#worldbuilding notes

[writerscourt]

Worldbuilding Notes: Differentiating between noble/royal residences

Palace

luxurious residence for high nobility

symbolical display of wealth and governance

often not or barely fortified

Castle

residence for nobility with fortifications and military structure

symbolical display of military power

often positioned strategically (on mountains or lakes, in river bends, …)

Fortress/Stronghold

purely functional defensive military outpost

usually in/near border regions for military to operate out of, lead offenses from and shelter retreating forces

Citadel

the most fortified area of a town or city (defensive core & last line of defense)

in form of a castle, fortress or simply a fortified center (defended through walls, elevation a maut, …)

houses military command, food storage and in time of war royalty

Keep

strongest, most defensible part of a castle in form of a tower

became highly uieffective with the invention of improved artilliary, as it became an easy target for cannons

alternate version would be a "bergfried," a tower with essentially the same function but not meant for permanent residence, only as a shelter during active invasion

Manor House

residence of a noble overseeing their lands and local peasants

mainly differs in function only

can be architectually very similar to a castle or could also be more similar to a farmhouse

typically no strong fortification, but often enclosed within walls or ditches

Bastion

a structure projective outward from the walls of a fortification, giving artillery better defensive positions and a greater range

contrary to a lot of modern (and even historic usage) a bastion is merely an architectual element, not its own kind of building

Keep in mind that the difference between some of these terms is mostly semantics. Often several terms could be applied (but don‘t have to be) or a term that wouldn‘t be fitting is applied because of its historical usage.

[silverkit]

PART 1

-> PART 2

[This is a collection of my Pandoria headcanons and homebrew worlbuilding. There is a lot of text, so prepare yourself.]

TIME

Explaining time to a pandorian is like explaining carbonated water to a fish; illogical, unneeded and it hurts their head. And believe me, I’ve tried explaining many times. Pandorians exist outside of time, but what does that even mean? They move and talk just like humans do, but once you enter their dimension… you wish you hadn’t. Your vision starts to swirl and legs begin to move in a zig-zag patten even though you’ve never asked them to do that. As a person used to being drunk on two bottles of mead, I find that experience quite familiar. Once you get used to it, it’s bearable. My many years spent in this dimension have somewhat adapted me to the environment, although it comes at a cost (see:  PANDORIC SICKESS).

Pandoria works on simple logic – if it can happen, it will. Which means, not simple at all. Although every being lives linearly, one might find themselves looking at a tree that has not been there before. Your friend is twice as tall as you, yet you are stuck as a teenager for another eternity. So on and so forth. My visits to Pandoria have been particularly confusing. As a being used to the frames of time, I’ve felt as though I spent two weeks walking around, yet when I came back my tea was still piping hot!

I’ve asked a fellow traveller, a witch searching for supplies in the pandoric wilderness, of what she thinks about this anecdote. She said “My only concern is to come back home before my ten year old kids leave for university”.

SPACE

Pandoria is ever changing, but it follows a general structure that the locals have named and written down. The maps are a crude representation of Pandoria; in reality it warps and bends and twists and pulls as each non-existing second passes. No living thing is able to capture that on paper.

The Islands –> space for all living beings. Much like planets in space, they drift in the infinite expanse of shining lights (I haven’t been able to deduce what the lights are. Are they stars? Other islands? The chaotic energy of Pandoria?)

The Infinite Down –> once you fall, there is no hope for you. You will fall for eternity or until your lungs give out. The difficult environment influenced several species to develop flight, such as flying manta rays, formless pandorians and shadow seekers.

The Space Between –> once you cross the portal to Pandoria, you need to pass through a foggy, deserted place. That is the Space Between. It acts as a gateway between time and space; a moment of complete stillness.

Navigating Pandoria is nigh impossible. Each island is moving around like a big, everlasting kaleidoscope. Every time you enter a portal, you end up in a different location. When you want to go back to the previous island, you might discover that there is an empty space left instead. No matter if you are human or pandorian, you are forever lost. That is why pandorians choose one of two ways in life; some stay in one place their whole life and others travel from island to island, never to return home. (I was relieved when I’ve learned that there is a free shelter system in Pandoria. I’m so happy I don’t have to abandon hot showers!) I call them the settlers and the drifters. Pandorians have their own names for them; the direct translation would be “the one who stays” and “the one who travels”.

It’s difficult to live in a place so chaotic, even for equally chaotic beings, but at least they get to choose their fate. Throughout my journey I’ve travelled to many cities and met many amazing people, but I am unable to return to them again. I feel kinship with the drifters, missing home even though you are doing what you love. When I finally came back to Valedale, I hugged my brother as hard as I could.

There is only one known way of going back to a specific location; the Keystones. They lead to one singular island. A rather unremarkable island on its own, but it has collected quite the collection of pandorian and human activity. No one knows why the Keystones were built. Fripp is being weirdly silent about it…

The “kaleidoscope” nature of this place has made communication nigh-impossible. Thus, the difference between the Islands’ scientific development is striking. You can travel from an Island straight out of a sci-fi book to a rural village. Drifters try to bring different inventions across the land, but there are infinitely more Islands than there are people. Traveling through Pandoria is like a game of roulette – you never know what you’re going to get!

PANDORIC SICKNESS

While exploring this realm is very fascinating, with each visit my health has been slowly declining. As of writing this, I am unable to return there ever again. Beings from Earth are not accustomed to an existence outside of time. Their bodies and minds deteriorate each time they think about the absurdity of breathing backwards. The pandoric sickness, as I have dubbed it, starts in the mind and travels through the nervous system until your entire body is completely covered in pink.

I've made a simple and effective list to make your trip suck a bit less:

First and foremost, it attacks your eyesight – eyes are windows to your soul and Pandoria wants to swallow it for breakfast. When you are overwhelmed, cover your eyes and pray for the best.

Direct contact with pandoric energy worsens the effects; just avoid touching anything you don’t know the exact properties of, otherwise your limbs will be next in line for amputation.

Avoid cuts and bruises, the sickness clings to open skin. Many people in contact with pandoric energy discover that their old scars have suddenly started to glow pink. You don’t want that to happen, trust me.

Remember to cover your nose when you venture into the wilderness. You can easily take care of a scratch on your hand, but you can’t sneeze out microscopic particles from your lungs.

Don’t eat unknown plants. Just don’t.

THE GARNOK CONUNDRUM

Garnok reigns terror on Jorvik and He reigns terror in Pandoria. Ever since the Dark Riders have started to raise Him from the dead, Pandoria got the short end of the stick. Islands upon islands have been sinking into the depths of the Infinite Down. What we know on Jorvik as pandoric cracks are massive tears in Pandoria’s surface. I’ve met many pandorians who fled to Jorvik in fear of being next. The soul crushing fact about that is; you can find your way out of Pandoria, but it’s impossible to return to your home island when you go back.

It’s been happening more and more in recent years. I hope the new generation of Soul Riders will succeed where we could not.

PANDORIA AND MAGIC

Have you ever wondered how magic works on Jorvik? Pandoria is the key. You see, many believe that magic appeared after Aideen’s arrival on the island. Whether that is truth or myth, there is no doubt that the magic we have today has roots in Pandoria.

When pandoric magic seeped into the earth, it started to adapt to the new environment. Nature and pandoric energy worked together to become something else. Nowadays, we can distinguish three separate sources of magic:

Jorvik’s native magic, used by the Witches, is Jorvik’s source of energy. It’s also the most capricious form of magic, as it requires you to study it for years before you can safely use it. It is, however, the most potent out of all of them. You can find sources of its energy in any plant or being on Jorvik. Therefore, it does not require a conduit, such as wands, like druid magic does. All knowledge about it is found in the Witches’ tomes, which are passed down from generation to generation. It’s nearly impossible to find one of those without repercussions. Thus, our understanding of this kind of magic is very limited.

Druid magic is sourced from pandoric energy found on Jorvik. In the early days, we’ve found that the leftover energy from pandoric activity is possibly harmful to the environment. Because of that, druids have developed a magic system that harvests it and stores it inside conduits, such as runestones, tablets, staffs and wands. It’s not pure pandoric energy, but a safer and more tame variant, thus it is relatively safe to use. It’s weaker than Jorvik’s native magic, but with a good rune combination you can achieve wonders. There are certain people who can use it without any tool, as their whole being is a natural conduit – those blessed with Aideen’s light. Horse whisperers and the Soul Riders are a prime example.

Pandoric magic is chaotic in nature. Not many people can wield it, only pandorians themselves and the most powerful of Witches, called the Vala, can harness its energy. You can counter it with a natural antithesis of chaos – a massive clock. I’ve learned that very recently.

I cannot end this section without mentioning the elephant in the room. We do not know what is Garnok’s power. We have tried to analyse it, yet it seems that He possesses a completely alien form of magic. This is not a good sign.

[epiconmythos]

The Gods in Epicon Mythos

For my passion project the Epicon Mythos (see Epicon Mythos' pinned post or description for more info), I've made some ideas for the deities. I've got some I think I could try to share. These are all work-in-progress and I'm always happy to hear all suggestions, critique, inspiration, and questions! The main types of deities I have planned are:

Gods who originated as humans but through the mastery of the divine became far more powerful than most humans. Many monarchies were initially established by them, but among them were both just and evil, and their descendants became scattered across the World after the last of their civilizations (the Kingdom of Eden) collapsed in the 41st century BC.

Gods who are born from dying stars and live in societies amongst other star-born gods in nebulae before they die and form new stars, planets, and godly societies. Their hearts and minds form stars, but their flesh and bones form planets, moons, and asteroids. When they die, there is a special kind of energy emitted by these gods that effects the way things exist on an almost unpredictable manner. It is often conjectured that these gods use this special energy to influence their creations after they die.

Gods who exist eternally as unfeeling forces of nature which are omnipresent across the entirety of a World Tree, but have no verified backstory and could never be completely understood by humanity.

Gods whose cultures embody entire moralities. These different nations battle for millennia to preserve their own ethics. They are psychic in nature and thus can't affect humans in the same way other gods might be able to, but they do often send out avatars or incarnations to humanity as agents of their own values.

Gods who shape and organize the Worlds. These Worlds are formed in a World Model which provides the necessities for a given World to survive and thrive. Their language is thus as mathematically perfect as a language can be.

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Fais fanfic rambles: Introduction to my 'Selkies by Starlight' ISaT AU

Note: Not to be confused with @looped-140-and-counting / Soren_793's wonderful Selkie AU oneshot series 'The Northern Islanders are Selkies' which was hugely inspiring for this if potentially VERY different in vibe (we got very into talking about cloaks! XD)

Basic premise/summary:

In an alternate version of the precanon adventure, the party lead by Mirabelle to stop the King freezing Vaugarde in time, recruit Siffrin as per usual.

Thing is, Siffrin is a Selkie.

A very skittish selkie without a cloak of their own, who openly wears the cloak of another, and due to Reasons is under the impression that the party know all both of those things and the Implications about them, and for whatever reason have decided to welcome him into their group anyway.

Which er, he's completely wrong about as the party know absolutely nothing.

Mira and Isa like most Vaugardian humans think 'shifters' are just fairytales, Odile knows shapeshifters are real but is only really familiar with how foxes like her father work, and Bonnie is actually able to sense some pretty major things but is a preteen dealing with a lot and hasn't even joined the party yet, so this pretty major misunderstanding is sustained for quite a while...

Cue the AUs' main focus being on the resulting party dynamic shifts as more and more canon divergence due to Sif's 'selkie stuff' (both cute and serious) comes into play, the party slowly realising something is up, and all of it hitting an eruption point right around the time of the 4th Orb/the loss of Siffrin's eye...

Some key world building notes: (Note: very summarised from my docs. I have like 20k+ words on this stuff XD)

The Island - Probably the most drastically different thing from canon here, the Island was not forgotten or erased here. Rather it is hidden away and permanently shrouded in Wish Craft generated fog from 'those without cloaks'. Side note: Sif is still unable to return home and continues to have some very plot critical memory problems but those are due to unrelated issues, which means yay I get to have Sif talk 'home culture' with the others in this =D Also idk why the King is freezing Vaugarde still. I've got a few ideas I'm not sure about and he's not in focus enough for it to even matter really, but random suggestions -especially those with possible selkie motivations- would be very much appreciated.

Selkie powers in my setting - Went into something of a deep dive regarding selkie folklore for this and did you know they have an absolute ton of seer/oracle based stuff going on?

From selkie being summoned by their human lovers shedding seven tears into the ocean, to a selkie man telling a former lover that he and their child will die at the hands by her genuinely good and loving future husband, to a selkie woman forseeing her fisherman husband about to die out in a storm just in time for her to swim over there and rescue him, etc.

So... Yeah. This AU has a lot of plot relevant sensory/seer stuff going on as well as the standard seal shapeshifter stuff (Islander selkie traditionally believe it to be the Universe talking with them, in the same way Wish Craft is talking to the Universe), and going off all the stuff I read decided it'd be most fitting if the general rule for how it all works is: - Selkie always passively have a bit of it going on (aka Sif's canon 'you sense someone nearby' stuff) which like most things can be enhanced with Craft use a bit. - Near perfect understanding of all 'connected' bodies of water (aka they know EXACTLY where the tasty fish are/will be and can probably get a general sense of location for most people on a boat) - Potentially get strong 'visions of the future' and/or instincts on what they need to do to avert an outcome when it comes to loved ones being in danger/distress.

They also maybe get to pull very fast, high power Wish Craft 'curses'/miracles' at idk, the cost of something major like their cloak or lives (mostly based off of the The Legend of Kópakonan where the whole island of Kalsoy was cursed with death by a selkie in retaliation for her husband and children being murdered) but not super attached to this idea past it being in 'seal shifter' stories in-setting.

Other non humans in setting and regional differences in shifters - Pretty much only selkie and selkie issues are in focus here, but just as a general thing, all non humans in setting are shapeshifters and originated from human ancestors who went crazy with the the Body Craft and/or used Wish Craft in some way.

Ka Bue in particular has a ton of them since yokai, with their origins being various sects/clans back in the warring eras going so nuts with trying to weaponize Body Craft (super soldiers, enhanced life spans, infiltration, exploiting attraction to furries, etc), that after some particularly high profile incidents (for an idea plz see: Kiyohime, Tamamo no Mae, Kachi-kachi Yama) and 'Body Craft misuse leading to shut down of the brain/vital organs' being the most common cause of death for 10+ years once peace time was established, eventually Ka Bue's authorities set their foot down and banned Body Craft altogether.

Currently the shifter population in Ka Bue is around 30% of the population, shifters are required to have ID regarding their forms (or potential forms if they're merely 'half'), and it's considered distasteful for a shifter to be in non human form outside of private settings/necessity and even ruder to ask a shifter about their non human forms if they haven't brought the topic up yet first (kinda like seeing/asking about someone's underwear or something XD).

In contrast the Vaugarde, Mwudu and Porteria region is extremely shifter sparce, with most of its original shifter population being the result of various Universe worshipping peoples (mostly small groups, like greek mystery cults) deciding to use a big Wish Craft ritual as some sort of religious rite and becoming shifters as a side effect of their primary Wish (usually stuff like 'we wish for us and our descendants to be one with You and the sea/air' or 'may we Change with the phases of the holy moon' etc) which granted them some pretty neat skills but also tended to come with some 'potentially nasty' drawbacks attached (see: selkie and swan maidens with their cloaks, werewolves Changing in both body and mind etc) Which er, lead to some issues born of lack of knowledge about this stuff, later some very nasty anti shifter sentiment in the region, and then around... IDK 200 to 300 years ago or so ended up exploding into violence and other very nasty things, with most shifters able to do so fleeing the region, and those that couldn't either enduring horrible conditions until they could escape/died or went deep into hiding, with the Island's Country being founded by the two later groups who used Wish Craft to hide their new home, erase awareness of their existence from their enemies (a short term, fully intentionally 'forgetting' blast centered specifically around shifters), and developed a LOT of culture and traditions regarding when, who and what can be told to 'outsiders' about themselves, Wish Craft, etc in order to keep their people safe.

There are shifters living in present in Vaugarde of course (anti shifter sentiment died back a LOT after most people stopped thinking they were real, and most modern day Change Believers are more likely to view these 'totally fictional/allegorical' beings as children/messengers of the Change God rather than 'evil demons who stole power by tearing apart the Change God's cloak for themselves and thus have to be hunted down and made to repent' propaganda take that was everywhere back then) but numbers actually living outside the Island as opposed to merely visiting remain low, since either the shifters know their history and stick firmly to their 'stay secret' traditions or quickly pick up on how oddly unknown shifters are around these parts and decide to err on the side of caution... Also 'trust worthy' humans who do learn about them (usually northern coastal folk, gee wonder why) tend to help cover them up so... Yeah =D

---

And... Yeah!

This is hella long as is, so will stop here and ramble about the actual 'how this all affects our beloved Sif and Co plot and culture wise' stuff that is the actual meat of the AU in another post later, but hope this made for an interesting/idea provoking read, know that I have no issue with anyone using any of this for their own works (just please, don't use the 'Selkies under starlight' same story name unless it's actually a fanfic/fanart of my 'hopefully soon has a chapter/one shot up' fic/Ao3 series of the same name so people don't get confused), and I would love to chatter with you about any thoughts/questions you might have so...

Wishing you a good day =D

(sighes in relief finally getting this post finished after literal months. Pheeeeww~)

[reverseduality]

REVERSE DUALITY WORLDBUILDING NOTES 1

there might be more of these? idk

PORTALS

The Reverse Duality Au is set in an altered version of Minecraft! This means that most of Minecraft's rules apply, however, there are a few major differences. One of these is how portals to other dimensions work - or rather, how they don't.

Let me explain:

Interdimensional travel does not exist in Reverse Duality!

Or rather, while the people of this world have memory of it being possible in the past, once a

~certain someone~

showed up, all portals, aside from ones to pocket dimensions, seemed to stop working.

Why?

Did they ever even work in the first place?

Secret :)

let's just say that, at least in this world, you can't have a matryoshka doll of dimensions

What does this mean for a world based on both Minecraft itself and The Steve Saga, both of which are pretty well known for having travel to other dimensions be possible?

Let's start with the Minecraft aspect.

Without access to the nether and the end, the inhabitants of this world are cut off from several useful materials, including:

the means to make potions

netherite

the means to make end crystals

several useful building materials (some of which are more blast-resistant than easy-to-obtain materials of the overworld)

elytras

the means to make beacons

However! Due to the... nature of this world, there will be other ways to access these two dimensions once the need for some of these materials becomes clear. Specifically, by incorporating them into the overworld!

The nether is the easier of the two to access; at some point while mining, someone discovers that the bedrock at the bottom of the overworld is riddled with small holes, some just wide enough for a large person to fit through. When tunneling through the stone covering said holes, they discovered netherrack, and that they had tunneled directly into the nether.

The end, however, is a bit harder to reach, at least without suffocating. It ended up in orbit around the planet, somehow staying within earth's shadow at all times. Its islands are extremely difficult to see unless they happen to pass in front of a star and block out its light.

While the journey there is extremely difficult without teleportation or the technological advancements necessary for space flight, it's more possible to survive once you actually step foot on the islands, as the large amounts of chorus plants and fewer animal life forms allow for the islands to maintain their own thin atmosphere. It has not yet been discovered how the chorus plants are able to create oxygen or energy without contact with sunlight, but some theorize that they are able to feed off of some of the radiating energy of the teleporting creatures that live there. If this is true, it could also explain the properties of the fruit the plants bear.

proposed food chain:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Now, what about the Steve Saga, the series that Reverse Duality is an AU of?

The Steve Saga seems to contain three main flavors of dimension in its world: full-scale dimensions (sometimes called realms) (examples: the steve realm, the spirit realm, the spiritless realm, that one dimension with the purple grass, the nightmare dimension), mirroring dimensions (dimensions that match another dimension and can interact with or view the activity of the dimension they're based on)(examples: where the overseer was trapped, the reverse dimension), and pocket dimensions (dimensions either small in scale or contained within another dimension)(examples: the great library, the end crystal/ore steves dimension, that one pocket that Elemental used to "train" Sabre and Rainbow, the black hole). The in-between and the time dimension are outliers to this, but most closely fit in the pocket dimension category.

For reasons not yet revealed in the comic, the realm Reverse Duality takes place in is somewhere that can only fit one full-scale dimension, and it is extremely difficult to escape this unless someone really knows what they're doing with teleportation and fully know what situation they are in, or are traveling between universes instead of dimensions. This means it is completely cut off from all other main dimensions (including afterlives :) ) However, pocket dimensions and mirroring dimensions for this main realm are still reachable, since pocket dimensions are contained within another dimension, and mirroring dimensions are less their own realm and more a reflection of another/a displacement from the main realm they connect to, so they still fit.

[magnuficent76]

Fun Mag Oc Fact's !

All godly vessels, including Baltazar, only have a singular purpose in their life: To live.

Since they exist as extensions of the gods themselves, they serve to provide their individual recipients with as many experiences as possible, good and bad, so that they can provide both personal and contextual information to them. This is due to the fact that gods are not living beings, they're purely abstract and unfeeling personifications of concepts made by collective belief in those things, and while they exist because of mortals' needs... they don't naturally know what mortals actually need out of them. To them, it's near impossible to decipher *exactly* what is necessary to make mortal life possible, they just know that they need it. Vessels facilitate the communication between mortal and immortal beings through going down to the mortal plane themselves and understanding exactly what it means to exist and be alive, which in turn allows for their god to learn components they would otherwise be too oblivious about to help with.

And so that's all they do ! Over and over again, they come to Earth to observe, interact, and learn about mortality, all while balancing out their usual duties with their recipients like learning to do higher being magic, and then when it's deemed they have learnt enough, they are granted the opportunity to either give up their individual soul to become a part of their god, or ... to die on their own terms, as mortal, because they've learnt too much. But until they get to that point, they first have to do those first steps over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again ! It's a great system that works and has no flaws 👍

[itsezra]

wait why am i making the moon deity a man. i could have toxic yuri. i want toxic yuri

[pluttskutt]

I have an organisation of agents in my wip and struggled to come up with their name. The first I thought of was "Iniative" but that's from Buffy so I thought hmm, better not.

They're called Unit now. U.N.I.T. I don't even have my notes left for what that stood for. I don't think I want it to stand for anything now, since I don't want them to be tied to one specific language.