#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.

[webcomic-the-decaying]

THE DECAYING - Glossary

NOTE: due to a URL change, many links are currently down. Please be patient as I go and fix them all!

Welcome to the official 'The Decaying' webcomic Tumblr, thanks for stopping by and reading my silly zombie cat comic and if you decide to stick along then I give my heart to you.

TD takes place in a human-esque society of cats undergoing the zombie apocalypse, and follows current protagonists, Valentino and Maverick, as they grapple with grief, lies, love? And what it means for someone to be immune when the other isn't. The comic and world building are original and completely separate to any media like Warrior cats.

TD is intended for ages 14 and up. It features:

(illustrated) frequent blood, gore, animal death, and violence. Other possible triggering topics include: guilt, grief, and depression, abuse, LBGTQphobia, alcoholism, suicide, gun use, body horror, murder, smoking, stalking, underwater imagery, uncanny imagery, disordered eating, fatal illness, illness, hospital imagery, unethical experimentation. It's to be noted some of these are hardly mentioned while others are more apparent, but that pages are typically tagged with cws/tws.

Art by Lambhopp

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CHARACTER Q&A

If you'd like to ask characters stuff directly (or even myself) feel free to refer to ! THIS ! post for extra info on where they're at and ask in the question box!

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Lore outside of pages (BW = Blood/gore warning)

Outside tidbits of information that may enhance your reading experience but otherwise are not included in the comic itself

Region map featuring terrain, biomes and climate

BW Brief Disease Information

BW Stages of infection and Decay

BW Variants

Valentino | Reference Sheet

Maverick | Reference Sheet

Art by Yypuos

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Chapters

Cover : First Page

Chapter 1: IMMUNITY

Chapter 2: MAVERICK

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If you would like to check out my art on other platforms / commission me when open, you can find me as mossysprout (one or two T's) in most places! I post a lot of spoilers and AU art of these characters on Twitter!

Socials Linktree

ComicFury version of TD

[cookie-lore-keeper]

Cookie Glosssary

A lot of humans might not know some of the terms used by cookies, so, I put a list of the terms here and an explanation for what they mean!

A

Ancients/Ancient Heroes - The 5 great heroes who wield the soul jam. These

B

Baby Dough- Baby cookies

C

Beasts/Beast Cookies - The Corrupted cookies who had the Souljam before the Ancient Heroes

Bland - An offensive term for a cookie that you find boring or not unique

Crumbs - the fallen parts of a crumbled or injured cookie. If used in the context or, "Oh crumbs", that can basically be, "Oh fuck."

Celestials - Godlike cookies who weren't born cookies but somehow became cookies and originated from the human world

Cheesian - A cookie who is descended from the Golden Cheese Kingdom

Cookievorous - something that hunts cookies

Créme Republican - Refers to cookies who are from the Créme Republic

Crispia - The main Continent of Earthbread

Crispy - Refers to a healthy Cookie. Is also slang for a young cookie

Crumbling - Dying

D

Dragons - When talking about Dragons, cookies usually mean the Dragons that are able to turn into and communicate with cookies. But, they're are also dragons who don't have this ability

Dark Cacaoian - Refers to cookies who are from the Dark Cacao Kingdom

Dough- Body or skin

Dough-Brained - An offensive term for someone you find dumb

E

Eyecing- Eyes

Earthbread- The world that the cookies are on

Elementals - Refers to the powerful god-like cookies who rule over a specific part of nature

F

Frosting - The umbrella term for hair. Not all hair is made out of frosting, but all hair is called frosting

First Cookies - The witches who had their souls rebaked into cookies. Because they are witches, these 12 cookies are very powerful

Flatster - A slur for cookies

Flavor - Refers to the specific taste of a cookie but can also refer to the cookie's ingredients

Freshly Baked - A baby cookie

G

H

Hollyberrian- A cookie from the Hollyberry Kingdom

I

Ingredients- The things that make up a dessert's dough. Can also refer to their genes

Icing- Refers to facial features as well as any decorations on a cookie

J

Juice - Unless specified that it's non-alcoholic, juice is an alcoholic drink

Jamline- The familial line of a cookie

Jellies - The food cookies eat. Practically everything they eat is made up of jellies

K

L

Lifepowder - The magical substance that gives dessert creatures life

M

Millenial Cookies - Cookies who are from the Millenial Forest

Magichanical - A combination of modern techonology/robotics with magic

Mercookies- Aquatic cookies

N

O

Oh Witches - Like, "Oh God/Oh my God"

P

Q

Parfaedian - A cookie from Parfaedia

Pasty - An offensive term for cookies who have a lot of Vanilla flavors or ingredients in their dough

R

Rising Dough - A growing cookie. Usually refers to a young cookie

Resonate Ingredient - The main and most important ingredient of a cookie.

S

Syrup- On cookies, syrup refers to makeup, since a lot of makeup is made out of syrup. On clothing, it's basically a synonyms for icing

Shortbread- A slang term that refers to a small cookie

Soggy- A wet cookie. Being soggy for a cookie is dangerous because they can literally die if their dough becomes too soggy

Soul cheese - What the Golden Cheese Kingdom calls a cookie's soul

Soul Jam - An item with great power that gives the Ancient Cookies and the Beast Cookies their power. Contains a lot of lifepowder.

Stale- An older cookie. Can be used as an insult in a different context

Strawberry Jam - Basically the cookie version of blood (doesn't work the same way human blood works though)

Sugartearean - Cookie's who are from Sugarteara

T

Toothcing - Teeth (most cookies don't have teeth so idk why this is a term 🤷‍♀️)

U

V

Vanillian- Refers to cookies from the Vanilla kingdom

W

Wizards - Similar to the witches, the wizards were humans with magical powers and also created cookies

Witches - The humans with magical abilities that created dessert kind

X

Y

Yogurcans - Cookies who are from Yogurca

Yakgwans - Cookies from the Yakgwa Village

Z

Feel free to tell me anything that you think I should add!

[valrayne-faeu]

do the court's weather have clean divides between them/strict lines? like, is the weather starkly, magically different between courts or would it be more of a gradual change between them as you were traveling? (btw i loved the glossary so much... that kinda thing is my absolute jam, hehe!! wonderful writing!!!)

it's a gradual shift! as you get closer to a border, you'll start to notice the foliage and sky shifting to whatever region you're walking towards.

for example, if you're starting off in summer and walking towards autumn, you'll slowly start seeing more and more orange leaves on trees and the sun will appear to be setting. it won't be until you've crossed the border and walked a ways that you'll see Autumn in all its glory (twilight sky, fallen leaves, etc), and if you were to walk back you'd see the same shift in reverse!

it's not a perfect gradient all along the border, either; different sections shift slower or faster, but in general it's never an obvious, stark difference that you can point to.

this can actually make travelling right along the border a little risky, since you can cross it without realizing and start getting sick if you don't have the proper protections for going into the opposing realm.

[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.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Far Removed

book 1 in a character-focused sff (with dystopian/horror elements) duology

set on a moon city populated by a highly intelligent semi-aquatic species with a strictly stratified society

a well-off politician / college director who is trying to use his position to challenge the corrupt upper strata organises to have one of his students smuggled out of the city after she’s accused of insurgency

he’s helped by maskad worker - those who are forcibly magically disfigured and made to wear masks, becoming the lowest strata - at the college, who’s able to guide the student to safety

but they catch the attention of powerful people, leading the two of them to be drawn together, developing a complicated friendship

[theelin-sea]

Advancing the Warp - Theelin Creation Myth

Told in the style of the Theelin planetary council for the benefit of other cultures

Here is a tale woven long ago, we know it as we know ourselves, connected to all that was, is and will be. 

The Weaver, the force that holds all things together through thread and loom sits in its circle of looms, it weaves planets, creatures, space, time, and all things into place. 

It weaves for a time before switching looms to allow things their time to settle. It finishes one system at a time and then turns to make another. It is at one such moment we find it.

After a moment of resting its arms, the Weaver, already turned to the next loom in its cycle, bids the Patchwork Harpy to release the lock of the warp beam that it may advance the warp and wrap the fell on the breast beam, which brings the work to unmade space. 

The Weaver observes the space for a time, musing on all that could take shape before it positions its arms to work, bidding its Spindles to select threads. 

The Spindles nudge bright threads into the Weavers hands, yellows and greens. Between the stars and space of the warp the Weaver forms a first, small planet: yellow and green. It does not want the planet, Seev, to feel cold so it bids the Spindles to fetch warm reds, pinks and yellows. It weaves two suns, twins Theel’ell and Sev’arp. As it battens the weft down into fell the two suns, woven so close together, become one: Eel’sev.

Seev is too small for the Weaver to contain all it has in mind, so it weaves on, lo’arp Eel’sev and Seev it begins to form Theelia. A larger planet than the first of the system it first takes blues to form an ocean, then greens to form the first islands. 

On the first island it takes branches and lays them out in the arrangement of bones, it scoops clay from a river and wraps the bones shaping flesh. It paints the clay into bright decorated skin with the dyes of its Spindles, it leaves a hole in its creations chest as it picks the brightest threads for hair. 

Then the Weaver weaves a heart, taking threads from its own and imbuing it with love. It nestles the heart into its creations chest and lays the newly made Theelin on a bed of tea flowers and berry branches its Spindles wove. 

It weaves another Theelin, laying it beside the first. Then, as its new creations sleep it weaves a draegin with large wings to shelter the still sleeping creations from the sun. It leaves eight spindles, four of each kind, to aid the newly created and then it continues on. 

The next land mass to form is furthest from the sun, the Weaver forms two Theelin all the same process as before, resting them on a bed of tea flowers and berry branches once more. It forms a Avicore to snap off branches from the trees and cover the sleeping Theelin from the sun and the winds. The Weaver leaves Spindles the same as with the first pair as it battens down the weft and sends the shuttle toward the sun. 

The land mass it forms next, closest to the sun, receives two Theelin the same process as those before, set to rest on berry branches and tea flowers. It creates a Erieroc to settle by the sleeping pair, its large form casts a shadow over the pair, it shelters them from the close heat of the sun. It leaves eight spindles the same as the sets before.

The Weaver continues one for a space, it builds out islands and continents. It drops three more creatures, one for each region. The teep on the center islands, the Ailote far from the sun, the Kee and Dir, counted as one in their purpose, all scattered to till and plant along the ground. 

The Weaver continues on once more, it creates three more pairs of theelin, further along their columns, center with the company of an Oer to help clothe them from the sun and warm them from the night, furthest from the sun it gives the company of a Varr to keep them warm as they sleep away the long dark nights, and closest to the sun is given a Cagor to help clothe them under the intense sun and provide them drink as they explore. Each set is given Spindles as before.

The Weaver next scatters three more creatures, it observers that while its creations are making fine creations of their own and cannot help but grant them more help as it feels its own heart beat echoed in its creations. 

Centered it weaves a Leer to help teach how to hunt fish. Far from the sun, a Weffloom for the creation of clothes to warm when the Varr is unable. Close to the sun, a Eabgh to carve an easier path to explore. 

As the edges of the planet began to round toward each other once more, the Weaver creates three more pairs of Theelin all made from the same process as before. It gives the center a Mear. Furthest from the sun, a Gatross, the closest a Eeakle. Each to teach the newly created how to eat well like those created before them,to  hunt the creatures made by their hands that had begun to rapidly spread across the lands. Each set is given spindles once more.

As the Weaver finishes the end of each land it forms three final gifts formed from feathers of its companion, three harpies, one per region to travel back lo’ell to spread news of the planets completion. The weaver studies the theelin and the creations as the harpies fly. It finds the theelin have made made of their own will many creations. As the Weaver rests its many arms it finds that the theelins hearts glow brightly with love for their creations just as its own glows for them. 

Needing to express this light the Weaver forms another sun, two suns batten down into one to keep the second sun, Ve’tria: the combination of Mel’ve and Arp’tria, from feeling lonely compared to Eel’sev. It places it Lo’mel of Theelia. 

As the weaver takes in the sight it notices that some of its Spindles had woven another small planet, the same reds, pinks and yellows of the suns though the smallest planet yet. They whisper to it that the planet is A’tor, though not twins battened like the suns the small creatures have chosen the name to quell their bickering of if the planet is more Lo’arp or Lo’tor of Theelia. The Weaver laughs as it praises them, observing all that was woven. 

The Patchwork Harpy brushes it’s feathers against the expanse of space above all that has been woven thus far and requests a spool of blues. The Weaver gives the spool to its old companion and happily twatches as another small planet is formed lo’arp from the rest. The Harpy names it V’nell as it declares it the end of the systems range. 

The Weaver nods, taking in all that is woven once more, it grabs a few final threads, greys, browns and greens to thread its needles as it bids some Spindles to copy its actions as it forms a moon lo’arp and lo’tor of Eel’sev. The Weaver sits back when it finishes the moon, it observes with affection the way the Spindles have mirrored Ortal, the weavers moon when creating their own, Netrii. 

As the Weaver rests, watching its Spindles spin new threads to replenish the bobbins, brew new dyes and rewind shuttles, it notices the Patchwork Harpy peering at Theelia. At the point furthest from the sun a Mountain Harpy attempts to break free of the threads of its home world. 

The Weaver takes a needle and gently untangles the creature from the threads of its world, and bids it to speak.  The bird wails a melancholy tale of a dark night sky, it laments that the thread that composes its night sky has too few stars and it must petition for light. 

The Patchwork Harpy leans down to soothe the fragment of itself that pleads for light, a wing outstretched toward the Weaver. The Weaver understands its companions' request, it takes some of the most colorful feathers and brightest beads to carefully weave them into lights and stars over the mountain harpy’s home region. 

The small harpy’s wails become joyous as it darts between the stitches of the Weaver, wings become painted with the new lights of the night sky as it darts in and out and all the way back homeward, joyous wails echoing all the way, drawing a laugh from the Patchwork Harpy as it declares the Theel system nell. 

The Weaver agrees, setting its supplies down once more as it listens to its Spindles ooo and ahhh at the things the Theelin were creating.

The Weaver turns to another loom, and bids the Patchwork Harpy to help advance the warp once more to continue the Weavers slow rotation of looms, creating anew, wrapping old abreast to be unwound and remade after a time, a joyous eternal cycle of old to new, all that came before woven with all that would be.  

In time the Weaver will notice the slow shift of its creations as the twin suns slowly pull toward each other, dragging planets and space with them in a slow dance, a death spiral of birds locked talons between the suns. 

The Patchwork Harpy will cry a final song for the system as the suns collide to one day clear the space to start anew. 

The Weaver will mourn its creation and celebrate the return into the thread of all things, beloved and eternal. The thread will weave into something new, continuing to tie all that was, is and will be. 

This end was woven long ago, we know this end as we know ourselves, connected to all that was, is and will be. 

Glossary under the cut. In box is open for comments, questions, general yelling, ect <3

Snippets in the glossary provide context that is generally given regionally, each region focusing more on their creatures and creation than that of the others or as a whole.

The Weaver - The figure that works on its loom to weave the fabric of time and space together. Though no true form is ever recorded it is known the figure has many arms when needed, and a heart of its own. It is typically portrayed as hands working on a loom with a heart somewhere in the vicinity of where it’s torso might be if it were humanoid. 

Seev - The first planet formed in the system, a small planet that appears mostly green and yellow. It is generally depicted as such. 

Eel’sev - The first sun, a merged set of twin stars. It is considered to be the second planet though suns are not planets, theelin tend to refer to it as such for the simplicity of numbering the creation timeline of the system. It is generally portrayed with reds and pinks, in traditional theelin depictions it is portrayed as one sun nestled inside another. 

Theelia  - A large planet, homeworld to the Theelin. It is considered the third planet formed in the system. It is generally portrayed with many greens and blues, typically with a band of islands representing Sei’lo in the center with larger land masses representing the other two regions on either side of it. 

A’tor - A small planet formed fourth in the system, made up of the same reds, pinks, and yellows of the sun though it is not a star of any sort. It is considered the fourth planet to be formed and is generally depicted as it is described. 

Ve’tria - The second sun, another merged set of twin suns. It was created to mirror the first sun and is considered to be the fifth planet formed. It is generally depicted with yellows and oranges, in traditional theelin depictions it is portrayed as three theelin stars nestled within each other. 

V’nell - A small blue planet considered to be the sixth planet formed. It is generally depicted as it is described. 

Ortal - A medium sized moon made up of greys, greens and browns. It is considered to be the seventh planet to be formed. It is generally depicted as a gray planet with rings of green and grey with a brown dot in the center. 

Netrii - A medium sized moon made up of greys, greens and browns. It is considered to be the eighth and final planet formed in the system. It is generally depicted as grey with brown marks reaching toward a brown dot in the center that is cradled by a green crescent shape.

The Patchwork Lights - A series of stars and colorful lights found in the Toria night skies as a gift from the Weaver and its companion the Patchwork Harpy. 

The First Islands/ Center - The Sei’lo region. Its formation began first and stretched up the center of the planet as chains and stretches of islands. 

The Furthest from the Sun - The Toria region. Its formation began second, with multiple large land masses with a smattering of islands bordering the Sei’lo region. 

Closest to the Sun - The Melore region. Its formation began last with multiple large land masses and a smattering islands bordering the Sei’lo region, near similar to Toria’s formation though it also held a single large island directly on the planets axis, referred to as the collision point due to the collision course of the suns leading right over it. 

Nell - Most commonly used to mean complete or finished. 

Directions - Theelin view their system and the galaxy at large being rotated to the right due to their view of the Weavers loom having East as the direction of the fell (completed work) and West as the direction of the empty warp (space waiting to be woven). 

Due to this the Theelin compass and directional terms are as follows: 

Lo’ar/p (p sound is regional) = Up/West 

Lo’tor = Right/North 

Lo’ell = Down/East 

Lo’me/l (L sound regional) = Left/South

Sei is considered the word for Center. The “Lo” affix becomes a suffix as opposed to a prefix in the regions name due to the view that Sei was created first, and then directions formed in context of it. The affix is also seen being as a suffix in the names of the first suns original names while being prefixes in the names of the second due to the weaver mirroring the creation of the first suns in the seconds. 

Patchwork Harpy - One of the weavers oldest companions and primary assistants, often portrayed as helping work the loom and keep it in good shape. It is said that it was made from fragments of the Weavers first creations and that it takes patches from each of the Weavers creations giving it a colorful appearance. 

The Spindles - The term used to refer to the caterpillars and spiders thought to be the Weavers helpers, spinning threads and helping teach the early theelin how to weave themselves by taking the images they created and weaving life into them.

Tea Flowers - The flowers that were gathered to make the beds for the first theelin to rest on. Theelin tea flowers contain nutrition that helps prevent excessive illness and blood issues within the species, many theelin commonly refer to it as the species life blood. 

Animals by Region: 

Sei’lo:

Draegin - A winged creature that can be seen as a mix between a Bat and a Pangolin, thought of as a protective figure from the sun. Thought to be brightly painted from the berry juice and tea flower stained fingers of the first theelin. Its scales, though used as canvases by the first Sei’lo theelin, are thought to have healing properties. 

Teep - A creature similar to a mix of a tapir and a deer. Has the snout of a tapir and large antlers similar to deer, was said to plow the ground with its snout and drop seeds into the hole by shaking its berry covered horns. 

Oer - A large horned rabbit, its long hair sheds easily to be spun and woven on its horns to clothe the early Sei’lo Theelin to protect them from the sun. It was also said to have playfully followed behind the Teep on its later journeys to tamp the dirt over seeds and speed up the planting process.

Leer - A large creature similar to a seal. It was said to be painted by the sun through the water, resulting in spotted patterns and a berry stained nose from licking the juice from the first theelins hands. It was said to have taught the early Sei’lo theelin how to catch the fish they had created. 

Mear - A large cat-like creature said to teach the early Sei’lo theelin how to scale the trees to reach more food and look for paths through the foliage and trees. It was said to be patterned like the tree bark it brushed against as it climbed. It was also said to have taught the early Sei’lo theelin how to stalk and hunt the creatures they had created. 

Sea Harpy- A large raptor seabird made to fly the length of Sei’lo to bring news of the completion of the planet back to the first pair of Theelin. Its wingtips are said to be painted blue by dipping them in the water before it was fully woven and stealing some of the dye. 

Toria: 

Avicore- Quadruped creature with crested horns and fur and feathers. Like if a unicorn was cooler and also probably more like a deer than a horse. Thought to be painted by the sap of the tree branches from it snapping branches to shield the first theelin of Toria from the sun. It’s feathers, though first used as paint brushes and quills by the first Toria theelin, are thought to have healing properties. 

Ailote - A coyote-like creature with an extra tail. Its coat is said to be stained from the cloak of berries and seeds placed on it to plant things in the paw prints it left as it bound across Toria.

Varr - A large bear-like creature said to have been made to shelter the early theelin of Toria from the cold by curling around them and bundling them in its fur. It’s said to have gotten its spots and smears of color from the theelin it had curled around as the dye staining their skin was not quite dry. 

Weffloom - A large sheep like creature with extra horns to allow the early theelin of Toria to spin its wool off of it and use the yarn to weave clothing to protect them from the sun and the weather when the Varr was off hunting during the day. It was said to be able to blow on ice to melt it and water to warm it. 

Gatross - A large alligator-like creature with four sets of legs and large scale plates armoring its body. It is said to have been painted with the clay of the swamp it was formed by, mixed with tea flower petals. The Gatross was said to have taught the early Toria theelin how to ambush and hunt the creatures they had made. 

Mountain Harpy - A large raptor bird, its puffy leg feathers are said to be white from the snow sticking to them as it hopped from mountain range to mountain range to bring news of the completion of the planet back to the first Toria theelin. It was said to have gained wings that match the lights of the night sky after journeying to request such lights from the Weaver.

Melore: 

Erieroc - A large reptilian creature similar to a crocodile but if they were cooler and had a lot of spikes and horns. Said to have used it’s claw to crave creatures into the ground to show the first theelin of Melore how to draw to create. It shed its old teeth for them to use as tools, though its teeth are also thought to have healing properties. 

Kee and Dir - A snake and a bird that are thought to be in an eternal chase. Kee, the snake is said to have spikes to protect it from the birds beak and have a beard of horns that plows the earth as it runs from the bird, Dir who’s wings shed the seed and berries that had been placed between its feathers when it was created. Dir is said to be long necked and long legged. 

Cagor - A goat-like creature who shed its long hairs for the early Melore theelin to spin to make looms and cloth on the spikes and horns of the Erieroc’s back. It was also said to be able to produce milk for tea leaves to be steeped in, a trait given to it to help aid exploration without worry of needing to find water along the way. 

Eabgh - A large water buffalo like creature said to have gotten its striped upper fur from breaking through foliage, rocks and trees to make paths for the early theelin of Melore to explore. It’s said that its lower body’s stripes were washed away when the Eabgh waded through the rivers to continue its path. 

Eeakle - A large cat-like creature with a thick coat of hair that was said to mimic the grasslands it was made in. It was said to teach the early Melore theelin how to disguise themselves to hunt the creatures they had created.   

Deseret Harpy - A large raptor bird said to have gotten its spotted wings from the sand sticking to its feathers being melted onto them by the sun as it raced back to tell the first theelin of Melore of the news of the planet's completion. 

[seasicksilver]

writing world-building in the style of in-universe textbooks is very fun

[3surience]

quick glossary post that i will hopefully update in the future

Glossary

Ler'mund - the name of the planet Esurience takes place on. The planet has vast oceans, a supercontinent, and possesses an ice belt around its equator.

Worldtop - name of the ice sheet covering Ler'mund's equator, often interpreted to be the ice cap on the mountain that is the world.

Northlands/Southlands - the north and south poles, respectively.

Summersen & Wintersen - directional word used in lieu of north/south; wintersen is towards the Worldtop, summersen is away from the Worldtop.

Magic, Mana & Ley - magic is the broader term for all pollution leaking from corpselords. Mana is the fluid that leaks out; it is more difficult to use and more localized but more potent. Ley is exhaled from still living corpselords; it is easier to use and permeates the atmosphere but has less potent effects.

Lord - magnificent, leviathan sized creatures, long in body and so huge that cities of people could live upon them. They originated on Ler'mund, but now travel to other planets in the solar system.

Corpselord - a lord, like all living things, eventually dies, and they do so upon Ler'mund. Where their bodies decay, mana and ley ooze from their gargantuan corpses and pollute the land around them. Some, in their dying delirium, continue to interact with the land and people around them, for better or for worse.

Lineages - my word for the different "races," encompassing the species which have the bipedal body plan. Each lineage is treated more like a genus than a singular species, which each variety represents in these posts I make.

[cepheusgalaxy]

My Father is formatting my laptop but he will take annungodly amount of time to even get started because he takes very long to start stuff he said he'd start but I can't write on it and risk getting In The Zone (TM) just to be broken outta it as soon as he is ready to do his thing SO have some anima saga lore dump from what i madeup the other day. As in a lot of transcription from my notebook. All is subject to change. Yay

first part: QUINTESSENCE

Quintessence is the building block of the world, magic and life. It exists as the very existence, and the only things that are not made of quintessence are the very Gods (which are, technically, nothing and devoid of existence because they aren't made of quintessence. so they're basically madeup of nothing). Quintessence has a lot of... forms. Flavors. Kindss. Types. And by "lot" I mean four:

Soul stuff

Soul Stuff Quintessence is the kind that builds souls. Every being that is "alive" in this setting has a soul. And alive between quotes because there are a few things. Like trees. That sort of have a soul but theirs is different and made of a slightly different sub-flavor of this quintessence but dw I'll get into it in a sec

The beings that have typical souls are, notoriously, humans, humanoid races and animals in general. Hold that thought.

Souls are pretty neatly organized, too! A soul is technically divided into sections. They are sorta blurry between each other and you can't really tell where one starts and the other ends as a human but it is divided. There is a section for the memories. One for the sense of self. One for the emotions. One for the magic too. Soul Stuff Quintessence is the strongest form, and a soul and its bits are very resilient and regenerative. A soul part can't be broken or lost; weakened, rarely, or by use of magic, blocked out, but never erased. Maybe a God could do it. Not a mage. A soul will stay a soul and a whole soul until it dies.

*plant souls are a bit funny because they aren't divided into "sections" like this. And because the quintessence flavor is slightly different.

**also also one of the sections of a proper soul, the sense of self, is also responsible for restaurating nearby sections (because it functions like an organism bc i thought itd be funny) so when it is damaged itself it's one of the hardest to auto repair because it IS the part doing the repairing thing.

The World

Material World Quintessence is the one that encompasses matter and everything tangible. It is the most stable, and a key characteristis is that it can only interact with itself. Other kinds can mess with it, but it can't influence them directly like they do. Since it is so stable. Not much to say about it you could say it isnt even magical! Quintessence is more like Existence than magic energy after all

The Actual Magic Energy

The Magic Energy (TM) Quintessence is a pure, explosive and energetic kind, and it can technically be considered a subset of Soul Stuff Quintessence but it's sorta different. It is its very own thing.

While we could say Soul Stuff "makes" and Material World "is", Magic quintessence does. It is an active thing, and as such it can never stop. It can fade into a background buzz, but never cease, for when it ceases to "do", it ceases to exist. Magic Energy Quintessence only exists when it's moving and doing and happening, basically. It is the last stable form of quintessence, and also the one that interacts with World Stuff the most, altering and molding it all the time

Will

The fourth and last kind. Some could call it "fate". It is bled from the will of the gods and poured into Existence, a sub (sub as in lesser) sort of quintessence, not quite being, betwen the nothing and something. It is the weakest and subtlest and can meddle with every other form, seeping into the cracks and making itself be, unnoticed. Molding and shaping, or more like influencing.

Its actually incredibly easy to mess with it once you figure out how to.

——

second part: THE ANIMA

(The animas are, from my original concepts, sort of animal-like parts of your soul. You know a stand from JoJo? Like that. Sorta. Ish. Bear with me)

The anime are a funny phenomena involving Soul Stuff Quint. and Will Quint. Humanoid souls, specifically, have a hint of Will/Fate to them. Fate Stuff is a characteristic of Thinking and Sapient beings, thats also why it is sorta made up from a god's intentions. Like a gravitational field, the Fate Stuff attracts spare souls of animals into itself, attaching them to the soul, since veeeery early on its development (conception/birth/etc)

That's why the anima are gonna have hybrid-liike, animal/chimera-ish appearences, all pretty unique. Theyre a mix and match of soul stuff, after all! Anima are also naturally "dormant" so pretty... it's like theyre not even there tbh

A Soul is divided into multiple tricky, sturdy, fluid and delicate parts, yes? The anima, or what might become an anima, the dormant version of it (which we call an animus) is buried pretty deep below the surface, resting between the other sections. Different sorts of energy or quintessence in certain ways can excite the animus and awaken it, pushing it a little towards the border as well and effectivelly trigger it into an anima.

Animas can take a...sort of physical form when invocated and interfer directly with Material World quintessence, despite being mostly (mostly) soul stuff. Anima mages/users are often very powerful.

——

third part: MAGIC

Ok. Magic Quint., magic energy is, again, just to reiterate, something that cant really be without doing. It is less of a Thing on itself and more of a Force that can move everything else. Its action and movement, magic energy that is unnmoving, in inertia, by definition is no more.

Magic is cast by a part of the soul near the anima, probably, which is also tricky to wield and master, but never dormant and still like an animus. It can connct/mess with the material quintessence and other types and induce movements, transformations and reactions. Magic is then, technically, a tool sapient beings can use to mold the world.

Im still sorting how exactly this will work (as if i am not bullshitting this whole lore and everything ive said and written is very much something im unsure of how it'll work. shhhhh) but, aside from a silly "physical magic" and "chemical magic" category i have in my head, magic is sorted into these handy categories:

Amalgamation

Amalgamation magic is about reuniting particles of a given element, like water drops, into something big enough to wield. The smaller the particles, the more precise you have to be.

Invocation

Invocation is technicallyyyyyyy a subset of amalgamation magic, where the particles are just so so so little that managing to gather enough of them into something to bend could only be described as conjuring stuff out of thin air. There is also what is called True Invocation, which is a different sort of magic altogether, where things are actually made out of thin air, but the end result looks like the same. Invocation and True Invocation are both a bit rare and hard to master.

Transmutation

Transmutation is a type of magic in which one takes particles of something and turns them into another element. It's easier than gathering trillions of little microscopic dust specks to make a rock, for sure. Hardening a sand handful will do just fine.

Kynesis

Most basic kind. Just moving stuff around

——

fourth part: RACES

There are overall three races of sapient/humanoid spcies with hints of Fate in their souls, and, consequentially, animus/anima. They are called aer (plural: aera, from "aether", in opposition to the gods, "naer/naera", from "nether").

The aer are the following:

Humans

Vampires

Fae

The fae are a tricky thing I'm not sure what exactly they entail. I want to give the vampires a different name because they can be in the sun and all but are very directly based off vampires so i want something that obviously hints at that. Each of them is gonna be based off a few different cultures (humans are asia/africa, vampires are europe and fae are everyone else) and live in a different continent. They are just different parts of land but people call them "realms". Or lands. Human Land, Fae Continent or Vampire Realm. Don't matter, really.

——

Thats about what i have for now. I want to elaborate more on magic, i was gonna go for elemental magic a few concepts ago but i do like this better. I also want to fogure out more things about the races and the gods (im patting myself in the back for calling them Naer its so clever and fun and the races being Aer in opposition is fantastic too. To me. I was struggling to comeup with something to call them in general) but im onto something with this ive dumped into my notes book at school lunchbreak i think

[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.

[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.

[authortirrell]

Defining my world

Recently, I undertook a major project for my website. I’ve always wanted to produce a glossary for my Lucardian world, primarily for my readers but also for myself. Currently, I have completed eight books set in Lucardia (five published and three yet to be published). On top of that, I have about 25-30 other projects I would love to write in this world (6 that I must write). Thus far, I have…

[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