#kadaverr

[kaiju-z]

kadaverr replied to your post: Well, RIP Critical-Role tag.

What happened? Omg

Well, look the tag up yourself. o ___ o

[biomechanical-magitech]

Two monsters that I doodled from that monster generator by @kadaverr ! The top one was the one I generated, the bottom one was sent in by an anon. I’ll do any others I get in the morning.

The top one - an artic seabear. A venomous and aggressive creature that hunts sea lions. It has more eyes on its paws and several eyes hidden in its fur.

The bottom one - the twilight reaper. An old monster said to consume souls of those who go too deep. Mermaids tell stories about it to keep their young from straying too far from the school.

[zosonils]

you absolute babe

[sweeping bow] i’ll be here all night ladies and gentlemen and gentlethems. thank you for coming. [passes out on stage]

[callmearcturus]

Thank you! Alright - most of my curiosity is about how you tackle world building! You create very interesting universes and they always feel very well worked out and finished. So I guess my question is if you could describe your process?

I've talked about this before and it's honestly a tactic I have not changed much in the past few years. Worldbuilding is literally like one area I have a lot of confidence in. It's probably the thing that people most consistently highlight in my work so /SELF HIGH FIVE lets talk about it.

For me, worldbuilding is about small steps and extrapolation. You want to start with one weird detail, and then step out from that in a logical path.

Let's take the most recent example of TSAD because that's a fic I don't mind talking explicit spoilers about, especially given it was frontloaded with the ending revealed. With TSAD, I wanted to write something for MerMay and I wanted it to be hypnosis-based. I went with light-based hypno because there's precedent for similar moth-to-flame ideas in aquatic environments anyway. Why mess with a good thing?

The other trope I wanted to play with was a full scifi future AU. That formed the other half of the core concept. "Alien planet with mers that have hypnotic light."

From that point, everything is built. That is the bedrock foundation of the AU and everything I write *has* to serve the core idea and reinforce it. So an entire planet with hypnolight, right? That leads to the idea that some hypnolights are more compelling than others. Which instantly suggests a hierarchy system. Which feeds into the mers themselves. Clearly they have the most compelling hypno on the planet and that makes them the dominant species. So extrapolate further: what does your society look like when its built on the foundation of who has the strongest hypno? And furthermore, what does consent and authority look like in that system?

Next step from the core that nonetheless relies on the core: the alien hypnomers have sway over other creatures around them. Ergo, it must be normal for them to control other creatures, domesticating them. So, what kind of creatures are needed?

Every once in a while, a Big Detail falls into place. Like "the mers are as advanced with genetics/biology as humans are with space travel." That becomes a detail that directs the entire story, because when you add it in, the core idea gains complexity and support for itself. That's when I start to get extremely excited about a story: when the world feels like it's building itself through logical iteration. If you have detail A and B, you add them together for C, and it's just a law of the universe.

Often, I find that I wind up with AUs that run off of sort of immutable laws that I almost find difficult to put into words....... TWYCC: "Water is safety, nobility is misunderstood by all principle cast members, build in the blank space around their prejudices." Chamomile: "The Letter is a weapon to save you, the Spirit will only harm you, because this is a fairy tale." TSAD: "If something seems too good to be true, either it is or you don't understand it." Et cetera.

Basically, the tldr is: Figure out the main trope you want to explore, and answer the simple question of what setting does it rationally fit into. Then, extrapolate from that point. Ask basic questions. "If a man keeps coming back to life, how do people view him?" "What would cause a magical creature to be almost tailor made to mate with humans?" "If a kingdom lives in perpetual shadow of old gods, what keeps them from hopelessness?" "What if the water itself is breatheable, how do visitors react?"

Core ideas. Build outward. Step by step.

I hope this helps.

[callmearcturus]

Hello! I'm wondering if you're okay with answering questions about writing? I write fics as well and I look up to your works and creativity a lot, and I have some queries about your process, but I didn't want to toss them at you out of nowhere x_x

Feel free. I get writing questions all the time. The only limit on my answers is frankly how much time I have to answer.

[kaiju-z]

kadaverr replied to your post: I’m both excited and terrified by how Blizzard are...

I’ve thought about it a bit. But don’t they usually leave at least 4 skins or so to be a surprise?

Wasn't usually like that until recently @ - @;

[starrypawz]

kadaverr replied to your post: ‘So this film is like about zombies but people...

Oh wait, what movie is that? I recognize it so badly

The film is called The Cured, and yeah all I can think from some of the stuff I've read about 'cured zombies trying to live again' is 'Isn't that 'In the Flesh'

[starrypawz]

kadaverr replied to your photo “My undercut is back properly”

A handsome!!

Why thank you

btw @bethiebathory told me to tell you you are a good people for this comment