DRAGONVANIA

The home of Lindsey (ookaookaooka)'s dragon headworld. Created late at night so they can spew their thoughts onto the internet without cluttering up their main blog.

[matsstrandbergauthor-deactivate]

The old ironworks in Högfors are like beautiful, decaying art.

[moonskek-deactivated20251028]

“Morning In Secret” by Paulo FLOP

[kaypier-deactivated20200518]

More often than not I’ll crack into a sprawling fantasy series and, while I appreciate the luscious descriptions of furniture, landscapes, and clothing, all I’m focused on is that I don’t actually know how this world works. I only know what it looks like.  

Including some functionality to your universe can add to immersion and give your reader a strong foundation on which to build their mental model of your universe. 

You certainly don’t need to use all of these questions! In fact, I recommend against that, as all of these certainly won’t make it into your final draft. I personally find that starting my worldbuilding off with 5 to 10 functional questions helps pave the way for glittery and elaborate aesthetic development later on.

How is the healthcare funded in your world?

How does healthcare functionally differ between the wealthy and the poor? (i.e. can only the wealthy go to hospitals? do poor families often have to rely on back-alley procedures?)

Where are health centers (i.e. hospitals, small clinics, etc.) organized in your cities?

Does it differ in smaller towns?

How does this affect people’s ability to get healthcare?

Is healthcare magical, and if it is, how does that affect the healthcare system? 

If healing is instantaneous, how does that affect people’s views on injury, illness, and chronic ailments?

If you have both magical and physical healthcare, which one is deemed superior and how does that affect society? 

What illnesses are common in your world? 

How does this affect daily life? 

What do the people in your world think illnesses are? 

Is it a miasma theory? 

Humor theory? 

Demons? 

Do they know about biological viruses and bacteria? 

How does this affect healthcare?

How do people get water? 

Is the water sanitary and if not, how do they sanitize it?

How does agriculture work? 

Is it large corporations or individual farms?

What sort of agricultural technology exists in your world and how does it affect food production?

Are farmers wealthy or poor?

What sort of natural resources does your world/country(ies) have and how are they obtained?

How does this affect the average wealth of the country?

How does this wealth affect the culture? 

What livestock or beasts of burden are most valued? Least valued? Why?

What is considered a luxury good vs. a regular good?

What forms of transportation does your world have?

What classes use what forms of transportation?

How far has the average citizen traveled, given your transportation limitations?

Which cities are the most accessible and which are the least? Why?

How do popular transportation methods change how cities/towns are laid out?

Does your world have public transportation? What is it?

Is there a coming-of-age aspect to travel?

Describe your world’s postal system or whatever equivalent there is. 

Who pays for it? 

How reliable is it? 

Are there emergency methods for transporting information?

How does your world keep time (i.e. watches, sundials, water clock, etc.)?

Does your world have a currency system, barter system, or something else? 

If you have multiple countries, do different currencies have different values across said countries?

How does this affect travel?

Do you have banks in your world and if so, how are they run?

Who owns the banks? Government? Wealthy? How does this affect the economy and/or class system?

How does credit operate in your universe?

Does your world operate more on big corporations or small business? Something in between?

How are workers/labourers treated in your world? 

Are there workers unions and if so, what are common views on unions? 

Describe your tax system. If you don’t have a tax system, explain why and how your world is affected by that. 

Can certain social classes not own property, certain livestock, certain businesses, etc.? Why?

How are business records kept? Are business records kept?

If your world has technology, does your world prioritize developing entertainment tech, communications tech, transportation tech or something else entirely?

What does this say about your world?

How does this affect your economy?

To the closest approximation, what type of government does your world have? 

How are rulers/presidents/nobles put in place? 

How much power does an individual ruler have? 

Is there a veto process? 

If you have multiple countries, do they have different types of rulers?

Describe any large-scale alliances (i.e. countries, factions, etc.) that are present in your world. 

How did they come about and how are they maintained? 

Are they strained or peaceful? 

How does it affect the greater politics of your world?

Describe how wars are fought both internationally and nationally. 

Do methods of war differ between countries/races? 

What about philosophies about war?

If there is a military, what is its hierarchy structure?

How does the military recruit?

Is the military looked upon favourably in your society?

What weapons are used by each country/type of people during warfare, and how does that affect war strategies?

Describe the sentencing system of your world. 

Is your accused innocent until proven guilty, or guilty until proven innocent?

How are lawbreakers punished? 

If you have prisons, describe how they are organized and run, and who owns them. 

Does differing ownership change how the prisons operate?

What are the major ways in which laws between countries vary? 

Do laws between cities vary? If so, how and why?

How does citizenship work in your world? What rights and privileges do citizens have that others do not? 

Can certain classes or races not become citizens?

Are there certain taboo subjects or opinions that artist/authors/musicians are not allowed to depict (i.e. portraying the official religion in a negative light, explicit sexual material, etc.)? What does this say about your society?

How do people get around these censorship laws?

What is the official hierarchy of duty in your world? (i.e. is family the most important, or patriotism? What about clan?)

How many languages are there in your world, and how many languages share a common origin? 

How many people are multilingual? 

Which language is the most common?

How is multilingualism viewed?

How are different languages viewed? (i.e. is one language ugly/barbaric while another is romantic and sensual?)

Feel free to add your own questions in reblogs or in comments!

[rinniiart]

Such good questions!

[ookaookaooka]

“petty magic” (magic other than wingmaking) is illegal to perform on dragons’ bodies, except where healing is concerned. This is especially frowned upon in fights, because spelling your teeth to bite better is cheating.

In some of the more remote territories, this rule is relaxed somewhat, and more extreme body modification is popular. (for instance, piercing holes in wings to allow straps for armor to pass through, or flaying one’s tongue so it has four points or more.)

[bane-of-technology]

St Andrews Cathedral

[clevermanka]

So today I learned about the existence of Border Leicester sheep. You’re welcome.

[carpecanem]

@boonkin @damnaverage

[phastos]

[ One scene sees Wolverine swearing at top of his voice at the 11-year-old. ]           Jackman revealed: “I just yelled, ’SHUT THE F*** UP!’

“At the end of 40 minutes of this I said [to Dafne’s mother], ‘Maria, I’ve got an 11-year-old and I’m just really sorry.’

“Maria said, ‘Aw don’t worry, she just called you a c***. In Spanish.’”

[ookaookaooka]

notes on armor

-key problems: minimizing vulnerabilities, chafing, fireproofing

-fireproofing: armor should be made of either a metal with high conductibility (to dissipate heat more quickly) that doesn’t warp when exposed to intense heat, or a metal that can retain its shape no matter how much heat it is exposed to -retaining shape is more important -gambeson (padding) should handle the fireproofing, act as a barrier between the dragon and the armor -dragons are fireproof to a point, they can take a blast or two of fire but they can’t withstand prolonged exposure like from heated armor

-chafing: maybe add another thin layer underneath gambeson? gotta be aware of armor around wings especially

[ooka-dragons]

aw jeez this went to the wrong blog again. tumblr why u gotta keep changing how you work

[flowerdragon]

Testing out some new pens and paper with Ferra catching flower petals

[flowerdragon]

lil baby dragins from my headworld

[ooka-dragons]

oKAY SO

i'm going back to the idea i had where i was little that i dropped cause i thought it was a cliche (i think it's actually just in one book? idk) where dragons have pouches. So now my dragons are monotremes.

The shells of the eggs don't develop until late in the term (which is 65 days) to allow for maximum brain development prenatally. Then they spend another 9 days in the egg after it's laid. When they hatch they're helpless, only able to eat and crawl a little.

Both sexes have pouches, and both can produce milk, though if they did not carry the eggs themselves they need to have been in the presence of a pregnant and/or nesting female to be able to.

Only 1-4 dragons survive till hatching per clutch, usually 2. Baby dragons who have just hatched are called hatchlings, and when they leave the pouch 12-14 months later they're called pouchlings, or "pouchies". When they have their first shed (usually at two years) they leave the pouch permanently and, since they most likely will survive to adulthood at that point, are given a name. When their horns break the surface at four (the equivalent of a first grader) they become a kit, and are ready to receive wings and become an apprentice.

The kit stage can last up to four years, depending on how remote their village is and how often wingmakers come through.

Hatchlings are about 11 inches long and have a lot of extra skin, to make room for lots of growth. As a result they are wrinkly. Embrace the wronkle. They absorb language while in the pouch by listening and, while they may not be able to talk right away, can understand much of what is said once they emerge.

Dragon skin is a similar consistency to gecko skin. It tears more easily than lizard or snake scales, and when it comes off it's stretchy and sticky. It doesn't do anything to armor them; it's really just protection against breath weapons. The first molt is an itchy, frightening experience for pouchlings, but it often reveals the dragon's true colors, the hatchling skin being pinkish brown (it has to be special because it has to stretch so far).

Child rearing is usually done by a single parent, mostly due to the shy nature of pouchlings. When a kit is apprenticed the parent's job is done and the master become's the apprentice's second parent.

Storing objects in one's pouch is a thing that happens, but it's seen as kind of gross. Like picking your nose. It's mostly a thing younger apprentices do, since the pouch gets big enough to carry things at around the same time their horns come in.

[ooka-dragons]

!!!!!they're monotremes!!!!!

[flowerdragon]

my son,,.

[flowerdragon]

my boy Ferra eating some blackberries

[ooka-dragons]

Auroara's clan (Ferra's) believes that their goddess, Rekhra, lives in them and through them, so she lives as long as the clan lives. Suicide is looked on really poorly and so is murder of clanmates, since killing one of Rekhra's people would be killing part of Rekhra. They also have really strict rules around what food should be eaten at what times and in what order, since Rekhra is tasting it through their mouths. (i'm thinking fish would be eaten first, since she's the goddess of fish, and if that isn't being served then it would be swimming animals--> small walking animals--> large walking animals--> flying animals that aren't waterfowl. If a delicacy is being served, say rabbit seasoned with spices from a distant clan, a single bite of that would be eaten before the fish. Mint is chewed after the meal as a sort of thank-you.)

[ooka-dragons]

the ice breathers have a sport that involves flying in and out of the water at high speed. the fire breathers think they're crazy.

[ooka-dragons]

OH YEAH and i figured out the chain mail problem: scale mail/artificial scales.

[ooka-dragons]

dragons have no concept of throwing (their shoulders/forelegs are the wrong shape and can’t perform a full rotation, plus they have difficulty aiming properly with an underhand toss and can’t put much power into the throw, they also have issues with splitting their concentration to balance on three legs while trying to hit a target) but they can spit. it’s not the same as the way humans spit, it’s more like a cough, but it can be very accurate with practice (it’s a breath weapon thing).

as such, they don’t have any ranged weapons other than their own breath weapons.