit formation in the Galan Army. These terms hearken to real-world terms (e.g., the maniple was a Roman army unit, and terms like "yeo(man)" and "ensign" are easily parsed as military vocabulary), but they are different enough for the reader to understand that they are not simply looking at the Galan skin of the American military organizational structure. It's a different structure, and hopefully that ignites curiosity in the reader.

If the reader is told that there is a process for accession to the Guard of Galavar, then, in order for that term to pack any kind of punch, they must also be told that it is an adversarial series of trials followed by an almost spiritualistic "pilgrim on the mountain summit" opportunity to ask questions of God. But if the reader is instead given the unfamiliar word assession to start with, then, assuming they don't simply misread it—and some will, I realize, but my philosophy in such matters is "try never to insult the intelligence of the reader," which is something I must constantly work at owing to the fact that my desire for conceptual thoroughness often comes across as condescension—the reader is going to know from the beginning that this is a new thing they have to learn about. There will be fewer suppositions, and, hopefully, more curiosity, purely from the word itself, and any definitional information thereafter should only amplify these reactions until such time as the reader reaches a satisfactorily full understanding of the process of assession to the Guard.

[paracosmspring]

Out of Character

Behind the Scenes or Out of Character

Out of Character Definition: someone is not keeping to their usual pattern of behavior and motives.

~*~

In the roleplay world (and thus in the conceptual realm) it is a change from character to writer’s voice. Usually a writer goes Out of Character to say something to another writer or player, and whatever they say has no bearing on the story or game they are writing.

The same thing happens in the conceptual realm. There are events that happens out of character that have no bearing on the story that is seen in the real world. It is akin to what happens when the camera is not rolling or when the actors or backstage.

Examples of Out of Character behavior is whenever a character encounters something of the real world (like an author being). If they know about the real world, like in the case of Domain Leaders, they often play it off to other characters as a joke or gloss over it. Most keep it hidden from the other characters.

Sometimes there’s a few characters that know about the real world, and keep going as if it doesn’t exist. They do this in order to protect their domain and not draw too much attention to it. Many harmful things can happen to a domain if there’s a lot of outside attention paid to it, usually because of an intruder.

So who knows about the real world in a domain?

Usually it is the domain leader or leaders—the main character. They have the choice to tell others that their domain is a fictional world or keep it a secret. They can have many reasons to do either.

What happens when a character find out?

If a character that is not the domain leader finds out that their world is a fictional world, many things can happen. First of course is a freakout. Most characters are shocked and upset to know they aren’t what they thought they are. Most eventually make peace with it.

A domain leader might ask an author to “reset” the character, and take away the memory that they know. This is usually done if the character can not make peace with the knowledge. Other times it is for simplicity sake, and the domain leader just wants to keep the status quo. More serious domains take this route.

The domain leader might choose to take that character into his confidence, to better help protect the domain. This is the usual route. Older domains have more characters aware of the real world, and often interact with it (including seeing all the incriminating fanart!)

Why do we not see them out of character?

That’s the nature of out of character. This is the characters’ private time, or even when the story has completed (or the show is canceled). Story characters don’t die in the traditional sense. Their stories are told and retold, but it doesn’t mean they are in a forever loop. Unless their creator told the story out of character, you’re never going to see this side of them outside the conceptual realm.

What happens when characters encounter Author Beings?

That’s the question. The events of Variant show one possibility, but most of the time its just shenanigans. Interacting with author beings automatically makes the character go into an out of character state. The events taht come out of it won’t reflect in their media in the real world, no matter how much power is used.

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads

Ethera Grave

multiverse space opera

end of the trilogy

Caiden and Leta have finally reunited, and teamed up with their enemy to defeat his sister who’s trying to collapse the multiverse into one

but the only way to become powerful enough to defeat her might cause him to lose himself

sentient spaceships, lots of alien species, monster pets, bodyswapping, found family

[writers-potion]

MASTERPOST (PT. 2)

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

For romance writing prompts, plotting tips & more, check out: MASTERPOST PT. 1

⭐Dialogue

Writing Dialogue 101

Crying-Yelling Dialogue Prompts

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⛰️Words to Use Instead Of...

Synonyms for "Walk"

Synonyms for “feeling like”

Words To Use Instead of "Look"

Words to Use Instead Of...(beautiful, interesting, good, awesome, cute, shy)

Said is dead

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🔠Vocab Lists

Nervous Tension Vocab

Kiss Scene Vocab

Fight Scene Vocab

Haunted House Inspo & Vocab

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👁️‍🗨️Setting & Description

Common Scenery Description Tips

2012 School Setting Vibes - follower question

Describing Food in Writing

Describing Cuts, Bruises and Scrapes

Using Description and Setting Meaningfully

How Different Types of Death Feel

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🗡️Weapons & Fighting Series:

Writing Swords

Writing knives and daggers

Writing Weapons (3): Staffs, Spears and Polearms

Writing Weapons (4): Clubs, Maces, Axes, Slings and Arrows

Writing Weapons (5): Improvised Weapons

Writing Weapons (6): Magical Weapons and Warfare

Writing Weapons (7): Unarmed Combat

Writing Female Fighters

Writing Male Fighters

Writing Armour

Writing Group Fights

Writing Battles At Sea

Erotic Tension in Fight Scenes

Pacing for Fight Scenes

Writing a Siege Warfare

Different Genres, Different Fight Scenes.

Making Fight Scenes Sound Nicer

Fight Scenes For Disabled Characters

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🌎Worldbuilding

Constructing a Fictional Economy

Homosexuality in Historical Fiction

Writing Nine Circles of Hell

Writing Seven Levels of Heaven

Master List of Superpowers

Magic System Ideas 

A Guide to Writing Cozy Fantasy

Dark Fantasy How-To

Dark Fantasy Writing Prompts

Dark, Twisted Fairytale Prompts

Fantasy World Cultural Quirks 

Fantasy Nobel Ranks: A List

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🌠Symbolism in Writing

Plant Symbolisms 

Weather Symbolisms

Symbols of Death

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🪄Writing Magic

Writing Magicians - the basics

Writing Magic Systems

Magical Training Options for Your Characters

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📋Other!

List of Fantasy Subgenres

Beauty is Terror: A List

The Pirate's Glossary

Storyediting Questions to Ask

Writing Multiple WIPs Simultaneously

Idea Generation Exercises for the Writer

Book Title Ideas

Picking the Right Story For You

What If God Dies in Your Story 

International Slang, Slang, Slang!

10 Great Love Opening Lines 

How to Insult Like Shakespeare

Serial Killer Escape Manual

Best Picrew Character Generators for Your Characters!

How to Write Faster

[nanistar]

SERPENTINE PROMISE | Hidden in Plain Sight.

Serpentine Promise is a 16+ literate Horror / Slasher Warriors RP set on the coast of Belize in the heart of a meteor crater called the Cardinal. This RP takes heavy inspiration from the beautiful indigenous Mayan cultures of Belize for its worldbuilding.

You are part of three groups known as Arrows. You live in relative peace, guided by your Celestial Leaders in the skies above - the Jade Tiger, the Red Tiger, and the Gold Tiger. Centuries prior, these three leaders created the Arrows, but in doing so created something worse. The North Serpent wanted the crater for itself, and would only be satisfied when it ate the sun. The three tigers fought together against the serpent to the death.

In modern times, these Celestial Leaders are growing increasingly distraught, until they disappear one night and leave you with nothing but an omen … Cats around you begin to drop dead soon after. Your objective? Survive. Keep one eye open. Figure out which one of you is slaughtering cats by the dozen, or die trying.

𓆙 ━─┈

🌊THE EAST WAVES Living on the sandy coasts of the Cardinal, the cats of the East Waves are weathered, brave, regal, and know their way around the barrier reef, and the raging seas. 🌴THE SOUTH RAINS Nestled in the dense, lush rainforest of the crater, the cats of the South Rains are intelligent, agile, gifted and flighty. They know how to traverse the land without ever placing a paw on the dangerous jungle floor.

⛰️THE WEST PEAKS Settled in the mountains along the edge of the crater, living within caverns and along cliff faces, cats in the West Peaks are hardy, strong, tough and independent, battling the biggest threats of all — Harpy eagles, amongst other dangerous raptors. 𓆙 ━─┈ WHAT WE OFFER🐍

A safe, secure environment for all with safety nets in place for any incident that would otherwise occur in a large space.

A server open to writers of any experience.

An extremely large expanse of lore and world-building including a glossary of brand new terms, in-depth lore and history inspired by Mayan cultures, unique ranks and roles to each Arrow, and an entirely new herb and medicine system created entirely for the RP, amongst a dozen other additions!

A server run by BIPOC and LGBT+ moderators, including a Belizean admin and consultant.

High Ranks and Roles open for application for writers of any experience and skill level!

RP affiliation / partnership — advertise your RP server in ours!

EXPLORE THE WORLD & APPLY NOW! >> https://serpentinepromise.carrd.co/ << =

(please note that i, nanistar, am NOT the host of this RP. i am merely a moderator and the tumblr liaison. i can answer some basic questions, but for anything more in-depth else please contact BADMIRACLE on tumblr. he is an amazing rp host and has spent months bringing this together and developing this rp.)

[etirabys]

I find it hard to suspend my disbelief about how many different substances you can make with protons neutrons and electrons. That's just three things. I'm in a bath right now and there's water and fiberglass for the tub, stainless steel for the faucet which has completely different properties, some sort of tile which you can round off as a kind of fiberglass, but then mortar in between those tiles which is a secret fourth thing also a kind of fiberglass if you squint, cotton towels which are mostly cellulose, the wooden door which is also a lot of cellulose but Different and With Lignin, toilet paper which is also cellulose... and then candle wax, which is neither fiberglass nor cellulose, which traps all sorts of nice-smelling ketones and esters. It seems lazy from a worldbuilding perspective is all. You want to eat your cake (a complex setting like a bathroom) and have it too (only three glossary entries about world composition for the reader)

[thecourtofindigo]

Melaco Town Concept Map

Melaco Town is the main 'hub' area of 'Good Night, Tortureland', where 80% of the story occurs. A simple map I made to give readers a better idea of where everything is located. This is not the *entire* town, just the main northeast corner that's relevant to the plot. Click to see in clearer detail.

The protagonist, Alexia Corai and her brother, Cantrell, live in a caravan trailer on St. Martin Street. The plant keys indicate natural or forest areas, and the rose key marks the (hidden) gate to the Court of Indigo, which tunnels underground.

[cloudedmoonofficial]

Is there a full list of all the ancestors laws anywhere?

Yes! At the beginning of the book we have several worldbuilding glossary tools for the readers, including a general glossary of terms, members of the Alliance, the Ancestor's Laws, and maps of each territory. So those will all be in the book! For just the Ancestor's Laws, here you go!

The Ancestors’ Law

I. The Colonies of the Alliance shall meet at the Moonlight Island on the night of the full moon to exchange important news and honor the Alliance. Failure to attend the Moonlight Meeting risks a colony’s removal from the Alliance. (Original Law)

II. A ranger’s first loyalty is to their colony, then to the Alliance. (Original Law)

III. The presence of magic is prohibited in the Alliance Lake territory. Any suspicion of magic is to be reported at once. (Original Law)

IV. Every colony shall be led by a Captain, who represents the colony at the Moonlight Meeting. Every Captain shall have a Second, to whom leadership of the colony will pass if the Captain is killed or unable to perform their duties. They shall be guided by a Council. (Added by Captain Quietspring, the Wave of Wisdom)

V. Only the Second, Envoys, and rangers who have retired to become Elders after the completion of their service to the colony shall be eligible to join the Council. The Second shall be the leader of the Council. Elders shall hold higher rank in the Council than Envoys. (Added by Captain Quietspring, the Wave of Wisdom)

VI. The Council has the right to reject any decision made by the Captain if they feel that the Captain is not acting in the best interest of the colony. This includes refusing to send rangers on dangerous missions, or rejecting the Captain’s choice of Second. The decision to reject a Captain’s order must be unanimous among the Council members. (Added by Captain Quietspring, the Wave of Wisdom)

VII. No cat shall be made a ranger without approval from the Spirits Beyond on the day of the full moon. (Added by Captain Brightmoon, the Sage Seer)

VIII. A ranger must be an Envoy for at least one season before they can be chosen as the Second. (Added by Captain Longtooth, the Spring Sapling)

[deception-united]

hey hey~

you may have encountered this question before, but what advice would you give to avoid 'info dumping' in world building?

I feel like there's a thin line between stopping the narrative to educate readers on sth happening and overwhelming them with information mid-narrative. Any tips?

Hi, thanks for asking!

Managing the flow of information in worldbuilding can be tricky but crucial for maintaining reader engagement. Here are some tips to avoid info dumping:

Integrate information naturally. Rather than stopping the narrative to explain details about your world, try to weave them seamlessly into the story. Show rather than tell whenever possible. For example, instead of describing the history of a city, have characters interact with elements of that history, or have a character bring it up in dialogue.

Focus on relevant details. Only include information that is essential to the plot or character development. Ask yourself whether the detail you're providing is necessary for the reader to understand the current scene or advance the story. If not, consider leaving it out or finding a more subtle way to introduce it later.

Drip-feed information. Instead of dumping large amounts of information all at once, sprinkle details throughout the narrative. This keeps readers engaged and curious, as they gradually piece together the world without feeling overwhelmed.

Use dialogue & interaction. Characters can be great vehicles for delivering information about the world in a natural way. Through dialogue, you can reveal aspects of the world while also developing character relationships and dynamics.

Show, don’t tell. Redundant as this piece of advice is, it's important to keep in mind. Rather than explaining the intricacies of your world directly to the reader, demonstrate them through action, dialogue, and description. Let readers experience the world alongside your characters.

Start small. Begin with small details and gradually expand the world as the story progresses. This prevents overwhelming readers with too much information upfront and allows them to become familiar with the world at a comfortable pace.

Trust your readers. Readers can infer information from context clues (sometimes information that the author themself didn't actually think about). Trust them to pick up on subtle hints and nuances without needing everything spelled out explicitly.

Use back matter. Consider including supplementary material at the end of your book, such as a glossary or appendix, for readers who want to delve deeper into the world without interrupting the narrative flow.

Remember, worldbuilding should enhance the story, not overshadow it. Hope this was helpful ❤

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[ringtownrangerlark]

I couldn't agree more! The more I learn about the league, the more glad I am that there is no league branch in Fiore, and the more protective I feel about keeping it that way. I'm not purely against Pokemon battles as a sport but the current league is wildly irresponsible in it's messaging and practices.

Pokeballs vs. Capture Stylers

As a ranger, it is my deeply held belief, based on observation and experience, that Pokeballs are an under-estimated danger to pokemon and the environment. They can cause harm even when used properly and with good intentions. When used by someone with criminal or otherwise nefarious intent, they make causing harm ludicrously easy. Let's do a little comparison, shall we?

How do you get it? Pokeballs can be bought for money in Pokemarts, and are often handed out for free at promotional events. Capture stylers are given only to certified rangers.

What about more advanced versions? Some types of Pokeball require a certain number of League badges to purchase. Others are gated only by cost alone. Capture stylers have built-in limits that can be gradually removed by senior rangers once a ranger has proven experience and risen in rank.

Who regulates it? Pokeballs are produced by the Silph and Devon corporations. While they have some cooperation with the Pokemon League, and are regulated by government, their fundamental motivation is profit. Capture Stylers are regulared by the Ranger Union. Even if one could mass-capture using a styler, it would not benefit the Union to do so.

How many pokemon can you catch? While league battles allow only a fighting team of six, a person can buy and own as many pokeballs as they can carry. Even for the highest-ranked rangers, the maximum number of friend Pokemon is 7.

Can you take pokemon somewhere unsafe for them/the environment? Capture stylers prevent taking a pokemon out of it's native habitat, a limitation removed only for Top Rangers. A brand-new trainer could catch a magikarp and then immediately release it into the desert if they wanted.

What happens if you capture a wild pokemon? With a pokeball, the pokemon is now permanently registered as captured by the trainer. It can be released. Depending on the training experience, it may or may not be safe/appropriate to release back into the wild, even in its native habitat. With a capture styler, the pokemon remains wild. It can temporarily assist a ranger, and then return immediately to its natural environment and behaviors.

What if you try to catch someone else's pokemon? A pokeball prevents re-capture of an already registered pokemon. A capture styler can be used to capture an owned pokemon (this is often done to return lost pokemon, or soothe agitated or injured ones) but it does not change the ownership of the Pokemon.

Is there skill involved? There is strategy in Pokeball capturing, especially via battle. But theoretically, one could still bombard even a legendary pokemon with enough pokeballs and capture it by sheer statistical chance. Proper use of a capture styler requires education and training. Even if someone stole a capture styler, they would not automatically be able to use it.

What if someone "bad" tries to catch a pokemon? Anyone can buy and use a pokeball regardless of intentions. A capture styler conveys the intentions of the ranger. No matter how skilled/experienced, a person could not capture a pokemon they wished to harm in an unmodified/unhacked styler.

What about evil teams? Criminal organizations where pokeballs are readily available (Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, etc.) have simply used regular pokeballs for purposes of robbery, poaching, etc. Evil teams in regions where capture stylers are popular (Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia) have either heavily modified an experimental styler (Super Stylers) or needed to invent and produce an entirely new capture system (Gigaremo, Capture Gauntlet). This vastly limited available supply to team members, and speed of plans. I'm going to repeat that bit. Without access to pokeballs, evil teams found it easier to make, manufacture and distribute their own inventions than to use capture stylers for crime.

What happens if you defeat a criminal using a pokemon? Defeating a criminal (such as an evil team member) in a trainer battle may lead to an arrest, but they may also run away and keep the pokemon they own. When using a styler to capture pokemon controlled by other means (e.g. gigaremo units) the pokemon return to the wild.

You see why I think it's insane that of these two methods, one is meticulously regulated, and the other can be bought for pocket change at a corner store? In case anyone lacks reading comprehension, I'm not saying pokeballs make people evil. But it is a hell of a lot easier to commit crimes like mass trafficking with pokeballs than with stylers. And even well meaning, perfectly nice people can do things like drastically alter local pokemon populations by catching many in a short time span, or releasing them inappropriately. Pokeballs are insane and I'm so tired of people thinking I'm the weird one for saying so.

[richea]

Tales of Hearts Worldbuilding

There's a lot of worldbuilding in Hearts that's either very obscure within its game, blatantly wasn't explained in it at all, and in a number of cases, was in DS and removed from R.

I skimmed the glossary from its guidebook and jotted down some interesting details from it that people might not know about the game. This isn't a full study on Hearts' worldbuilding, as this is only information borrowed from that specific book, and I only included things that I think people would be interested in knowing about. This excludes really obvious information that everyone probably knows or is easily found in a casual Hearts playthrough (though I did include some of it), and random pointless things like the fact that there's sheep in Layve who produce tea milk. (That stuff is fun too, but this post took me long enough to put together!)

Also, this post uses my own preferred romanizations for everything, as we can all agree that the localization was a huge mess.

If you enjoy this post and want more random Hearts trivia, check out Aera's old post too!

Characters

Side character ages: Creed (20), Fluora (21), Incarose (19), Seraph Bros (25), Corundum (10), Grossular (50), Kornerupine (44), Striegov (37), Zirconia (61), Byrox (22), Paraiba (20), Labrador (39). (Peridot is also 19.)

Shing is the youngest in the playable party at only 16. (In R he’s the youngest tied with Chalcedony)

Kohaku has such a strong, natural affinity for hugging people that this feeling was embedded in her even when she lost her emotions and ability to talk. She also gained her fear of heights from falling out a window once.

Lithia told Kohaku and Hisui to leave Norqueen “to find the Forest of Thorns”.

Kohaku and Hisui’s dad is dead. He died when Hisui was “very young” like Iola did.

Hisui can’t swim due to his upbringing in a snowy region.

Kunzite was injured in a fight with Incarose 170 years prior to the story, and then was held by the imperial army. This is the state the party meets him in. In order to reboot him, Lithia passed along this chant to Kohaku to recite: “Shape of man cast from iron’s true flame. With a solid bronze soul, and pure mercury veins. Swear on Quartz’s white moonlight, that you shall be our shield, and our sword, and our might. Platinum heart etched with a Quartz name, run so as to give life to your metal frame.”

Incarose was named by Creed after her eyes. She has 7 bodies in total but by the time Creed gets his body back she’s down to 4.

The person who made Corundum and the Seraph Bros was a famous Quartz named Eusite. Despite his genius, a lot of his mechanoids had varying defects (like Chlorseraph does) and they were scrapped a lot.

When the Seraph Bros were installed with their synthetic Spirias, they had a defect that made them assault everything around them. They were going to be disposed of but Fluora took them under her wing and made them her knights. This is why Clinoseraph feels such strong loyalty to her.

Fluora named the Seraph Bros after a famous bird known as the seraph.

Iola used to be of the Velleia faith. The details of her death are that after being injured by Creed, she fled to the land that would later be known as Norqueen, made the barrier around the area, gave birth to Kohaku, and then died shortly after. Her sister Sheila is actually the one who named (and subsequently raised) Kohaku, after the Kohakuzakura tree.

Sheila was a follower of the old Velleian teachings, but Arkham labeled her and others who follow it a heretic and denounced them when forming his “new” Velleia teachings. Due to this Sheila blames him and the church for Iola’s death and distrusts the Crystal Knights. Despite her harsh attitude in the story and as chief, she’s actually quite a nice woman who cherishes Kohaku and Hisui, and every year she treats the villagers to handmade sakura mochi.

Dona lost her emotions from the strain of transferring Creed to Shing, was brought to Seable by Zektz, and then died at some point during Shing’s early childhood. The villagers remembered her for being a quaint, kind woman but before she lost her emotions, she was very rowdy and crude, to the point that Iola once scoffed about her attitude in front of Zektz. Nobody knew who Shing’s father was, but Zektz suspected that he was a man who was likeminded to Dona and dedicated to a life of battle.

Silver was only 29 years old despite his grey hair and his high military rank. A lot of his actions (and role as Garnet) can be explained by his hatred of the military, after they forced him to have his wife and daughter present for a military Will Cannon experiment that took Pearl's life.

Despite Silver’s military ranking, Pearl was a very ordinary woman who was family-oriented.

Lapis was in a coma for 3 years.

Arago looks out for Helio “as if his own family” whenever Beryl leaves her alone in Blanche.

Helio was a famous nurse in her youth. (She doesn’t have an entry in the guides; this info is taken from an unnamed NPC text in game and felt like a shame not to include.)

The reason Chen had his eye on Beryl is that he actually used to paint himself, but he gave up on his dream and tried to support hers instead.

Sango’s unmarried and Chen has tried 99 times to get her a man to marry, but she’s just uninterested. She also can’t sleep without hugging a plushie despite her strong personality.

Ecaille was brought in to Chen by his daughter Sango. Despite choosing to stay as Chen’s secretary after getting her memories back, she does accept Ameth’s proposal.

The first emperor of the Max Empire was named Chrosite de Rais. He also sponsored the coliseum and reigned as champion for a decade, from the 1st to the 10th. The name Lion Grand Prix later came from the lion crest that was affixed to him.

Diamante is the name of the philosopher who defined what a Spiria is.

Tetsu Hagane tells the tale of his three sins: the Sin of Love (making women in his family cry by being mean to them), the Sin of Grief (making his "blood brother" sad by accidentally leaving the window open and a cat eating his pet goldfish), and the Sin of Power (flaunting his strength by telling the tale of him taking down a xerom despite not being a Somatic).

Species

Powerhogs (the pigs you can find in Shing's hometown) are a medium-sized variety of rappig (popularly known from Abyss). They're kept as pets but the adult males are known to be as ferocious as monsters.

The eloi are a species that lives on an island north of Marquise. They have strong vitality and powerful Spiria. Thanks to the proto xerom Lisia, who wanted to exploit those Spiria, they're almost extinct.

Windum is an eloi who considers himself an "intellectually, culturally advanced species" of eloi. His favorite food is mabo curry. He develops the Sorcerer's Ring for the party and tasks the party with taking down Lisia and saving his brethren.

Quartzia had “mocking things” as pets. They were loyal to their masters and could breathe fire. This is a reference to Mieu from Abyss. This is one of three Abyss mascot references in the game (along with Barrelow as “Bellow” in this game, and Tokunaga.)

The DS version has a variety of monster known literally as “shadows monsters”. These are clumps of black mass that personify as monsters (birds, wolves, blobs, etc.). They’re an “embodiment of fear”. They’re similar to xerom but differ in that they vanish once their feeling of fear disappears. (As a gameplay mechanic, these are what the overworld enemies in the game are.)

Lore

Asteria (Shing’s Soma) has the same name as a flower that Lithia, Creed and Fluora planted on Quartzia, which was said to represent the bonds between people. The name means “shining star”.

Kunzite’s Soma, Vex, has the meaning of “knight of antiquity” in the ancient language. There’s a fairy tale written about it called the “Four-Armed Beast”.

The "Forest of Thorns" project was proposed by Fluora, but was mocked by other Quartz for the fact that Soma Links were never formed despite how many experiments she ran. (This is why Lithia is so in awe of the party's ability to Soma Link throughout the story.)

The Quartz knew about Volgajoz, the dragon that lives in Bamel Volcano.

Gardenia spans over 5,000km. The reason it went out of control is because its synthetic Spiria, which was based on Creed's, craved loved and absorbed everything around it instead of just the feelings of strife and war that it was intended to.

Mechanoids were made by the Quartz as their servants. They helped them in their daily lives, doing menial tasks, to researching, to protecting them; anything the Quartz could think of. Some of them were affixed with synthetic Spiria (like Kunzite) though only the special ones (likes ones intended to be personal bodyguards for special people), as most of them are just regular androids. Jacks help with daily tasks such as cooking and cleaning, Queens excel in Will Artes, Kings are non-humanoid, Jokers excel in research skills and Aces excel in combat. Kunzite is a Jack and in fact was not really intended for combat but was instead made to cook and clean, like many of his skits touch upon. (There's a sub event where he says he's actually tired of having to fight and the only reason he continues is because he wants to protect Lithia.)

Synthetic Spirias are not easy to manufacture and are only able to be installed on high-specs mechas. They're intended to give robots human-like capabilities. Mechas with synthetic Spiria are not actually intended to be able to use Soma and it's considered an abnormality that a lowly Jack type mecha like Kunzite is able to use one.

It's not just the people who were calcified on Quartzia but all remnants of life, period.

Spirmazes reflect the state of the person. If someone's life or emotional strength is running out, it'll get smaller. If it disappears entirely, this means they're dead. (In DS, there were different maps for Spirmazes which reflected the mood of the owner, instead of R's one uniform design. They also had a BGM associated with them, Sadness, Anger and Happiness respectively.)

Somas are useable by anyone, but Spirlinking itself is a grueling task, and if someone not fit to do one attempts one, they'll get ejected immediately.

The Quartz used to rule over the people of Celland, in part because their Spirias had a lot more "vitality" to them, so the Quartz wanted to exploit this.

Xerom are actually Will Arte weapons developed by the Quartz. Their intent was to absorb the Spiria of the people of Celland, which in turn would develop the xerom further. Lithia sealed them away once but as her power weakened over time, they were resurrected.

Soma were originally intended to link people's hearts together, but Fluora didn't have time to finish developing them before the Gardenia incident, so when Celland got its hands on them, they ended up finding use as weapons more than medical instruments during the Unification War.

There's a very limited edition doll called the DX Mega Tokunaga. There's only 30 in existence and Kohaku has one. Sango missed her chance to get one so she begs Kohaku to let her hold it at least once.

The incident with Zirconia (possessed by Creed) being fought off by Dona, Zektz, Tekta, Iola and Labrador is called "The Tragedy of Pransule Strait".

Norqueen was formed only 17 years prior to the story (which lines up with Kohaku's birth) as a safe haven for followers of Lithia's faith, after Arkham labeled them all heretics.

Followers of the Velleia faith are called "dolphins," as their sacred beast is the Winged Whale.

The Max Empire was restored to glory by Chrosite, first as a small country on Oldmine, and then during the Unification War, ruling over all of Celland.

[serpentface]

Do you conlang? I was wondering if you had naming languages (or possibly even more developed ones) for pulling the words you use. I tried to search your blog but didn't find anything, wouldn't be surprised if the feature is just busted tho. Your worldbuilding is wonderful and I particularly enjoy the anthropological and linguistic elements.

Ok the thing is I had kind of decided I was not going to do any conlanging because I don't feel like I'm equipped to do a good job of it, like was fully like "I'm just going to do JUST enough that it doesn't fail an immediate sniff test and is more thoughtful than just keysmashing and putting in vowels". And then have kinda been conlanging anyway (though not to a very deep and serious extent. I maybe have like....an above average comprehension of how language construction works via willingness to research, but that's not saying much, also I can never remember the meanings of most linguistic terms like 'frictives' or etc off the top of my head. I'm just kinda raw dogging it with a vague conceptualization of what these things mean)

I do at least have a naming language for Wardi (and more basic rules for other established languages) but the rudimentary forms of it were devised with methods much shakier and less linguistically viable than even the most basic naming language schemes, and I only went back over it LONG after I had already made a bunch of words so there's some inconsistencies with consonant presence and usage. (This can at least be justified because it IS a language that would have a lot of loanwords and would be heavily influenced by other language groups- Burri being by far the most significant, Highland-Finnic and Yuroma-Lowlands also being large contributors)

The 'method' I used was:

-Skip basic construction elements and fully move into devising necessary name words, with at least a Vibe of what consonants are going to be common and how pronunciation works -Identify some roots out of the established words and their meanings. Establish an ongoing glossary of known roots/words. -Construct new words based in root words, or as obvious extensions/variants of established words. -Get really involved in how the literal meanings of some words might not translate properly to english, mostly use this to produce a glossary of in-universe slang. -Realize that I probably should have at least some very basic internal consistency at this point. -Google search tutorials on writing a naming language. -Reverse engineer a naming language out of established words, and ascribe all remaining inconsistencies to being loanwords or just the mysteries of life or whatever.

I do at least have some strongly established pronunciation rules and a sense of broad regional dialect/accents.

-'ai' words are almost always pronounced with a long 'aye' sound.

-There is no 'Z' or 'X' sound, a Wardi speaker pronouncing 'zebra' would go for 'tsee-brah', and would attempt 'xylophone' as 'ssye-lohp-hon'

-'V' sounds are nearly absent and occur only in loanwords, and tend to be pronounced with a 'W' sound. 'Virsum' is a Highland word (pronounced 'veer-soom') denoting ancestry, a Wardi speaker would go 'weer-sum'.

-'Ch' spellings almost always imply a soft 'chuh' sound when appearing after an E, I, or O (pelatoche= pel-ah-toh-chey), but a hard 'kh' sound after an A or U (odomache= oh-doh-mah-khe). When at the start of a word, it's usually a soft 'ch' unless followed by an 'i' sound (chin (dog) is pronounced with a hard K 'khiin', cholem (salt) is pronounced with a soft Ch 'cho-lehm')

-Western Wardin has strong Burri cultural and linguistic influence, and a distinct accent- one of the most pronounced differences is use of the ñ sound in 'nn' words. The western city of Ephennos is pronounced 'ey-fey-nyos' by most residents, the southeastern city of Erubinnos is pronounced 'eh-roo-been-nos' by most residents. Palo's surname 'Apolynnon' is pronounced 'A-puh-lee-nyon' in the Burri and western Wardi dialects (which is the 'proper' pronunciation, given that it's a Kos name), but will generally be spoken as 'Ah-poh-leen-non' in the south and east.

-R's are rolled in Highland-Finnic words. Rolling R's is common in far northern rural Wardi dialects but no others. Most urban Wardi speakers consider rolling R's sort of a hick thing, and often think it sounds stupid or at least uneducated. (Brakul's name should be pronounced with a brief rolled 'r', short 'ah' and long 'uul', but is generally being pronounced by his south-southeastern compatriots with a long unrolled 'Brah' sound).

Anyway not really a sturdy construction that will hold up to the scrutiny of someone well equipped for linguistics but not pure bullshit either.