#worldbuilding wednesday ask

[pluttskutt]

mmm whatcha say 🎶 it's Wednesday and this means that Worldbuilding Wednesday is upon us! Reblog with an emoji for an ask in your inbox:

🗺

🍃

🦙

[emry-stars-oc]

Hi! Sorry it’s no longer Wednesday, you can respond to this whenever you like. What’s a popular dish or snack in your world? Or one that one of your characters like?

lol you’re all good, thank you!!

I think a dish in the usual morning/early afternoon rotation would be savory oats, they actually don’t do sweet oatmeal often! And if they do it’s an infrequent occurrence for evening desserts :) some additional toppings could be meats, mushrooms, or sautéed veggies, but this is probably your “basic” version of the dish:

(Thank you for giving me an excuse to do a doodle like this, I’ve been meaning to try it out lol)

[marmotish]

OK so the line of dialogue turned into a kind of rushed almost-900-word fic….

Never forgive, never forget

(1991 Lockdown of Azkaban)

It took a moment to recognise the prisoner hunched by the hurriedly-closed door. It wasn’t until the woman raised her head - sunken eyes glaring from beneath matted dirty red hair - that Freyja realised who it was. Gone was the proud and arrogant Professor Rakepick, here now was merely a vengeful shell of what that woman had once been.

“Well well well…” a ghost of Rakepick’s old sneer flickered across worn features. “If it isn’t the source of all my problems.”

She began circling the room, eyes locked on her former student - no, her former pawn. Here now, wandless - just like her. And best of all, the scales were definitely tipped in her favour. Her skill and speed in wandless magic far exceeded that of Freyja’s. At that, she straightened her posture slightly, in some semblance of her old stance.

Freyja swallowed hard but remained silent, slowly moving around the interrogation room’s perimeter, maintaining the distance between them. Her heart was beating so hard she swore it could be heard across the room.

“Now I know why I’m hiding in here…” Rakepick began, narrowing her eyes in what looked like amusement . “But why are you? I thought you’d be out there getting yourself into another mess you can’t handle…”

Mad-Eye locked me in here. Getting a student killed or even hurt under his watch wouldn’t be great for his career. He’s mad, not stupid.

Rakepick flexed her fingers. “By the way, I never got the chance to thank you for sending me to this hellhole.”

Freyja managed to push past the lump in her throat and finally spoke. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“Oh no?” That old sneer again. “Did you ask the authorities to exercise a little leniency? Let me off with a slap on the wrist?”

“No. I just hoped you’d die in the Sunken Vault.”

Rakepick let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Small mercy that would have been! If I had stayed down there, I would have been swept into Death’s merciful embrace in a matter of days! Days!” She moved a little closer now, her voice dropping to a hiss. “But now, because you had to tell the Professors where you left me, I get to relive my worst memories day after day after week after month, and there’s NO end in sight, you know why?? Because they don’t want you to die here! Oh no! They keep you alive, just strong enough to keep the jailers satisfied! JUST ENOUGH FOOD AND WATER TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN KEEP ON SUPPLYING THOSE FUCKING DEMENTORS WITH ANYTHING RESEMBLING A POSITIVE EMOTION UNTIL YOU’RE DRAINED OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU A HUMAN BEING!!!”

Freyja was sliding her hand on the wall behind her trying to find the hidden panic panel, trying her best to keep her breathing calm. “Well that makes me feel a little better then. I’d hate to think a traitorous bitch like you got off easy.”

“You should be begging for my forgiveness, you selfish little shit.” Rakepick moved within a few feet of Freyja now, positively snarling at this point. “Whatever wrongs you think I’ve done, I’ve paid for at least a hundred times over. This never-ending sea of torment you’ve doomed me to is more than any human is meant to endure, and damned if you think I’m going to stay here - ”

“Then leave. I’m not stopping you.”

“Oh don’t worry.” Rakepick curled her lip into a mirthless smile. “I fully intend on escaping from this place. And you’re going to help me.”

“You’re even more insane than I thought if you think I’d willingly help you.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything so voluntary.”

Feeling the slightly warmer panel underneath her hand, Freyja pushed down. It didn’t budge. Freyja stubbornly kept her gaze locked onto Rakepick’s crazed, glazed over eyes. The woman was angry and desperate, which made her all the more dangerous. “A hostage? Dementors won’t give a shit about a hostage’s safety if it’s in the way of getting a prisoner back.”

“Actually I was thinking less of a hostage and more… a distraction.”

The panic panel still wasn’t depressing into the wall. Come on, come on! Fuck! Freyja frowned in exertion, hoping it would be mistaken for wondering how Rakepick intended to use her as a distraction. “I don’t get it.”

“Of course you don’t. But I’ll tell you - those soul-suckers out there are starved. They’ve only been able to feed off whatever remnants of humanity are left in this cesspit of human souls, but you - ” Rakepick stared intently at Freyja. “You are fresh from the outside. You’ve still got plenty of good thoughts and memories in that little head of yours. A veritable feast for any Dementor in here. Think of yourself as my own little living Patronus, Miss Young.”

“I’d much rather think of you rotting in here for the rest of your life.” Freyja said through gritted teeth, thinking finally she may be feeling the panic panel start to budge.

“Save your happy thoughts for the Dementors, sweetheart.” Rakepick moved forward , creating an even more uncomfortable closeness. The acrid smell of body odour wafted up Freyja’s nostrils. “You better hope there’s enough to satisfy the Dementors before you’re left with nothing but your own worst memories. And well, if that happens…. at least it’ll make me happy.”

[thornilee013]

WIP Wednesday 30.10.2024

Ahoy there!

I'm on yet another work trip this week but hopefully I'll have some time to be able to get some WWs written up.

If you don't know how WIP Wednesdays work, hop down to the "read more!" If you do know the drill, my offerings for this week are listed here:

1. Pulling Through

2. Baby Jean

3. 101 Ways Not to Say I Do

4. Silly Little Jean Moreau Fic

5. TLC

6. Dealer's Choice (aka you get to be indecisive and I have to work on my secret projects that can't be shared quite yet)

And if you really don't want to be decisive and don't want to make me be decisive, it will be handed off to one of my lovely d6 dice (and you might even get a picture of the dice included in the post!)

***Please spread the word! If you see someone else doing a WW, send in requests! Make people write because the more we create the happier we are as a world! Have a fantastic and preemptively spooky Wednesday, everyone!***

How WIP Wednesday works:

- you send me an ask with the name of any of the prompts that I've provided! I take multiple requests, even for the same project! (This is something that varies depending on the participant, so make sure to pay attention to any limits other people have put in place.)

- I respond to your ask(s) with AT LEAST three new sentences that I have written for that project. Sometimes they're chronological, and sometimes they're from a scene that I'm working on that is new from the previous week. I'll include notes for context.

- enjoy the sneak peeks at my projects!!! Everything that gets posted is in its "Rough Draft" stage, and I'll go through and edit/revise them before posting them to Ao3.

- spread the word! Send asks to fellow participants and reblog others' WWs! The more writing, the better!!!

[pizzamanstan]

happy wbw <3

✈️ how do people travel in your world? cars, trains, horses, planes, boat?

Happy wbw!! And yaayy, I was hoping the question would be something like this! I suppose I need to give some background information first:

(This ended up being sooo long... so its beneath the cut.)

So the "world" for my writing project is a city and its surrounding hinterlands that are basically in their own pocket dimension. Sometimes it briefly intersects with other dimensions and there is trading/travel/cultural exchange. But mostly the region is self-contained.

There is both magic and advanced technology, so I suppose if you imagine urban fantasy in a sorta-cyberpunk setting the vibes are close enough. There are cultures/peoples from this world, an alt-earth, and various fantasy ones from previous worldbuilding projects I've abandoned.

The City is dense, but the density does vary. The densest parts are Manhatten or Hong Kong like. Middle density parts are similar to Paris or Barcelona in scale. The least dense parts of the city are at around the attached-single-family-townhouse scale. Some people live in satellite towns or the hinterlands, but the limited space of the pocket dimension encourages density.

(Sorry, that's a lot of kinda-vague background for now; onto the question!)

Having fantasy peoples means a wide variety of shapes and sizes, making it hard to standardize. Therefore, the City has wide sidewalks and a pedestrian focus to accommodate.

Subways are the next most common form of travel. The subway cars are a bit larger than any in our world to accommodate the bigger peoples. Due to the larger size of the car, one is often converted into a double-decker version for the small folks.

Small personal vehicles are the next most common, but this category is most occupied by mopeds, bikes, and the like. Cars are we think of them exist, but never took off in the same way. And since cars (and therefore wide roads) are less common, buses are rare as well.

Planes are simply never used as long-haul travel isn't really a thing in a world so small. Helicopters do have some use, but their largest use is between the City and hinterlands for medevac purposes. Lastly (whew!) the City is around a bay, so ferries from one side to the other run pretty regularly.

[vsnotresponding]

Happy Worldbuilding wednesday! (Well it’s a bit early for me but-) In the spirit of my school being closed down due to weather, what sort of weather is common in any of your world settings? Do some places have weird weather (think moss rain day from stardew)

happy worldbuilding wednesday to you !!!!

let's see:

púlsar: the climate should in theory be warm and dry, but due to the illness the island is suffering their winters have gotten colder and in the summer it's too hot with unpredictable storms that shut down the country. fall and spring barely exist

up: when ely was alive the world was much colder so they did experience snow for maybe half the year, and then the other half was at most mild. during lyric's time the climate is much warmer (it doesn't even get close enough for snow) and it doesn't rain very much. no weird weather but their sky is yellow and is often overcast

p:n and tfb: mostly cold weather. tfb happens close to the pyrenees catalan mountains so it does snow in winter and the summers are way milder than in the rest of the country. p:n happens in a city that is likewise cold most of the year. also rainy

cv: cv is special because its seasons are regulated by magic so they are all "ideal". they got a winter with snow but not to the point of collapse, the summers are hot but not unbearable, and spring and fall do exist.

[ashirisu]

happy wbw !

🎊 are there any holidays/festivals in your world? how are they celebrated? 

Ahhh I’m so happy I picked this emoji!

In the central and southern parts of the country, there’s a midsummer festival called the Serpents’ Passing (often shortened to just “Passing”) centered around the annual migration of the dragons from the eastern to the western sea.

The event lasts about a week, and is often not much more than an outdoor market catering to folks coming for Passing. Bigger cities put on larger and more formal to-dos featuring different activities and performances, partly to make up for the fact that the crowded parks and light pollution make it harder to see the migration itself.

In rural areas, Passing typically looks like a late afternoon/evening visit to the market for music and food, followed by hiking around to find a good spot to watch. Around twilight, folks will put out any lights in their houses and businesses (some places will cut down the number of lit street lamps) and watch for the dragons.

Which glow! That’s the point of turning down the lights 🐉

[aquadestinyswriting]

Happy WBW! Does your world have any funny idioms or proverbs?

Hey Roses, sorry this is so late. Burnout recovery is being inconsistent as hell right now.

Oh the world I write in has a tonne of different idioms and proverbs, but I'll share the most consistent ones that I tend to use as far as the dwarves go.

"Heard it through the vein." is a very common saying in Fangthane, and you can thank @druidx for coming up with it. It comes from the idea that Stonespeakers can "hear" things through the rock and stone, which includes ore veins. So hearing something through the vein is basically the equivalent of hearing something "through the grapevine", i.e hearing about a rumour or some sort of gossip second or third (or more) -hand.

"What's coal is dust." is another I tend to use, which basically amounts to "what's done is done". Often used in a very matter-of-fact tone and usually accompanies a shrug of some sort.

"Moradin's balls"/"Moradin's saggy ballsack" are just hilarious swears used in the same capacity as "Jesus wept" or "Jesus *bleeping* Christ!" in our world. The less sweary version defaults to "Moradin's beard" which is one I use irl sometimes 😅.

Thanks for the ask though, because it highlights the need for me to come up with some more to sprinkle into the writing.

[seastarblue]

happy worldbuilding wednesday! what kind of transportation does your world have, and what's the most reliable?

happy WBW!

———

for shorter distances, the main form of transportation would be foot, or horse and carriage, or cart-dragon and—well, cart! In the cities, there would be trolleys that take people to and from work, and in some places there are commute portals!

for longer distances, the main form of transportation would be by foot, by horse, by cart, or by train! trains aren’t too common, though.

the most reliable would probably be by foot!

———

thanks for the ask, @cc-writes-stuff ! ✨

[winterandwords]

Happy Spooky WBW! Time for spooky media! What's it like in your world? Is it mainly books, movies, campfire stories? Are they thought of as mainly fact or fiction?

Thanks for the ask! 🎃

In the world of Bridge From Ashes and Name From Nowhere, there are still spooky fictional books, films and TV shows (but with very advanced special effects). Their true crime content is a bit different in tone from ours though, because the vibe of the society is very much shh...everything is FINE.

[aalinaaaaaa]

Happy WBW what is your favorite world building aspect out of all your wips?

Hey Wyked, thanks for the ask <3

So my favourite detail would easily have to be fire messages. Imagine texting but it's with pen and paper. Just write the message, fold or seal it and throw it in the air to its intended recipient.

Of course, one would have to know the person or location that they're sending it to, the magical fabric of the world isn't nearly as responsive to things like 'that one lady at the end of the road with purple flowers beside the gate'. One would need an actual postman for that.

But hey, it's near-instantaneous letters with more customisation than text messages. If one/both senders don't have magic, no problem! There's now rings that are filled with magical fruit juice that enable the sending of fire messages. (These rings may have other effects, depending on what the ring wearer interacts with)

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Tagging: @bardic-tales @mr-orion @the-ellia-west @guessillcallitart @thereadingfoz @glassstardust22124 @honeybewrites @oliolioxenfreewrites @theglitchywriterboi @threeking @did-i-do-this-write

[pluttskutt]

mmm whatcha say 🎶 it’s Wednesday and this means that Worldbuilding Wednesday is upon us! Reblog with an emoji for an ask in your inbox:

🐙

🐳

🐚

This week is sea inspired :)

[emry-stars-oc]

HI EMRY OH FRIEND OF MINE WHO TOTALLY TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR WORLDBUILDING WEDNESDAY AND ITS NOT LIKE I STUMBLED UPON IT OR ANYTHING.

Are there any natural locations (forests / lakes / mountains) that will be of special importance to the plot? - @jtl-fics

HELLO ASH, WHO I DEFINITELY THOUGHT I TOLD AND IT TURNED OUT I JUST IMAGINED IT. HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GOOD WEEK

anyway I don’t have a doodle for this one but I do reallyyy want there to be hot springs or thermal baths up in Bylldewn. Bo and the gang might not be used to the cold but Bo IS in the habit of night baths (he liked the privacy at home) and the water is naturally warm, so fun scenes I want include will have Bo trying to convince Q to go out to the springs at night and they end up sneaking out together 😌

I don’t know exactly what they springs or baths look like yet but I want the springs to be something like Peninsula Hot Springs if you wanna look that up!

[crowandmoonwriting]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday!

I don't know about you all, but the heat of summer is getting to me 🥵 Here in south Louisiana, every day is a scorcher, and it just makes me long for winter!

So here's your prompt for today: what are some winter traditions in your world? Do people celebrate any holidays associated with it? Are there any gods or spirits of winter? What does winter look like in your world (snow, freezing rain, or breezy mild days)? If you have images too I'd love to see them! ❄️

[bardic-tales]

Happy WBW! What kind of fall fruits and vegetables grow in your world?

Hello. Thank you so much for the ask, and happy WBW. I hope you have a great day.

This is an interesting question. The Celestial Realm features mostly night flowers and fruit and veggies that do not need sunlight, but rather grow under the Eternal Moonlight.

For the Abyssal Plane, maybe some type of fall version of a passion fruit, pumpkins, etc.

And for Earth, it's like our Earth, so the same fruits and veggies we grow in the fall. Bianca herself would most likely loved a good pumpkin spice latte with actual pumpkin sauce, but she was transported to the other dimension around '96-97, so she never got to experience it.

[justthehopeleft]

Worldbuilding Wednesday evening! What are some your-world-specific organizations (or other collective) that your characters interact with?

in the stone of three:

Most organizations are on a city level, but one large one is the King’s Academy of Rhetoric. This had a lot to do with the way that society runs in Maslanen, but pretty much everyone who can afford it goes through the same curriculum. It’s very highly standardized and merit-based, and has a lot of specialised sub-academies dedicated to training officials and nobility. Elorassi, in his training to become Ambassador, is accepted into the Numakaes Isle King’s Academy of Diplomacy, which is kind of similar to graduate school for the Academy. Nimlon, however, because she’s younger, has completed her standard honors-level education from the Academy, but has not yet been able to go into further education. Her lifelong dream has always been to study history at the Choposk King’s Academy of Historical Studies, though.