I waited nearly two weeks to listen to "A Diner in the Desert." Well, I put it off. Still hit me like a ton of bricks. Not the fact that Ex was presumed dead, but the reunion. Reminded me of my own best friend and how I probably won't see her for the rest of my life once she moves countries, permanently
most fantasy books or fics i’ve read that contained a desert biome fell back on real world prejudice and misconceptions in place of authentic worldbuilding for a place and people, and it is so telling that the trope seems to repeat itself
things like
the desert as a lifeless wasteland where ‘life is crushed underneath the shifting sands and blazing sun’ blah blah blah. deserts are full of life and they are beautiful and people have lived and prospered in them for eons. please read a book
the desert as an ugly or barren terrain where everything is harsh and threatening
the desert as something scary
the inhabitants as backwards religious zealots
the men as overly violent and oppressive
the inhabitants in need of outside instruction/intervention, i.e. “civilizing the savage”
the “harem” and women as exotic, sensual, mysterious
writing tribalism with no knowledge of how tribes actually function
djinn (or for the westerners, genies)
Islam Lite (the aesthetics or spiritual practices appropriated and stripped of meaning)
sprinkling random arabic words for ✨flavor✨instead of expanding your worldbuilding to include language as well
clothing as oppressive or mysterious, instead of serving its actual purpose (protecting you from the elements, which should be obvious but i guess it isn’t. covering your skin keeps you cooler and safer in most deserts)
people who live in deserts as ignorant, superstitious, uneducated
this isn’t worldbuilding, it’s just ignorance and bigotry
To anyone writing stuff set in the Mojave/Sonoran Deserts (and maybe the Colorado?) Please please please look up Palo Verde forests!! The trees are green but completely bare of leaves- they photosynthesize directly through their bark. And instead of leaves they have spikes! It's so trippy and cool to be walking through a lush green forest knowing that the nearest water is 50+ miles away.
Other Mojave/Sonoran specific things:
There's tortoises! They're pretty rare to see but you can often find their burrows, or sometimes skeletons
Nightjars will wait till you get super close and then fly up, scaring the crap out of you
There are areas called 'desert asphalt', which are large expanses of black volcanic rock. Looks totally different from any other part of the desert
There are jackrabbits everywhere
Everywhere there aren't jackrabbits there's lizards
It's actually pretty loud; there's loads of insects- mainly crickets and the like- but also lots of birds! You won't see them but by God you will hear them
Wildflower blooms in the rainy season are the most beautiful thing you'll ever see in your life. There will be so many flowers that you never even knew existed
If you live near any mountain range, you'll actually see thunderstorms fairly often. You'll never actually get rained on, but there's almost always thunder on the mountains, especially in the evening. Idk maybe that's a metaphor or something
Source: I lived on the edge of the Mojave and Sonoran for a bit, and most of my job involved wandering around the desert for 8 hours a day
Even If You Got Dropped In A Ghost Story, You Still Go To Work: A visual primer for English speakers
This took me a week. I did this for ORV like 4 years ago so it felt like my moral obligation to make one again.
Some notes on character designs and images without text:
It's not clear what exactly Kim Soleum's mask is; the fact they call it a Roe Deer means the horns go straight up, and it's made of wood.
Gorals and domestic goats look very different, but in Manor of the Blind attention is put into how these two are similar and contrasting; the truly noble Go Youngeun with the white goat and the sinister Baek Saheon with the black goat. I also picked a literal goral instead of a mountain goat (which are naturally white) because gorals look more like roe deers than goats, making the 3 of them more closely linked.
Hear ye hear ye; Baek Saheon canonically has curly hair.
I am not giving Park Minseong brown hair. There is nothing wrong with a good warm black
Lee Jaheon is often depicted as an adorable little newt, but a huge part of why he is so hysterical is that he is scary, so I picked more intimidating lizard traits so he works for both dramatic heroic scenes and eating granola bars with the wrappers still on. He gets to keep the newt mask though
Braun canonically has white gloves! Sad day for leather fans
According to the emergent traits of J3, it seems like the strongest details are that he's slender, disheveled, always got that damn hat on, and he looks very haggard.
Trying to keep it utilitarian with Jin Nasol; a severe woman who relies on efficiency would probably not have bangs.
Ho Yuwon is described as looking very young, and considering his whole kit I've decided this one's an anime character
Seonghae's design (curly white hair) was kind of a jumpscare but I didn't need to change much. Just feels good to look at
Kwak Jekang apparently looks weirdly young for his position and considering everyone else is 25+ i think somewhere around early 20s/fresh grad is the best fit. He gets treated like a greenhorn so I think he doesn't have the gravitas of an anime character.
Choi is a reliable senior type, so making him look more mature. He's described as a sleek office worker type, so also making sure he looks like he uses pomade in his morning routine 👍
Textless versions if you want to use them as art assets. ⬆️Let's learn about Even if You Got Dropped In A Ghost Story, You Still Go to Work AKA "Ghost Story Work" The latest novel by the author of Debut or Die, available now on Kakaopage (Visual aide is cover of the novel)
Even If You Got Dropped In A Ghost Story, You Still Go To Work: A visual primer for English speakers
This took me a week. I did this for ORV like 4 years ago so it felt like my moral obligation to make one again.
Some notes on character designs and images without text:
It's not clear what exactly Kim Soleum's mask is; the fact they call it a Roe Deer means the horns go straight up, and it's made of wood.
Gorals and domestic goats look very different, but in Manor of the Blind attention is put into how these two are similar and contrasting; the truly noble Go Youngeun with the white goat and the sinister Baek Saheon with the black goat. I also picked a literal goral instead of a mountain goat (which are naturally white) because gorals look more like roe deers than goats, making the 3 of them more closely linked.
Hear ye hear ye; Baek Saheon canonically has curly hair.
I am not giving Park Minseong brown hair. There is nothing wrong with a good warm black
Lee Jaheon is often depicted as an adorable little newt, but a huge part of why he is so hysterical is that he is scary, so I picked more intimidating lizard traits so he works for both dramatic heroic scenes and eating granola bars with the wrappers still on. He gets to keep the newt mask though
Braun canonically has white gloves! Sad day for leather fans
According to the emergent traits of J3, it seems like the strongest details are that he's slender, disheveled, always got that damn hat on, and he looks very haggard.
Trying to keep it utilitarian with Jin Nasol; a severe woman who relies on efficiency would probably not have bangs.
Ho Yuwon is described as looking very young, and considering his whole kit I've decided this one's an anime character
Seonghae's design (curly white hair) was kind of a jumpscare but I didn't need to change much. Just feels good to look at
Kwak Jekang apparently looks weirdly young for his position and considering everyone else is 25+ i think somewhere around early 20s/fresh grad is the best fit. He gets treated like a greenhorn so I think he doesn't have the gravitas of an anime character.
Choi is a reliable senior type, so making him look more mature. He's described as a sleek office worker type, so also making sure he looks like he uses pomade in his morning routine 👍
Textless versions if you want to use them as art assets. ⬆️Let's learn about Even if You Got Dropped In A Ghost Story, You Still Go to Work AKA "Ghost Story Work" The latest novel by the author of Debut or Die, available now on Kakaopage (Visual aide is cover of the novel)
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