🍖 How to Build a Culture Without Just Inventing Spices and Necklaces
(a worldbuilding roast. with love.)
So. You’re building a fantasy world, and you’ve just invented:
→ Three types of ceremonial jewelry
→ A spice that tastes like cinnamon if it were bitter and cursed
→ A holiday where everyone wears gold and screams at dawn
Cute. But that’s not culture. That’s aesthetics.
And if your worldbuilding is all outfits, dances, and spice blends with vaguely mystical names, your story’s probably going to feel like a cosplay convention held inside a Pinterest board.
Here’s how to fix that—aka: how to build a real, functioning culture that shapes your story, not just its vibes.
─────── ✦ ───────
🔗 Culture Is Built on Power, Not Just Style
Ask yourself:
→ Who’s in charge, and why?
→ Who has land? Who doesn’t?
→ What’s considered taboo, sacred, or punishable by death?
Culture is shaped by who gets to make the rules and who gets crushed by them. That’s where things like religion, family structure, class divisions, gender roles, and social expectations actually come from.
Start there. Not at the embroidery.
─────── ✦ ───────
2.🪓 Culture Comes From Conflict
Did this society evolve peacefully? Was it colonized? Did it colonize? Was it rebuilt after a war? Is it still in one?
→ What was destroyed and mythologized?
→ What do the survivors still whisper about?
→ What do children get taught in school that’s… suspiciously sanitized?
No culture is neutral. Every tradition has a history, and that history should taste like blood, loss, or propaganda.
─────── ✦ ───────
3.🧠 Belief Systems > Customs Lists
Sure, rituals and holidays are cool. But what do people believe about:
→ Death?
→ Love?
→ Time?
→ The natural world?
→ Justice?
Example: A society that believes time is cyclical vs. one that sees time as linear will approach everything—from prison sentences to grief—completely differently.
You don’t need to invent 80 gods. You need to know what those gods mean to the people who pray to them.
─────── ✦ ───────
4.🫀 Culture Controls Behavior (Quietly)
Culture shows up in:
→ What people apologize for
→ What insults cut deepest
→ What people are embarrassed about
→ What’s praised publicly vs. what’s hidden privately
For instance:
→ A culture obsessed with stoicism won’t say “I love you.” They’ll say “Have you eaten?”
→ A culture built on legacy might prioritize ancestor veneration, archival writing, name inheritance.
This stuff? Way more immersive than giving everyone matching earrings.
─────── ✦ ───────
5. 🏠 Culture = Daily Life, Not Just Festivals
Sure, your MC might attend a funeral where people paint their faces blue. But what about:
→ Breakfast routines?
→ How people greet each other on the street?
→ Who cooks, and who eats first?
→ What’s considered “clean” or “proper”?
→ How is parenting handled? Divorce?
Culture is what happens between plot points. It should shape your character’s assumptions, language, fears, and habits—whether or not a festival is going on.
─────── ✦ ───────
6. 💬 Let Your Characters Disagree With Their Own Culture
A culture isn’t a monolith.
Even in deeply traditional societies, people:
→ Rebel
→ Question
→ Break rules
→ Misinterpret laws
→ Mock sacred things
→ Act hypocritically
→ Weaponize or resist what’s expected
Let your characters wrestle with the culture around them. That’s where realism (and tension) lives.
─────── ✦ ───────
7.🧼 Beware the “Pretty = Good” Trap
Worldbuilding gets boring fast when:
→ The protagonist’s homeland is beautiful and pure
→ The enemy’s culture is dark and “barbaric”
→ Every detail just reinforces who the reader should like
You can—and should—challenge the aesthetic hierarchy.
→ Let ugly things be beloved.
→ Let beautiful things be corrupt.
→ Let your MC romanticize their culture and then get disillusioned by it later.
─────── ✦ ───────
📍 TL;DR (but like, spicy):
→ Culture is not food and jewelry.
→ Culture is power, fear, memory, contradiction.
→ Stop inventing spices until you know who starved last winter.
→ Let your world feel lived in, not curated.
The best cultural worldbuilding doesn’t look like a list.
It feels like a system. A pressure. A presence your characters can’t escape—even if they try.
Now go. Build something real. (You can add spices later.)
—rin t.
// writing advice for worldbuilders with rage and range
// thewriteadviceforwriters
Sometimes the problem isn’t your plot. It’s your first 5 pages. Fix it here → 🖤 Free eBook: 5 Opening Pages Mistakes to Stop Making:
✦ A free (and actually helpful) guide to leveling up your first 10 pages ✦If you're unsure whether your opening is ✨doing enough✨ to hook re
🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed:
A gothic prompt pack for writers who love cursed universities, secret societies, and scholarly rot.✎ Write the Darkness ✎A 75-prompt horror
Life is super stressful right now and I started colouring some silly fun colouring books. I wanted one for TMBD, so I decided to draw some!
2 pages per book, for all 8 books so that's 16 drawings! I'm proud of myself.
I am giving you here a variety of MBs, inspired by the countless designs in the community, as well as various levels of colouring details.
I hope you enjoy??
If you colour any, show me???
All drawn in CSP with the Pigma and Mycron brushes (with the occasional other brush for funsies). They should all be postcard ratios, and if you want the 100% rez files for printing or whatever, here they are: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2446ac4563s2psb20d7fj/TMBD_Colouring-2026_ByLunarBlade.rar?rlkey=nt7fh8w4brap7kcqob24gbhum&st=gmrvdjx0&dl=0
I threw together a little rec list for fans of Murderbot :)
This is aimed at fans of the novellas and the TV show and I tried to capture various different elements of the story and characters.
Text of slides below the cut
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard
Adult science fiction novella
Imagine Sherlock and Watson if Watson was a sentient, traumatized spaceship and Sherlock was a human detective investigating a murder
Faster-than-light travel, deep space unreality, mind-altering herbal teas
Spaceship POV
The spaceship really enjoys reading/watching period dramas
Vietnamese-inspired sci fi setting
No romance
One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adult science fiction novella
The grumpy last survivor of a catastrophic time war lives a solitary life…until other time travellers try to disrupt his carefully curated retirement
The main character has a pet dinosaur
Darkly funny, misanthropic narrator
If you liked Murderbot’s first-person POV in the books, you’ll probably enjoy the narrative voice of this novella
The Butterfly Assassin by Finn Longman
Young adult dystopian thriller set in a walled city ruled by assassin guilds
Isabel Ryans is a former child assassin and the daughter of a notorious scientist
Wanting nothing more than to live a normal life, she escapes and assumes a civilian identity…but finds her past and her assassin training harder to leave behind than she’d hoped
“Raised as weapon” character grappling with violence, morality, and friendship
Aromantic asexual main character with PTSD and severe hand scarring
No romance
The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt by Merc Fenn Wolfmooor
Adult dark fantasy novella
Scythulf, a wolf shapeshifter, was raised to be nothing more than a pit fighter until he’s rescued by Brennus, a knight who offers him a new life
When Scythulf accidentally kills a corrupted nun, his only chance at redemption is to run with the Wild Hunt, a trial of blood and courage
“Raised to be a weapon” protagonist; aspec rep; strong platonic bonds
Aroace protagonist; aroace nonbinary queerplatonic partner, queernorm fantasy world
No romance
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Adult science fiction novel
A motley spaceship crew finds adventure and friendship on their voyages through the universe
Episodic storytelling and found family dynamics
Interesting alien characters and cultures
Queer characters + F/F relationship
Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura
Adult fantasy novel
Adrien Desfourneax, a disgraced physician turned professor of magic, finds himself investigating a dangerous curse while grappling with his own mental health and a dangerous ally
Gay main character with bipolar disorder; autistic-coded side character
If you love rotating TV!Gurathin in your mind, you will probably find Adrien a very interesting character
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Young adult fantasy/dystopia
A young ghost hunter joins forces with the ghost of a supersoldier to traverse the underworld in search of the lost ghost of his partner and answers about their post-apocalyptic world
Characters shaped by ruthless dystopian worlds learning to claim their autonomy and identity
Strong M/F friendships that don’t turn into romance
Aroace-coded main character + no romance
Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie
YA science fiction novel
Hundreds of years in the future, the last survivors of the human race travel through space in a fleet of ships, searching for a new habitable planet to settle
When two girls join the order of cyborg soldiers who keep order in the fleet, they find themselves questioning their loyalties as violence brews
Explores bodily autonomy and privacy through sci fi elements
Main characters of color + ace main character
No romance
The Outside by Ada Hoffman
Adult science fiction novel
Cosmic horror x space opera
In a galaxy ruled by AI gods and their ruthless cyborg-angels, young prodigy scientist Yasira develops new technology that could change the trajectory of humanity–until her work backfires and is declared heretical
Offered her life in exchange for hunting down her vanished heretical mentor, Yasira must decide who to trust as her world’s fate hangs in the balance
Autistic lesbian main character of color
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Adult satirical science fiction novel
Ensign Andrew Dahl is excited for his new position on board the the starship Intrepid…until he begins to realize there’s a mysterious pattern of low-level ensigns like himself dramatically dying on missions…and the reason why might reshape his very understanding of reality
For the enjoyers of the TV’s take on Sanctuary Moon being a Star Trek parody
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Adult science fiction novel
Anti-colonial space heist
Maya Hoshimoto, an art thief turned grad student, finds herself pulled into one last job to retrieve an artifact that could save an alien species–and possibly doom humanity
Alien-human friendships, explorations of sentience and consciousness
Japanese diaspora main character with chronic migraines
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Adult science fiction inspired by classic horror stories
Demeter is a spaceship that transports humans across galaxies–except her passengers keep dying in mysterious paranormal murders
To prevent herself from being decommissioned, Demeter must track down the ultimate evil behind her passengers’ deaths: Dracula
In a near-future dystopian America, salvager Valentine runs odd jobs in the wastelands of Utah in hopes of earning enough for the gender-affirming care he desperately needs
When he encounters Osric, an AI forced into an android body, he’s offered a job that could pay him everything he needs–but at the cost of his own morals
Explores sentience and autonomy through a science fiction lense
Android/human romance
Gay, trans man main character with ADHD; gay main character
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot
Adult science fiction novel
In a galaxy ruled by three warring rival factions, gunslinging inventor-turned-thief Rig has abandoned her former faction and is happy as a rebel–until her former faction ransoms her twin sister for what she stole from them
Alongside her librarian girlfriend, a mysterious bounty hunter, and a network of resistance contacts, Rig embarks on a journey across the galaxy to save her sister–and maybe tear down the factions for good
Rip-roaring romp of a sci fi story full of action
Alien protagonists
Lesbian main character; amputee representation
Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
Adult science fiction novella
Scorn is a state-of-the-art AI investigator who becomes entangled in brewing corporate warfare
When Scorn wakes up one day day on the moon with no memory of zir past ten days, ze begins a hunt into zir own past that leads them to uncover far more explosive truths than ze could have expected
The first 1-2 pages of All Systems Red, inspired by @nothingiswrongwithyourarmrests's post about how tmbd should have been adapted into a graphic novel.
Version where every tab is readable below the cut, because I spent way too much time on those things for no one to be able to see them
We do really need to consider this from Farai's POV though.
Your wife is a wonderful, caring planetary leader and scientist <3
She goes on what's meant to be a mundane planetary survey expedition
this turns into a corporate death trap she and her team just barely escape with their lives
after the death trap she gets kidnapped by the corporation that made the death trap due to them not wanting to pay damages
again. she and her team miraculously escape with their lives
after what easily had to be 6+ months she finally arrives home
Your wife is traumatized, unwilling to talk about or address this trauma, and now has a co-dependent relationship with a rogue SecUnit
You and the family are really trying not to hold the 'rogue SecUnit' thing against the Rogue SecUnit. Not its fault. But it is sarcastic and glares a lot and is non-social and has installed literal spydrones everywhere. It's willing to kill anyone who hurts your wife or her extended family. This is, to put it bluntly, a bit of an Adjustment for everyone.
Your wife decides to retire from being a planetary leader. One one hand, you think it's a good idea for her to take the time to focus on her mental health and be with her loved ones. On the other hand, it's concerning all of this has made her give up one of her passions.
One of your older children is going on her first off-planetary survey. This is good, obviously :) It's just. you are all still stressing from the trauma of your last family member's planetary survey.
It's fine. It's going to be fine. Your brother-in-law is going to be with her, and a bunch of your wife's long-standing colleagues, and-- you have complex feelings about this-- the SecUnit. it will be fine.
It is not fine.
The SecUnit and your brother-in-law and your daughter have all been kidnapped by a mysterious force for mysterious reasons.
Now your wife-- who is meant to be on indefinite mental health leave-- is off to save them.
You and your third partner want to go with her. You want to. But you have no skills for this, and family at home you need to care for. So you stay on the sidelines, waiting, waiting, waiting.
THEY'RE OKAY EVERYONE IS OKAY
thank fuck. phew. okay. now they're going to come home and--
what do you meant they're not coming home
what do you mean your child has decided to go to university off world at the school that kidnapped her
what do you mean your wife, instead of retiring, has decided to become some sort of anti-corporate activist
Yeah okay. This is not a conversation to have over the feed with a 2+ month time delay. You need to have an in-person conversation. You'll make a family trip of it; Nana and Sofia will come with. This is a good, normal, family visit
Fugitive telemetry might just be my favorite book from the series so far.
Amazing fluff
Amazing story
Amazing how It just isn't hiding its social commentary at all.
The struggles MB has with its identity and the discriminatory issues that exist everywhere even in safe spaces, especially for the people that fall between the cracks.
How even though preservation is supposed to be about acceptance, people still act in a way that occasionally reminds me of a black kid talking to a cop. It can't say certain things because fundamentally you're still deemed a threat and if not now then don't put that thought in their head because they'll certainly believe there's a later. ("You wanna tell us where you'd hide a body?" "No way, Or else you'd find where I hid all my bodies lol" "....") (Funny if a human said it bc a Human is not deemed a walking talking weapon)
Also conforming for the comfortable, bots minimizing themselves for humans to feel safer despite being programmed to function that way by humans.
MB having to be loud about what it is or else it would be forced into a box (like with the too human/bot name picking, it would be pushed one way or the other)
The whole deal with infantilization of those without as much respect or rights in society and how it's labeled as acceptance and a positive thing as if it's not just enforcing their position in society with extra steps.
The loss of rights and horrors of living under a totalitarianism or a corporatocracy. The generational slave labor got a whole chunk of this book, and also it's apparently not common knowledge?
Just amazing all around. I'm glad Indah's relationship with it developed, glad it's being trusted more and that it will be called back in case of something "really weird".
Indah's treatment of both SecUnit and the refugee Humans at the end of Fugitive Telemetry was the masterstroke of writing that showed what IS good about Preservation's establishment, actually. That Indah was able to hold compassion and understanding for both extremely traumatized parties, both the prickly consultant she's been butting heads with all book and the ungrateful strangers who shot it in the back, and balance their needs without letting either hurt the other further, shows what Preservation is GOOD at. Reparative justice, harm reduction, compassion and healing and the difficult logistics thereof.
She is dead serious when she offers for Murderbot to press charges against the humans who shot it. She also won't let the refugees be threatened or intimidated by that same legal action by her own officers. She makes sure everyone knows the rights and protections they're due. She says, No, we will not be charging Human One, "because I understand she’s experienced extreme trauma and because the consultant refused to make a complaint," because she understands due process is necessary for justice, and because she understands that what she doesn't understand comes from trauma—on both sides. She says, Are you going to help us find the real killer, "Or is this just how your whole group treats people who get hurt trying to help you?" because yes, she does understand where Murderbot's coming from better now, and because she has to speak up—she cannot simply accept the humans fear this SecUnit, despite its own resignation, not when her job is to restore and repair the society that holds both victims. And when she keeps Murderbot and the refugees from coming face to face with each other, it's not only for the humans' sake, it's for Murderbot's sake too. An unmediated, charged possible confrontation would harm both parties and serve no one. Her words and actions reflect her sincere beliefs in compassion and justice, and those of Preservation's.
And in the end when Murderbot has given up on its "less murdery," minimum force, life-prioritizing, "that was a SecUnit plan" aspirations to non-violent purpose and gone to kill Balin or be killed by it, it's Preservation's bot community that intervenes and de-escalates the situation without further harm or violence. After Human One, it sends a message to the reader: that despite the trauma and injustices the world brings to its doorstep, despite the missteps its people make in the process, Preservation is still ready to respond with strength, compassion, justice, mercy, and its belief in the sanctity of all life. It shows us, not better people, but people borne of a better society, and asks us what we could be if we could make our future better, too.
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
areudirty
pixelskylines
vaporwave
